Page 24

I t’s been decades since I felt like this.

But I remember it well—this burning, bloodthirsty need to rain down violence like a fucking god of war.

Fuck yes, I feel it now. I sense it trying to take over.

Every breath I take feels like a struggle not to unleash my Dragon.

The beast inside me is snarling, clawing at the edges of my skin, demanding I shift, take to the skies, and hunt down the son of a bitch who dared come after my mate.

My Casey.

But I can’t. Not yet.

Because sitting next to me is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, and she doesn’t need to see what I’m capable of.

Not now.

She’s already been through hell. What she needs is comfort. Safety.

Me, not burning half of Dry Creek to ash.

So, I press the rage down.

It’s not easy.

My body’s tense, my grip on the wheel too tight, and my teeth ache from how hard I’m clenching my jaw.

I want to comfort her.

I want to protect her.

And gods help me, I want to avenge her.

But right now, what I want most is to keep her feeling safe. With me.

And for the first time in longer than I care to admit, I feel pride swelling in my chest like a storm— because she chose me . She loves me.

Of all the many marvels in the universe, I swear I’ll never cease to wonder about that one simple fact.

This precious woman loves me. Me.

She could’ve run. She could’ve hidden. But instead, she’s here. In my truck. Holding her chin high despite everything.

No, I don’t know the details yet, and I’m eager to hear them. But that’s next on our agenda.

First, I need to get us to Max’s place.

The Alpha of our Motley Crew deserves a heads-up, especially if danger followed Casey here.

This is our turf. Our home. And I won’t let anything threaten the people under our roof.

And Casey? She’s mine. That makes her family now.

I don’t know for sure if I’m asking for too much from the Crew, but I’m about to find out, I guess.

It doesn’t matter because for her, I’d give up anything. Everything. Even the peace I found on the ranch. But I’m really hoping I won’t have to.

Casey is quiet for a beat before asking, “So explain again what Max is to you?”

It’s a simple question, but I’m grateful for it. I need the distraction. Something to keep my Dragon’s teeth from snapping in my skull.

“Well, you know I’m a Dragon Shifter?—”

Her head turns sharply. “Oh! So, are the others all Dragon Shifters too?”

I bark out a laugh. “Fuck no. They wish.”

I throw her a playful glare, just to watch her eyes light up.

And damn, it works. That sweet little giggle? It hits me dead center in the chest, unclenching something that’s been locked tight inside me since the moment I saw her place had been trashed.

“Max is a Jersey Devil,” I explain. “Dante shifts into a Grizzly Bear. Emmet’s a Demon Wolf—part Hellhound, actually. And that cow you saw strutting around by our cabin the other day?” I flick a glance toward her and smirk. “That was Kian in Bull form.”

She goes quiet then. No follow-up questions. No wide-eyed disbelief. Just quiet .

I glance over, wondering if I scared her. Dropped too many supernatural truth bombs at once.

But she doesn’t look scared. She doesn’t even look confused.

She looks— fuck . She looks happy.

Her big brown eyes shimmer, soft and wide and filled with something I don’t think I deserve.

“What?” I ask. “What did I say wrong?”

“You didn’t,” she whispers. Her voice is like wind through leaves. “You said our cabin .”

I nearly slam on the brakes right then and there.

“Shit,” I breathe, reaching over to squeeze her thigh. Her skin’s warm under my touch, and it grounds me.

“It might seem fast, Casey. I know it does. But to me, it is ours. I want it to be. You and me, Petals. From now on. Got it?”

She takes a breath, eyes locked on mine like she’s trying to read my soul.

“I want that, too.”

And just like that, the fire in my chest starts churning brighter.

Hell, it fucking roars inside me, bursting to get out. The rose on my skin pulses and sizzles. And I can feel my scales flexing beneath my skin.

But this time? It’s not fury that’s moving me so.

It’s love.

I lift her hand to my lips, her fingers trembling slightly in mine.

I press a kiss there— slow, reverent —a soft touch on sweet skin that’s already been claimed in ways she hasn’t even begun to understand.

Her breath hitches, but she doesn’t pull away.

No. She leans in, trusts me, lets me hold her like she’s precious.

She is .

Then I step on the gas, the truck roaring to life beneath us as we head back toward the ranch. Toward safety. Toward home .

And I know— as surely as I know my own goddamn name, carved into stone and fire and old magic —that I’d move heaven and earth for this woman.

No hesitation. No restraint.

I’d burn the world down if it meant keeping her safe.

I’d walk through hell barefoot and bleeding just to see her smile.

Casey isn’t just mine in body.

She has the fealty of the Dragon now—every last ancient, snarling, fire-breathing piece of him.

And that? That means something.

It means no one touches her without going through me first.

It means no one threatens her without feeling the heat of my wrath.

It means if one more shadow from her past so much as looks her way— gods help them.

Because I won’t.

I won’t stop.

I won’t ask questions.

I will just end them.

She’s under my protection now. My mark lives on her skin, my soul sings in her presence, and whatever life throws at us, we face together.

She won’t ever face it alone.

Not ever again.

Casey has me.

All of me.

And if anyone is dumb enough to try to take this woman from my side—I just got one thing to say.

I fucking dare you.