The marks of claiming were old fashioned, a way to signal courting to other dragons. So few bothered in this day and age. But Wyatt couldn’t stop marking her. He reveled in the feeling and the way she reacted to him.
“Tell me,” Kennedy began. “Tell me what it means to mate. To dragons, I mean. I get the sense that it doesn’t mean what we just did.”
The subject skewered him through the heart. He’d been thinking about the claiming marks when she brought up the subject of mates. Wyatt felt like he was falling down a hole and wondered if he would ever land, let alone on his own two feet.
All his life, he dreamed of having a mate. The vision in his head had been simple, but what he had with Kennedy was anything but simple. She confused him. He never expected to come back to Grove and fall so completely for anyone. His head had been a mess, reeling from what happened with his ex. But he’d scarcely thought about her in the days he’d been with Kennedy.
This woman swept into his life, rearranged it, and he thanked her for it.
It wasn’t her job to sort out his thoughts. It wasn’t her job to make him a better person. When he was around her, he wanted to do all those things, though. She made him want it and that was more than enough.
“This was what you almost asked me in the car earlier. Isn’t it?”
That moment felt years away, even though it had only been earlier that day. He couldn’t help but wonder at the time he spent with her and how much it already meant to him.
Kennedy hesitated in his arms, perfectly still before she nodded. It was an almost imperceptible motion. If he hadn’t been looking, he wouldn’t have seen her reservations. She was just as scared of the word as he was, it seemed. Though he didn’t know why she would fear it the way he did.
He steadied himself and tried to find the right way to finally explain it to her. “Every shifter, regardless of their beast, is said to have a mate. I think it’s nature’s way of keeping us in check. It makes sure there’s always at least one person unafraid of us. I remember Jasper’s mother dragging his father home by his ear once. It was a brilliant sight to behold.”
Kennedy let out an incredulous laugh. He would tell her the story later, of a king and his knight so deep in argument that neither realized Jasper’s mother had marched in between them both until she held a gold dragon by his nostril. Then, by his ear once he shifted back to human form.
The woman’s spirit lived on in Makenna, he thought. He would pay Ashton’s mate to recreate the scene.
“So, like a soul mate? Right?” Kennedy asked. “Are mates always lovers? Or, are they sometimes just…best friends?”
He paused, thinking. “Not once in my life have I seen mates that were just best friends. The bond is a lot more than that. I’d say every mated pair are best friends. But the bond comes with love and patience and a profound kind of strength. Especially when humans are involved. Human mates are some of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
Wyatt was dancing around the subject. He knew it, but he couldn’t help himself. If Kennedy wanted to know if they were mated, he had no answer for her. He didn’t know what to look for, what the signs would say. It was difficult to know if a bond was there, especially if he’d never felt one before.
She squirmed in his arms, but didn’t turn around. It was as if his words weren’t sitting right with her and she was trying to get comfortable with them. He wished he had more to tell her.
Hell, he wished he could keep her forever.
Wyatt didn’t want to tell her one thing when he didn’t know the truth, himself. He wouldn’t tell her they were mated only to have their infatuation crumble in their hands. It seemed wrong. He wanted to wait until he knew for sure.
“What did you do before you came back to Grove?” Kennedy changed the subject for him.
He let out a breath of relief. It shuddered as it left him. He wanted to go back, to promise her there was a chance they could have everything, but he didn’t know. No one knew.
“When I first left Grove, I did a lot of things. For a while, I worked with another cousin as a roadie. He helped move bands from show to show. The life got to be too much for me. Not a lot of sleep and too much beer made my beast grumpy.”
“Which cousin was that? Griffin?”
Wyatt laughed at the thought of Griffin having the patience to deal with a rock band. The man could barely stand his own presence, let alone five bodies strung up on drugs, alcohol, and fame. “No, another cousin. His name is Ryker. He’s the family black sheep, or he was until Jasper started acting out.”
