“Hell,” Gavin said. “It looks like we’re both the kind to take in strays. I have a clan of stray dragons. You have a litter of stray cats.”
Nellie craned her neck to look up at Gavin. Despite his tone, he grinned as he shook his head. He could probably level the entire town, but his capacity for softness knew no bounds either.
“Can we take them to the vet? I want to get them checked out before we take them home.”
The mention of we seemed to break Gavin. He tore his gaze from hers and tongued the inside of his cheek, but she could see the sheen of wetness gathering in his eyes. His gaze trailed over the room before stalling. His shoulders sank and he let out a ragged sigh. Nellie followed and realized what he’d noticed.
“I guess I traded my television for a cat and her kittens,” Nellie said. She stood and dusted off her knees.
Somehow a robbery wasn’t as frightening as the possibility of a dragon man lurking in her house. She felt better, knowing that the invasion had been mundane, even if it meant she no longer owned a television. Hopefully, its new owner loved it as much as she loved her new kittens.
77
Gavin didn’t know what had happened to his life. Earlier that year, he’d been in a long-term relationship with Tiffany. He’d been convinced that as miserable as they were, she would be the only woman he’d ever remotely love. Because he thought of himself as a monster, he figured he wasn’t capable of loving deeply.
Then, she’d left, and his beast had gone off in search of something new. Gavin had assumed his beast wanted territory. Now, he wondered if it had a kind of radar that had led him to Nellie.
While she hid from him, a family had formed around Gavin. He hadn’t asked for them to come here. He didn’t ask for them to pledge themselves to him. Yet, he couldn’t imagine any other life right now. For the first time in his life, his numbness had faded. Happiness and love had taken up residence in his heart. Both were unfamiliar territory and came with a number of unexpected side effects.
Like finding himself at a veterinary office in the middle of the day. The blue-grey mama cat blinked up at him. He raised a brow at the creature because he was thoroughly confused by it. The cat had gone from a screeching banshee to a cuddly furball in five minutes flat.
Gavin stole a glance at his mate. She’d pulled a chair up to the edge of the examination table and had her fingers out for the kittens to sniff. The smile spreading wider and wider across her face made his heart race. She turned that brilliant grin upon him, and his heart nearly stopped.
He didn’t deserve her, yet he craved her love so much that he could never imagine a world where he could give her up. There had been a time where he thought he could stand on the sidelines and let Nellie take control of her own future, but he knew now that he would crumble without her. Did she feel the same about him?
“Look at me,” she said with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. “I’m a beast tamer.”
Gavin sputtered. The door opposite them opened and a confused vet entered the room. The woman looked between Nellie and Gavin then pursed her lips. The interaction made Nellie stiffen. Gavin stepped closer to his mate. Though he didn’t understand her discomfort, he would do anything to make it go away.
The vet started checking the cat. It seemed routine until she opened her mouth.
“Long time no see, Nellie.” The vet glanced at Gavin. In fact, she looked Gavin up and down. “You’re not Nellie’s type. If anything, you’re way out of her league. Did you meet today when you found the kittens?”
Gavin’s beast snarled. It thrashed and clawed at him, so it could punish the person trying to insinuate that his mate was anything but beautiful. Instead of giving in to his beast, Gavin gave the woman a broad grin instead. It was probably a toothy, menacing smile, but he didn’t care.
“Actually,” Nellie said. “This is my boyfriend.”
Gavin didn’t expect the way that word would make him feel. His beast preened. Nellie’s ownership of him and their relationship sparked pride in him. Gavin had what he never thought he would find: someone who truly loved him.
Nellie didn’t have to say it. He could tell. The letter from her mother had wounded her, but he wondered if it had allowed her to see him in a new light. No matter the case, he would stand by her and help her heal.
“B-boyfriend?” the vet asked incredulously.
“Yeah,” Nellie said, sitting straighter. “I’m moving in with him today. He said he wanted to see me naked every morning.”
