by Roxie Ray
The clock blinked as it changed time, and I realized I needed to be at work soon. “I gotta run, Axel. Thanks for letting me talk. I bet I was overreacting. Don’t stress about it.”
He nodded. “If you say so. See you later, Harley.” He got out and waved as I pulled out.
As much as I wanted to believe I was being paranoid, I couldn’t get the strange conversation with Tyler out of my head. Before I let my first client leave, I described him and asked her if she’d seen him around town. She hadn’t.
I asked all my clients over the course of the day, and none of them recognized the description.
It strained credulity that in the eight clients I helped on that slow day, none of them had seen hide nor hair of the man around town. In a town of less than three hundred people, it was just hard to believe.
When I locked the doors and began my closing cleanup routine, I put my cellphone on the counter and called Ava on speaker.
“Hey, babe,” she exclaimed. “I’m glad you called. Any news on when it’s good for you to go on our girls’ trip?”
“No, I haven’t even thought about it, actually.” I laughed. “Sorry. But hey, listen, is Mav nearby?” I grabbed the phone and took it with me as I filled all the basins with hot water and disinfectant.
“Yeah, why? You okay?”
I gave her a brief recap of my date and turned on the jets to cycle the cleaner through the entire system. Had to stay clean.
She put me on speaker. The tone of the sounds coming over the line changed, and when Maverick spoke, it sounded like he was across the room. “Hey, Harley, what’s going on?”
“That date I had? Did Axel tell you about it?”
“Yeah, he called as soon as you left the station.”
“Good. I asked all my clients about him today. I had eight clients, and none recalled seeing him before.”
Maverick coughed. “I know you told him not to worry about it, but I did some asking around myself. Nobody I talked to had seen him either.”
Ava said something, but I didn’t hear her over the sounds of the jets. Maverick’s voice got louder. He must’ve moved closer to the phone. “Axel is on patrol right now,” he said. “Let me call him and have him follow you home. Would you care to wait inside until he gets there?”
I sighed, relieved. The whole situation was probably an overreaction, but I couldn’t get the memory of how Tyler had unnerved me out of my head. “Thanks, Maverick. I still think we’re being overly cautious, but I appreciate it.”
He chuckled. “Axel will tap on the door twice when he gets there. Don’t worry.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Ava chimed in.
Axel tapped on the door before I was even finished getting the last of the instruments in the sterilizer. His smiling face shone through the glass, so I ran over and unlocked the door. “Almost ready!” I said as I crossed to the back to get my stuff and clock out.
“I’ll be just outside,” he said.
I snatched my purse out of my little cabinet and knocked the stupid thing over. By the time I got everything back inside and locked the front door, Axel had a somber look on his face. “Maverick called. He asked that you come straight to their house. There was a call about a strange man lurking around the other side of town, and he wants to come check it out with me before you go home.”
“What about my Nana?” I asked. “If this Tyler guy somehow already knows where I live, Nana and her nurse could be in danger.”
“I already thought of that. My mom and dad are on their way to her house to hang out with the nurse and spend the night if necessary. Mom was a nurse before she quit to stay home with Jury. She’s fully qualified.”
I threw my arms around him in relief. “Your family is a bunch of saints,” I said.
He patted my back and chuckled. “I’m glad you think so. Ready?”
“Yep. One question. Who is over at Ava and Maverick’s house tonight?” The unspoken question was if Stefan was there or not.
“Just the family, but once we get there, Mav is coming with me. You’ll be at the mercy of Jury and Maddox.”
Oh, my. Those two kids would probably have me playing some video game or another before the night was out.
When I parked in front of their cabin, Maverick came out and waved as he walked to Axel’s car. Ava waited at the door.
“Can you believe this mess?” I asked. I walked into her foyer and faced her with an apology on my lips. “My life is nuts lately.”
8
Stefan
Getting Harley out of my head was easier said than done. I’d just hung out with Jury and Madd the night before and took a long flight with Maverick today. Texting any of them again would make me seem too much like a desperate loser, so I made my way to the garage instead. My truck didn’t need any work to speak of, but I decided to put fresh spark plugs in it and give it a bit of a tune-up. It was better than sitting in my apartment watching TV and walking back and forth from the fridge to the couch.
No matter how many times I did it, the fridge didn’t grow any new food to distract me. The third time I’d stood in front of it and sighed, I slammed it shut and came downstairs to putter on my truck.
The night at Maverick’s, when I left Harley crying upstairs in the spare bedroom, stuck in my mind like a song on repeat. The sound of Harley’s tortured, drunken tears beat through my ears like the cruelest drumbeat.
Eros went silent that night. The only thing that let me know he was still there was the weight of his sadness. He still shifted for flights, but it didn’t bring him any joy like it used to. I’d tried to talk to him a few times, but he never responded.
There were always times having another voice in my head was annoying, but once he refused to respond, too deep in his melancholy, I missed him more than I ever thought possible.
A car pulled up outside, moving fast. I heard the door slam even with my head deep in the engine of the truck. I hurried over to the door, opening it to peer out at the dark parking lot.
