Ranger Knox (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 1)

by Meg Ripley

  She watched Aurora give Arach a knowing glance.

  "I don't know," she said softly so that only Vivian could hear, "He's definitely the best wedding gift that I got."

  Vivian let out a laugh, but the sound cut short in her throat as the doorway darkened and a large dark green dragon stepped into the room. The smell of sage was nearly overpowering as he stepped up closer to Arach and made a slow, scrutinizing evaluation of everyone at the table.

  "They smell like herbs," Vivian muttered.

  Aurora gave her a strange look out of the corner of her eye.

  "What?"

  "The dragons," Vivian whispered, unable to take her eyes off the reflection of the torch flames glistening on the dragon's back, "They smell like burned herbs."

  "I haven't noticed."

  Before she could say anything else, she heard Arach talking to the dragon.

  "Cade, please," he said in an authoritative but familiar tone.

  The dragon made a snorting sound in his snout, but a second later a man stood where the dragon had been. Vivian was stunned at how quickly the shift happened. She would have expected something brutal and drawn out like the excruciating shifts in werewolf movies, but the dragons seemed to change form in less than the span of a breath, changing forms so seamlessly it was as if they were only reflections that changed depending on the angle.

  "Vivian, this is Cadman. We call him Cade. He'll take care of you until the wedding."

  Cade seemed less than thrilled with the arrangement as he visibly bristled and shot an angry glare at Arach.

  "Arach, I'm a soldier, not a babysitter."

  "You're a soldier when there's a war to fight. Right now, you're a guard, and so you're going to guard Vivian."

  "I really don't think it's necessary," Vivian started, but the cold look in Arach's eyes when he turned to her stopped her.

  "Marrying me is the first step in keeping Aurora safe, and if that means that she needs you to take care of some details for her, you best believe I'm going to make sure that you stay safe at least until that's done. Cade is going to watch out for you until the wedding. Aurora is my life and I will do anything to protect her. Even if that means dealing with a guard who thinks extremely highly of himself."

  Arach looked at Cade, who shifted slightly as if the admonishment of the next leader of the clan was finally making him uncomfortable. Aurora stood and walked over to Arach, dipping her head to kiss him as she took his hands in hers and led him to his feet.

  "I love you," Vivian heard her whisper against his lips as she lifted slightly away from the kiss.

  "I love you," Arach whispered back, then looked up at the men still at the table, "We're done for now. I've already sent word to my father and he should be back tonight. Until then, return to your posts."

  Aurora started walking backwards toward a small doorway that led off the room opposite the door where Cade had entered, guiding Arach along with her with a mischievous look in her eyes that reminded Vivian of when they were children and Aurora snuck into the kitchen to grab one of the warm brownies the housekeeper had just pulled out of the oven.

  "Bye, Aurora," Vivian said sarcastically as they disappeared through the doorway.

  As soon as Arach and Aurora were gone, the rest of the men dissipated until only Vivian and Cade were left in the room. They stood staring at each other from opposite sides of the table, the quiet building awkwardly between them. Despite his unpleasantness and the obvious disdain he felt for his new role as her protector, there was something about Cade that made Vivian's heart beat a little faster when his eyes met hers.

  "I'll go pack. Meet me here in twenty minutes," Cade said, turning to the door to leave before she could even respond.

  "Pack?" Vivian asked, running around the corner of the table in an attempt to stop him.

  "Do you know of any all-night bridal shops that you can visit to cross all the items off your wedding responsibility list?" he asked.

  "No."

  "Then I'm assuming you will want to get some sleep before taking care of everything tomorrow. If Arach wants me to stay with you, that means that whole time, so I'm going to go pack while you sit here and figure out the sleeping arrangements.

  Vivian sat down hard in the chair beside her as Cade stepped out of the room, shifting instantly back into the dark green dragon as he made his way down the corridor. She stayed in the same position until Cade came back in the room. He had a leather satchel around his neck and he stared at Vivian expectantly from the doorway. When she didn't move, he made a sharp gesture with his head and stepped backwards out of the room, the massive size of his shoulders and folded wings making it impossible for him to turn around to leave.

  Vivian stood and followed him, feeling more of a pull toward him the longer they were near each other. When they made it outside, Cade led her to a large open area to the back of the house and lowered his neck to the ground. Vivian tilted her head questioningly at him, unsure of the meaning behind the gesture. He waited for a few seconds, and then lifted his head to approach her. She shivered slightly as he came up beside her, close enough that his smooth, warm skin brushed against her leg, and then she felt him tuck his head behind the backs of her thighs. In one swift motion, he flung her into the air and onto his back.

  She grabbed at his shoulders, gasping as her body landed between his wings. Cade lifted his neck to nudge her so her thighs parted and she slid backwards a few inches to a spot where she felt more stable. Without any more hesitation, the dragon beneath her lifted, his leathery wings stretched to either side of his body, and they soared up into a sky just beginning to pale with the first streaks of early morning sunlight.

