Protector Dragon

by Liv Rider

  “Not if he’s human. If he’s human, it’s up to their police to handle it.”

  He had to admit that Douglas had a point. “But it was done by shifters.”

  Douglas hummed in agreement. “Still, why are you getting involved personally?”

  He’d run out of things to say that weren’t the truth. If he wanted Douglas’ full cooperation, it was only fair to tell him. Besides, it was clear Douglas wasn’t on Joel’s family side. “He’s my mate.”

  Silence stretched out between them. Thomas looked over at Parker and Mitchell. Parker was typing something on his phone, while Mitchell looked at him with rapt attention. He gave them a shrug.

  “The kid is your mate?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “The kid is your mate?”

  “Why does everybody have such trouble believing Joel is my mate?” He gestured in frustration with his other hand. “Of course I’m sure! Have you ever met a shifter who wasn’t sure about their mate?”

  “It’s unusual for a dragon’s mate to be human. Are you sure it’s a good idea to be in relationship with him?”

  Thomas wanted to tear his hair out. “I’d like to find out! Will you help us or not?”

  “Oh, I’ll definitely help you get that kid away from his family. Make sure you’re here first thing in the morning. I take it you’ll fly over?”

  “Of course.” Thomas was relieved Douglas didn’t continue arguing. “Any reason why I can’t come right now?”

  “It’d be late in the evening before you even got here and then what would you do? No, best do it in the morning. It’ll give me time to look into things and see if anyone else is involved.”

  “Fine.” It was difficult. Every fiber of his being was itching to do something. His dragon wanted to leave right now and save their mate.

  “What did he say?” Mitchell asked, once Thomas had hung up.

  “I’m going there first thing in the morning.” He gave Mitchell and Parker an abridged version of the conversation.

  “That family has obviously been causing him trouble for a while. That’s good,” Mitchell said. “Means he’s more sympathetic to you and Joel.”

  “I hope so. I wonder why he’s never done anything about them before, though.”

  Parker shrugged. “Maybe he figured the council had it under control, or they weren’t doing any harm.” He caught Thomas’ glare. “Until now, obviously. He couldn’t know they would drive out here to kidnap their own son, could he?”

  There were plenty of things he didn’t know about his district, so maybe it was unfair to blame Douglas too much. After all, the only people who could really be blamed were Joel’s family. “I wish I could go there right now. Who knows what they’re doing to him?” His stomach turned at the thought of Joel being hurt any more than he had been.

  “I know it’s hard.” Mitchell got up to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But you’re no use to him if you haven’t slept and aren’t thinking clearly. Let Douglas help you tomorrow morning. I know it’ll take longer, but it does mean less trouble in the long run.”

  Thomas knew that was true. He couldn’t go against Douglas’ wishes to do this tomorrow and he needed the other man there. He was the Keeper of the district, so everything happening there was his responsibility. If Thomas didn’t involve him, if Douglas wasn’t there to witness and act where necessary, Joel’s family might argue that Thomas had been the one to kidnap Joel. It could take weeks to get everything cleared up. No, Joel’s family had broken every rule a shifter could break. They had to be punished for it and Thomas owed it to Joel to make sure that happened as quickly as possible.

  “I don’t know if I can sleep tonight.” He was lost without Joel and worried for him. How was he supposed to fall asleep while his mind was elsewhere?

  “Then we’ll stay with you,” Mitchell assured him. “We can try to take your mind off of worrying too much.”

  Thomas smiled at his friend. “Thanks. I know I haven’t been the, uh, nicest throughout all of this.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Parker said. “If I had found my mate and someone kidnapped them, I wouldn’t be able to wait around either. I don’t know how you’re doing it. If it had been me, I probably would’ve flown over as soon as I knew where he was.”

  Mitchell shook his head. “You have to think of the long term, Parker. You can’t act impulsively, even if it involves your mate.”

  Parker laughed. “I’m going to remind you of that when you find your mate.”

  Thomas was glad they would stay the night. “I hope you do. Both of you. Being with Joel is… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s amazing. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He couldn’t imagine his life without Joel. “It hurts to know he’s in pain somewhere and I can’t help him.”

