by Reus, Katie
“Will you grab the paperwork I was reviewing?” she asked Mikael, digging her fingernails into his forearm. “I want to go over some things tonight.”
He looked down at her, his dragon peering back at her…curious as he watched her. For a long moment she thought he would say no, but then he simply nodded once and turned away from them.
King’s jaw tightened and his expression didn’t exactly convey anger, but…he was annoyed.
“So what’s up?” Avery knew Mikael wouldn’t leave them alone for long. And he could likely overhear anything from this range given his supernatural hearing, so King asking to speak to her alone felt almost like a cursory request.
“Your father came to see me,” King said bluntly.
She almost took a step back, his words surprised her so much. “What?”
He watched her carefully, his ice-blue eyes searching for…something. “He’s requesting better accommodations. He said he was there on your behalf because you didn’t want to bother me.”
She took a steadying breath, trying to get her wild heartbeat back under control. “My father is a liar. I apologize that he came to see you. I have no idea what his accommodations are and I certainly did not request that he get something different.”
“He’s in a very nice condominium complex on Canal Street.” King’s tone was neutral. “My pack has been making sure humans in the older age bracket are in areas within short walking distance of everything. They have a pool, an exercise facility, and we are also accommodating any sort of disabilities.”
Mikael was there suddenly, paperwork in hand as he stood next to her, his arm brushing against her shoulder.
She wasn’t sure why, but it grounded her somehow.
“Her father is a garbage human,” Mikael said abruptly, his words stiff, but the anger rolling off him was like a live wire.
King actually looked surprised as he blinked at the other male. Before the Alpha could respond, Mikael continued.
“He abandoned his mate after twenty-five years of marriage when she got cancer. He left her for another female.” He said the words so bluntly, and she felt every single one of them like a hammer.
King’s wolf flared in his gaze for a moment, and it was as if she could actually see his animal beneath the surface before his expression went carefully neutral.
He gave her a brief nod. “I’ll have a conversation with your father. He won’t bother you or me again. Also, you’re doing incredible work here. If you need anything, you know you only have to ask.” Then he walked away, the two males who had arrived with him and his new dragonling leaving as well.
“You shouldn’t have told him that,” Avery muttered as she looked at Mikael.
“He abandoned his mate when she was sick. That is one of the greatest crimes in the shifter world. He should be living in a pile of garbage.” Anger popped off him with each syllable.
“Maybe so, but…I told you that in confidence. I don’t normally tell anyone that.” She’d made herself vulnerable, opened up to him. It embarrassed her to have the ugliness in her family exposed to the Alpha she admired so much.
He winced, took a step toward her. “I apologize for telling King.” Then his mouth curved up ever so slightly and he didn’t look sorry at all as he said, “Your father isn’t going to like his accommodations after this.”
“I…” She had no idea what to say to that. She hoped King didn’t mess with his living situation. Her father was awful but…for some reason, a bit of guilt bubbled up. She quickly squashed it, however. She’d done nothing wrong, just told King the truth. And she couldn’t believe Shep had gone to the Alpha and tried to pretend he was there on her behalf.
Actually, she could believe it. Because she’d never really known that man at all. She rubbed a hand over her face. “I need to go out tonight.”
“Then I will accompany you,” Mikael said immediately and she realized she’d said the words out loud.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
Mikael’s gaze flicked to her mouth, heat flaring wild and chaotic.
She stilled, looking away from him because that was definitely heat. And she didn’t know what the heck to do with that. Everything had gone crazy three days ago. She needed to keep her distance from him. He had complication and heartbreak written all over his hard face.
Why had she kissed him? It had been so quick, so innocent, but the raw hunger she’d experienced afterward had not been so innocent. She realized she’d started walking toward the exit of the parking lot when he fell in step with her.
“I know you don’t need a babysitter. Do you not like my company?” His tone was mild, but there was a hint of…vulnerability in the question.
She nudged him with her hip. “Don’t be ridiculous. I love hanging out with you.” It was the truth, and he made her feel safe. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to supervise me or whatever.” God, she was just talking out of her ass right now and she needed to rein it in.
“I watch you boss around a bunch of males every single day. I know you don’t need supervision.” He snorted and she found she liked the sound of his amusement. “Maybe I’m looking out for everyone else.”
She nudged him with her hip again. “Silly dragon.” Yes, going out tonight was the right idea. Staying cooped up at home where she could obsess over so many things? Not so good.
Chapter 12
Five weeks after The Fall
Avery leaned forward as she got into the balasana yoga pose—aka child’s pose. She’d been out on her back deck for twenty minutes and could already feel the tension and stress of the day easing from her bones.
At a soft shuffling sound, she glanced behind her. Her cheeks immediately flushed hot to see Mikael standing there. “Hey, what are you doing?” She kind of felt weird in this position with her butt up in the air.
“Trying to figure out what you’re doing,” he said, his expression unreadable.
