by Donna Grant
He liked it all.
The few times he’d happened to be near when Claire arrived at the clinic, she made her way into the office singing whatever had been blaring on her car radio. But today, she was subdued. Her oval face was pensive as if she were deep in thought.
She adjusted the big, black bag she carried on her shoulder before she pulled out her mobile. The moment she looked at the screen, she stopped. A second later, a smile broke out over her face.
V found himself grinning in response because her smile—even when not directed at him—was infectious. He didn’t know what it was about the blond beauty that had first captured his attention, but it hadn’t let go since.
His vantage point gave him a perfect view of her face. Whatever was on the phone lit up her expression. He’d seen the mated Kings do that to their women. V wondered if he would ever cause someone to smile like that.
The majority of his life after the war with the humans had been spent sleeping in his mountain. He hadn’t had time to think about anything more than reclaiming his stolen sword. Now … now, those who had something to occupy their time with regards to Dreagan were all around him.
Then there were those who had found love.
It was difficult to be around so many who were happy. Those like Vaughn, a solicitor for Dreagan, who had found his place in the human world. Then there were the pairs who were always together, always sharing secret words and looks. And touches.
The weight of eons of time spent alone crushed V. He’d thought sex would help. And it had. For a short while. Then, that haunting ache filled his chest again.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what it was. Loneliness. He was surrounded by his brethren but felt utterly, completely alone.
V drew in a deep breath and watched Claire’s pace quicken as she hurried into the clinic. He shifted around the tree to continue observing her, catching one last look before she walked through the door and disappeared into the building.
He’d spent a lot of time at the clinic lately, helping out when it was needed. Most of the Kings did from time to time. Sophie was part of the family, and as such, they were always there for whatever she needed.
Not that Darius couldn’t handle things himself, but sometimes, it was just an excuse for them to be together. Just as everyone not only went to Laith’s pub but also helped out there. The Dragon King had owned the pub for hundreds of years, legally passing it down to himself after disappearing for decades at a time.
Who knew how long such things would work. The people of the village near Dreagan seemed happy. Then again, so had the mortals before the war.
“She’s pretty, is she no’?”
V closed his eyes at the sound of Darius’s voice. He should’ve heard the King approach, and he would have, had he not been so engrossed in Claire.
He opened his eyes and turned to face his friend. He could try to lie, but there was no point. “Aye. She certainly is.”
“Sophie and Claire are verra close,” Darius stated.
V quirked a brow. “I’m aware of that.”
“I know you’ve picked up Rhys’s habits of a different woman every night—”
V was affronted by the charge. “It’s no’ every night.”
“Somehow, despite everything that happened to her and Sophie in Edinburgh, Claire doesna know about us.”
V crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t know the entire story about how Claire and Sophie had been taken by the Dark Fae, but he knew that it had been a close call for both women. “Are you sure she doesna?”
Darius glanced at the building. “She would’ve said something to Sophie if she did. You’re welcome at the clinic anytime, but Claire is like a sister to Sophie.”
“You want me to keep away from her.” Somehow, that hurt V more than he’d expected.
“If you think she could be your mate, then I’ll no’ stand in your way.”
“I didna say that.”
Darius nodded slowly. “I just doona want Claire hurt.”
V squared his shoulders. “I’m well aware that she is off-limits.”
Darius gave a nod of appreciation. “Thank you. Since you’re here, I could really use your help moving some more boxes. I never knew so much was needed to run a medical clinic.”
V was slow to follow Darius. While he understood his friend’s caution, he was nonetheless hurt by it. More than that, he wondered about the lie he’d told regarding Claire. And the consequences of not admitting what he’d known in his heart for some time now.
CHAPTER TWO
“I don’t like him.”
Claire grinned at Sophie’s statement. The two had been friends for many years and had been through a lot together, which is why she wasn’t taken aback by Sophie’s blunt statement. “I know.”
“He didn’t text you at all yesterday. Not once.”
Claire looked into Sophie’s olive eyes and nodded. “I know. I’m the one who told you.”
Sophie blew out a breath as she jammed a file into the hanging folder and shoved the cabinet drawer closed. She came to Claire’s desk and stood before it, her golden hair in a loose braid. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound so harsh. I just want better for you.”
“I like Calvin. He just … he’s busy.”
Sophie gave her a flat look. “You’re making excuses for him. Did he even tell you why he didn’t reply to your text yesterday?”
“No.”
“Are you going to ask him?”
Claire threw up her hands. “We haven’t been seeing each other that long. Honestly, I don’t even know what we are.”
“Because you won’t ask him.”
“I…” Claire stopped and shook her head, hating that her friend was right. “No, I won’t ask him. It’s not easy.”
“Sure, it is. You send a text that says, ‘Hey, Calvin. We’ve been talking for a bit, and while neither of us has said anything, I was wondering if we’re exclusive or not.’ Easy.”
“Not for me.”
“Want me to send it?” Sophie volunteered, holding out her hand for the mobile phone.