  “You will in the morning,” Mitchell said. “Trust me, by this time tomorrow, the two of you will be here and celebrating.”

  “And we won’t be here,” Parker added, raising his eyebrows significantly.

  Thomas gave him a wan smile and hoped his friends were right.

  15

  Joel

  The rest of the day was suspiciously quiet. Adam brought him lunch—more oatmeal—and dinner as well. Dinner was mashed potatoes, while Adam told him about the amazing lasagna Mom had made. “I bet you miss that, a good home-cooked meal.”

  Joel didn’t tell his brother that he could cook just fine. “She does make nice lasagna.” He didn’t want to annoy Adam needlessly and send him back upstairs. He’d been bored out of his mind sitting down here all day, worrying one moment and thinking about what Thomas had to be up to the next.

  “I’ll tell her you said that.” Adam smiled down at him. “Dad’s back, by the way. He’ll be down in a minute to talk to you.”

  Despite having just had a glass of water, Joel’s mouth was dry. “Why?”

  “I don’t know. Probably just wants to see how you’re doing. You know how worried he can get.”

  “He was in Lewiston all day? What was he doing there?”

  Adam frowned. “Talking to the people who helped us find you, of course. It’d be rude to leave without thanking them and saying goodbye.” He returned upstairs, leaving Joel to do more worrying.

  The one question he hadn’t had an answer to was how his family had found him. It had to be because of the welcoming event from last Saturday. The one time he was around shifters and suddenly his family turns up? It was too much of a coincidence. But which shifters were involved? He ruled out Thomas immediately. His mate had no interest in seeing Joel get hurt.

  One of his council? Thomas has mentioned not all council members had been pleased with having humans supply the food. Had one them been so annoyed they’d contacted his family?

  Or maybe whoever had told his family thought they were doing Joel a favor. After all, Adam definitely seemed to think it was better for Joel to be here.

  He was still mulling it over when he heard heavy footsteps come down the stairs.

  Unlike Adam, his father didn’t sit on the ground, but pulled an old chair over from the corner to sit on instead. He looked even more imposing than he had last night, glaring down at Joel with cold, blue eyes. “Settling in nicely, Joel? Adam tells me you’ve been eating well.”

  He tried to sit up on the mattress. “It’s not like I have anything else to do down here…”

  His father shook his head. “You were supposed to say ‘thank you.’”

  His first impulse was to say he was never going to thank them for kidnapping him, but he bit back that urge. He didn’t want to make his father any angrier than he already was. “Thanks for giving me food,” he mumbled.

  “I’ll let it slide this time, since clearly you’ve had quite a day and need to get used to things. But I won’t tolerate rudeness, boy, understood?”

  He remembered this from his childhood very well. His father hated rudeness, yelling at t
hem more than Mom ever had when they came into the house with muddy boots or left their dirty laundry all over the house. “Yes, Dad.”

  His father inhaled sharply. “Starting with that. I am not your father. It’s ‘Mr. Davies’ to you.”

  No matter how many times his father said that, it never hurt any less. “Even around others? Won’t the neighbors think that’s weird?”

  “They know you’re not mine. If anything, you calling me ‘Dad’ is weird.”

  “Right.” His body felt strangely numb.

  “I want to discuss the rules with you, Joel. You’ll have to show you can behave before we let you walk around the house freely. No leaving the house at first. You’ll have to earn that privilege.”

  “Worried I’ll try going home?” he asked, unable to stop himself.

  His father leaned forward. “You are home, Joel. If you forget that again, I’ll have to punish you. You think this is bad? How about we remove the mattress? The bucket? Give you one meal a day? Tell me, how does that sound?”

  “Terrible.” He reminded himself that Thomas would be coming for him; he wouldn’t have to endure this for much longer.

  “Exactly. Now, here are the rules. One, none of that ridiculous talk that you don’t want to be here. You’ve humiliated us for long enough. It’s time you stayed where you belonged.”

  Joel knew there was no point arguing and kept his mouth firmly shut.

