Were they talking about the same dragon? He cocked his head. “He’s pretty angry all the time if you ask me.”
“Right, but he doesn’t keep you in line. He’s too nice to actually do anything about it.”
“Ah,” he said. Since she wasn’t even aware of the existence of dragons, she probably didn’t need to know that Citrine was one of the most dangerous, despite being a warm, nice guy. That like the sun, he could be warm or he could choose to blind everyone on the planet.
Still, in a way she was right. “I guess so,” he said. “But I’d love to see the woman who could work well with Citrine. He’s super independent.”
“We’ll find the right one,” she said. “Someone who won’t take crap from the ‘dragons.’”
“Right,” he said halfheartedly.
“And that’s another thing. We need to change the name.”
“Not going to happen,” he said, leaning back against his seat.
“Why not?” she asked, wrinkling her brow.
“It’s an inside joke, a personal thing,” he said. “Besides, didn’t Citrine tell you our slogan? ‘So hot we’re almost mythical.’”
She shook her head. “While that may be true, it just doesn’t tell women what to expect.”
He snorted. Yes, it did. It promised dragons, and they were dragons. But she didn’t know that, and he didn’t know when she would.
He’d been told to take it slow with humans where knowledge of shifters was concerned.
“Did you just say I was hot?” he teased, leaning forward.
She grunted. “I said the slogan was true. That’s it.”
“You think I’m hot,” he said, getting close to her ear, enjoying the way she stiffened and her lips parted slightly.
Then she jerked forward, swatting at him until he moved out of the way. “Not as much as you think you are.”
But as she went back to talking about ideas for Date-A-Dragon, his mate was visibly flustered.
For now, that was enough for him.
Four
When they landed, Dante grabbed their carry-ons and asked for her hand to lead her through the crowd, saying he didn’t want to lose track of her.
She was beginning to realize how dangerous he was, and she knew touching him escalated that, but she supposed he was right.
Plus, it would be more convincing for her parents when they saw them.
They were supposed to be engaged after all.
Her parents had swallowed the fact that she’d been secretly engaged surprisingly easily.
But she wondered if that would still be the case when they saw Dante.
Everywhere they went, women stared at him, but he seemed oblivious. Or maybe he was just so used to female attention that it didn’t matter to him.
She hoped he kept his promise not to fawn over her sister. She knew it was selfish, but just for once, she wanted a guy’s attention on her instead. Even if she was technically paying for it. Trading for it. Whatever their business arrangement was called.
They walked toward the baggage claim, and she saw a group of people waiting with a sign.
Her heart dropped into her stomach as she noticed her mom, short and curvy like her, with beautiful curls that could probably be Ella’s if she cared to try with them, standing next to her dad.
Both were beaming.
Her chest tightened slightly as her eyes moved to her sister, standing tall and skinny and perfectly blond as ever, a smug expression on her face.
When she was younger, she’d hoped for a better relationship with her sister, but one had never materialized, and she’d slowly given up.
Her sister had encouraged the bullying against her when they were younger, and besides, they had nothing in common now that they were older.
But Ella could still be happy for her.
She let go of Dante’s hand and stepped forward to shake her sister’s hand, when she caught sight of her fiancé behind her, arms wrapped around her waist.
She froze, looking up at his kind face, which was giving her a welcoming smile.
She knew it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t the one who’d attacked her. But…
She felt her body freeze in tension, old memories pushing in. Things she tried not to remember. Things she’d never been able to forget.
“You okay?” Ben asked, looking concerned.
She didn’t know how to make herself talk, breathe, move, and then she felt strong, reassuring hands around her, holding her tight.
Dante pulled her in against his muscular chest. “She’s fine. It was just a long flight.”
And that snapped her out of her shock. She gave Dante a grateful look. “Everyone, this is Dante.” She took him around for introductions, and she was pleasantly surprised by how hard everyone tried to hide their utter shock.
“We’ll need to get our luggage, and if it’s okay, I think we’re going to meet everyone at home,” Dante said. “You rented a car, right, Ella?”
“I did?” she asked, blinking. “Oh, I did.”
Her mother hesitated but then nodded. “We’ll see you at home, then.”
When her family had left, looking eagerly behind them to wave good-bye, Dante folded his arms and stared. “You want to tell me what that was about?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? You froze. You were terrified.”
She rubbed her arms and then headed for the carousel for one of their suitcases. He beat her to it and lifted it easily off as if it weighed nothing.
He was quite a gentleman.
When he had their suitcases and they were headed to the rental desk, he turned to face her. “I’m sorry for touching you without permission. But you were frozen and I had to do something.”
“Right,” she said. “It was awkward.”
“Not because of that,” he said. “Because you were scared. I don’t like it when you’re scared.”
Then you aren’t going to like me a lot of the time while we’re here, a voice inside her said darkly.
“What was that?” he asked, almost as if he’d heard her.
“Can you read my mind?”
He grinned. “I can, but I’ve been told it’s rude.”