It was on the tip of Claire’s tongue to take her friend up on the offer. But she was an adult. She’d had relationships. She was also a take-charge kind of woman, so why, why, did she get insecure and neurotic when it came to men?
Because she didn’t want to do anything to upset them.
And how fucking wrong was that?
“You’re doing that internal dialogue thing again,” Sophie said with a twist of her lips. “Care to share?”
“So you can hear for yourself that you’re right? Like always? No thanks.”
“That reminds me. Did you read the last entry on the (Mis)Adventures of a Dating Failure blog? She has some great advice. You should read it.”
Claire nodded. “I meant to read it last night, but I forgot.”
When Claire tried to walk away, Sophie stepped in front of her. “I want you to have what I have. I want you to find someone who will move the very earth itself to be with you.”
“I want that, too. But I hate to tell you this, I think you got one of the last of those. I don’t think men like that really exist. At least not the ones I meet.”
“Claire—”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. You’re right about Calvin. We’ve been texting for a month now and saw each other three times. Both of our profiles said that we only dated exclusively, which is why I never actually asked him. But he didn’t ask me either.”
Claire paused and swallowed. “I hate that when I didn’t hear from him last night, I lay in bed crying, wondering what I had done wrong.”
“You?” Sophie gasped in outrage.
“I know, I know,” Claire hurriedly said, lifting her hands to calm her friend. “It’s stupid. He could have been doing any number of things. I’m not saying he was out with someone else, but the simple truth is, he could have taken two seconds out of his day to reply to my text. The fact he didn’t.… Well, it kinda say
s it all, doesn’t it?”
Sophie shrugged. “Maybe he’s in the hospital. Maybe he got sick. Maybe his day was just so busy that he.… Nope. That one doesn’t work. You’ve told me yourself how much he’s on his phone.”
“Yeah.” As if Claire needed another reason to believe that Calvin hadn’t texted because he simply didn’t want to. That’s what it boiled down to.
And it hurt.
Then men wonder why women are so anxious and irrational during dating. They’re trying to figure out every move a man makes so they don’t misstep, but inevitably, it happens.
“Just ask him why he didn’t text,” Sophie suggested.
Claire jerked back. “And sound like some clingy woman needing to know where he is every minute? No thanks.”
“He’s hours away from you. The two of you don’t even see each other once a week. It’s not irrational to want to know why he didn’t respond.”
“Maybe to you, but not from where I’m sitting.”
Sophie rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “You told me he has no problem asking you direct questions like that.”
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
“Because I’m not the one doing the asking.”
“Dear lord, Claire,” Sophie said tightly, her irritation evident. “You’d clear up so much if you just asked.”
Claire cocked out her hip and raised a brow at Sophie. “Oh, really? That’s how you feel? Perhaps we should go back to when you and Darius first started seeing each other.”
“That was different.”
“The hell it is. Would you have come out and asked Darius these questions?”
Sophie parted her lips to reply, then shook her head. “Okay, okay. I see your point. It’s not so easy when the shoe is on the other foot.”
Despite her argument, Claire was upset that she hadn’t come up with a viable solution to her problem. Her eyes still burned from the tears she’d shed the night before. And she hated herself for it.
“What did his text say this morning?” Sophie asked.
Claire almost hated to tell her. Mostly because she knew how her friend would react. “It just said ‘good morning.’”
“That’s it?” Sophie asked, her indignation evident in her voice and the shocked expression on her face. Then she smiled tightly. “Sorry. I meant to say that it was good you heard from him. Did you reply?”
“Of course. I told him the same.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
“How long has it been?”
The sad part about it was that Claire knew the exact time Calvin had texted. She looked at her watch and said, “Twenty-four minutes.”
“Give me your phone,” Sophie demanded with her hand out.
Claire barked a laugh. “Why?”
“So you don’t text him today.”
Claire held up her wrist, showing Sophie her smartwatch. “I can still do it on this.”
“Dammit,” Sophie mumbled.
“Besides,” Claire said, shifting her feet, “it’s not during the day that’s the hardest. It’s at night. When I’m alone and thinking up all the different scenarios for why I haven’t heard from him.”
Sophie’s lips flattened. “And you wonder why I don’t like him.”
“If I don’t hear from him today, that’s it. It’s over.”
“It’s better to be alone than to have someone treat you like that.”
Claire watched her friend walk away. “That’s easy for you to say when you have someone who loves you,” she whispered.
She turned when she heard the back door open. A moment later, the sound of Darius’s voice reached her. She didn’t want to be envious of her friend’s love or the happiness Sophie had found, but it was hard not to be. Especially when it was the very thing Claire coveted with all her heart and soul.
So many freely gave advice for her to stop looking and let love find her. That was a load of horseshit. She had stopped, and nothing had happened. Nothing happened when she did look either. So what was the answer?
If there was one at all.
