Unlike him, they’d all been through a shit-ton of really bad stuff. Garrett had been lucky. He’d thought his clan was like any other that existed in the world, but that wasn’t true. Once he’d met the Texas shifters, he’d learned that the shifters who’d lived in Portugal and Ireland had all been attacked and forced to run for their lives.
His own clan was safe and sound, clueless about any threats. They lived in a tract of land in the Pacific Northwest. They hunted and flew and swam like any dragon, but they also went to the movies and the grocery store and the public schools. Heck, his sister’s kids even played soccer in the local league.
His new friends had all disapproved of the way he tried to keep a lid on the dragon part of himself, but they weren’t rude or pushy about it, not like his own clan was. So sometimes, he actually tried to listen to them.
As a result, he had spent more time trying to get in touch with the dragon part of himself. In fact, he was allowing his cousin to come visit. It was the first time he’d invited a clan member to come see him.
They’d all shown up before, and barged their way into his penthouse, and he hadn’t appreciated it one bit. But he’d asked his cousin Jackson to come. He could feel Jackson now. He walked to the staff entrance and pushed it open. Sure enough, there was his cousin.
Jackson grabbed him and squeezed him tight. “It’s so good to see you.” Jackson’s gaze swept the room. “Thanks for letting me crash your party.”
“It’s good to see you too.” Garrett had been kind of an asshole, not letting his family visit him here. He’d always insisted it was easier for him to maintain his façade if they stayed home and let him come to them. But he’d really just wanted to keep his distance.
But he’d chafed against their lifestyle long enough. He was old enough now to embrace who he was. He wasn’t human. He was a dragon shifter. He might not fit in with the clan, and he didn’t want a mate like all the rest of the males, but he was still one of them.
“So what are we going to do while I’m here? This place is crazy.”
“The desert looks so different from the Pacific Coast. I thought you might like to fly and see the desert from the sky.” Jackson was a firefighter back home. He worked all the time, so he hadn’t gotten to travel nearly as much as Garrett had. Besides, his family always accused Garrett of being ashamed of his dragon side, so this would be a good chance to show him everything Nevada had to offer.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Jackson said.
Jackson started telling him about the firestation, and all the drama that had ensued amongst their unit, which was made up entirely of shifters. The fire chief was a shifter, and he’d managed to hire only shifters for one of the units, so that they could be themselves. Being fireproof was a pretty big bonus for a firefighter. They still wore protective gear, but they were able to walk right into any type of blaze and remain unscathed. Garrett was interested, but he found his attention drifting away from his cousin and back to Lily, where one of the bridesmaids was now handing her a shot glass. He’d have to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t drink too much.
She was such a petite little thing. He didn’t want her to get drunk and get sick, and he sure didn’t want anyone to be able to take advantage of her.
Maybe he could watch out for her from a distance.
“Garrett!”
A strong punch landed on his arm.
“What?” Garrett jerked away from his cousin.
Jackson waved his hand in front of Garrett's face.“What the hell are you looking at? Who is that?”
Shit. He couldn't tell his cousin he was staring at the bride. Shifters were far more territorial about their mates than humans were. Jackson would think he was a real bastard for looking at another man's soon-to-be wife.
Garrett opened his mouth to point out the bride to his cousin, but his dragon growled.
No. Mine.
What the hell? The bride wasn’t his. And he didn’t want her to be.
But his dragon was insistent. Which was weird, because he rarely heard from his dragon, and tonight he was downright pushy.
He did not want Jackson looking at her, for any reason. Garrett forced a sly smile on his face. “Take a look at the room.”
Jackson’s brow creased. He wasn’t buying it. “Man, you’re surrounded by beautiful women all the time. You usually have them hanging off of you. Why is this any different?”
“I always like beautiful women.”
“I get that, but I’ve never seen you staring off into space like this. What’s going on?” Jackson kicked him under the table. “I’m not some human you can lie to.”
Jackson was right. It was harder to lie to another dragon shifter. It was even harder to lie to a clan member. Should he confess? Would Jackson think he was a complete asshole?
He wrapped his fingers around his beer bottle so hard he nearly cracked the glass. “Look, I'm not proud of this, okay?”
“Just tell me. I’m not going to judge you.”
“You might.” Poaching another male’s woman really was taboo for a dragon shifter. Luckily, Garrett would not be doing that. He might be a rake sometimes, and he’d been called a player, but he would never interfere in another couple’s relationship. No matter how much he wanted to.
Jackon crossed his arms. “I’m waiting.”
“The bride, okay? I saw her when I was on stage singing, and I can’t stop thinking about her.”
“What about her?”
“As soon as I saw her, I couldn't look away. As soon as I was done singing, I saw her sitting at a table alone. I went to say hello. Big mistake.”
“Yeah?”
“She was different.”
“Different how?” Jackson shook his head. “I swear I've never seen you so short on words. You usually go on and on.”
It was true that Garrett had been accused of being self-absorbed, more than once.
“She was interesting.”
