So, what was the point of dreaming at all?
Link’s hand slid up her arm. The bruise on his face was almost gone. She let herself touch it now. He didn’t flinch away. Instead, he leaned into her. She was so surprised when he did that she almost jumped back. Link held her in place. He nudged her hand so that it opened. His cheek fit so perfectly in her palm that she could let herself believe, only for the moment, that they had been made for each other.
Two lost souls who couldn’t withstand what the world had in store for them. He had to fight to set himself apart from a murderer who shared his face. She had to deal with the knowledge that she would never find happiness.
She cleared her throat. Link’s lashes fluttered. He pinned her with his gold flecked eyes. A small smirk graced the corner of his mouth.
“You’ve made this bearable,” he confessed.
“I thought that was why you fought Asher. I’m just a stranger. I don’t know what you think I could do for you.”
He licked his lips, and her heart stopped. The cotton ball in her hands slipped and fluttered to the floor. She muttered an apology and bent to retrieve it the same time Link did. His fingers grazed hers. When she heard the hitch in his breath, a bare whisper in her ear.
The beast in her surged toward the surface. It scented the air and growled low and greedy. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was on his neck, her thumb tracing the line of his jaw. His lips parted at her touch.
She felt like she was falling into him. Her body became weightless, tumbling further and further into this man she barely knew. Yet, his soul welcomed her. It offered solace. It told her she could be loved after all.
A knock at the door made them both leap away from each other. Kiera’s hands suddenly felt very empty. She wrinkled her nose, trying to escape the need to reach for him again. Link had gotten to his feet. He peered at himself in the mirror. She opened her mouth to tell him there was no more blood, but her voice was gone.
So was the beast. She shut her mouth and ducked out of the room, promptly running into Zara.
“Whoa, hold up,” Zara said as she braced both of them. “I just came to ask what kind of toppings you like on your pizza. Please don’t say pineapple. I can barely stand loving one pineapple pizza eater.”
Kiera laughed nervously and deferred to her host. “I’m not picky. Order whatever you want.”
To this, Zara shook her head and grabbed Kiera’s arm. She gently tugged Kiera back into the living room. There, the soft furniture and billions of throw pillows whispered comfort and begged Kiera to rest. She hadn’t realized just how tired she was until she sat down and the couch swallowed her in its cushioned embrace.
Zara put her hands on her hips. “There’s no point in buying you dinner if you aren’t going to choose what you want. We get the same thing every day. Today isn’t about us. It’s about you.”
Kiera couldn’t understand why Zara was being so nice. This wasn’t normal. Kiera was just a visitor in Zara’s life. No moment of it should revolve around Kiera. That kind of graciousness didn’t exist in Kiera’s world.
When Kiera didn’t respond, Zara threw her hands in the air. Kiera flinched away from the incoming explosion of frustration but was saved at the last minute when Link appeared in the hall. He had the most oblivious look on his face when he took in Kiera and Zara. Almost as if he did it instinctively, he took a step back.
Zara saw him, though. “Pizza. What toppings do you like? Please give me an answer.”
“Whatever Kiera wants,” he said so easily that Kiera wasn’t sure she heard him right the first time. “I’m a trash bin. This beast requires so many calories that I’d die if I was picky. Besides, I want Kiera to enjoy today.”
Her heart flip-flopped inside her chest. It couldn’t handle what Link just said. She tried to speak again, but no words would come to her. It would be the honest truth if she told them she wasn’t sure what she liked. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d gotten to eat warm pizza that hadn’t sat under a heat lamp at a gas station.
It took her a few minutes, but she managed to squeak out the truth. Both Zara and Link looked at her like they thought she was joking. Then, Link’s face crumpled. He knew there was no humor in her confessions. She’d given him an idea of what she’d lived through. This was just another peek into her past.
“You don’t know what kind of pizza you like?” Asher howled as he came rushing into the room. He slid in front of her with his socked feet and came to a stuttering halt.
