“You don’t think I’m rushing things?” Evangeline asked, heart clenched tight.
“Things with their kind can be…intense. You’ll see. Just don’t invite me to your wedding. They’ll sniff me out in a heartbeat, and I don’t want to be the appetizer at the reception.”
“Oh, we’re not moving that fast!” Evangeline couldn’t believe what Nellie was insinuating. “I wouldn’t let any of them hurt you, either.”
Nellie didn’t look convinced. Then, before she could say more, her gaze moved past Evangeline. A small smile touched her lips before she stood and left the room. Evangeline wondered where her friend was going until the door behind her chimed and she turned to find Casey.
And he’d brought coffee.
“I’m not great at this. The only thing I could remember was cold, so I got you the cold drink that the girl behind the counter suggested.” He offered up a creamy concoction.
“I usually take it black,” she said, but took it anyway. “I don’t need the extra calories…”
She’d forgotten how good coffee with cream and flavored syrups could be. Upon first sip, she groaned with happiness. She closed her eyes and savored the sweetness.
“I’m going to keep buying you sugared coffees and candy bars until you realize I don’t care about calories,” Casey said. “I care about your happiness.”
This time, she caught him by the front of his shirt before he could leave and tugged him down for a kiss. She couldn’t help but nibble his lower lip. While she still had him, she whispered her thanks.
“No problem, pixie.”
“Pixie?”
He tossed her a lopsided grin as he turned to leave. “You look a bit like a fairy, and I’m fairly certain you’ve enchanted me.”
He left without any further explanation. The weight that’d settled into her gut broke apart and dissolved into nothing.
* * *
Casey needed to tell the others that they weren’t going to roll over when Zander came for them. He wasn’t sure how to convince Gavin and Erik to put up a fight. He wasn’t even sure he could approach Gavin without having him blow up again.
Evangeline’s scent was all over Casey. He was about to walk into their den, smelling like woman. He didn’t know how to tell Gavin that he hadn’t planned for any of this.
He expected to have to hunt Gavin down, but found him on the cabin’s front steps when he pulled in. Gavin glared at him before rolling his neck and trying to control his expression. In the end, Gavin’s glare softened into slight discomfort. It was an upgrade, but barely.
“Sorry for endangering your girlfriend,” Gavin said.
Casey was taken aback for a second. Then, he replied, “Evangeline isn’t my girlfriend yet.”
“Yet,” Gavin echoed. “I saw the way you looked at her. Not a damn soul in this world willing to share the same enthusiasm for me.”
Casey wanted to ask about Tiffany and what happened to her, but before he could bring her up, Erik burst into the room.
“How dare you ignore my lascivious gaze!”
Gavin scowled. “That’s a big word for a man with a brain the size of a peanut.”
Not one to miss a beat, Erik quickly snapped back, “That’s because all that extra brain matter went straight to my balls.”
“That’s not true,” Dillon said as he passed through. “With your pants as tight as they are, we’d be able to see balls that big.”
Dillon didn’t stop to admire their shocked reactions. He kept going on about his day as if he hadn’t completely wrecked Erik’s manhood. Erik himself fumbled, lips flapping.
Without Dillon around, Erik picked his jaw up off the floor, shook his head, and trudged out of the foyer as if he needed to go out and find new meaning in life.
“I hate to say it,” Casey began, “but I think they’re growing on me.”
Gavin gave a noncommittal grunt that could have been agreement. It also could have been a cough. Casey followed him through the cabin and out the back door where a jacuzzi was nested into the ground. At first, Casey couldn’t find the jacuzzi’s heating mechanism. Then, he realized Gavin had been heating the water through the power of self-loathing, or more accurately, dragon fire.
“Zander didn’t tell us what happened,” Casey explained. “The only thing the clan knows is that you up and left.”
Gavin tossed his clothes aside and sank into the water as it began to churn around him. “Of course not. He was never a great father. I think he’s always resented my existence. I finally gave him the opening he’s been looking for.”
