The Alpha Dragon's Protection (Dragon Shifters 0f Kahului Book 4)

by Brittany White

  The dragons all started stripping their shirts off. Jillian snorted with amusement, but the rest of the women blinked in surprise.

  “It isn’t that hot yet,” Carrie said.

  “But it will be,” Daegal said, flexing an enormous tanned pec. “And we will be ready.”

  His wife rolled her eyes, but a small smile lifted her lips.

  “Ookay,” Carrie said and smoothed out the drawings. “I’ll show you exactly what needs to be done.”

  * * *

  The dragons and women worked side-by-side for the remainder of the day. Normally a project like this would have taken an entire weekend, but with the strength of the dragons combined, they finished the same day. She would need to paint it, but for all intents and purposes, it was just about completed.

  For men who’d never been involved in a building project before, they’d all done really well. They were quick to pick up instructions, and no one had to worry about anyone dropping anything because it was heavy. Imagine how much faster road construction could get done if they had dragons as employees, Carrie thought.

  Edvard had been quiet for most of the day. He silently took her cues and helped alongside the rest of them, but he had barely said two words to anyone.

  Carrie could feel his eyes on her throughout the day, but he made no overtures – friendly or otherwise. She didn’t know if he was feeling melancholy or upset about something. When he spoke, the words rumbled over her skin and she shuddered at the surprise of it.

  “This is really amazing, Carrie. You should be proud of yourself.” Edvard crossed his massive arms over his chest and stared at the standing structure. It was a few hundred square feet. She’d kept the floor of it as dirt, though she’d need to seal around it to keep unsavory things out. It saved some money for her to do it that way.

  “I need a shelving set and a potting bench,” Carrie said. “Plus a lot of other things.”

  “You’ll get them,” Edvard said. His eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled. “Back home, we were royalty.” One of his powerful shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Or at least Daegal was, so we were treated similar. There weren’t many days we spent doing labor. We practiced our fighting skills, but we never built anything for ourselves.” The left side of his lip curled in satisfaction. “This was fun. And satisfying. I never realized how much I would enjoy laboring like this.”

  “I have plenty of projects around the house if you ever want to labor again,” Carrie quipped.

  Edvard laughed softly. “Anything you need, friend, I will endeavor to assist you.” He studied the greenhouse some more. “Will you color it?”

  By color, she knew he meant paint. Before his awakening, Edvard’s world didn’t have the colors the world currently had now. At least not in paint form. “I will, but it won’t be anything vibrant. At least not the outside. I want it to blend in to the surroundings.”

  “And why is that?” Edvard asked.

  Because if someone sent a drone flying over this area, it would pick it up and someone would find her. “I want my home to blend into the natural environment as much as possible. Once the plastic is fully secured and the paint is done, I'll move shelving inside. I plan to make that much brighter. No one will be able to see that from the outside.”

  Edvard nodded, though she could tell he wasn't buying all of her excuses.

  “Everything okay, Edvard?” Carrie asked. She bumped his shoulder with hers, but he didn’t budge.

  “All is well. I find myself melancholy today, but do not worry. It will be short-lived.”

  Carrie studied her friend’s handsome profile. “Anything I can help with?”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid not.” He turned to her and sketched a shallow bow. It was so old-fashioned, it made her smile. “I must be on my way. I will return very soon.”

  “Okay,” Carrie said. Normally Edvard was the last to leave. “I'll hold you to it.”

  He walked away from her and offered nothing to his friends except a shallow nod.

  Strange, she thought. He was normally so much more open than this.

  Carrie noticed Daegal’s concerned expression as his eyes trailed after him.

  She made a mental note to check on Edvard tomorrow if he didn’t come by. Carrie could bear a lot of things, but Edvard being hurt was not one of them. She hoped that whatever was wrong was temporary.

  If it wasn’t, she’d just have to pry it out of him.

