Dani shook her head. “No, I spoke too harshly in there. I didn’t mean what I said. I’d much rather this than whatever those guys had planned for me.” She shivered.
Reno’s wolf growled, rage and pure electricity pumping through his veins at the thought of those guys hurting her, of anyone hurting her.
It stung to know that he wasn’t normal, that he wasn’t like any other wolf who could just mate the woman he loved. No, deep down, Reno was part monster, and every day, that monster threatened to overtake him. And every day, he became a little edgier for fear of losing himself.
So why, right now, sitting here with Dani, did he feel calmer and happier than he had in years? Why did everything suddenly feel so right with her?
Mate, his wolf growled, more obstinate than ever.
Reno sighed and pushed away the thought. These feelings wouldn’t do him, or her, any good.
“I need to know about the past, Reno,” she said finally. “If you’re bringing me back into your life, we need to talk about everything.”
What good will that do?
He looked away. “Who said I was bringing you back into my life? I’m protecting you like when we were kids. That’s all this is.”
Dani’s eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you’d want a chance to explain everything.”
“What is there to explain? We were friends, we kissed, and that’s it.”
“As if,” she retorted. “You’re leaving out the whole part where you confessed your love to me, then left me and my mom behind and never contacted us except for one voicemail to say we were done forever. Or did you forget that?”
Reno winced. “I didn’t forget. I just…”
“Just what?”
He didn’t know what to say, so he shrugged, and she groaned and put her face in her hands in frustration.
“Stubborn mule. Why do you have to be so closed off?” she fumed.
The words stung. Mainly because they were true.
“I’m closed off?” he repeated. “You’re too open, digging into things that will get you hurt.”
“Some people are worth getting hurt for,” she retorted, standing up and dusting herself off. “I thought you were one of them, but I’m beginning to wonder, Reno. I really am.”
He stood up as well, frustrated at the whole stupid situation.
“It’s a shame too,” Dani added. “I was going to ask you to show me around Dragonclaw, but maybe I’m better off asking Gunnar or Diesel. They’re a little… intense and a bit quiet, but at least they aren’t trying to keep me in the dark.” She turned to leave.
“I wasn’t trying to—I was protecting you from…” Reno trailed off, then shook his head. “Never mind.”
She waited for a second, almost as if to see if he would finish his sentence, and when he didn’t, she huffed and walked around the corner.
Once her footsteps had faded into the distance, Reno cursed loudly and clenched his fist at his side, his nails digging into his palm. In the distance, lightning collided with the ground, sending thunder crackling across the plain.
Shit.
With the way things were going, he might need to take some of the stabilizer early, because being around Dani was making his heart race. The desire to claim her and his need to keep her away from danger were clashing more violently than ever, and he couldn’t sit still, so he stepped down the porch.
It was time to get some answers.
9
Night fell soon after Dani got back from her tour with Gunnar, and as she looked around the spare room they had offered her, she had to admit she was impressed with it.
It was like everything else at Dragonclaw: homey, roomy, and comfortable with a touch of southern charm.
Gunnar had been almost entirely silent as he showed her around the ranch, but there was something in his dual-colored eyes that had caught her attention, something like… interest?
Maybe she should just give up on Reno if he was going to keep acting protective one moment and pushing her away the next.
She shook her head and laughed ruefully at the thought. There was no way that she could do that. It wasn’t fair. He’d probably sacrificed a lot to be out here. After all, he’d left behind a comfortable life back in Granite Falls.
And he had rescued her twice, even if the rescues hadn’t been the most conventional. There was also the irksome fact that no one could compare to him, not to her.
Even a few hours later, she was still trying to process the fact that shifters really existed and that the boy she knew and loved had been a wolf all along.
If she hadn’t known that he was a wolf, there were probably a lot of other things that she didn’t know as well, and it didn’t help that Reno wasn’t making things easy either.
She stepped over and looked out the window for a second, eyeing what was visible of the ranch in the moonlight. It was lovely and beautiful, but it wasn’t the high, rich life she knew he had with his mysterious family that lived in mansions up in the mountains above Granite Falls.
That must have been part of the whole wolf thing. Funnily enough, Dani had never met anyone from his family. She’d just heard that they owned most of the town.
Still, before all of this, if she had weighed the possibility of the existence of shape-changing people against the chances of seeing Remi—Reno—again, she would have said the existence of shifters was far more likely.
A cool breeze blew by, and she shivered, closed her window, and walked back over to her bed. She sat down on it and pulled out her phone, aimlessly scrolling through some old photos in her online library.
After a few minutes, one caught her eye, and she clicked on it and smiled. It was of them back in their junior year of high school when they were part of the photography club.
Reno’s face was so young in the picture, and his eyes were brighter, happier, and innocent.
What happened to that boy?
Her face was different as well. She looked more reserved, more nervous, though she was smiling brightly in the photo.
Right as she flicked away from the picture, her phone dinged, heralding a text from her best friend, Sheila.
