A Mate to Believe In (Dragons of Mount Aterna Book 2)

by Riley Storm

  A fireball singed his wing and Pace roared in a mixture of agony and frustration. He knew he could beat this asshole, but he had to stop being the prey for a minute, and become the hunter. Unfortunately, the other fire dragon had different ideas, and wasn’t making it easy.

  However, neither was gaining the upper hand in the fight, unable to land the telling blow. Pace was preaching patience as best he could. Apparently, his enemy didn’t feel the same. He heard the sound of wind shrieking and glanced back again.

  His enemy was gone.

  Pace searched the skies frantically, looking around. Where was he? Where had he gone?

  He finally found him below, diving for the ground. For Carla.

  “Oh no you don’t,” he snarled, tucking in his wings and dropping from the sky like a stone.

  The ground rushed up at him, but Pace didn’t care. He only had one priority then, one mission. Get to Carla before his enemy did. If that meant inflicting pain on himself by descending faster and stopping harder, then so be it. What was a torn muscle?

  “Touch her and I will burn you from the inside out!” he howled, knowing his enemy could hear him.

  The other dragon seemed startled that Pace was so close and he tried to dive out of the way, but by then it was too late.

  Like a meteor descending from space, Pace slammed into the copper dragon, talons digging deep, his wicked sharp teeth tearing a chunk out from his enemy. Then he snapped his wings out wide to catch air and slow himself.

  He’d misjudged his attack, however, and his legs were buried too deep in his foe’s flank. The extra weight tore every muscle in his wings and they went limp as he shrieked in pain, their descent resuming.

  The pair of great beasts slammed into the side of the mountain, leveling trees and causing a miniature rockslide as they bounced and came to a halt. Neither jumped up, still stunned from the impact at such speeds. Pace fought with the incredible pain that was radiating out from his wings.

  It was too much. Too much.

  “Pace! Get up, Pace. You can do this!”

  That was Carla calling him. His mate. She needed him! Now, more than ever. All the other dragon needed to do was sent a blast of fire her way and he would incinerate her.

  Pace looked up to see the still unknown foe struggling to his feet, the yellow eyes focused on Carla with savage intent.

  Fury blew through his system, blasting pain aside as Pace got to his feet in a mad scramble, leaping at his opponent, taking him to the ground with another thunderous crash.

  “I said stay away from her,” he snarled, slashing one paw across the copper dragon’s snout.

  His enemy roared as the razor-sharp talon tore through his eye socket, blinding him on one side.

  Pace darted in with his mouth, clamping down near the base of the other dragon’s neck. He ripped out another chunk, spitting it out. Backing away, he watched for a moment, savoring the victory. Then he shuffled to the side and whipped his tail around.

  The spiked end connected with his foe and dropped him like a rock. The solid meaty thwok of impact was unnerving enough to make him think he’d killed the other dragon.

  But then the copper-scaled flank rose and slowly fell. Then it shrank, which is what he’d been hoping for. For whatever reason, the auto-response of a dragon rendered unconscious was to return to human form. Nobody knew why, though many theorized that it was because they were human first and dragon second, but that’s just the way it was.

  “There,” he said, his legs giving out. He started the change back to his human form as well. There was no more threat. Clan Valen would have seen or heard the combat. Others would arrive soon. He was going to live, and most importantly, Carla was safe.

  Carla came rushing up to him.

  “You’re safe now,” he said, falling back against a broken boulder, weak and in shock from the pain he’d sustained. “You’re safe.”

  “Thank you, Pace,” she said. “Thank you.”

  He just hoped she would realize now that no human prison could contain this asshole.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Carla

  Assured that Pace was okay, and that their victim had been defeated, Carla was finally able to take a step back and observe.

  The mountainside was ruined. Trees thicker around than her waist, simply smashed into tiny bits or knocked aside like matchsticks by the path of the dueling dragons. Boulders bigger than her car casually flung free, rolling down the side of the mountain, crushing everything in their path.

  There were scorch marks from the fire that had been flung about, and huge gouges in the road from their talons. Her patrol car was effectively ruined, the entire roof squished down, door gone. All from Pace, who had been trying to be gentle.

  Her eyes turned to the wreckage of their suspect’s truck, where it had gone off the road, down the ditch and plowed into some trees. What was left of it at least. The entire cab was little more than shredded metal and other materials.

  The destruction that had occurred in such a short period of time was staggering. She tried to imagine what might have happened if Pace hadn’t been around to stop the copper dragon. Carla Frazer would be dead, for starters; there was no other way around that.

  But what if this killer was placed in the human justice system?

  “Impossible,” she muttered to herself, looking up the road as the sound of vehicles approaching reached her ears.

  Glancing back at the still unconscious killer and would-be thief, she knew in her heart that a state prison wouldn’t stand a chance of holding him. He would break out at his earliest convenience, and nobody would be able to stop him. Who knew how many would be hurt from that?

  “You were right,” she said, crouching next to Pace, her heart heavy with understanding. “From the start, you were right.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, seeming to immediately understand what she was referring to. “I didn’t mean to make your life even harder.”

