by Liv Rider
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The cover of Wedding Dragon was designed by Camberion.
More M/M Paranormal Romance by Liv Rider
The Vampire’s Werewolf Bodyguard. What happens when an out-of-control werewolf is hired to guard his immortal enemy?
The Werewolf’s Fae Mate (BlackEdge Pack Book 1) He always wondered where he came from. He just never expected the answer to include pointy ears, magical powers, and a six-foot-six werewolf sweeping him off his feet.
The Broken Faewolf’s Mate (BlackEdge Pack Book 2) Stuck in wolf form since he was a child, Aidan needs to learn how to be a man again. But can he persuade the pack’s newest member to embrace his inner wolf at the same time?
Hunter Omega. Hunting werewolves is hard. Falling in love with one is harder. When childhood crushes reunite, fate pulls them together—but their secrets might still tear them apart.
The Sun Dragon’s Mate. He never believed he was destined to find a true mate—until one touch changed everything.
Angel’s Fall (Immortal Mates Book 1) The angels exiled him and stripped him of everything he held dear. Now they want his help—and they’ve sent one gorgeous angel to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
The Captive Incubus (Immortal Mates Book 2) 3000-year-old incubus Shay never thought he’d want anything more than superficial hookups—until he’s magically bound to warlock Alex. The problem? Alex is holding him captive for a band of vampires out for his blood.
Protector Dragon (Lewiston Dragons Book 1) Born human in a family of shifters, Joel’s been avoiding shifters ever since he moved away. But a chance meeting with Thomas, a dragon shifter, turns Joel’s safe little world upside down.
Halloween Dragon (Lewiston Dragons Book 2) Cameron loves nothing more than Halloween. Parker loves nothing more than his job. Finding common ground is hard, even before Cameron learns Parker is a shifter. How can they find their way back to each other?
Wild City Life. In the ruins of a city once ruled by humans, only two packs of shifters remain. Can two rivals work together against a common enemy before all is lost again?
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Special Sneak Preview!
Protector Dragon
By Liv Rider
There was loud applause from the central hall, signaling the end of the speeches.
As expected, the first guests came in only a few minutes later. They were more animated now, although Joel noticed that their excited chatting suddenly fell silent when they entered the room. At least more shifters than before actually looked at the two of them and were polite as they got something to eat and drink. He wondered what the speeches had been about. Orders to be nice to the human staff?
Even though it was busy, he kept an eye out for the hot guy. He’d been pretty tall, even for a shifter, and Joel knew he’d be able to pick him from a crowd in an instant. His heart sank when things grew quieter as everyone returned to the central hall to eat and the blond still hadn’t shown up.
It was for the best, he reminded himself. He was a human, not a shifter, and he didn’t want anything to do with shifters anyway. Whoever that guy was, he’d have no interest in Joel.
But when the man walked in, Joel found himself smiling back automatically anyway. It had been quiet for a few minutes and Claire was already taking stock while cleaning up a few things. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, please!” The man smiled at Joel, and there was something oddly intense about his eyes.
“Well, we do have plenty of options.” Joel nodded at the tray of remaining sandwiches.
“I was wondering if I could talk to you.” His eyes were on the food, but Joel had the odd feeling the man was paying more attention to him than the tuna sandwiches.
“Um, if it’s about the food you should talk to Claire.” His palms were getting sweaty again.
The guy’s bright eyes met his again. “It’s not about the food.”
His voice was low, and Joel felt hot all over. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. He told himself he was being ridiculous. The guy’s tone hadn’t even been suggestive. He was just talking quietly because he was being polite. Besides, he was a shifter. He couldn’t be flirting with Joel.
He hoped his face wasn’t red. “Uh, sure. I guess—what’s it about?” he managed. Dammit, he’d managed whole sentences before, so why couldn’t he do that now? He looked at Claire, who was humming to herself as she rearranged the muffin display. Hopefully she was too focused on that to notice anything awkward going on.
The blond leaned across the table, glancing at Claire before looking at Joel again. “I think it’s better to talk about it outside.”
