Bree wasn’t going to be fooled. “If you aren’t working for Zander, then what are you doing in this town? Why are you hiding from the clan?”
“I was here first,” the shifter said. “I figured if I lay low and kept to myself, we could co-exist. Guess that’s not going to work if you assholes are going to blame me for everything you bring upon yourselves.”
Bree sniffed the air, uncertain if she would be able to get enough of a scent to tell the difference between this guy and the one they were hunting. The tell-tale aroma of smoke gave him away as a dragon shifter, but Bree had to focus to tell the scents apart.
Doubt crept into her mind. “I’ve never seen you before. I should know, I’ve lived here all my life.”
He huffed, clearly annoyed. “That’s because I don’t want to be seen. Go, get on with your life. Just leave me out of it.”
He turned to leave. Bree wanted to continue the conversation, but his back to her told her that it was over. There was one more thing she needed to say.
“The clan needs more shifters,” she called out. “They aren’t the most sociable bunch. I watched the leader try to throw a table across my bar once. But they are welcoming. I don’t think any one of them even thought to refuse me when I showed up.”
The nameless shifter stopped. She thought he would say something. Before she could hear his response, something slammed into her from the side.
***
Erik couldn’t find Bree. He’d tried her phone, but every call went to voicemail. His beasts grew restless. Both demanded to know where his mate was. Everything he was trying to protect meant nothing if he lost her.
He wanted to shift and fly over town to get a better look, but this wasn’t Zander’s home base. This was the sleepy mountain town that knew nothing about dragons. If Erik exposed their existence, then he would be doing exactly what the unwelcome shifter wanted.
Though his head ached from trying to follow the shifter’s trail all day, Erik found Bree’s scent at the bench and traced her path through town. His heart pounded an uncertain rhythm, almost as fast as the slap of his feet on the sidewalk.
People darted out of his way and shot him angry looks. He should have tossed out apologies to keep up friendly relations in this town, but he could think of nothing other than Bree. His beasts snarled in unison at every passing face, like the pedestrians were obstacles keeping Erik from reaching Bree in time.
Her scent stopped, and Erik’s heart nearly imploded. He thought the shifter had grabbed her and that the magic around him had covered Bree’s scent. Reeling back, Erik saw a narrow alley that led behind the local business fronts. Though the rank alley smell slapped him in the face, he caught the barest hint of Bree among it all.
His hopes lifted, but his urgency remained the same. It only banked when he heard Bree’s voice ahead. Erik thought, for a moment, that he’d made it in time. Then Bree’s words cut off. A small thud followed.
The green dragon’s roar filled Erik’s ears like the din of drums. He raced forward to find her face down in the dirty alley. A dark-haired dragon shifter stood over her. The green dragon urged Erik to attack. Power pumped through Erik’s veins and into his muscles.
The stranger bore a look of confusion. He glanced at Erik and issued a low growl of warning. Erik’s throat vibrated with the growls of two beasts, making the man’s brows rise.
Bree cried out again. Something had her by her hair. Erik could see the clues now, a hand shaped imprint in the back of her shirt, a crunched bottle as if someone stood on it. Zander’s shifter was hidden behind a veil of magic. Bree hissed in pain, and Erik launched himself forward.
He thought he would hit a solid surface, but instead, he flew over Bree. A laugh echoed down the alley. Bree cursed and rolled back onto her feet. Erik moved to shield her with his body while she turned so her back was to him. He should have known his mate wouldn’t run. She had scratches on her face and dirt all down her front, but she stood by him.
“Don’t even say it,” she grumbled.
“What? That this wouldn’t be happening if you’d gone home?” Erik fired back.
“Yeah, that.”
“Uhh,” the dark-haired guy said while scanning the alley. “I don’t think right now is the time for your marital argument.”
“We aren’t married,” Erik said.
“Yet,” Bree added.
