He wrapped his arms around her and turned toward the surface. The tendril of water still held her, though. When he tried to swim toward the surface, she cried out. Bubbles of air rushed toward the sky above. Panic shot like lightning through Asher’s heart. With his lips curled in anger, he swiped at the tendril of water beneath her with his tail. He cut through it, rendering the tendril weak.
Zara had expelled too much air. Asher needed to escape. He couldn’t linger here. He also could not go back to the beach unless he could summon the strength to shift back. Returning to his human form before they were out of the water wasn’t a good idea. He would lose his advantage.
Asher twisted, redirecting himself. He pushed away from the beach. The only other place he could think of was far away. It was on the other side of the wide lake. He made sure he was just out of sight of the beach and all the commotion there before surfacing. He thought he’d waited too long. Then Zara gasped.
Her body shook with coughs as they cut through the water. She didn’t ask any questions or bother looking around. Instead, Zara tucked herself closer to his chest and turned her face away from the spray.
Soon, a dock and a lake house appeared. The sun behind him cast a glare on the windows ahead. He hissed in pain, but didn’t slow, still using his wings to propel himself toward safety. Once he was close enough, he set Zara on the dock and climbed ashore. He shook himself, sending water in every direction. Unfortunately, it didn’t ease the tension still clutching him tight.
Zara bent over, coughing. Her body heaved. Fear pinched Asher’s stomach tight. He was strong, but shifting back and forth back to back was not usually easy for Asher. This time, he forced the change. It was slow and awkward, but eventually he was able to put a shaky leg forward. Naked, he stumbled toward her.
Holy shit, that was not what Zara expected.
Asher Knuden, famed MMA fighter and now her savior, crouched beside her. While he tentatively touched her back to make sure she was okay, her gaze was firmly fixed on his cock. He was certainly a shower, because if he was a grower, no woman would be able to handle all that he had to offer.
She swallowed and blinked, trying to tear her eyes away from his crotch before he noticed. The last thing Asher needed was more incentive to flirt with her. Though, she was feeling very indebted and grateful toward him.
That thing in the lake had every intention of killing her. She knew it. She could feel it while it dragged her deeper. The darkness down there had been so complete, so desolate. It’d felt like her soul would be trapped in that dark place forever if it had killed her. But now she was on land, or a dock.
She was safe.
When she said nothing, Asher scooped her up. He carried her off the dock and back onto land without a word. She felt like a feather in his arms. Asher showed no strain of holding her. The only tension in him was in his fingers where he grasped her like she might flutter away on the breeze if he didn’t hold on tight.
Zara didn’t argue. Her throat was raw from coughing. Her ankle screamed in pain from the water’s grip on her. Asher had tried to save her, but the water held on tight. She’d been torn between the two and wasn’t sure if she could walk right now. With time, she would be fine. At least, that was what she told herself.
She didn’t know if she would ever go near a body of water again, though.
“Don’t break into someone’s house,” she croaked as he approached the front door.
He laughed, a soft and supple sound that wrapped around her heart like a comforting blanket. Just the vibration of it in his chest eased some of the lingering fear in her. He was like a fierce house cat who wanted to be pet and cuddled but would fuck up an intruder in a heartbeat. Zara had watched videos of cats taking on predators three times their size like bears and alligators.
“This is my house, Zara. I’m not breaking in. Well, not today at least.”
She huffed a tired laugh. “How many times have you locked yourself out?”
He nudged the door open, a thoughtful expression on his face. A bit of pink colored his cheeks. “I’d rather not say. It would help if there was someone on the inside who could let me in when I lose my keys. It’s not my fault no one wants to live with me.”
Her voice was drifting away, her throat too tired to form words. Still, she couldn’t resist using the last of it to tease him. “I can’t imagine you’d make a great roommate if you’re constantly losing your keys. What else have you lost?”
“I don’t have to suffer this targeted harassment,” Asher said with a smirk.
He made his way through the house before setting her on her feet. She swayed, but quickly straightened herself. She was no longer in the water. Nor the dock. The ground beneath her was firm and unwavering.
With that knowledge tucked away in the back of her mind, she glanced around. There was a bed and a mid-century dresser. The wall to her left was nothing but windows that looked out over the lake. The sun had dropped since she’d last looked. How long had that taken? Had she passed out on the way to the lake house?
It took a few moments for Zara to realize she was standing not in a guest room, but in Asher’s room. It dawned on her when he opened the dresser and there were boxers. He shut it and opened another, shouting with victory as he raised a t-shirt.
“The bathroom is behind you. There are towels in the closet just inside the door. I’m sure you’re not ready for a shower or a bath just yet, but you can dry off in there and change into something warm.” He pressed a pair of boxers and a shirt into her hands.
She nodded, her face getting warmer by the second, and ducked into the bathroom, quickly slamming the door behind her. The scent of him clung to everything. It was on the clothes he’d handed her and on the towels hanging nearby. Zara couldn’t escape it, and to be honest, she didn’t exactly want to.
After all that happened on the beach, being surrounded by Asher was comforting. He had rescued her from the monster in the lake, after all. She was grateful for his bravery. Had he not remembered her, had Chelsea whisked him away, Zara wouldn’t have survived.
