by M. L. Briers
“Geez, would someone toss a leash on him – maybe a muzzle…?” Connor rolled his head on his neck at the sound of another hard growl…
“What they can’t see or feel they can’t know about…” Zana offered back.
“What about him?” Landon motioned towards Roloko…
“While he’s alive, while I’m alive then my dragon will stay active inside of me…” Roloko looked to the vampire.
Connor could see that the man’s mind was already working. On what, he couldn’t be sure.
~
~
~
Roloko thought hard and fast. He was tempted by the witch’s idea, but only because the true alpha had a mate…
If I die it could be in vain…
What if the witches couldn’t hide the beast?
What if the ancestors could see through whatever kind of magical cloak they design?
How would they know?
I could allow myself a noble death only for the spell not to work … they would just waken another…
I don’t owe anything to these people…
And yet … he has a mate…
What would I give to be able to have that?
What would I give to live free with my dragon?
I’d need proof that it could work before I gave up my life…
“What about hiding the dragon as well?” Connor asked Vicky.
He’d looked into the man’s mind and listened to his thoughts. The shifter had half a life, a mere existence, and no chance at a mate…
“Same … principle…” Vicky shrugged…
“He’s a dragon…” Landon said again… “Does anyone else find that a little … oh, I don’t know … worrying?”
“I don’t need to live…” Roloko announced, more sure than he’d ever been that this could be a noble death that all dragons sought. “But, I do need to know this would work before I die.”
“Ok, now … what?” George growled.
“See …” Connor announced, tossing a hand up towards Roloko. “Good dragon…”
“There are good dragons?” Justice frowned.
“There are good vampires?” Connor tossed back.
“Not really, no…” Justice grinned.
“Butthead,” Connor grumbled.
“I have a plan…” Vicky announced and Connor groaned… “Excuse me?”
“Love you…” Connor offered back and she snorted.
“You’ll be paying for that remark later as well…” she muttered.
“Can’t wait, but in the meantime, sweetness of mine…” Connor nodded towards Roloko…
“Do you have a name?” Zana asked.
“Roloko…” he offered back with a small curt nod of his head, and George growled.
“Rolo!” Connor exclaimed. “I like it.”
“So what’s the plan?” Landon looked to Vicky and the witch had a crooked, mischievous look on her face.
“We kill George and the dragon…” she offered back.
“I’ve heard that story before, but I don’t think it ended that way…” Connor offered back.
“Well, it does now.”
“I think I’m getting a headache…” Landon grumbled.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“Ok, I get that part, but why does the dragon have to die?” Connor asked, trying his best to keep up with Vicky’s plan as she rushed through it.
“He doesn’t … just slumber…” She tossed back.
She’d explained it before, twice, but Connor just seemed not to be getting that part.
“But, I thought you said that he could keep his dragon…?”
“He can…”
“Asleep?”
“Awake.”
“I’m confused…” Connor groaned.
“It’s your age,” Vicky tossed back at him with laughter in her eyes.
“Once more – talk to me as if I were five years old…” Connor said.
“I have been, the next best thing would be baby talk…” Vicky shot back.
“I get it…” Roloko said with a firm nod of his head. “To test the magic I need to be standing on the outside of the protection spell – if my dragon starts to slumber…”
“We know it’s working…” Vicky said.
“And you high tail it back over the line and into the protective doom…” Zana added.
“And we eat barbecue from then on in…” Landon grumbled.
“I can control my beast…” Roloko growled.
“Well, good for you…” Landon shot back.
He didn’t like it. He liked the protecting George part, but it was having the dragon around that worried him.
George was a true alpha, and they weren’t entirely sure how that was going to turn out, but a dragon shifter…?
“He’s not living in my clan…” Landon growled back.
“Dragon’s live alone…” Roloko growled back.
“When can we try this?” Connor ignored the alphas butting heads and turned his attention back towards his mate.
“As soon as we’ve built the spell and reinforced it not to fail…” Vicky offered back.
“And nobody is going to be walking into unseen magical brick walls, right?” Justice asked.
“No,” Vicky frowned. “That would be impractical.”
“Heaven forbid a witch did something … impractical,” Dexter chuckled.
“So do it,” Connor shrugged.
“Already working on it,” Vicky pointed a finger back over her shoulder to the castle.
“Hmm,” Connor gave her a curious look.
“It’s called initiative,” Vicky tossed back at her mate.
“It’s called sneaky…” Connor grinned.
“Some might say…” Vicky challenged him with her eyes.
“The question is…” Connor turned to look at Roloko. “Does Rolo want to live on the mountain?”
“I …” Roloko frowned hard at the thought.
He’s dragon had been caged inside of him for so long that it was a tempting offer…
“Maybe find a mate – fly his … giant lizard…” Connor tempted…
“Lizard?” Landon snorted. “Crispy wolves?”
