Dragon Protector (Dragon Dreams)

by Tabitha St. George

  “Fine,” Clark said distractedly. “Listen, I can’t stay. My daughter’s in town. I just wanted…”

  “You don’t have to explain,” Missy said. She sat up and took a swig from a bottle of whiskey that was sitting on her end table. Clark hadn’t even noticed it when they’d gone in. “Here.”

  Clark hesitated a moment before taking a swig of the whiskey.

  “Thanks,” he said, pulling his clothes on. “I needed that.”

  He left in a hurry, before the conversation could turn more awkward. Missy was a hell of a looker, and had been since high school. But she had always been such a flake. She could never hold a man and keep him, because she was always too obsessed with what she couldn’t have. But every once in a while, she would come back to Clark.

  It was hard to resist her at times, because they had been high school sweethearts. But she wasn’t aging very gracefully, and she seemed to need every man she wanted and suck him until he was dry. She didn’t mean for it to happen that way, but that was just the kind of woman she was. She used them til she couldn’t get any more out of them and moved on to the next.

  That was probably why she was so adamant about coming after Clark. He never needed her back, and never seemed to have anything that she could take away from him. It was an alpha-omega behavior at heart, really, but they managed their relationship just fine. Neither of them actually needed each other. It was just a fun ride when they were bored with everybody else.

  “Clark!”

  Rage bubbled in Clark’s breast at the sound of Alexander’s voice.

  “What do you want, Alex?”

  “Alexander,” he corrected. “I thought you should know that Leon’s got some serious shit happening right now, and if you don’t sign the deed over, you’re really going to feel it.”

  “Like hell I’m signing my deed over!” Clark growled. He was ready to pounce this gaunt little shit, but he had to remind himself that he wasn’t the only one to blame. He was just more or less the messenger. It wasn’t his fault he was intimidated by people who were more powerful than he was. Which pretty much meant he was intimidated by everybody, even the two-year-old girl down the block.

  “That’s going to be hard on you, Clark,” Alexander warned, his tone condescending. “Don’t you have a daughter to put through school?”

  “You leave my daughter out of this, you vile piece of –“

  “Clark!” a deep, pleasant voice said from across the street.

  “Oh…hi David,” Clark grumbled, keeping his eye fixed firmly on Alexander. Alex quickly looked down at the ground. He knew he was no match for someone like Clark. That’s why he spent all of his time thinking of ways to destroy people’s lives using paper and technicalities. He was really quite devious, and always had been. It was really no surprise that he had taken to the newcomers like they were the next coming.

  “Pleasant day, isn’t it?” David called, walking slowly across the street to join Clark and Alexander.

  David was a jovial man, with a little paunch in his belly and a bushy black beard. His hair was short but wild with curls, and he looked more like a bear shifter than a wolf shifter. Still, there was no denying that he was one of theirs, and Alexander was beginning to feel outnumbered.

  “We will discuss this further if you want to keep what little assets you have,” Alexander said, his eyes narrowing on Clark. “Good day, David.”

  “Good day to you too, little man,” David said.

  David was the only man alive that could say something like that without sounding like a prick. They watched Alexander scramble into his bright red convertible and speed away back toward City Hall. He had always been too intimidated by motorcycles to ride one. He was kind of a wimp.

  “What’s going on, Clark?” David asked, his friendly brown eyes growing serious. “They giving you trouble again?”

  “When have they stopped trying to give me trouble?” Clark growled, kicking at one of Missy’s flowers. It was already lopsided anyway, what harm could he do to it?

  “Easy man,” David said. “Let’s walk. I’ve heard something you need to know.”

  Clark’s stomach dropped. That didn’t sound like a good thing.

  “What is it?” he asked, falling into step with David.

  “There’s talk in the counsel of more changes to come,” David said, glancing around as if to make sure nobody else was listening.

