by R. E. Butler
Dale nodded, but didn’t stand. Torrence left the room, and headed for the front door. When he stepped onto the front porch, he felt someone behind him and turned to see Jerris and the other males.
“Good luck,” Jerris said.
Torrence grunted and walked to the truck, deciding to ignore the odd send-off. Whatever Jerris meant by it, Torrence didn’t actually care. As long as the townspeople stayed the hell off his mountain, then they could wish luck on whoever they wanted.
After stopping to fill up two gas cans at the local gas station to run the generator, he used his father’s map to find the dirt road that led up the mountain to the cabin. The cabin wasn’t visible from town because of the dense trees. As the truck climbed, Torrence began to relax. The last three days had been a small bit of hell for him as his mother worried over him leaving, and his father and the elders continued to look in the clan archives for an answer to Torrence’s problem. His father hoped that there might be another way to jumpstart the dragon, instead of relying on the fruit and mate choosing, but there hadn’t been anything in the history of the clan. The truth was a painful stab of reality – Torrence would never claim his dragon because the fruit, that he was now inexplicably allergic to, was a key component of the process. He knew his mother was holding out hope that he’d at least choose a mate someday, but Torrence had no illusions about that. No dragon female in a thousand miles would pick a dragonless male like him.
He passed through the trees to a flat, cleared area where the cabin sat, nestled in the mountains and looking like a postcard. He parked and took the key his father had given him, and headed to the front door. It hadn’t been tended to in years, not since his father had left, so he knew he’d be busy cleaning for a long while.
Pushing open the door, he wrinkled his nose at stale air. “Home sweet home.”
Chapter 4
Cecily yawned as she walked down into the commercial kitchen to make the donuts for the day. Although her first day had been an utter bust, once she’d spoken to the alpha about her suspicions of his son’s behavior, the next day had been amazing, and so had every other day after that. Jerris never showed up again, but she was pretty sure he was watching her anyway. She often couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somewhere just out of sight.
With a shiver, she pushed thoughts of him to the back of her mind where he belonged, and got the ingredients for her first batch of donuts ready. Her first week in business was going well and she was thankful for the alpha’s intervention. Calling him had been the right advice.
The front door unlocked, and Andrea called out, “This getting up early is for the birds, C.”
Cecily laughed. “Nah, it’s why the coffee gods graced us with their magical beans.”
Andrea walked into the kitchen. “That sounds perverted.”
“There isn’t anything perverted about coffee.”
Andrea hummed and walked to the coffee pot. “Is this normal coffee or the flavored stuff?”
“Normal.”
She poured a cup and joined Andrea at the counter. “Anything new today?”
“I’m doing a stuffed black and white donut.”
“Huh?”
Cecily chuckled and gestured to a tray of donuts on the counter. She’d fried vanilla cake and chocolate cake donuts, cut each in half, and sandwiched the two different flavors together with buttercream frosting. The tops were decorated with vanilla and chocolate drizzle.
“Adorable!” Andrea lifted one from the tray and took a bite. “Oh yum. Where did you get the idea?”
“Online.”
“Thank goodness for the internet.”
Andrea finished her donut and refilled her coffee, and then went to turn on the sign and open the door. Cecily turned her attention back to the donuts, when she felt a strange presence in the kitchen. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and something within her was sending out a warning.
She spun with the frosting bag in her hand and let out a scream when she saw Jerris slink out of the shadows. He snarled at her, flashing his fangs.
“I was punished,” he said, growling the words. “I offered to help, and you got me in trouble.”
Cecily would have backed up if she wasn’t already pressed against the counter. Andrea rushed into the kitchen and skidded to a halt. Then she moved to stand between Cecily and Jerris.
“What the hell?” Andrea shouted, pulling her phone from her pocket. “Alpha Irvine told you to stay away from here.”
“You’re both bitches,” he spat. Then his demeanor changed from menacing to smiling so swiftly that Cecily wasn’t sure she hadn’t stroked out. “My wolf has chosen you, Cecily. Why do you insist on this distance between us? You need me.”
Cecily shuddered. “I’m not your mate, you loon! I don’t need anything from you but for you to get gone. Now! And don’t come back!”
“Alpha, it’s Andrea. Jerris broke into the donut shop’s kitchen and is threatening Cecily.”
Jerris growled and melted back into the shadows. Cecily’s heart pounded as she moved toward the darkness, using her phone’s flashlight to illuminate the area. The short hallway led to a storage room and a back door that Cecily kept locked. It stood open now. She shone the light on the deadbolt and saw scratch marks, which told her he used a pick to open it. She had no idea when he opened the door, or how long he’d been standing in the darkness, but the hopeful part of her was sure that he’d only just walked in. He could have had her alone if he’d come in any earlier. Slamming and locking the door, she returned to the kitchen.
“The alpha’s sending some of the males to stand watch for the day,” Andrea said as she pushed her phone back into her pocket. “He said he’ll deal with him.”
“He said that last time,” Cecily pointed out.