A snarl rippled down the alley. Everyone jerked upright, suddenly alert. The fight had become three versus one, at least that was what Erik hoped as he eyed the dragon shifter backing up toward a nearby door. They needed all the help they could get because Zander’s shifter clearly had a pocket full of magic tricks.
Scent covering. Invisibility. What would the intruder pull out next?
A whisper slithered toward them, coming from all directions at once. “I’m going to steal her from you, piece by piece, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
Bree’s gulp was audible. Erik watched the ground, waiting for a ripple in the littered trash to warn him of the shifter’s approach. Bree cried out. Erik spun to find her staggering, her hair lifted by an invisible force.
“I’m going to cover the door, so no one comes out,” the dark-haired shifter said. “This isn’t my fight, but I’m not going to let just anyone come out and witness it, if you get what I mean.”
Erik wanted to snap at the man, but there wasn’t enough time. Erik’s beasts pushed to be released. They pressed against his lungs and rattled his bones. Now wasn’t the time for them to fight, but this didn’t feel like one of their disputes. Erik’s heart rate increased. He gasped, suddenly infused with more power than he’d ever felt before.
The beasts were working together.
For Bree.
Time slowed. Blood beaded on Bree’s throat. Erik launched himself forward. He reached for the hand that had to be near her throat and twisted once he caught something solid. With his other hand, Erik found the shifter’s throat. The shifter grunted when Erik spun and slammed him into the nearby brick wall.
The shifter’s image sputtered in and out, like the spell around him had been interrupted. Erik saw a talisman around the shifter’s neck right before he vanished again. Erik tried to snatch it, but the shifter slipped out of his grasp. The din of nearby traffic and pedestrians covered the sound of the shifter’s footsteps as he scurried away.
Bree bent double, grasping her throat. Erik’s heart guttered. He rushed toward her, but she put out her arm and gave him a thumbs up. Blood smeared her palm when she pulled it away from her neck. It wasn’t much, though. Just enough to know she’d been scratched.
If the buildings had been any further apart, Erik would have unleashed his green dragon and let it rampage up and down this alley. He was going to send this shifter back to Zander in a bloodied box. Then he was going to come back and kick the dark-haired guy’s ass for sneaking around under the clan’s nose.
Erik waited for the next attack. Time seemed to drag on. Bree stood close to the dark-haired shifter while the scratch on her throat healed. Erik stared at her, so grateful that she wasn’t as fragile as a human. The beast in her allowed her to heal supernaturally fast, meaning that this war wouldn’t leave as many scars on her as it had with Isabella.
“That way!” Bree shouted.
Erik followed her pointed finger toward the way he’d come. He caught the flutter of trash, like someone was running through it. The two beasts roared in unison.
“What is this guy doing?” the dark-haired shifter asked.
Bree inhaled a sharp breath. “He’s going to finish what he came here to start. He’s going to expose us all as dragons.”
Erik flung himself forward. He flew over the ground like he’d grown wings. Never before had his beasts worked together, let alone this flawlessly. They were no longer his burden, but his strength. If Bree had never entered his life, he would never have learned how to pull himself together. He wouldn’t be the hero she needed.
He reached, but his f
ingers only grazed the intruder’s shirt. The invisible figure darted out from under Erik’s outstretched hand and out of Erik’s awareness. Erik growled, the twin sound rumbling in his chest.
“You’re a broken beast,” the intruder whispered nearby. “What a pitiful existence you must lead.”
Erik grinned and slowly turned toward the source of the sound. The intruder had attempted to fool him and circled back around to stand between Erik and Bree once more.
“I’m twice the man you’ll ever be,” Erik said.
A flustered burst of sound came from the intruder, helping Erik pinpoint his location. Erik slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest and blindly reached for his throat. Once Erik felt a cord beneath his hand, he tugged. The charm came free, and the intruder’s image appeared before him.
The man blinked in surprise and lifted one hand to where the talisman should have been. Erik waved it in the air like a trophy. It wasn’t the most mature thing he’d done all day, but this fight was about to end.
