A Mate to Protect (Dragons of Mount Aterna Book 3)

by Riley Storm

  “Are you okay mommy?”

  She smiled. “Of course baby. I’m the bartender. Nobody wants to hurt me.”

  “Good. Because if they did, I’d beat them up,” Liam said fiercely.

  “I know baby,” she said, stroking his face. “I know. Now go back to sleep, okay? Everything’s alright.”

  His mouth opened in a big yawn and then he rolled into his side. “Goodnight mom.”

  “Goodnight darling,” she said.

  Thirty-seconds later his breathing changed, indicating he was back asleep. God bless kids who could just drift off like that.

  Anne spent another minute watching over her precious sleeping child, her miracle, then she retreated from the room, shutting the door behind her and heading back downstairs.

  “Oh god!” she yelped as she entered the bar only to find the giant of a man standing there in complete silence.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, looking awkward.

  “How did you get back in?” she asked. “I locked the door.”

  “Um.” He pointed helplessly at the giant hole where the front window had been.

  “Right. Of course. Um.”

  In all truth, Anne hadn’t expected to see him again. So she said as much. His big brown eyebrows went up.

  “I gave my word, Anne,” he said solemnly. “When I give it, I keep it.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  “I’m not the best person in the world,” he said quietly. “In fact I’m a downright screwup. But I won’t lie to you. I won’t purposefully hurt you. Ever.”

  That was a nice sentiment, but why did she care? He was just a bar patron. In fact…

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Kal,” he said.

  She waited for him to continue. “Just Kal?”

  “Just Kal.”

  “Well Just-Kal, you’re back. What’s the plan now?” she asked, crossing her arms, staring around her bar, despair starting to give way to anger.

  Not at him, but at life in general. All she wanted to do was give her child a good upbringing, a good life. That was why she’d left his father nearly two years before, taking the savings she’d managed to accrue, pawning her wedding ring, and moving across the country. Several times. She’d had hoped that this was it, her final stop. But apparently she was wrong yet again.

  “Here.”

  She returned her attention to Kal. He was holding out an envelope. A large envelope.

  “What’s this?” she asked, even though she had an idea. When her fingers closed around it, she knew she was right. It was cash, a thick stack of it. Looking into the envelope she gasped when she realized it was full of hundreds, not twenties.

  “That’s for you,” Kal said calmly, as if handing over what had to be thousands upon thousands of dollars of cash was nothing for him.

  “I…Kal, this is a lot of money,” she said quietly, her hands shaking.

  “Three thousand,” he confirmed. “I’d have taken out more, but I hit my daily limit for cash at an ATM. Tomorrow when they open I can go to a teller and get more.”

  “More?” she croaked.

  “Whatever it takes to fix this up,” Kal said.

  “I can’t take this,” she said, pushing the envelope back into his unwilling hands. “It’s too much.”

  Anne wanted to, lord knows she was tempted. But that was a lot of money, and it wasn’t all Kal’s fault. Plenty of others had contributed. She couldn’t let him foot the entire bill.

  Kal eyed the envelope, then tossed it onto the bar itself. “It’s for you,” he said quietly.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, still in shock that she’d turned down all that money.

  “Making it right,” he said quietly.

  “Making it right,” she repeated. “Making what right, Kal? What aren’t you telling me?”

  It was a Hail Mary attempt, but the way he jerked in surprise at her question told Anne that she was on the right track. There was more to this than he was letting on.

  Kal sighed. “This should never have happened. I could have put those buffoons on their backs in ten seconds without damaging anything but their egos. Instead I toyed with them, taking out some of my own…issues, on them. I shouldn’t have done that, and your bar suffered as result of it.”

  Tilting her head slightly Anne looked up at him. It was a long way up, but it was, now that she was taking some time to look at it, a nice face, all things considered. Very handsome. Easy to relax around.

  “You sure you didn’t hit your head harder than you think?” she asked. “There were a lot of them, and one of you. Thinking that you could have ended it quickly sounds like something a guy with a concussion would say.”

  Kal laughed. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He sobered quickly. “If I’d cared more about your situation and not just my own, this never would have happened.”

  “Right.”

  “Besides,” he said, some of that dark pain returning to haunt his face. “The cash is better off with you than me anyway. I’d just blow it on more booze.”

  Anne wanted to reach out, to say something. To tell him that it would be okay. She wanted to invite his confidence, but he wasn’t ready for that. Hell, she wasn’t ready for that.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly, not sure what else to say.

  “You’re very welcome. I need to make amends. This is the start,” Kal said, nodding his head once, as if that made it legally binding.

  “The start?”

  “Yes. I told you, tomorrow I’ll get more from the teller. I’ll have it here bright and early, then we can get started.”

  Anne shook her head, holding up her hands. “Whoa there. Wait a minute. What do you mean by we can get started?”

  Kal grinned. “I’m going to help you with the repairs as well. Free of charge. That way you can put the money to even better use, and hopefully reopen sooner.”

  Anne just stared.

  What was she supposed to say to that?