Now that the danger was gone, her whole body trembled, and Andrea had to lead her to a chair to sit down before she passed out.
She sipped at a bottle of water and tried to wrap her head around what had happened. “Why won’t he leave me alone?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a male saying a female is his mate without there being a mutual attraction. A wolf shouldn’t want to tie himself to someone who isn’t interested in him.”
“Shouldn’t, but he clearly does.”
“Hopefully whatever the alpha does will get it through Jerris’s thick head that he needs to move the hell on from you and find his real mate. In the meantime, I’m going to come to work with you.”
She shook her head. “It’s too early for you.”
“Well, yeah, but I really can’t complain. I work from 5:45 in the morning until 1 p.m. I can be here an hour earlier. Plus, maybe you can teach me how to make some things, so I can be more useful.”
“You’re already useful.”
“Useful-er.”
She smiled. “If you’re sure. I don’t want one whack-a-doodle making me change my whole life.”
“I promise it’s no hardship. We’re best friends. I don’t think he will try anything again – first because of the alpha, but also if there’s a witness here, which will be me. And maybe you should think about getting some kind of security, too.”
“I would if I had the funds.”
“We’ll add that to the list of things we need.”
“And lottery tickets. That would be helpful.”
“You got it.” The bell over the front door rang and Andrea said, “First customers of the day. Put the bad stuff away and focus on the donuts. It’s going to be a good day.”
She smiled at Andrea’s positivity, but didn’t really share it. Jerris was an ass, and he was delusional and aggressive to boot. She wasn’t sure if having Andrea there earlier in the mornings would make a difference, but she hoped that she’d never see Jerris’s face again.
* * *
The day passed quickly, and Cecily finished the dishes and got the recipes ready for the next day. Andrea packed up the unsold donuts to drop off at the mini-mart to sell at hal
f-price.
“What should we do about the door?” Andrea asked as she stood in the kitchen and stared down the hallway.
“I’m going to the hardware store and I’ll install a padlock.”
“Can you do that?”
She shrugged. “I have a cordless drill, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Okay. We had a good day today, right?”
“It was definitely better once that creep was gone.”
“For damn sure.” Andrea took off her apron and hung it on the peg. “See you tomorrow at 4:45.”
“You do know I get here at 4:30, right?”
“Damn it. I was counting on that extra fifteen minutes. Okay, I promise to be here, before the crack of dawn.”
“You’re the best.”
“You know it. Feel free to give me a raise to show your appreciation.”
Cecily laughed and said goodbye to Andrea. She finished cleaning and prepping for the next day, and then locked the front door and got in her car. The nearest home improvement store was forty-five minutes away, and she decided to see what kinds of security items they carried so she could gauge how much she needed to save up to equip the shop. A padlock was something, at least. If Jerris did return and try to get in the back door, she’d definitely hear him break the door down, and she and Andrea could get to safety and call for help.
But what she really hoped was that he’d turn his attention to someone else and forget all about her.
It would have been nice if her Mr. Right was the one paying so much attention to her, but her luck was not that good. Instead of finding the guy of her dreams, she was stuck with a lunatic wolf who thought breaking into her shop was romantic.
Chapter 5
Torrence woke Friday morning with his head pounding and his heart slamming against his ribcage. He sat up in bed, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe. As quickly as the odd feelings had started, they ebbed, and he could breathe more easily. His heart rate slowed and although his head still ached, it was a more bearable ache as opposed to feeling like a jackhammer was banging into his cranium.
Swinging his legs over the bed, he sat up and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, waiting for all the strange symptoms to go away. But instead of relief, all he felt was an odd tug of urgency, deep within him, as if something was pushing him to get out of the cabin.
He’d been at the cabin for only a few days. The solitude had been the balm he’d needed to quiet the furious part of himself that didn’t want to agree to a life of isolation. He couldn’t fight his destiny, he had to accept it.
He was just damn lonely.
Rubbing the space over his heart, he glanced at the window and saw that it was early dawn. The sky was still mostly black, but the sun was pushing that darkness slowly away, beckoning the new day.
Something had woken him up, but what? And why did he feel like he needed to go to town? There wasn’t anything there for him but disgruntled wolves and whatever humans called it home.
But still…he felt the need to go.
When he reached town, the sun was visible over the horizon, bathing the whole place in golds and pinks. He parked in the square and got out, turning in a slow circle. The town square was a literal square of grass with a white gazebo in the center, surrounded on all sides by a parking lot. The main street boasted a mini mart and gas station, as well as the town hall. The only building with the lights on was Cecily’s Donuts. He stared at the shop and saw two females, one blonde and one brunette, and two males sitting at a long counter drinking coffee.
His whole body jolted with awareness as he stared at the brunette. Something about her was…he couldn’t put his finger on it, but that same pounding headache he’d woken up with returned suddenly, bringing along the rapid heartbeat and gasping breaths. He wasn’t aware that he was walking toward the shop until he was halfway across the street. Sweat poured down his face and his vision dimmed and cleared several times, as his fingers and toes began to ache, and his skin felt tight.