  The air around her felt cooler and Vivian closed her eyes to let it stream across her face. It smelled fresh and dewy, the smokiness of the close stone room gone. After a few moments, the smooth movement of Cade's body through the air lulled her and the adrenaline of the night's revelations seeped out of her. Vivian bent forward to rest her head on his strong back and breathed in the scent of sage as sleep gently took over.

  ******************************

  The feeling of Cade landing on the ground jostled Vivian awake and she sat up, nearly losing her balance and sliding from his back as she briefly forgot where she was. A pastel sunrise was coming over the horizon, pouring light over the dew-tipped grass around them. Vivian swept one leg over his back to join the other and jumped down with as much grace as she could muster, staring around them at the still, empty country club lawn.

  "Why are we here?" she asked.

  She turned back to him and was startled to see Cade had shifted. He stood close enough that she could see the streaks of color across the honeyed background of his eyes and her breath caught slightly in her throat.

  "You were sleeping and couldn't tell me anywhere else to go. This is the only place I know outside of Killington."

  "You never leave?" she asked, her voice softer than she had expected it to be.

  Cade shook his head slowly.

  "I was born there. Most of us stay there our entire lives. We aren't exactly…trusting of humans."

  "Why? You seem to be the ones that would be more dangerous."

  A slight, sarcastic smile curved his full lips.

  "We might have claws and fire, but at least we dragons don't offer up our young as peace offerings."

  Vivian gave him a quizzical look.

  "Isn't that exactly why Arach and Aurora are together? She told me that their fathers promised them to each other before she was even born."

  "She was born to be his. You saw them. Did they look like they were oppressed and forced to be together?"

  Vivian remembered the look on Aurora's face as she led Arach out of the room, and shook her head.

  "No."

  "No, they didn’t. They looked like they couldn't wait to get each other's clothes off." Cade stepped up slightly closer to her and Vivian felt a tremble through her belly. "They are exactly as they should be; insati
able when it comes to each other."

  "Are there women who are like you?" Vivian asked, her voice sounding faintly shaky as she said the words.

  "You mean dragons?" Cade asked, stepping back and relieving the tension that Vivian could feel building in the space between them. "Yes. There aren't many that have actually stayed with the clan. Dragon births are rare enough, and female births are rarer still. Of the girls that are born into the clan, most of them stop shifting when they are teenagers and come to live in your world."

  The statement startled Vivian and she felt her mouth fall open.

  "They just live out here? With us?"

  Cade laughed.

  "Yeah, not even in captivity."

  "I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. It's just shocking to think about interacting with people and not knowing something like that about them."

  "Do you think you know everything about everyone that you talk to every day?"

  "No, but –"

  "How do you think Aurora's father knew about the dragons?"

  "I don't know."

  "Humans and dragons have been trying to build cooperative relations for generations. With as few dragons born as there are, there clan has been at risk of completely dying out. Part of the goals of the operative was to encourage marriages between humans and dragons so that the clan could continue. Not everyone is the biggest proponent of that, particularly the female dragons of the clan. I can almost guarantee you that you have encountered more than one of them in your life."

  Images of people she knew flashed through her mind as if Vivian was trying to sort out the ones who could be dragons.

  "How would I know?" she asked.

  Cade adjusted the leather satchel over his shoulder and shrugged at her.

  "Would you know looking at me?"

  "Your eyes," she answered immediately, and then felt the burn of embarrassment across her cheeks.

  A strange expression flittered across those very eyes and Vivian glanced away.

  "We probably shouldn't stay here too much longer. I'm sure there are people who wouldn't be thrilled to find us walking across the grass at dawn."

  His voice had changed, but Vivian couldn't place exactly what was different about it. She nodded and started toward the main building where she knew she could call for a car to bring them to her house.

  They didn’t speak as they waited for the car or when they climbed into the backseat. She sat as close to the door as she could get and stared out the window, fighting the sudden urge to look at him. Her mind wandered to the feeling of him beneath her and the sound of his wings pressing through the air. She could still feel his powerful muscles shifting between her thighs and the smooth, strong feeling of his skin against her palms.

  When they finally got to her house, Vivian led him inside and showed him to the guest room at the end of the hall opposite her bedroom.

  "We should get a few hours of sleep," she said, watching him lower his satchel to the floor.

  Vivian watched Cade gaze around the room as if evaluating every surface from the polished wood bureau in one corner to the antique vanity on the front wall, and finally to the white bed in the center.

  "Is something wrong?" she asked.

  "I'm just used to stone and tapestries. It's very different."

  Vivian offered a teasing smile.

  "I guess we humans aren't all bad, are we? At least we know how to make our bedrooms welcoming."

  Cade's eyes slid over to her as Vivian realized what she had just said. Without saying anything else, she closed the door and rushed down the hall to her room. Flinging herself down on her bed, she tucked her head under one of the pillows and let out a loud sound of exasperation and embarrassment.

  Flipping over onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling. Twenty-four hours ago, she was told her best friend was dead. Now she not only knew she was not dead, but that she was marrying a dragon and had entrusted her into the care of another dragon who wanted nothing to do with the arrangement but was sexy enough that all Vivian could think about was how much more welcoming she would have liked to make her guest bedroom. Finally, she let her eyes close and tried to will herself to sleep. These were not the Maid of Honor duties she had originally signed up for.