Kiera just shrugged.
“That’s it!” Asher boomed. “We’re ordering every pizza on the menu!”
Kiera lurched to her feet, hands out. “Oh no, you don’t have to do anything like that!”
Zara laughed at her mate’s exuberance, leaned into Kiera, and whispered that Asher enjoys spending his fortune. Already, Asher was in another room and on the phone with the pizza place. Zara caught up to him, leaving Kiera and Link alone.
She sucked her teeth. “I didn’t want this.”
Link claimed the seat she vacated and spread his arms wide over the back of the couch. “What? You didn’t want to be the center of attention?”
She couldn’t stop the way her lips twisted. Link grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the couch. She fell beside him and sank into his body. An arm that had been on the back of the couch slipped and wrapped around her, pulling her closer.
“Is this okay?” he whispered, sounding breathless.
Link smelled like green growing things and the heat of sunshine. She nodded and burrowed her face into his shirt. The past two days had been the weirdest days of her life. Nothing about this clan of dragons worked like she expected. Her friend was no longer the woman she once knew. And now, a famous MMA fighter was ordering every pizza on the menu for her.
Everything was topsy-turvy and unfamiliar. Kiera was doing her best to navigate this weird world, but she felt like she was failing at every turn.
“This is so strange,” she muttered into his shirt, her fingers gripping the soft fabric like she had to hold on for her life.
His touch lazily trailed up and down her spine. Deep inside, she could feel her dragon purring. This was the most she’d ever seen of her dragon. The creature was so elusive, but Link drew it out of her time and time again. The panic it had brought with it during breakfast had subsided. The creature was more interested in the man stroking her back.
“This is the gentlest anyone has ever been with me.”
Link froze. He pulled back just enough to look at her with surprise. Kiera’s cheeks heated. She couldn’t believe she’d let that slip. It’d been only a thought in her head, but somehow it made it past her lips when nothing else would.
She thought Link would say more from the way his lips parted, but the front door opened and they both stilled. The scent of dragons rolled through the house. From where they sat, they could see the clan gathering in the foyer. Before either of them could run and hide, Asher slid into view.
His back was to Kiera and Link. Asher spread his arms wide to blockade the clan while he spoke.
“These two are my guests today. If any of you have any objections, you can turn your asses around right now. I don’t want any fighting to happen above ground.”
Asher laid down the law, and Kiera mistakenly thought the others would accept it and follow. Under Asher’s arm, Charlie met her gaze. The pink haired shifter’s lips thinned when she noticed Link’s arms around Kiera.
But before Charlie could say anything, Heath leapt at Asher. The two of them stumbled back. Picture frames tumbled from the wall. Link tightened his grip on Kiera, his whole body going tense.
“How dare you protect him!” Heath snarled the words.
Kiera thought the fight would grow out of control, but Asher was a trained fighter. He might be younger than most of the other dragons, but his movements were measured and precise. Before she knew it, Heath was on his back on the floor. Asher had him wrapped in some sort of
uncomfortable looking hold.
“Will you behave under my roof? Or do I have to kick you out?”
“When the hell did you learn to do this?” Heath asked, nearly breathless and obviously surprised.
“Just because I was a drunk fool when I first arrived doesn’t mean I drank away everything I learned over the past ten years. Or, did all of you forget that I made my money by fighting? Did you all fall back onto your memory of young Asher? I’m not that kid anymore.”
Asher let Heath go. Buffy was at his side, but there was such obvious conflict on her face that Kiera almost felt bad for her. Heath was clearly hot-headed. While Buffy wanted a chance to love her brother, she also had to deal with her angry mate. But the couples here weren’t like the dragons back in Washington. Buffy didn’t have to fear her mate’s anger.
Kiera hated the lack of structure here. She was confused by it. Unaware of what she should be doing at all times, Kiera felt adrift.