Kennedy snuggled into him, a look of contentedness on her face.
“After I left Ryker, I found a job as a logger. I built things on the side, like tables. I had fun playing with raw wood and resin. It was like creating a miniature seascape, so I began making other landscapes.” Wyatt only now realized how badly he’d missed the hands-on kind of work.
“Why don’t you do it again? Make tables or whatever you made?” Her voice was small, but it was startling all the same.
The past two years, he’d worked a regular nine to five job and spent the rest of his free time with someone he now knew he’d never loved. Not the way he should have. The time hadn’t been a waste, but he now longed to get back to the days where he could make things again.
While he didn’t have a space of his own, his feet were firmly planted in Grove. Nothing was stopping him from seeking out a workspace. He had the money, and the time. All he needed to do was go out and find it. His only job in town was to look after Jasper. While it’d been branded a full-time job, with three dragons on the look-out, it wasn’t as time consuming as he would have thought.
Hell, Ashton’s family days did more to stabilize Jasper than any watchdog mission ever could have.
“I think I will,” he mumbled.
“Good. Then you can make me a table for the place I’m going to get. I hate to admit that I don’t have a lot of furniture.” Her lips twisted to the side. “I have a few things in storage, hand-me-downs from relatives and art pieces I’ve picked up on my travels. Nothing that would make a home into a…home.”
“I guess I haven’t done the best job of convincing you to leave Grove.” He snorted. All he’d wanted to do was protect her.
Kennedy had seen the worst of them. She’d seen their fights, seen their rages. Still, she wanted to stay in Grove. Wyatt asked himself what it was that truly kept her in the small mountain town. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was him.
Could it be that this woman was the mate fate promised him? Wyatt didn’t dare assume. He’d learned that he wasn’t the best judge of people and that he often blinded himself with his own fantasies. For a moment, he pressed his eyes shut. He did his best to banish the visions in his mind, the life he’d made up for himself, thinking that when he opened them again, the situation would look different.
It didn’t. There was still a very naked woman in his arms, one who looked happier than he’d ever seen her despite what happened only an hour ago. He’d protected her from the freak accident, the old elevator.
Panic sliced his heart in half. What would happen next time? When he wasn’t there? She was so soft and human. It wouldn’t take much to hurt her.
Wyatt buried his face in her shoulder, fighting back the intrusive thoughts that she couldn’t hear. Kennedy snuggled deeper into him. Not long later, he heard a soft snore come from her. It warmed him, filling the space that fear had left cold.
Chapter Thirteen
He slid out of bed before Kennedy could wake. Looking down, the white hotel sheets were twisted around her dark limbs. The pale sheets showcased her long legs and the width of her hips, hips that he’d lost himself in only hours ago. Her hair was loose, like a cloud over her head.
Wyatt stayed there, wondering at the happiness that filled his chest. He couldn’t believe his luck. Kennedy was so much more than he ever could have asked for. She blew his every expectation out of the water. From the way she handled his secret
to how effortlessly she blended into his family, he figured she would always find a way to surprise him.
It was only fair that he bring her a surprise in return.
He pocketed her hotel room key and stepped outside. There were strips of yellow tape over the elevator at the end of the hall, evidence of what they’d lived through. His heart gave a hard thump at the sight of it. Thoughts of what would have happened if he hadn’t followed her tried to breach the surface of his mind, but he shoved them back down.
Wyatt had kept Kennedy from dying in the elevator.
It was no good to think on what could have happened. Instead, he turned toward the nearby staircase. He walked the streets of Grove until he found a little, tucked away shop that filled the air with the scents of yeast and fryer grease.
Kennedy would love the little surprise. She could try the donuts that Dough Hole had to offer and write about it in her blog. Then, later, maybe Wyatt could help her discover more places in town. The idea filled him with joy, the kind he’d never felt before.