The vet blushed as she tore her gaze away from Nellie and focused on the grey mama cat. Whatever disbelief the vet might have had before was now gone. She asked them to wait in the lobby while she finished her examinations. On the way out, Nellie released a sigh of relief.
Gavin leaned into his mate. “Should I have kissed you in front of her? Would that have ruffled her even more?”
Nellie lit up. “There’s still time for that.”
They chose a corner of the lobby and sat close together. Nellie explained how she and the vet had gone to school together. While Evangeline and Isabella had never seen Nellie as anything other than a person deserving of respect, there were always those like the vet or Tiffany. They put too much value on thinness and not the person.
Gavin snorted. “If only you didn’t have to suffer to weed out the good people in life.”
He looked back on the ways his father had treated him over the years. Zander never shared an ounce of kindness with Gavin. He’d taken his father’s coldness to heart and thought that was the way everyone should treat him when that wasn’t true at all.
“I mean, you’re obviously hot as fuck,” Gavin said.
Nellie playfully slapped his thigh. He caught her hand and held it.
“If you don’t believe me, I can remind you tonight after my patrol shift.”
“Gavin!” she chastised under her breath.
“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll make you say it again later.”
The cats were brought back out not long later. Mama cat had been given a series of vaccines and a de-wormer shot. The technicians suggested a specific diet to get the mama cat back to a healthy weight while feeding her kittens. When the technician read the total, Nellie cringed.
Gavin handed his credit card over. Nellie tried to protest, but he wasn’t about to make her pay for this. He would drain himself dry if it meant her happiness would be assured.
Everything that he loved was on the line. Gavin wasn’t sure if he could protect them all. He was only one man. Though he had some of his father’s strength, he had none of the brutal nature that his father had. Gavin didn’t know if the will to keep his family safe would be enough.
Outside, Nellie watched him. Her penetrating gaze saw right through him, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He never wanted to hide anything from her, but he wished he could spare her the doubt and dread now roiling inside him.
She placed the cat carrier in the truck’s narrow back seat before turning back to Gavin. Rising on her tiptoes, she drew him down for a sweet kiss. He covered her hands with his own and savored how he could touch her all he wanted now. A kiss here, a brush of their fingers there, a playful tap on the rear every now and then.
Every time he thought about it, he was blown away. None of this should be his. He should have burrowed and welcomed the darkness of endless sleep. Instead, a witch held him in her grasp. Enchanted, Gavin couldn’t turn away from life anymore. He couldn’t avoid leading his clan. He had to face reality.
He knew she wanted to say that they would be in this together, but the ringtone of his cell cut her off. Dillon’s number showed on the screen. The man wouldn’t call unless it was an absolute emergency. Gavin thought of Isabella and the baby first.
“What’s wrong?” Gavin asked, breathy once fear hit him in the chest.
Nellie clung to his shirt, clearly listening in on the conversation. Gavin put a hand on her back to assure her that everything would be okay, but his heart
must have given him away because she tensed.
“We have visitors,” Dillon said flatly.
The clan didn’t have a code for when the next battle arrived. They hadn’t discussed what would happen if Zander didn’t try to circle the cabin with them all inside. It seemed his father’s tactics had changed. He’d waited until Gavin’s clan had spread out and then struck. Dillon and Isabella were likely trapped in the cabin.
“Who’s there with you?”
“Erik and Bree are here, but the rest are out and about.” Dillon didn’t waste his breath to explain where they’d gone.
Already, Nellie had her own phone out. Gavin heard Evangeline and, distantly, Daphne. Gavin sucked in a breath and tried to tame his uncertainty.
“Keep Bree with Isabella. They’re both insane. They should be fine together.”
“I don’t know if I like the idea of the two of them alone,” Dillon grumbled.
“We’re not insane,” Bree hollered in the background. “We’re determined. There’s a difference!”
“Dillon, I want you and Erik to watch my father. Don’t interact with him. Leave that to me once I get there. Just keep an eye on him and send me a text when he makes a move.” Gavin surprised himself. Though he worried he wouldn’t be enough to stop his father, he’d taken control of the situation smoothly.
