After they made out for about twenty minutes, he knew he would lose control soon, and neither of them were ready to consummate their relationship. So he shifted her to sit in front of him, and he leaned his back against the rough rock. They waited there, relaxing together in the salty water for hours.
Their parents and families had not been amused that they’d caught zero fish. For the first time he could remember his parents’ voices, if not their faces. Maybe that would come in time.
“We sat like this after our first kiss,” he said, leaning down to kiss Carolina’s bare shoulder. “Our brothers were so irritated that we brought home no fish.”
She did not reply. Instead of turning around to kiss him back, Her shoulders began to shake. He leaned forward and his heart split in two. She was crying. They were no loud sobs, but silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
“What is wrong? Should I not have mentioned it?” He had not expected to upset her. He also hadn't realized she would notice how little he spoke of their shared history.
“No. You absolutely should have. I like thinking about it. I just haven't heard you say much about our home.” She wiped her face. “It hit me hard.”
He held her tight, and she turned her body to the side, resting her head on his chest. He hated seeing her cry. And he hated that he had been the cause of it. But he could barely contain his excitement; he had actually remembered something.
Not just a feeling or an impulse, but an actual memory with details. He hoped he’d recall more soon and have more to share with his beautiful mate.
Once she was settled back in bed, he slipped out to the balcony. He had to let his friends know that he had found his mate.
Niall answered on the first ring.
“I found my mate.”
“Excuse me? What did you just say? You found your mate?”
“Yes! I found my mate.”
Davi had not heard Niall at a loss for words before.
“I don’t know what to say. You went to Las Vegas, and the very first place you looked, you found your mate?”
“Yes, it’s serendipity.”
“It does make a case for fate being involved.”
“I am certainly a believer now. There’s another shifter here too. It’s the one that Brynne felt earlier. She told me about it at your wedding. Apparently he is a famous rock star.”
“A dragon shifter is also a famous rock star?” Niall’s tone was incredulous.
“When I met him, I did not know who he was. But I have hardly kept up with pop culture while I was in Macedonia. I just did not care for it.”
Niall laughed. “My musical tastes lean toward classical music. And Nora’s knowledge of music is out of date, due to her living in a Russian village for so long without a radio.”
Maybe that was one reason Davi felt so at home with Niall and Nora. Both of them were a little out of touch with reality. Just like him. “His name is Garrett Hudson.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of him. He’s a shifter? You’re sure?”
“Yes. He’s a shifter from a clan in Oregon. He lives a completely human life in Vegas though, and none of his staff know that he’s a dragon shifter.”
“Interesting. Tell me more about your mate! What’s her name?”
“Carolina. The wildest part is that I knew her before. This is our second chance at our relationship.
“You guys were together in Portugal? I thought you meant you just met her now.”
“No. She was my childhood sweetheart. As soon as I saw her face I remembered. Not details, but I remember the feeling.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. I'm so happy for you. I can’t wait to tell Nora. She’s going to want to meet her immediately.”
Davi did not have the heart to tell Niall that Carolina was a little skittish about getting to know other shifters. He knew they would understand, especially after everything they had all been through. But that wasn’t a conversation for a quick phone call.
“Davi, I’ve got to go. I've a history class in five minutes. Congratulations, and give your new give your mate our love.”
After Niall hung up, Davi knew he owed a phone call to Brynne. If not for her hard work, he never would have known to start in Vegas. In fact, he probably never would have gone to Vegas. He would never have dreamed that a shifter would choose Vegas as his or her home. Yet both Garrett and Carolina had.
He got Brynne on the phone, and she greeted him enthusiastically, “Hello Davi, did you make it to Vegas? Any luck?”
“I have some big news.”
“Oh before you tell me, let me just say that I am at Kellan's house. Everyone is here. And they will deliberately try to overhear anything you say. In fact, Kellan and Liam are lurking right now, so tell me if you want some privacy.”
“I don’t need any privacy.” They would all find out, so there was no point in being discreet. “The news is good.” He paused for a moment. “I found my mate.”
“You found your mate? What?”
“Yes and the most shocking thing is that I knew her before our clan was destroyed. We grew up together. This was my mate five years ago. As soon as I saw her I knew it was true. She’s from the coast of Portugal just like me,” he said.
And then the screaming started. The Texas clan yelled and clapped and generally just made a lot of rowdy noise.
“My God, I cannot believe it. Your mate was in Las Vegas.”
“Yes. She most certainly was. Brynne, I will owe you forever.”
In the end, every single one at the Texas Dragon shifters got on the phone to congratulate him. Kellen, Quinn, Liam, and Brennan and then their wives Clara, Juliana, Brynne and Fallon. He could even hear the children screaming in the background, although he doubted they knew where the excitement was about. He felt blessed having people to call who understood what the significance of a mate was, after having been deprived of that for five long years.
Then Brynne was on the phone again. “We will let you get back to your mate. We cannot wait to meet her. I don’t know what your plans for the future are, but if you would like to become residents of Cedar Lake Texas, you have a place with us. I could use the company of another female dragon shifter. And if you decide to have children then you know they’ll have a lot of cousins down here.”