  ******************************

  Neither could sleep for long and it was barely afternoon when Vivian and Cade walked into the bridal boutique. This was far different from the shopping trip for Aurora's first dress, which involved the bridal party, both mothers, and the wedding coordinator. Now it was just her and Cade standing in the cold, starkly white surroundings of the boutique, hoping she could find a dress that would fit Aurora and also appeal to her somewhat exacting standards.

  "Hello!" a thin, bright voice that seemed to perfectly match the surroundings of the boutique startled her and Vivian spun around.

  A tall, wiry woman came toward her with a smile so intense it made Vivian take a step back.

  "Hi," she said.

  "I'm Kathryn. Are you looking for a gown today?"

  "Vivian," she said, shaking the hand Kathryn extended to her, "Yes. I actually need something that I can buy today and take with me if that's possible."

  Kathryn looked from Vivian to Cade and smiled even bigger.

  "So, the wedding is soon?" she asked in a tone that said she felt like she was being let in on a secret.

  Her flowery perfume was so strong Vivian felt like she was standing in a cloud of it as Kathryn leaned closer to hear her response. Vivian opened her mouth to try to explain the situation in the simplest terms possible when she felt Cade's muscular arm envelope her waist and pull her up against his side.

  "It's this weekend," he said in a silky voice.

  "That's wonderful!" Kathryn said and reached down to take Vivian's hand.

  Vivian glanced over her shoulder at Cade as Kathryn pulled her toward the dressing area in the back, her birdlike voice a stream of fabrics, silhouettes, and accessories. Before she realized what was happening, Kathryn had her in a mirror-lined dressing room and she was stepping into an elaborate gown. The bodice hugged at her body, drawing in her waist and creating lush cleavage from the deep sweetheart neckline.

  Layers of tulle and satin felt heavy on her legs but she loved the way the skirt draped and pooled on the floor around her. She stepped out onto the small raised platform in the center of the fitting area and turned to Cade where he sat on a low white sofa. His eyes grazed across her, lingering on the neckline and the tight curve of her waist.

  "I don't think that looks like…you," he said, but his voice lacked the criticism she would have expected.

  "You're right," she said, suppressing a smile at his charade, "I think I would like something a little simpler."

  Kathryn immediately jumped into action, corralling her back into the fitting room and handing her another gown.

  Three more gowns hung discarded on the back of the door by the time Vivian stepped into a sleek satin sheath that draped across her breasts and hung low on her back. The color was soft like champagne and the delicate straps over her shoulders were narrow braids of tiny satin strands. She knew Aurora's slightly fuller body would fill it out perfectly and that she would appreciate the more muted color.

  Vivian stepped out onto the platform and noticed that Kathryn was no longer standing sentinel beside a rack of gowns. She could hear her voice in the front of the store talking to another bride, and exhaled, relieved that the pressure of her watching every movement was gone at least for the moment.

  "What do you think?" she asked Cade, turning slowly so that he could see the entire dress.

  In the mirrors that surrounded the platform she could see Cade stand from the sofa and approach her. Without saying anything, he took her by her hips and led her backwards through the open door of her dressing room. Vivian gasped as he pushed her back against the wall. Keeping his hands pressed to her hips, holding her in place, he lowered his mouth to the swell of one breast and ran it along her skin. His lips
were parted just enough that she could feel the heat of his breath roll between her breasts and down the front of the dress to her belly.

  Cade pressed into her hips slightly harder as he moved his mouth to her other breast, turning his thumbs so they massaged into the soft valley between her hipbones. Vivian whimpered at the slow, deliciously torturous touch and tried to push her hips forward, wanting to will his hands lower. Maintaining complete control over her, Cade lifted his mouth from her breast, only to rest it in between them and draw his tongue gradually up the center of her chest and along her neck.

  His lips hovered just above hers as he met her gaze intensely.

  "What color are my eyes?" he asked in a direct, serious whisper.

  The smell of sage was stronger now, its earthiness somehow building on the desire tightening in her belly. Her breath was coming in ragged pants and she couldn't bring the words forward. Cade dipped his head down to nip his teeth into her neck.

  "What color?" he asked again.

  "They look like honey," she murmured, bringing her hands up to his shoulders and kneading her fingers into the strong muscles there, "but with streaks of other colors."

  A sound like a low growl rumbled in Cade's throat and he caught Vivian's mouth with his, urging it open with his tongue. Vivian complied, welcoming his tongue against hers and lifting her arms to wrap around his neck. He kissed her feverishly, and when he finally pulled his head back she felt breathless.

  "Only women meant to be a part of the clan can see the colors in a dragon's eyes," he whispered to her through his own rough breaths.

  Before she could reply, Kathryn's voice came to them through the dressing room door.

  "Is everything alright in there?"

  "Everything's fine," Vivian answered, forcing a high, casual note into her voice, "My zipper was just stuck so Cade was helping me."

  "Did you find something that you like?"

  Vivian felt Cade's mouth return to her neck and his fingers gathering her skirt so that it rose over her knees and was slowly inching up her thighs.