by Zoe Chant
“It’s not safe for you at the moment,” Dante said, crossing his arms across his chest, as Mercy tried really hard not to notice the way the movement made his biceps bulge. “Those men last night – they said they’d be back. If they catch you alone, who knows what they might do.”
As much as Mercy didn’t want to admit it, Dante was probably right. She grimaced. She hated feeling like this. She hated feeling like others had to take care of her.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she muttered, shaking her head. “I’ve been getting on just fine since before you showed up.”
“You’re right, you don’t need a babysitter, and that’s not what I’d be,” Dante said. “But there’s more of them than there are of you. Let’s even the odds a bit.”
Despite herself, Mercy felt a smile tugging at her lips. “Even the odds, you say?”
“Yeah.” Dante’s voice was dark treacle. “What do you say?”
“All right, then,” Mercy said, after a brief pause. “Let’s do it.”
***
Clearly, Mercy thought, she hadn’t considered the size of her car before she’d agreed to have Dante come out with her on this errand. It was a fifth-hand Corolla, tiny enough on the best of days, but it seemed smaller still with a guy as broad, tall and muscular as Dante was in the passenger seat.
Mercy kept her eyes trained on the road, doing her best to ignore Dante’s... everything only a few inches away from her. The physicality of him seemed overwhelming: the thickness of his muscular thighs, the broadness of his shoulders. The hint of stubble on his chin and cheeks, the slow rise and fall of his massive chest as he breathed.
Focus! Mercy told herself as she clutched the steering wheel, trying not to drive the car up onto the sidewalk out of sheer, desperate horniness.
You’re actually doing something a little bit more important right now than trying to get laid, Mercy told herself. Yes, driving straight was the most immediate concern. But she was also on her way to the minuscule Hainesville Community Library, where her friend Jessa Phillips was the head librarian, and she should be focusing on how to explain to her the offer that Roy had so unexpectedly made.
Nonetheless, she couldn’t stop herself from glancing across at Dante as they sat stopped at traffic lights. He was looking straight ahead, one large hand on his thigh and the other propped by the window, with a kind of casual masculinity that made her heart race.
“Do you mind if I ask what this errand is?” Dante asked as, with great concentration, she changed gears to start driving again.
I should tell him, Mercy thought. Despite her earlier resolution to keep it quiet, for some reason she wanted to tell Dante what had happened.
“The man who came to see me this morning was Roy Wilmore – you probably don’t know him unless you keep up with property mogul news, but he’s kind of a big deal in that world,” Mercy said. “And,” she added, swallowing, “he was my high school boyfriend – though there’s nothing between us now. I haven’t seen him in years. But he’s back, and he says he wants to do something for the community. I want to collect proposals from people for what they’d do with a bit of money, if they got some.”
Dante glanced across at her. “And... do you think you can trust him?”
“Of course I can,” Mercy said automatically, but then frowned. Can I really say that?
At one time in her life, Roy had known her better than anyone. But that had been many years ago. Could she really know for sure that he hadn’t changed?
“I mean, I’m pretty sure I can,” Mercy said. “And I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, here. If he says he wants to do something for Hainesville, I have to take him at his word – at least until he gives me a reason not to.”
“Of course,” Dante said, nodding – but Mercy didn’t miss the reservation in his eyes.
If he had any doubts, he was polite enough not to voice them, though, which Mercy was grateful for. Dante may have been on his guard, but it was clear that he was willing to trust her judgment.
Hainesville wasn’t that big, and it wasn’t long until they pulled up in the library parking lot. It was on the same lot as the elementary school, and she knew Jessa ran reading programs and let the kids whose parents worked late stay in the library after school until they could be picked up.
“I’m coming in with you,” Dante said.
Mercy smiled, shaking her head. “Well, I wasn’t going to leave you in the car. But I warn you, this is probably going to be pretty boring.”
“I’ll manage,” Dante replied. “Anyway, I’m curious – it seems like you do a lot for this place. I don’t know how you manage it all and run a restaurant at the same time.”
“It isn’t easy,” Mercy said as they got out of the car. “But someone’s got to do it.”
Dante nodded. “You’re right,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft as his brilliant green eyes rested on her face. “But it’s still amazing how you’ve decided you’re going to be the one to do it. I mean what I say, Mercy – it’s amazing. You’re amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone so selfless before – anyone so dedicated to helping others. I –”
Dante cut himself off suddenly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed heavily.
Mercy licked her lips, watching the movement as if entranced.
God, I want him.
The thought was in her head before she could stop it, urgent and desperate. There was no point in denying it: right from the first moment she’d dragged him into the kitchen, Mercy had known just how attracted she was to Dante. She couldn’t explain it. At this point, she wasn’t even sure if she cared about trying to.
She shook her head as she turned away, walking up the concrete path to the library entrance. She hadn’t responded to Dante, but she wasn’t sure she could right now. Her throat felt too tight to let any words past her lips. And she couldn’t think about this right now! She was here for a meeting!
While she met with Jessa on a semi-regular basis, Mercy didn’t often have time to come into the library itself. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t a school trip featuring what looked like about a dozen unruly six-year-olds.
