“Stop grandstanding,” Baylee said. “We should take this chance to leave and tend to the house. Which is currently on fire!”
Leaving now meant leaving much unfinished. Gale looked between Quincy and Alice. Both would have it out for them. They would breathe down Logan’s neck, waiting like vipers for a chance to strike.
But Baylee was right. The smoke in the distance hadn’t ceased yet. That could only mean that Logan had ignored Gale’s command to call emergency services.
Baylee turned her back on both Quincy and Alice. She shifted, seamlessly, and flexed her wings. They didn’t move as gracefully as they could have, revealing just how tired his mate was. She took to the air and wavered.
Just as she was about to fall, Gale flew after her. He waited for someone to pounce. Quincy could have made his move. Alice could have taught him a painful lesson. Yet, no one stopped him from catching Baylee. Her form shrank until she was small and fragile in his claws.
Behind him, Logan roared. The sound of wings beating against the air followed not long after. Several sets of wings, in fact. Gale glanced back to see his new clan in pursuit. Logan tossed his head before passing Gale and taking the lead. Cash and Reece split to guard their rear flanks.
The day had ended with minimal bloodshed.
Gale hoped that every day to come would be as forgiving.
17
The air smelled of smoke, sweet and mouthwatering this time.
Baylee shouldered her way through the door with two glistening bottles of beer in hand. Cash strummed his guitar nearby. He couldn’t drown out the sound of Gale and Logan bickering, though.
She approached the ladder set against the side of the house and looked up at her mate’s very plump rear. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve him. She loved him, even when he snapped and snarled at Logan.
“Would either of you like a refreshing drink?” she called up to them.
Logan rose from his crouch on the roof. He’d filled out in the last few days, bouncing back far quicker than anyone could have expected. Yet, he still hadn’t quite figured out many of the new technological advances of the new millennia. Which is why he and Gale were working on the house.
“Logan doesn’t get a beer,” Gale said, clearly heated.
He descended the ladder, took one of the offered bottles, and popped the cap with his bare hand. Despite the cool air, he’d left his shirt on the back porch. Baylee watched the muscles of his chest move as he drank down the entire bottle in one go.
She raised a brow. He reached for the second beer.
“I need this if I’m going to keep working with him.”
“Just remember that you’re the one who promised fealty to him. You did this to yourself.” She winked before turning away.
Gale caught her and pulled her back into his embrace. Laughter bubbled out of her, bright and so light. He kissed her neck and her jaw and finally her ear.
“Whatever you’re cooking smells delicious,” he whispered in her ear.
A shiver of anticipation raced up her spine and made her sigh happily.
Turns out, she didn’t hate cooking. In fact, when she had someone she wanted to please, cooking became easy. It had been the pressure to be a perfect wife that had stopped her from wanting anything to do with cooking.
With Gale, she was already the perfect wife. Nothing she did would ever change that.
She burrowed into his chest while she twisted the ring on her left hand. He’d given it to her after the fight at the Montoya manor. They’d wasted no time in rushing to the nearest courthouse to make it official. No one could tell them that they couldn’t be together anymore.
“I have to go check on the food,” she said, even though she didn’t want to leave the warm comfort of her mate’s arms.
She would have remained there forever if the world didn’t beg her to step out and finish what she’d started. No, that wasn’t the food on the grill. Even though she and Gale had made the first move, their families hadn’t yet set aside their differences.
In fact, Callum had put Ember and Teagan on lockdown. He’d forced them to download tracker apps on their phones, even though they were both adults. Baylee figured that they’d found a way to disable the apps while appeasing Callum, but her uncle’s reaction still bothered her.
He hadn’t said a word to her since the day he’d pinned Gale to the ground. She and Gale were standing right where it had happened, too.
“Let him get back to work,” Logan shouted down to them. “He needs to fix his mistake.”
Gale wrenched away from her. “My mistake? The house burned because you couldn’t figure out how to call 911!”
Logan put his hands on his hips. “And whose fault is that?”
“You called Cash and Reece before calling 911! That’s your own doing!”
Logan ignored the ladder and jumped to the ground below. He pressed a finger to Gale’s chest and stared him down. “You needed the help. Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
Baylee sucked in a nervous breath between her teeth and dramatically spun around to give them space. Logan had been on edge for a while now. Though he’d been kind and reasonable when he’d first exited the mines, it seemed that whatever had awoken him was now grating on his mind.
Baylee knew that Elliana had died. She’d been given a dragon’s funeral. Her ashes had sat on her grandparents’ mantle for ages. But, if Elliana hadn’t brought Logan back from his slumber, then what had?
“Your burgers are burning,” Cash said.
Baylee swore and rushed to the grill. “If they were burning, then why didn’t you do anything about it?”
Cash shrugged. “I did do something about it. I told you.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she grumbled.
It didn’t matter whatever the flavor, dragon men were obnoxiously annoying. She could imagine her brother saying something just as dumb. The thought of her brother made her miss him.
She’d called and invited him to the cookout since she hadn’t seen him in days. She’d even made extra food with the hopes that he’d actually take her up on her offer. Fear that Jensen hadn’t yet gotten over his distaste for the Montoyas churned in her gut.
To be fair, this new clan had caused quite a stir the other day. Logan’s appearance had spread throughout the Montoya family. It had them arguing amongst themselves. Reece visited once, if only to inform the clan that his mother was on a warpath.
