Page 172

Steph cupped my face. He looked into my eyes with such intensity that I could feel his dragon’s protective energy burning right under his skin.

“I trust you,” I whispered.

He leaned in and kissed me gently, like it was a promise.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled back with some reluctance.

Steph sighed as he looked at his screen. “I’ve got to take this. You should get some sleep.”

I nodded. He stood and kissed the top of my head, then stepped onto the front porch to take his call. I went upstairs tomy bedroom—Steph’s bedroom—and changed into one of his T-shirts before crawling into bed.

I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but I’d meant it when I said I trusted him. If there was anyone who could keep us safe, it was Steph.

I just wanted this to be over soon.

The next day,I woke up to a brief kiss from Steph before he left for work—either at the garage or the clubhouse, I wasn’t sure. It was a slow, lazy morning for me. Hawk took Dylan out to fly while Cassidy and I made brunch. Striker was on the back porch, reading. I was glad to have him nearby and also glad he gave me and Cassidy enough space to speak in private. He was a hell of a good enforcer.

Over coffee, I filled Cassidy in.

“Jesus,” she said, once I had relayed the whole story of what had happened at the mine. “Should we seriously be staying in Lakeview with a psycho like that running around?”

I wrinkled my nose in displeasure.

“I know you don’t want to take Dylan away from his dad,” Cassidy continued. “And it wouldn’t be forever, just until this mess dies down?—”

“It’s not that,” I said. “I already told you, we’re safer here in Lakeview. The last time I tried to leave without the clan with me, I got kidnapped.”

“But we can get escorted to the airport, and?—”

“And Sean will follow us to Atlanta,” I interjected. “Steph is right. The best thing for us to do is lie low and make sure we always have the enforcers with us. Just until Steph solves this mess.”

“When will that be?” Cassidy asked. “It seems like every time they’ve almost got Sean, he’s got some new crazy plan to make your lives hell.”

I sighed. “I know. But what else are we supposed to do?”

Cassidy sucked on her teeth, then she rifled through the cabinets until she found a small pot to start making the grits. “Fine, fine. If Acereallythinks Sean would go all the way to Atlanta for this feud, I guess having a bunch of dragons around is probably the safest bet.”

“Just any old dragons?” I asked with a little half-smile. “Or is there one who’s caught your eye?”

I glanced at the back porch, where Striker was still absorbed in his book. He really was handsome with his broad shoulders, dark hair, and that slight bend in his nose where it’d probably been broken. He was definitely Cassidy’s type, too—she always went for guys who looked like they could lift a car over their head.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, but her ears turned a little pink. “Don’t be ridiculous. That guy won’t stop staring at me, even when we’re just having a normal conversation. Honestly, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“Probably because you’re knockout hot. I know you caused a real stir at the clubhouse.”

She laughed and smacked my arm. “Not because of my obvious bombshell looks, but because I went in there and started yelling at Ace.”

“That probably only made him like you more,” I said.

We finished breakfast and moved on to less serious topics once Hawk and Dylan came back grinning and drenched in sweat. I was glad for the distraction, especially when Striker joined us. It wasn’t my place to tell Cassidy why Striker was so obsessed with her. Striker would have to tell her she was his fated mate himself. I didn’t envy him that. Cassidy was sofiercely independent, I had no idea how she would react to finding out she was fated to a dragon.

Halfway through breakfast, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

“Who’s that?” Dylan asked through a mouthful of grits and sausage. “Is that Dad?”

I frowned at the screen.

Momflashed across it, along with a picture of me, her, and Dylan all hugging cheek-to-cheek on our first and only beach vacation during one of her brief windows of sobriety. My heart ached at the sight. More than anything, I wished we could go back to that and be a little happy family again. As long as my mother kept drinking, though, that’d never be possible.