That’s right, superior. Being a dragon offered benefits, not negatives, so he wasn’t sure why she was so upset about it.
He cranked the driver’s seat into a reclining position and sighed, putting his hands behind his head. Luckily, it was a cool day, and it wouldn’t be so bad to stay out here the rest of the day. He just couldn’t leave his mate. Not with things like this.
I’m sorry, he heard Magnus’s voice say in his mind. Unlike the gemstone dragons, he and his crew could speak to each other’s thoughts across long distances. You two have been spending so much time together; I assumed she knew.
Aegis told me not to, Liam replied. It was one of those rules. I know why now.
Oh, right, I got thrown out before that. Magnus sounded amused. Then contrite. Look, I’m sorry if it messed things up.
It’s fine, Liam said back to him.
How are you hanging in there, brother? That was Titus.
I’m doing okay. Liam lied. And you two? What are you doing? Has Aegis found jobs for you?
He says it’s enough trouble to have one dragon out on a job to watch out for.
As if, Liam retorted. He didn’t even answer my text the other night. If he had, none of this would have happened.
But wouldn’t that be a bad thing? You two were mated, Magnus replied.
We had sex. We did not mate.
Right, how would that work again? Magnus asked.
Ask Aegis.
Fine. Magnus sounded petulant, but Liam didn’t care at the moment.
Things had been hard from the moment that storm had unexpectedly sank their ship, just when all their dreams had been within reach, when everything was supposed to come to fruition.
Liam had thought with this second chance, being awakened, things would be easier. Surely fate had a plan for him. And he’d thought when he found his mate, things would just fall into place, like perfect puzzle pieces brought together.
Instead, everything was totally messed up.
Anyway, are you coming back now? Titus asked.
No, I’m staying here until we work things out.
You can’t be meaning to stay there all night. Magnus scoffed. In a truck.
I have to fix things with my mate. And I don’t want to leave her. She’s mine. I want to stay here and protect her.
From what? Bogeymen? Your scent is all over her land. No shifter would dare trespass, Titus said.
I’m staying, Liam said stubbornly. That is that.
Fine, Titus said. Be stubborn about it. But I think you’re putting too much worry into it. You should just go back there, grab her, bring her to the castle, and show her everything. Then claim her in one of the back rooms or something.
Liam sighed. Titus was going to need a lot of watching when he was let out of the castle. No. Anyway, I’ll see the two of you later.
Okay, Magnus said, sounding resigned. But in the meantime, let us know if there is anything we can do.
He’d done enough already, Liam realized with exasperation. But it wasn’t really his crew’s fault he was in this position. He was a dragon from another world, and she was a human. He should never have been stupid enough to think it would be simple.
He’d thought fate would make things easier, but actually, it made it more difficult because he knew she was his and he had to make it work somehow, no matter what fate threw at him.
He tapped his steering wheel nervously. Okay. Thanks, guys. I’ll see you.
Goodbye.
See you.
And then he was alone with his thoughts and the light breeze coming through the windows he’d rolled partially down. Wind brushing his lips reminded him of the warmth of her lips on his, the way she’d felt in his arms, how happy he’d made her in their time together.
He just needed to let her calm down and wait for the right moment. Listen to his heart and try to decide when she was ready. Or just run back there groveling and pound on her door until she was able to listen.
He’d waited a thousand years for a woman like this. He wasn’t going to let her go over such a small misunderstanding. Once she understood he really was a dragon and they really did exist and he wasn’t crazy, she would hopefully jump in his arms once again.
And let him live with her and build her things and give her dragon pups.
The thought was so nice that he was able to relax as he lay back in the driver's seat, keeping one ear tuned to the sounds outside him. It wouldn’t be too bad to take a short nap so he was as rested as possible when he went back to make his case.
He’d have been nervous about it if he wasn’t such a big, bad dragon. But since he was, he was sure he’d be able to come up with a way to make it better.
Somehow.
Fate had decided it.
It wasn’t until several hours later that Kate’s thinking was interrupted by the sound of her doorbell ringing. By now, it was already dusk, and warm, orange light was spilling through the windows of her living room where she’d been ruminating.
A small part of her hoped it would be Liam at the door. If for no other reason than she could see his face again, ensure he did still exist and it hadn’t been some horrible dream-turned-nightmare that had ended with her sexy handyman admitting straight-faced that he was a dragon.
She wanted some reasonable explanation for the whole thing. Something simple, like Liam had heat exhaustion. Or memory loss.
Not that she wanted Liam to have heat exhaustion or a bout of memory loss. It was just that the sincerity in his eyes when he expressed himself seemed to imply there was way more to what Magnus and he had said than just jokes or even insanity. The kind of surety that only someone who is one hundred percent right about something has. Like nothing else could possibly be true.
Several abrupt knocks sounded on the door, and this time Kate stood to go get it. It was probably just Buck or Connie here to complain about her landscaping or something else. And this time, she would just deal with things the way she always had before she’d met Liam.
But as the door swung open, the person before her was anything but familiar.