Nellie, too, seemed calm and collected. “Don’t head all the way to the cabin. Meet us about two thirds of the way and we’ll drive up as a group. I don’t want any of us alone.”
Calls ended, Gavin and Nellie’s shared a glance. Sparks danced around her form. Magic took shape in the air around her like she couldn’t contain it. Would this war deplete her stores again? He wanted to know how many dragons she could put to sleep, but he didn’t dare ask her to give up her magic for his sake.
He took in the truck and the clouded skies above before approaching Nellie. He stole another quick kiss because it was perhaps the last time he would taste her, pressed the keys into her hand, and said, “Stay here. Stay safe.”
He spun and ran for the trees. He poured his beast’s strength into his stride until the world around him blurred. Nellie’s magic didn’t even have the chance to grab him.
“Gavin!” she shouted at him.
Her voice faded into the distance. He did this to keep her safe. He couldn’t ask her to partake in this fight. It was his, and his alone.
* * *
Nellie cursed Gavin. Not with her magic, but with her tongue. She shoved the keys into the ignition and spun the rental truck’s tires on her way out of the parking lot. In the backseat, the gray cat mewed. Nellie had been thinking about names for the cats five minutes ago.
Now she feared her mate would rush off into a fight on his own and get hurt. She wasn’t about to let that happen. While she didn’t know if a truck could drive as fast as a dragon could fly, she was about to find out. The curving mountain roads didn’t lend themselves to speeding. More than once, her heart leapt into her throat as she rounded a corner.
Hopefully, the others would be waiting for her. She only had a little further to go, but a silhouette in the middle of the road made her slam on the brakes. The man’s chin lifted, and her heart plummeted from her throat to the floorboards.
The silver dragon shifter stared her down. A hungry smile spread over his features.
“Do not fuck with me when I have my magic back, cats in the backseat, and a mate to protect,” she muttered under her breath.
Earth magic had never been her forte, buts she shoved her power into the earth below and snaked it toward the shifter. The pavement beneath him lurched and sent him flying over the cliff’s edge. Nellie cried out and hit the gas. The pavement sank back into place just as she reached it. The truck lurched over the ragged lip in the road and made her bounce in her seat, but she had avoided a fight.
Or so she thought.
A shadow covered the truck. In the rearview mirror, a silver dragon rose into the sky. She let out a squeal and grasped for her magic. Maybe Gavin could pay to replace a rental truck, but she couldn’t replace the cats…or herself.
Her first instinct was to cloak the truck, but the dragon would know that she didn’t just disappear. He would be able to smell the exhaust because she couldn’t cover every sense of the truck. It was just too big.
She decided on a shield and gathered her magic into a barrier above the roof just as talons scraped across it. Her stomach flipped. She pressed on the gas. She didn’t dare try to reach her phone while driving this fast on a mountain road. Just the tremble in her hands threatened to send her over the edge.
Would Evangeline and Casey be waiting ahead?
Flames poured down the windshield. Nellie yelped. Her shield hadn’t extended far enough to protect the window. Though she wanted to stretch it forward, she knew she had to cover the back. If the flames got under the truck, it could lead to a disaster.
If she could pull over and conduct a ritual, she would make it so this guy vomited toads every time he tried to speak. She would do it if they both survived.
Talons dug into her shield. Pain lanced through her skull as she held onto the crumbling spell. If she kept it up while the dragon barraged her, she would pass out behind the wheel. Her magic did little to save her while in a moving vehicle.
“This is bullshit,” she breathed.
The silver dragon struck again. The truck shuddered. Behind her, the cats meowed. Their fear made her heart race. Nellie couldn’t escape this silver dragon. His determination made him dogged in his pursuit. She would end up rolling down into a ravine at this rate.
