Dragon's Fake Mate (West Coast Water Dragons Book 4)

by Kayla Wolf

  Then Daniel was there, impossibly fast, knocking the coyote away from her and pinning it to the ground with his talons. She saw him raise his other foreleg, clearly about to deliver a killing blow. But Alice had managed to transform—she cried out the minute she felt her human vocal cords reassembled, and he stopped the blow, his head whipping towards her in confusion.

  ”He’s not worth killing,” she panted, feeling blood running down her chest, hot and wet. “Let him go.”

  Daniel hesitated … then he released the coyote. Sure enough, in a heartbeat, the creature tore itself free and disappeared into the sand dunes, the others following suit in various states of disrepair. More than a few were limping, she noticed with satisfaction … then she staggered, her vision blurring with what she was dimly beginning to realize was serious blood loss.

  ”Alice,” came Daniel’s urgent voice. Human again—he was at her side, holding her up. She remembered the way he’d swept her into his arms in the club the night before and smiled dizzily, leaning against him. “Are you okay? Talk to me.”

  ”Bleeding out,” she said dully, trying to focus. “He got—got an artery, I think, I—“ The wound on her neck was gushing blood. Too much blood. Where was the nearest hospital? What could they do for her? There was no human living who could offer her a blood transfusion ...

  ”Tell me what to do, Doc,” Daniel breathed, holding her tightly. She could feel him shaking, see tears standing in his eyes as he gazed down at her—she reached out to touch his handsome face, full of wonder as her vision began to blur and go dark at the edges … “Alice!”

  ”The ocean,” she breathed, her consciousness beginning to fade. “The ocean—”

  ”Of course!” he almost shouted, startling her back to wakefulness. “Your research!” And then she was in his arms—but this wasn’t a smooth walk home like last night. Daniel was running at top speed towards the ocean, clutching her tightly to his chest as his pace jostled and shook her. She could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness, tried to fight it … she wanted so badly to go to sleep, but something told her that was a bad idea …

  Then they plunged into the ocean together. The water was a shock—though it wasn’t as icy as it would have been in winter, it was still a bracing feeling to be submerged in it. She spluttered a little as Daniel waded into the ocean, waves slapping at her face—she could feel the blood running from her neck wound still, mingling with the water. Panic was trying to fight its way to the surface—she coughed, shivering as the water washed around her. What if it didn’t work? What if she just bled out faster, submerged in the ocean?

  ”Woah,” Daniel breathed, staring down at her—but his eyes weren’t on her face. They were on her neck, where she could feel a curious, tingling feeling. She’d assumed it was the water against her wound, but it was something more than that … something like the feeling of waves washing over your toes, the bright sparkle of the sun on the waves on a perfect summer day, the salty scent of the ocean filling your lungs … and when she lifted one shaking hand to explore the wound at her neck, she couldn’t find it.

  ”It worked,” she breathed, her eyes wide.

  ”You’re—you’re healed,” Daniel said, staring at her in shock. “The ocean did that?”

  ”I—“ She spluttered a little as a wave slapped her in the face. The ocean didn’t stand on ceremony; it seemed. Daniel carried her out of the water—she slid out of his arms once they were on the shore again, a little unsteady on her feet still, but overall feeling much better than she had with blood rushing out of her body. They stared at each other for a long moment.

  ”Shoot. I wish I could take notes,” she mumbled. Daniel burst out laughing. “What?”

  ”We just nearly got murdered by a pack of coyotes,” he said, clearly struggling to contain himself. “And you’re worried about taking notes. You’re—” He hesitated, his face full of a curious light. She wished it weren’t so dark—wished she could see him better, wished there was something to illuminate his face with something more than moonlight. “You’re incredible.”

  ”I can’t believe he came after us,” she said softly, looking up the beach towards the sand dunes where the coyotes had disappeared. “Was he seriously going to try to force me to go with him? How would that have worked?”

  Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t care much, either. I better not see him again, though. If he so much as looks at you, I’m not going to be so lenient this time.”

  She nodded, a little taken aback by the fury in his voice. As though sensing her discomfort, he softened, reaching out to squeeze her arms gently. “Are you okay now? Do you need me to get help?”

  ”I think I’m okay,” she said thoughtfully, looking down at her body. There had been a dozen injuries or so—none of them as life-threatening as the wound to her neck, but reasonably serious nevertheless. But to her surprise, they were all gone. “Looks like the ocean heals coyote bites. Are you hurt?”

  ”I was,” Daniel said suddenly, as though surprised by the recollection. Then he yelped in shock as he lifted a hand to his shoulder. She squinted at it in the low light. There was a deep bite mark in the flesh there, some blood oozing from the wound … but there was something strange about it. It looked almost … incomplete. As though half of it had been wiped away. “This was bigger,” he said, staring at her. “Where the water touched it, it healed—“

  ”Let me try something,” she said quickly, ducking to scoop a handful of water from the waves at their feet. Carefully, she poured it onto the wound. The water trickled down his arm, but the wound was unchanged. “Interesting. Sea water itself doesn’t do it. I think you have to be submerged. Go in!”