  “No, no,” she assured.

  Two trucks came around the bend from up the mountain. She started to stand, but Pace shook his head. “Clan Valen. We’re fine.”

  Carla nodded, relaxing as the trucks pulled up and people got out, surveying the scene.

  “Are all dragons so muscular and huge?” she asked, noting the procession of extremely fit men—and one woman, she noted with intrigue—emerging from the vehicles.

  “Perks of the genetics,” he said with a smile.

  Behind him, the suspect stirred with a groan.

  “That’s our traitor,” Pace called. “Please make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

  One of the men and the women hopped off the road, jumping far enough out to drop the ten feet into the ditch in one go. Carla watched, astonished at the casual display of strength. It was going to take some getting used to that each dragon was basically superhuman in every way.

  Her eyes went up another level when the woman flipped the suspect over and punched him in the face. Hard.

  “Always hated that asshole,” she growled, noting Carla’s surprised look.

  “You know him?”

  “Yeah. He’s from Teres. A nobody really. Name’s Brolle, I think. He tried to get with me once. Major creep,” she said, her upper lip pulling back in disgust.

  “So many are,” Carla agreed, understanding the woman’s pain.

  “Right?” The female dragon shifter looked down at Pace. “I like her. Keep her around.”

  Pace just groaned. “Great, that’s exactly what I need. You and the girly dragons being best friends. Just what every male dragon dreams about.”

  Everyone shared a laugh over that one.

  “But don’t worry,” Pace added as Brolle was hauled away unceremoniously. “I intend on keeping her around for as long as she’ll stay.”

  Carla smiled. “Well it’s not like I’m going to be getting promoted out of town anytime soon, so I may as well stay.”

  “Ooooh, a pity move, yesssss,” Pace teased.
“I’ll take it! Beggars can’t be choosers after all.”

  “Please,” she said. “I’m not doing it out of pity. I’m just using you.”

  “For what?” he asked, climbing to his feet.

  Carla eyed him up and down. “Certainly not your brains,” she joked, slapping his bare tush with gusto.

  Pace yelped and glared at her, but she just laughed, as did most of the others.

  “Very funny,” he growled, but he was smiling.

  “Come on there, let’s get you some clothes,” she said.

  Pace grabbed her hand as she started to climb back up the embankment, stopping her.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, alarmed by the serious look on his face.

  “Are you positive you’re okay with this?” Pace wanted to know, his attention focused completely on her. “I know this can’t be easy.”

  Carla sighed. “It’s not,” she admitted. “I’m still processing that this is going to be a complete and utter disaster at the station. Dunbar is going to make fun of me non-stop, and probably try to railroad me off the force completely for it. He can’t, but he’s going to make my life hell.”

  “I hate that dick,” Pace said, one arm bulging as he clenched it into a tight fist. “You deserve so much better.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” she said with a shrug. “But we have to keep your secret, Pace. A bit of a hard time for me is better than a lifetime of pain and suffering for your people.”

  “You shouldn’t have to suffer because of me,” he said, voice deepening in frustration. “I’m supposed to protect you. To do what I can to make life better.”

  She laughed. “Pace, let’s not act like no one in the history of humanity has ever had a job they dislike, but a personal life that makes everything else worthwhile. I promise, I will survive.”

  “You had better,” he said, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. “You better.”

  “I will. After all, at some point, Dunbar will have to retire, or not get re-elected, or something. He can’t be there forever.”

  Pace was silent for a moment. “No, you’re right. He can’t be. He’ll have to go.”

  “So trust me, I’ll be fine. Especially if I get to come home to that nice, firm, taut, plump, round, maybe a little juicy and certainly very smackable behind of yours,” she said, pinching one of his cheeks hard between two fingers.

  Pace yelped. “I am so going to regret that comment, aren’t I?”

  She grinned and pulled him down to her level.

  “You have no idea,” she said, then kissed him hard.

  “I don’t?” he asked when they finally parted.

  “Nope. Because you’ve forgotten a key detail,” she teased, trying not to grin.

  “What’s that?” Pace said warily, eyeing her as if she was about to explode.

  “I’ve got a bodycam. And it records everything. Including that beautiful rump of yours.”

  Pace’s eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t.”

  Carla laughed and ran up the hill toward the waiting trucks, instinctively knowing the other dragon shifters would help them out. They were just good people like that.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Pace

  “Get in there,” he snarled, grabbing Brolle by the shoulder and forcefully urging him onward.

  The sullen and silent shifter just glared at him.

  “What are you bothering to do that for?” Pace said tiredly. “You got caught doing dumb things. Did you seriously not once stop to consider that maybe you wouldn’t succeed? That maybe someone would find you and stop you? Or are you that arrogant?”

  No response.

  “Well, I hope for your sake you find your tongue soon, because otherwise, they’re just going to deal with you like they do any other violators of the Scarlet Accords. Not to mention the fact that you killed a human, you idiot. Unbelievable.”

