Her beast snarled. She couldn’t abandon him to deal with this fight on his own.
Jensen whirled. He tossed his head skyward.
Run, he seemed to say.
She had to listen. Behind her, she heard claws scrape along scales. She didn’t turn to see who had landed a blow on who. She did as Jensen wanted and flew away, even though her heart felt too heavy to lift into the air.
Callum Barnes had been like a father to Jensen. This fight threw away years of respect and adoration. Every attack reminded Jensen that he and Callum weren’t on the same side anymore. Callum’s hatred repulsed him.
Jensen lashed out with his tail. When Callum dodged it, Jensen took the opportunity to swipe with his claws. He hit Callum’s wing and tore a hole through it. The blow made Callum howl with furious pain.
Had Jensen been a smarter man, he would have recognized this as the moment to run. He’d made flight harder for Callum with that blow. He could have outpaced him in the sky. Yet, Jensen stood his ground. His date with River had been ruined because an old man wanted to throw his rage all over the place.
Callum shifted back. He tossed his hand in the air. “You, too?”
Jensen didn’t shift right away. He took a cautious step back and watched his uncle warily.
“You feel the need to fuck a Montoya when you know they can rip your heart out?”
Baylee and Ember had never been happier. He didn’t know where Callum was getting any of this from. Couldn’t Callum see how his daughter’s life had improved? Jensen knew that Callum was making an effort to be in Ember’s life. Apparently, the effort had made Callum even more bitter.
“Your generation needs to stop messing with the way things are. We wouldn’t have these rules if they weren’t there for a reason!”
Jensen greatly doubted that. He shifted back because he needed to unleash the venomous words gathering on his tongue. Stomping through the mud on human legs, he approached his uncle.
“I was showing River a kindness that you mistook for romance,” Jensen growled. “Even if I had plans to romance that woman, that’s no business of yours. You don’t know a damn thing about her. She is the sweetest and smartest person I’ve ever met. Unfortunately, that doesn’t say a lot because I realize now that I’ve been surrounded by idiotic assholes for my entire life.”
Jensen seethed. As did Callum. They glared at one another, the air around them wavering with the heat of their beasts.
“I thought you were done being an asshole,” Jensen spat.
Callum said nothing. He sucked in a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. Jensen waited for smoke to come pouring out. Callum wiped a hand over his beard and tore his gaze away. His lip curled when his hand fell back down by his side. Jensen got the impression that Callum had more to say, but he wasn’t going to say it.
Jensen checked the sky. He hoped that River had made it home without trouble. This wasn’t how he’d wanted the night to go. They hadn’t even gotten the chance to open the cooler. He’d bought a bunch of stupid miniature wine bottles because the woman at the liquor store promised him that River would enjoy them—well, not River specifically, but dates in general.
Exhausted, he stormed back to the bed he’d constructed for stargazing. He used his shirt to clean off his muddy feet before donning his jeans and boots. The shirt got thrown into the back of the truck before he began disassembling the bed. He jammed the pillows and blankets into the passenger side of the truck cab. The futon mattress went onto the truck hood so that he could put the pallets down in the truck bed first.
Callum didn’t lift a muscle to help Jensen. He stood by and watched Jensen dismantle his entire evening that he’d spent so long putting together. Jensen plucked the mattress off the truck hood and placed it atop the pallets before strapping it all down with bungee cords.
Finished, Jensen paused at the tailgate. He gripped the metal so hard that it gave way beneath his strength. He forced a breath out through his mouth and tried to calm himself.
“I’m telling your daughters that you’re still an asshole,” Jensen said without facing Callum. “You’re going to get shut out of their lives again if you can’t pretend to be a good person for more than five minutes.”
Jensen believed Callum could be a good person. He’d looked up to Callum for years. The shit that Callum was pulling now was shameful. His uncle wouldn’t realize that unless the repercussions were dire enough.
Not too long ago, Callum had gotten his daughter fired from her job by beating her mate’s ass in the bar. It had seemed, at the time, like Callum had seen the error of his ways and wanted to be a better man. That had been a limited time offer, apparently.
One that he wouldn’t extend to Jensen.
“If you make River’s life harder, I will burn your house to the ground,” Jensen warned.
He meant it, too. He wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate if Callum went to Alice Montoya.
“That girl’s mother is going to make your life a living hell,” Callum said. “Maybe the girl won’t hurt you, but her mother wouldn’t think twice about making sure you ended up six feet under.”
Jensen tensed. He fantasized about tackling Callum again. Jensen wanted to make the man eat dirt. It would taste better than the shit Callum kept spewing. Someday, Callum would have to face his demons, but for now, Jensen wasn’t going to let him spread them around. Those demons belonged to Callum and Callum alone.
Slamming his truck door behind him, Jensen fishtailed in the mud before zooming away. He left his uncle in the field without a drop of remorse. There was more to life than outdated rules and vague warnings. Jensen wanted to live his life his own way.
He wasn’t going to get involved in the Montoya clan battles, but he wanted to be a part of River’s life, and no one was going to stop him.
