by Eden Ashe
“No.” His lip lifted in a sneer. “We’re dragons. We don’t do the mushy friend thing.”
She barely managed to not roll her eyes at his sneer. Daniel had reacted the same way, so had Luca, yet here they all were because he needed them. Her teeth worried at her bottom lip as she glanced up at him. “Ok, but you know him pretty well, right?”
“Not really.” He shrugged as he seasoned the burgers still frying. “We prefer to be solitary creatures unless we find a mate.”
She frowned at him. Geez. It was as bad as trying to have a conversation with Daniel. Pulling teeth from a rabid bear would probably be easier. “What do you know about Leanora?”
He snapped the burner off and shoved the frying pan to the back of the stove. His face was furious as he growled at her. “What do you know about that bitch?”
Surprised at his reaction, Shelby struggled against taking a step back in fear. She could feel Daniel watching her. She didn’t doubt for a minute he’d go off on his friend if he scared her. “Just what she did to Daniel.”
Mistrust flickered in his eyes. “He told you?”
She nodded slowly. No way was she going to tell him how she’d found out about the woman to begin with. It wasn’t anyone else’s business. “Yeah. He told me.” She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Dallas, I need help. I’m Daniel’s mate. I know he’s a dragon, but I have no idea what any of this means, or what I’m supposed to do.”
It didn’t surprise her when his face closed off. “I’m not the person you need to be talking to about this.”
“Yeah. Well.” Her shoulders slumped slightly. “My mate is angry at me. I don’t know why or how to fix it.” She sighed, before straightening her shoulders and smiling at him. “You’re right–it’s not your problem. I’ll figure it out.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, before he dragged both hands over his face. “Look,” he said quietly, his intense silver-green eyes on her as he leaned forward, his voice low. “That bitch fucked us all up, but what she did to Daniel…I’m surprised he never went off the deep end into sheer, absolute insanity. Hell, none of us would have fucking blamed him if he had. When he came back, everything about him was different. He’d shut off, disconnected himself from everyone he’d cared about, and led us into war. Until that moment, we had been leaderless. We were rogues, barely civil and nearly feral. Not only was no one brave enough to try to rule us, we would have killed anyone who tried to subjugate us. But as Daniel led us into war, it wasn’t to control us. It was to make us stronger, to fortify us from any outside attack. He became our king that day.” A chill rippled down her spine as his eyes bored into hers. “His mistrust in people isn’t bone deep, Shelby. It goes past the core of him into the very soul of what and who he is. He hasn’t allowed himself to feel anything for anyone since. If he mated to you, you’re the only chance at happiness he’s ever going to fucking have again. Ever.”
Shelby’s knees wobbled. What chance did they have of making it work if he’d only mated to her by accident?
Not sure of anything at the moment, she smiled at Dallas, because smiling was what she did. “Ok, then we’ll just have to figure it out. Need help with those burgers?”
He shrugged. “I’ll get them. You need to eat before your mate’s head explodes.”
Shelby took the plate he handed her, loaded with a juicy hamburger and chips. She wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but she knew when she was dismissed. She took her burger over to the couch where she could see Daniel without openly staring at him.
She loved observing him. He was so intense in everything he did. She didn’t know what she’d done to cause the disconnect, but she knew she had to find a way to fix it.
The pieces to the puzzle that was Daniel were starting to form a solid image in her head. The urge to save him, to give him a life of happiness was becoming undeniable. She didn’t know what she would do if he wouldn’t let her give it to him.
After she ate half of the massive burger Dallas had made her, she set the plate on the coffee table, and curled up into the corner of the large, comfortable couch. She was exhausted suddenly, her eyelids too heavy to hold open. There was a bed in the cave, but she was content where she was. Even though Daniel was going through every millisecond of video footage from the shooting, being near him calmed her in a way she hadn’t experienced before. It felt right to be with him.
“Hey.”
His gruff voice startled her awake. A beautiful face hovered inches from her own. She smiled sleepily. “Hi.”
“Come on.” He scooped her up gently. “Let’s get you to bed.”
Shelby didn’t know where she found the energy to wrap her arms around his neck, but she didn’t want to let him go yet. Her eyes were already drifting close again as she rested her head against his chest. “Will you stay with me, Daniel? I like sleeping with you.”
“Yeah.” He brushed his lips over her temple as he lay her down. “I like sleeping with you, too.”
She shifted over so he had room next to her. Even knowing he was upset, the second he stretched out on the bed, Shelby curled up against his side. The need to touch him was too great. He hooked his arm around her waist, hauling her closer.
“Sleep, woman. I’m not going anywhere.”
She yawned into his chest, then tilted her head back, somehow managing to pry her exhausted eyes open enough to search his face. “Promise, Daniel.”
The pad of his thumb brushed over her bottom lip, before he dipped his head. He kissed her lightly. “You’ve got me, princess.”
It wasn’t a promise. Shelby knew it. He would never make a promise to her he knew he might not be able to keep. More than his words though, it was the way he was holding her that convinced her to let it go. Because when he touched her, she could feel the possessiveness in him all the way down to her soul.