Jackson craned his neck and kept looking around the room. “Interesting doesn't tell me anything. Just show me which one she is.”
Garrett hesitated again. He snuck a look in Lily’s direction. Of course Jackson noticed.
“Oh my God! You're already territorial. No wonder you didn't want to tell me anything.”
“Shut up!”
Jackson collapsed back into his chair. He threw his head back, laughing so hard he held onto his stomach. His eyes danced with mirth. “You’ve got it bad.” Jackson sat up straight in his chair. “Is that her, with the red dress? Is that the bride?”
Her friend had hung a white sash over her bright red dress that said “Bride to Be,” and the women around her were putting on pink sashes that read “Bride Tribe.”’
Jackson twisted in his seat. “That’s her? No wonder you’re smitten.”
Rage simmered inside his chest as his heart raced. Garrett felt his eyes change. Without looking, he knew they’d be a golden yellow.
“Cousin, your eyes are yellow. Are you about to shift right here in the middle of a party because I looked at her? You are losing it.”
Fuck. He never lost control like that. In the music scene, he was known for being laid back. Garrett snapped his eyes shut. He inhaled, counting to ten. “You’re right.” He stood up. “I have to get out of here.”
He walked away, willing himself not to glance back at his cousin, or Lily, the soon-to-be bride.
He’d never lost his cool like this, and he wasn’t going to start. Not over a woman who belonged to someone else.
The next day, Jackson joined him in his Jeep as they rode away from Vegas and out into the desert near the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
On Carolina’s advice, Garrett had found a good spot, free from humans, to shift and fly low to the ground. Thanks to their superior hearing, they’d know if a small plane or drone was getting too close, and they could hit the ground and hide among the rock formations.
There were also some good places for rock
climbing nearby. He was planning to take Jackson to do that the following day, and he hoped his cousin didn’t mind that they weren’t doing typical Vegas tourist stuff—Jackson would just have to gamble and drink with his human buddies. For now, Garrett needed his cousin to do things only a shifter could. That way, Garrett could burn off some of the frustration he’d been feeling since the night before.
Jackson poked him in the ribs as they parked the car. “Are you feeling better?”
Garrett turned the engine off but didn't get out. “Yeah. I’m sorry I lost it like that. That’s never happened to me before.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. There’s nothing to talk about.” What would he say? That he was attracted to a woman who was about to get married? Was there any excuse for even entertaining the idea of speaking to her again? No. There was not. It didn’t matter what the reasoning behind it was, not even if he claimed love at first sight. It was not okay. Another male found her first.
Besides since when had he ever cared about a woman? He wanted to please his partners, but beyond that? He didn’t want to get to know them.
This was a first for him.
He had to get this human out of his head.
Garrett pointed to the wide expanse of open sky as they walked toward the more secluded areas. “Anywhere to the east for about five miles is safe. If you hear a drone buzzing, or a plane engine, then duck down. Otherwise, no one will see us.”
“Sounds good.”
They both shed their clothes and stuffed them into a backpack.
“Race you,” Jackson shouted, and then he transformed. Scales shimmered over his skin, and his giant wings rose from his back.
Dammit. Jackson was winning. He probably got a lot more practice than Garrett ever did. Sometimes when he was on tour, he went months without shifting. His new friends had all scolded him for losing touch with that side of himself.
Garrett had to smile. Jackson was eighteen months his junior. As hatchlings, he’d been bigger and stronger. And faster too. But then Jackson had taken a special interest in honing his physical strength, and Garrett had not. He’d found his love of music, something that was not especially valued in the dragon shifter clan.
Community was valued, and education, and being able to provide for one’s family. But music didn’t seem to affect most shifters in the way that it touched humans, at least in his clan. They liked it, and they appreciated it—when humans made it. But they didn’t think it was an appropriate calling for a dragon shifter.
It didn’t require superior strength, or physical capabilities, nor did it bring in a large income for most who pursued it.
So Garrett was the odd man out. And when he pointed this out to his parents, they denied it. But then they’d tried, with great regularity, to try and get him to switch his college major to pre-med.
“But you’re such a gifted student,” his mother said.
“We don’t even need money to survive! If I live near an ocean, I eat fish. And I can literally sleep on a rock! I’m not human. Why do you want me to pretend I need financial security?”
At that point his parents had begun to shout, and Garrett left. His family made no sense. They didn’t want him to be a music major. They thought it was for humans. And yet they expected him to work hard to save money, for what? He had no clue.
He never came back home, not to live, even though his parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends begged him to return. He visited from time to time, but not often enough to make them satisfied.
His parents had apologized, even before he got his big break in Vegas, but he didn’t return to the Pacific Coast. His home was in Vegas. The city had embraced him. It had given him a place to perform, and then when he was noticed by a talent scout, it had given him an agent, a manager, and a big recording contract. So now he lived high above the city in a modern penthouse, and he’d tried to push the dragon side of himself away, until Davi had busted his way in, six months before.