Standing in the doorway was a very tall man, probably a couple inches shorter than Liam, but still gigantic by her standards. And along with the height, the very first thing she noticed was long, golden hair so silky and shiny it reflected the dusky sunlight and was almost hard to look at.
Kate almost had to raise a hand to block the sunlight but resisted the impulse.
The man’s face was elegant and refined, with a long, perfect nose and high cheekbones and a straight jaw with almond-shaped eyes. His eyes, upon closer inspection, were similar in color to his hair, a kind of yellow hazel with what seemed to be little flecks of bright gold scattered around the center of his irises.
For a moment, he just stood there, appraising, wearing a cocky grin that gave Kate an uneasy feeling. And though he wore what appeared to be a casual outfit of polo shirt and chinos with boating shoes, Kate was familiar enough with luxury brands that she could tell the outfit probably cost more than a week’s pay for her.
And in his right hand was a large bouquet of flowers. Roses.
What the hell was going on?
“Good evening, neighbor,” the man said, his voice smooth and low.
“Neighbor?” Kate questioned.
“Yes, I just moved in recently, and I wanted to make the acquaintance of my fellow humans in the area,” he said with a polite bow.
Kate sure as hell hadn’t seen any moving vans recently. Or heard of anyone moving out of the small development she lived in.
But she wasn’t exactly a model neighbor either.
“I’m Kate. Nice to meet you,” she said, trying to sound polite but wanting nothing more than to slam the door on the douchebag’s face.
“Yes, I know. My name is Dante, and these are for you,” he said, extending the roses forward.
“Thank you, but I’m allergic to roses,” she said, lying. She didn’t want the guy’s flowers.
Dant
e’s smile fell just the smallest bit, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, before returning to unsubtle smoothness.
“A pity. I thought we could talk for a bit, get to know each other better. Shoot the breeze, as they say,” he said, and his voice was smooth, charming, in a way that probably worked on other girls.
And despite the fact that, compared to Liam, this Dante certainly wasn’t a beast, he was still very tall and incredibly muscled.
“I’m busy. Maybe some other time.” Kate didn’t know what was up, but the longer this guy was on her doorstep, the more she felt skeeved out by him and the way his gold eyes appeared to be looking through her.
Kate started closing the door slowly, hoping he’d get the hint, when she felt the door stopped by Dante’s hand. She tried harder to close it, but it was immovable.
“But I insist. We’ve only just gotten started. There’s so much more to discuss,” he said, voice darkening, becoming more menacing.
Suddenly, Kate regretted very much opening the door.
Before she could try anything, Dante’s hand, along with the rest of him, disappeared from the crack in the door.
“She said no, bastard,” Liam’s voice said from the other side of the door, followed by what sounded like a punch.
Surprised at the turn of events, Kate opened the door to look outside and saw Dante getting up off the ground, the roses scattered and disorganized, with Liam standing in front of her door like a guard dog protecting its turf.
Kate’s heart leapt at seeing Liam again. And despite whatever reservations she’d had, they were gone for the time being.
Aside from a small bruise on his cheek, Dante just stood and brushed himself off meticulously. He looked more or less unfazed by the whole thing, despite what sounded like a fairly strong hit. He was an odd contrast to Liam, whose dirty work clothes were as far as possible from the sharp, carefully styled designer clothing of the newcomer.
“Liam, I didn’t expect to see you here at this time of night,” Dante said coolly, cocking his head as he appraised the furious hulk on her porch.
“I can’t say I expected to see you here either. Or ever again for that matter,” Liam replied, the anger in his voice much more apparent.
“Well, you’re to blame for that. But I have to say this is certainly no improvement over the way you and your ragtag barbarian friends used to operate. I mean, digging ditches? Are you really that desperate?”
Liam took a step forward, so hard the deck rattled under his boot, but stopped at the top of the stairs.
Dante’s grin just widened a little.
“If you and the others have come on hard times, I’m sure I can lend you some of my treasure. But good luck finding a mate while you’re dressed like a common peasant.” At that, Dante chuckled at his own joke.
“Get the hell out of here, Dante. Go back to where you came from,” Liam growled.
Ignoring Liam’s threats, Dante addressed Kate. “Don’t let his good looks fool you. He’s nothing more than a barbarian and a common thief. If I were you, I’d find myself a real dragon with real wealth, not a pauper like him.”
Kate wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she could feel herself getting angry on Liam’s behalf. Dragon or crazy person, whatever Liam was, she at least cared about him.
“I like him better than you. I know that.”
Dante’s smile fell and his eyes narrowed. “It figures that Liam would find a mate with taste equally poor to his own.”
“You bastard,” Liam spat. Then, before Kate could even process what was happening, he practically leapt from the deck, a huge, gleaming metal sword suddenly in his hands as he slashed down at Dante.
Dante dodged backward with reflexes unlike any she’d ever seen, narrowly avoiding the huge steel blade.
“Now you’ve gone too far, gold dragon,” Liam said. She could see his deep teal eyes gleaming in the last remnants of sunlight as the sky began to darken. Both hands gripped the long, masterfully crafted sword that looked like it belonged in some medieval museum.