That was a conversation he was not going to spring on Carolina just yet. She was already adjusting to so much. She had not given him a lot of detail about her life before he had arrived. But he assumed there was much she wasn’t saying. He wasn’t going to pry.
He had no idea if they had discussed children when they were young. That was a memory he would like to get back.
As soon as he hung up, the phone rang again. This time it was Nora. He was ready to get back to his mate, but he couldn’t ignore Nora.
“I can’t believe you found your mate. Our work is paying off.” She squealed in happiness.
“Yes, it is paying off. I will never be able to thank you enough for the help you’ve given me. I’ll never even be able to thank you enough for not letting me go when you found me in Macedonia.”
“Davi, we adore you. Go be with your mate.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
9
Carolina
“What would you like to do today?” Carolina asked her mate. There were so many things looming in their future—visiting Portugal, introducing her to the other vampires Davi knew, and figuring out where they were both going to live in their new life.
For today, and maybe a few days extra, she wanted to just have fun and relax with her mate.
“I’ve never been to Las Vegas before,” Davi said. “Until now. And all I have really seen is the MGM Grand hotel when I marched up to Garrett’s penthouse and demanded answers.”
Carolina found herself smiling. “In that case, I would love to show you around.”
They started with the Venetian Hotel. They stood in line with hundreds of other people and took a ride on a fake gondola.
“This
is not much like Venice,” she said, “but it's amusing.” It had been years since she had been to Italy, but Davi had been with her because their families had traveled together.
“I imagine the real Venetians are horrified by the spectacle.”
“We'll go back to the real Venice soon. This time we won't be awkward teenagers too nervous to hold hands.”
A look of grief passed over Davi's face, but he didn't elaborate. “ I would like that very much.”
We passed by the replica of the Eiffel Tower. “I believe it is only half the size of the real one in Paris. Do you want to go up?” Davi asked.
“No. I think we can wait to see the real one.”
David grabbed my hand and held it in his. “That sounds like a good plan to me.”
We strolled by the Statue of Liberty and Caesar’s Palace, and then Davi stopped walking at stared in the direction of the MGM Grand. “Garrett’s back.”
“He was gone?” she asked. Carolina had learned to block Garrett’s presence long ago.
“Yes. He had a concert out of town.”
“Can you feel him clearly?” She was surprised Davi was so attuned to him when they’d only just met.
“A little bit. It must be because I spent a few hours with him yesterday. Would you like to meet him?”
She hesitated. She'd spent the last five years making sure she was around no one but humans. Humans were safe. They couldn't betray her. They couldn't set her up by falling in love with a witch or wizard. And they certainly couldn't kill her or her mate.
However, she had her mate back now. And he had attached himself to other shifters. Which meant she was going to have to get over her hang-up. Garrett was a good place to start. “Yes. I'd like to meet him.”
Davi called him, and Garrett agreed to meet them for dinner at his penthouse.
Twenty minutes later, they were standing in the lobby when Garrett came down to greet them. He spread his arms wide. “Look at you guys. You didn't even have to break in this time. My fire exit is intact. No ripped up door hinges, no splintered wood”
Carolina looked at her mate; he looked a little sheepish.
“I was trying to find you,'' he said.
“I'm glad you did,” she replied.
“Aw. So romantic!” Garrett was loud, but he was grinning.
Garrett’s penthouse was not quite as over-the-top as the rooms at the Bellagio. The colors were more muted, but the view from the balcony was spectacular. Garrett had dinner catered, and several bellhops rolled the food in and arranged it on the countertop.
As soon as they were settled at his dining table, Garrett broke the ice. “So Davi told me you guys have had a lot more trouble than my clan has.” He bit into his steak. “Actually, my clan’s never had any trouble at all.”
She marveled at that. “Imagine never having lived with the threat of someone trying to destroy your clan. Or someone wanting to brainwash your family.”
Garrett blinked a few times. “Yeah. That would really suck. I have a show tonight if you guys would like to come.”
Carolina pressed her lips together. She had been right to avoid Garrett all these years. He was selfish, self-centered, and insufferable. He cared nothing for the plight of other dragon shifters. And with his money and resources he could be protecting his own clan in Oregon, but he obviously did not feel the need. She opened her mouth, intending to tell him to go to hell, but Davi spoke up first.
“I have never attended a concert,” Davi said.
She snapped her mouth closed. Her mate had clearly had a rough five years, living in Eastern Europe and fighting for a country and a people he barely knew. Maybe he wanted to do something low-key, like attend a concert.
So they went to see Garrett and his band, which was called Serpentine. He obviously wasn’t totally separated from his dragon side, to have named his band after their kind. The concert took place in the outdoor MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was packed with people screaming and shouting for Garrett. Some even held up signs telling them how much they loved him.
Right before the concert, Garrett’s personal assistant handed them both a set of earplugs. “He said to give these to you because you have sensitive ears.”