  Double doors opened ahead of them and he marched Brolle into the waiting room, past a pair of guards flanking them on either side, wearing the ancient armor of the Dragon Guard. The armor wasn’t all that practical in modern times, but the dragon-scale swords were still more than sharp enough to be lethal.

  Ahead of them waited the Dragon Council, the five ruling leaders of each Clan. Pace walked his prisoner up to them and came to a halt, drawing himself upright and nodding respectfully to the entire group.

  Behind him, other dragons shuffled in their seats, eager for the trial to begin. None of them expected it to last very long. Instead, they were anxious for it to be resolved, so that word could be spread to all members of all clans that the danger was past, and that the situation had finally, at last, been resolved.

  No dragon liked to be worried about his treasure.

  “Brolle, of Clan Teres,” Logan rumbled. As it was Pace who had been charged with bringing in the fugitive, his clan head was leading the trial. “You have been accused of killing a human, and of violating the Scarlet Accords. How do you plead?”

  “Get bent,” Brolle spat.

  Pace stiffened in anger. The Scarlett Accords were the ancient agreement between the various dragon clans where they vowed to stop stealing one another’s treasure. It was one of the most sacred covenants. Right behind ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill Humans”, such as it was, though that was not actually a written document like the Accords, but just a sort of general rule.

  Most dragons didn’t have an issue with not being murderous killers. Brolle it seemed, had lost that compassion.

  “Pace, Clan Aterna.”

  He stiffened as Logan called upon him.

  “Who is the man standing next to you?”

  “This man is the same man I caught trying to rob Clan Aterna. It is also the same person that we believe killed the human computer hacker Jack Stile. In addition, my mate and I, a law enforcement officer, caught him trying to rob Clan Valen of their electronically stored treasure as well. Finally, on no less than two separate occasions, has he tried to kill us to stop us from further interfering in his work.”

  Logan listened carefully to his words, then turned to Brolle. “Do you have anything to say in your defence?”

  “You’re all a bunch of frauds,” Brolle shouted, turning to look at the other dragon shifters in the audience. “All of you. Pretending to be nice to one another, when secretly you hate everyone. I know you do! Don’t act like I’m unique.”

  Pace frowned.

  “What are you trying to accomplish?” he asked when Brolle stopped talking. “I seriously don’t understand.”

  Brolle grinned. “I know. Which is why you will fail.”

  “Fail?” Pace was beyond confused now. “Fail at what?”

  He only got a cryptic smile.

  “Does anyone else have anything to say?” Logan called. “Will anyone speak in his defense?”

  There was only silence.

  “Very well. I pronounce you guilty, Brolle of Teres.”

  There was a whisper of muted agreement behind Pace as the spectators all voiced their thoughts on the verdict, and also on what they thought the punishment would be. Pace didn’t see how it would be anything but death. Brolle’s crimes were too numerous, and serious, to be allowed to continue.

  The dragons didn’t like criminals much. There was no time for them, and with their powers, it was far too easy for them to wreak havoc on the world around them. It was a harsh lesson, but for those like Brolle who were completely unrepentant, it was the easiest solution.

  “Unless there are any objections, I sentence you to death,” Logan said, making the pronouncement immediately. “Commander Viko.”

  Pace stepped back, relinquishing Brolle into the hawk-faced Viko’s custody. As the highest-ranking office of the Gate Guard, the official name for those who guarded the Gate to the Otherworld, Viko and his men were also the law enforcement arm of the clans. Well respected all around, Pace was confident that Brolle would soon be dealt with.

  And they could finally get back to normal.

  Once Brolle wa
s gone from the chamber, the assembled shifters began to break apart. They would soon return to their clan homes, and life would begin to go back to normal for everyone.

  Well, not quite everyone.

  “Logan.” He called the name of his clan head, distracting him from the side conversation he had been having with Pierce of Teres, head of Brolle’s former Clan.

  “Pace. What can I do for you?”

  “I’m not sure if there is anything or not, but I need to ask you anyway. I require your help.”

  “My help?” Logan frowned, tilting his head to the side. “On what? Everything is settled and resolved. We can go back to normal now. You did an excellent job, Pace. Excellent job. I knew there was more than just a number-cruncher in there.”

  “Thank you, though I must admit to enjoying my spreadsheets just as much.” His smile faded quickly. “But things won’t quite go back to normal for everyone, Logan. Which is where I need your help. You see, there’s a man in town who…”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Carla

  She pulled up in front of the station, in her personal vehicle.

  They still hadn’t given her a new one. Four days had passed since the incident up on the mountain. Ostensibly, her car was ‘in the shop’, but Carla suspected it was going to be a long, long time before she saw it back. Dunbar had put her on desk duty. Pushing paperwork.

  Gritting her teeth, she got out, forcing herself to walk inside. Today was going to be a good day. She just had to make it through her shift. After, she was going up the mountain, and she was going to stay there.

  For good.

  Pace had asked her to move in with him, and she had said yes. Not just because she was tired of staying in a hotel, but because she wanted to be with him, to spend the rest of her life with him, and that made putting up with days like today more than worth it.