She was tired of being a weak shifter. It meant that everyone from her biological parents to lake monsters stepped all over her. She didn’t know why the monster had dragged her under, only that she was defenseless against it.
After towel-drying her hair, changing out her clothes, and wiping off her smeared makeup, Zara shuffled out of the bathroom. She was so exhausted, every limb like lead, that she fell onto the nearby bed without another thought. There were so many soft throw pillows. She curled around them and fell asleep.
6
Asher brought a cup of coffee to the bedroom only to find Zara fast asleep in a nest of throw pillows. His heart seized. He wished he could hold onto the image forever. In fact, he could. He grabbed his phone from the side table in the hall and came back to take a picture. Zara snored softly and curled into a tighter ball.
Before taking the picture, he snatched a blanket off the end of the bed and gently tucked it around her cold body. She wasn’t awake, but her soft sigh was like a kind of thanks. He smiled and leaned back. Once he took the picture, he saved it as his background. It was behind a locked key-code so no one else would know.
He told himself that he would have it if she woke and walked out the door, never to be seen again. Zara wasn’t likely to stay after that. While Zane hadn’t killed her, he might have killed any chance Asher had in wooing her. The need to know Zara was so strong that it twisted his gut with grief when he thought about never seeing her again.
She was owed an explanation, though, and when she found out the truth about the lake she would run as far away as possible. Any other sane person would do the same.
Asher took up the coffee he’d made for her and brought it out onto the deck. He sank into a chair and kicked his feet onto the railing. Zane’s domain was sprawled out before him. It was like the shifter Asher once knew was fading with each passing day. Zane was growing more and more monstrous right in front of the
m all.
Zane had displayed immense power when Charlie asked for his help. Today was only a taste of that power. Asher shuddered to imagine what Zane could do with it. Did they really want to free such a monster from the lake and unleash it upon the world? Nearly everyone in their clan besides him had found a mate. He knew they wanted to make a stand against Zane if he left the lake wanting blood, but would they all risk their loves?
Cole was the only one who could say nothing. Jude was a gold dragon. The beast in her had claimed this lake and if Zane kept acting up, there was no avoiding a fight. He knew she was getting restless with all that was going on because she was still pressuring Cole to start a family. He’d made a compromise, but that did nothing to sate Jude’s beast right here and now.
They were all in a fine mess. Trapped between a monster and a gold dragon. Asher didn’t fear his clan leader. He trusted her implicitly. She was their anchor. When anger overwhelmed them, she brought them back to their senses. That didn’t make her any less dominant, though. There would come a fight and it would devastate part of this lake.
Asher would be there when it happened. He felt like his entire life had been leading up to this point. He’d been training since the day he left the lake. But with Zara in his life, he wasn’t sure he could give the fight his all anymore. Part of his mind would always be on her. Was this how his mated friends felt? Were they so entranced by their spouses that they couldn’t focus?
Or was this just Asher? He couldn’t help but feel like a part of him had healed wrong. He felt crooked. His beast was a toothy, blood-thirsty thing. While Asher felt like a puppy, his beast felt like a rabid dog. Was his obsession with a woman who didn’t like him a result of this broken part of him? Could he not let her go because she was the only one to deny him?
Time slipped by, the coffee in his cup inching toward the bottom and growing colder. There was a creak of a door behind him. He craned his neck to find Zara rubbing her eyes. There was a bit of makeup left, now smeared like a ninety’s grunge rocker. It suited her.
“Oh, good,” she said. “You put clothes on.”
He looked down at himself then back at her, a smirk spreading over his lips. “You didn’t like what you saw earlier?”
“It made me want to puke.”
He reeled back. “Are you sure that wasn’t the effect of almost drowning?”
She narrowed her eyes, as if thinking, then nodded. “It was definitely you.”
When she stepped closer, Asher wanted to pull her into his lap and wrap his arms around her. Instead, he let her drag another deck chair closer. She lifted her feet to the railing, but she was shorter than him and so the position nearly folded her in half.
He laughed and patted the arm of his chair. It was solid, treated wood. “Put your feet here. They won’t bother me.”
After a moment, she did as he suggested. He caught a glimpse of her chipped black nail polish. Then, he scowled.
“I must have made you lose your sandals. I’m sorry about that.”
Zara glared at the lake, like she was ready to scold Zane should he show up out of the blue. Then, she sighed. Her shoulders sank in defeat.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll probably shift and run home. Foxes don’t need shoes.”
He offered to drive her home, but she shrugged off the offer. Just like he thought, she was pulling away. When she left later, it would be the last time he ever saw her. It broke his heart, but he was already a broken man. What was another crack?
Asher swallowed, looked down at the coffee meant for her that he’d drank, and shot to his feet. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Inside, he poured her another cup of coffee. He could see her out the window, her arms folded around her body and her feet still on the arm of his chair. She made no move to leave. Little by little, his hesitant heart settled. He could breathe easier.