Casey slowly followed Gavin’s meaning. “You think Zander always wanted to kill you?”
Gavin gave a nearly imperceptible nod. “Right before Tiffany left, the two of them had a meeting. I thought he was preparing her for joining the clan, telling her that even as a human she would have to swear fealty to him and all that bullshit. Instead, I think he told her that I’m a monster. He scared my mate away.”
“If she was your mate, she wouldn’t have been scared.”
Evangeline had watched Casey’s eyes shift a handful of times now. She had her guesses about what he was. She’d even seen him tear a car trunk open with his bare hands. Not once had she flinched in fear.
Mates did not run from their other halves. Gavin might have loved Tiffany, but Casey could already tell she’d never been the one. How did he tell that to a powerful dragon determined to hold onto his misery?
He couldn’t. Gavin had to figure that shit out on his own. In the meantime, Zander wanted to kill them all.
“Do you think your father is intimidated by us? Is that why he threw the three of us into his nuke zone?” Casey sat on the ground and rolled up his pant legs so he could put his feet in the water.
Gavin shrugged. “’Who knows? I’ve never been able to understand that man. Maybe he thinks we’re all defective. I can’t keep a mate. Erik can’t even hold his shit together. It’s a blue moon when Dillon strings together a sentence with more than two clauses.”
“And myself?”
“That’s what I don’t understand. My best guess is that Zander knew you were loyal to me.” Gavin’s intense gaze slid to Casey. “What would you have done once Zander killed me?”
Casey wanted to say that he would have moved on, but his beast tossed its head. He could feel the beast’s flames licking the inside of his skin. Their friendship was far from over, even if they had a few walls between them now.
“I would have trounced his ass,” Casey finally said.
Gavin snorted.
“You know, we still can. We could put up a fight and keep living.”
Casey could already tell that Gavin wanted nothing to do with life or the possibility of a future. Gavin probably couldn’t see one in which he was happy. Maybe Casey could ask Evangeline if she had any friends he could hook Gavin up with. A rebound might make a bit of difference in this fight.
But the blonde he’d seen with Evangeline seemed too timid, and the brunette kept vanishing any time he or the others came near her. Neither would help Gavin get over the woman who’d left him over a few whispered threats.
Casey stood and brushed himself off. “She wasn’t worth shit, just so you know.”
Before Gavin could pounce on him, Casey wandered back inside. He had hope that those words would finally sink in and lift the weight Gavin had placed on his own shoulders, but he doubted it. They would need a miracle to convince Gavin that he had a future.
Casey could worry about it, or he could start making this mountain their home. The others would stand by him when he fought Zander. So, they might as well make this situation into something they could enjoy when it was all over.
“Shithole!” Casey followed Erik’s scent through the house and found him hanging out on a deck on the other side of the house. “How many decks does this house have?”
Erik jerked his chin and pointed past the railing. “This motherfucker has koi fish.”
Sure enough, ther
e was a pond just below them. Colorful fish flicked their tails and darted just beneath the water’s surface.
“Think he’d lose his mind if I ate one?” Erik asked.
“I think he’d eat you.”
Erik grinned. “I’d like to see him try.”
“Well, your bonding methods are creepy. Do me a favor and keep that all under wraps tomorrow. I’m bringing a friend over and I need you to grill burgers.” Casey leaned against the railing and eyed Erik.
“I’ll do you one better. Get me four racks of ribs, and I’ll show you the best tasting pig you’ve ever had.”
“At least I know you’re willing to eat something other than your own clanmates.”
That wicked grin returned. “Can’t help myself. Got a taste for it in the womb after I ate my twin.”
Casey raised a brow. Dragon twins were rare. He wasn’t surprised that Erik’s sibling didn’t make it, but he wondered what that had done to Erik. Surely, that had to be why Erik was so strange and unpredictable.