15
Daniel held her, not bothering to sleep. No way could he afford a repeat of last night. Even if he managed to forgive himself for trying to choke his mate to fucking death, the other dragons were too close. He’d be dead before he could pull himself back to reality.
She’d devastated him in the bathroom earlier. The way she’d opened herself up, giving her soul to him. Thanks to the mark that linked them, he could feel her falling in love with him. The woman was perfect, and he couldn’t compete with that. She wanted to believe in the good parts in him, so she did. It didn’t matter the bad in him outweighed the good. Not only had she forgiven him for everything he’d done, she was trying so damn hard to heal the wounds it had left in him.
Ryuu. How the hell was he not supposed to love a woman who could not only accept the darkest places inside of him, but fight so fucking hard to help him forgive himself?
As if aware of his troubled thoughts, Shelby shifted closer to him, stretching her perfect body out against his side. Her hair fell across his chest in soft waves, but it was the way her arm wrapped around him in sheer possession that scared him. What would he do if she fought him on breaking the bond?
Battling the contentment that begged him to sink into sleep with her, he closed his eyes, allowing himself to take in the feel of her, warm and trusting against him. He couldn’t let it last. He knew it. He just had to get the strength up to set the wheels in motion to change it.
Finally, with a low growl, he sat up. The effort it took to get himself to his feet so he could leave her disgusted him. She was turning him soft, and in his world, soft meant weak. He needed distance from her, badly.
The other dragons had made themselves at home in the cave. Luca had replaced Bain on watch, so the young one was sprawled out on the couch. Dallas had made himself a pallet on the floor next to the cave entrance, while Broderick had settled his large frame in an easy chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him as the computer worked to analyze the data he still thought was out there.
It left nothing for Daniel to do, which annoyed the hell out of him.
“Aren’t you ju
st a giant ray of sunshine this evening?” Dallas drawled from the floor. “Blondie come to her senses and kick your ass out of bed?”
“Go to hell.”
Dallas snorted. “We both know I’ve been there for years, buddy.” The light-haired dragon scrubbed a hand over his face before he pushed himself into a sitting position, bracing his back against the cave wall as he studied Daniel. “Seriously, Ashborne. You look like shit. What the hell’s going on?”
“Nothing. I don’t know. Drop it.”
Dallas’ brow winged up. “So which one is it?”
“Fuck off.” Daniel stalked over to the cave entrance. “I’m going to go take over watch.”
Dallas studied him. “What do we tell Blondie if she wakes up?”
“Nothing.” He murmured the spell allowing him to walk through the boulder, only to stop short. His jaw was ticking violently as his brain formed the words he knew he should say, but they stuck in his throat and made him sick. He said them anyway. “Tell her what a bastard I am. Tell her how much better she can do without me. Scare the hell out of her if you have to–just convince her this is not the life she wants.”
“Whoa, Ashborne, what the hell?” Dallas shot to his feet, his hand clamping around Daniel’s arm. “What the fuck is going on? She’s your mate. We both know you’d never survive her walking away from you.”
Daniel’s pupils lengthened to slits. The roar that came out of him was all dragon. “It’s not about me, you asshole. It’s about what’s best for her. I am not it. So do what you have to fucking do, just get her out of here.”
Dallas went still as his eyes searched Daniel’s, before he let out a low whistle. He dropped his hand. “Dude, you have lost your fucking mind. You cannot give away a mate.”
“Look.” Daniel spun on his heel, backing Dallas into the wall as the temper and rage inside of him threatened to boil to the surface. “She’s my mate. I will do what I goddamn need to do to see she’s safe, even if it means cutting out my own goddamn heart in the process, you got it? So back. The. Fuck. Off.”
Dallas didn’t move at first, except for the tell-tale signs of his temper spiking his dragon’s. His pupils lengthened, fire flashing beyond the irises. After a moment, he finally blew out a breath. He raised his hands. “I’m on your side here, my Lord. Remember?”
Daniel’s lip lifted in a sneer as he took a step backward. “I don’t need anyone on my side.”
“You do if you want to keep her safe.”
Daniel ignored him as he prowled, feeling like a hurt, caged animal. “How the hell is it, with all the technology we have access to here, we can’t find a fucking thing about who shot her?”
Dallas leaned against the cave wall, crossed his feet at the ankles and his arms over his chest. “Maybe we’re thinking too hard.” He pulled a knife from his shoulder holster, and idly flipped it between his fingers. “Maybe the answer is so simple we’re overlooking it.”
“I’m listening.”
Dallas bounced his shoulders in a frustrated shrug. “Forget the computer. Forget the miles of video. What do you know about her? Who would gain the most from her being shot?”
Daniel stopped pacing. He sighed as he scrubbed both hands over his face. “Damn it, I don’t know.” He let out a harsh laugh. “I know almost next to nothing about her, other than she’s an actress and there’s something about her I can’t seem to get out of my goddamn head.”
