Page 19

D aegyn and Declan volunteered to help me set up my shop.

In preparation for, hopefully, additional artists, I ordered enough equipment for four tattoo cubicles and two piercing cubicles.

The reception area features a glass display case showcasing various jewelry, along with gauges for a variety of piercing options.

Large posters are waiting to be hung, most of them are old-school art.

My favorite is the anatomy of a tattoo gun.

Several photo albums need to be filled with flash designs, script options, and, of course, my portfolio.

Flash designs are easy, since they are pre-designed options available for anyone walking in off the street.

While they take hardly any time to do, they lack originality.

If someone gets a piece of flash, they might come across twenty other people who have the identical design. The only variation would be color.

“Where do you want this couch?” Daegyn asks, maneuvering it through the door by himself.

“In front of the window, to the left of the door,” I explain. “There’s a small table for each end and a coffee table for the front.” I focus on setting up the computer. I still have to open a bank account for the business and set up my credit card machine.

I’m in the back, organizing supplies, ink, needles, and sanitation equipment, when yelling can be heard coming from up front. Stepping around the corner, I hear my name.

“Where’s Darby?” the man asks. It takes me a minute to recognize Gunnar Palmer, Arek’s brother.

“Right here,” I answer, drawing everyone’s attention. My eyes widen in surprise, seeing all of the Palmer and Martin cousins inside my small shop. “What’s going on?”

“Your mate has gone off the reservation, so to speak,” one of the triplets answers, looking at her nails in boredom.

Looking between the guys, Gunnar has mercy on me.

“Arek’s bear took control three days ago,” Gunnar says, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “He’s missing.”

I gasp, covering my mouth in shock. My emotions war between worry for his safety and anger since he has been stupid enough to take off for several days.

“You need to come with us, back to the den,” Gunnar informs me. “Hopefully, he catches your scent and returns.”

“The den?” I ask.

“It’s our area of town,” Declan chimes in with a shrug.

The triplets step up, one of them speaking as the other two start moving.

“Leave this to us,” she says, waving me toward the door. “We can try and get this in order. You go with the guys and deal with our alpha.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, warily looking at the multitude of boxes.

“We wouldn’t have offered if we weren’t,” she snarks. “Now go, it’s still hunting season for bears in some parts of the state. You never know what these stupid hunters might do if they cross Arek’s path.” My eyes widen in shock.

“Let’s go!” I yell, running out the door.

Fiora

Tavan is at his clinic, so he isn’t with Brady and me.

“Where are we going?” I ask as we continue to drive on slushy streets. The snow let up Christmas night, but enough of it came down that it’s going to take a while to melt.

“I’m conducting an experiment,” he says cryptically, lifting our conjoined hands, kissing my knuckles softly, before resting them on his thigh.

The three of us have done a lot of talking and had a lot of sex over the past three days. Tavan and I are moving into Brady’s house, using the apartment above his clinic as a rental property. It has worked for Gypsy, the owner of the Whiskey Genie, so it should work for Tavan.

Brady has been doing a lot of research, along with his brother Adyr, on my background. He is convinced that I am a dragon shifter. The truck jerks to a stop, focusing my attention back on our surroundings.

“This is a field, Brady,” I say caustically.

“Yes, it is,” he says, smiling widely at me, before opening the door and hopping out. “Come on,” he urges, staring at me through the windshield.

Begrudgingly, I climb from the cab and my legs get buried in the snow up past my knees. Brady starts to laugh at my predicament, but my glare quickly shuts him up, spurring him into action to assist me.

“Sorry,” he mutters, lifting me.

We walk to where the wind has blown a path in the snow, weeds and grass poking though. Once he’s sure I won’t be stuck in place, he sets me down.

“Here me out with this, okay?” he asks, turning very serious.

“You run hot, right? Booze does little to get you drunk? When we mated, all of us, you felt compelled to bite us just as we bit you?”

“Correct on all accounts, especially since we have already gone over this,” I say in frustration, flailing my arms out to my side, before dropping them as they hit my thighs.

“Right,” Brady says, looking a little sheepish. “Adyr and I have hit a dead end on your birth parents. But—” My groan cuts him off.

“But…we think it’s just a matter of making her feel secure, since you have suppressed her for twenty-two? Twenty-three? Years.”

Butterflies take flight in my belly and I feel like I am going to be sick as my mind imagines all sorts of plans he has for us out here in the middle of nowhere. Crossing my arms over my chest, I stare him down.

“I need you to strip down,” Brady says as he starts removing his clothing, tossing them onto the hood of his truck.

“Are you mad?”

“Baby, trust me on this,” Brady says, giving me a quick kiss before continuing to get undressed.

“Fine,” I grumble, as I begin to strip down until I am in my bra and panties. “Now what?”

Brady winks at me before stepping away, putting distance between us. I start to follow him, but he cuts me off. “Stay there.”

Grumbling under my breath, I realize that despite my lack of clothing, I’m comfortable.

Before I understand what is going on, the air around Brady shimmers and the next thing I know, a very large green dragon stands before me.

His eyes are the amber color I have seen several times now.

My chest heats suddenly, causing me to squeal in surprise.

Brady shocks me more, lowering his head so that his nose is even with my torso.

His nostrils flare before he spins around, looking into the sky. Shading my eyes with my hand, I can see a large shape beginning to clear the trees. It’s another dragon. This one is orange.

The orange dragon dips in Brady’s direction, taunting him.

Brady launches up into the sky, using his hind legs to spring from the ground.

I watch with bated breath as the two dragons fly in what can only be compared to a military dog fight, with airplanes.

Orange is aggressive, breathing fire at Brady.

Concern fills me as my chest gets hotter. Is that smoke coming from my nose? Shaking off the optical illusion, I focus back on the two dragons and their aerial acrobatics. Numerous times, a shriek or gasp escapes my lips as the orange seems to get the upper hand.

Unable to help myself, I move forward, away from the truck. As I reach the clearing where Brady stood in dragon form, the orange grips Brady’s neck between its sharp teeth.

“No!” I yell as my vision becomes unfocused. Jerking this way and that, when my vision clears, everything is clearer. I can see farther, smells around me become sharper. Spinning my head, it’s that moment I realize that I am staring at the upper sections of the trees.

Opening my mouth, fire shoots out instead of words.

“ There you are, love ,” Brady’s voice fills my head.

“ Wait a minute ,” I interrupt. “ How can I understand you? ”

“ Congratulations, Fiora, on a successful shift ,” a foreign male voice says in my head.

“ That’s Chayce ,” Brady adds. “ He’s our alpha. We can all hear him, if he wants us to, in shifted form .”

“ I shifted ?” I ask, stunned at their words.

“ Look down ,” Brady says, his voice full of laughter.

“ Holy shit! ”

Dual voices laugh in my head as the orange dragon flies off and Brady lands next to me. He snakes his neck around mine as a form of affection.

“ How do I shift back? ” I ask, beginning to panic since I’m not sure how I shifted into dragon form.

“Focus on your human form,” Brady says, causing me to look down at him. He is standing where his dragon was, in all of his naked glory.

Closing my eyes, I follow his instructions. I don’t open them until I feel his arms wrap around me.

“Well,” he says cockily. “I was right. We just proved it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, afraid if I give him too much credit, it will make his head swell.

“Come on, let’s go tell Tavan the good news,” he says, gripping my hand and tugging me toward the truck.