9
River touched down outside the manor. She shifted back and realized that she didn’t have any clothes. They’d shredded when she donned her dragon form in her desperate attempt to escape Callum. Naked, she scrambled for the backdoor with the knowledge that it led directly into the laundry room.
To her dismay, a familiar face awaited her when she opened the door. Her mother looked her up and down. When Alice’s face fell and she shook her head, River knew she was in trouble.
River was an adult! She had a full-time job and a degree that had helped her get it. Yet, she quaked before her mother like a child. She hated herself for cowering but couldn’t seem to summon the kind of gumption that it would have taken to stand up to her mother.
River wasn’t like Ember or Baylee. She couldn’t defy her mother, not even for a potential mate.
Mate? A flare of warmth unfurled in her chest at the thought. But that couldn’t be true. Jensen wasn’t her mate. He was a silly Barnes dragon who wanted to make her smile. She couldn’t endure him for the rest of her life. He would drive her crazy.
“You’ve been out and about,” Alice said. There was a tone to her voice that insinuated sexual activity.
It left a bad taste in River’s mouth. Not because sex disgusted her, but the way her mother said it. It was almost as if she thought River should have been disgusted by it. River knew for a fact that her mother wasn’t pure and virginal, or else River and her two other siblings wouldn’t exist.
“I’ve been restless,” River whispered.
Alice looked her up and down again. “And where are your clothes?”
River knew from all the books she read that if she couldn’t keep her own story straight that the interrogator would see through her web of lies. “I thought I heard someone else coming, so I fled. I forgot my clothes in the process…This whole town smells of Barnes dragons, so I feared the worst.”
That last line softened Alice. She touched her daughter’s cheek. River had to fight to keep from flinching. Her mother had never hit her, but River did not want to be touched by this loveless woman. Every act Alice committed was wrapped in the guise of affection but turned out to be cold chains in the end
.
“Let’s get you dressed,” Alice said. “Then you can join Raven and me for cocoa and a movie. Your sister brought home caramel corn.”
River nodded, afraid that if she spoke, then something cruel would leave her mouth and get her in trouble when she’d narrowly avoided it. Then, Alice leaned in. Her brow furrowed and her nose scrunched. River’s stomach dropped. Alice sniffed the air above her.
“You were right to run. It smells like the Barnes are pushing the limits of their territory.”
River nearly sighed with relief. Perhaps her mother wanted to believe the worst of the Barnes. Though River hated that idea, it had saved her here.
As Alice gathered a pair of sweats and a soft t-shirt for her daughter, River wondered what would have to happen for Alice to set aside her hatred for the Barnes clan. Perhaps, if all three of her children formed mate bonds with Barnes shifters, then Alice would have to face her prejudices.
That would never happen. Alice would stand in the way of any potential mate bond. The only one of them that had any chance was Reece. Their mother babied him the least. Well, she babied him in a way that allowed him to get whatever he wanted. River and Raven were kept from what they wanted and had to watch their brother enjoy his life.
Of course, that left a sour taste in River’s mouth. She didn’t hate her brother, but she did envy him more than was humanly possible. If he fell for a Barnes shifter, would their mother revolt? Or would his love get a free pass?
Alice shoved clothes into River’s open hands, breaking her train of thought. River realized that her jealousy had tainted her. She tried to shake free of the feeling, but it left an oil-slick stain behind.
All she wanted was to go back to that bed beneath the stars and curl around Jensen. They’d barely had any time together. Instead of stomping her feet and declaring that it wasn’t fair, River devised another plan to see him again.
She followed her mother into the living room and claimed a seat at the end of the couch. It tickled River to think up her little scavenger hunt while her mother sat so close. It was an act of defiance that she never would have had the gall to consider had it not been for Jensen.
He gave her a taste for life. Perhaps this small act of defiance wasn’t as defiant as she felt it was, but she’d lived in fear of her mother for too long. She’d avoided even entertaining rebellious thoughts in her mother’s presence as if the woman had mind-reading abilities.
Alice Montoya wasn’t some mythical omnipotent being. She was a dragon woman who had a habit of being over-bearing.
For once, River felt like she could breathe in her mother’s presence. Across the room, Raven gave her a strange look, as if she could tell that something about her sister had changed. River gave her triplet a smile.
There was hope that they could all break free and be their own people, but River knew she had to be the first to do it. The thought was terrifying but exhilarating all at the same time.
10
The next day, River headed out early to start laying the groundwork for her scavenger hunt. She stopped by Logan’s to get Jensen’s phone number from his sister. Baylee wiggled her brows suggestively and made River blush but still shared the information with her.
On her way out, River watched a red and black dragon land in the field behind Logan’s. The unfamiliar creature folded her wings into her body and shook out her tail as Cash landed beside her. The sight made River pause.
This red and black dragon was much smaller than Cash. He didn’t tower over her, but there was a very clear size difference. The red and black dragon shifted back into human form, revealing Ember Barnes. River had heard that Callum Barnes’s daughter was powerful, and large for her gender.
