by Roxie Ray
She tossed me a necklace, which I caught in midair, thankfully. It would’ve been pretty embarrassing to miss. “The fact that you’re being protected means that someone is still alive. Hopefully, the story about them all being decimated is a lie and some are still knocking about.” She whirled and pinned me with a look. “Please, be careful and stay safe.”
I held out the necklace. “This?”
“It’ll act as a shield when you’re in danger. It’ll bond with whatever magic is in your blood and protect you when I’m not around.”
I fingered the large jewel. “This isn’t real?” I asked. The red stone was gigantic, set in silver. The setting looked vintage.
“Stones are easy to come by when you’re a witch. It’s a ruby, and an old one at that. I suppose it’s quite valuable by human standards.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s far more valuable for what it can do for your safety, however.”
“Am I really in danger?” I lifted the long silver chain over my head and put the necklace on.
“I don’t know. Something fishy is definitely going on. Better safe than sorry.” She winked, and when I sucked in a breath to thank her, she disappeared. I had to blink a few times to accept that she’d left.
“I’ll never get used to her popping in and out,” I whispered.
The necklace settled between my breasts and felt good there. Warm. Comforting. It made sure I was safe. That felt nice.
Porter had asked me to go to dinner with him tonight, so I finished up on my laptop and got ready. He told me there was a great Italian place that had opened just outside of town that I’d never tried.
He waited until I was buckled in the car before springing the big question on me. “So, have you thought about moving in?” He pulled out onto Main Street and grinned as he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. “Or maybe you could come stay until Sammy gets more information about what happened to make the pixies put a spell on your place?”
The thought of staying with Porter made my heart beat double time. “I wouldn’t mind the added sense of security.”
We talked about how fun it would be to play house all the way to the restaurant, and until we sat down and ordered, the date was going perfectly.
As we pigged out on chips and queso, someone walked up to the table. I smiled up at the server, but when I met his eyes, I realized it wasn’t him.
“Hey, Kaylee. I just wanted to say I’m a big fan. I’m KayleeFan029.” The man, tall and slender with shaggy black hair, beamed down at me while Porter’s face grew dark and his spine straight.
“I recognize your username.” I plastered a big smile on my face. He was one of my biggest contributors. He sent gifts almost every time I did a live, and they were often generous.
KayleeFan leaned close, completely ignoring Porter. “My pockets are deep,” he whispered. “I’ll pay you a handsome sum to cut your date short and come with me.”
Porter growled as he stood. “Get out of here,” he said in a deep, deadly voice. He was beyond pissed, like dragon pissed, but he kept his composure.
KayleeFan ignored him and leaned in closer. “Last chance.” He arched one eyebrow and stared me down. He was truly delusional if Porter didn’t intimidate him. My girls had told me he was an alpha, and human men were predisposed to bow down to dragons, especially alpha dragons.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said stiffly.
“You heard her,” Porter said. “Now fuck off.”
The asshole still ignored Porter, and his face twisted in anger. “See if you get any more money from me, slut.”
My heart pounded with fear and anger. How dare he speak to me that way. He stomped away and Porter sat back down. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “That was awful.”
Porter didn’t respond. He worked his jaw and breathed deep. It was obvious he was doing his best to keep it under control.
“Thank you,” I said softly, my gaze darting around the restaurant. The scene hadn’t gone unnoticed by the people around us. “Thank you for letting me say what I wanted to do and not just making him leave.”
Porter furrowed his brows at me. “It was your choice.”
“Maybe so. But a lot of men wouldn’t have seen it that way.” I waved over the server.
“I was raised by my mother, pretty much exclusively. I don’t believe I have any right to make any decision for you.” He clamped his mouth shut as the server walked up.
“We’d like to get our food to go as soon as possible, please,” I said and gave him a big smile.
When the server left, Porter raised his eyebrows. “To go?”
“The mood is ruined,” I said flatly. “But I’m positive now. I want to get home and pack a few bags to stay with you.”
His face lit up like Christmas. “Are you sure?”
Beaming back at him, I nodded. “Positive. And it’s not just because I want your protection. I want to be there with you, too.”
He nodded and held up one hand. “It could be because you want to use my pool, I wouldn’t care. I just want you with me.”
Giggling, I realized he’d already lifted my mood, cheering me immensely. “Thank you again.”
The server came with our food, and we hightailed it out of there. He’d cheered me up, but his mood wasn’t improving.
By the time we got to his house—our house, maybe one day—he was completely tense. His leg bounced and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel as he clenched and unclenched them.
“Can you head inside?” he asked. “I’ll bring your bags in, but I need to shift and cool off. Our back yard butts up to clan land, so I can safely shift out back in the dark.”
I sighed and turned in the car to face him. “I’ll give you room to fly and exercise out the anger, but this could happen again. You need to figure out if you can handle my job.”
He blinked rapidly, but I continued. “Nights like this will happen. And yes, I want out of the game, but not yet. I haven’t reached my goals or built up enough of an editing clientele.”
Staring at me, he let the seconds tick by, several long ones, until he nodded. “I can handle it. But I might need to go shift and calm down after if something like this happens again. Can you deal with that?”