Sometimes she thought she understood this sexy, ancient dragon who was living in her house, but it was all an illusion. He only let her see what he wanted, she was certain. So far, he and his brothers had settled in perfectly to their house. They were shockingly quiet, much quieter than any former roommates she’d had, and definitely quieter and neater than her brothers who she sometimes still cleaned up after.
“Yoga. I’m sure it’s been around as long as you have.”
He paused once, as if searching his memory bank for a definition of the word. Then he nodded. “I know it by a different word, but yes.”
She fell out of her pose and turned to look at him, crossing her legs and sitting on her mat as she faced him. “A friend of mine recommended it over a year ago. I’d always thought it sounded really silly but after a long day at work it really helps my mind sort of untangle, I guess.”
He glanced over at the piece of paper she had next to her mat.
“I don’t know all of the poses yet, I’m still practicing some of them. This is my cheat sheet.”
He walked toward her, and she resisted the urge to drink in every inch of his body. She didn’t want to be the weirdo who ogled her roommate and stared too much. It was really hard when he walked around without a shirt on. Thankfully he had one on now—and he smelled so good, as if he’d just taken a shower. Given his damp hair, he probably had. That brought up other thoughts. Naked ones. So she shut that down.
“This looks interesting,” he said as he crouched down next to her.
His masculine scent invaded all of her senses and she tried not to sniff overtly, because again, she didn’t want to be a weirdo roommate. “Oh yeah? You think you can do this one?” She pointed to the bakasana pose, one she hadn’t mastered yet.
She watched as he got down on the patio deck next to her and twisted his body into a pretzel, his forearms and neck muscles flexing so that his veins were visible as he lifted his body up with just his arm muscles.
She stared. “Have you ever done this before?” He hadn’t even looked a
t the step-by-step instructions. He’d just…done it.
“No.” He moved with a liquid grace that was astonishing as he relaxed and sat next to her, stretching one leg out and lounging all casual and sexy as if he hadn’t just shown off an incredible amount of balance and strength.
“That’s so not fair,” she said as both his brothers strode out onto the deck.
“Dinner’s going to be ready soon,” Ivyn said. “Also, what’s not fair?”
“Mikael was showing off his yoga moves.”
“Showing off?” Cas said, his gaze falling on the sheet. “I bet I can do better than him.” Making a scoffing sound, he nudged Mikael out of the way and proceeded to attempt to twist himself into a pretzel as well—he wasn’t as successful as Mikael.
Ivyn, not to be outdone, decided to make his own poses and stripped off his T-shirt before going into a handstand. Then he pushed up on just his fingertips so that he was suspending his entire body that way, and started walking on his fingers.
She looked at him in fascination and a little horror because holy hell, that had to hurt. Avery glanced over at Mikael to find that his expression had darkened. He stripped off his own shirt and she didn’t bother trying to avoid staring now.
If he was going to put everything on display, she was going to enjoy this little peek of godlike perfection.
“What the hell is going on?” Anthony asked a few minutes later when he and Riel walked out to find all three dragons doing handstands and walking across the deck and all the way back, seeing who could last longer.
They’d long since given up on doing yoga and were basically doing random acrobatics now. And it was hot.
“I have no idea but I guarantee if we took a video of this, and if currency was still a real thing, we could make like a million dollars after putting this up on YouTube.” Which also didn’t exist anymore.
While her brothers laughed, she couldn’t take her gaze off Mikael.
They were acting so ridiculous and silly and… She loved it. Not to mention his display of upper body strength was beyond impressive.
They hadn’t been here very long, but very quickly the three dragons had become sort of like family to her, which was a scary thing in itself. Of course, she only had sisterly feelings toward Cas and Ivyn. Her feelings for Mikael, however, were a different story.
Suddenly, Mikael, still holding his body up on just his hands, lashed out with one of his legs and knocked Cas down.
Then he kicked out at Ivyn’s hip, knocking him over as well.
Springing upward, Mikael landed on his feet like a cat.
“Take a bow!” Anthony said, still laughing.
Mikael, his gaze pinned on hers, did just that. But then Ivyn tackled him, grumbling about cheaters right before Cas jumped on both of them.
She winced as they started rolling around with each other in a way her younger brothers had never done. She’d quickly learned that these brothers fought like savages sometimes. Maybe it was a dragon thing.
“I say we go inside and see what’s for dinner. Maybe get dessert first,” Riel said, backing away from the three males.
Anthony and Avery hurried inside with him, and even though her yoga session had been cut short she realized she hadn’t laughed like that in a long time.
She also realized she was falling head over heels for an ancient dragon who couldn’t be interested in her the way she was interested in him. He was in a different league—stratosphere—than she was. So there was no sense dreaming.
Chapter 13
Only half listening, Mikael glanced over at Arthur as he said something. “What?”
Arthur and Prima both gave him dry looks. They were dressed similarly, both in dark pants and T-shirts. Apparently Arthur had forgone his kilt tonight. Unlike most of the people in this club, who seemed to be having a contest for who could show the most skin, his old friends did not even appear to want to be here. He could understand. There were too many people, too many sounds. Crowds didn’t necessarily bother him—not that he enjoyed them—but he did not like so many people close to Avery. At all.