Scrounging up an ounce of bravery, Nellie hit the brakes and parked. With her shield still over the truck to protect the cats, she flung a hand out toward the dragon heading toward her. She’d never faced a dragon head on. Her mother’s warnings flooded her and made her breath ragged.
The beast’s eyes gleamed with anger. Smoke streamed from his nostrils. Nellie fought the instinct to brace herself and reached for her magic. She had one chance to get this right. The sleep spell flew out from her fingertips and covered the dragon like a net. The menacing light in his eyes flickered.
She worried that his anger would keep him awake, but she’d dropped dragons in the throes of violence before. This dragon would drop, too.
His eyelids fell and his body went limp. Still, he coasted toward her, his momentum unimpeded. She fumbled for her magic, but switching gears made her slow. The dragon would hit her and the truck any moment.
A red blur shot into view. It slammed the silver dragon into the cliff face. The ground beneath Nellie’s feet trembled and rocks clattered over the road. Nellie stumbled away from the fight now that the silver dragon was awake once more. Gavin didn’t need her help. He needed her to get away.
Gavin’s snarls couldn’t cover the sound of scales scraping against stone. Nellie glanced in the rearview mirror to see the silver dragon thrashing beneath Gavin, but her mate had pinned the silver dragon down by his neck.
Nellie spared a moment to roll down the window and shout back at him. “This is what you get for trying to take off on your own!”
She imagined Gavin rolled his eyes, but she didn’t stick around to wait and see. She hit the gas and sped toward the meet-up location. As she rounded every corner and found the other side empty, her stomach sank. She feared that Zander had sent out other dragons to keep the others from closing in on him.
Two dragons rose from the treetops. Their scales were dark, nearly the same color until they flew closer and Nellie could see the difference in hues. She hoped they were allies. Nellie had no idea what many of her allies looked like in their dragon forms. She knew Gavin and Erik on sight because of what happened the night of the fire.
Ahead, two vehicles crowded the road shoulder. Nellie saw Evangeline’s familiar colored hair first. Relief flooded Nellie’s chest. She slowed to a stop, put the truck in park, and leapt out into Evangeline’s arms. Daphne joined them, but her eyes remained on the sky.
“Casey and Ford went to take over for Gavin,” Daphne said.
“They’ll be alright,” Evangeline assured her sister-in-law. “Your mate is a kingkiller. He’s not going to die here.”
Daphne’s smile was wry. “I’m more worried about my brother.”
Though Nellie could tell they were trying to lighten the mood, both had managed to instill a sense of fear and concern in the other. Evangeline’s eyes traced the horizon behind Nellie until the rental truck caught her attention.
“Do you have cats in the truck?”
“It’s a long story,” Nellie said. “I can explain later. We need to get them someplace safe before everything goes to hell.”
She knew the women wanted to ask if this war hadn’t already gone to hell. Isabella was on the other side of the enemy lines. Both human and very pregnant, Isabella could be struck down with the flick of a dragon’s tail. She couldn’t heal the way dragons could. If they waited too long, if the fight with the silver dragon got dragged out, then there was a chance Isabella would…
Nellie shook herself. She wouldn’t think about the possibility. Isabella was as strong as the others and possibly even smarter than them, too.
Overhead, Gavin roared. The treetops shook beneath him. Nellie released the breath she’d been holding. She’d told herself that she hadn’t been worried, but the tightness in her chest said otherwise.
“Ready to go for a ride?” Evangeline asked.
Nellie jerked, startled. Evangeline released her and took a few steps back, shedding an article of clothing with each step. Nellie had no on her lips, but it got lost somewhere between Evangeline’s shift and Daphne’s shift. The brightly colored dragons shuffled their feet and stretched their wings on the open road.
Numb, Nellie went to the rental truck. She opened the cat carrier to give the cat and kittens room to move around. She poured a bit of dry cat food onto the seat and shut the truck door. Nothing about this sat right in Nellie’s gut. She wanted to promise the cats that she would come back, but there was no way to know who would win this fight.
Rogue Dragons Series: Box Set Books 1-5 Page 66