Dallas’ hand stilled. “Alright. I know her father abandoned her when she was young.” As homicidal rage flashed through Daniel, Dallas was smart enough to wince and hold both his hands up, palms out, the blade pointed downward. “She came to me earlier because she was sure she’d done something to mess you up, and she let slip something about the paparazzi finding her long-lost dad. I wasn’t comfortable having the conversation with her, so I cut it off.”
Daniel’s head started to hurt, a dull pounding he was sure would never go away as long as he was connected to Shelby. “Luca’s been digging into her past, but he hasn’t given me anything on it yet.” He started a slow prowl in front of the other dragon. “You saw the same thing on that footage as I did. Her whack-job sister had something to do with her shooting.”
Dallas was apparently smart enough not to ask how Daniel could have gotten himself mated to a woman he knew absolutely nothing about.
Daniel’s eye started to tick. “Ryuu. How didn’t I put this together before?” When Dallas only watched him, Daniel’s brow furrowed as he tried to think. “What if it’s connected with the Hunter who tried to kill me last year?”
Dallas cocked his head, his voice even. “It could be, but you took care of him that night didn’t you?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean whoever sent him isn’t still out there somewhere.”
“What the hell?”
“It was just the feeling I got, like someone had sent him after me that night.” None of this was making sense. Hunters weren’t usually careless. “From what I’ve been able to drag out of Cage, they had a major rogue problem in the upper echelon of the Hunters last year. They took too many risks, drawing too much attention to themselves, and their research of who was guilty and deserved death was sloppy. If a dragon breathed, it died, even if humans were caught in the crossfire. It was why he battled for control after meeting Seren.”
Daniel could see Dallas filing the information away for later. He would have to keep an eye on him. Dallas went back to playing with his knife. “Were you followed that night?”
Daniel let out a frustrated scoff. “Hell no. Do you think I’d ever lead a Hunter or any other threat to Shelby?”
Dallas didn’t answer. He was already moving over to Broderick. “Dude. Wake up.” The second Broderick’s eye peeled open, Dallas turned back at Daniel. “What if the Hunter wasn’t after you, but her?”
“Why the hell would he be after her? She wasn’t my mate yet.”
Broderick’s gaze shot from one dragon to the other, before he shot up into a sitting position, his fingers already flying over the computer’s keyboard. “I’m on it.”
“Alright. What the fuck am I missing here?” Daniel snapped.
“Think about it,” Dallas snapped back. “There have been rumors for the last couple of years that the Hunters were nothing more than glorified, immortal hit men. It’s just as likely they were after her, as after you. Her sister was expecting that shot yesterday. Two Hunter hits, and the only other common denominator is Shelby. It wouldn’t be the first time someone hired a hit man to gain someone else’s fame.”
Dallas was right. This could be about her as easily as it was about him. Though his every instinct wanted to rebel at the thought, Dallas’ suggestion made more sense than anything else they’d come up with. He nodded once, carefully banking the fury building inside him until he had a better outlet. “All right, I’ll talk to her when she wakes up, see what I come up with.” He dragged a hand down his face, forcing off the fatigue before he gave into the urge to go back to bed, curl into her, and find oblivion. “I’m going to take over watch from Luca.” He glanced at the other dragons, a low, violent growl rumbling through him. “Anything happens to her while I’m out, I will gut you all.”
* * * *
It didn’t surprise Shelby when she woke freezing and alone in bed. After experiencing the heat of Daniel’s body, she pretty much figured he was nowhere near if she was cold. What did surprise her, though, was how much she hated the feeling of not having him next to her.
She shoved her hair out of her eyes as she stared up at the cave ceiling. Other than the morning before, when she’d woken to find him trying to choke her to death, they’d never actually spent an entire night together. Why it hurt so much to find him gone again, she had no idea.
It was just going to have to change. She was so over the man running hot and cold on her. Maybe she’d messed up somehow in the bathroom yesterday, but she couldn’t fix it if he didn’t tell her what she’d done. Uncommunicative or not, the man was going
to have to start talking to her if he wanted this lifetime mate-thing to work.
She sat up with a sigh, only to let out a terrified squeak when she saw four giant men forming a solid mountain of muscle and determination at the foot of the bed.
She offered them a hesitant smile. Deciding it was only natural to be overwhelmed by the sheer size of them, she scooted up on the bed. When her back hit the wall, she pulled her knees up to her chest. They were huge, intimidating, and since not one of them was smiling, she didn’t feel the least bit silly for being wary of them. “Um…hi?”
“What the hell is going on with Ashborne?” Bain demanded. As far as Shelby could tell, he was the youngest. His face still had a pretty-boy look. “He’s taking moody and pain-in-the-ass to a whole new level, even for him.”
“You’re his mate,” Broderick put in helpfully. “He chose you. So why isn’t he happier?”
Shelby blinked at them for a long moment as she tried to get her still-foggy brain to wake up and process what they were saying. They were worried about him. Not friends, her butt.
She scrambled off the bed. Starting with Luca on the end, she went up on her toes, giving each of them a hug. None of them squeezed her back, but she didn’t care. Daniel’s happiness and sanity mattered to them. That mattered to her.