  “The last fucking thing we need is more changes!” Clark exclaimed. His blood was still boiling from his encounter with Alexander. If he heard one more horrible thing about the outsiders, he might go up there and give them a piece of his mind.

  “The thing is, they have a lot of support,” David said. “On paper, it all sounds great. They want to go back to some of the old ways. They think tradition is the best way to keep technology from corrupting Shifter culture. And it’s all stuff we old folks have been saying for years.”

  “So what’s the problem with it?” Clark asked, a feeling of foreboding rising in his chest.

  “The problem is, these shifters from the outside have their own idea of how things should be done. Not every code is right for every pack, you know? I have a feeling that we’re dealing with a pack of manipulative rogues, right? Ostracized from their packs for trying too hard to put their hands in places they didn’t belong.”

  “So how is it that they’ve gained so much power here?”

  David nodded in the direction that Alexander’s car had headed.

  “Alex?”

  David pursed his lips but said nothing.

  “You didn’t hear it from me, but Alex and his whole family have always been die-hard traditionalists. The creepy kind too. They’re into some things that are outdated for a reason. Don’t you remember the rumors from when we were kids?”

  “What? That Alexander and his family were part of a cult?” Clark asked with a laugh. “That’s just because he was weird. I could have started that rumor.”

  “Yeah,” David said. “Except you didn’t. There’s something freaky going on around here and I don’t like it.”

  Clark was quiet for a few moments. He looked up sharply when he felt the heavy weight of Dave’s hand on his shoulder.

  “Please, promise me that if things get too fucked up, you’ll step in.”

  “David, you know I can’t do that,” Clark said. “I made a promise to the king of our clan to know my place. The others look to me to keep the order. And if I go out of turn, the fear they feel will be enough to drive this town apart once and for all. Then we would really be vulnerable to the outsiders. You understand?”

  David gritted his teeth, but he nodded.

  “I understand your sense of duty on this, but there’s a point where what’s wrong is wrong. And we have to stand up for what we believe.”

  “I know, David. But everything will be okay.”

  David nodded, but his gentle brown eyes were dubious.

  “See you around, Clark.”

  “Yeah, see you.”

  Clark sighed as he watched David go. If only David knew just how close Clark was to throttling the life out of those in power once and for all. But what he said was true. He couldn’t disrupt the harmony of the pack. That would be more destructive than letting the outsiders gain power.

  Who knew what would happen if the pack found itself suddenly without leadership? It could drive a wolf to madness trying to take charge if he didn’t know how. The only thing there was to do was to hope that it wouldn’t come to that.

  6.

  “So!” Rachel exclaimed, plopping onto her bed with a bowl of ice cream. She patted it and Carmen lounged beside her with her own bowl. She could tell that it was time for some serious girl talk. “I guess Bobby saw I was back in town and he wants to meet up tomorrow. I don’t know what I should do.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with Bobby?” Carmen asked, taking a bite of my ice cream. It was unbelievably good. If there was one thing Carmen was quickly learning, it was that shifters had
a command in the kitchen that most people would envy. They truly knew how to appreciate food. She chalked it up to their heightened senses. Rachel’s father flashed in Carmen’s head, and she couldn’t help but wonder what else they were better at.

  “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with Bobby at all, if you know what I mean, but I was getting kind of serious with Roger; you know, the guy who started tutoring me?”

  How could I forget? Rachel talked little of anything else. Apparently, he was a god among men, with an angelic face and golden hair.

  “Right,” Carmen said. “But wasn’t he dating someone?”

  “Well, yeah, but I really feel like we were making progress before I left. He was talking to me about their problems and I felt a spark, you know?”

  “I don’t, really…” Carmen said, another invasive thought of Mr. Thomas charging through her mind.

  “Oh, right, sorry,” Rachel said. “Anyway, she’s a total bitch and he knows he deserves better. But if I hook up with Bobby, it will be like I’m cheating on him, don’t you think?”

  “Um, but you’re not dating either one of them right now so what would it matter?” Carmen asked.