“You can’t stop me from changing and flying over your rinky-dink town,” the shifter threatened. “What are you going to do once your secret is out?”
“That exposes you,” Erik said with a shrug. “Not us. You should have been smarter about this, buddy. Had you befriended us and shown the town that you were one of us, then maybe your plan would have worked. It seems neither you nor Zander have a single braincell between the two of you.”
Time seemed to slow again. Erik saw the invader begin to lean back, like he was going to dart backwards, toward Bree. Erik reacted, grasping the man by his throat and yanked him off his feet.
The shifter managed to get one foot beneath him, which helped him thrust his knee toward Erik’s groin. Erik shoved a hand between them and caught the blow. Clenching his fist, he felt bones and tendons break. The shifter’s snarl turned into a pained grunt. With his knee crushed, he wasn’t likely to go anywhere for a bit.
The dark-haired shifter sighed and stepped forward. He tore off his apron and wound it around the intruder in Erik’s hands. “That won’t hold him for long. We need to get you inside where no one can see you. Either of you have a phone to call for a ride? A trusted ride, not one of those ride-share services.”
Bree fumbled her phone with shaking hands. It bounced over the ground before she could snatch it up. Erik hated the fear making her tremble. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he couldn’t risk letting the intruder go.
While she called Gavin with the number Erik rattled off for her, the unnamed shifter led them into the back of the restaurant and into the walk-in cooler. Erik scowled at the cold, dark interior to which the shifter replied with a nonplussed shrug.
“You can either wait in here or go outside and hope no one sees that you have a man tied up.” He turned to leave. “This is the last you’ll hear from me. I’m not about to join another damned clan.”
Erik didn’t think Gavin would like to have a dragon in town that wasn’t pledged to him, but Erik could be wrong. So far, Gavin wasn’t acting like a normal clan leader. He wasn’t demanding pledges. If anything, he was keeping his distance from the clan, appearing only to issue orders to keep them safe during this feud with Zander.
Would this whole family crumble once the feud was over? Would Erik and Bree be left on their own? Erik hoped not. He’d developed a soft spot for Dillon and enjoyed coaxing sharp-tongued barbs out of him.
“There won’t be a clan here for long,” the intruder said, his voice high and manic.
Erik expected him to start laughing ominously. To prevent that from happening, he reached for the nearest object, which happened to be an onion, and shoved it into the shifter’s mouth. The guy’s eyes watered. He flexed his jaw, like he might bite through it.
“Do it,” Bree warned, “and I’ll cut your dick off and replace it with this carrot.”
Not that Erik would let her anywhere near another man’s dick, even for vengeance purposes, but the threat quieted their captive. Fifteen minutes alone in the cooler, Erik heaved a sigh of relief when the unnamed shifter returned to lead them out to Gavin.
Something in the back of Gavin’s Jeep glimmered when he yanked the hatch open to chuck the creepy shifter into the back. Erik offered to ride with him, but Gavin gave him a toothy grin and declared that wasn’t necessary. When Erik argued that this creep was clever, Gavin said he’d picked up some silver wire.
“Yeah,” Erik agreed. “That will do the trick.”
While they watched Gavin drive off with the creep in his Jeep, Erik reached for Bree. She weaseled her way under his arm and wrapped herself around him. This close, he could hear that her breath still shook, like she hadn’t shaken the flight or fight response yet.
Though she’d been brave, even heroes needed saving sometimes. He was no longer a useless piece of shit, but her security net. If ever she needed to fall, he would be there for her. He would follow her through fire and into hell if he had to. He was more equipped for it than any other man he knew since he’d endured both most his life.
“Ready to go home?’ he whispered into her hair.
Though he wanted to be inside her again and to feel her soft sigh of release once he brought her to climax, he knew she needed time. He would hold her and comfort her until she was ready, until she asked for it.
He sucked in a breath, feeling very much like a new man. He knew fighting was good for a dragon’s soul, but never quite realized it could be this good.
“Lift your chin for me,” he asked with a finger on her jaw.