It was a squad car. Focusing, I heard light footsteps running around the side of the building. Someone was headed for my stairs. It was one of the Kingstons or Carlos.
Stepping outside, I inhaled deeply. Maverick. “Mav,” I called. “I’m here.” Something was wrong for him to have driven in like this and run for my apartment.
The footsteps halted and then started back up in my direction.
I met him at the corner of the building. “What’s going on?”
The moonlight reflected worry in his eyes. “I think someone is after Harley.”
My heart pounded as Eros made the first sound I’d heard from him in ages. He growled, low and quiet as he listened.
“Why do you think that?” My blood froze as I waited for him to answer.
“A man asked her out at the grocery store.”
Eros’s growl raised in volume. “So? I mean, I don’t like the idea of her dating someone else, but what can I do?”
Eros’s voice cut off abruptly. Sadness washed over me.
“No, that was just the beginning.” He walked toward the door to the shop. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
He stopped before entering. “Take a deep breath. Let Eros scent the air. Do you recognize any smells?”
I’d gotten used to the constant barrage of strange smells. After all the months I’d lived in Black Claw, I still didn’t know everyone’s scent. It would come with time, but new smells were a daily occurrence. “I can discern two scents of humans I don’t know.”
Eros stirred within me as I inhaled again. He grunted, and I knew he was applying his magic ability to smell for miles.
There is a dragon. He settled down again, apparently not caring much that there was a strange dragon in Maverick’s territory.
“Eros says there’s the smell of a dragon,” I said. “What does that have to do with Harley?”
Maverick walked into the garage. I followed and shut the door behind me.
“She went on one coffee date with him, but she said he sent up red flags. That was this morning. When she left the coffee shop, she pulled into the police station to hide and give him time to drive away so he couldn’t follow her.”
His words made my icy blood crack with fear. “What would make her that scared? Is he a dragon?”
Maverick shook his head. “I don’t know. Harley said she asked around all day and nobody has seen the man around town. I did the same and came up with nothing. He told her he was an independent contractor in town for the last few months.”
My mind reeled. “If he’d been here for months, even if he’d only come into town occasionally, people would talk. My arrival was the gossip of the old biddies for weeks.”
Maverick threw out his hands. “My point.” He gave me an unsure look. “Do you think it could be someone from your past?”
That hadn’t even crossed my mind. “I don’t think so. I don’t recognize the scent at all.”
“Well, I’m inclined to agree. She has no smell of you on her. You haven’t claimed her. There’s no reason for me to think this man is interested in her because of you.”
Relief began to dance along my spine but fear still ruled my emotions. “Then, who?”
“That’s what I don’t know. It seems unlikely that a shifter would be interested out of the blue in Harley.” Mav picked up a wrench and turned it over in his hands. “I’m keeping an eye on it. But if it were Ava, I’d be furious if you knew and didn’t tell me.”
I grilled him for a few minutes for any more details he may have forgotten. Eventually, he set the wrench down and held his hands up. “Stef, son, you’d make a good investigator. You ask all the right questions.”
His praise, as usual, made me warm inside, but it still wasn’t enough to dispel the fear that something could happen to my mate. She was too sweet, too kind. It would be infuriating to know someone was after her even if she weren’t my mate.
But she was. And I couldn’t stand by and let some shifter come into her life and interfere. Or worse.
Maverick shook my hand, gripping tightly. “We’re here. You’re not alone in this. I know you’re going to want to stick close to her, but you have a clan to lean on now.”
I knew what he was trying to say. “I won’t go off half-cocked.”
His smile told me exactly how relieved he was that I said that. “Good. She’s at my place tonight and I’ll have Maddox follow her to work tomorrow. She should be safe there. We’ll touch base tomorrow afternoon, okay?”
The days following were nothing short of pure torture. As soon as Maverick left, I traced the two scents. One led straight for the gas station on Main. The clerk, who I’d never met, belonged to the scent. She was young and tough-looking. Definitely not a creepy dragon shifter.
That left one. Eros wouldn’t forget it. I drove around town with the windows of the truck down, letting Eros do his thing. When the scent didn’t pop up again, I headed for the Kingston property, stripped down and flew large, wide circles around the town in the dark.
Eros caught a faint trace of the scent along the highway out of town. The man must’ve stopped his vehicle and gotten out for a few moments for something, then got back in and left.
We headed back to the Kingston land and shifted back. By the time I made it home, I was exhausted and managed to sleep without trouble.
Thus began my week of torture. I split my time between the garage, making up excuses for Todd as to why I spent so much time popping in and out of the shop. By the week’s end, he thought I’d had my hair cut, doctor’s appointment, insurance appointment, and overslept. If I gave him one more excuse, he might give in to the suspicious looks he’d been shooting me all week.
Of course, I had no appointments. I spent the week being a complete stalker to Harley. I had to make sure she got to and from work okay. And her days off were torture. I had to call Maverick to get Ava involved and find out what her plans were on her two off days. Luckily, she spent the majority of her time at home with her Nana, so I was able to go to work and not leave. But I spent those days worried that she’d change her mind and decide to go out. If she did that, someone might get to her.
I couldn’t convince myself that the Kingston clan and the wolves were doing a constant patrol of the area.