“Sorry about all this,” Jessa said, as she pulled one especially energetic kid down from the top of the returned books trolley. “It’s our weekly reading circle day. Not that anyone’s getting much reading done.”
“It’s no problem.” Mercy swung out an arm to stop the kid Jessa had just pulled down off the trolley from barreling into an overflow shelf. “Really, it’s me who should be apologizing – have I caught you at a bad time?”
“No, it’s never a bad time to see you,” Jessa said. “But we may need to make it quick – I have to try to wrangle these little guys into the reading area for their story.”
“That seems easier said than done,” Dante said, as yet another six-year-old charged by them, heading in the direction of the fish tank.
“You’re telling me,” Jessa sighed.
“This might take some time,” Mercy said. “I really should have checked before I came out here. I just got... caught up, I guess, and let my excitement get the better of me.”
“Excitement?” Jessa raised her eyebrows. “Well, now I’m curious. What’s happening?”
Mercy hesitated. “Well –”
She was cut off by the sound of a short, terrified scream, and whirled around just in time to see a kid she didn’t know toppling backward off the shelves he’d been trying to climb.
“Alex!” Jessa cried out, dashing forward – but Mercy could already see she’d be too late to stop him from falling. There was simply too much distance between them. Nonetheless, Mercy charged forward anyway, hoping against desperate hope she could somehow get to Alex before he fell onto the floor.
She waited for the thud, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
But it was a thud that never came.
Mercy caught her breath, blinking in shock as she took in the sight be
fore her eyes.
She’d been expecting to see poor Alex sprawled on the floor crying – but instead, he was simply looking up in great surprise at the man who’d caught him and prevented his fall.
Dante.
Mercy couldn’t stop herself from gasping. How had he moved that fast? She hadn’t even noticed him – and he’d been several yards away from the shelf. It didn’t seem possible that he could have gotten all the way over there before Alex hit the floor.
But whatever the case, Mercy felt relief flooding her body. Alex was safe, having fallen directly into Dante’s arms.
His strong, muscular arms, her brain added, unhelpfully.
The kind of arms she really wished he’d wrap around her, lift her up in, carry her away in...
Okay, stop! Not the time!
“Maybe you should be a bit more careful,” Dante said, as he gently placed the clearly shaken Alex down on the floor.
Alex only nodded, his eyes wide.
“What do you say, Alex?” Jessa asked, her tone calm, but her voice a little shaky.
“Thanks, mister,” Alex murmured, having to crane his head upward to look at Dante’s face. He was clearly quite impressed with Dante, Mercy thought. Alex was looking up at him the way someone might look at Superman if he’d just saved them from falling from a twenty-story building. Though given how tall and muscle-bound Dante was, Mercy didn’t think the comparison was necessarily too far off – and a bookshelf probably felt like a twenty-story building when you were in first grade!
On hearing Alex’s scream, the other kids – who had until now been running more or less riot – had stopped what they were doing to check out what deadly danger one of their number had gotten into. They came swarming over to check on him, asking Alex if he was okay, and glancing curiously at Dante.
And with that, an idea suddenly popped into Mercy’s head.
“Dante,” she said, before she had a chance to change her mind. “Would you mind watching these guys while I talk to Jessa?”
“Me?” Dante asked, looking up at her, his green eyes wide with surprise. His expression turned doubtful. “I’m not good with kids.”
Mercy had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling. “Have you spent much time with them?”
Dante frowned. “No. But –”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine!” Jessa trilled, grinning. “They’re gorgeous kids – when they’re sitting still.” She turned away, grabbing a book from behind the library counter. “We’re reading this today – Mr. Dragon Goes Shopping. It’s an easy read – just make sure you do the voices.”
“The... voices?” Dante asked, looking more and more mystified by the second. Mercy stifled a laugh.
“The voices of the characters,” she said. “They can’t all sound the same. Mrs. Dragon has to have a different voice to Mr. Dragon.”
Dante was staring down at the book Jessa had shoved into his hands as if it might be radioactive. “But –”
“Well, I need to talk to Jessa now,” Mercy said. “Remember, like I said, time is of the essence here. We won’t be long – just keep the kids entertained for about... fifteen minutes. We’ll be back.”
She turned away, Jessa by her side.
“Where on earth did you find him?” Jessa murmured to her as they headed to her small office. Mercy didn’t fail to notice the long, admiring glance Jessa cast back over her shoulder at Dante as they went inside.
Almost immediately, a loud, possessive voice rose up inside her, shouting, he’s mine!
Mercy blinked, surprised at herself. Apart from anything else, Dante was most certainly not hers. She’d only just met him! And this wasn’t like her – she wasn’t usually a jealous or possessive person at all.
She swallowed, trying to push down the instinctive shout from her gut. She had to concentrate, dammit! This was important!
“So,” Jessa said, settling into the chair behind her desk. “Tell me just what exactly all this excitement is about.”
Chapter Five
Dante
Dante looked at the young boy who was looking up at him, dark eyes wide.