“Are you bringing over a woman?” Dillon asked.
Both Casey and Erik startled, surprised that Dillon could approach them without making a sound.
“You are easily three hundred pounds of muscle,” Erik snapped. “Make some fucking noise.”
Dillon’s brows fell into an unimpressed line, and he stomped the rest of the way towards them, as if Erik had just asked him to become an oaf. Casey couldn’t stifle his laughter. The display was too funny.
For the first time since he’d arrived, he wasn’t all that upset over this assignment. Instead, he could see potential in the men around him. He told Dillon that a woman would come over for a cookout tomorrow.
Dillon nodded in assent. “Good. I didn’t know we could look for mates here. I think I’d like a soft lady to hold at night.”
“You’d crush a human woman with those meaty paws of yours,” Erik said. “Are you sure you’re a dragon and not a bear?”
Undaunted, Dillon replied, “You can’t get me back for what I said earlier. You’re stuck with that shame for life.”
Erik bristled, but Casey put a hand on his shoulder and rooted him to the deck floor. They threw quips back and forth for about another hour before finally breaking out the beers. Erik made tacos for the group and the smell of them summoned Gavin from his jacuzzi.
Casey wanted to protect this at all costs.
10
Evangeline didn’t know what to wear.
Isabella and Nellie lounged on her bed, shouting their advice as she dug through everything she owned. Isabella liked the cream colored bustier with an oversized cardigan in a shade of red wine. Nellie claimed the cardigan clashed with Evangeline’s new hair color and reached for a white crop top and a pair of torn jeans.
The only thing they could agree on was that a skirt was out of the question. Evangeline held up her faux leather skirt and pouted because it was her favorite item in her wardrobe.
“Then Casey’s friends will try to look up your skirt all day, and he’ll get mad at them,” Isabella said softly. “You want to make friends, not start fights.”
Evangeline wrinkled her nose and tossed the skirt aside. “Why is this so damn hard? I’m just going to sit around, drink beer, eat some ribs, and maybe get some sketches done.”
Nellie wore a bittersweet smile as she folded a discarded t-shirt. “You found yourself a mate, and you want to make sure this works out.”
Everyone else paused and stared at Nellie.
“That word you just said. Normal people don’t use that word.” Evangeline had never heard her friend use that term before in her life.
Immediately, Nellie’s cheeks turned beet red. Flustered, she searched about for a piece of clothing, probably so she could divert the conversation. Evangeline took a step toward her, and Isabella leaned in, clearly intrigued.
“Mate. What does it mean? What aren’t you telling me?” Evangeline’s heart raced a little too fast.
Why was she so scared of a single word?
Nellie huffed and turned her gaze toward the ceiling. “Okay, okay. This is all conjecture and guesswork. I’m not sure what those guys even are, but if I’m right…if I’m right then you might have found yourself the kind of love that only comes once in a lifetime. Like, forever kind of love.”
“Forever?” Evangeline squeaked. “I don’t own a stitch of clothing that says I’m in this forever. How can I show up on his doorstep now? I don’t think I can do this!”
Isabella hid a giggle behind her hands. Nellie grimaced at Evangeline’s panic.
“What do you mean forever? Am I trapped against my will? Is he going to kidnap me tonight? Am I supposed to love him, too? I don’t understand how this works!”
Isabella leapt off the bed and pulled Evangeline into a hug, gently patting her head at the same time. A fraction of Evangeline’s panic bled away, but a bit of nervous energy still crackled in her chest.
“I don’t think he’s going to try to kidnap you,” Nellie explained. “For them, mating is kind of like a promise of a happy marriage for the rest of your life. Well, most of the time. There are still assholes out there and even assholes get mates. Fate doesn’t leave anyone high and dry.”
Fate.