And where the hell had it come from?
Dante just tsked several times. “Brutish as always. It seems your kind only knows how to settle things with violence. Very well.” In a flash of light, a golden rapier appeared in his right hand, the handle inlaid with diamonds and jewels, the blade long and thin and razor sharp.
Dante cut the sword through the air in front of Liam, the blade making a whistling sound. But Liam didn’t appear even slightly affected by it.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Liam said.
“Ha, you couldn’t even finish what you started so many years ago. What makes you think you could ever end me?” Dante chided.
With a shout, Liam charged, and the loud sound of metal on metal resonated through the neighborhood as Dante parried and dodged, looking a lot less cock-sure than he had a second ago.
And Kate just watched the melee incredulously, heart racing as both men ducked and attacked and clashed.
What was happening? Was she in some kind of movie? Was a camera crew going to come out of the bushes?
She waited, but no such luck.
The street lamps hadn’t turned on yet, and thankfully, the neighborhood was pretty quiet at this time of day, with everyone inside having dinner.
But yeah, Kate didn’t know what she’d say if someone told her they’d seen two huge men with swords fighting out in front of her house.
Liam swung in a long arc, his blade moving faster than her eyes could even see, and Dante leapt backward.
And then Kate saw the gash in Dante’s shirt, a long slice from shoulder to side. And even though she didn’t see any blood, it was pretty clear Liam had rattled the intruder’s confidence.
“Damn. And I just bought this,” Dante muttered, apparently more annoyed at the gash in his wardrobe than anything else. “I’m not finished with you. I’m going to make you pay for what you did to us back then,” he said darkly.
When Liam came at Dante again, though, Dante lifted off the ground, long golden wings extending from his back as he took off into the sky and disappeared into the nearly moonless night.
The wings were almost like… a dragon’s.
And as suddenly as the man had appeared, he was gone.
Kate let out a long breath as Liam watched the man disappear into the horizon. Then, as instantly as his sword had materialized in the first place, it was gone again in a flash of shimmering light.
Dragons. Mates. Rivalries. And sword fights you’d expect to see at a renaissance fair, not on your front lawn.
What the hell was going on?
11
Kate locked eyes with Liam, who was still standing there on her porch, looking up at her nervously.
He ran a hand through his hair, and for a moment, she realized he was still just the same to her. That nice, somewhat shy guy who’d been working in her yard, shared dinners with her, tamed her dog, and then shown up to rescue her in the nick of time from the weirdest yet most threatening person she’d ever met.
Well, until Liam had gotten all up in the other guy’s face. That had been a new level of threatening. And she’d thought his confrontation with the neighbor had been bad.
“I thought you’d left,” she said, cocking her head. She still didn’t know what to say to him. And the fact that the man who’d just fled had flown out of there kind of lent credence to the whole “dragon” thing.
So if he wasn’t crazy, she was wrong to send him away. But how was she supposed to know that such creatures existed?
“I couldn’t leave,” he said. “Not when you were upset. You’re my mate.”
She shook her head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
He tilted his head. “But you saw Gold fly away. He was definitely a dragon. Do you still not believe me?”
She opened the door for him in answer. “Come on in and we’ll talk about it. You have to be exhausted after sitting in that car all day. Your back is
probably sore.”
“No. It’s strong because I’m a dragon,” he said.
“Well, I’ll tell you what,” she said with a weary smile. “You can sit down and get comfortable while I get dinner, and you can tell me more about this dragon thing while we eat.”
He nodded, looking happy just to be let in again.
Tank trotted over to him, and Liam rubbed his head. “Good boy. I missed you, too.”
“It was just one day,” she said, rolling her eyes as she pulled out some leftovers to heat up. She was sure he wouldn’t mind after a day like today.
“One day away from you is too much,” he said. “When we’re mated, I won’t ever want to be away from you.”
“What about work?” she asked. “You’ll be away from me then.”
“You won’t have to work. You can stay home with me if you want. Or travel. Or move to the castle. Whatever you like.”
“How?”
“I have quite the treasure hoard,” he said. “And the gemstone dragons are happy to let me access any of theirs. We dragons help each other.”
“Sounds good,” she said.
“It wasn’t always that way, but because things are tough in the shifter world, many of us are trying to work together.”
“Okay,” she said, bringing over the reheated lasagna she’d made and setting it on the table. “So tell me everything I need to know about dragons.”
“Right,” he said. “What first?”
“That mating thing,” she said. “I really need to know more about that.”
“Well, most shifters have that in common. When they find the person who is meant for them, shifter or human, they bond with them for life. Forever. It’s a lock so intense it can’t be broken, and we tend to believe it is set by fate.”
“And you think I’m your mate?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Does that mean you don’t think I have a choice in it?” she asked, feeling nervous.
“No,” he said. “It means I need to work hard so I’m the choice you want to make. Because my happiness depends on it.”
“How does that work, though? You’re a dragon.”
Steel (Rent-A-Dragon Book 1) Page 7