  ”Yes, Doctor,” he said, raising an eyebrow in amusement as he waded obediently out into the water and dipped his shoulder into the waves before splashing back up to her. “We just nearly died, and you’re doing a science experiment—”

  ”Shush,” she said, pulling him closer to her—then gasping in shock. Sure enough, where the wound had been, there was only unblemished skin. “Amazing! Look—you’re healed.”

  He was frowning. “Why haven’t we realized this before? Surely, if ocean water healed our injuries, we’d know about it.”

  ”I got a papercut this morning,” she said, scanning her hands in search of the injury. “I wonder … oh! It’s still here! The water didn’t heal it.”

  ”So that means—”

  ”Maybe it’s only specific kinds of injuries that the sea can heal.” Her mind was racing—she wished she had a notebook or her phone with her to scribble down some notes. “Or maybe it’s only fresh injuries? Maybe they have to be life-threatening? Maybe—”

  ”Alice, this is really interesting,” Daniel interrupted her. “But—can we head back to the hotel? It’s getting cold.”

  She laughed, a little embarrassed at how easily she’d gotten carried away. And as they headed back down the beach, she hesitated for a moment … but after what they’d just been through, she decided, she could find a little bit of courage. So she slipped her hand into his. He smiled down at her, squeezing her fingers gently with his. God, there was something so nice about this, she thought as they walked. Something so right about being with him … even fighting at his side. She’d learned so much about him—so much had changed this weekend. She had so many things to think about, so much new ground to explore.

  But what was going to happen tomorrow, when they drove back home? What if everything went back to how it had been before?

  Chapter 12 – Daniel

  The night rushed by. It felt bizarre, walking back into the hotel after everything that had happened … but they barely drew any attention as they headed up to their room to get changed before the final dinner. Daniel’s head was spinning. He was grateful—fiercely grateful that Alice’s wounds had healed in the ocean, that her life hadn’t been taken by that terrifying wound. But still … it haunted him, the image of her, pale and wan with the blood rushing out of her body. W
hat if they hadn’t thought to submerge her in the ocean? What if the wound hadn’t healed? The idea of losing her made his whole body shudder. He distracted himself with a long, hot shower, with getting changed for the final dinner, and while he waited for her to do the same, he reluctantly started packing his suitcase. During the day, housekeeping had come in and made the bed—there was no sign of the chaos they’d caused last night when they’d rolled home and fallen into each other’s arms. No evidence at all, in fact, that they’d been together.

  Was this a glimpse of what it was going to be like when they got home? Would this weekend just be a strange little blip in their history, a moment they’d shared … then left behind? Would she settle back into her role as the settlement’s doctor? What would he do? Keep working, he supposed dully. Keep heading into town on the weekends to meet people, hang out in bars, try to have a few interesting conversations … but something had changed. Something was different about him. The only person he was interested in talking to right now … was Alice.

  She smiled at him as she padded out of the shower, wrapped in one towel as she squeezed her hair dry with another. “Packing already?”

  ”Figured I’d save us some time in the morning,” he shrugged. “It’ll be good to head off nice and early, beat the traffic.”

  She nodded her agreement. Was that a touch of sadness in her eyes, or was he just imagining it?

  There was no sign of any of the coyotes at the goodbye dinner. It was a nice enough affair—Daniel distracted himself from the worries he had about Alice by chatting with as many people as he could, exchanging contact information, and promises to come and visit. There were dozens of places all across northern California—he’d had the idea that it might be good to do a kind of exchange, to travel to these places for a weekend to see if there were any ideas there he could borrow to improve their settlement. After all, a lot of his new friends had been in business for a long, long time. The idea of inviting Alice to come along with him was tempting … but something made him bite his tongue. He didn’t want to come on too strong. After all, hadn’t she said this was just a one-night stand? Why was that troubling him so much? He’d had dozens of one-night stands and always been perfectly satisfied with the result.

  But none of them had been with Alice, he thought to himself.

  She must have headed up for bed early—at some point, he pulled himself away from an in-depth conversation with the proprietors of a beachside bed and breakfast to discover that she was missing. He made a last lap of final goodbyes before heading up to the room, anxious to be alone with her, to debrief about what had happened not only on the beach but during the whole weekend … only to find her fast asleep in the bed. She looked so peaceful … the idea of waking her up was absolutely unthinkable. So he just slid carefully into the bed, trying not to disturb her. It took a long time to fall asleep, despite his exhaustion from the night before … all he wanted was to roll over and take her into his arms again.

  He woke to find her pacing around the room doing last-minute checks, her suitcase completely packed and waiting by the door. She smiled at him a little distractedly as he sat up, rubbing his forehead.

  ”You were out cold,” she said, tilting her head with an amused look in her eyes. “I wasn’t quiet, but you just kept sleeping.”

  ”Sorry,” he said blearily. “What time is it? We’d better get going.”

