by Zoe Chant
And that was before Garrick and his men came to town.
“Stop that,” she muttered, looking down again, her heart beating wildly. Why was she reacting this way? She wasn’t impressed by men – and she wasn’t in junior high. She had no reason to blush at his words.
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” Dante said, his voice quiet. “But I did mean it. It’s not everyone who’d bring a bleeding man into their home to patch them up. Especially since you don’t know anything about me.”
“Well, you can fix that,” she retorted. “Tell me about yourself. I like to know who I’m about to stitch up.”
Dante was silent, and Mercy busied herself cleaning him up. She’d thought the wound needed stitches, but now was beginning to doubt if that was true. She could probably get away with sticking some gauze over it.
“What do you want to know?” Dante finally said.
“Maybe start with why you were in that alley, and how you got into it with Garrick’s men,” Mercy said. “The rest can come later.”
“It’s like I said,” Dante replied. “I heard them talking – heard their plans to threaten you. So I followed them. I wasn’t about to let them hurt a defenseless –”
“Defenseless?” Mercy’s head shot up, fury kindling in her heart. “You think I’m defenseless? You think I haven’t been holding these guys off all by myself until now? You think I’ve had anyone else to rely on until you, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor, showed up?”
“Maybe that was the wrong word.” Dante looked up at her, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. Then, the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “But I hadn’t met you at the time – I didn’t realize you’d be out there with a hammer, ready to start swinging.”
Despite herself, Mercy found an answering smile on her own lips. “It was a meat tenderizer – and damn straight. I bought this restaurant by scraping together every penny I owned, and I’ll be damned if some piece of shit like Harlan Garrick takes it from me. It’s my place, my staff, my razor-thin profit margin. I can barely stay in the black as it is, without paying Garrick for his so-called protection.”
The momentary smile had gone. Mercy could barely breathe, she felt so angry.
“What about if I offered you my protection?”
Mercy looked up again, momentarily speechless – which did not happen to her often.
“What?” she finally managed to get out. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said.” Dante’s gaze was steady. “I’ll protect you from Harlan Garrick. I know men like him – I grew up around them. I’m not underestimating the danger, and I’m not saying I think it’ll be easy. But I am sick of men like him riding roughshod over people who deserve better. So if you want my protection, I’m offering it. That’s all.”
Mercy blinked. She felt frozen.
“Y-you don’t even know me,” she stuttered at last.
Is this guy for real? she thought, staring up at him. Hot as hell, throws a punch like a pro, and now he wants to step in on my behalf?
No way. There had to be a catch. No man was that good. If life had taught her one thing, it was that it was better to rely on no one but herself. Anything else could only lead to disappointment.
In the moment that followed, Mercy could have sworn she saw something glimmer in Dante’s deep green eyes – but it was gone in a moment, and then she wasn’t certain she had seen anything at all.
“Maybe I don’t,” he agreed. “But I’d like to. And I already know the important things. You’re brave. You’re kind. You don’t back down, and you protect what’s yours. That’s what I know.”
Mercy’s heart fluttered. She didn’t know what to say. She could feel a blush beginning to creep up her throat again, and she quickly lowered her head, reminding herself that before all of this, she was supposed to be tending Dante’s wound.
Some nurse you are!
“I – I don’t know,” she said, as she fumbled with more gauze and antiseptic. “How do I know you’re for real?”
Dante looked at her, and Mercy found that she couldn’t look away from his eyes. She felt almost as if something within them were drawing her forward, pulling her into their depths – as if she was seeing down into his very soul.
“You don’t, I suppose,” Dante said, his voice low and soft. “I can only ask you to trust me – and hope that you will. But I’m not about to walk away. Not now that I know what you’re up against. And that you’ve been alone in it so far.”
Mercy’s heart was pounding in her ears. This guy had to be kidding, right? No one talked like this – no one thought like this. Here, it had always been dog eat dog. You had to watch your own back, because no one else would watch it for you.
That’s just the way the world works, Mercy thought. Was this guy just going to waltz into her life and tell her that it didn’t?
She had very rarely ever found herself lost for words. Some people might have called her a loudmouth, but she’d never had any trouble speaking her mind or making herself heard.
But now, she was speechless.
“I – I don’t –” she began, the words slipping out of her mouth almost unconsciously.
Do I really trust this guy? Can I trust him?
Her heart thudded.
Yes, it seemed to say, with every pulsing beat. Yes, yes, yes.
Mercy wanted to shake her head – but she couldn’t.
She swallowed, and finally tore her eyes away from his, looking down to where her fingers still clutched the gauze and bandages.
“I... fine,” she muttered, closing her eyes, not wanting to think too hard about what she was saying. “I accept it – your protection. But don’t go getting any funny ideas. And you better know that I’ll be watching you. Understand?”
She forced the words out of her mouth as she fumbled with the gauze, finally managing to apply it to Dante’s wound. She reached for the surgical tape to fix it in place, aware suddenly of how violently her hands were shaking.
“I understand, Mercy.”
Ah, hell.
