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I wouldn’t ask him tonight. Not when we were both drained, and not right after a shift, when his dragon was still close to the surface. It had to be the right time.

I pressed my lips to a gold scale tucked amid all the gorgeous green on his neck.

Soon. I’d ask him soon.

41

ACE

Ispent the morning calling in favors. That was the benefit of having gone clean recently—I still knew people, and people still owed me. I was out of the game, but I still had a reputation.

Despite not getting a lot of sleep, I felt better after last night. Harley reallyhadtaken care of me in a way no one else ever had. It made me feel… loved. Cherished. It was different from what I felt for my clan. Harley loved me differently. She completed me, and it was easy to share my deepest hurts with her, knowing she wouldn’t turn away.

I rolled over and brushed her hair out of her forehead. It was late evening, and I had to leave soon. Harley hummed in her sleep and turned her head on the pillow. My dragon whined as his attention immediately zeroed in on her neck.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

It was a constant thrum, like a heartbeat. Last night in the shower, my teeth had ached with the desire to bite her. Outside, by the lake, it’d only worsened. It would’ve been the perfect place to do it, under the moonlight with the owls calling in the distance.

But it wasn’t the right time. As much as I wanted it, I knew I had to wait.

I leaned down and kissed her cheek gently. “Harley,” I whispered in her ear.

“Hm?” She woke up slowly, lashes fluttering.

“I’ve got to go,” I murmured. “Business meeting. Me and Hawk are going.”

She sighed and rolled toward me. “Everything okay?” There was a small furrow of concern in her brow, despite the sleepiness still present in her expression.

“It will be.” I kissed her cheek, then sat up before I could get wrapped up in a more intense, distracting kiss. Because that’s what I wanted to do. “I’ll wake Striker to keep an eye on the house.”

“Thanks,” she hummed. “Come back to me, okay?”

“I will.”

She watched me get dressed, a small, flirty smile on her face, but she was back asleep as soon as I closed the bedroom door behind me.

I knocked on the door to the guest room. When there was no answer, I opened the door and stuck my head inside. Striker was passed out on top of the covers, his glasses on and a book open in his lap. I snorted. Well, at least he’d tried to do a little reading before bed. I shook his shoulder, and he jolted awake, nearly knocking the book off the bed. “Jeez! Ace! Time’s it?”

“Late,” I said. “Hawk and I finally heard back from Link. You okay to hold down the fort here?”

“Uh-huh.” He rubbed his forehead and blinked hard into wakefulness. “Yep, fine. I’ll get a cup of coffee. You and Hawk be safe out there. You know I don’t trust that Link guy.”

“Thanks, Striker.”

“Yup.” He moved to walk past me, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Striker looked back, confused. “What is it?”

“Seriously,” I said. “Thank you. I wouldn’t be able to handle all this without knowing you were here keeping my family safe.”

“They’re my family now, too,” Striker said. He smiled down the hall at the door to Cassidy’s room. “You know I’m happy to do it.”

Even if Cassidy weren’t Striker’s fated mate, I knew he’d still be here. His loyalty was unshakable. The friendship Striker and I had was something Sean never had, the kind of relationship he’d never been able to build.

“You get out of here,” Striker said. “Go make sure our girls are safe.”

I put on my leather jacket and stepped outside, careful to close the door gently behind me. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, I hopped on my bike and sped toward the clubhouse, where Hawk was waiting for me on the front porch.

“Where we meeting him?” I asked as I strode up to Hawk’s truck.