  Chapter Six

  Kal

  He pulled up in front of the bar bright and early, as promised. A pair of envelopes sat on the seat next to him. In the back he looked at all the boxes. That should be all the tools they would need, but he would willingly go back to the store to get more if need be.

  Kal had more, but they weren’t available to him. Not anymore at least. To get them he’d have to go back to the Clan Aterna house. He no longer thought of it as home. It had been nearly four weeks since he’d last been there. The day that Viko had thrown him out of the Gate Guard in disgrace.

  Since then he’d been staying in the mountains or, if the weather was ugly, Kal had ventured to his treasure vault. Most nights he just fell asleep in the forest somewhere. It was easier that way, and he didn’t have to drive.

  “Stop it,” he growled at himself as he got out of the truck. He didn’t need to be thinking about the past anymore. It didn’t matter, it was behind him.

  “Stop what?” a soft feminine voice asked from behind him.

  Kal spun to see Anne standing in the open doorway, leaning on the doorframe, a lazy smile on her face. Now there was a sight for sore eyes.

  “Well good morning to you,” he said, flashing her a smile and hoping to change the subject.

  “You’re back,” she said, pointing out the obvious.

  “I told you I would be,” he said. “I keep my word.”

  Anne smiled for real this time, and her entire face lit up as she did. Kal felt his stomach do a backflip. What the heck was going on with him? He had to focus, had other things to do than flirt with the bartender. He wasn’t Jake.

  “Now this is for you,” he said, shoving the other two envelopes into her hands before she could react.

  “Kal,” she gasped. “No. This is too much.”

  “Stop,” he said, with a bit more force than he intended. “I told you, this is a better purpose for this money than me just drinking it all away. Besides I have…enough.”

/>   He didn’t want to say much more, didn’t want to brag. Although he’d been thrown from the Gate Guard, the rest of Kal’s decisions had been his own. He could go back to Mount Aterna, he could return to his family. Staying in Five Peaks and getting drunk every night, that was his choice.

  That meant his bank accounts were still open as well. The money necessary to repair her bar, it was nothing to him. But he wanted Anne to understand he was doing this because he wanted to, because it was the right thing to do, not because he could throw this kind of money around like pocket change if he so desired.

  Like any dragon, Kal wasn’t big on spending lots of money. He preferred to collect it.

  This way though, he was going to not only get her bar fixed up, but he was also going to be able to spend a lot of time with her. Kal still wasn’t entirely sure why he wanted that so much, but every time he thought about it he wanted to grin from ear to ear. She just had that effect on him.

  Plus, maybe if he did a really great job fixing her bar, then Anne would see that he was more than just a drunk. That he wasn’t a failure. He just had to do this properly. Without screwing up.

  And the first step in that was showing up early, on time, like he’d said he would. So far, so good.

  “Question,” he said, going into the bed of his truck and grabbing up a couple of boxes in his arms.

  “What’s that?” she asked, moving out onto the sidewalk to hold open the bar door for him as he walked inside.

  “Are there any changes you want done? Anything you’d like different?”

  “Ummm.”

  He set the tools down on the counter. So far she hadn’t commented on the fact that they were all brand new, but he was sure it would happen eventually.

  “Now is the chance,” he said, looking around the ruined bar. It looked even worse in the morning. Several parts of the ceiling were broken and hanging down, two of the walls had human sized indents in them. There were multiple smashed and broken tables and chairs. The front window was gone. Even the floor was majorly scratched up in places.

  This was going to be a bigger job than he’d first thought.

  I can do this though. I know I can!

  “I hadn’t really thought about it,” she admitted, tapping her chin. “Changes sound expensive though.”

  Kal shook his head. “This isn’t about cost, Anne. This is about what you want.”

  What she wants? Why do you care so much about what she wants?

  Kal’s mind was a confused whirlwind of guilt about his part in destroying her bar and his sudden desire to provide everything he could for Anne. He knew that, no matter what he did, he would still never be good enough for someone like her.

  “Well that’s a nice thought Kal, but trust me, it’s always about the money,” she said with a soft smile in his direction. “I don’t want to spend more of your money than absolutely necessary, despite your generosity.”

  Kal’s heart fluttered, but he quickly fought the sensation down, getting himself under control. “Right. I understand.”

  “Well. I don’t know what the plan is,” she said. “But I’m going to go get changed into something appropriate to help, and also make sure Liam is on his way to school. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Anne disappeared into the back, while Kal started unpacking boxes and assembling the power tools. They would all have to be charged, and he didn’t want Anne to think him incompetent when she got back.

  After his second trip through the rubble—really he should be cleaning up instead of unpacking tools—Kal heard a noise from the back of the bar.

  “That was fast,” he said, looking up.

  It wasn’t Anne in the doorway though. It was a small human being. Male, perhaps ten years old, wearing a backpack with some cartoon characters on it. His green eyes were looking up at Kal with open disdain.

  “Oh, hi there,” he said awkwardly. “You must be Liam.”

  The child just looked at him. Relentless little thing he was. Kal stared back, the two taking measure of one another.

  “Why are you here?”

