Before he could say anything, Wyatt’s hand clamped on his cousin’s shoulder. Ashton bent, but only slightly, beneath the weight. The grin on his lips was unflappable, but he said nothing. Kennedy wanted to know what he’d been about to ask, but before she could say anything Wyatt turned Ashton around and pushed him deeper into the house.
“I didn’t think you’d show up today,” Ashton mentioned as they walked. “You’ve been so adamant about steering clear of us. What changed?”
Wyatt grumbled something she couldn’t understand.
“Aw, I love you, too!” Ashton stepped out from under Wyatt’s grasp with a smooth duck and twist. “This place feels like home more and more every day. And you brought a…friend!”
Behind Ashton, the hall opened into a wide room. A sectional couch was laden with plush pillows, facing a television easily the size of a bed. An old fantasy movie about witches and fairies played on it, the modern resolution doing nothing for the eighties film.
On the left side, the room opened into a wide kitchen. Gleaming white cabinets reflected the light of the sun, making Kennedy look away. She realized, belatedly, that both rooms were empty. Ashton didn’t bother sticking around. He immediately went to what Kennedy had thought to be windows.
They were, in fact, sliding glass doors that opened onto a massive deck. Two men stood on either side of it, pointedly not looking at one another. A man with golden hair, the one who’d broken the karaoke equipment at the bar, stood over an open grill. He wore an apron that said Don’t Kiss the Cook and had a beer in one hand.
When Kennedy stepped outside, his nostrils flared, and his eyes bled into solid gold. She hesitated, heart thumping. Wyatt stepped in front of her with a growl emanating from him. He used one hand to push her behind him, like a wall of immovable flesh.
“Don’t get territorial,” the other man grumbled. “I was just checking something.”
Checking what? Kennedy wondered.
When Wyatt’s grip on her loosened, she stepped out from behind him. The smell of barbeque filled her nose. Her stomach rumbled happily. Stepping forward, she sniffed the air. She could sniff out cider vinegar, tomato, cumin, and a smoked chili pepper. Excitedly, she turned toward the gold dragon man.
“Jasper, please give me your recipe,” she begged. “I can already tell it’s going to be mind-blowing.”
Behind her, Ashton hooted. “Wyatt can give you something mind-blowing!”
Just as Kennedy turned, Makenna approached her boyfriend and punched him in the shoulder. She leaned into Ashton and whispered in his ear. The dragon man pouted, but only for a second. Then, he swept Makenna into his arms and set off running across the lawn. He was a spot of vibrant life sending ripples through the thick tension that surrounded them.
Everyone turned to watch Ashton. Makenna cackled with wild delight as she held on. Despite herself, Kennedy laughed, too. Even if she was still standing between two frightening dragon men.
She glanced at the yet unintroduced dragon man, the one with the platinum blond pony tail between his shoulder blades. He never bothered to turn or even acknowledge their presence. Beside her, Wyatt sighed.
With his hand on her lower back, he led her toward a bench and pulled her into his lap once he sat. She let him, savoring his warmth in the chill air. He wrapped his arms around her middle and held her tight.
“Jasper’s father passed away recently,” Wyatt whispered into her ear. Jasper moved from foot to foot at the sound of his name, but didn’t acknowledge them, so Wyatt went on. “Which means he inherited the role of leadership. It’s been a hot mess trying to get the mountain back together, so Ashton has instated what he calls family days.
“Once a week, we all get together and pretend we don’t want to rip each other’s faces apart. Ashton makes them play games, like beer pong or touch football. No matter what game it is, it always ends in a fight. Usually Jasper and Griffin,” Wyatt tilted his head toward the brooding blond, “trying to kill one another.”
Kennedy twisted to find the truth in Wyatt’s face. What she found was seriousness.
“I came back to help out, but I haven’t been coming to Ashton’s family days. Until now, I’d only ever seen the after effects. I figured we could get dinner and a show today.”