  It seemed they were checking out a little later than the majority of the conference guests—the lobby was curiously quiet as they headed for the doors. The concierge waved them goodbye with a pleasant smile, her mind clearly already on the next batch of guests, and Daniel felt an odd pang of sadness. It was as though they’d never been there … as though this whole weekend had barely even happened. Would Alice forget, too? Was she already putting their time together behind them?

  Out on the road, there was a silence in the car that was at odds with the pleasant way they’d chatted on the way down here. But Daniel couldn’t for the life of him bring himself to break it. He’d never felt so profoundly at a loss for what to say to someone before. How did you bring up a subject like this? Oh, by the way, I know you’re one of my oldest friends, but I think I’m in love with you, so let’s change absolutely everything about our relationship if it’s okay with you … he bit his lip, frowning as he stared at the traffic ahead of them.

  “You okay?” Alice asked, a curious look on her face.

  ”Yeah. Still tired from the other night,” he lied automatically. He’d slept fine. Sleep deprivation wasn’t what was making him feel like his heart was trying to climb out of his chest and into his throat. The road rolled out in front of them as they finally cleared the city limits. Alice had pulled out her headphones and was quietly listening to music, her feet curled up beneath her on the passenger seat of the car, just like on the way here, and he couldn’t stop sneaking glances at her as they wound their way down the road. How did this feel so different? Three days ago, they’d made this exact trip. She’d sat in that exact seat, her feet tucked under her just like that, listening to her music with that identical pensive look. Why was it that back then, he’d been perfectly fine, and now it felt like he was going to explode if he didn’t say something to her?

  He couldn’t do this. His heart pounding, not sure what his plan was, he pulled the car over abruptly, stones skidding and spraying out from under the tires as he slammed on the brakes. Alice looked up, a little surprised by the aggressive way he’d stopped, scanning the environment alertly for any trace of what had prompted the sudden stop.

  ”Everything okay, Daniel? Why’re we stopping?”

  ”Come with me?” His mind was racing faster than he could keep up with it. They were close to the coast—this was a sightseeing stop, he realized, looking up at a big sign with a picture of a camera on it that he’d parked the car in front of. That meant they were close to the ocean. Good. Something about what he was about to do felt like it needed the ocean. He got out of the car—Alice was following him, a look of intense curiosity on her face … and a fair bit of apprehension there, too. Well, good. He felt pretty apprehensive too. It was nice to have company.

  He headed into the sand dunes, and she followed, calling questions after him. He kept walking through the dunes—they were a little like the ones back home, covered in vegetation, and he kept disturbing gulls and other birds who squinted reproachfully at him through their beady eyes as though wondering what he was doing in their home. Finally, he reached a spot where he could see the ocean, and he turned back to Alice, who was behind him, exasperation clearly winning out over curiosity.

  ”If you wanted to stretch your legs, you could’ve just said so,” she said reproachfully. “What’s going on?”

  ”I wanted to talk to you before we got back home,” he said, feeling something unlock as he looked at her. This was Alice. A woman he’d known for decades—the woman he’d gotten to know a lot better the last few days. They’d talked, they’d laughed, they’d danced … hell, they’d even fought side by side. How had he been so frightened of talking to her? “About—this weekend. About everything that happened between us.”

  She looked guarded. “It’s okay. Seriously, it—it doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Alice—it meant everything.”

  She stared at him, lost for words. He pressed on before he could lose his nerve, almost tripping over his words as he spoke, determined to get this right, to let her know what she meant to him. Just once—he’d say it just once, and then she could make whatever decision she needed to make about where they went from here. But he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t try.

  ”Being with you—it’s shaken something loose in me. I didn’t even know I could feel the way I feel about you. I love people, Alice,” he said sincerely, smiling ruefully. “But I’ve never felt this way about anyone else. You’re—you’re amazing. You’re whip-smart, you’re kind, you’re clever, you’re brave—god, you�
��re so brave—”

  ”I’m not,” she said softly, stepping closer to him, and he could see his own hesitation and worry reflected on her beautiful face. “If I was brave, I wouldn’t have … wouldn’t have tried to write off what happened between us as a one-night stand.” She took his hand in hers. He swallowed hard, his heart pounding.

  ”It can be,” he said softly, searching her face for a reaction. “If you want it to be … Alice, say the word, and I’ll never mention what happened between us again. But I think … I really think …” Come on, you coward, he thought irritably. “Alice, I think you’re my mate. I know that’s ridiculous, and if it’s true I’m dumb as a brick for not noticing in the decades we’ve known each other, but—”

  But she was laughing giddily, and suddenly she was in his arms, pressing a flurry of kisses to his face as she pulled him down to her level. “Daniel—I’ve been thinking the exact same thing!”

  ”You have?”

  ”I mean, more accurately, I’ve been—stopping myself from thinking it,” she said breathlessly, her eyes alight. “But—it’s the only thing that makes sense. The way I feel when we’re together, the things you do to me, the way I think about you, I—yeah. Yes. You’re my soulmate. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense.”