It was a Monday morning, and so far he’d seen no hikers. This area wasn’t popular, which was why he’d chosen it. He soared above the red rocks, with his cousin just visible in front of him. His cousin’s wings flapped, and Jackson’s tail swished as he wove his way around the rock formations, spinning and tilting.
Garrett followed suit, copying the movements, and for a few minutes he felt the dragon within him truly reawaken.
They soared together, dipping and spinning for at least thirty minutes, until Jackson stopped in the air. With a spiral spin, he flew to the ground and landed on the sandy dirt near where they’d left their backpacks.
Within seconds, he was back in human form. “Wow. That was incredible,” Jackson said as Garrett changed back as well.
“Much different from Oregon.”
“Oh yeah. I can see for miles here. It’s gorgeous.”
“Ready to abandon Oregon and live down here?” He knocked his shoulder into Jackon’s. He already knew the answer.
“Nah. It’s a nice change, but the air is too dry. And I’d miss the ocean. There’s nothing like skimming the edges of the waves.”
“Well, if you change your mind, firefighters here stay busy. Mostly as first responders. But there are fires in the hotels too, unfortunately. Although the sprinkler systems have helped.”
Garrett pulled his shorts on and stretched out in the sun.
Jackson laid down next to him. “You seem better today.”
“Yeah.” He looked at his cousin. “This helped.”
“What the hell happened last night?” Jackson asked.
Was he going to talk about this turmoil? He’d never been one to have serious conversations. It had driven his family up the wall. And he’d never dated a human or a shifter long enough to have a female get mad at him about it.
“I heard from my dragon. It was pretty insistent.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Not anymore. But for a long time, I didn’t hear anything at all.”
Jackson’s eyebrows shot up. “No wonder you were acting like an idiot.”
“Hey!” Garrett pounced on his cousin, and then began to wrestle, just as they had when they were kids.
They didn’t stop until they cracked one of the boulders. “Shit. We’re going to get arrested,” Garrett said.
Jackson laughed. “They’d have to catch us first.”
They both kept laughing, but they pulled the cracked rock apart, making sure it wouldn’t fall off and crush a human, and Garrett almost felt like himself again.
3
Lily
After an amazing bachelorette party, Lily spent the night with Carmen and the rest of her bridesmaids. Except they didn’t sleep. They stayed up all night, drinking champagne and playing games that Carmen had come up with.
Once they were in the room, they all put their pajamas on, topped with more cute sashes, and they played “Never Have I Ever” for hours.
Finally at six a.m, they all passed out on top of the beds, still wearing their sashes.
She woke up at two in the afternoon with her eyes stuck together. Right. She had forgotten to take her makeup off.
They had plans to hit all the big casinos that evening, and then see a few shows. Then all the bridesmaids would be leaving until it was time to come back for the rehearsal dinner, and Lily would be alone with her fiancé.
She hated to admit it, but she was kind of ready for her bridesmaids to go back home. They just would not stop talking about Garrett.
The night before, Carmen had been unable to let it go. At least once per hour she’d brought the topic up, which got all six of the bridesmaids going.
Garrett had featured heavily during the “Never Have I Ever” game.
“I’ll go first,” Carmen had said. “Never have I ever had a crush on Garrett Hudson.”
The other women had screeched with laughter. And that question had been fine, because millions of women had crushes on Garrett Hudson. But as
the night wore on, the questions had grown more and more specific.
“Never have I ever wished I was engaged to Garrett Hudson instead of my fiancé,” had been one. And, “never have I ever wanted to cheat on my fiancé with Garrett Hudson during my own bachelorette party.”
Finally she’d had enough. “Stop it,” Lily had screamed. She threw a pillow at Carmen, but it missed and knocked over a bottle of Shiraz. “Stop it! Do not say his name again, or I’m leaving!”
That had gotten the girls sober fast.
“We’re sorry,” Carmen said. “We got carried away.” She brushed Lily’s hair away from her face. “We know you’d never cheat.”
They had all hugged her, and she’d forgiven them. After all, they were all completely drunk, and had hit the point where everything was funny. Lily had paced herself though, and she was aware of what was going on.
The truth was that she felt a little bit guilty. No man had ever caught her eye like Garrett had. Maybe that was to be expected. He was a famous singer. He was known all over the world.
She just hadn’t expected to feel that way, and it caught her off guard. It was probably a normal feeling though—wasn’t that what people meant when they asked if you had cold feet? Plenty of people were anxious before their weddings.
Now she and Carmen were getting dressed up again, and they were going out on the strip. They were going to stop at each of the big casinos and take photos outside, and then try a few slot machines. Lily was going to put Garrett Hudson out of her mind, once and for all.
That was easier said than done, especially when the man you were trying to forget had his face plaster on a billboard outside the MGM Grand Hotel.
She turned her head as she and Carmen walked past. “He really is smoking hot,” Carmen said. “I still cannot get over how he was looking at you last night.” Carmen held up her hand. “I’m not going to tease you. I’m just stating a fact.”
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