Kennedy didn’t know what to say. She was one of two humans in a room full of supernaturally powered men. When she looked to Makenna, the scowling waitress now had not a worry in the world. Not until Ashton shrieked and came limping back into view.
“We forgot to clean up the mess from the last fight!”
Makenna leapt out of his arms and made him sit down. She grimaced while working a piece of glass out of Ashton’s foot. In fact, everyone watched. Each face held a hint of concern, but angled so that no dragon could see. Kennedy caught it, though.
Despite everything Wyatt said about the fighting, it felt like any other family. There would always be tension among families. That was what happened when people were shoved together. Here, it was made worse by the beasts inside the men, but she didn’t think that they hated each other the way they pretended.
If they did, none of them would be in the same space. They could just as easily hide in separate rooms or take to the skies to escape one another. Instead, they were making an effort to be a family.
Kennedy liked it. They were more inviting than her own family. They took interest in one another. As soon as Ashton’s foot healed over, right before her own eyes, he was back on his feet, leaping onto the deck to antagonize Griffin. The platinum blond dragon man served Ashton with a cold glare.
***
Wyatt wasn’t sure why he’d brought Kennedy to the family day. He didn’t know what he expected to happen. It wasn’t like Kennedy was his mate. But, when she leaned her head just right and he caught a glimpse of the mark he’d left on her neck, pride swelled inside him.
While the Drakes snapped at one another, Wyatt waited for Kennedy to run away. He wouldn’t have blamed her if they were too frightening. She’d already had too many run-ins with the dragon shifters in town. Yet, she remained calm in his lap. She leaned into him and watched the drama go down like it was an afternoon soap opera.
This was a slice of life Wyatt never thought possible. He’d always feared that he would have to keep his two families separate, that any woman he loved would run in fear of the Drakes. Kennedy was taking everything in stride, surprisingly.
This time, Ashton dragged everyone together for a game of charades. Wyatt and Griffin adamantly refused to play, but Jasper was dragged in no matter what he said to escape. The king of the mountain glared at his court before trying to imitate the word Ashton gave him. The gold dragon’s movements were robotic, like he didn’t know how to move.
Kennedy hid her laughter behind her sleeve, but it was the sound that seemed to break the tension in the room. As it echoed in the air, Jasper’s shoulders slouched, and he released a breath. His movements became more languid.
“Are you George Washington crossing the Delaware River?” Makenna tested, face scrunched in thought.
Jasper growled, perhaps the only indication he would give that she was wrong. He moved as if to pick something up from the floor and raised his arm into the air again. Over and over, Jasper did the same movement until Ashton was rolling on the floor with laughter. Makenna gave her mate an unamused glare.
“I’m King Arthur, you fools!” Jasper finally roared.
A chorus of oh sounded around them. Wyatt didn’t know how to express a legendary king through charades, but it had been fun to watch his king try. Next, it was Kennedy’s turn. Ashton dug through his bowl of words, checking each one until he found a word that made him cackle. Wyatt raised a brow at his cousin, but Kennedy just smiled at the word on the paper.
She marched over to where Griffin was standing, leaned against the railing and locked one of her ankles behind the other. Griffin twisted to give her a warning look, a scowl growing. Wyatt was seconds away from launching himself at Griffin wh
en he saw the similarity.
“You’re Griffin!”
Kennedy leapt in the air. “Yes!”
Ashton was near tears, doubled over and gasping for air as he laughed himself silly. “That was not the griffin I had in mind, but you win!” He straightened and held up both hands. “Game over! Kennedy wins charades.”
Jasper mumbled something about the game being a waste of time and retreated back to his grill, even though he kept glancing back at the gang gathered on his deck. Kennedy bounced back to the bench beside Wyatt. He was disappointed when she didn’t sit in his lap again, but he reminded himself they were supposed to be taking things slow. It was why he brought her to somewhere that wasn’t so private.
Here, Wyatt and the others could be themselves without hiding from tourists who could expose their secret. But being around the others gave him a good reason to keep his hands to himself even though they itched to hold Kennedy. He wanted to fold her into him, to drown in her scent.