His voice was low and gravelly, and the sound of it saying her name sent a shiver down her spine.
Gritting her teeth, Mercy tried to concentrate on finishing her patch-up job on Dante’s side. What had happened to her? First hot guy to show up and show a minimum of gentlemanly behavior, and she’d lost her head.
“You’d better,” she said, fixing the last piece of tape in place. She drew in a deep breath. “You said you were looking for somewhere to bed down before. So I guess you don’t have anywhere to sleep, other than the street?”
“I’ve slept on the street before.”
Mercy shook her head. “Oh, please. Like you really think I’m going to throw you out onto the street to sleep. I have a blanket and I have a couch in the kids’ area. You can have those.”
Dante opened his mouth as if he was about to object, but then, perhaps seeing the expression in her eyes, closed it again, nodding firmly. “All right.”
“You bet it’s all right,” Mercy muttered as she turned away, shaking her head at herself as she went to grab her spare blanket.
This better not be a huge mistake, she told her inner voice as she opened her closet door, grabbing the blanket from the top shelf.
The momentary spark of electricity that had shot through her at the touch of his hand came back to her suddenly, and involuntarily, Mercy glanced down at her wrist.
It was unmarked – it looked exactly the same as it had an hour ago. Only the memory of that strange spark remained to say it had ever happened at all.
Bunching her hand into a fist, Mercy shoved the thought from her head and headed back down the corridor to make up the sofa.
Chapter Three
Dante
“Oh, goddammit!”
Dante woke with a start at the sound of the shout from the kitchen.
It took him a moment to orient himself – he was used to waking up in unfamiliar places, but he didn’t usually feel this
comfortable, nor this warm. But still, the shout had awakened his dragon immediately, and it raised its head, small flames shooting from its nostrils.
That was our mate. Is something threatening her harm?
Dante was on his feet in a moment, ignoring the slight pain in his side. The stab wound would be very nearly healed now that he’d had a good night’s sleep, and even if it hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have let a thing like that get in his way if his mate was in danger.
My mate.
The words still felt strange in his head. He had never given much thought to the idea that he might ever find the one he was meant for – the one he had been made for. The one his soul was bonded to, even if they never met. The one he would do anything to protect.
Dante didn’t hesitate a moment longer before sprinting out into the corridor that connected the kitchen with the main dining area, his bare feet pounding on the wooden floorboards.
“Mercy!” he called out, as fear coiled up his spine. Sure, his dragon couldn’t sense any danger here, but that didn’t help him feel any better at all – for Mercy to have shouted like that, there had to be something wrong.
“Mercy?” he called again as he arrived in the kitchen, heart pounding, to find
Mercy standing by the counter, phone in her hand, looking at her absolute wits’ end. The knuckles on the hand holding the phone had turned pale, while the other was massaging her temple as if her life depended on it.
Dante’s dragon’s senses gave the room a quick once-over, still detecting no immediate danger… or at least, no danger in the form of anything it recognized as danger. Clearly, however, there was something wrong. Mercy wouldn’t have shouted like that if there wasn’t.
“Is everything okay?” he asked after a moment, still unwilling to relax, his shoulders bunched, fists clenched. When it came to his mate, he wasn’t willing to take any chances.
Mercy took a deep breath before answering. “No – or, well, yes.” She shook her head, her hand leaving her temple to cover her eyes. “Nothing’s wrong, in the grand scheme of things. I knew this was coming. But it does kind of leave me high and dry today…”
Dante frowned. Had someone used the phone to threaten Mercy? Anger flared within him.
Cowards! his dragon roared, spreading its wings. Will they not even stand and fight?
He crossed the floor to where she stood. He wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand and comfort her, but he resisted. Despite the fact she’d let him stay here, and despite the fact that last night, he had been sure she must have felt something of their bond, he reminded himself that she didn’t know him – that taking him in had been a startling act of trust.
And she still doesn’t know you, he reminded himself, swallowing. She doesn’t know who you are – what you are.
He would have to tell her, and soon. Both about his ability to shift, and his criminal past. Somehow, the second one seemed to loom even larger in his mind than the first.
We can protect her better than any human, his dragon said, puffs of smoke rising from its jaws. She will see that.
That was possible, Dante thought. He knew of many dragons – his own cousins, Stefan and Isaak, for example – who had human mates who had accepted their dragons and their mated bonds. So it was clearly possible for such a thing to happen.
But how could he tell her that he used to be one of the same kind of people who were threatening her now? A former gang member, who had so often used his strength to harm, rather than to protect?
Even if he could explain to her that he’d had no choice, it wasn’t an excuse.
Everyone has a choice.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed the thought from his head. Right now, he had to deal with the problem in front of him.
“What’s happened, Mercy?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm and gentle as possible, while his dragon raged within him, insisting they would tear out the throat of anyone who would harm her.
