Page 2

Chapter Two

Anaki

I kept quiet as we walked into the dimly lit cabin, the only sound the gentle ticking of a grandfather clock.

I didn’t have an appetite as I helped plate the food. A large roast cooked in the crock pot where I had put it that morning, in the their kitchen. Surprise crossed their faces, and I shrugged my shoulders.

The meat was tender and the vegetables steamed to Nadia’s preference of slightly crunchy. She was originally half fae before turning into a full bear by Bear’s bite.

Nadia winked at me, a mischievous glint in her eyes, before we sat down, a silent thank you passing between us. My prior dark thoughts turned to a guilt that hung over me like a storm cloud.

How dare I think such things when I have such great friends? They would miss me, hell, if I were gone and could look back, I would miss them, too.

I wiped my hand over my face, trying to school my expression. No one wanted a depressed dragon at their table. No one wanted to see a bartender with more baggage than the drinker.

With a sigh, I extracted the crumpled, grease-stained napkin from my lap and twisted it between my fingers, the texture strangely comforting as Bear attacked his third helping of roast. With the speed of a starving bear, he ate the food, smearing it across his beard; Nadia giggled as she stood to wipe away the mess.

I coughed to break the intimacy between the two. Not that I didn’t adore watching them. It brought hope that I might have what they have one day, but I was still raw from my earlier near-drowning.

“Can you tell me what the mangy mutt wants me to do?” I took my fork, stabbed it into the meat, swirled the sauce around the plate and stuck it into my mouth.

Even the flavor was dull, and the roast was my favorite. Did it need more salt? More seasoning?

Bear ignored me and licked the corners of his mouth.

“This taste alright to you?” I pointed at the dull, colorless slop on my plate.

Nadia licked her lips and took another bite. “Yes, same as always. Are you sure you are alright?”

I chuckled and took another bite of the flavorless meat. “Just making sure it is to your liking. I couldn’t remember if I put in everything. Mind was wandering today.”

“As it should,” Bear interrupted. “Locke being back has put everyone on edge. Especially since he’s found his mate.”

I nodded, and a bubble of laughter escaped. “Yeah, a real firecracker she is. She’s perfect. Absolutely perfect for him. She’ll test him at every turn. Their sex is going to be damn explosive.”

Nadia shoved a russet potato in her mouth to cover her laughter. “Yes, she said she works at a paper company. Can you believe that?” she said with her mouth full.

Bear huffed, his big shoulders rose and fell.

“Yeah, like anyone believed that. Locke’s got his hands full.

Tajah doesn’t like her, though. That is reason for concern.

” He narrowed his eyes on the plate. “She’s in charge of getting Emm’s family here.

Nadia and I are going. We all agreed you should be on the team, too. ”

The fork I was about to force into my mouth fell back to the table.

They wanted me to go? In my state? I didn’t think I was capable.

While I didn't need a pack to survive, to gain strength from like the wolves, I didn't think I was strong enough with no dragon. There wasn’t much left. I wouldn’t be worth it to the team.

“Locke agrees. You have a knack to handle women, make them feel at ease and not a threat. I’m the muscle. Beretta is the weapons specialist. The Moonlight Outcasts are our cover. You and Nadia are the care team.”

I didn’t know if I should take what Bear said about me as a joke or an insult.

I had a way of talking to women. It was a matter of understanding, being sympathetic.

Mostly when they were drunk, scared, or vulnerable was when I really shone.

I wanted them to feel comfortable and not see me as a threat, that not all guys are assholes.

A lot of men didn’t know how to not be an asshole .

Example one… Hawke.

I didn’t carry a big alpha vibe like a lot of the males at the bar. That wasn’t me, as much as I wanted it to be, so long ago.

I had accepted that I wasn’t going to be Mr. Macho. I wasn’t going to be a part of a mission because of it, and I was fine with that because I didn’t want to get blood on my hands unless I had to.

But this? They wanted me?

“Why do you need me, exactly? Why do I need to be part of this ‘care team’? You guys have done fine before?”

Bear and Nadia shared a look. Bear put his hand on Nadia’s. “We are worried that Tajah might show some hostility toward Emm’s family because she doesn’t trust them. While there are females on this trip, we need gentle voices and bodies that will make this not… a hostile environment.”

I quirked a brow, and Bear stood and walked to the living room. He brought back a manila folder, thick with papers inside. Some of us were still living twenty years behind technology and still stuck on ink and paper.

Bear slung the folder onto the table. When the folder opened it was like the divine power of the goddess that the folder opened up to a grainy photo of a woman.

The picture was taken from at least forty yards away, but zoomed to the max.

The woman was bending over, pointing to a piece of paper on the table with a young boy underneath her.

She was smiling, and her shoulder length hair was tucked behind her ear.

