“Oh, oh. Yes,” Jen says. “He’s doing great. He’s made a lot of friends here. And he loves the subjects they teach.”
“He’s already getting high marks in his introductory repair and restoration courses.” Reve beams like the proud father he is.
“That’s just because you’ve been giving him extra instruction on the side,” Jen says with a giggle.
Reve nods. “As well as whip handling. That’s his favorite subject.”
“He’ll be a fine warrior someday, worthy of an amazing dream mate when he grows up,” Lorien says.
Jen’s brows lower. “What? Joey growing up? That feels so far away.” Reve wraps an arm around her side and tells her not to worry about that, though.
Personally, I’m just happy Jen decided to stay with Reve full time in the dream realm, both because it’s safer for their son, but also because the things he’ll learn will benefit him much more as a budding dream warrior.
“How are things with work for you?” Tess asks Sandra while Jen continues to fret about her son growing up so fast.
“Still doing my pro-bono work. The jobs I cared about more from the beginning. Thankfully, since I don’t need to be making money, I can just focus on helping people.”
Tess raises her glass. “I’ll raise a glass to that.”
“What about you?” Sandra asks.
“I know Lorien feels a certain away about my prior vigilante record,” Tess says, looking over at Lorien, who is folding his arms and glaring at the subject being brought up. “So we’ll just say I put that aside for now. And as for book covers, I’m at least finishing up the last commitments I had so I don’t leave anyone on the hook, but I’ll see if it’s something I keep up with once things have settled in a little more.”
“Yeah, there’s still so much to learn about the fae world. And about our powers,” Sandra says.
“I mean, some other things have been taking up my time too…” She sends a warm gaze over at Lorien, whose rigid posture relaxes instantly.
“Easy to get distracted, huh?” Sandra looks at me, and I feel electricity crackle in the air as her brown eyes look down me. I reach a hand over and squeeze her thigh, even just the slight romantic touch enough to make me want to disappear to somewhere distant where we can be alone.
“Yeah,” Tess says in a dreamy tone that’s very different from the woman I first met, along with Reve and Lorien.
It feels like so long ago.
Every moment. Every year without our mates felt like it would never end.
Now that we’re together, each moment feels like a lifetime since then. Cherished memories, exciting adventures, and sensual encounters that make life unforgettable.
“It’s nice that our kingdoms can neighbor each other so it makes visiting easier,” Jen says, much calmer now.
“Not that we couldn’t just teleport instantly even if they weren’t,” Lorien says.
“I know. It just feels right,” she replies with a grin. “Like this was all meant to be.”
“Of course it was. We each saw our mates long, long ago. And here we are,” I say, drawing a resolute nod from Lorien and Reve, my best friends and companions on our journey of love.
The true beginning of our lives.
“A toast to love,” Lorien says, standing and holding his glass aloft.
“To love,” everyone says in assent, and glasses clink as everyone enjoys the moment.
A minute later, Reve begins to whisper something into Jen’s ear, making her flush. And to my left, Tess’s and Lorien’s gazes are locked on each other, saying nothing but speaking volumes with their body language nonetheless.
As for me and Sandra, the hand I had on her leg is starting to tingle, the added effect of her cheek now resting on my shoulder and the closeness of our bodies together quickly upping the tension.
I’m certain that in no time at all, each couple will be off to make even more memories.
But in the meantime, I’m just overjoyed that the men I’ve called brothers are happy and that the wonderful women we were fated to find and care for are real and beside us now.
Truly, to have such happiness, such utter hope for the future even though each of us had to overcome our individual struggles to find love, it is something I don’t think I could have fathomed.
Now that I have Sandra—my dream, my everything—all that is left is to make each dream a reality.
For a warrior of love like me? Nothing could possibly be more perfect.
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If you missed the other books in the series:
Sweet Dreams (Rogue Dream Fae 1)
In Her Dreams (Rogue Dream Fae 2)
My newest series, Texas Dragons, is out now! Flip for a sample!
Cowboy Dragon (Texas Dragons 1)
Save a horse, ride a dragon...
Marian West has nothing left to her name but her car (which is currently broken down), an old coin in her pocket, and the legend of a man named Harrison, who she's currently looking for. But instead of finding the last person that can help her, she gets a pack of hungry coyotes instead. By either good or bad luck, she's rescued by a tall, gorgeous stranger with eyes bluer than a Texas sky. He's dominant and commanding and everything Marian hates about cowboys. He's also irresistible, and her only hope.
Harrison didn't expect to find the curvy, stubborn human woman so interesting. After saving her from coyotes and more, the experienced cowboy boss of Dragonclaw Ranch knows he owes Marian for a favor her father did for him a long time ago. But his dragon says "mate" every time he looks at her, and even though he's going to help the determined woman, it will be difficult to keep the monster inside him from wanting to make her his own.
As Marian and Harrison grow closer, unexpected kisses lead quickly to scorching nights beneath the full Texas moon. Danger and secrets lurk around every corner, but anything that threatens a Texas dragon's mate will quickly learn that everything is bigger in Texas. Even a dragon's love.
Cowboy Dragon (Texas Dragons 1)
Sample of Cowboy Dragon
“Just a little farther, Rusty,” Harrison said, pressing his heels into his horse’s flanks, keeping his mount moving as the sight of his beloved ranch came into view.
Rusty, as if also excited to get home and finally take a rest, almost leapt into a gallop, but Harrison held the reins back.
“I know, boy, I know. It’s been a long day for both of us.”