S: You okay? You weren’t at home when I stopped by to say hi.
Dani sighed. With everything going on, she’d completely forgotten to let Sheila know she’d be busy for a few days.
D: Sorry, I’m okay! Just taking an impromptu road trip for stock photos.
S: You sure? You being safe?
D: Of course, you know me.
S: Haha, I do, and that’s why I’m worried. Just keep me updated. I worry about you sometimes since you’re still new to the area.
D: I know. Thanks, Sheila.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Dani got up to get it, wondering who it could be. When she opened it a crack, she was surprised to see it was Diesel holding a bouquet of flowers, his bearded, handsome face oddly serious.
She frowned slightly. “For me?”
He nodded.
“Why? So I wouldn’t feel homesick?”
Diesel hesitated, then nodded again.
Dani couldn’t help but feel touched as she took the flowers and caught a whiff of the beautiful fragrances emanating from the bouquet.
“Thank you,” she said.
He nodded again, then grinned and disappeared down the hall without a single word.
Odd.
As she took the flowers from their bouquet and dropped them into a vase, she couldn’t help remarking at the slightly odd arrangement.
Another knock sounded on the door, and Dani laughed to herself as she walked over to get it, wondering if Dragonclaw was always this busy at night. Perhaps it was Gunnar with his own flower arrangement.
To her surprise, however, it was Reno, holding a small package and looking somewhat abashed.
Anger, leftover from their argument earlier today, rose in her chest, and she cleared her throat.
“What do you what?”
“I came to check on y
ou, see if you needed anything,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Dani pursed her lips. “Well, I’m fine, and I’m all settled in.”
“Okay… Can I come in?”
What?
Her eyes widened involuntarily. She and Reno… alone… in her room… at night. The thought sent nearly all of her frustration out the window and replaced it with something else.
Something tense and nervous that made her blush at his closeness. Maybe the boy she knew back then wasn’t gone after all. Spurred on by the hint of hope, she opened the door, and he stepped in and looked around for a second.
“What do you think of Dragonclaw so far?”
Dani ran a hand through her hair. “I love it here. It’s so different from the tall, cramped feeling of the Colorado mountains. There’s much more space out here.”
“True.” He nodded slowly, then handed her the small package, which she took and opened curiously.
Inside was a wide variety of things. A travel-size tube of her favorite brand of toothpaste, a sleep mask, and a box of thin mints—which was her favorite candy—among a few other things.
Reno sighed. “I’m sorry you had to be here on short notice, but I wanted you to feel a little more at home.”
Dani stared down at the package for a second, touched by his thoughtfulness. She’d received spare clothes and necessities from Sierra (Beck’s mate) and Marian, but she couldn’t help but be amazed by how much he remembered.
“You even remembered my sleep mask.”
Reno grinned, and she felt her heart skip a beat. “How could I not? After so many sleepovers, I know the second there’s a ray of sunshine, it wakes you up, you vampire.”
Dani laughed. “Vampire. That seems like so long ago. Remember when you fell off the roof and broke your arm? And somehow it was miraculously healed before the end of the week?”
“Wolf,” he said, shrugging.
They laughed together and bantered for a while longer, and Dani couldn’t help but think about how easy it was with him, at least when they weren’t arguing. During some moments, it was almost like he had never left.
Midway through a sentence, his eyes gravitated toward the flowers that Diesel had given her, and he scowled.
“Who gave you those? Mel? Dallas doesn’t like it when people mess with his garden.”
“Oh no, Diesel gave them to me.”
He let out what sounded like a low growl at that and stared down at the flowers for a second as if he could glare them out of existence.
“Why are you mad at the flowers?”
“It’s not the flowers. It’s the fact that they aren’t from me,” Reno grumbled to Dani’s surprise.
Now she got it. He was jealous. She’d seen him be kind, protective, quiet, loud, and everything in between but never jealous like he was now.
Looking at him, she had to admit that it was kind of hot.
“I don’t think he meant anything by it.”
“I’m sure he didn’t,” Reno replied a little too quickly.
Dani folded her arms. “Well, either way, it’s not like it’s any of your business, is it?”
He cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Instead, he held her gaze, his beautiful icy-blue eyes indecipherable. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. Her gaze was locked in his, and suddenly, memories of their hot kiss in the alley flashed through her mind, making her go bright red.
Dang it.
Dani wanted to repeat it, to go further. And looking at him, the way his tongue wet his bottom lip, the feeling was mutual.
He wanted her even if he refused to admit it. The thought was fiercely satisfying.
The question was: What did they do about it?
Almost as if in response, Reno looked away and walked toward the door. “I, um,” he mumbled. “I better go. If you need anything, ask me first.”
Hmph.
There he went, running from her again. Still, they were making progress, and the package he’d gotten her had been very thoughtful. And now at least she knew for sure that he didn’t hate her, so that was good.
“I’ll think about it,” she replied, shooting him a defiant glare.
Reno nodded, then cleared his throat, opened the door, and was gone. Without him, the room felt surprisingly empty.