“Okay,” Joel said, too surprised by the guy’s sudden closeness. His brain kicked in a few seconds later. Wait, why did he want to talk outside?
The blond smiled in a way that had Joel’s knees feel unsteady underneath him. “In front of the building?”
“Sure.” He’d follow this guy to the moon if he kept smiling at Joel like that.
“All right, see you there.” With that, the blond grabbed a sandwich and walked away again.
Joel blinked, his heart still racing in his chest. What was going on? He had never reacted to a guy like this, and there had been plenty of cute and hot guys coming into Hampton’s Café. Why was this guy making Joel’s stomach flutter and his heart race?
“What did he want to talk about?”
He started at Claire’s voice. “What?” He hadn’t noticed the older woman sidling up to him.
Claire was still looking at the door where the guy had left through. “Was it about the food? Did he have any complaints?”
Of course she was worrying over that. “No. No, he just wanted to talk to me.”
“I didn’t know you had friends at the event. It’s fine if you want to go and talk to him. I can manage on my own here for a few minutes.”
“He’s not a friend.”
Her eyebrows rose at that. “Oh?”
His cheeks reddened. “I, um, I think he was flirting with me?” Although he couldn’t be. He was a shifter. Shifters didn’t flirt with humans. There had to be something else.
Claire smiled. “Well, you know how I feel about flirting with our customers, but I guess this is a little different from working at the café. Like I said, if you want to go and talk to him for a few minutes, and exchange phone numbers or something, that’s fine. So long as you are back after a few minutes.”
&n
bsp; Joel nodded, still feeling flustered. “It won’t take long.” He removed his apron before walking out into the central hall.
All he wanted to know was why the guy was so eager to talk to him. It had to be something besides flirting.
The only other option made him feel like a fist had wrapped around his stomach. The guy knew about Joel and his parents. The thought was enough to make him freeze in the middle of the hall. His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked around, half-expecting someone to point to him and say, ‘there’s Joel Davies, the ungrateful runaway from Barnhill.’
Nothing happened, and he made himself walk outside. If this guy knew about him, ignoring him wouldn’t make the problem go away. Maybe if he talked to the guy, he could convince him not to mention it to his parents.
“There you are!” The blond was leaning against the wall next to the door, enjoying the sun. “Great sandwich, by the way.”
“I’ll pass it on.” Joel stepped back as the guy moved closer. “What did you want to talk about?” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, trying not to look as nervous as he felt.
“Anything,” the guy said, smiling. “But I’ll start with an introduction. Hi, I’m Thomas Rollins.” He held out his hand.
Joel stared at him. Thomas Rollins. He remembered the name from looking into the local shifter council. This guy was the Keeper of the Peace.
There hadn’t been any pictures of the council or the Keeper on the website that Joel had found, but he’d assumed that they would all be in their forties or older. This man looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties.
He was also still holding out his hand.
Joel shook it, hoping he didn’t notice Joel’s sweaty palms. “Nice to meet you.”
It made sense that a Keeper of the Peace was aware of some runaway from Barnhill. His parents or the shifter council from Barnhill had probably sent his name and photo to Keepers of the Peace in the area to keep an eye out for him. Still, even if this guy knew who Joel was, he still wasn’t going to confirm it by giving him his full name.
Maybe he could play dumb and pretend he wasn’t Joel Davies. He hadn’t worn a name tag on his apron, since Claire had decided it wouldn’t be necessary.
“Nice to meet you too.” Thomas frowned slightly as he released Joel’s hand.
“Anything else you wanted to talk about?” Joel put a polite smile on his face and decided he would act like he’d never even heard of Barnhill if Thomas wanted to bring it up. His heart was racing, and part of him wanted to excuse himself and go back inside. But if he did, he’d never know how much Thomas knew.
“Oh, plenty of things, like what your favorite movie is, or your favorite food, or your favorite, uh, anything really…” Thomas trailed off and Joel was surprised to see his cheeks flush as he coughed. “But I can’t stay here too long, I’ve got to go and mingle soon.”