Overhead, the blazing blue sky was starting to dim, a faint orange glow on the horizon beckoning the blaring sun down to its resting place beyond the mountains in the west. Streaks of clouds painted in multicolored glory made lazy trails into the distance, and Harrison instantly remembered why he did what he did.
For a dragon like him, there was no price for freedom this pure.
Dragonclaw Ranch got closer and closer, and up ahead, he could hear the shouts and chatter of the rest of his crew as they finished up the day’s duties. A minute later, he was pulling up into the central clearing, right in front of the main homestead.
But try as he might, there had been an odd, unsettling feeling following him around all day. Even his faithful stallion seemed to feel it too, being more temperamental than he usually was on such a relatively normal day.
“Hey, boss, how’d it go?” Beck, his second-in-command (when he wasn’t drunk), walked past, pausing as he carried two bales of hay in each hand with ease on his
way to the barn.
“The cattle are lazy as ever,” Harrison replied. “I swear, the nicer the weather, the more stubborn they get.”
Beck’s huge height and width made even the largest of livestock feel small in comparison. His dark beard and piercing gray eyes added to the picture to create a man that intimidated most people.
But that was just dragons for you.
Beck shrugged and strolled away, whistling an off-key tune as he went.
“Hey, Clancy,” Harrison called, and the third dragon he ran the ranch with appeared from the stables, taking off pigskin gloves and tossing them aside as he did. Even in spite of his fringed vest, chaps, white Stetson, and too-handsome looks for a place as remote as this, Clancy was the best wrangler he’d ever known in his entire life.
Which, for a dragon, was a damn long time.
With his collar-length, wheat-colored hair and gleaming green eyes, Clancy drew stares whenever they went to town.
“Yup?” he called back with that classic Texan drawl, green eyes glinting. “What can I do ya for?”
“Stop wasting my time looking pretty and tell me how that mare’s doing?”
“Real healthy. I think she’ll foal just fine.”
“What about Reno? Did he get the tractor fixed like I asked?”
Before Clancy could respond, the door to the garage opened off to their left.
“Way ahead of you, boss,” Reno, their newest hire from a few years ago, said loudly. His short, light-blond hair was mussed, his light-blue eyes mischievous as usual. He was grinning in a way that showed a sharp canine that showed his lupine ancestry. For a wolf shifter, he wasn’t half bad.
But he was no dragon.
“I didn’t ask you,” Harrison growled, and Reno disappeared back into the garage, smart enough to not test Harrison’s patience today.
Good dog.
“Yeah, he did it,” Clancy said. “Haven’t tested it myself yet, but I trust his word enough to believe him when he says it’s good to go.”
“Well, I don’t trust a man’s word until he’s fully earned it,” Harrison replied, and Clancy raised an eyebrow up at him.
“Do you trust mine?”
He glared down at his friend. “No.”
Clancy just laughed in that cheery, disarming way that made women throw themselves at him. “Whatever you say, Cap.” He gave Rusty a quick scratch behind the ears, then walked off to probably check the tractor.
Harrison hated being called that.
He was a cowboy, not a sailor.
As if on cue, without needing to be asked, a tall figure with deep amber eyes and wild black hair was standing on the other side of Rusty. Any other man would have been caught off guard by the silence with which the last member of their crew moved around, but Harrison was just used to it by now.
“Dallas?” He didn’t even need to ask a specific question. Dallas just had a way of knowing what you were thinking before you said it.
The tiger shifter just nodded, then joined Beck in grabbing more hay to move into the barn.
Harrison let out a long breath, letting the dry breeze cool him as it filtered through the courtyard of the ranch. Pretty soon, the spring rains would start pouring in, and the work the five of them would need to do would double overnight.
Maybe this year he’d hire a few extra hands.
But extra hands meant he had to keep his eyes open at all times. People, especially humans, were not to be trusted under any circumstances, something he’d learned after a long life of dealing with the short-lived creatures.
Being a cowboy meant being as rugged and tough as the wild land they lived on. And no human had yet impressed him enough to be worth keeping for more than a couple months before they were sent packing.
He scratched the back of his neck. What was this strange feeling? Like the prickling sensation you get before lightning strikes.
It wasn’t until he turned and saw Dallas, gaze pinned southward toward the horizon, that Harrison took a look himself.
And saw smoke.
Well, not smoke. More like a faint haze of gray, less than even a campfire would let out.
And it was coming from the road that led up to the ranch.
“Who the hell failed to bring this to my attention earlier?” Harrison said, loud enough to call the focus of the whole yard, and everyone stopped what they were doing.
“What do you figure it is? A brushfire?” Reno asked, squinting as he sniffed the air. “Hm, no, more like burnt engine oil.”
“Did you know about this?” Harrison was getting annoyed, which was making him angry.
Reno shook his head fiercely.
“Want me to fly out there and find out?” Beck offered, always the first to jump at the opportunity to let his dragon out.
“I can drive down the road. Maybe it’s just a dust devil or something,” Clancy said with a shrug.
“Y’all stay here. I’m going to check it out,” Harrison said decisively.
If there was trouble, he was going to be the one who made the decision on what to do about it, not Beck or Clancy.
Dallas gave him an eager glance, wanting to join, but Harrison just kicked his horse into a trot and made for the iron arch that marked the entrance to the Dragonclaw Ranch.
Whatever was up, he had half a mind to just let his dragon burn first and ask questions later.
But as he made his way down the road, he had a feeling something much bigger was up. Something that would probably be a thorn in his side the size of Texas.
His too-long day was just about to get longer.
Cowboy Dragon (Texas Dragons 1)
Wildest Dreams (Rogue Dream Fae Book 3) Page 14