From the fridge, he grabbed a gourmet cheese and cracker box. He’d grabbed a bunch of them at the grocery store because it was easier than making his own meals and made him feel like a giant kid again. They reminded him of the lunch meat boxes he would get when he was little, except this box had sopressata and gouda.
He brought both outside for Zara. She shyly tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before accepting his offerings.
“I have a fuck ton of these boxes. You aren’t going to bother me if you have one,” he told her.
She thanked him under her breath. It was meek and mild. The underwater struggle must have really worn her out. She wasn’t as snarky as she usually was. It made Asher want to carry her back to the bed and tuck her in again. She wasn’t his mate, though. Zara was her own person. If he picked her up again, she might kick him in the face.
To his surprise, she downed most of the coffee in two gulps. She didn’t ask for creamer or sugar. Maybe the bitter flavor helped shake her awake.
When she set down the cup, she formed a wry smile and laughed. “Did you know that there’s a small percentage of the population that can’t taste bitter? I never understood why people didn’t like black coffee before I figured out I couldn’t taste bitter. Dark Chocolate was a complete mystery to me.”
Asher raised both brows. “Is that your superpower?”
Zara grew quiet. Her smile vanished and she glanced at the lake again. “I don’t have a superpower. I’m nearly human.”
His brows crashed together. “That’s not true. You’re more than capable of putting me in my place. My clan would tell you that’s the strongest power of them all.”
He couldn’t lie and tell her that she was on the same level as the other dragons. It would have been a lie she saw through almost immediately. He wasn’t going to treat her that way. Zara had so many other great aspects; she was just turning a blind eye to them.
He couldn’t imagine how powerless she’d felt in the water. Zane had stolen all autonomy from her. She’d needed Asher to run in and save her. He suspected that it wasn’t the only time someone had helped her. Did she feel helpless each time?
He opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it. He couldn’t say that. Not yet. She barely knew him, even if he felt like he’d known her forever. This grim little fox-girl wearing his boxers and his t-shirt. A greedy growl began in his chest.
“Are you alright over there?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. “Yup. Totally fine.”
She didn’t look convinced, but before she could ask more, there was a commotion on the other side of the house. Asher hadn’t heard their trucks coming because he’d been so distracted by Zara’s presence, her pain. He groaned and rolled his eyes.
The rest of the clan must have heard about the incident at the beach. He was touched that they came to see if he was alright, but he wanted them to go away and leave him alone with Zara. As it was, Zara’s eyes flew wide. He watched her spine go stiff. Her nostrils flared, probably taking in the scent of an entire clan of dragons heading her way.
He touched her foot and she relaxed, her eyes going back to him.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “They’re family. Just coming to check on me.”
Moments later, Jude could be heard over everything. Her voice rattled the house right down to the windowpanes. Asher’s lip curled in annoyance. While the lake house was empty and lonely, he was somewhat grateful that he was away from the clan. It meant moments like this, with Zara, could happen.
“What the hell did you do?” Jude asked at the top of her lungs.
Asher rolled his eyes, groaned, and slouched in the chair. He nearly slid all the way off the chair and onto the deck. Zara smothered her laugh behind her hand. She set aside her mug and stood.
“I should probably get going.”
Asher leapt out of his seat. “You don’t have to leave. I can tell them to fuck off if they make you uncomfortable.”
Her smile was sad, and it made his heart clench. He thought she might actually get along with the women in his clan if she gave them a chance. Zara’s goth aesthetic f
it right in beside Charlie’s rebellious streak and Buffy’s daring style. And Jude could have offered the sense of safety a small shifter might want.
But he couldn’t get all of that out before Zara descended the deck steps. She stopped near the wood line and looked back at him right before disappearing. He thought he caught a glimpse of a black fox, but he couldn’t be sure if he was seeing what he wanted or if it was actually her.
The clan came around the side of the house and filled the large deck. Buffy was wearing a crop top so short Asher could see the bottom of her breasts. Heath came up behind her and tugged the hem of her shirt down, glaring at Asher. Buffy swatted her mate’s hands away.
Jude put her hands on her hips. “You jumped off the boat at that beach and then we hear about a lake tsunami over there. What the hell happened?”
Asher threw his hands in the air. “I’m not a fucking mind reader. One minute I was talking to Zara and the next minute Zane is throwing a fit. He’s the one acting like a damn child.”
One of Jude’s brows flattened while the other rose.
Asher muttered something under his breath and flopped into his deck chair. He wanted a beer. No, a good bottle of bourbon. Unfortunately, he’d finished off both. There was nothing left in the house other than some cheap vodka. No one save for broke college kids liked cheap vodka.
“We need to get this over with,” Asher blurted out. “The moment Zane is out of that cesspool, then I’m going back to the ring. I can’t take this anymore.”
“Come on,” Cole said. “You can’t run away again.”
Asher could run all he wanted. If the woman his beast had set its sights on couldn’t stand being near him and his clan, then what was the point in staying? His beast wanted to fight. It craved pain and blood, and he certainly wasn’t getting that here. If the craving grew any stronger, he wouldn’t be able to trust himself around anyone.
“Give me one reason to stay,” Asher growled.
Asher (Keepers Of The Lake Book 4) Page 5