“I can control my dragon…” Roloko growled again.
“So you say, but the proof is in the pudding…” Landon grumbled back.
“Let’s hope it’s not burnt offerings…” Connor chuckled, but none of the alphas joined him, and so he snapped it off.
“For a while…” Roloko shrugged.
“But, you won’t be able to leave again…” Vicky informed him.
“He’s …” he motioned towards George. “What? Mid twenties? That gives him at most sixty, seventy years left…”
“I see your point…” Connor nodded.
“Immortals…” Landon grumbled, and Roloko shot him a look.
“You have what? Forty years?” the dragon shifter asked and Landon growled.
“Well, don’t I feel blessed…” Landon growled back.
“Just saying…” Roloko shrugged.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence that I’ll get that far,” Landon tossed back with a grunt.
“So, it’s a go then.” Connor clapped his hands together. “Go, go, little worker bees…” he shooed at the witches.
“Don’t push your luck, vampire,” Vicky hissed.
~
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~
“Kind of feels like an anti-climax … right?” Dexter said as he strolled over to where George was standing.
The man was ramrod straight with his large arms folded across his chest, and his eyes locked and loaded on the dragon shifter – mirroring his stance, and watching his every move…
“Something’s definitely missing,” George growled back.
“That would be wooing your mate, your butthead…” Dexter chuckled and watched as George snapped his attention over to his mate.
She hadn’t moved a muscle either in the t
ime that he’d been standing guard over the dragon shifter. She stood statue still with her sword in her hand – waiting, as he was, for the other shoe to drop.
“I don’t think she’s in the mood to be wooed,” George muttered back.
“No witch is in the mood to be wooed…” Landon grumbled from behind them. He’d taken up position on a rock, and he wasn’t going anywhere until they knew what was going down.
“I can hear you…” Zana turned her nose up at the shifters.
“Now she’s definitely not in the mood to be wooed…” George grumbled.
“So, woo her anyway…” Landon muttered. “Before I get too old and shrivelled to care … I mean – I’ve only got forty or so years left in me, apparently.”
Landon shot a look at Roloko and the left side of the dragon shifter’s lip lifted in a crocked grin, but he didn’t make eye contact with the bear.
“Sour grapes old man,” Roloko said.
“Let’s talk old – immortal...” Landon shot back.
“Let’s talk wooing instead…” Dexter chuckled as George shot him another sideways scowl.
“Leave the pup alone…” Landon teased. “Maybe he’s not ready.”
George’s low, deep growl started within his chest and rumbled into his throat. He snuck a look at his mate, and she did a double take when she noticed – which caused George to look again – that time; he stared – and she stared right back…
“Don’t even think about it…” she bit out.
But, George was already stalking towards her…
CHAPTER NINTEEN
~
“I need …” George knew what he needed, he just wasn’t sure how the hell he was supposed to say it. “A word.”
“Off,” Zana bit back, and she saw the confusion sweep over her mates face.
“What?”
“You said a word, so off. If you’d said two the other would have been a four letter word rhymes with duck…” she offered back to sniggers from the other alphas. Even Roloko cracked a grin…
“We need to…”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Zana offered back. “I will zap you up and down the damn mountain just for the poops and giggles of it all.” She warned, and from the look in her eyes – George thought that she meant it.
“I wasn’t going to say…”
“Good.” Zana snapped back, heading him off before he spit those damn words out. Words that excited her, and filled her with doom as well.
While doing what she did didn’t give her much time to sample life. It was still a whirlwind of activity that she wasn’t certain she wanted to give up just that moment in time.
George was her mate – and none if what had happened so far with the dragon should have stood for a whole hill of beans if she walked away from the man…
A true alpha or not – she feared that his fate would still be sealed the way any shifters would if they lost their mate.
To save George and Roloko only to have the alpha turn rogue would have been a tragedy that she couldn’t be a part of … but, jumping into bonding with the man before she had truly settled the matter within her mind wasn’t an option either.
“We just need…” George started again.
There was a wave of frustration within him that kept pulling back only to hit the shore once more. She wasn’t helping…
“Need – there’s a word. I need to watch the dragon…” Zana said.
“She’s deflecting…” Connor called from the other side of the group. He’d taken up a position between the dragon shifter and the castle.
“No, I’m not…” Zana bit out, twisting up her face and scowling across at the vampire.
“Sure you are, and you’re not very good at it,” Connor tossed back. “Trust me, I’ve made deflecting into an art form, I’d know.”
“I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you…” Zana bit back.
“Touchy, and still … deflecting…” Connor shot back.
“You people are insane…” Zana bit out.
“I hear that…” Roloko shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Thank you…” Zana motioned towards the man.