While she’d been on his lap, it’d been impossible to hide his desire for her. The way her ass pressed into his cock had lit a fire inside him. The fire still burned, flaring brighter every time she stepped closer. It burned incredibly hot when she twisted and flashed a big smile at him.
His beast slammed against the surface, greedy and hungry. Kennedy belonged to him. She was theirs to love, to keep safe, to make happy. She belonged to him.
Wyatt was so caught off guard by the sudden power of his normally quiet beast that he didn’t realize he was leaning into her. She stared up at him, wide eyed and breathing shallowly. Waves of anticipation rolled off her. They only served to drag him closer.
“Ribs are done!” Jasper announced suddenly and awkwardly.
Wyatt’s head shot up. Everyone on the deck was watching them. Beside him, Kennedy bit her lip. She ducked her head and gave him a sly smile. He didn’t’ care about ribs or potatoes or grilled corn. All he wanted was the woman sitting beside him.
For a moment, he contemplated carrying her to an empty room and having his way with her. Kennedy had said before that she wouldn’t mind, that she wanted him the same way he wanted her right then.
Before he could grab her and run away from all prying eyes, she stood and went to claim a plate of ribs. His beast growled to grab her, to hold her, to steal her away. Wyatt asked the beast why it felt so strongly about her when they’d only known her for a handful of days. He didn’t understand what he felt when he looked at her.
If it was only the novelty of meeting someone truly loving, then he feared it would not last. Yet, if what he felt was the beginning of a mate bond, then there was no reason he should hold himself back any longer.
The beast had no voice, though, and could not give him an answer. All Wyatt had was a tangled web of confusion, like pulling wires from storage only to find they’d all knotted together. He didn’t know where to begin, much less what he wanted.
If he gave himself over to the bond of a mate’s love, would he fall back into the mindset he’d had before? Wyatt thought he wanted a family. He’d wanted the picket fence and smiling wife. What if that wasn’t right? The woman he lusted after didn’t seem like the kind to be happy in the life he’d wanted.
It struck Wyatt that maybe that was where he went wrong. He’d been trying so hard to fill roles in this fantasy he had, that he hadn’t been giving attention to what life was actually trying to give him. Maybe the future before him wasn’t like the fantasy he’d had, but it didn’t seem all that awful.
Not if he could live with someone who truly loved him.
***
“I think I’m going to stay in town,” Kennedy announced.
They were all lounging around the deck. The sun had gone down long ago, but the heat of the dragon men and some thick blankets kept everyone warm. It helped that she held a hot mug between her hands, marshmallows threatening to flow over the rim.
“What makes you say that?” Jasper asked. His voice was slow and calculated, like he fully expected to frighten her away.
Behind her, Wyatt stiffened. This was a decision she hadn’t talked through, but she didn’t think it was one she had to discuss with him. They weren’t officially a couple, so her life was her own. Only she could make decisions for herself.
“I don’t know,” Kennedy answered. “I like it here. Grove calls to me and I’m just not ready to leave it yet.”
Behind her, Wyatt pressed his forehead to her shoulder. She couldn’t read the gesture or his still body behind her, though she desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. His silence on the matter worried her. She was not pushing herself into his life. She wasn’t asking to live in the giant house like Ashton and Makenna did.
In the morning, Kennedy would begin her search for an apartment in town. Her blog would still rake in enough money to keep her set for a while. Until she figured out herself, and her relationship with Wyatt. After that, then she could travel the world again, just not as often. She would always have a home base in Grove.
She liked the idea, letting it warm her like the cup of cocoa in her hands.
“You aren’t going to sell our existence to the tabloids. Are you?” Griffin’s voice was low, nearly a threat.
Beside her, Wyatt growled in response. She placed a hand over his knee. She understood their fear. Kennedy had been an outsider only days ago. They knew nothing about her or her motives with them. The dragon shifters had every right to question her, no matter how it hurt her pride. All she could do was assure them that she wouldn’t betray their secret.
