by Jill Haven
“I caught some too,” Ace answered calmly, not looking directly at me. There was still that brief spot of physical contact, something that made it easier for me to breathe. I wanted to reach out and touch him more, drink in that comfort like water for a parched throat, but I kept my hands to myself. “We should talk in the living room.” Ace nodded in the requisite direction.
“Does anyone want something to drink?” I asked quickly, desperate to find something to stall before I ended up in close quarters with Ace.
Ace and Ten exchanged a look, then shook their heads. “We’re good.”
I cleared my throat. “I’ll get you some water,” I said with a firm nod. “It’s humid as hell out here.”
Ace’s lips quirked in a smile he couldn’t quite hide. “Sweet of you to worry, darlin’,” he said in that usual drawl of his.
Ten coughed and elbowed him sharply, which led to Ace giving him a dark look. Grabbing the water bottles out of the fridge, my gaze lingered on the two shifters as they seemed to communicate without words. They had to be related somehow, with that level of comfort.
I moved into the living room and set the water bottles on the coffee table, sinking on one side of the loveseat. There was plenty of room, plenty of choices, but of course Ace sat right next to me.
His thigh pressed up against mine as I did my best to focus on my water, taking a long drink and not missing how he watched me hungrily. It wasn’t until Ten cleared his throat that both of us turned to look at him.
Ace leaned back against the sofa, doing the fake-yawn thing until he brought his arm down to rest right behind my shoulder. I gave him a look and he smirked, so I shook my head. Talk about obvious. None of it was serious. Flirting was what he did and I didn’t want any part of it. I wanted something real, like my grandparents had.
Ten took a seat across from us, his scarred face solemn. “We need to talk.”
4
Ace
“One was watching the house,” Ten said grimly.
I leaned forward, all pretense of flirting forgotten. “Did you follow him?”
Ten looked at me like I was a fresh hatchling. The obviously was left unsaid. He let out a long sigh. “But I lost him once we got further away because he shifted and disappeared. He’s definitely been here before and knew the area pretty well.”
Beau tensed next to me, his grip tightening on the plastic water bottle until it crinkled. Maybe he was feeding off my nerves. Maybe my anger, my worry, were causing him more stress. Could he feel my emotions like I could sense his?
I forced myself to take a breath and lean back, my arm an inch from resting on his shoulders. I wanted so badly to lower it down, hold him to me, but I didn’t. “Were there others?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice even.
“Others have been here,” Ten said, a furrow forming between his eyebrows. “But I don’t think they’ve been here in their shifted forms. Just the one I was chasing.”
“The ones last night were in their human form,” Beau said, seeming to struggle to lift his gaze up to meet Ten’s. But he wasn’t afraid of Ten. Instead he kept sneaking glances at the window, at the forest, like his fear was for the ones hunting him.
I let my arm drape over his shoulders and squeezed him closer to me. To my surprise, instead of pulling away, he leaned into me and closed his eyes for a single moment, like my touch was reassuring.
“I’ll take care of you,” I promised, the words deep and truthful. My dragon purred inside me in agreement, emphasizing that whatever it took I would take care of my mate. The world would be right, if only he’d stay in my arms.
Except he wasn’t my mate. Not yet.
Silence reigned for a good fifteen seconds before Ten coughed and Beau apparently realized what he was doing, because he bolted straight up and ducked out from underneath my arm. I tried not to stare at him, but I didn’t try very hard. The light pink on his cheeks made my stomach tighten, pleasure filling me at the knowledge he was so flustered from my touch. I wanted to touch him more, touch him everywhere.
Strangely enough, however, Beau didn’t pull far away, leaving our legs touching and keeping a point of contact. Was that on purpose? Did he want to touch me as much as I wanted to touch him?
Ten reached over and cuffed me on the head. I straightened up, scowling at him. “Why’d you mess up my hair?”
Beau rolled his eyes. Ten sighed. “Everything’s about you,” Ten muttered, but there was a thread of amusement to his words.