“Still deflecting…” Connor offered.
“Deflect this…” Zana said, and a heartbeat later she’d tossed one of her daggers through the air in the vampire’s direction.
Roloko’s hand shot out and he snatched it up…
“How about I catch it instead?” The shifter grinned.
Zana snorted her contempt for him. George stifled a chuckle, and Connor sighed…
“Still deflecting …” he said. “But doing it in style.”
“I’d give her ten out of ten for effort,” Landon shrugged.
“Nine and a half,” Justice dropped in.
“She’s feisty, I’ll give her that…” Dexter grumbled.
He wasn’t entirely sure how things stood between him and George. The man was a true alpha – he needed his own pack, and Dexter knew that his beast wasn’t about to step aside and let that happen…
“Anyone else hungry?” Landon grumbled.
“Maybe if you go hunt and kill something in the woods, Rolo could cook it for you…” Connor offered, and the dragon shifter turned a glare onto him. “Too soon?”
The man just grunted back. It was deep and filled with malice for the vampire.
“And we’re going to all live happily ever after…” Connor chuckled to himself. “As soon as the dragon grows a sense of humour.”
“Nobody has your sense of humour, Connor,” Dexter offered.
“Vicky…” Justice said.
“I kind of find him funny – on occasion…” Landon shrugged.
“He has his moments…” Justice said.
“Few of them,” Brody offered.
“Very few,” Liam grumbled.
“Ok, let’s stop talking about me as if I’m not here, and get back to George’s wooing problem, and Zana’s inability to deflect properly.” Connor said.
“Now who’s deflecting…?” Zana bit out.
“Not…” Connor grunted in annoyance. “How about a moments silence then?”
“You all started this…” Zana shot back.
“And I’m putting a stop to it…” George growled as he dipped at the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder…
“Hey!” She bit out.
“Just talk…” George growled as he stalked towards the corner of the castle with the sound of sniggering coming from behind him and ringing in his ears…
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
“I swear … if this is your idea of wooing…” Zana bit out.
She relaxed against his back, because it would have been futile to expend the energy to do anything else. She liked to save her strength for the fights that she knew she could win.
“This is talking…” George growled back over his shoulder.
He knew he wasn’t going to get much talking done with the alphas all yapping and flapping their jaws in his business. He wanted some privacy. Some alone time with his mate.
It wasn’t as if he could scoop her up and swoop off with her. Not as things stood with the witches and the dragon.
Nothing was settled yet.
Just as his mating to Zana wasn’t a done deal.
He knew that. He wasn’t an idiot. The witch still needed to be wooed, and wooed well.
Mine…
As well as his beast would allow him before it pushed forward and took over the pursuit of their mate. He didn’t much like that idea.
His wolf had changed – was still evolving – and she might have felt like a stabilising influence within him, but he couldn’t be sure how long that would last either.
“Funny way to chat, with me looking at your backside.” She bit out. “Still, you are male, so I guess I’m looking at the right orifice…”
A heartbeat later and she was being lowered down the hard ridges of his body to her feet. The blood rushed back down from her head and
warmed her right through, as her body responded to his presence…
“I want you…” George blurted out, and then he let his eyes close for a long moment and grunted in annoyance.
He’d said the first damn thing that had farted out of his brain. It hadn’t been intended and he knew the moment that he’d said it just how wrong it was.
Still, he couldn’t take it back…
The sound of her chuckling made him snap open his eyes, and there she was – laughter ringing from her lips and pure amusement glowing in her ice blue eyes…
“Nice ice breaker…” Zana pressed her lips together to try to stop the chuckling, but the corners still bowed upwards in a grin…
“I mean…” George floundered.
Between his beast repeating its claim on loop within his head, and his brain farting – he didn’t stand a chance.
She was right. He was male – and not the caring – chatty type of modern man that women craved.
He was an alpha. He’d known that from the start, and that somewhat limited him to just how much of a feminine side he could actually connect with, but now that his dominant side was all fangs and claws …
Zana reached up with one hand and slapped her palm against the thick muscle of his shoulder … she had the urge to test that muscle…
“Relax, Alpha. I get it…” she said, letting him off the hook.
George wasn’t sure that he wanted to be let off the hook. She was his mate and he needed to be able to express himself with more than just grunts – at least, he thought he did.
“It’s George…”
“I know.”
“And you’re Zana…”
“I know that too…”
“Don’t call me alpha…” he said.
George didn’t like it. It felt wrong, and it felt impersonal between them – like she was trying to keep him at arm’s length, even when she was pressed up against his naked body like that, making him hard in all the right places, and causing him to ache for her like he’d never ached before…
Damn dragon … if it wasn’t for Roloko then he might have been in the right place and time to woo her.
But then, if it hadn’t of been for Roloko – he might never have met his mate.