Baylee had only ever met one woman with as much ferocity as Alice Montoya. As badly as Baylee wanted to repair the relationship between the two families, she did not want to see her mother and Alice Montoya in the same room.
Gale and Logan must have set aside their fight for the time being, because her mate found her once again. He pulled her hair away from her neck while she flipped the charred burgers.
He groaned. “That’s a smell I could get used to. Meat and mate.”
She playfully smacked him. “You’re such a male! I’m going to draw on your face with permanent marker while you’re sleeping if you ever say anything like that to me again!”
The sound of a car door closing made her pause.
“Don’t forget the sheet pan of macaroni and cheese in the back. Your sister said she’s cooking, so I made sure to bring something else to eat just in case.” Her mother’s voice was unmistakable.
Baylee bit her tongue as Marjorie and Jensen stepped around the side of the house. Jensen stopped and looked the fire damage up and down. He asked Logan if he needed help, which Logan accepted. Baylee knew that would last about as long as Gale’s help had, but it seemed Logan wanted to extend an olive branch to Baylee’s family.
The two worked in miraculous silence while Baylee’s mother set up the food she’d brought. Marjorie had brought more than just macaroni and cheese. There were two loaves of pumpkin bread and a sheet pan of sausages as well.
Marjorie didn’t wait for Gale to step away before pulling them both into a fierce hug. She leaned ba
ck and touched her daughter’s cheek.
“I heard that you drove the Old Lizard up a wall,” Marjorie said. “That’s what he gets for taking my girl.”
Cash laughed. “She’s driving everyone up a wall.”
Gale put his boot on Cash’s guitar strings to stop his aimless strumming. “You’re the only one here who’s annoyed.”
Cash pulled back and turned his guitar over. “She painted on my favorite one!”
There was, in fact, a smoky gray dragon running up the back of the neck. Baylee turned her back to him, as if she hadn’t heard him complain.
Right now, her job was to keep spirits up and keep her clan mates from fighting. She did that by feeding them and distracting them from what they’d done by leaving their families. For Cash, that meant irritating him because she could not figure out what would make him happy.
Perhaps that would become Ember’s job, someday.
Another car door shut. Everyone at the cookout fell silent. They watched Alice Montoya appear, looking out of place in her perfect attire. She glanced at everyone before seeing Baylee and her mother. Marjorie tensed, a growl rising out of her. Baylee fought the urge to smother her mother and drag her inside, away from Alice.
That was a fight she wasn’t ready to see.
“I see that my presence is not wanted here,” Alice said, stiffly.
Logan sat on the edge of the roof. “That’s not tru—"
Alice raised a hand to cut him off. “Yes. It is. I’m not going to play nice with you, so I don’t blame you for being hostile. I came to warn you against recruiting my children. If any of you talk nonsense into Reece or my girls, I will prematurely end your little uprising.”
Baylee shoved the grill spatula into her mother’s hands and stepped forward. Gale followed, hot on her heels. She reached back for his hand, because she would need all the support she could get in order to face this woman.
“The harder you hold onto them, the further they will go to escape you. I speak from experience. Don’t suffocate your children.”
Alice Montoya narrowed her eyes at Baylee. Everyone present collectively held their breaths. Alice was outnumbered, though. If she struck Baylee, everyone save for Cash would come to Baylee’s aid.
“Go home, Alice.” Cash strummed an ominous note. “We might be a prickly family, but we love one another far more than you’ve loved anyone in your entire life.”
Alice stiffened, but her glare at Cash sharpened. That kind of look held a promise of retribution. When Alice turned and stalked away without delivering on that promise, Cash paled.
The sound of the car’s ignition was soon followed by the squeal of tires. Trouble never ended around here.
Dew had settled on the grass and gathered on Baylee’s skin. Gale, sprawled out beside her, traced the beads of liquid to create constellations on her limbs. She shivered each time he touched her. He chuckled and found another part of her to tease languorously.
She’d spent her life dreading her future. Now, she could breathe easy. Without the weight of dread upon her shoulders, she felt feather-light.
Gale’s fingertips trailed lower along her stomach until they found the waistband of her leggings. She laughed and grabbed his wrist.
“This isn’t the middle of nowhere. We’re on your lawn while your two roommates are in the house.” Despite her words, her skin warmed.
Her dragon writhed, needy and aching for Gale’s touch. Who would have thought any man could make her feel like this? So wanted and needed and loved? Gale grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a long and passionate kiss that left her breathless.
And needing.
She needed him more than she needed air. Sitting up, she glanced around for somewhere they could disappear. They could go up to Gale’s bedroom, but everyone inside would know what they were doing. Not that she didn’t mind bugging Cash.
It had become her second favorite pastime. Cash had a bug up his ass that needed to be removed. Most of the time, she couldn’t tell if he hated her or if he was simply indifferent. When he’d come to her defense earlier that day, she’d been stunned. It had been like seeing a doppelganger where there should have been a grumpy dragon man.
Gale kissed her collarbone and scrambled her thoughts. “Want to fly with me? We can head up to the mines again.”
She shuddered, remembering what they’d done last time they went there.
This was only the start. Baylee planned to break down the barriers between their two families, one by one—starting with Cash. Even if he hated her, he deserved to be happy.
Oh, perhaps Cash liked her more than she thought. That would make setting him up with Ember much easier.
At least, that was what she hoped.
What’s Next In the Great Plains Dragon Feud Series?
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Conquered Destiny (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 1) Page 14