by Eliza Gayle
A spark of envy ignited somewhere deep inside her, making her wish for things that could never happen. She was about to squelch it for good when Simon turned his head and met her gaze. Those ice blue eyes bored into her and beyond. That look she felt clear to her bones. He was so much more than a healer.
The desire to know more about him nearly drove her to her knees as she forced herself not to pry. Just because she had the ability to “see” inside his mind, didn’t make it right. In fact, how many times had she preached that very thing to her brothers when they chose to ignore what was right and violate someone’s privacy?
She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Just looking at him made her weak. She wasn’t immune to the hot lust glistening in his eyes. Even if it was just a by product of her mating heat, dammit. In return, her body reacted. Her heart beat faster, her legs trembled and tiny beads of sweat broke out across her forehead.
She wanted him.
So what? It was a natural reaction to a beautiful man by a woman biologically programmed to be interested. It meant nothing more. She had an itch that needed to be scratched.
She almost laughed as the rationalization of what she felt continued in her mind. If it were anyone else she would know there was more than biology at play here. But when it came to her heart and mind she refused to go there.
Or more precisely, she refused to believe.
Her eyelids lifted and she found him still completely focused on her. Intensity radiated off of him and if she wasn’t careful, they would soon find themselves in a compromising situation. Rules and biology be damned.
“What are you doing here?”
The rude question from a stranger jerked Kenzie back into reality with a force strong enough to give her whiplash. So much so she had to rub the back of her neck before she turned to face her inquisitor.
Another wolf from the smell of him.
A tall, dark and handsome man, despite the deep scowl stamped across his face, stood behind her. The loose but rigid posture he presented while leaning against a nearby wall screamed Alpha as loudly as a sign above his head would have declared.
“I was invited here by Simon to discuss his work. Although I’m not sure that’s any of your business, wolf.”
The man made no visible reaction to her snarled response. She knew better than to start a conversation this way before assessing the full situation, but something about the way he’d interrupted had set her off. And she refused to backpedal at this point. She’d learned long ago that once started, she’d have to finish.
“Since Simon is pack, my pack to be more specific, then it does make it my business. But that’s not what I meant and I’m sure you know that.” He pushed off the wall and all casualness disappeared. “What are you doing in the Dragon, dragon?”
Kenzie soaked in the disdain of each word he uttered and let it breathe through her. They’d expected their return would not be welcomed with open arms. Shifters had strong instincts about dominance and having a more dominant species return with no warning would no doubt set them on edge.
Unfortunately, it was not her duty to placate them. That’s what her brothers were for. They were the diplomats, not her.
“You should talk to Galen. He’s the one—”
“Kenzie.” Simon’s voice behind her interrupted her thought process and her body instantly reacted. Unfortunately, the subtle flare of arousal did not go unnoticed by the man who’d confronted her, as one of his eyebrows cocked high on his forehead. Dammit.
She scrambled to regain control as she fought not to turn her back on the alpha she didn’t know in favor of the one demanding her attention from behind. Although how it was a demand she didn’t fully understand.
Coming to Simon’s clinic had been a huge miscalculation on her part, but she’d have to deal with that later. Her presence had been noticed and she’d have to deal with that.
“Rafe, what’s going on? I thought you’d left.”
The wolf Simon called Rafe did not waver from his eye contact with her. Yes, she recognized it as a useless dominance game, but if he wanted to play it that way she would let him. She wouldn’t call him out on it, but she also wouldn’t succumb. It was not her nature to allow it.
“I came back to see how the surgery went and instead found this lovely creature observing.”
While the words were complimentary, Kenzie didn’t feel them that way at all. His wolf was on the defense and she wasn’t sure she could take anything he said at face value.
“Kenzie is here at my invitation. She’s my guest. Is that going to be a problem?”
Quite a bit of time passed with no response from Rafe. A suspicious, albeit gorgeous wolf who didn’t exactly fit the mold of what she’d expected. He wasn’t just tall and good looking, he was also broad as a barn. Much bigger than what she expected from his breed. It was easy to see how he could be the pack leader. Simon might be an Alpha in his own right, but Rafe was extremely different. He exuded his dominance with every word he spoke or every look he threw at you. His leadership would be as natural as any she’d ever seen.
“Not a problem today,” he finally answered. “Although I do still want some answers.”
Kenzie unscrewed some of the tension that had wound her muscles tight over the last several minutes as relief swept over her. Despite appearances, they really weren’t here to start a fight with the local population. Although what exactly her brother’s agenda might be she couldn’t even guess.
“I’ll let Galen know you’d like to talk to him.” It was the least she could do to keep the heat off of her. She had bigger problems to deal with at the moment. Including the wolf standing at her back making her senses go haywire.
“So he’s back then?” Rafe questioned.
She didn’t understand the question though. Galen had been here for several months now and hadn’t left as far as she knew.