He wrapped his hand around the shop’s door handle and opened it, a blast of warm, sweet-scented air hitting his face. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but all that came out was an agonized groan. He locked gazes with the brunette who was no longer smiling but now frowning at him, and then white-hot pain blasted through his body. The glass door shattered as he tore it from the building. A roar rumbled in his chest and burst up through his throat. His body changed so rapidly he thought he would die from the intensity as his bones and muscles were twisted and pulled. Something shattered behind him and he snorted, a billow of smoke coming from his nose.
He looked around and saw he was taller now, and a glance down at himself was all he needed to know what had happened – he’d found his dragon.
Somehow, when the odds were stacked against him, without mating fruit or a dragon female for hundreds of miles, he’d transformed. He ducked his head to look into the shop and let out a sharp call to the female who was his catalyst – the brunette.
Whoever she was, she was his mate, and his life now had a new purpose: to make her deliriously happy.
* * *
Cecily turned on the overhead lights in the commercial kitchen. It had been a week, and she’d neither seen nor heard from Jerris since the alpha had promised to fix the situation. She was warily hopeful that things were going her way finally.
“Do you have to look at the back door every morning?” Andrea asked. “It’s creepy.”
“Sorry. I just like to check that the lock is still locked.”
Andrea glanced at the door and said, “Yep, it’s still doing its job.”
“Thank goodness. Maybe next week you can stop coming in early.”
“I don’t mind,” Andrea said. “Besides, I get to eat more donuts if I show up early.”
“True.”
“What’s on the menu today?” Andrea followed Cecily to the coffee and fixed both of them a cup.
“I have a maple batter donut with maple frosting and deep-fried bacon crumbles on top.”
“You had me at deep fried bacon.”
Cecily laughed. “I’ll fry you up some extra bacon.”
“You’re the best boss-slash-friend ever.”
Cecily beamed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Well, you don’t have to figure that out anytime soon.” Andrea left the kitchen and went to straighten up, whistling a tune.
Cecily turned her attention to the new recipe. She was planning to introduce a special donut every Friday, something unique or fun. Maple syrup and bacon seemed like a winning combination, and she was sure that the customers would like them, too.
When the bell over the door rang an hour and a half later, signifying the first customer of the day, Cecily peeked out and saw two wolves sitting at the counter as Andrea served them coffee and their sweets. Cecily finished the batch of donuts and carried them out to the case, and then she stopped next to Andrea and smiled at the males.
“How are you today?” she asked.
“Great, Cecily, you have the best coffee in town, but don’t tell my mate,” Derrick said.
“I won’t,” she said with a smile.
Cecily’s heart suddenly felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. She pressed her hand to her chest and inhaled shakily. The bell over the door jingled as it opened, and she stared at the most stunningly handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on in her life. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with short-cropped dark hair and piercing blue eyes.
Their gazes locked, and a strange sense of rightness settled over her. She felt like she was looking at her destiny, which was odd on a hundred different levels since she’d never seen the man before in her life. In a heartbeat, she wanted to know everything about him, and she never, ever wanted him to leave her side. She opened her mouth to ask him to come in, or maybe to take her upstairs for the next few dozen years, but before she could utter a word his whole body jerked, and he let out an agonized groan. The door sh
attered as he pulled it off and the windows on either side cracked loudly.
His clothes shredded as he transformed into a dragon. His body was so big he was larger than her shop, and when his tail lashed out behind him, he took out the town’s gazebo along with several of the cars parked in the lot. Andrea shrieked in fear and the wolves at the counter dove behind it for cover. The dragon bent down until he was staring into the shop and he opened his mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and let out a call. She couldn’t explain how she knew it was a mating call, but something deep inside her told her that the dragon was her mate, and he needed her.
The broken glass crunched under her boots as she walked past the counter toward the open doorway.
Andrea grabbed her arm. “Are you insane? That’s a fucking dragon out there!”
She looked back at her best friend. “I know. It’s okay, he’s my mate.”
“Um, no he’s not. Dragons don’t mate like normal shifters, there’s some kind of weird ceremony and food they have to eat. If you go out there, you’re going to get burned to a crisp or eaten for breakfast!”
“The alpha’s on his way,” Derrick said. “He’s pissed.”
The dragon called to her again, more urgently. Cecily pried Andrea’s fingers from her arm and said, “I have to go out there. He needs me.”
“For food! Don’t go!”
“I’ll be back. Handle things for me, okay?”
Cecily untied her apron and dropped it over the back of a booth. She stepped out of the shop and walked to the dragon. Her whole body was trembling, but it wasn’t just that she was nervous about being around a shifter she’d never seen before, she was also really excited. She was human, but she still recognized what was going on between them.
Behind her, Andrea called out in worry, but Cecily kept walking. He dropped to his belly and blew out a soft breath from his nostrils. She put her hand on his snout and found it cool to the touch. “Hey.”