  Kal lifted his eyebrows incrementally. That wasn’t the response he’d expected.

  “I’m helping your mother fix the place up,” he said, leaning on the bar, giving the child a longer, more appraising look.

  Although Kal had heard Anne talk about Liam, he’d never actually met the child before. He was always upstairs, never down in the bar while it was open. This was the first time he’d gotten a look at him. Anne had never mentioned Liam to him directly, but he’d overheard her talk about him proudly to other patrons.

  “Were you one of the ones who broke it?” Liam asked, giving his best glare.

  Kal tried not to laugh. He respected Liam’s wariness about other men and his mom. It was obvious to see that he was protective of his mother, though Kal felt there was more to it than normal. Something else….

  “Yes,” he said at last. “Which is why I’m here. It’s the responsible thing to do, to help fix what I broke.”

  Liam looked out over the bar. “Is that the only reason you’re here?”

  Kal frowned. “Yes.” What did Liam mean by that?

  The child looked up at him, then sighed, shaking his head. “Whatever. I have to go to school.”

  He doesn’t believe me, Kal thought to himself as the small backpacked figure disappeared out the back of the bar. Why didn’t he believe me? I wasn’t lying.

  At that moment Anne came back downstairs. She’d donned a white undershirt with an oversized blue & black plaid button-up overtop, the bottom of which she’d tied tight around her waist. Dark, clearly worn blue-jeans completed the ensemble. Her black hair was, as usual, tied back in a ponytail, front bangs hanging loose.

  “Well, how do I look?” she asked, spreading her arms out wide.

  Kal grinned. “Like you belong.”

  “Great. Let’s get to work!” she said, clapping her hands and gazing around the bar, slowly looking more and more lost. “What do I do now?”

  Kal snickered. He was going to enjoy working with her.

  His mind filtered back to Liam’s last question.

  I wasn’t lying…unless I’ve been lying to myself?

  Chapter Seven

  Anne

  “What is this thing called?” she asked, hefting the tool Kal had just put into her hands.

  It was black and yellow plastic and rather heavy. The oblong shape had a clear handle she grasped in one hand. Another part of the device rested in her other palm so she could hold it. At the end of it a blade around eight-inches or so extended away from her.

  “The slang term is a sawzall,” Kal said. “Because it saws everything. Or saws all you put it to.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  Anne was so far out of her depth, and she knew it. At least Kal was taking it easy on her. He seemed to be enjoying showing her some tricks of the trade—she hadn’t known he was into construction, but he seemed very comfortable around everything—and truthfully she was enjoying learning from him.

  Not that I’m ever going to use this in real life.

  So why was she bothering now?

  Originally Anne had told herself that she was going to help out because Kal was putting up so much money to repair the bar, and she felt it was only right of her to help. After all, it wasn’t like she could do much of anything else. Plus, this way she could save some money by not hiring others to help. More money saved meant more money she could put toward rent.

  They had spent the morning cleaning up as much loose debris as they could, but now they were on to the parts too mangled or large to haul out themselves.

  “So I’m going to saw something?” she asked, making the connection.

  Kal smiled. “Yep. You’re going to cut up these posts and things, so that they come off easily.” He pointed at the wall, where several large studs were partially secured to the wall.

  “Okay, I can do that.”

  Anne didn’t think she could do it. But
she wasn’t about to let Kal know that. Not to mention she wanted to try at least once.

  “Line up the blade with where you want to cut, then pull the trigger,” Kal said, stepping back.

  He lowered his safety glasses into place, then reached over. Anne stood still as he lowered hers down as well. She glanced over at him after he had done that, giving him a smile. There was something tender about what he’d just done that she couldn’t shake. It had been so casual, so effortless.

  He was thinking about her.

  “Okay, when you’re ready.”

  She nodded, focused on the task, lifting the heavy saw-it-all or whatever it was called and pulled the trigger.

  The machine wobbled heavily in her arms and she struggled to bring it under control.

  “Easy,” Kal said from next to her, but he didn’t leap to her aid as she expected. Instead he waited, letting her figure it out and make an honest attempt. That was a surprise. She’d been ready to have the tool stripped from her grasp and told that maybe she should do something else.

  Gritting her teeth in determination now that she knew it was all on her, Anne lifted the tool and placed the blade on the wood. It bucked in her hands.

  “I’ve got this,” she said tautly, focused on the blade as it chewed through the wood with more ease than expected.

  She guided it to the next one in line and that one fell even swifter.

  “This is fun!” she said, smiling. Her arms were getting tired though, holding it up above her shoulders like that, and she released the trigger. It slowly came to a halt, and she gave it back to Kal.

  “Good job,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Thanks. I’ll never be in the construction trades though. Goodness, my arms are shaking already.”

  “I think you did just fine,” Kal said, looking down at her as she rolled her shoulders, the muscles unused to that sort of strain.

  Anne looked up, meeting his eyes, staring into their wintry depths. Some might describe such color eyes as being icy, cold and distant, because of the natural distaste for the winter element they represented, but Anne didn’t think so.