A slow smile crossed the Alpha leader’s face. “I guess your male has a mind of his own then. Comes and goes as he pleases?”
The wolf’s implication that she was somehow submissive to her brother made Kenzie’s brain nearly explode. Her hackles rose and scales pushed at her skin. Not liking her presence was one thing, insults were completely another.
Simon must have sensed her anger rising and what that might mean. He stepped closer until the heat of his body pressed into her back, effectively blunting some of the edge. Or at the least it split her dragon’s focus and stopped her from tearing through his clinic.
“Galen is her brother, not her mate.”
Even in her state of distraction, she recognized the possessiveness in Simon’s tone and judging by the narrowing eyes of the Alpha leader and the compression of his lips into a thin line, so did he.
This conversation was going south so much faster than she anticipated and she feared this man was going to get the wrong impression.
“As I just arrived here yesterday afternoon, I don’t know much yet about Galen’s comings and goings. But rest assured as the head of our family’s security force, I will soon have all of it organized and in hand. And while I can understand your concerns about the sudden appearance of our family amongst your clans, I can only urge you to speak with my brother about the details.”
In the midst of her speaking to Rafe, Simon’s hand had curled around her waist, and once again caused her mind to falter. Her reactions to him were definitely getting out of hand. Clearly it was time for her to leave.
“Simon. A word.” The rough timbre of his leader’s command was not lost on her despite her mind focusing on Simon’s touch more than ever. Unfortunately, some of the other nearby shifters had picked up on the rising tension and were beginning to gravitate towards them.
“Let me get her settled in my office and then we can talk.”
She half expected Rafe to object, but as Simon propelled her forward and past the Alpha leader, he only watched them go with something akin to worry clouding his eyes. Yeah, join the club. She was worried too.
Simon led her to the end of a long hallway, to a door with one of those fancy high tech locks that looked like it needed to be opened with a retinal scan. That not only got her attention, but it gave her pause. What kind of information was he hiding behind these doors to need that kind of security?
When Simon leaned forward and the computer scanned and mapped his eye, she could no longer keep quiet. “That’s some big deal security for a small town clinic.”
He smiled without looking at her as the door unlocked. “Small town doesn’t mean backwoods. While I no longer consider my work top secret, it is sometimes sensitive and time consuming. I can’t risk anyone tampering with it, even accidentally.”
She frowned at the logic of his statement. It made sense minus any real cloak and dagger stuff like she’d half expected. When she stepped through the door and into an ordinary looking office with an organized and sparse desk dominating the middle of the room, her confusion tripled. Other than the desk there was only a row of locked file cabinets against the side wall. Definitely nothing that seemed to warrant a high level of security.
Although there were two other doors that led from this room to others and one of those had a similar lock on it. Maybe there was some hope for something interesting after all. Kenzie shook her head at that. Her suspicious mind and wandering imagination were getting the better of her. So much so that it took her far too long to realize they’d stopped moving and Simon still had his hand wrapped around her waist.
Or that his head had dipped closer to the point she felt his warm breath against the side of her neck when he spoke.
“Do you mind waiting here while I speak to Rafe? I figured you’d be more comfortable here than out there where someone might figure out your condition.”
Oh Goddess. The word condition slid over her skin like a soft and sensuous caress. The fact it had come out of his mouth on a low growl hadn’t helped. She had to admit that this situation was starting to drive her crazy. Maybe she just needed to scratch that itch after all.
Maybe then she could focus on the important things like the Alpha leader starting some trouble. Or the general reception of her family’s return to this area and whether that would ignite a war. Not to mention the rebuilding of their ancestral home.
“I can wait,” she answered, cringing at the breathless sound of her voice.
“Dammit.” His curse came out on a similar growl and before she could question it, he spun her around and pulled her into his arms. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
She started to question him and stopped when he pressed against her and she felt his erection pressing against her hip. It made her gasp.
“This cant—”
“ Do not tell me can’t. Fuck that. You don’t want it, that’s a different story, but don’t feed me that bullshit about can’t. We aren’t children.”
“It’s just the mating heat. We have to resist it. It will eventually pass.” Although on a level so deep she refused to examine it, she doubted her words.
Simon dropped his hands and took a step back, making her immediately miss his heat. Her brain was telling her she could resist, but her heart was saying something else. She blinked. Wait. What?
She closed her eyes against the information right in front of her because it simply couldn’t be true. They barely knew each other. The mating heat had to be playing tricks on her. There simply was no other explanation.
“Are you really that naïve?” The desperation in his voice had not disappeared, but there was now a thread of anger alongside it.
“I am not naïve, just realistic. I don’t know much about your life with your clan, but mine with my family is heavy with responsibility and expectations. I may have come to America for a change in scenery, but that doesn’t diminish the rest of my duties. I will have to eventually succumb.”
Simon leaned forward and traced his fingers down the side of her face. The resulting shiver worked the entire length of her body as she soaked in every millisecond of his touch.