She laughed. “Right. It is. You’re ridiculous. I hope you know that.”
“Only when I need to be,” he retorted. “I hope you aren’t mad about the rental car.”
“No,” she said. “That was smart thinking.”
“I figured the last thing you needed was to be in the car with that—how do women say it? Douche.”
She laughed again, finally feeling her body relax and go back to mostly normal. “Yeah. Douche.”
“Right. Well, just trust me. I’ll be your anti-douche for the duration of your stay.”
She tried to hide the warmth welling in her at his words. He had no idea how much it meant to feel not alone in this town that had once held so much horror. “Thanks.”
He nodded. “Now, should we go pick out something fancy? I want to ride in style.”
She laughed. “If you’re paying for it.”
“Sure,” he said, his hands in his pockets.
“No, no,” she said. “We don’t need a sports car, and I’m not letting you pay.”
He grumbled, but together, they decided on a car, and she took a deep breath as they walked outside, ready to greet the day together.
Dante found the small town of Heber, Utah, to be much different from Seattle where their club was based.
For one thing, there were mountains everywhere, and instead of being covered by lush foliage, they were covered in craggy cliffs, trails, and dotted by pine trees and quaking aspens.
There was a wild sort of beauty there, and her parents’ ranch up above the small town exemplified that.
He noted with interest that they appeared to have horses and livestock on the considerable acres of land behind the main cabin, which was more like a large lodge.
It seemed to have been bui
lt a long time ago, but it had stood up to the test of time, probably through superior workmanship.
As he carried his and Ella’s suitcases inside and up the hewn-log steps, he marveled at the way all the wood had been fit together perfectly and glazed.
The door opened, and Ella’s dad Ron greeted them. He was tall and slim with graying, thin hair and kind eyes behind glasses attached behind his neck by a chain.
He reached out a hand to shake Dante’s, but there was a hint of hesitation in his gray-blue eyes, though he tried to mask it. Dante would have to figure that out later. He couldn’t have his mate’s parents disapproving of him.
Ella was hugging her dad when her mom came around the corner and beamed.
Ella’s mother Grace was a perfect spitting image of Ella in a lot of ways. Same short, curvy build, broad smile, loud laugh, and wild curls. At least if Ella ever let her hair down.
But there were differences, too. A sharpness to Ella’s features in contrast to her mother’s softer, rounder face. And a wariness that changed Ella’s overall look.
Still, she hugged her mother and murmured words he couldn’t make out before pulling back and introducing her to Dante again.
Grace gaped as she looked up at him. “You’re a big one, aren’t you?” She laughed. “We can use this one on the ranch.”
“I don’t think he’s the type for that,” a feminine voice said coldly.
Dante looked up to see Ella’s sister, Melanie, fiancé in tow, standing in the kitchen. She slowly walked closer. She was wearing a tight, short dress and high heels that looked more like weapons than something one should wear in the mountains.
“For Pete’s sake,” Ella’s mom said. “Go change before you trip on something.”
Melanie muttered something under her breath, gave him a glare, and then stomped off to a room at the other end of the main floor. Her guest room perhaps?
“Does your sister live in Heber?” he asked Ella.
“We wish,” Ron said. “She lives in Park City. It’s not far, though.”
“How did she end up with Ben?” Ella asked as they stood in the entryway with their suitcases. He was proud of her for not letting the fiancé get to her this time. He still needed to figure out what was going on there.
“They met up at the same company in Park City.” Ron met Dante’s eyes. “Lots of people from here commute there.”
“Makes sense,” Dante said because that always stopped people from explaining further on things he didn’t care about. He was here for Ella, not her sister and Ben.
“Let me show you to your room,” Grace said, leading them to the stairs and moving up them at a brisk pace.
“Mom, I think I know where my old room is,” Ella said.
“Well, since you were bringing a boy home, we thought maybe you should have a larger suite,” Grace said with a small smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
Dante hoped Ella would eventually smile enough to have those wrinkles. That would be his new goal.
“Oh,” she said. “But…”
“No buts,” Grace said. “What’s the point of a remodel if we can’t accommodate our daughter?” She folded her arms as Ella walked into the room. “So you turned the playroom into a bedroom?”
Grace nodded. “What do you think?”
Dante walked to the window and looked out at the view of the mountains behind the house. There was a large pond not far from them, and there were cows grazing in the fields behind them.
The mountains captured his imagination the most, though.
Utterly beautiful and wild and breathtaking in scale. All the raw beauty here reminded him of his time, before buildings and civilization had taken over everything.
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
“Oh, our family has been here generations,” Grace said. “Well, I’ll let you two settle in. We’ll be making lunch if you want to come down and join us. We won’t be offended either way.”
“Sure,” Ella said.
Ron waved and disappeared with Grace, leaving Dante alone with his mate, who looked flustered, but for all the wrong reasons.
“What’s up?” he asked, bouncing on the bed and looking up at her.