I gave them both a cocky smile. “I’m the important one here, remember?” I joked.
Ten lifted a skeptical eyebrow. Beau didn’t look convinced.
Silence reigned while I thought back to my prior words. Ten was important, too, and I was supposed to be pretending this was nothing. “We’ll take care of you,” I amended.
“Are you willing to talk to us?” Ten asked, much better at getting to business than I was at the moment. Normally I was impeccably professional, but something about Beau scrambled my brain.
Beau nodded, then paused. “I don’t know much,” he added, his shoulders hunching like he was trying to seem smaller, protect himself. A pang of worry surged through me and on instinct I reached over and squeezed his knee, trying to provide some form of comfort.
“Anything you can tell us will help,” I said, my voice low. I could feel Ten staring at me, but I ignored him. I wanted to build off of this trust we were establishing. Our last meeting hadn’t gone well—Beau was wary of shifters and hadn’t given us the time of day.
To say I was surprised when he called and asked for help was an understatement.
“Do you know what clan you come from?” Ten asked.
“I’m half Silver Dragon,” Beau said, lifting his chin and leaning back against the couch. He wasn’t looking for comfort; instead, he was putting up a wall between him and us. Even now he guard was up, and I wanted to reach over, pull him to me, hold him. I didn’t. “To them, half-shifter, half-human children are a bad omen, a curse. So, they dumped me with my maternal grandparents.”
I stared at him and I could feel Ten doing the same. Had the Silver Dragons realized what they’d done and become determined to claim him to make up for their mistake?
“That’s what my Grandma told me, anyway,” Beau added, looking uncomfortable with our staring.
“Do you know anything about your father?” I had a vested interest in hunting his father down so I could rip him to pieces for treating Beau like that. Even the human part of me thought it was a not-entirely-terrible idea.
“As far as I know, he’s still alive,” Beau answered. “He went back to live with the clan in a different part of Georgia. I’m not sure where because I wasn’t old enough to remember much when they banished me.”
Anger simmered through me like the boiling heat of a shift, and I fought to control it. The thought of anyone doing anything other than worshipping Beau for who he was, of tossing him aside like he was nothing, was unimaginable. Surely they knew the legends, knew that divine omegas were to be coveted, not disposed of. Hell, after the lengths Vince had gone to to protect Evan from the world, I was surprised that an unprotected divine omega even existed.
“Are you okay?” Beau asked quietly. His eyes were wide, his gaze locked on my body. He’d gone as pale as a ghost. That was when I realized that my fingers had shifted to talons and scales were starting to cover patches of my skin. Shit.
Tucking my hands and scaled arms behind me, I forced myself to take a deep breath, hating how out of control he made me feel. When I felt settled again, I opened my eyes and leaned back, trying to appear casual. I was pretty certain both Ten and Beau saw right through it.
“In most clans, having a divine omega is considered a blessing,” I said, raking a hand through my already-mussed hair. “The few that have existed mostly did in legend.”
“Then…” Beau trailed off, like he wasn’t certain how to finish that.
“Then how do we know you’re one?” Ten aske
d, his elbows on his knees and his attention on us.
Beau nodded.
“We can smell it on you.” Ten tapped his nose. “Even in our human form, our sense of smell is more accurate.”
Beau blinked, then slumped back against the couch, not seeming bothered by the fact it put him in contact with me again. “What does it smell like?” He sounded curious, but there was a hint of apprehension there, too.
Ten and I exchanged a look. “Baby powder, vanilla, and a bit of smoke because of your dragon blood,” Ten answered. His eyes flickered to me. “Of course, you may smell different to different dragons for different reasons.”
Beau looked puzzled, his gaze flickering between Ten and me. Once Beau was distracted, I tried to kill Ten with my eyes with limited success. “What does that mean?” Beau asked, the words bursting from him like he couldn’t wait any longer. “Why would I smell different?”
