“Damn hooligans,” Beck griped gruffly, shoving the firearm back into its holster. “I ain’t the gunslinger of Dragonclaw, so don’t make pull my gun.”
At the same time, Harrison stepped out on the porch, brows furrowing. “What’s going on? I heard a gunshot.”
Beck nodded at the basilisks and Reno. “I dunno, but I heard a scuffle happening and thought I’d come to investigate. Then I see the basilisks fighting with Reno.”
“Is that true?” Harrison asked, folding his arms sternly as he stepped down the porch.
Gunnar had the good sense to at least look somewhat ashamed while Diesel held his head high.
“I trying to protect mate,” he said.
“She’s not your mate. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Reno growled, walking over and putting an arm around her. “She’s mine.” He turned to her. “Right?”
Dani nodded slowly. She still wasn’t sure what this whole mate thing was, but she knew she wanted to be with Reno; that was for sure.
“There,” Reno said, but neither of the basilisks seemed deterred. If anything, Diesel looked even more frustrated than before. His usually blue eyes had gone red.
“Not this again,” Harrison said, looking to the sky and praying for patience.
Beck walked over to the basilisks, shaking his head. “Look, I get that y’all want mates, but you can’t keep calling every woman you lay eyes on a mate! It doesn’t work that way!”
Out of the corner of Dani’s eyes, she could see Ajax watching from a distance, his red gaze calm as he appraised the situation, seemingly feeling no need to become involved. The way he watched was unsettling, and she still didn’t know what to make of him. He’d barely said one word since he’d arrived.
Considering how determined basilisks were to get “mates,” she was surprised that he hadn’t joined in.
“He’s only wolf,” Diesel said, pointing angrily at Reno. “He can’t protect.” He stepped forward again as if to get past, but Dani could tell by the tensing of Reno’s hard back muscles that he’d had enough.
She leaned up to grab him and tell him to calm down, but it was too late. Reno stepped forward. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and the air buzzed with energy as lightning flew from his outstretched palm, hitting Diesel and sending him flying back into the dirt.
Had she seen that right? Reno had just electrocuted Diesel.
When did he learn how to do that?
The better question was: How could he do it? How could a person shoot lightning from their hand like a freakin’ wizard or something?
Everyone else also seemed to be sharing in her surprise. Gunnar’s right iris had turned back to blue, and Diesel was standing up, seemingly more miffed by the fact that he would be denied his chance to protect a human than he was that he had been struck by lightning that had appeared from nowhere.
Beck was the first one to break the silence. “Well, that’s one way to keep those thickheaded bastards in check,” he said, chuckling heartily.
Harrison, however, seemed less amused by the situation. “Inside,” he commanded, scowling. “I want some answers. Now.”
As everyone trooped inside, Reno’s gaze met hers, and she cocked an eyebrow curiously, but he just shrugged.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Beck shake his head and mutter something to Dallas about putting the basilisks’ protective instincts to better use somehow once they learned to speak better.
But that didn’t really matter at the moment. All Dani wanted to know was what the heck was going on with Reno.
19
Reno silently cursed himself and his stupid, jealous impulses as he sat down at the table in the Dragonclaw homestead. Nearly everyone was here now. Harrison, Beck, and both of their mates had joined, while Mel, Dallas’s mate, was back at their house.
Then, of course, both of the basilisks.
He really hadn’t expected to go off on them, but the second they’d shown their interest in his mate, he’d just flown off the handle.
He really wasn’t feeling himself these days, but then, being so close with Dani in ways he’d never imagined possible only a week ago was a shock in and of itself.
It also probably didn’t help that he had been having to ration out his last dose of stabilizer, and his resistance to the side effects of the dragon blood was growing thin.
Once everyone was seated, Harrison took off his hat and placed it on the table, looking very done with everything. “All right, talk.”
Reno looked up. He’d never seen the cowboy dragon so stern, but then again, Reno was the relative newcomer of their dragon crew that included Dallas, Clancy, and Beck, so Harrison had reason to be suspicious of him.
Even though he’d been with them for years, they’d known nothing of his past at all. And while they all had secrets, none of them had gone so far as to forge a brand-new identity. At least not that he knew.
“Where should I start?” Reno asked.
“Start with how the hell you made goddamn lightning fly from your fingertips.”
Where to begin?
He paused, gathering his thoughts. There wasn’t much sense hiding the obvious at this point. “Most wolf alpha powers are fairly straightforward,” Reno explained. “Some have strength or speed, if they even have one at all. Alpha wolves with higher breeding, however, can often do more complex things like put people to sleep or reflect powers back at others.”
Beck nodded slowly. “What’s yours?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Reno could see Dani watching curiously. He was surprised to see there was no judgment there.
He had wanted to tell her earlier today but hadn’t known how, and in front of everyone, after zapping a basilisk, certainly hadn’t been what he had been imagining.
“I’m… resistant,” he said finally.
“What does that mean?” Dallas asked, to Reno’s surprise. The quiet tiger never spoke.