“Sex has made your brain stupid,” Prima said, absently toying with an intricately carved blade.
He grunted. Maybe lack of sex, but not sex. Unfortunately. His gaze strayed back to Avery, who was dancing with some of her girlfriends—the females who lived with the lion. He liked all of them, and he liked that they were all shifters and were capable of taking care of themselves. Not that Avery could not, it was simply that she was human. That made her more fragile in some things.
Mortal.
It was…disconcerting. There was always this sense of powerlessness humming under his skin where she was concerned, knowing that she could be snatched from him at a moment’s notice. If she was his, he would be able to claim her, protect her more.
“So what were you saying about dead humans?” he asked quietly. See, he had been listening. Sort of.
“King’s pack has found humans drained of blood. It’s very clearly the work of vampires. But not any vampires local to the city. So far the killings have been in more rural areas around the city. Nothing in the city proper or even in the direct outer radius. A few look like campers. Others he hasn’t been able to identify using the technology they have access to, so they might be from another territory,” Arthur said.
“Campers?”
Arthur grunted. “Humans who like to get out in nature and temporarily live in tents.”
Mikael had lived in tents at one point. Well, when he’d been in human form while fighting wars. He did not care for it. He preferred a cave big enough for his dragon half to rest peacefully.
“So far there is not an outcry about these deaths, but it is coming,” Prima said.
“Why do you two even care?” He looked at both of them. They were both warrior dragons, both of different clans, currently living in New Orleans. He wasn’t sure why either. Well, he knew the reason Arthur was here was because of Prima. But he hadn’t figured out why Prima was here, not when her twin was elsewhere and her entire clan was in an area called Montana.
“Why wouldn’t we help?” she asked.
“You haven’t given allegiance to King.”
“No,” Arthur said simply. “But I trust him. He’s doing something important. And right now he needs help building up this territory into what it should be. Into something he and his pack can rule and truly care for. Humans have screwed up this world for too long. I would like to be a part of something good. I think King is on the right path.”
Okay, that was good enough for Mikael. He kept Avery in his peripheral vision as he spoke. “So why are you telling me about these vampires?” And dead humans.
“You’re a good tracker.”
He snorted. “Good?”
Arthur gave him a dry look. “You’re an excellent tracker. Don’t you…get bored? Doing construction?”
“No.” He didn’t even have to think about it. “The city needs rebuilding.” It was important to build a solid foundation. In more ways than one.
“You used to lead men. You carried out covert missions. You were an enforcer for your clan. You laid waste to—”
“I know who I used to be.” And now most of his family was dead. He was living in a foreign world where Avery and his brothers were the only things that made sense. “I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Prima punch Arthur in the arm and she muttered at him to shut the fuck up.
He smiled to himself. She never had been subtle.
Mikael looked back at them. “I’m tired of death and fighting. I saw enough of it to last far too many lifetimes.” He’d more than just seen it. He’d caused deaths. So many. And…he was in a new phase of his life. One that involved a fragile, sweet human he wanted to make his.
When he saw the stupid lion start dancing with her he slid off his chair. “I will help track vampires if necessary. You know how to contact me.”
&n
bsp; Mikael stalked toward the dance floor, his dragon clawing right under the surface as Axel spun Avery in front of him and pulled her back up against his chest. He looked at Mikael with a wide grin.
Maybe he could cause just one more death.
Avery’s eyes lit up as he approached. “Mikael! Are you coming to dance?” She stumbled a little on her feet and he realized she’d had too much to drink. Since she was the only thing between him and the smirking lion, he glared at the other male. “Are you hiding behind a human to shield yourself?”
“You know it,” Axel said as he gently nudged Avery toward Mikael.
Avery threw her arms around him much like she’d done the other night. In that moment he forgot everything else—the entire club, the noises, the sounds and scents fell away as she plastered herself to him.
Her full breasts pressed against his chest, and goddess, this was too much torture.
“I’ve had too much to drink,” she said right against his ear, her breath warm on his neck.
“Would you like to leave?” Please say yes.
“Yes, but I don’t think I can walk all the way home. Can I ride you?” She looked at him with such openness and he felt like a beast for the thoughts her question brought up.
It brought forth a completely different image than her meaning had intended.
“Or I can walk,” she said, giggling again in that delightful way of hers.
“No. You will ride me.” Goddess help him. He wanted her to ride him, wanted to see all her dark hair falling around her breasts as she took him inside her. “There’s a landing area up on the roof. I can shift and change there.”
Her eyes widened, the pale green lighting up. “I was mostly joking. You will really let me ride on you?”
“I told you once you only had to ask.”
She made another delighted sound and hugged him again. Yes, she really must have had too much to drink. She rarely touched him this much, and definitely not after that kiss. The one that kept him up nights. It was sweet torture.