“You’re rare, because humans and shifters haven’t mated much until recently,” I said, dodging the topic as best I could. “I’m surprised they haven’t found you before now.”
Beau grimaced. “I kept to myself like my grandparents told me to. How’d you find me?”
“Now that one clan knows, word is going to spread,” Ten continued for me. “You’re going to be in danger. Not just from the clans, but there are outcasts, rogue shifters, who would either love you for themselves or to sell you to the highest bidder.”
Beau paled. “So, like human trafficking?”
“I guess,” I mused, although it wasn’t really my area of expertise. There was enough work for Ten and I just keeping track of the shifters and their trouble.
“Why don’t they just go find other humans to mate with to make more divines?” Beau’s eyebrows tilted together in confusion.
“It’s not that simple,” I said grimly. “The dragon bloodline has to run in both families in order for humans to carry dragon-blood babies.”
Beau’s frown deepened. “Then I can’t be one,” he said, shifting on the couch away from me. I felt a pang at the loss of contact, but I redirected my attention to the conversation.
“What do you mean?” I blinked at him.
“My grandparents were completely human.” Something dark flashed across Beau’s face, like he couldn’t comprehend a world where they hadn’t told him something. “They were human, so I can’t be whatever you’re saying I am.”
“That’s not possible,” I said as gently as I could. I itched to reach out and touch him, comfort him, but from the storm cloud on his face, I didn’t think it would be well received. “If they were completely human, you wouldn’t exist.”
Beau bolted up, his hands clenched into fists. “They would have told me,” he said, his amber eyes locked onto mine. “So you’re lying.”
I looked at Ten, who looked at me. What did we say to that? “Beau, we’re not—”
“It was such a stupid idea to call you,” Beau muttered almost to himself, his chest heaving as he fought to breathe. He stood and started pacing, the movements frantic.
Panic crept at the edges of my senses, a fear that maybe the world wasn’t what I’d been told it was. It wasn’t my feelings, or my worries, it was Beau’s. Even with him angry and not touching me, I could get flashes of what he was thinking, what was bothering him. In return, I tried to send him something calming through the tentative bond, anything to try and help him get through this.
Beau came to a stop before I could decide if I’d been helpful or not. “I’m sorry y’all came all this way,” he started, and both Ten and I winced. “But you need to leave.”
“Beau—”
“Now.” Beau’s face shifted into that polite, guarded mask, but I could feel the fractures underneath it, so ready to spiderweb out until his façade cracked for good.
“How am I supposed to sleep without you, Pretty Eyes?” I stood and moved toward him, tilting my head to the side and giving him a charming smile.
The look he gave me was as frosty as snow. “Git out.” There wasn’t even the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks, and his Southern accent thickened with ire.
A touch on my elbow startled me; I hadn’t realized Ten had moved. “We should go,” Ten murmured, his voice too low for Beau to make out.
My dragon didn’t agree with that. No, I wanted to dig my heels in, take Beau and stuff him in his bedroom and protect him until the danger was past and he stopped being ridiculous. Too bad my human side knew that wasn’t how it worked.
“Ace.” Ten squeezed my elbow, the contact feeling oddly wrong after having Beau touching me there. I moved away from him.
“You can call us if you need us,” I said quietly, locking eyes with Beau while I spoke. He was doing his best to not look at me, to pretend I didn’t exist, but whatever was drawing me to him did the same in return. “I’ll always answer. Anytime, anywhere.”
This time Beau cut his gaze away. “I’m sorry y’all had to fly. Please lock the door after you.” He stood and picked up the water bottles, his the only one opened. Then he headed into the kitchen like we weren’t even there.
As I walked out the door, the ache in my chest started, a dull roar behind my breastbone radiating out with every step I took. If it was this bad and we weren’t even mated, how bad would it be if I did claim him? Inwardly, I shuddered at the thought.