“It means I’m able to withstand many things that most wolves can’t, if that makes sense.”
“And the lightning?” Harrison asked.
“That’s part of it,” Reno said, “but it’s complex. My alpha power isn’t shooting lightning. That comes from something else entirely.” He breathed in deeply, then sighed. “It’s made possible by the dragon blood in me. Blood that came from the topaz dragon.”
There were a few gasps around the room, and Harrison stood up abruptly from the table. “So you’re a wyvern?” he asked, looking at Reno as if just seeing him for the first time.
Harrison had good reason to suspect that. Any wolf that took even a small amount of dragon blood turned into a flying, leathery, poisonous creature that was deadly to dragons.
Reno shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that. The dragon blood is separate from my wolf, contained in my human form. It grants me the powers the lightning dragon had without changing who I am, as it would any other wolf.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that before,” Harrison said. “How is this possible? Are there others like you?”
“Only one, though it wasn’t really the same,” Reno replied. “She was still changed into a wyvern by the dragon blood but was able to manifest as a dragon due to there being latent blue dragon blood in her ancestry.”
Beck leaned forward across the table. “But is that the case with you?”
“Nope, I can’t use my powers in wolf form. If I tried to, it might transform me, though I don’t know because I’ve never attempted it.”
He’d often wondered if there would have been a way to combine his wolf and his dragon blood safely, whether his alpha power could handle it, but it was too risky. That was a one-way street, and if it went wrong…
He shivered, suddenly realizing the room was very quiet and nearly everyone was looking at him.
Dani reached out, worry in her eyes as she put her hand in his. “How did all of this happen?”
Reno hated seeing the worry and confusion that this was probabl
y causing her just when everything was going so well. He’d hid so much from her, so he’d been opening up lately. But he also feared that saying too much too quickly could easily backfire on him.
“For years, no one in my family really knew what my alpha powers were,” Reno explained, laughing. “I was strong and fast, of course, but I didn’t have anything resembling other alpha wolf powers. For a while, I didn’t even think I had any special powers, and I was glad about it.” He smiled at Dani. “It meant I could be normal, spend time with you.”
She smiled back, holding his gaze for a second before he sighed and looked away. “But that all changed around the time I turned eighteen, when they discovered that they were uniquely able to meld dragon blood with mine without altering it.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Marian, Harrison’s mate, said.
“It wasn’t. For a few years afterward, they did experiment after experiment on me with different types until they found the one that was most deadly and easy to acquire. Eventually, they settled on the topaz dragon.”
Reno’s eyes met Dani’s again, and he saw recognition. He could tell she knew he was referring to the few years he was still in Granite Falls, unable to make contact when he’d been so close to her but so far.
Beck leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “That makes sense. I’ve heard of that lightning-spewing bastard in my travels. Apparently, he was a real piece of work. Locked up now, of course, but before that, he did more than a few bad things. Never met him myself, though.”
“So let me see if I understand,” Harrison said, taking a deep breath. “So you’ve got dragon blood in you, which grants you dragon powers. But you could also turn into a wyvern at any time if it goes wrong?”
Reno cocked his head to the side. Even he didn’t know the full extent of the experiments. “I’m not sure. My family was just happy for their second son to finally be useful in spite of the experiments and torture required to allow me to get accustomed to it.” He shivered, remembering the first time they had injected him with the blood.
Dani winced at that, and he gave her hand a squeeze in an attempt to comfort her before giving Harrison an earnest glance, who was watching with folded arms.
“I am sorry, Harrison,” he apologized. “I couldn’t tell anyone, because if people knew, then word could get out, and my family would have come after me, Dani, or anyone else they believed to be in their way.”
They had deserved to know, but he couldn’t have stood the idea of putting them in more trouble when everyone at Dragonclaw had been nice enough to accept him.
“So that lightning storm that passed over Wexler’s the other day…” Harrison wondered aloud. “That was you?”
“Not just that one. A few of the lightning storms over the years have been caused by me.” He held up his hands. “Unintentionally, I promise. It was just residual buildup of my power, and it would unleash if it didn’t have an outlet. I never wanted to hurt anyone, and I always tried to control it as best as I could.”
The room was silent again, and Reno looked around the table, suddenly realizing that everyone seemed to be looking at him differently than they had before. Some seemed curious, others concerned. Harrison especially. More than anything, he felt a tension in the air, almost like they didn’t know what to think of him.
Which was fair, to be honest. A few days ago, he had been a simple rogue wolf mechanic with no past or family to speak of. Now he was a lightning-shooting alpha with the potential to turn into a horrible wyvern with the most powerful pack in the Tribunal nipping at his heels.
After a minute or two of quiet, Beck finally cleared his throat. “Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I know Reno. He’s a good man and wolf.” He chuckled and waved a hand. “And hey, if he’s part dragon, he’s like the rest of us, ain’t he? Even Dallas has some dragon in him.”