She was beginning to believe that the old saying that there was someone for everyone wasn’t true. Maybe she was destined to live out her life alone. Sophie was right. It was better to be on her own than have someone twist her feelings as Calvin continued to do time and again.
Because this wasn’t the first time he’d done this to her. There had been three in all. Sophie only knew about two of the events. The other, Claire would keep to herself, simply because it would just feed more wood to the fire her friend tended for Claire to get rid of Calvin.
She shook her head. She had to stop thinking about him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t get anything done, and every appointment spot was filled at the clinic again today. As it had been from the first week Sophie had opened it.
Claire went to the back room to restock some supplies before the doors opened. Two steps in, she came to a halt when she spotted wide shoulders encased in a burgundy shirt. She didn’t need to see the face to know it was V.
He was mysterious and quiet with a look that smoldered, but she liked that about him. V had a way about him that instantly put her at ease. He didn’t come to the clinic as often as some of the others, but she was always glad to see him when he did.
He yanked open a box, his back muscles moving under his tight shirt. Claire’s mouth went dry as she stared at the perfectly formed V his body made from his shoulders to his narrow waist. She wondered if that’s why his name was V.
His dark locks were long and swept back into a queue. Claire imagined running her fingers through his hair as he kissed her. Would he be a wild and fierce lover? One who dominated, but with a gentle side. The exact kind of man that made her knees week?
Suddenly, he stilled and turned his head to the side.
“Claire?”
His voice was deep and rich. Seductive. She cleared her throat, thankful when her voice worked. “It’s me.”
He turned and faced her. Her gaze was instantly drawn to his unfathomable light blue eyes. His look was direct, but he obviously held a part of himself back. Almost as if he refused to allow anyone to know all of him.
“Are you all right?” he asked, a slight frown marring his gorgeous features.
She wanted to rub away the lines of concern on his forehead and then let her fingers run along his strong jawline before moving close to his wide lips. Then she’d sink her hands into his thick, dark locks.
Claire blinked and took a half-step back. What was wrong with her? She knew everyone at Dreagan was gorgeous, and she freely looked her fill at all of them—furtively, of course. Maybe it was her yo-yo emotions over the past several days that had her in such a state.
Or … Claire inwardly frowned as she realized that this was the first time she had been alone with V. There was no one else there to talk to or look at. No one else to distract her as she fell into his intense gaze.
Dimly, she remembered that he’d asked a question. What was it again? Oh. He wanted to know if she was okay. A few minutes ago, she would’ve said no, but now, she felt much better.
“Yes,” she replied, her voice sounding hoarse. She cleared her throat again and spoke louder. “Yes, I’m good.”
His look said he didn’t believe her. “If anyone is bothering you, you do realize that those at Dreagan will take care of them.”
Claire laughed softly, his words mending her tattered feelings. “Thank you. I really needed to hear that this morning.”
He nodded and rubbed a hand down his arm, bringing her attention to the hard muscle there. Unable to look away, she followed his hand from his arm as it moved to glide over the deep brown tresses of his hair, removing the strip of leather that held the strands in place.
Her lips parted as the silky tendrils slipped through his fingers. He’d cut the thick length. No longer did it fall down his back. The ends now brushed his shoulders.
The quiet suddenly reached her,
and she realized he was watching her stare at him. Feeling like an utter fool, Claire grinned. “Sorry. I was just thinking about your hair. It looks good, but I liked it long.”
“Did you? Everyone else said I needed to cut it.”
“Do you always listen to them?”
He chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkling charmingly. “Actually, no.”
“But you did this time.”
“Surprising, is it no’?” he asked with a grin.
“Not really. I usually always listen to Sophie.”
V’s smile widened. “She gives good advice?”
“Always, dammit,” Claire said with a roll of her eyes and a chuckle. She loved listening to his accent. “Just don’t tell her that.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
And, oddly enough, she believed him. “How did they rope you into helping today?”
“I was nearby.”
“With as much work as so many from Dreagan do here, we should add you all to the payroll.”
He shook his head, still holding her gaze. “We’re family. We help each other when it’s needed.”
“Sophie is lucky.”
“You’re part of that family, too,” V told her.
The smile that wrought made Claire feel as if she were walking on clouds.
CHAPTER THREE
The time he spent at the clinic was refreshing. V declined Darius’s offer to drive him back to Dreagan. Instead, he chose to walk once more.
His mind had been filled with other things for a short time. Beautiful things like golden hair, soft brown eyes, and a laugh that made him yearn to hear more.
But as soon as V was alone again, his thoughts returned to his sword and the problems he faced.
A growing fear filled him that his brethren would need his sword, and he wouldn’t be able to help them. They needed to be prepared for such an event. V hated that he had to share such news with Con and the others, but keeping silent was putting everyone in jeopardy.
When V reached Dreagan, he made straight for the manor and his chamber. He grabbed his sword and started toward Con’s office. Then he had another thought. V walked out of the mansion and headed for the Dragonwood. When he was within the confines of the forest, he opened the mental link that all dragons had and told Con to meet him.