Evangeline hadn’t considered fate. Her life had only ever been the consequences of her own actions. To think that some power far above her had pulled the strings to put her where she was kind of hurt. Why had fate put her in the hands of so many bad men? She didn’t deserve the pain they’d put her through, did she?
She swallowed and turned back to her outfit options.
“I never should have said anything.” Nellie headed for the door.
Isabella called out, but when Nellie didn’t stop, she had to chase after her. Evangeline was left alone with her feelings and her closet. The urge to step inside and close the door against everything that was happening in the world became nearly overwhelming. Instead, Evangeline reached for the ring dangling from her neck.
What would her grandfather say? The man had endured a lot, but if anyone brought up how cruel fate was, he probably would have told them that fate had done it to mold him into the man he was. Perhaps fate had done the same to her. Because she’d seen her fair share of awful lovers, she could appreciate the one that truly cared for her.
Her grandfather would have liked Casey, too. He would have taken one look at the man and said he was one worth keeping.
She grabbed her painting jeans, the paint-smeared and ripped pair she wore when she painted the walls of the tattoo shop. A man who could build her a house would appreciate a woman who could get messy. The bustier Nellie picked out went back into the dresser so Evangeline could grab her Grumpy Sailor logo tee.
On her way into the kitchen, she pulled her hair up into a sloppy bun. Isabella and Nellie were arguing over the guys. It was clear that Nellie still didn’t trust them, but she quieted the moment Evangeline appeared.
“I won’t tell them anything about you,” Evangeline promised.
“And I won’t stop you from getting the love you deserve,” Nellie added.
Evangeline wished she could bring along both her friends and show them why she was falling for Casey. If only Nellie would give him a chance, she would understand that she had nothing to fear.
“Someday, you’ll come to like him,” Evangeline said with conviction.
Nellie didn’t look so convinced. She didn’t look impressed by Evangeline’s outfit, either.
“Really? The painting pants?” Isabella asked.
“I’m hanging out with a bunch of dudes today. Don’t worry, I’m going to wear my big boots so I can kick butt, too.”
Before either could say anything more, Evangeline heard a honk outside. She ran to the window and found Casey’s truck waiting outside for her. Waving goodbye to her friends, she grabbed her bag, asked them to lock-up after her, and bounded down the stairs. When she reached the sidewalk outside, the window above opened and Isabella leaned out.
“Let us know if the dick is good!”
Evangeline spun on her heel and called back up to her friend, “I already know it’s good!”
Isabella punched the air. “Go get it, girl!”
Evangeline turned back to Casey to find his cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. He cast a dubious glance up at Isabella before leaning back into the truck, out of her view.
“I did not expect the waif to talk like that,” he mumbled.
* * *
Smoke drifted around the lawn, making the air smell sweet and savory. Her stomach rumbled with anticipation as Casey helped her out of the truck. She bit her lower lip as she took in the guys standing off to the side of the cabin.
The russet-haired one had thrown the table at the bar. He’d come close to hitting her, too. All at once, Nellie’s fears returned to her. These four men could probably lift cars. She felt positively helpless around them, but as they stepped closer, they made room for her.
Block-head got out of his seat and offered it to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Abercrombie.”
She did a doubletake. Block-head sounded much kinder than he looked.
“We all do that when he speaks,” Sunglasses informed her.
Casey quickly introduced her to Dillon and Erik. Though Casey tried to claim they hadn’t been friends for long, she could tell the two guys admired him. They stepped back when Casey moved through them and grabbed a chair for her.
Dillon shrugged and claimed the chair he’d vacated for her. “So, do you have any pretty friends you could bring around?”
“Sorry, dude. Isabella is taken and Nellie is positively terrified of whatever you guys are.”
They all went quiet. Dillon and Erik exchanged glances before looking to Casey. She leaned back to watch Casey put his hands up.
“I didn’t tell her anything. She’s observant, and we’re reckless. Just be glad she’s the only one who caught on.” He flicked open another folding chair and sat beside her.
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