Just as he reached the door, his phone vibrated. His first thought was of Kennedy, but he remembered they hadn’t yet shared phone numbers. As he pulled it out, he made a mental note to program his number into Kennedy’s phone.
The name that flashed across the screen and the reminder that he hadn’t yet deleted her number weighed Wyatt with dread. Why would his ex-girlfriend want to call him now? The timing seemed strange.
His thumb hovered over the red disconnect button before tapping the green button. For a moment, he held the phone, staring down at it as if it’d been the device that betrayed him and not his own body.
“Hello? Wyatt? Darling, are you there?”
His gut clenched. Grimacing, he held the phone to his ear. Nicole was silent. He couldn’t find his voice to say anything, to tell her that he was there.
Even though he knew who was on the other end of the call, his thoughts went to Kennedy. This felt like a betrayal, even if it was nothing more than a simple phone call. He should have denied her and tucked the device back into his pocket. He should have gone inside to grab a dozen donuts and two coffees so he could run back to Kennedy and curl up beside her.
“Wyatt, darling. I’ve missed you. I can’t help but feel like I’ve made a huge mistake.”
He twisted away from the donut shop, unwilling to let Nicole taint the space he’d wanted to share with Kennedy. His feet led him away from town as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d thought of Nicole. Every moment of his time, every one of his thoughts, had been focused on Kennedy.
Wyatt sucked in a breath of fresh air, realizing what that meant.
“Do me a favor, Nicole. Delete my number.”
“Come on, darling. Don’t treat me like that just because I made a mistake. If you let me, I can make it up to you. You’ll forgive me in time.” Her voice was honeyed, even over the staticky crackle of the phone.
Wyatt had already forgiven her, but her insistence struck a chord in him, one that rippled with frustration. The beast had found a mate. It wanted Kennedy. She was all that mattered. The way Nicole was trying to insert herself back into his life angered the creature inside him. Of course, she knew nothing about that.
When he looked up, he found himself standing near the bank of the lake. He looked out over the blue waters, calmly reflecting the clear skies, and felt his body move of its own accord. Wyatt didn’t bother hanging up. He launched the phone into the lake. It made a distant plunk sound, satisfaction bubbling inside him until a roar shook the bare tree branches.
He wanted to run back to Kennedy. The realization that she was his mate, what he’d been craving for so long, hit him hard and left him reeling, but fate offered him no rest. Jasper’s golden wings blotted out the sun above. The king of the mountain raced away from Grove.
Away from the safety of their secret home.
Wyatt cursed under his breath. One moment, he’d felt free of everything that had been dragging behind him. It had been revelatory. Then, his cousin had swept overhead and destroyed any thoughts Wyatt had of happiness. He should have been running back to the hotel, back to Kennedy. Instead, he had to play babysitter to a brat of a dragon.
It occurred to him that he could have called for assistance if he hadn’t just thrown his phone into the lake. He wasn’t alone. Ashton and Griffin were there to help, but Wyatt’s desire to escape Nicole had blinded him. He threw his jacket to the ground, flipped his cousin the bird, and launched his scaled body into the air.
Jasper glanced back. The intelligence of the creature squatting inside Jasper glittered like the light of a star. Its lips curled back in warning. Wyatt had just enough time to barrel roll out of the way when a plume of flames sliced the air. His wings ached.
He thought he’d caught embers, but when he craned his neck to glance back, he realized there were still claw marks in the web of his wings. The holes made his flight shaky. Pain rippled through his shoulders. He clenched his jaw and ducked his head, determined to keep up with his cousin.
No one else was around. Wyatt was the only one who could stop him.
Jasper swung up. Wyatt fumbled, the flap of his wings faltering when Jasper disappeared. Before he could look around, claws sank into his back. He roared and thrashed. Jasper held on, and they sank together. The ground rushed to meet them.