  “Two, you will not make any attempts to escape at any point. After all, you belong here. Right, Joel?” His father smiled down at him.

  Joel didn’t smile back. “Right.” He couldn’t wait for his dad to find out about Thomas.

  “Three, you will be polite to me, your brothers, your mom, and any other visitors. If I catch you disrespecting anyone else or telling them nonsense about not wanting to be here…” His father trailed off.

  “Yeah, Dylan already told me not to upset Mom.” Joel remembered the anger in Dylan’s eyes.

  “Now there’s a good son,” his father said approvingly. “Fourth and final, while you’re down here, you will not cause any trouble. You will accept the food given to you. If you hear we have visitors, you will be quiet. Hell, you will be quiet even when there’s no one else in the house. Any questions?”

  “Those rules seem pretty clear. But I do have a couple of questions.” When his father gestured for him to continue, Joel asked, “Why now? How did you hear where I was?”

  His father laughed at that. “C’mon, boy, we’re not idiots. We’ve been looking for you ever since you ran away. We were going to catch you sooner or later.” He tapped the side of his nose. “Shifters always track down whoever they’re after.”

  Dammit, that was no answer at all. Maybe he should appeal to his father’s ego to get him to gloat. “Yeah, you’re right.” He hung his head. “I should’ve known it was useless trying to hide from you.”

  “You’d do well to remember that next time you get any stupid ideas. There isn’t a place in the world where we won’t find you. Shifters will always help other shifters, Joel, not humans like you.”

  “You had help?” he asked, clinging to that rather than his dad’s hurtful remark.

  His father’s smile widened. “Of course, from the wolf shifters in Lewiston. We contacted wolf shifters in various towns and cities in the area, you know, asking around informally. Contacting councils would’ve only slowed things down. We never stopped looking, boy. We’re tenacious. We never give up. That’s something you’ll never understand as a human.”

  Joel was certain his having left and managing to avoid shifters for so long showed more tenacity than his dad ever had. “You kept asking around? Year after year?” He still found it hard to believe his family had done that. “You would've kept going?”

  His father nodded. “That’s what not giving up means. If you hadn’t turned up at that party in Lewiston to serve the food, it would’ve taken longer, but we would’ve found you eventually.”

  The words sent a chill down his spine. He shouldn’t have stayed in Lewiston. He should’ve kept going and travelled from city to city. That would’ve stopped his family from tracking him down.

  But that was no way to live. Never making a place your home. Never having lasting friendships.

  Never having met Thomas.

  “I guess this was for the best, then.”

  His father smiled. “Exactly. No more running, Joel. Accept your place.”

  “Planning on it.” He gave his dad a bright, happy smile and he watched his father frown for a moment. Good. Let the man be puzzled by Joel’s sudden acceptance. It was better than the bitterness from before. “I feel like I should send a ‘thank you’ card to the shifter who told you where to find me. Who was it?”

  His father got up and scoffed. “If you insist on making a mockery of this, I’m leaving. Unless you want to be very lonely over the next few days, learn some manners.”

  He should’ve known his dad wouldn’t give him a name. He hoped Thomas knew or was working on it. “Guess I’ll have an early night, then.”

  “You do that.” His father eyed him suspiciously from the bottom of the stairs.

  Joel lay down on the mattress, watching his father walk back up the stairs and turn off the lights. The sudden darkness didn’t scare him as much as it had last night.

  It was dark outside, but he wasn’t sleepy. He watched the spot on the floor where moonlight came through the window. “Dammit, Thomas. I really don’t want to be here tomorrow night.”

  He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have, because he awoke with a start at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. The sunlight was already streaming in through the window. His limbs were stiff as he stretched, both from the cold and the awkward, curled-up position he’d slept in. The basement wasn’t so cold that he would freeze or get hypothermia, but it was uncomfortably chilly, especially at night.

  “Morning, sleepy head!” Adam’s voice was cheerful as he came over with the tray. “I assumed you’d want coffee again.”