  4

  Edvard

  He walked alone on the beach for a while, his thoughts tangled up in Carrie. There was still no sign of the mating bond and it was driving him mad because he knew in his heart that there was something between them. It was more than physical. He rarely touched Carrie. When he did, he felt fire simmer under his skin, so he kept his touches shallow to avoid scaring her. She carried something within her, something dark, and Edvard knew she wouldn’t open up to him unless she trusted him.

  He knew she was close.

  Edvard sensed the other dragons way before they caught him in their sight line. Dragonkind could almost always sense each other unless they were actively cloaking against it. The top of Daegal’s head came over a sandy dune and his king held up a hand in greeting as he walked toward him.

  Seconds later, he saw Gregor and Sebastian, and a sigh escaped him. This was no idle walk on the beach for them. Rarely did all the dragons come together for something unless it was important. Granted, they all spent time together, but now his brothers had wives and children. If they were all together at one time coming toward him, they had something they wished to discuss.

  He knew what it was going to be.

  Carrie.

  Edvard had no idea what he was going to say to them, because he had no idea why the bond hadn’t formed. He sat down in the dry sand to watch the tide roll in and wait for the other dragons.

  Gregor was the first to arrive. He sat a careful distance away from Edvard and peered up at the moon. “Isn’t it wonderful, all the things we’ve learned since we've arrived?” he asked.

  Edvard nodded. Gregor was a deep soul, so Edvard learned to listen when he spoke.

  “I think it’s wonderful, too, all the things we have to keep learning. An active mind keeps a dragon balanced, Edvard. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  A snort came from him. Where was Gregor going with this? “I would.”

  “Good,” Gregor said as he picked up a stone buried in the sand. He tossed it in the sea where it landed with a plop. Gregor sucked at skipping stones. “But it’s not only the active mind that keeps us balanced. It’s several things. Our mind. Our body. Our emotions. We must experience things in order for us to know how to beat them. If we have all of those balanced, what comes next?”

  Edvard shut his eyes, too tired to solve one of Gregor’s philosophical riddles. “I don't know. Want to make it easier on me and give me the answer?”

  Gregor punched him on the shoulder. “The most important part of us, brother. Our hearts. None of us were completely balanced until we came to these shores. We can fight, yes. We can study. But loving someone is what makes us complete.”

  Daegal was next to plop down in the sand, directly followed by Sebastian.

  The irrepressible rogue grinned at Edvard, and a chuckle burst loose from Edvard. Whatever Sebastian was about to say would probably be both offensive and funny, and there would be just a tiny kernel of good advice inside of it.

  “You know what else keeps us balanced?” Sebastian asked. He picked up a handful of sand and let it slide through his fingers.

  “I’m not sure I want to know,” Edvard said, his sight fixed on the ebb and flow of the tide.

  “Sex,” he replied matter-of-factly. “We are made to breed, Edvard. Dragons and humans alike. None of us are able to control our impulses well, especially if there’s a mating bond in place.”

  “If you’re speaking of Carrie, there is no mating bond.” A sigh escaped Edvard.

  “Yeah, no shit,” Sebastian concurred. �
��But I’m a gambler. I bet if Carrie found you sniffing around another woman, that mating bond would snap into place immediately, simply because she’d want to murder you.”

  “It isn’t like that. Carrie and I are merely friends.”

  Daegal spoke then. “But you want to be more.” It wasn't a question.

  Edvard looked at him sharply. Daegal was their king for a reason. He knew all of their hearts and minds. “Of course I do,” he admitted. “But she will not yield.”

  “These women,” Daegal began, “are different from our kind. Back home the women were sweet and biddable-”

  “Yeah, they were!” Sebastian piped up.

  Daegal silenced him with a look. “They were easy. Too easy. Back home we had all the power. Women wanted to be with us.”

  “They still do,” Gregor said. He was the only one who sounded put out about it.

  “Aye, they do,” Daegal agreed. “But they keep their distance now, as if they can sense something off about us.”

  “The mating bond acts as a deterrent,” Gregor offered. “It's like an anti-pheromone.”