River’s breath rushed out of her. When she sucked in another, the cool air flushed her mind and allowed a single thought to bubble to the surface. Jensen had not lied to her when he said that River’s beast was impressively large. River, in her dragon form, had stood beside Cash’s beast. She knew that she was easily as big as he was.
Being one of two female shifters in her generation had left River with a skewed perception of her fellow female dragons. She’d always compared herself to her mother, which was largely unfair considering that Alice was in a league of her own. Compared to the other female shifters, it seemed that River was, too.
With a mission in the back of her mind, River shook herself and turned away from the sight. Her thoughts still turned over as she processed what she’d seen, but she wasn’t sure what it might mean…if it meant anything at all.
Today was not about her. Today was about Jensen and how she wanted to thank him for all that he’d done for her.
River made her way to all the places she and Jensen had been together. She went to the pumpkin patch first. It was nearly devoid of all pumpkins by now, save for the crushed ones sinking into the earth. She left a note for him, pinned to one of the overgrown intact pumpkins and ran her hand over the vegetable to leave her scent on it.
If it rained, her plan would be ruined, but she trusted Mother Nature to have her back today. River went to the abandoned hotel. There, she left a couple notes in plain sight and hid one that he would have to work for. Once again, she made sure to leave a scent trail that he would be able to follow later.
On her way out, she texted him. She didn’t bother telling him who she was or how she got his number, only that there was something for him to find at the pumpkin patch. The note would lead him to the next location, and so on and so forth.
She made a stop at the field that she’d had to run from the night before. Her skin prickled at the memory, but she shook it off and continued her business so she could get out of there quickly.
There was more to be done. This wasn’t about the scavenger hunt, but about the destination.
Jensen checked his phone again. The text had told him to come to the pumpkin patch, but the sender refused to tell him why. He’d sent four follow-up texts, asking who they were and what they were up to, but had gotten no answer back. He looked up at the field outside his windshield.
He’d told his mother that he wouldn’t be gone long. She’d smiled and told him to take however long he needed, but she wasn’t very good at hiding her loneliness. Sitting in his truck in an empty field filled him with guilt, especially when he wasn’t quite sure why he’d bothered answering an anonymous text.
Resigning himself to this game, he got out and marched through the pumpkin rubble. Not too long ago, he’d found River here. That had been their first interaction, the one that had charmed him. He could still smell her scent in the air even though they hadn’t been there in days.
He could still smell her scent…
Jensen nearly face-palmed. Across the way, he noticed a pumpkin with a pink square stuck to it. River’s scent grew stronger. She’d been there barely an hour before him.
He plucked the note from the pumpkin. It read:
You saw that I was alone and thought to be my friend. Then you took me to places I never thought of going before…
A smile reached the corner of his mouth. His beast growled hungrily. It begged him to find her and pull her into his arms. All he wanted was the feel of her pressed against his chest. To know that she was there, with him, would have been the most satisfying sensation while her scent lingered teasingly in the air.
He noticed a small arrow on the corner of the paper. He flipped it over and found a little addendum.
That’s where you’ll find the next clue, duh.
He laughed, thankful that he’d flipped it over and thankful that she’d thought to add that extra hint. She really knew that he was about a sharp as a rusted knife. Jensen had kindness and strength on his side, but brains had never been his strong suit.
He jogged back to his truck, eager to get on to the next step now that he knew another note awaited him at the old hotel. He barely had the truck in park before he spilled out of it and snatched the next pink note off the hotel’s front door.
Here you le
d me on an adventure and let me explore to my heart’s content. Though the distance between us grew when I ran ahead of you, I’d never felt closer to anyone.
Her scent led him past the door. Jensen thought about his mom and how he’d promised to return home quickly. His guilt resurfaced and cut through his excitement. The two women in his life had him split in half. On one hand, he wanted to make his mother happy again. On the other hand, he didn’t want to give up this hunt that River had put together.
He hoped she would be at the end of it. He hoped that he could lift her in his arms and fill her.
Shaking his head, he cursed under his breath. Apparently, he didn’t know how to keep his cock in his pants. He should have been better than that. He could have friends without wanting to fuck them!
River needed someone on her side, not to be thrown on her backside.
He tracked her scent up to the balcony, where they’d discussed the supposed ghost sightings. Pinned to the balcony railing was another pink note. He wondered why she’d picked a pink notepad but guessed it didn’t matter. It clearly got the job done.
I would have stolen it, had you let me, was all the note said.
He flipped it over and found the back blank. Scratching his head, he glanced back and wondered if this had a deeper meaning. Was River confessing some sort of feelings for him? Did this mean that she wanted to steal his heart?
As he backtracked through the hotel, the gears in his mind finally began to move. River had been enamored with the old chandelier in the small ballroom. Careful to avoid the weak spots in the floor, he jogged down the room and stood beneath the chandelier. Peering about the room, he couldn’t find any of the pink notes.
Dismayed, Jensen wondered if he’d been wrong. He didn’t know what else River would have wanted to steal. He really doubted that she had been talking about his heart. She didn’t need to steal it, for one thing.
He quickly tucked that thought aside. They weren’t going to date. He would make an awful mate, anyway.
A Fate Forbidden (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 3) Page 7