  “Well, the thing is, Bobby and I have dated before, and whenever I’m home he gets my hopes up, saying that someday things are going to work out and we’re going to get married and have our own pups, but I just don’t think that’s the way it’s going to be. But I fall for it every time. And I don’t want to do it anymore. I want to focus on someone who has his shit together.”

  “Even if he already has a girlfriend…” Carmen said, regretting it as soon as she said it out loud. She was just trying to keep up with Rachel’s rapid thought process, but when Rachel heard her say it, her brown eyes lit up.

  “Exactly! He already has a girlfriend. What am I waiting around for? Who knows what the two of them have planned together this summer? It doesn’t seem fair that they should get to spend the summer with each other while I just sit here and pine…maybe I should call Bobby.”

  “But what if Roger does break up with his girlfriend for you?” Carmen said, trying to tread carefully. Her friend was very impulsive, especially when it came to men. It was like she didn’t truly want to settle down with anyone. It was kind of the same impression that Carmen had gotten from Rachel’s father.

  “Then he will let me know during the summer. Bobby knows that when I’m in school I’m going to do what I want. He never follows through.”

  A sincere note of pain leaked into Rachel’s voice and Carmen frowned. It sounded like she really did care about this Bobby guy, even though he was clearly no good for her. There was a small possibility that Bobby was sincere and simply trying to get his life on track, but that wasn’t the kind of judgment she could make from second-hand accounts of the guy. They would have to meet and talk before she could determine what sort of man he was, and even then, it was possible that there were things about him she would never know or understand. Rachel’s boy troubles were kind of exhausting. Sometimes, it felt better to stay out of it.

  “Sorry to kind of hog the conversation,” Rachel said, sipping a melted spoonful of ice cream and fixing her eyes on Carmen. “You’re a virgin, right? So what about you? Is there any guy you’re actually interested in, or do you think that Mr. Right hasn’t come along yet and probably never will? Or what’s the deal with that. I mean, I know we’re young and all, but don’t you get lonely?”

  “Which question do you want me to answer first?” Carmen said with a shy laugh. She had never been comfortable talking about the opposite sex. In fact, it felt like a taboo, especially in her family. She didn’t want to make the mistake of giving her virginity to a man who didn’t deserve it. That was what her mother had done, and she had seen how destructive that could be first-hand.

  “Any of them! All of them!” Rachel laughed.

  Carmen shook her head.

  “I don’t know,” she sighed. “It sometimes feels like everybody I meet is just too immature.”

  “Well, you’re surrounded by twenty-year-old guys,” Rachel said. “They basically haven’t even finished going through puberty yet. Give it some time, though. Once you get past the goofiness and the horniness, a lot of them really aren’t that bad.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Carmen laughed. “You’re the mysterious shifter on campus. Everybody wants to know what it’s like to be with you.”

  “That doesn’t mean I give them the time of day!” Rachel said indignantly. “We shifters have a sense about people, you know. Unless…”

  “Unless what?” Carmen prompted.

  “Unless they’re other shifters,” Rachel sighed. “Then sometimes we can be completely oblivious.”

  “Like with Bobby,” Carmen said.

  “Exactly. I honestly don’t know whether or not I can trust him.”

  Rachel gasped suddenly and reached out to grip Carmen’s arm. Her brown eyes were wide with excitement.

  “I have an idea!”

  Carmen shifted uncomfortably.

  “What?”

  “We should go out on a double date. Maybe the reason you haven’t met the right guy yet is because you’re fated to fall in love with a shifter!”

  A wave of nausea swept through Carmen’s body as she remembered the deep frown on Mr. Thomas’ face during dinner. There was no way she could fall in love with a shifter; not if they were all as brooding and moody and dark as Rachel’s father.

  “I’m going to set it up right now,” Rachel said, grabbing her phone.

  Carmen was helpless to stop it and watched as Rachel gleefully scrolled through her contacts. Finally, she settled on someone and called.