The wolves’ noses were better than the dragons, even. They enjoyed full run of the Kingston land in exchange for moments like this when the Kingstons needed their help. And if I knew a wolf shifter, they loved patrol. The hunt was the biggest thrill of their lives. It was for a dragon, too, but wolves tended to be wilder and closer to their shift than a dragon.
The shop closed on Sundays, and I had my Saturday off this weekend. Harley would be at work all day, so I planned to check in with Mav and take a long nap. I hadn’t slept well all week.
Friday afternoon, I got a text from Maverick.
Come by the house when you get off work, please.
The rest of the day crawled. As soon as I finished my last scheduled repair, I washed my hands. “You don’t care if I get my weekend started, do you, Todd?” I dried my hands and clapped him on the shoulder before he could deny me. “Thanks, Todd. I know it’s been a crazy week. I appreciate you being patient with me. I’ll be back to normal soon.”
He stared at me like I’d lost my mind but didn’t tell me I couldn’t go. My excellent hearing picked up his words as he muttered under his breath. “Good thing you’ve been such a damn good employee, or I’d have you carted to the nut farm.”
I went up the stairs to my apartment with a smile on my face. As worried as I was about what Mav might have to tell me, I appreciated Todd. He was a good man, even though he was a terrible flirt.
As soon as I cleaned up, I jumped in my truck and went straight for Mav’s place. I didn’t even eat. Harley was on the closing shift tonight, so I had several hours before she’d be leaving work.
Maverick and his little brother Jury waited for me on the porch.
It had been a warm week. Our weather was preparing to turn into spring and begin the long, slow melting of all the snow.
“Sit,” Maverick said. “Have a glass of tea.”
He had a tray with a pitcher and glasses of amber liquid between him and Jury on the porch. “What are you, an old Southern grandma now?” I grabbed a glass and gulped some down. I hadn’t realized how hungry or thirsty I was.
“We need to talk. Hailey is inside doing homework and Ava has a deadline. Didn’t want to bother them.” Ava did something with websites. Building them, I was pretty sure. I knew she worked from home.
“What’s going on?” I scooted my chair around to face Maverick and Jury.
“You made an oath to do no harm while on my property,” Maverick said.
“I did.” Did he think I’d gone back on that oath? “What is this?”
“I need you to make another. What I’m about to tell you is a proprietary secret of the Kingston clan and can be told to nobody outside the clan.”
My jaw dropped. What secret could he have that would be that dire?
“It’s more than that,” he continued. “It cannot be shared with anyone outside the Black Claw Kingston Clan.”
My jaw dropped. “Not even your grandfather?”
Maverick nodded. “He knows, but nobody else in his clan does, at my request.”
I sat back in the chair and considered it. The vow he wanted me to make wasn’t something to be taken lightly. “You want a vow.”
He nodded. Dragons considered their vows to be something sacred. Both Eros and I would have to do it. We’d done it when Maverick accepted us as visitors on his land. We hoped one day to settle here but hadn’t held our breath that my past wouldn’t catch up to us. But we’d vowed not to do harm while on Kingston land and would die before breaking our word.
Maverick had showed me trust. He’d given me a chance when nobody ever had. He’d been my champion, my mentor.
I asked Eros if he would vow.
I will.
“We will make the vow.”
Holding out my hand, I watched as Eros shifted it into our dragon foot. Long black claws grew from the end of my fingers, which erupted in shining black scales.
A line of blood appeared in my other hand, still human, as I pulled the claw along the skin. It would heal in minutes, but I let the blood pool in my palm.
Maverick stood with Jury to his right. I let the blood drip into his hand, then Jury’s when he held it out. I hadn’t expected that, but I trusted him as well. After a brief hesitation, I held my hand over his. “I vow to keep your secret, the secret of the Black Claw Kingstons, whatever it may be. I will not utter it to anyone that the clan alpha does not permit me to do so.”
Maverick nodded. “It is done.”
We sat down as my hand shifted back to normal. By the time Maverick opened his mouth to speak, my palm had healed.
“Jury is a tracker,” Maverick blurted.
My jaw dropped again. “Wow.” That was huge news. Trackers were exceedingly rare. I’d heard stories about them as a kid. They were protected and often hunted down by other clans. “That’s huge news.”
“Indeed. He’s been tracking Harley.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I’ve been tracking her as well. I haven’t smelled that scent from the first night again, not since I followed it out of town.”
Jury leaned toward me and lowered his voice. “There is someone watching her, and he knows we’re here. I don’t know if he didn’t realize at first that this is a clan-claimed area, or if he didn’t care until we got on his trail. But he’s masking his scent. Probably with the Madagascar Dragon Tree, Dracaena Marginata. The leaves, if steeped into a tea, can dampen scent. He’d be scentless to most. Not even the wolves picked him up.”
Eros erupted to life within me, roaring his displeasure. We’d been doing all we could all week to keep her safe and it hadn’t mattered. I used the same damn tea, drinking it like clockwork every forty-eight hours, brewing it in bulk and keeping it in a flask in the truck. How did I not think about someone else doing it to spy?