“We’ll handle it,” Ten said quietly as he slid into the driver’s seat of my rental vehicle. I didn’t bother fighting him, instead standing with my hand on the door handle, staring back at Beau’s house.
Like hell I was abandoning him. Even if he didn’t want my protection, I wasn’t going to leave him alone. Not until I knew he was safe. Feeling more confident, I got in the car and turned to Ten. “Know where to find a hotel?”
5
Beau
This time when I felt someone’s eyes on me, I didn’t flinch, because my gut told me it was someone I knew. Someone I could trust. If I had to guess, it was Ace. There was a chance Ten would be watching because Ace had asked him to, but given how protective Ace had seemed—for whatever reason—I didn’t think it was something he would delegate.
Warmth pulsed in my chest, which made me grimace. It happened when I thought of Ace, like my body was determined to make a positive association to him even when he wasn’t there. And despite what I had said, he was so much more than his looks and playboy attitude. For all he seemed flippant and immature, there was an enduring loyalty that ran right under the surface. It showed in his eyes, the way he looked at me. The way he seemed to care.
Regret sat heavy in my stomach. Ace had gone out of his way to come and help, and the moment he had insinuated that my grandparents hadn’t told me something, I’d tossed him out. Shame burned at my cheeks, sweat dripping into my eyes. Nerves and the Georgia sun were always a bad combination. I swiped the hem of my shirt across my forehead, trying not to get too lost in thought.
I didn’t want to believe that my grandparents had hidden something like that from me. One thing my grandmother had always preached about was being honest about who you were and where you came from, and to think that she hadn’t followed that bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
I looked down at the dirt in front of me as if it would have answers. Maybe they hadn’t known. Maybe it wasn’t a lie. Ace didn’t have a reason to make it up, and his knowledge of dragons was definitely broader than mine. That could explain it, right? My mind spun in circles, still without an answer. It’d taken less than an hour before I regretted throwing them out, and I was grateful they hadn’t listened to me.
The fact I was more pleased that Ace was around than Ten was not something I would be telling either of them anytime soon. They were equally…something. Ace wasn’t special. If I had to, I would continue chanting it until I believed it. Even if I did just chant it at the tomato plants.
Instead of working on the main acreage, I ended up in the personal garden I maintained for myself and the farmhands. Although it was easier to protect f
rom the climate, I still wanted the majority of the plants settled before it got too close to frost. My mind flitted to the thought of cooking a meal for Ace, using vegetables from the garden, fruit from the orchard, meat from our cows.
“No,” I told myself firmly, trying to shove the image of domesticity out of my mind. “No way in hell,” I added for good measure. I was grateful he was here for protection. Not for anything else.
A shiver went down my spine, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Goosebumps rippled down my arms, despite the fact it was hotter than hell. I’d forgiven my body for its first reaction to Ace. Now, it was just getting ridiculous. Next thing I knew, I’d be swooning.
Listening to my instincts, I went in the direction they wanted me to, which was into the forest on the far side of the farm. It was easy to see my house and where I worked most of the time. The perfect vantage point.
I whistled as I walked, trying to sound careless. I was intentionally baiting him, and I knew it. Did he? A thrill ran through me. I wasn’t certain what I was doing; I simply knew that it felt right. I craved the reassurance of his presence in the same way I craved oxygen, as much as I didn’t like it.
Apparently, I didn’t have a choice.
He was quicker than I thought. “What are you doing?” Ace sounded disgruntled, as he materialized out of the shadows, his arms crossed over his perfect chest and his sea-blue eyes narrowed at me. “You shouldn’t be walking out into the woods when you could be in danger.”
I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jeans and met his gaze, ignoring the heat that squirmed up from my stomach and made my cheeks a darker shade of red. I shrugged. “I knew it was you.”
Ace’s eyebrows rose, but he quickly went back to his usual cocky demeanor. He was dressed in dark jeans and a short-sleeved shirt that showed off his lickable-looking biceps. How anyone got any work done around him was a mystery to me. “How’d you know it was me?”