They happily accepted. The earplugs were not perfect, but they made the noise bearable.
Carolina ended up having a blast. Everything was better with Davi. They went straight to the front part of the concert, right in front of the stage and stood shoulder to shoulder, holding hands and moving with the beat. They drank beer, and they danced. They had so much fun that they stayed out until 3:00 a.m.
The following morning, they slept late and Davi woke up with a big grin, just for her.
“What should we do next?” Carolina asked.
“I would like to spend some time with the Texas shifters. For you to get to know them. I'd also like to introduce you to Niall and Nora. If Garrett’s clan is willing, I'd like to meet them too. I know Brynne’s going to want to visit them. As far as my career goes, I am up for anything. I have quite a bit of money saved because I never spent any of my salary while I was in the military.”
“I don't have any attachments either,” she told him. “I sold my bar. I left my motorcycle behind. I gave up every part of my life.”
“Why did you do all of those things?”
“I thought you were chasing me. I didn’t know it was you.” She twisted her fingers together. “I’m not very good at telling who’s a friend versus an enemy these days.”
“I'm sorry you had to give up your life. Maybe we can get it all back.”
Oh, no. She wasn’t going back to that life. It had served her relatively well, but she much preferred to start fresh, now that she’d made the decision to move on. “I'm not sorry, and I’m not going back. It was worth it. I thought I was doing it to run from you. And it turns out I found my mate again. And I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”
“I feel the same way. There's nothing in Europe for me without you. He seemed to stop and think for a minute. “Have you been to the Grand Canyon?”
“No, I have not.” The motorcycle club had been planning a ride there in a few months, but she obviously wouldn’t be around to participate.
“In that case, I'd like to take you,” Davi said.
“When?”
“Now. I've heard the saying, there's no time like the present.”
“Do you think that we can shift and fly off the cliffs there?” She imagined soaring across that wide chasm, unencumbered by her human form, not worried about anyone seeing her, and free-falling at top speed with her mate beside her.
“We absolutely will do that.”
They immediately packed their bags and left for the Grand Canyon. “I would like to trade my SUV rental in for a different model,” he said as they pulled away from the Bellagio Hotel.
They rode to the dealership in a comfortable silence at first, but she needed to know more about how he’d spent the time he’d been away from her. “Was it difficult, being a soldier?”
His handsome face clouded over. He pulled his eyes from the road and glanced at her. “At times, yes.”
She felt bad for asking him. “You don’t have to talk about it.”
“I can. I just never have before. There has been no one to tell.”
Maybe he would like to talk about it. Her mother had always told her that it was easiest for a shifter to talk to his or her mate about difficult topics. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “I'm listening.”
“The battles were not difficult in many ways for me. I could not be injured or harmed. But my brothers in arms could. I grew close to a few of them, but I had to watch them die over and over. I did my best to save them, but it wasn't always possible.”
“Did any of them know that you were a dragon?”
He ducked his head. “No. That would not have been possible. But they already noticed that I was faster and stronger than they were. They began to joke about my strong Portuguese blood on the battlef
ield. But I had to restrain myself while fighting. There were a few times that I grew so angry that I must have been close to shifting. I knew that I could not be discovered. So I did my best to keep my secret.”
“That must have been excruciating.”
“At times.” His fingers gripped the steering wheel until it creaked. He released his grip, stretching his hands out. “A few times I did fail. During a mission in Turkey, one of the men in my unit was captured along with me. We were thrown into a dark cell. Now and then, someone would come in and beat us.”
“Oh, Davi.” She held onto his arm with one hand and covered her mouth with the other. Her poor mate had suffered so much while she’d been out here in the desert riding motorcycles.
“It’s okay.” He patted her hand. “We had not eaten in days. If I was human, I should have been weak, but I wasn't. The guard began to kick my friend in the ribs, and I could not contain my rage. I grabbed the guard…and I snapped his neck.”
She gasped. Her gentle Davi had been forced to defend his life and that of his countryman. She couldn't imagine how much he’d been forced to change.
He sighed. “Thank God the surveillance cameras didn't work. If they had seen me, they would have locked me up somewhere I could not escape. There would have been questions I could not answer.”
“I'm so sorry. What happened to your friend, the other soldier?”
She could see the line of his jaw tighten, and then relax as he swallowed hard. “The damage to his body was too great. All of his ribs were broken, and his lungs collapsed. I held him while he died. After that, I asked to be reassigned. They agreed so I could recover in peace. I was working as a border guard in the Skopje train station when Niall and Nora found me.”
“Did you plan to go back to the battlefield?”
“Eventually. I am too useful there to avoid it forever.”
Her heart ached for her mate. “You are. But if we join a clan, then we will need you to defend our people.”
“Yes. With the help of the friends I have met, I feel like we can have a much better alliance. With a network of shifters, all of us can work together. None of us will be alone ever again.” He glanced toward her, taking his eyes off the road for just a second. “We will face a threat head on, and not be caught unaware.”
Soldier Dragon's Second Chance Page 6