It was safe with her. This was her home now.
Chapter Twelve
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Wyatt asked her while they were driving back to Grove.
The world outside the windows was dark, nothing more than a dimly illuminated road that twisted before them. She wanted to reach over and take his hand in hers, but she didn’t dare. Not until she knew for sure that he wanted her in return.
Her own desire for him had peaked when he nearly kissed her. She’d wanted it more than anything in her life. Then, when Jasper shouted that his ribs were done, it was like being hit with a bucket of cold water. She had to control herself around Wyatt or else they would never know what was true.
“Like I said, I like Grove. Staying here just feels…right.”
“Even knowing that dragons could burn the town down at any moment?” Wyatt’s voice was strange. She couldn’t quite pin-point what it held, but it made her squirm in her seat.
“But you haven’t. Burnt the town down, I mean. How many years has your family been here and nothing like that has ever happened?”
“Well, that’s not exactly true,” Wyatt said with a frown. “There was a steel dragon who let the rust get to his brain. Or maybe it was slag. Either way, he took half of Grove back when it was a mining town.”
She’d met the dragons who now filled the mountain, met Jasper and Griffin. Ashton. She didn’t think any of them were near a madness like that. Sure, they were a crotchety bunch, but no one had been murderous or evil in any way.
“Why are you trying to scare me away?”
Kennedy feared that Wyatt had finally figured out what he wanted, and it wasn’t her. She’d been obvious about what she wanted. She was near the point of insistent. This could be his way of telling her he wasn’t interested. Not like she was.
Her heart sank until it hit the seat beneath her.
When he said nothing further, she turned away from him to hide the tears burning her eyes. The signals he’d given her at Jasper’s house conflicted with the ones he was giving her now. He’d held her on his lap, nearly kissed her. Kennedy had considered it moving forward, that there was a chance he might want her after all.
“I just don’t want you to make a decision you might regret. That’s all.”
Regret. Like sticking around for a love that would never happen.
The lights of Grove came into view. The strings between each street lamp were glittering
with tiny bulbs. Lights behind the shop windows were dim or dark at this time of night. It cast the town in a kind of hush, turning it into a secret place between real life and a dream. She couldn’t deny that she still loved Grove. It was the place of her heart, the place she’d been searching for all along.
But, if Wyatt didn’t want her, then she didn’t know if she could stand being this close to him.
Kennedy straightened when her hotel came into view. She opened the door before Wyatt had completely stopped. He shouted at her, asking her to come back, but she didn’t stop. Her chest ached.
Spending time with his family must have been a test run. Kennedy thought she fit in perfectly, but Wyatt must have disagreed. It didn’t matter. She would leave, like he wanted. Her dream of finding a place in town was slowly shattering, falling apart bit by bit.
“Sir, you can’t park your truck there!” a high-pitched voice squeaked.
The responding growl rippled through the room. Kennedy paused at the elevator. She wanted to leap inside and hide behind the metal doors, to wallow in rejection by herself. Her body had other plans. Her feet were rooted to the marble floor, hand hovering before the elevator button.
She didn’t press it, but the door slid open all the same. An older man eyed her before seeing Wyatt behind her. The man immediately leapt out of the elevator and scurried away. An arm at her back, Wyatt’s scent flowing over her, guided her inside the elevator. She turned and watched the doors close, rendering them alone together.
Kennedy spun on him. She was about to ask Wyatt why he chased her when he’d been pushing her away only moments ago, when his body crashed into hers. They stumbled back against the wall of the elevator. His lips descended on hers. She couldn’t help the groan of ecstasy that left her.
Wyatt held her face between his hands. Slowly, they fell to her hips, pulling her into him so she could feel every inch of just how badly he wanted her. His tongue pushed between her lips. His tongue delved deep, tasting every inch of her. Confusion tilted the world sideways. She held onto the front of his shirt, just trying to stay upright while she made sense of what was going on.
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