I chuckled. “Yeah. I can deal.” I popped a quick kiss on his lips. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
He brought my bags in, leaving them in the foyer. As I carried them upstairs, I thought about how he’d replied. His hesitation gave me pause. I washed my face and did my skincare routine, and when I was lying in bed without Porter, my doubts started to grow.
Could he really handle it?
20
Porter
Even after three days, I couldn’t shake the rage at that douchebag who had dared ask Kaylee to leave with him. I wasn’t upset with her. But it had taken all I had in me over the weekend not to hunt that fucker down and rip his throat out.
I’d never felt such rage before. Not even at my father. Even after he’d left my mother brokenhearted. This was different. My mate wasn’t ever to be trifled with.
Not ever.
She wasn’t a hooker. She was out on a date and he’d interrupted the safety and security of her life in her hometown to approach her to proposition her for sex. I should’ve killed him on the spot. I’d almost let my dragon out. That wasn’t okay. But I could’ve done it barehanded.
I understood that this could come with the territory, but I wouldn’t allow it in my presence. Not when I could protect her from it.
Focus wasn’t happening, so I packed up my briefcase to head home. I wanted to see Kaylee. Being in her presence was the only thing that calmed my dragon, made me feel like I was able to keep things under control.
As I pulled out of the parking garage, my phone rang over the Bluetooth. I smiled when I saw the name. Toby. One of my best friends growing up and a member of my old clan.
“Port!” he yelled when I answered. “How the hell are you?”
“I’m great, Toby,
and better now that I’m hearing from you. What’s going on?” I hit the highway that would take me closer and closer to my mate.
“Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to tell you the good news. We’re merging with the clan up in Canada, the one we always used to fly with. Both clans are hoping it’ll trigger more matings.”
That was great news for them. If I’d still lived there, I would’ve been thrilled myself. “Toby, man, I’m really happy for you. I know you’re ready to settle down.” He’d been wanting to for a long time. Much longer than me. I hadn’t really wanted to until I fell for Kaylee.
“Toby, my friend, I’ve met someone here in Bluewater. I’m definitely staying.” My heart thumped a beat in my chest as I said the words to my old friend.
“Porter, I’m happy for you. Tell me about her.”
I didn’t want to give too much away about pixies or humans, so I described Kaylee without mentioning anything that would lean toward her species. My chat with Toby made my drive home fly by. It just sucked that I wouldn’t be able to take Kaylee home to meet all my old friends for a while. Everyone knew that the Bluewater Clan had some human matings, but it was widely regarded as a mistake and shameful. Bringing humans into the mix was not a good idea.
When I pulled into the driveway, my heart sank. I’d been so looking forward to seeing Kaylee, but she didn’t meet me at the door like she had pretty much every other day. I didn’t blame her. I’d had a stick up my ass since the night at the restaurant. I needed to make things right between us.
I found her in the office, glued to her laptop. “What are you up to?”
She jumped and rolled backward with her hand clutching her shirt. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry, sorry.” I circled the big desk and pressed my lips to her forehead. “How are you?”
“Good, just doing some editing.” Her attention was all on the computer.
“Something for your show?” I asked with my stomach twisted. I hated thinking about her job now, ever since the Italian restaurant.
“No,” she said distractedly.
I sighed without even meaning to. I was relieved to hear she was working on a non-porn project. I just couldn’t hide it.
She shut her laptop and squared her shoulders. “We need to talk.”
Damn it. She was right. I plopped down on the sofa across from the big desk. “Yeah.”
“You need to admit that you have an issue with my job. Just get it out there. I’m tired of walking on eggshells around you about it.”
“It’s not what you do,” I insisted. “It’s the dangers. The random guys approaching you in restaurants.” I threw up my hands. “It’s not the safest job in the world, you have to recognize it.”
“I do,” she exclaimed. “But, Porter, when you realized I wasn’t working on my own videos, you visibly relaxed.” Her face grew redder and redder as she spoke. “It was like someone lifted a weight off your shoulders. You can’t stand what I do. And I don’t even think you realize you’re lying to yourself.”
“What will we do when a jerk like the one at the restaurant might spot you out in public and decide to follow you home, hurt you or much worse?” The thought of that happening made my blood run cold.
“I’ll remind you that I’ve been doing this for years,” she said through clenched teeth.
“And I’ll remind you that your following has exploded in the past few months. You’re more famous now than you’ve ever been.”
She snapped her jaw shut, so I kept going. “I really don’t mind the job, Kaylee, but the fame makes my teeth set on edge. And the genre you’re in breeds perverts and desperation. It’s not like you’re knitting sweaters on video and being followed by grandmas.”
Kaylee’s crossed arms and legs should’ve clued me in to stop talking.
I wasn’t that smart.
“On top of all this, we don’t know what’s going on with your pixie situation. I just don’t want you in more danger than you need to be in.”
I sucked in a deep breath and gathered my courage, then said the words that I regretted the moment they passed my lips. “I think you should stop doing the show. I make plenty of money. You don’t have to do it now.” She blinked but didn’t respond. Shit. I had to explain this better. “I just want you safe, Kaylee. Surely you understand that.”