“Nothing,” Mercy muttered after a moment or two. “Well, not nothing. Maybe it’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back.” She shook her head, before putting her phone down on the counter. “I just got a text from Debbie, my waitress – or should that be ex-waitress. She quit, effective immediately. I can’t really say I blame her, given everything that’s been going on around here. She has a kid and a husband to think about. But if she’d just given me a day to prepare for it, I could have…” Mercy shook her head. “Well, no point in that kind of talk. I’ll just have to handle it myself. Along with the register, bussing tables, and whatever else goes wrong around here.”
Dante felt himself relaxing slightly, his dragon withdrawing. “That’s all? Your waitress quit?”
Mercy’s glance was quick and angry. “That’s all? Look, obviously I don’t know where you’ve come from, but clearly you don’t know anything about running a restaurant. I have enough trouble keeping my head above water as it is. Do you think people are going to come to a restaurant where they can’t get service? Where they have to wait half an hour for their drinks?” She shook her head, swallowing. “Not that we would’ve had many customers anyway, I guess. But I have enough problems without having to worry about this as well.”
Dante licked his lips. He wanted to reach out for her, but he stopped himself. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong,” he said. “I just thought – well, it doesn’t matter what I thought, I guess. I just wish this was a problem I could help you with.”
Mercy shook her head. “No, I’m sorry I snapped. I suppose compared with having a crime boss breathing down your neck, this must seem like small potatoes. But I have my pride, you know? Before all this shit with Garrick started up, Mercy’s Kitchen was one of the few places people could get a decent feed in this town. Or at least, I liked to think so.”
Dante was taken aback by the fatigue he could hear in Mercy’s voice. She leaned against the counter, her eyes downcast, looking utterly beaten. Maybe her waitress quitting really had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Comfort her. She is your mate, his dragon said.
“Sometimes I think it’d be easier to just sell up,” Mercy muttered to herself, not raising her eyes. “Or give Garrick what he wants and pay up. I get so tired of this. But then I think… if I don’t do this, who will? This is my place. My town.” She paused, her voice wavering a little. “But there’s only so much I can take.”
Dante’s heart pounded within him, everything in his soul desperate to take Mercy in his arms and tell her she didn’t have to do this alone anymore. He was here now – her mate, her protector – and he would look after her. He’d tear Harlan Garrick limb from limb if that’s what it took.
But he forced himself to hold back. As desperate as he was to hold her and comfort her, Mercy didn’t seem like the kind of woman who’d react well to unsolicited hugs.
“If there’s any way I can help you, I’ll do it,” he said instead. He meant it, too – something about the way Mercy had spoken of this place being hers, this town being hers had struck a chord deep inside him.
Have I ever felt such a sense of home, of somewhere being my place? he wondered, though he already knew the answer to that.
Dante had never felt at home anywhere, never had somewhere he could call his. The manticores who’d raised him had made damn sure to keep him on his toes at all times, made sure he knew he was disposable the moment he put a toe out of line. And they’d made sure he believed the human world would never accept him either – and as for dragons… well, his family had abandoned him, hadn’t they?
Regret pulsed through him. He hadn’t known at the time that the Novak Clan, or what was left of it, had been looking for him for years, and would have welcomed him back instantly if they had known he was alive.
He could have made a home with them, he knew. Stefan, the clan leader, and Stefan’s sister Darklis had been ready to open their hearts to him, even after he’d tried to hurt them.
But if I had accepted their offer, I would
n’t be here right now, Dante thought. I would never have found my mate. And she would be here alone, trying to fend off Garrick all by herself…
The last thought steeled Dante’s heart. He had done the right thing. Even if Mercy ended up rejecting their bond once she found out about his past, it didn’t matter. A dragon protected his mate.
Dante decided then and there he wouldn’t say a word to Mercy about their bond until he had dealt with Harlan Garrick. It would be terrible if, in her shock, she rejected it – rejected him – and told him to get out of her life. Dante knew he wouldn’t be able to do that – not when she clearly needed someone to lean on.
Someone who she could trust.
Later, Dante decided. If she wants to reject me after Garrick is dealt with, then at least I can leave her knowing she’s safe.
But she is our mate! All at once, his dragon reared up, smoke pouring from its jaws. She will never reject us. She knows that we are made for each other!
Dante ignored it. He didn’t have time to explain to it right now all the ways in which Mercy might not be overjoyed to discover she had a destined bond with an ex-criminal dragon shifter.
But what he could do was make sure she knew she wasn’t on her own right now.
“Mercy –” he began to say.
The back door to the kitchen was suddenly thrown wide open, and a tall, broad figure dressed entirely in black leather burst into the room.
“Get down!” The words were out of his mouth before he realized he had said them. Dante threw himself in front of Mercy without a second thought, throwing his arms wide to protect as much of her body as possible.
Garrick didn’t waste any time, Dante thought grimly as he stared at the tall figure in leather, trying to pinpoint the best angle of attack – their head and face were shielded by a motorcycle helmet, but he could still take them down fast if he had to –
The figure raised their hands, and Dante tensed, readying himself to dash forward before they could make a move. Did they have a gun, a knife? Whatever it was, he had to get Mercy to safety before –