The scratch from earlier had healed without leaving even a mark. He bent and kissed the place where she’d bled and said a silent promise to keep her from ever having to endure that again.
Bree shoved him back. She had a sly smile, her tongue pressing against a sharp canine. His heart stuttered.
“You can’t expect to protect me from every little scratch,” she said.
“Watch me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Back at the cabin, Bree and Erik collapsed onto the couch. Their limbs entwined, Bree’s heart finally settled into a normal rhythm again. Her breath no longer felt as though it was being ripped from her. She sank into Erik’s body and reveled in the security of his arms and the knowledge that they’d always be open for her.
“Is this what you expected when you were crushing on me?” Erik asked, a hint of humor in his voice.
She playfully tugged at the hairs growing on his chin. “I never could have anticipated what you’re really like.”
He lifted both brows. “Is that good or bad?”
She pretended to think about it. His fingers travelled up her waist, leaving behind electric impulses that made her want to writhe in his arms. She could barely hold onto her train of thought when he touched her like that.
Before she could act on her desire, the front door opened. Casey and Evangeline marched through, both carrying bags filled with Styrofoam containers. The tangy scent of hot sauce blossomed on the air.
Evangeline kicked the door closed behind her. Beneath her baseball cap, her hair was a shade of peach that brought out the freckles on her nose. She set her bags on the coffee table between her and the couch.
Bree held her breath, waiting for Evangeline to say something snide. Instead, Evangeline dragged a chair over and dropped into it before meeting Bree’s gaze. The hostility from that morning was gone.
“I might have had a stick up my ass the past few days,” she said finally. “I’ve gotten it out…for the most part.”
Erik ran a hand through Bree’s hair. “Evy has been mad at me and taking it out on you.”
Evangeline wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t call me Evy. And yes, I’m still mad at you. You’re a careless, reckless dolt.”
Bree sat up, fire burning her veins. Evangeline put up both hands in a placating gesture.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to try to be nicer from now on. My sister-in-law is coming to town to help me change into a shifter. After
that, we’ll both be working with her to learn the ropes.” Evangeline pulled the take-out containers from their bags and set them out, like a peace offering. “I don’t want to be on bad terms with my fellow dragons.”
“Apology accepted,” Bree said. “But know that I’m going to call you out on every bitchy thing you do from here on out.”
Evangeline opened her mouth to argue, but Casey cut her off. “Fair, and maybe necessary while she learns to deal with her dragon. I have a feeling hers is going to be feisty.”
Bree never had that issue. She and her beast had been on good terms for the most part. While every day would bring something new, she knew they could get through it together. She had the spirit of a dragon all along. She just needed Erik to bring it out of her.
“Please tell me you bought this for us,” Erik said to Casey and Evangeline. “I’m starving. Crushing a shifter’s knee took a lot out of me.”
“He was limping earlier,” Gavin said.
Everyone jumped. Somehow, Gavin had walked in soundlessly. Bree noticed a bronze talisman hanging over his chest. Gavin winked at her.
“It’s my witch bait. She’s going to have to come out of hiding and talk to me eventually.” He sat on the arm of the couch.
Evangeline groaned. “Will you just leave her alone already! She doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
Gavin snarled, his lips curling as a bit of his beast flashed in his eyes. Bree didn’t flinch, and neither did Evangeline. They were one big, dysfunctional family. Bree had a lot of time to make up for. All the years she’d lived alone had been empty. The life that should have started long ago would be lived to the fullest now.
Bree sat up and put her feet on the floor. She extended a hand to Evangeline, which Evangeline took.
“This means you have to get the tattoo,” Evangeline said, almost ominously.
“Tattoo?” Bree’s voice cracked.
Everyone in the room other than Gavin moved their clothing aside to show off a stylized dragon symbol in their skin. Bree touched Erik’s. She ran her fingers along the lines, expecting them to be raised.
Restoring The Broken (Rogue Dragons Book 3) Page 13