  “Dude, I don’t even want to know how you know about pheromones. Ella needs to take your books away.” Sebastian snorted and laid back against the sand.

  Gregor kicked sand over him, making the other dragon squawk in outrage.

  “I am content with our relationship,” Edvard insisted. The thing was, he was telling the truth tonight. He was content with it – as long as it was all Carrie could offer him.

  “She needs a platonic male friend. I need to learn more about humans. We exist in a state of symbiosis.” Edvard shrugged a powerful shoulder. “It works for us both.”

  “Are you sure it isn’t codependency?” Gregor asked.

  He did not cower at the deadly glare Edvard sent his way. “No. We have a good relationship and she does not ask anything more of me than I can give. In fact, she rarely asks anything of me other than companionship.”

  “Something happened to our friend,” Daegal said. “Something terrible. She thinks I don’t notice when she flinches if I come too close.”

  “I came up behind her one time and scared her so badly she trembled for an hour afterward,” Gregor admitted. “Ella knows something happened, but she will not disclose it to me. I’m not even sure she knows all the details. Perhaps this trauma is why the bond has not formed.”

  Edvard put his head in his hands. “I do not know. Perhaps there is no bond at all. Perhaps I am wasting my time in pursuing something that will never happen.”

  Daegal’s gaze was contemplative. “We are ruled by instinct, are we not?” he asked.

  “Aye,” they said in unison.

  “So what do your instincts say?” Daegal asked.

  Edvard thought about it. “They say that there is more to Carrie than meets the eye and that a bond is there, if not visible to us Dragonkind yet.”

  “Then trust your dragon instincts, Edvard.” He clapped a hand on his shoulder. “To the victor goes the spoils,” he said in Dragontongue.

  The dragons sat there for a while, caught up in their own thoughts. Edvard longed for the same companionship his brothers had. He wanted someone to love. He wanted children. He wanted the chaos and heartache that could come with a mate.

  Edvard felt every single day of his thousands of years. Immortality never felt more painful than it did today.

  “Do you regret it?” Edvard finally asked when the moon was high in the sky and the silence consisted of only the waves crashing against the shore. Sebastian and Gregor both lay on the sand, their weapons beside them. They did not often have these moments of contemplative stillness. Gregor longed for this more than any of them because of his quiet nature, but all of them needed to get out of their own heads for a while. Edvard could not remember the last time any of them had been this still.

  Daegal’s gaze was still cast to the ocean and moonlit shadows made his profile glow. He was a king no matter where he sat and Edvard never felt more proud to serve him than this night.

  “Our awakening?” Daegal asked.

  Edvard nodded. “Aye.”

  “Perhaps at first. The constant fighting with Ludovic wearied my soul. To awaken and know I would once again be cast into that role made me want to close my eyes and drift again.” He sighed. “But when Sara opened that door, that flaming hair of hers cast an imprint on my soul I never thought I'd find.”

  Edvard smiled.

  “So do I regret it?” Daegal shook his head. “Nay. I’d walk a thousand miles with the world strapped to my shoulders to find her should we ever be separated from each other. I’d fight a thousand battles and sleep under the light of a thousand burning suns to find my way back to her.”

  “Dude. That's fucking poetic,” Sebastian said, causing them all to belly laugh.

  “You’re such an asshole,” Daegal said, but even he was grinning.

  “Jillian probably wishes I had a tenth of the poetry in my soul as you fuckers do.” Sebastian’s grin was unrepentant. “But I make up for it in other ways.” He wiggled his hips in the sand.

  Gregor leaned over and punched Sebastian right in the family jewels. “If you keep talking like that, I’ll ruin those for you and Jillian will be forced to find someone else much more poetic than you.”

  Sebastian rolled over and groaned in agony. “I hate you sometimes, Gregor.”

  “I hate your mouth all the time,” Gregor said. But neither one of them were angry.

  Edvard snorted with amusement. “Low blow, Gregor.”

  “Literally,” Daegal said.