The arrival of the pizza guy and his very perplexed expression as he took in the foyer full of irritated dragons was a welcome distraction. Several of the shifters jumped on the chance to help the delivery guy, probably to escape the tension in the foyer.
The number of pizza boxes brought into the kitchen was astonishing. Asher took a break from kicking ass to sign the credit slip and even dug a wad of bills from his pocket for a tip. Kiera’s stomach rumbled like the delivery car as it ran away.
Link nudged her and told her to get food, but she was too afraid to mingle with the other shifters. The tension was still high. Everyone kept glancing at Link and whispering in hushed tones. This wasn’t going to go as well as Asher wanted. She could already feel it.
“You wait here,” Link whispered. “I’ll go get you some food.”
Kiera tried to stop him, but Link tossed her a wink and slipped away.
Link felt the best he had in days. That was no lie. His step felt like it had a spring in it and his muscles were limber for once. He wasn’t sure if it was the fight in the basement ring with Asher or the few moments he stole on the couch with Kiera. Just holding her made him feel invincible.
Which was why he didn’t think twice about wading into a sea of shifters who hated him. Heath was gone and so was Buffy, which disappointed Link a little. He felt bad for the way he kept treating his sister. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to get to know her, but the threat of her found family often left him unable to be open with her.
Those who stayed didn’t say much to him. One guy glared at him with piercing green eyes. Cole lurked in the corners like a shade, arms crossed over his chest. Jude had pulled out a chair and turned it to face her mate so that she could lift her feet and brace them on Cole’s knees, making an utter mockery of his aggressive stance.
Link read the room then ducked his chin and barged in. The prickle of gazes danced over his skin, but he didn’t answer any of them. This wasn’t about dominance. It wasn’t about proving himself just then. Kiera needed to eat. That was all that mattered.
This wasn’t like him. Link always had the need to be the biggest man in the room. The beast in him wouldn’t allow anything else. Save for right now, when his only thought was of Kiera. The quiet and sad dragon woman had captured his attention, and his beast’s, apparently.
Ready to race back to the living room, Link heard voices ahead. He paused just beyond the doorway. Kiera was in the middle of an argument with someone. He remembered the other voice. It was the pink-haired shifter who dragged Kiera away from him the first day.
“Do you really think you’re ready to get close to someone? After everything Norman put you through? Maybe you should see a therapist first. Attaching to a man like that, who could be a major threat, isn’t a good idea.”
Kiera’s growl was so soft, Link almost missed it. But it was there. Link wasn’t sure if it was the mention of this Norman that made her growl or if it was the fact that her friend was trying to push her away from Link again. Link wanted to believe it was about him.
“You might have lived with us, Charlie, but you didn’t go through half of what I endured. If I want to move on, then I have every right to do it with whomever I see fit. Just because you think you know everything, doesn’t mean you actually do.”
Kiera had become feisty. He could hear the steel core in her voice, forged by the horrors Norman put her through. At least, that was what he guessed. He blew a hot breath out through his nose and pledged vengeance on the man he didn’t know for reasons he didn’t know, either. Was it an ex-boyfriend? A brother?
“Do you even understand what happened to you?” Charlie hissed. “What Norman did to you wasn’t normal. And I doubt it was consensual. How many times did you leave his bedroom crying? Bruised?”
Link’s beast thrashed. He swayed on his feet, the world around him tilting as the creature in him struggled to break free. The target of his hatred wasn’t near. Link had to leash his dragon even though he, too, wanted to destroy this man named Norman.
Kiera’s quiet nature made so much more sense. She was submissive not because that’s who she was, but because someone forced her to be small and pliable. Link growled, vowing to himself that he would rip the man limb from limb. There would be nothing for anyone to find when he was done.
This wasn’t a part of himself that he wanted anyone to see. Least of all, this clan. He ducked into the living room, dropped the plate of pizza on the table like he hadn’t been listening to the whole conversation, and darted for the nearest door. Every set of eyes in the place was on him, but he couldn’t explain that he felt like he would burst. None of them would care to understand.