His answer only confused Joel more. Why would a Keeper want to know his favorite movie? Was he flirting? Maybe he didn’t know about Barnhill after all. The fist around his stomach started to loosen and it felt easier to breathe. “My boss wants me back soon too.”
“Of course she does.” Thomas nodded in understanding. “Then I guess what I’d really like to talk about is wolves.”
Joel stared at him, the fist around his stomach tighter than before. He knew. Thomas knew. “Wolves?” he managed, hoping he sounded surprised or confused. Anything but worried. “Why?”
“I think you know why.” Thomas raised his eyebrows significantly. He gestured at the hall and the people walking around, chatting to each other. “You know what this event is for, right?”
He didn’t really. He just knew it had something to do with the local shifter council, but he wasn’t going to tell Thomas that. “Sure, it’s for a charity.” His voice was trembling, dammit. He had to convince Thomas he didn’t know anything about shifters or wolves.
Thomas was quiet for a moment as he looked at Joel. “How long have you been in Lewiston?”
“My whole life,” he lied. If Thomas wanted to check if the timelines added up, Joel wasn’t going to help him do that. “Born and raised!”
“No, you weren’t.” Thomas’ voice was firm.
How did he know—oh no.
He should’ve remembered, but he’d been too worried and nervous, and he hadn’t been around shifters in years. Dragon shifters were amazing at reading people, so good that some shifters thought they were telepathic. Of course Thomas knew Joel was lying. Great, his plan to play dumb wouldn’t work. What was he supposed to do now?
“I’d like you to be honest with me.”
Thomas sounded so friendly, so kind, but Joel shook his head. He didn’t want to go back to Barnhill. He couldn’t. He had a life here, a job, friends, colleagues… He wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from him, no matter how nice they were being.
“What’s wrong?” Thomas moved closer, putting a hand on Joel’s arm and sounding genuinely worried.
Part of him wanted to tell Thomas everything. How his own family had treated him. How he’d been ignored and ostracized in his home town. How no one had cared about him as a teenager. He wanted to tell Thomas things he hadn’t told anyone, absolutely convinced that Thomas would understand, even help him.
But he wouldn’t. He was a shifter, a Keeper of the Peace. He wouldn’t take Joel’s side.
Joel stepped back, shrugging the hand off his arm and feeling unsettled. “I’m fine here,” he insisted. That was true, at least.
“But what’s wrong?” Thomas’ eyes were concerned as he looked at Joel.
He wished Thomas didn’t sound so worried. If he had sounded angry or demanding, Joel could’ve handled that. He was used to that from shifters. He wasn’t used to someone looking at him like Thomas was, as if nothing else in the world mattered. But Thomas couldn’t care about him, not like that.
He had to get out of here. He needed a clear mind to think about how he was going to deal with this, and he couldn’t think while Thomas was looking at him like that. “Nothing, leave me alone!”
Thomas’ mouth fell open, looking shocked as Joel hurried back inside. “I just wanted to—”
Joel didn’t hear what he wanted, not over the noise of people chatting in the central hall. He headed for the men’s toilets, locking a cubicle behind him and leaning against the wall. If he went back to Claire right now, she would want to know why he was upset, and he wasn’t sure if he could handle her concern without breaking down. He closed his eyes, focusing on breathing in and breathing out.
Once he had his breathing under control, he replayed the conversation with Thomas in his mind. He hadn’t said his name, and hadn’t said anything to confirm he knew about shifters. Thomas had asked how long he’d lived in Lewiston and when Joel had lied, Thomas had just asked him to be honest with him. He hadn’t thrown the truth in Joel’s face. Maybe Thomas only suspected Joel was the runaway from Barnhill, but wasn’t certain. After all, if he knew for sure who Joel was, why ask what was wrong?
That still niggled away at Joel. Why had Thomas asked him what was wrong?
The cynical side of him thought it was a ploy to get him to open up so Thomas could confirm his identity, but another part of him clung to the hope that Thomas’ concern had been genuine.
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