When she spoke, her voice was utterly calm. And full of venom. “Porter, I’ve never needed anyone to take care of me, and I don’t plan to start now.” She stood and stared down at me on the couch. “I appreciate your concern, but I will not allow you to dictate what I can and can’t do just because we’re choosing to share our lives together.” Clenching her fists at her side as I mentally stabbed myself in the eye, she breathed deep before walking toward the door as she kept speaking. “I told you of my plan, you knew what you were getting into.”
“Yeah?” I said, embarrassed and angry at myself and a little at her. She was being a little hard-assed about the whole thing. “Well, the plan changed when that guy tried to make you into a hooker! Now you have your dream house, anyway. You don’t need your damn plan.”
She stopped at the door of the office with one hand on the handle. For a moment, I would’ve sworn I saw glitter fall from her hand.
The stiffness in her back and set of her head told me how angry she was. She turned her head but didn’t look at me. “Even though it looks like we’ll end up in this house together, I will be financially secure. No relationship comes with a guarantee and none are promised forever. I refuse to ever be at rock bottom again, scrambling to make ends meet.”
“We’re going in circles!” I jumped to my feet and tried to stamp down the frustration. “Please don’t walk away.” Turning, Kaylee let go of the door handle, but she didn’t move any closer. “Why won’t you think about your safety? There are ways to save money that don’t involve performing for sad and perverted men.”
Oh, another mistake. Great.
Kaylee’s eyes narrowed and she breathed deep. I had to blink a couple of times, because I was fairly sure she caused a rainbow in the room for a split second. But then it was gone, and I couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t a trick of my eyes.
“Let me educate you, Mr. Reed-Collins. What I do is a shitload more than perform. I educate. I enrapture and titillate.” Her voice raised and as she yelled at me, I noticed it clearly.
She was raining glitter. “Please, Kaylee, calm down.”
“I will not calm down!” she shrieked. “Get off your damn high horse and stop thinking you can dictate my life, because you can’t!”
I wanted to apologize and tell her that wasn’t how I meant it, but my mouth moved without sound coming out. I was so floored that I couldn’t find a way to tell her what I was seeing.
“What?” she yelled. “If you’ve got something to say, spit it the fuck out, Porter!”
“Kaylee,” I whispered. “You have wings.”
21
Kaylee
Sammy appeared behind Porter as I turned my head slowly to look behind me. Sure enough, sparkly, rainbow wings had spread up behind me. The gossamer material was somehow opaque and see-through at the same time. Along the top, bones held them up and flapped slowly, too slowly to lift me into the air. They looked so flimsy I doubted they could lift me at all.
“Calm down,” Sammy whispered.
Her voice brought me back to reality and I recognized that I was panting, nearly hyperventilating. Porter walked toward me with his hands out. “Are you okay?” he whispered. “You look awfully pale.”
Sammy moved around him and closer to me, but that made me more nervous. My wings flapped harder as my heart rate sped up. “Stop!” I yelled. “Get away from me.”
Something more than nerves and anger was pulsing through me. One time, in my younger days, I’d tried a pretty strong drug. I’d hated the way it made me feel, out of control and incapable of pulling it together.
This was similar, but… I sucked in a deeper breath and let the f
eeling wash through me, then I focused on it, honed in. This, I could control. Like being high and in control at the same time.
Oh, that was cool as shit.
“Someone is coming,” Sammy said.
“What someone?” Porter said in a scared voice. “Who is coming?”
Sammy glared at Porter, shutting him up. “I’m guessing you’re the reason she’s raining glitter and grew wings?”
“We had an argument,” I said. “I was pissed.”
I moved my hands and watched them shimmer in front of my face. The magic coursing through my veins was actually visible.
Sammy cocked her head, drawing my attention. “They’re here,” she whispered.
I expected the doorbell to ring or for someone to knock, but all I heard was tinkling bells and then a small man appeared in the room, floating in mid-air in front of me.
Hysterical laughter tried to bubble up my chest.
“Hello,” the small man said in a surprisingly deep, masculine voice. “My name is Vlad.”
He waved at me and cocked his head. “And you shouldn’t be able to do that.”
“It might have something to do with that.” Sammy pointed at the necklace she’d given me. “I gave it to her for protection, but I think it’s drawing out her magic.”
“Would you mind taking it off for me?” Vlad asked. “Let’s test the theory.”
I nodded and lifted the chain over my head. As soon as it stopped touching my skin, my wings and all the glitter and rainbows disappeared. So did the high, floating feeling. I breathed in deep and relaxed.
Porter rushed forward and put his arms around me. “Thank you,” I whispered. “That left me weaker than I would’ve thought.” Especially considering how strong I’d felt with the magic coursing through my veins.
The little man, with his bright green suit and red beard, floated along with us as Porter helped me to the sofa.
“Where do you come from?” I asked.
“I was a friend to the Bluewater pixie triune. Your bloodline, Kaylee. They were earth pixies, where I am a water pixie.”