She kept her arms tightly folded as she looked out the window and then around the room and then at him. “I guess it’s just hitting me I’m finally home.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
She hesitated, her brown eyes wary. He noted she had long, curled lashes, thick like her hair. They gave her brown eyes a doe-ish look that brought out the protective instincts in him.
He longed to go to her and hold her, pull her against him and give her all the comfort in the world, but it didn’t seem welcome.
“Anyway, do you think I could have some time alone?” she asked. “I sort of like to read when I’m stressed, so I don’t think I’ll be going down for food.”
He stood and stretched. Dragons were always hungry; the metabolism to keep up their muscles was severe. “Sure. Want me to bring you something?”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m not hungry.”
Liar.
He’d bring her something, but he’d give her time to have a nap first. And he’d take this chance to do recon on the family, try to figure out more about what was going on here.
He made sure she was ready for him to go, and when she was tucked into bed and comfortable, he shut the door softly behind him and headed down the stairs.
He stopped abruptly when he saw the entire family eating at a table. Was he late?
And there was that odd look in Ella’s dad’s eyes again.
“What?” Dante asked the group. “Am I not welcome without your gorgeous daughter?”
Grace threw back her head and laughed, breaking the tension. “Of course you’re welcome. Here, you take a seat, and I’ll get you a plate.”
“Wouldn’t think of it,” he said. “I’ll help myself.”
“No, I wouldn’t think of it.” Grace insisted, getting up and asking his input as she served him some kind of roasted poultry and vegetables.
He thanked her and purposefully seated himself next to the fiancé, hoping to intimidate the other male. Ben just gave him a smile. How was it that this dope could scare Ella?
They were eating and maintaining awkward conversation about Melanie’s job when Melanie suddenly set down her fork with a thud and turned to him with icy blue eyes that were a younger version of her father’s. “So how much is she paying you?”
“Ella!” Ron hissed.
“We’re all thinking it! I’m just asking.”
Dante lowered his fork and tried to keep rage from rising in his chest. He could honestly say he wasn’t being paid because they were on a barter system. Besides that, paid or not, it was unbelievably insulting to Ella for them to assume she couldn’t be naturally matched with a man like him.
He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin and replaced it on his lap, considering his words.
This was his mate’s family. He wanted to be civil.
On the other hand, anyone who insulted a dragon’s mate deserved to feel that dragon’s fire.
“Why would you think that?” he asked Melanie coldly.
“Oh, come on,” Melanie said. “She couldn’t get someone hotter than I could. I mean, look at her—”
“I have,” Dante said. “Extensively.” He ran his tongue over his lower lip and then bit down softly on it to make his point.
Melanie grimaced. “You can’t be serious. Tell him, Ben.”
Ben looked vaguely offended. “You just insulted me, and you want me to tell him he’s too hot for your sister?”
“For Pete’s sake,” Melanie said. “Am I going crazy? This is Ella we’re talking about.”
Dante slammed his hands down on the table, making it rattle as he stood.
“Aren’t any of you going to defend her? My hell, this is your daughter. You should know her even better than I do. How smart she is. How beautiful. How uniq
ue. If you can’t, I’m taking her and getting out of here.”
“How much is she paying you?” Melanie repeated.
Dante locked eyes with her, giving her a long, slow perusal that made her blush. “The one who would have to pay me to date them is you.”
Then he excused himself and left the table, leaving Melanie sputtering and Ron and Grace gaping.
He heard mayhem break out, Melanie’s parents chewing her out as she argued, and by the time he reached the stairs, he felt Ron’s hand on his shoulder.
“Wait,” the older man said. “Hold on. Let me apologize.”
“For…?” Dante said, raising an eyebrow.
“I should have said something sooner. We’ve let Melanie run loose too long. But we do love Ella. In fact, I’m ashamed to admit I was wary of you because I thought you might be using her.”
Dante’s face tightened, but Ron put up a hand.
“Hear me out. It’s not because I don’t think my daughter is beautiful and deserves the best in the world. It’s because she hasn’t ever brought someone home before, and when she did, I thought it would be someone more like… her.”
“How?”
“You know, someone who doesn’t really care about outer appearance. I mean, it’s fine that you look… like you do. We were caught off guard and assumed the worst, but I swear it was out of misguided protectiveness, not a lack of respect for our daughter.”
“Not on Melanie’s end.”
“Give us a chance to do better with dealing with that,” Ron said.
“Fine,” Dante said sharply. “But get this through your head. I’m attracted to your daughter. And I’m the one who has to work to deserve her. Not the other way around.” He lifted his chin haughtily, waiting for Ron’s response.
He laughed. “Good man. Yes, I figured that out in the way you talked about her. Remember, I married her mother, and they are so similar.”
“But different,” Dante said.
“True,” Ron said.
Dante held the other man’s gaze for a minute, sizing him up. Finally, he sighed, deciding to give them all another chance. “Okay. But if anyone else decides to disrespect my mate, I won’t tolerate it.”
The older man’s eyes widened. “Mate?”
Gold (Date-A-Dragon Book 1) Page 4