  “Hey, Greg! I have a question for you…Are you seeing anyone right now?”

  Carmen wanted to sink into the bed. It was humiliating to be set up with anyone. It never went well.

  “Yeah, she’s hot,” Rachel said, covering the receiver to look at Carmen and laugh. “But she’s a virgin so you have to be cool, okay?”

  “Rachel!”

  “What, it’s true! You don’t want him trying to paw you all night, do you?”

  “Why would you set me up with a guy who would want to paw me all night?!”

  Rachel didn’t answer, and focused her attention on listening intently to the man on the other line. “Great, we’ll see you then. Yes we! We’re going to do a double date. I’m going with Bobby.”

  Rachel hung up and beamed proudly at Carmen.

  “See! Piece of cake!”

  Carmen smiled weakly at her friend and looked down at her bowl of ice cream. Whether she liked it or not, it looked like she was going on a double date.

  7.

  Clark leapt away from the door and rushed downstairs before the girls emerged. He hadn’t been able to help himself. Carmen was so reasonable and pure when it came to men and their intentions. It was admirable, really. It was completely unlike his own daughter, who had been a little bit boy crazy from the time she was three-years-old.

  He had always assumed that Rachel and Bobby were fated to be together, but he couldn’t push these things. They would happen as they were meant to happen. Still, he was glad to hear that she had been swayed to give Bobby the time of day. He could remember how difficult it had been to date Rachel’s mother. He felt like he couldn’t make a move until everything was perfect, and by the time they were, it had almost been too late.

  “Dad, we’re going out!” Rachel called.

  “All right,” he said. “Be safe.”

  “Duh,” Rachel said with a laugh.

  He grinned and shook his head. Although she had shifter blood in her veins, she still hadn’t ever fully shifted into wolf form. He partly blamed himself for Rachel being a late bloomer. He had always stepped in when things got rough, and now she found it hard to be angry enough to tap into her shifting potential. Her mother had been a powerful shifter, but that was what had gotten her killed. Maybe, in a way, he had been far too overprotective because he didn’t want her to die the
same way her mother had.

  Clark sighed heavily and shook the thought away. He couldn’t think about his wife. Not now. Especially not when he had just deemed himself the biggest creep in history for stopping dead in his tracks when it was revealed, through his daughter’s bedroom door, that Carmen was a virgin.

  The thrill that had electrified his body had been too delicious to refuse, and he allowed himself to be drawn into the conversation. He had never eavesdropped or spied on his daughter before, at least not intentionally, but for some reason, with Carmen in her bedroom, he hadn’t been able to help himself. What kind of sick asshole was he?

  Clark was just going to have to keep himself busy, that was all. If hooking up with Missy hadn’t been the solution to his problem, then he would just have to find something better to do to keep himself busy.

  As if by miracle, the phone on the wall rang shrilly and he jumped up to answer it.

  “Clark!”

  It was David, and he sounded more distressed than he had ever heard him. Something was wrong.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s worse than I thought. You need to come to Town Square. Now.”

  David hung up and Clark scowled. It took all he had not to shift into his wolf form and bound to the center of the town, but the townspeople had stressed the importance of remaining decent. Shifting into your wolf form meant that shifting back would leave you standing in your birthday suit, and it was seen as lewd and dishonorable the further humanity reached into the modern times. Although it was obnoxious, it was a rule he respected.

  Instead, Clark jumped onto his motorcycle and sped off as quickly as his bike would let him, and tore into Town Square, his wheels blazing. There was a crowd gathered, and a dark man elevated on a shoddy wooden stage peering out over the townspeople.

  “Over here!” David’s voice boomed. Clark spotted him immediately and gave him a quick nod, then joined his friend in the crowd.

  “I understand that this comes as difficult news,” the man was saying. His voice grated on Clark deeply. There was something very wrong with this man. “But I assure you, it is for the best.”