Chapter 10
Luca
Raphael and I needed to talk. Not in a bad way, but there were definitely things that were not adding up about him—his healing ability, his weird scales. The fact that his skin felt hotter than a furnace when he was buried deep in me last night.
Something wasn’t right, and I had a feeling it had something to do with how weird this town was. There was a connection, but I didn’t know what it was.
Raphael lay next to me, sleeping soundly. I leaned up on one elbow and gazed down at him. He didn’t even look like he had a building fall on him just a few days ago. He was perfectly normal. The laugh lines around his lips were smooth while he slept. The scruff on his face had grown overnight, making me wonder if he ever considered having a longer beard if he wasn’t a firefighter. Did he let it grow out when he was not on shift?
“Are you watching me sleep?” he asked. His eyes remained closed, and a small smile played at his lips.
“Yes,” I replied. My hand trailed up his naked chest. Even now he burned hotter than a regular person. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he had a fever.
“I have better things we could be doing.” His eyes opened, flashing with desire. He reached for me, but I stopped him.
“We’ll get to that after we talk.”
He grimaced. “Right. Should we talk over coffee?”
“Am I going to need coffee for this conversation?”
He nodded. “If you’re going to ask about the things I think you’re going to ask about, coffee would be best.”
“All right,” I said. At least I wasn’t blindsiding him. Which meant he likely knew what I was going to ask about and he had an explanation. Was it superhuman strength? Was he secretly Superman?
The two of us got out of bed, taking turns using the restroom. He pulled on the jeans he wore the night before, and I tried desperately not to get distracted by his nakedness.
My clothes from the night before were in tatters on the floor. Good thing I hadn’t borrowed any from Theo.
Thankfully, I had a coffee pot that worked quickly, and within a few moments, the two of us had coffee in front of us.
“You are not human, are you?” I asked. Best just to rip this band-aid off quickly. I wanted answers.
He took a deep breath. “No, I’m not. At least not entirely.”
Oh shit. I was right. I hated being right. “What about everybody else in this town?”
He winced. “They aren’t human either.”
“What—am I the only human in town?” Was that why everyone was weird around me and why they went quiet when I walked into a room?
“You’re the only human not mated to a shifter.”
I swore it was like a record scratch in my brain. “Wait. What? What is a shifter?”
“Why don’t I start at the beginning?” he said. “You can ask questions as they come up. I just want to say that I should have told you this before last night. I’m very sorry about that. It’s just—”
“Raphael, if you had tried to have this conversation with me last night, I wouldn’t have let you. I’m pretty sure I attacked you.” More like I couldn’t keep my hands off him. Something wild had come over me last night. I wasn’t complaining. It had been worth it.
He chuckled. “Yeah, you were a bit overtaken.”
That was being polite about it. I wasn’t ashamed of my behavior. It had been amazing and so incredibly worth it, even if I had looked like a crazy person.
Raphael ran his hand through his hair and down his face. “I’m a dragon. My brothers and I are all dragons. We came from one clutch—kind of like triplets. All three of us were hatched at the same time.”
“Wait—you were hatched? Like, from eggs?”
His face strained and he nodded.
“Am I going to have eggs?” I wasn’t dumb. I was an omega, he was an alpha. We had sex. Multiple times. We used protection each time after the first one, but hot damn, it had been an intense night. My face heated just thinking about it.
Raphael winced. “I mean… maybe? When I turned twenty-five just a few weeks ago, my dragon came out for the first time.”
“I bet he’s beautiful.” I reached my hand across and squeezed his. In the throes of passion the previous night, I swore I could picture his dragon. At the time, I’d thought I’d just gone mad with lust, but perhaps it was something else?
“I’ll show him to you soon. My brothers and I each left our hometown in search of our mates. We all wanted to find our omegas, or in Brock’s case, his Alpha. I came here because I was drawn to this town. Drawn to you.”
“What is everyone else in town?” They couldn’t be human.
“Your friend Theo is a bear.”
“What? I would have guessed wolf.” Theo had that wolfish behavior about him. Then again, what experience did I have with it?
“He’s a bear. Tyler is a wolf. Most everyone is either a wolf or a bear, and Tyler is their Alpha.”
I nodded. “That’s why everyone goes to him with questions.”
“Exactly.”
“This is a lot… But it makes sense.”
“I’m sorry.” Raphael brushed his thumb over my knuckles, and my skin tingled under his touch.
“For what?”
“I should have told you before we mated.”
I raised a brow. “I think we already covered the fact that I jumped you. I want to see your dragon.”
“Sure, we can do that—”
“Now. Please. I just need to see him.” I didn’t know why, but intuition hadn’t steered me wrong before. After all, it brought me here.
“There’s more I need to tell you.”
“After,” I said.
He hesitated for a moment, and I thought perhaps he was going to deny me. Then he nodded. I bounced on my toes and clapped like a child being given a toy.
I tugged him toward the back door. “Is there enough room in the backyard? How big are you?”
He laughed. “Big enough. I’ll fit in the backyard, though.”
He followed me out the back and down the steps of the deck. I wrapped my arms around my middle and shivered. The cool morning air sent a chill through me. The morning dew made my feet wet as I walked through the grass.
I turned to face him. A smile played at his lips and his green eyes sparkled.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded. My breath hitched and my body thrummed with excitement. An hour ago, I didn’t know shifters existed, and now I was going to watch my lover become a dragon.
Raphael stood still, his arms lifted and his eyes closed. Then the air thickened around us and energy crackled. It was like the air around him shifted and a green hue filled the space. His muscles rippled and expanded, bones changing shape. His skin turning from the golden hue to an emerald green.
In mere seconds, his dragon was in front of me. He towered over me by what felt like ten feet. His wings flexed and expanded, shadowing me.
“Holy shit. You’re breathtaking.” I stepped closer, lifting my hand.
A low rumble sounded from his belly, shaking the ground. He lowered his head. His snout was long, his eyes a silver hue that held intelligence. Down his long neck were ridges that stretched along his spine and down to the tip of his tail. A tail that was curving toward me, encircling me.
I held out a hand, and his snout touched my palm. His scales were warm under my touch and smooth. I traced the intricate pattern with my fingertips.
Mate.
I didn’t know if that word came from me or from him, but either way, I knew it to be true.
“Mate? Are we mates, Raphael?”