“Responsibilities or not, you are still a woman. You have your own desires and wants and there will be times when those need to come first. We simply can’t survive otherwise.”
She closed her eyes to his words and his touch. What he said made sense even if she didn’t believe that it applied to her. But maybe for a moment she could pretend. With him. For him. She lifted her eyelids and angled her face upward to meet his gaze.
Once again that ice blue stare felt like it saw right through her. The molten heat inside the ice called to her and her fire within to do something—anything. Her focus moved to his lips. To say they were as beautiful as the rest of him was a massive understatement. They were full and lush and she could imagine them pressed against her.
Kenzie sighed. This train of thought was too dangerous as was the churning white-hot need pulsing through her. And yet, she couldn’t stop it. Just once. That’s all she needed to make it go away.
With him only four or five inches taller than her nearly six-foot frame, it was easy to lean forward and quickly press her lips to his before she could change her mind. His eyes widened in surprise and she tensed as a riot of new sensations immediately washed over her.
But it was his moan that did her in. Or maybe it was the arms that wrapped around her and pulled her flush against his body that sparked the frenzy. Either way, she kissed him harder as their tongues collided and clashed against each other. They were both moaning now and the sounds melded together into a cacophony of desperation and need.
One of his hands curled around her leg and pulled it up and around his hip. This positioned his very erect cock up against her core. All of her nerve endings came to life and Kenzie nearly blacked out from the suddenness of the all consuming hunger holding her enthralled.
She panted for breath. How could a kiss be so—so. Hell, she couldn’t even form words anymore. As if she couldn’t get enough, she bucked against him and hissed when the motion hit her in the best spot possible that sent pleasure racing through her.
He broke the kiss and immediately let her go, taking several steps back as she attempted to regain her balance from the sudden loss. She touched her fingers to her still tingling lips and dared to tilt her head to face him.
Heated lust still filled his eyes, but the anger had grown.
“Simon,” she whispered, her voice breaking as he pulled farther away from her. Swiping her tongue across her swollen lips, she closed her eyes against the sweet heat of his pure, primal desire for her. They’d crossed the line of safety she’d promised to keep away from.
“I have to talk to Rafe. Then we need to talk.”
Kenzie shook her head. This had to stop before it was too late. “I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong.” She could have been talking about being in his office, in his clinic and around his wolf. Or she could have been talking about here in the Dragon at all. The thoughts were currently interchangeable.
Galen had tried to tell her it was too dangerous for her to be here right now. Maybe she should have listened. Kenzie bristled at her own thoughts as much as Simon’s declaration that they needed to talk.
Talking was the one thing she didn’t need. She was not a child in need of scolding any longer. Nor did she need advice on what she should or shouldn’t be doing. She was a dragon, for cripes sake. She’d damn well do as she pleased. No one controlled her destiny but her.
Simon cupped her chin. “You belong more than you know. Doesn’t make this any easier though, I’m afraid.” He sighed. “Let me settle Rafe and then we’ll figure it out. I promise.”
With the ring of ‘I promise’ reverberating through her mind, she nodded, eager to have a moment to pull herself back together. That he smiled at her in response only made her stomach swoop harder than when he kissed her. But only after he disappeared through the door and she found herself alone in this quiet, windowless office, did the implications of this situation begin to sink in. Something wasn’t right. It was as if this
burning need inside her had gone beyond—something.
She was a dragon in a territory that she didn’t belong. Even though she could control it if she wanted to, it wasn’t her home.
Even worse. She’d just had her first real kiss. An unforgettable, mind melding, control destroying kiss. From a wolf.
And she knew without a doubt she’d made a grave error.
Chapter Ten
“You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Simon had found Rafe pretty much in the exact spot where he’d left him, lounging against a wall outside his one operating room. While that loose stance and nonchalance stamped across his face might look easy going from the outside, he knew better than most that Rafe hid his emotions well.
He didn’t rule their clan with anger or force. He didn’t have to. He’d more than proven himself as a fierce opponent when challenged. Especially when it came to his mating outside their clan. Hell, outside their breed.
He was the first wolf pack Alpha to take a mate that didn’t shift into a wolf. But Kitty wasn’t an ordinary cougar shifter either. Her DNA was complicated and only he and Rafe knew the full extent of it. Although when and more importantly, if she gave him children, they might not be able to avoid the true nature of her genes.
“So you know—”
“That she’s a dragon? How could I not? The scent of her fire from within is so strong I could pick it up the minute I got within a mile of her. Hiding she does not do well.”
Simon shook his head. “I don’t think she’s trying to hide.”
Rafe’s lips compressed into a thin, grim line before he responded. The two of them had been best friends for a very long time and he liked to think that he knew his Alpha well. But when it came to Kenzie he was hesitant to even guess what Rafe might be thinking.
Having dragons show up in their territory easily changed everything.
“I would imagine not. Although I’m more concerned about why they are here than whether they are sneaking around. What do you know?”