I pulled the paper closer; the grainy picture didn’t do her justice. I knew that. I slid it aside and went to the next papers in the piles. More pictures, but none of them where I could get a good look at her face.

“That is Emm’s sister, Elena,” Bear said, his voice fading as I continued to stare at Elena’s picture.

“There are more pictures of the rest of the family in there. Their grandmother, whom we can’t seem to find a name for, and Elena’s son, Luis.

He attends a private school. We are in the process of getting all his school records. He’s extremely bright…”

I heard a low buzzing in my head as I glanced over the pictures. I entirely ignored the older woman who kept popping up. She was older, had pepper-spiced looking hair, nothing out of the ordinary from what I saw.

No, I concentrated on the younger woman.

She was spellbinding, capturing my full attention.

I couldn’t put my finger on why. Maybe it was because of how her brow pinched together in some of them.

Even with the grainy picture, it pulled at my heartstrings when she sat in a rocking chair or even used a cane to walk to her living room.

Why would she need to use a cane?

“She had her son, Luis, at twenty-two—”

“Why the fuck is she walking with a cane?” I gritted out, my hand crumpling the extra pieces of paper that didn’t have her face on.

With a frown pulling at her lips, Nadia scooted closer, the movement a quiet, almost hesitant shuffle.

“T-that’s what we wanted to talk about. It's sort of the reason why Emm has kept them all hidden. Her grandmother is old, her sister has a son. Elena, she also has a chronic disease. She has trouble walking, with numbness in her hands and feet. It can cause pain…”

My throat tightened, a lump forming as my fingers clenched the paper, the texture rough beneath my nails. For anyone to go through such a disease sounded terrible, but for her specifically? To have a child to raise, too?

“What of her male? Does he not take care of her?”

My heart pounded in my chest. For a sick, twisted reason, I didn’t want her to have one.

If we brought the family here, we would protect them all.

They were family. The president's family and we would give our lives to protect the future Luna’s blood, but hell, my dragon wanted to take care of this specific family.

Bear shook his head. “No, there is no male. The only male in her life left her and Luis years ago. Dead from an overdose. Switch checked into it.”

I didn’t realize how tense my shoulders were until I heard that information.

Bear put his hand on my back. “Do you feel something for this woman?” He pointed to the picture. “You know how it was for Nadia and me, when I first saw her—”

I shook my head and got up from the table. The chair screeched and echoed throughout the kitchen. “No, nothing like that. You know how I get wound up when anyone has to go through any sort of pain, rejection like that. No one should have to be abandoned and suffer alone.”

Bear grunted and patted me on the back again. “That’s why we want you to come with us, Anaki. You’ve got a kind soul, and how you helped Nadia, we think we can talk them into coming with us rather than forcing them. With Elena’s condition, we don’t want to trigger a flare-up.”

“Flare-up?”

Nadia stood up and rounded the table. “Yes, happens to people with this disease she has. Her condition could worsen. It will be difficult for her to walk, and she could have pain. The Moonlight Outcasts are already down there, scoping out the place, seeing if we can bring them back here when she’s on a good day.

When she arrives here, the cabin will be prepared for her to rest. She’s likely to have a flare-up afterwards, I’m sure, from all of the stress. ”

I ran my hands through my hair. Right, if I was part of the care team, I would need to be able to help her and her kid in any way that I could.

“Don’t stress, Anaki. Just be you, that’s all we ask. You know how to make the ladies feel comfortable. Just, not too comfortable.” Bear winked.

I rolled my eyes, pulled up my sleeves, and headed to the sink to do the dishes. No, there wouldn’t be getting too comfortable with Elena. I was there to do a job, and Nadia and Bear thought I could help. Be a part of the Iron Fang. Be wanted, be useful.

I liked the sound of that. It would help get rid of the dark thoughts that clouded my head.

“The only thing left to do is a physical.” Nadia sang as she stepped next to me.

I groaned and leaned on my forearm. “Please don’t make me,” I whined.

“Bones said he hasn’t seen you in a while, anyway.” Nadia nudged me. “Besides, don’t you miss the whole turn your head and cough?”

My groan quickly turned into a laugh. “Oh, Bones doesn’t do that for me. Dragons are special.”

Nadia blinked several times innocently .

I gasped mockingly. “You mean, you don’t know? Bear hasn’t told you?” I placed my hand on my chest. “Why, the reason Bones doesn’t like to give hernia checks is because—”

“Anaki!!! There are a few things I don’t let you tell my female, and that is one of them! Now get out and go get it done!”

I took the terry cloth towel from the drying rack and flung it over my shoulder. “If you insist, but if she is going to be a full-blown doctor for the club soon, she’s going to have to know basic reptilian anatomy.”

Bear growled and crossed his arms over his chest. “And, I will let that be the last thing she learns.”