  He couldn’t help himself. Edvard burst out laughing even as Sebastian rolled in the sand.

  5

  Carrie

  The dragons gathered around Sara's table for dinner. They had vowed a few nights ago to eat dinner together at least once a week. Sara was not super keen on feeding all of them because dragon dinner night equaled uncontrolled chaos, so Daegal worked it to where she had the night off. Sara was so grateful, she’d made up for it for a lengthy period of time. This forced the other dragons to give their wives the same deal.

  Then the ladies had promptly planned their own kid-free dinner night, though the actual dinner aspect of it was debatable. Sara, Jillian, Carrie and Ella sprawled around the living room floor, two open bottles of wine on the table before them. Carrie’s tree house wasn’t large, but it accommodated four small ladies just fine, especially since their children were with their fathers.

  “Do you think your house is still standing?” Ella asked Sara. She held her wineglass precariously between two fingers. The ruby liquid glittered in the low lights. Her hair was loose, and she was just drunk enough for her eyes to glow with that light that all women got when they were relaxed and a few cups in.

  “Odds are low,” Sara said. Her hair was unbound, too, and it spilled over Jillian’s shoulders as Sara’s head was parked firmly there. Her face was tilted up to the ceiling, watching the fan spin lazily around them.

  They’d gone a little out of the box when it came to their definition of dinner. Instead of an actual meal, Carrie had set out one cheese fondue pot and a chocolate one along with a spread of pretzels, crackers, chips and then graham crackers and strawberries for the chocolate. They were all full of so many carbs they couldn’t really move.

  “How's the greenhouse?” Jillian asked as she moved a lock of Sara’s hair out of her face for the umpteenth time.

  Carrie lay on her stomach, her third glass of wine in her hand. She was trying to get her graham cracker into the chocolate stream but she was having trouble with her aim. “Great,” she pronounced. “I started growing herbs first. Basil, a bay tree, thyme, rosemary and oregano.” She crowed with victory when she finally submerged the cracker. “All the things I need to make a kick-ass spaghetti sauce.”

  Sara groaned. “Please don’t teach Edvard,” she begged. “I don’t think I could bear the same meal for an entire week again.”

  Carrie cracked up. “He’s
learning, Sara. Give him some time and maybe you won’t have to do any cooking.”

  Sara sat up. “Holy shit. That’s a great idea. Deal with the punishment now, reap the rewards later.” She waved her wine glass. “Continue then. Teach the dragon all the things.”

  Ella snorted. “Does he read?” She twirled her wineglass around. “Gregor reads everything,” she sighed dreamily. “I tucked a copy of the Kama Sutra underneath one of the books on his nightstand. It disappeared.” Ella’s eyes glittered. “Two nights later, things got real interesting at bedtime.”

  A bark of laughter escaped Carrie. “Edvard stole one of my dragon shifter novels.”

  “Oh shit,” Jillian said, howling with laughter. “I wonder how he measures up when it comes to fiction?” A secretive smile crossed her face. “I’ve never read one of those, but I bet those fictional characters ain’t got nothing on Sebastian.”

  “Does Sebastian walk around naked all the time?” Ella asked, her eyes dreamy. “He seems like the kind of guy who does.”

  Jillian grinned. “He is mighty proud of what the fates have given him,” she non-answered.

  “That means yes,” Carrie said.

  Ella snorted. “When the doors are closed, Gregor sheds clothes like a snake sheds skin. Other than that, he’s always properly clothed.”

  Carrie fanned herself. “Stop,” she begged them. “Everyone is getting action besides me.”

  All her friends stopped what they were doing and pinned her with a stare. “You could fix that, you know,” Jillian said quietly. “Mating bond or no, Edvard is a virile piece of medium-rare steak, and we all know how hungry you are.”

  Carrie’s eyes widened. “I’m not really sure I like this whole sexual awakening vibe you have going on,” she muttered.

  “Do you like to climb?” Ella asked.

  At Carrie’s blank stare, Ella laughed. “For exercise?”