Wyatt squirmed to escape. The impact would hurt. It could kill him, or at least put him out for days. Thinking quick, Wyatt did two things. He gathered heat in the back of his throat. The flames built into a burning ball that he threw at the ground below. The impact blew back and created a cushion of air that slowed their fall.
Just before he hit the ground, he let out the loudest roar he’d ever summoned. The sound echoed far and wide. If he didn’t have a phone, then he would find a way to call his cousins. The rest of the court would come rushing. They would stop Jasper.
Wyatt wasn’t alone.
He wasn’t unloved.
Eventually, they would figure out why Jasper’s beast fought to escape the mountains. The court would work together to protect their king from madness. Wyatt realized why Ashton and Makenna fought so hard to create a semblance of a family here in Grove. It bound them together, tighter than any bond of duty could ever hold them.
Jasper snarled. His clawed hand closed around Wyatt’s throat, clearly annoyed that he’d tried to summon the other dragons. The intelligence that swam behind Jasper’s beastly eyes was startling. Wyatt tried to fight him off, but his beast was no match for the larger and smarter beast atop him.
The gold beast’s head swung up. Wyatt sucked in a ragged breath, but didn’t dare move while his king was distracted. He saw a flash of what looked like hope in those beastly eyes, and it stunned him. What lived in these woods that filled his wild king with hope?
No longer concerned with the broken and bruised bronze dragon, Jasper launched himself into the air again. While Wyatt slowly shifted back to his human form, he glimpsed his cousins in a blur of silver and copper. They gave chase, no thought for Wyatt below.
His body barely responded to his commands. When he rolled over, everything screamed in pain all at once. His vision darkened. His heart thumped and the darkness pulsed, threatening to collapse over everything before him.
His one thought was of Kennedy. He clenched his jaw and fought against the fire in his shoulders as he tried to drag himself forward. His fingers dug into the earth and he dragged himself an inch. Then another. Her smile drove him. Those freckles on her nose, the ones he hadn’t yet counted.
But his body wasn’t strong enough. Jasper had done too much damage and his magic couldn’t keep up. While he thought of Kennedy standing on the booth seat in the diner, that first day he saw her, unconsciousness came to claim him.
***
Wyatt had disappeared from the face of the earth.
Or, at least that was what it felt like. Kennedy didn’t know where he’d gone, and she hadn’t been smar
t enough to get his phone number. Her only means of contact would be to hunt down Makenna at the diner or to show up on Jasper’s doorstep and ask them. Kennedy figured that if Wyatt didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t want her hounding his family, either.
She did her best to distract herself. Fifty images edited and three new blog posts later, Kennedy was out of work and needed something new to fill her time so that she wasn’t thinking about Wyatt.
About the way he felt inside her. About the way he’d held her so carefully after the elevator collapse. About his protective growl when Griffin dared look at her. She couldn’t help herself. She missed him more than she’d ever missed anything in her life.
Perhaps she was being stupid. This kind of longing, for a man who left without a single word, made her weak. It left her open to all kinds of dark thoughts. Maybe she hadn’t been enough. Maybe she could have tried harder to be the kind of woman he needed.
She shook her head. Thoughts like that would never get her anywhere. If Kennedy wasn’t enough, then she wasn’t enough. There was nothing she could do to change that.
Even though she knew this, it didn’t stop the ache in her chest. It felt like a part of her had been ripped out. Only days with Wyatt, and already she’d given a piece of herself to him. For a while, she’d wondered if there had been complications with Jasper. She told herself that if that were the issue, then someone would have contacted her.
But, she wasn’t a mate. She was just a fling. That wouldn’t land her on the telephone list. No one was going to go out of their way to keep Kennedy informed. She was only human, an interloper in a magical world.
She let her head fall back, banging against the headboard.
Despite Wyatt’s disappearance, Kennedy was still determined to stay in Grove. It was the place of her heart, and she knew that if she stayed, he would eventually return to her. All she had to do was make a place where he could find her.
Wyatt Drake Page 10