  “You assumed correctly.” Joel looked forward more to the warmth of the mug than anything else. He sat on the mattress, waiting for his brother to sit down as well. “How is everything?” He reached for the coffee mug.

  “Oh, you know.” Adam took a sip of his own coffee. “Dylan and Dad spent most of breakfast arguing over how to handle you.” He rolled his eyes. “Dylan seems to think you’re some sort of dangerous criminal who’s already cooking up crazy escape plans and that we should put a webcam on you just to be sure you’re not secretly trying to tunnel out of here. I was like ‘Dylan, where is the other end of that tunnel gonna be? Our front lawn?’ As if we wouldn’t notice. Besides, I bring back the cutlery with every meal and it’s not like Dylan is offering to bring you food to keep an eye on you.”

  A part of Joel wanted to laugh at Dylan’s paranoia, but then again, if Dylan was so worried, he might do something besides talk about it. “Uh, is he putting up a webcam down here? I don’t think it’ll be very exciting.” He gestured pointedly with his wrists, rattling the chain attached to the wall. He still couldn’t believe his own family had done that to him.

  “No, Dad’s convinced you won’t try anything. Actually, he’s so convinced you won’t try anything that I can open the manacles. Congrats, you’re allowed to roam free down here, since you’ve been behaving well so far.”

  Joel nearly dropped his mug in surprise. “What, seriously?”

  Adam nodded. “Dad’s idea. See, Joel, if you behave, you’ll be out of the basement this time next week. I’ll see what I can do about getting you better food in the meantime.” A car pulled to a stop outside and a few seconds later, a car door slammed shut. “Someone’s having a worse morning than you are.” Adam put his mug down on the ground and walked over to the window to look outside. “Wait, what’s Douglas doing there? Dad didn’t say he was coming to visit.”

  Joel drank his coffee, trying not to feel a spark of hope at the local Keeper of t
he Peace dropping by. Douglas hadn’t helped him in the past, after all. But what other reason did he have for showing up? Thomas must’ve contacted him. Thoughts whirled in his head. Did this mean Thomas was here as well? Or had Douglas come to warn his family Thomas was coming?

  He had to ask. His mouth was dry when he opened it. “Is—is he by himself? Or is anyone with him?”

  Adam turned away from the window to frown at him. “Why do you want to know?”

  Joel’s heart was racing in his chest, and he shrugged in a way that he hoped looked casual.

  Adam looked at him for a few seconds longer, then looked out the window again. “I think he’s alone—oh wait, some guy just got out of the car as well. He looks pretty angry.”

  That had to be Thomas. “What does he look like?” Joel moved forward as much as he could on the mattress. “Is he blond?” He pulled uselessly on the chain. “Adam! Dad said you could unchain me!”

  “It’s a blond guy, yeah…” Adam looked out the window, then started at someone knocking violently on the basement door.

  “Adam!” his father barked. “Get your ass back up here! Now!”

  Adam strode over to Joel. “What do you know? Who is that guy?”

  Joel smiled. If Thomas was here, he had nothing left to lose. “I can’t say for sure without seeing him, but probably my boyfriend from Lewiston. He’s the Keeper of the Peace over there.”

  16

  Thomas

  He’d set off from Lewiston a few hours before dawn and had arrived at Douglas’ home as the sun was rising. Douglas lived on an old farm just outside one of the towns in his district, since living in one of the towns would only lead to shifters insisting he wasn’t impartial.

  Douglas was already outside, wearing jeans and a dark coat over a thick, woolen sweater. He waited for Thomas to shift from dragon to human before walking over to shake his hand. “Had a good flight?”

  Thomas nodded. His dragon was feeling on edge from being in another dragon’s territory, especially one he didn’t know, but that apprehensive feeling would fade in the next hour or so. He knew Douglas was feeling similarly on edge from having Thomas here and they exchanged a grimace as they shook hands. Douglas was a lot older than he was, with white hair and a wrinkled face. His dark eyes were sharp, and his mouth a grim line as he shook hands with Thomas. His grip was firm. “Yes, dry and not too windy. Perfect flying weather,” Thomas said.