There were nods of assent around the table, and Reno felt a wave of relief roll through him. He nodded gratefully to Beck, who nodded in return.
Then Reno turned to look at Harrison, who still seemed to be processing everything, although he was frowning so hard that telltale lines were showing up in his forehead.
When Harrison finally spoke, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “My priorities in all of this haven’t changed. I’ll do what’s best for Dragonclaw, for my mate, and my friend’s mates. I won’t endanger them unnecessarily.” He shook his head gravely. “Not after everything that’s happened, how hard we’ve had to fight.”
“I would never expect any differently,” Reno said, but Harrison held up a finger.
“I wasn’t finished yet. I understand your reasons, and I’m sorry about everything that happened in the past, but we need to be realistic. You could be dangerous, and we already have enough loose cannons on the ranch.” He shrugged. “It is what it is. That being said, I won’t pass judgment yet. I need time to think about it, and you’re fine to stay until I’ve come to a clear decision.”
The words stung, but knowing Harrison, they were as fair as Reno would get, so he nodded. “I understand.”
“Good.” Harrison looked around the table. “Does anyone have anything else to say?”
When no one responded, the cowboy dragon nodded. “Then I think we’re done here. You can all go back to what you were doing. I need to discuss this with my mate.” With that, he left the room, Marian with him.
Reno sighed as everyone got up from the table. That could have gone better, but it also could have gone worse.
At the moment, he was just glad that he and Dani would still be able to stay there.
Beck stood up from his seat, stepping around the table to clap Reno on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about Harrison. He just has a lot on his plate. You’re still my favorite wolf.”
“Thanks,” Reno replied, smiling and catching Dani’s gaze, who smiled back.
Now that it was settled, Reno turned his gaze on the basilisks who were just beginning to stand up.
“Are we clear about who Dani’s mate is?”
Gunnar and Diesel shared a look, then nodded gruffly and left the room without a word.
It was now just Reno and Dani standing next to each other in the room, and he watched her for a second, wondering what she was thinking.
Having her by his side had made this all a million times more bearable, and though he’d been afraid she’d judge him, it didn’t seem like she had.
Hopefully, even though he wished he could tell her everything, this would help her put together what he had told her about his past the other day.
He pulled her into a tight hug.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” he asked, releasing a pent-up breath and pulling away enough to look down at her.
She laughed. “I’m getting used to it.”
Reno pulled her close again. “I never want to let you go.”
“Then don’t.”
If only it were that simple.
20
Dani relaxed back against Reno, enjoying the cool night air as a soft, gentle breeze tickled her skin.
What a day it has been.
From watching basilisks feud over her to listening to Reno open up more and more about his past, about what his family had done to him. Her heart had ached, hearing about the pain and hurt he’d suffered at their hands.
It was late night now, and they were on the roof of his small house on the ranch, sitting on a blanket covered in pillows and staring up at the sky.
Above them, stars twinkled in a dark, endless night sky, fully unobscured by any clouds or moonlight.
She breathed in then out slowly. “This is nice.”
“Yeah, it is,” he said, pulling her closer. “Reminds me of when we would sneak out and climb up to the high school’s roof during the summer and how we would talk until the sun came up.”
Dani smiled as a shooting star streaked across the sky, blazing a bright trail that disappeared a few seconds later. “Yeah, that feels like so long ago but also not.”
“I know what you mean.” He paused. “Tell me what you did after prom, after you graduated. Tell me what I missed.”
“Well, my mom hadn’t gotten sick yet, or at least she hadn’t been diagnosed yet,” Dani said, thinking back. “And I was hurt, but I kind of just figured you were off doing rich people stuff with your family. If I had known…” She trailed off. “I—”
But he interrupted, kissing the side of her head. “It’s okay. You couldn’t have known. There was no way for you to know.”
She sighed. “I know. I just wish… Anyway, I left for college. Started my bachelor’s in photography. But it wasn’t too long after the second semester finished that Mom became ill.”
Reno nodded. “The first round of cancer?”
“Yup. I couldn’t be at school anymore, knowing she was going through that. So I came home to take care of her, finished my degree online, then opened a small business.” She nudged him lightly in the stomach. “Spent a lot of time thinking about you.”
“You’re telling me,” he said, laughing. “All I did when I was trapped and experimented on was think about you, wonder how you were doing. Worry if you were happy.”
“It was the same for me. I can’t believe we spent so much time apart, just hoping and wondering if the other was okay.” She shook her head ruefully. “Life can be so cruel sometimes.”
“Hey, it brought us back together, right?”
“True. Okay, your turn. Tell me what happened when you left, ran away for good.”
Reno was thoughtful for a second. “I wandered really. I had lived in Granite Falls my whole life, so I had no idea where I was going. Headed south, working as a mechanic here and there while trying to find a better place to hide.”
“More like a mechanical genius,” she said, grinning up at him. “At least from the way that people talk about you.”
“As if. But yeah, you know I was always fairly adept with machines and cars.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “And good with my hands in general.”
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