“Are you going to read to us, mister?”
Dante swallowed. “I... guess so,” he said uncertainly, looking down at the book in his hands.
Our mate has entrusted us with a task, his dragon crooned, preening. We must execute it to the best of our abilities. We can do nothing less for our mate.
That would be fine, Dante thought, if only Mercy had given him a job that fell at least somewhere within his wheelhouse. If she’d asked him to go find and beat up the men who’d tried to attack her last night, he would have tracked them down in a heartbeat. If he needed to stand by the door of her restaurant with his arms folded to let Garrick’s men know the jig was up, he’d stand there for as long as he needed to. If anyone came anywhere near Mercy with any kind of intent other than to tell her how amazing she was, he’d take them down in a heartbeat.
But this...
... This was too much.
“You have to sit in the reading chair if you’re going to read,” a little girl with light brown hair pulled into pigtails informed him, with some authority. “And we have to sit on the floor in front of you. And if people aren’t quiet, we’re not allowed to hear the end of the book.”
“Right,” Dante said uncertainly, as the girl took him by the hand and marched him across the room to a tatty armchair.
I guess that’s the reading chair.
“Everyone has to sit,” the girl said – and, to Dante’s surprise, he actually felt kind of grateful to her. Every class apparently had one bossy girl who was only too happy to take charge given half a chance.
Even so, Dante realized he couldn’t hide behind her pigtails and iron will forever.
“All right, everyone take a seat,” he said, hoping he sounded authoritative without being intimidating. He didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with that. In the past, usually when he’d told someone to do something, it hadn’t really been a request.
To his surprise, the ten or so first graders all sat down willingly enough, looking up at him with shining eyes.
“Have you read this one before?” Dante asked, holding up the book.
“No,” chorused some of the kids, while others shook their heads.
“So, this’ll be new for both of us,” Dante replied. He looked at the illustration on the cover. A big, green dragon – if he could even call it that! – was pushing a shopping cart, a smaller green dragon by its side. They didn’t look much like actual dragons – they were so round and puffy they looked more like clouds with tiny, spindly wings drawn on.
As if those things could be called wings! his dragon huffed contemptuously. They couldn’t even lift us off the ground! And why is this dragon shopping? If he is in his dragon form, he should hunt for food for his family!
It’s just a story, Dante told it, as he opened the book to the first page. Calm down.
The story, as it turned out, was about exactly what the title had said it would be about: Mr. Dragon, the husband of Mrs. Dragon and father of Little Dragon, was doing the shopping.
“‘Little Dragon, should I get apples or chocolate?’ asked Mr. Dragon,” Dante read.
The fool should buy both, his own dragon piped up. He should provide anything that his family may want.
Dante ignored it.
“‘Let’s look at the list Mommy gave us,’ said Little Dragon. They looked at the list.” Dante glanced down at the kids, checking if they were still listening. It seemed that they all were – their misbehavior earlier had given way to a surprising level of quiet as he read. “‘Both are on the list!’ said Mr. Dragon and Little Dragon together. “‘Let’s get both!’”
This Mr. Dragon has a sensible mate, his dragon purred as Dante turned the page to continue reading. What clan are they from? They are green – are they of the Lukich Clan?
They’re not of any clan, Dante told it, irritated. It’s a story – it’s fiction
! It’s not real!
Just as well, his dragon snorted.
Dante wanted to roll his eyes. The Lukich Clan and the Novak Clan – Dante’s own – hadn’t been at odds for years now, ever since their respective clan leaders, Landra Lukich and Dante’s cousin, Stefan Novak, had made peace between them. But it still didn’t stop his dragon’s hackles from rising warily at the word Lukich. It had been the Lukich Clan’s former leader, Erik, who was responsible for almost wiping the Novak Clan from the face of the earth, after all; it was the reason why Dante had thought he had been abandoned as a child, though in fact his parents had been killed by the Lukich.
He looked down at the faces of the children in front of him. Their eyes were sparkling, waiting for him to read the next part of the story.
I will protect them. I will help Mercy to protect them. These children are part of her community – our community.
Mercy’s community was his community too, now. What was important to his mate was important to him.
And besides which, no child should ever have to feel as he had done when he’d been young: the constant uncertainty, the feelings of loneliness and fear. Clearly, these children had parents who cared about them, and Mercy, Tai and Jessa were helping them in whatever way was needed.
I want to be a part of that, Dante thought. Perhaps he could never make up for all the things he’d done in his past. But he could try to prevent these children from going through the same things he’d gone though; he could try to prevent them from making the same mistakes as he had.
He continued to read about the adventures of Mr. Dragon and Little Dragon at the supermarket – there were some problems with Mr. Dragon’s tail knocking over a stacked pyramid of oranges, and Little Dragon accidentally breathing fire on the shopping list after getting too excited about buying pork chops so they’d had to guess what else might have been on it, but the book ended with a picture of Mr. Dragon, Mrs. Dragon and Little Dragon all seated at the dinner table, laughing and eating heartily.
As it should be, his dragon purred, as if sharing in their content. Bonded mates and their children, together.