The tension in his limbs had returned. His shoulders were drawn tight again, everything he gained from the fight earlier now a thing of the past. Link wanted to throw his head back and howl. The beast was still clawing to get out. It was tearing through him. Hot pain marked his stomach, his chest.
If the creature escaped him now, the clan would never accept him. Was that even what he wanted anymore? Link would have been happy to scoop Kiera out of this mess and take off into the night. The beast only thought of her. All its attention was keyed into her.
But Link had a sister here. He couldn’t keep avoiding her. She was blood and someone determined to show him love no matter what. Wasn’t that what he wanted? The opportunity for it was here, all he had to do was survive his sister’s clanmates.
8
Kiera was stricken as she watched Link lurch out of the room. He’d dropped a plate heavy with pizza near her before racing away. Immediately, she thought something happened in the kitchen, but no one followed him out. If anything, everything seemed normal. The shifters were still rifling through the plethora of pizza boxes. Jude even had her mate playfully pinned in a corner.
Ice slid through her veins. Her jaw dropped when she realized what happened. Charlie seemed oblivious.
“What’s his problem?”
Kiera wanted to snap, but it wasn’t in her. She was the weakest in the room. Just talking back to Charlie had been pushing her limits. Unfortunately, Link had heard it all. The past Kiera tried so hard to hide had been uncovered. And he wasn’t happy about it.
He knew that she was broken goods now. He would never want to cuddle with her or share winks or take her out for breakfast again. Kiera didn’t know just how much she appreciated those small things until it was clear she would never have them back.
Link never belonged to her, but her heart ached for what she’d lost. When she collapsed onto the sofa and bit into the first pizza slice, it was tasteless. None of it mattered much to her. This was how her life would continue to play out. Because her horrible soul ruined everything.
Kiera needed to stop trying to be happy. It only hurt those around her. Like each time she pushed another woman into Norman’s view just to keep from going into his bedroom. She would never forgive herself for what she did. Not when she could have endured so much more and kept others from facing that kind of pain.
She could ha
ve done more, but she wasn’t strong enough to make a stand. It’d taken Charlie and her desire to escape to finally bring Norman’s reign to an end. Kiera never would have run away like that. She wouldn’t have defied Norman like that.
“I wanted you to be happy,” Charlie muttered.
Kiera would never know happiness for long. She would have to live with that. Some would call it a penance.
Before Kiera could tell Charlie the ugly truth, Asher slid into the living room. He dropped to the floor and folded his legs in front of himself. He asked her which pizza was her favorite. She’d only taken small nibbles from each, unable to savor any of them.
“That guy must really like you if he waded through the kitchen of doom to feed you. Everyone in there looked like they were going to implode.”
Maybe he liked her when he went in, but all chances were lost by the time he returned. She had to hold on tight to the small memories he’d given her. The moments they got to cuddle on the couch and the near kiss in the bathroom. Kiera craved more and more, a feeling she’d never had before, but that must have been part of her punishment.
For once, she wanted a man. She wanted to know what it would be like to be touched lovingly by someone who cared for her. That would never happen now.
The clan gathered in the living room now that Link was gone. She couldn’t handle how happy they all seemed without him. Despite Charlie’s protests, Kiera had to leave. This clan might fight, they might have disagreements, but Kiera could see the ways they loved each other. And those that weren’t a part of their family.
She’d never had someone order so much pizza just so she could taste them all to find her favorite. That wasn’t something people did for each other. Not in her world. She wished she could truly be a part of it, but her dragon begged her to find Link.
He was the one who deserved to experience that kind of love and happiness. He was the good person. She was a sham. The clan couldn’t see through her. If they knew what she was really like, they would hate her.
Link (Keepers Of The Lake Book 5) Page 7