Dani lay back on her bed, wondering what the heck had just happened. After he had left home, she’d thought her attraction to him would fade with time. But from what she’d just felt, the opposite was true.
The care and want she had for him had grown even stronger rather than diminishing.
But there was still so much she didn’t know. Who was it behind the scenes? What was the secret danger that made Reno seem so afraid to engage with her?
10
Reno breathed in the cool evening air as he helped Harrison, Beck, and the basilisks set up everything they needed for the group movie night.
Harrison had suggested it that morning as a way to relax after everything that had been going on.
After he set down a folding chair, Reno stopped to look around. He still hadn’t seen Dani since late the night before when he’d gone to her room.
Bad idea.
Everything had been going well. He’d been feeling comfortable, and she seemed to be warming up as well until he’d seen the stupid flowers and gotten jealous again.
Then their eyes had locked, and for a moment, he’d wanted to disregard all the reasons that they shouldn’t be together. He’d wanted to take her in his arms, taste her soft lips, and hold her curvaceous, wonderful body against his.
It was a good thing that he’d left when he did.
“By the way,” Reno asked, cocking an eyebrow at Harrison, who was chucking pillows and blankets into the back of his truck, “what movie are we watching?”
Harrison shrugged. “Not sure. I think Marian, Sierra, and Dani are picking a rom-com from Marian’s collection.”
“Another one?” Beck asked, his eyes lighting up as he leaned over the projector. “I enjoyed the hell outta the last one we watched.”
Gunnar, who was bringing out a few more chairs, frowned. “What’s rom-com?” he asked in that gravelly voice that still sounded unaccustomed to talking.
“Romantic comedy,” Reno said before realizing that the basilisk would probably have no idea what that was either. “It’s funny and often about someone finding their mate.”
At the word “mate,” both Gunnar and Diesel, who was helping Beck with the projector, perked up.
“I want to watch it,” Gunnar growled.
Diesel grunted in assent.
Just at that moment, however, Reno heard a few voices talking, and Marian, Sierra, and Dani came around the corner of the barn, chatting and laughing together.
Harrison walked and put an arm around Marian, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. “What’re we watching tonight?”
She smiled and held up a small plastic case. From where he was standing, Reno couldn’t tell what movie it was, not that he was focused on it.
No, his eyes were glued on Dani, who looked fantastic. She was wearing a pair of slim jeans that hugged her generous curves. Her dark hair was down, falling around her face, and she was wearing glasses, which somehow accentuated the green in her eyes and only made her look more adorable.
She was always adorable, even when she was mad at him. Especially when she was mad at him.
“Bridget Jones’s Diary,” Marian said. “It was Dani’s suggestion. It’s a classic.”
“Good choice.” A familiar voice rang out from the other side of the barn, and then Dallas and his mate, Mel, stepped out of the shadows.
“Ah, Dallas, glad you could make it,” Beck said gruffly, clapping the stoic tiger on the shoulder.
Dallas just nodded quietly, and while Mel caught up with Sierra and Marian, Dani walked over to Reno.
A wave of nervousness went through him when she got close, but he covered it with an easy smile.
“Sleep
well?”
She laughed. “Yes, thanks to you. I can never sleep without my mask.” She nodded at Dallas and Mel. “Who are they?”
“Dallas is a tiger shifter, and that’s his mate, Mel,” Reno explained. “You haven’t seen them yet because they’ve been busy building their own little homestead a few miles away. They only got married a few weeks ago.”
She nodded like that made sense, then leaned over and squeezed his arm. “Bridget Jones’s Diary. Brings back memories, doesn’t it?”
Reno laughed. “It does. I remember staying up all night at your place to watch it when we were kids. In fact, I recall you dragging me over.”
“I did not,” she retorted.
“Did too.”
“Did not.”
Realizing she wouldn’t be dissuaded, he laughed and shrugged. She could be stubborn at times, but it was also one of the things he loved about her.
And there was no doubting it. She was his one and only, and even though they could never be together, was it so wrong to enjoy her scent, her touch, and the way she made him feel, if only for a fleeting moment?
“We watched a lot of movies when we were little, didn’t we?” Reno said reminiscently.
Dani nodded. “We did, on VCR when we were really little.” She wrinkled her nose. “Now I feel old.”
“As if. You’re just as young and beautiful as ever.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Thanks. You going to finally tell me what’s going on?”
“Not a chance.”
To his surprise, she just shrugged, seemingly nonplussed by his refusal.
“You aren’t mad about it?” he asked, giving her a curious look.
“I’m not happy about it, but at this point, I don’t see any reason to fight over it. For now, I’m just happy to see you.”
Warmth spread through Reno’s chest at that, and he reached down, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze.
Damn, even their hands fit perfectly.
She looked down at their interlocked fingers, then back up at him, and smiled for a second. He released his grip as they walked over to join the group where everyone was chatting and picking out snacks and drinks from large containers next to Harrison’s truck.
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