Page 40

HARLEY

I woke up, sprawled on Stephan’s soft, dark sheets, to an extremely quiet house.

Rolling over, I smoothed my hand over the dip on his side of the bed.

The pillow smelled like him—his woodsy body wash and the musk of his sweat.

The familiar scents had heat curling low in my belly, but his side of the bed was cool.

It was fairly early, but it seemed like he’d been awake for a while.

That was odd. Since we’d agreed to try things again, Stephan had stuck close to me. I woke every morning with his arms around my waist and his nose pressed to the crown of my head. I’d quickly gotten very used to that.

I climbed out of bed and headed downstairs, trying to push down an itch of nerves. With everything that’d gone on recently, I didn’t like waking up alone. “Steph? Dylan?”

There was no response from either of them. I checked my phone, and there were no messages there. Suddenly, the empty house seemed a lot more ominous. My heart rate sped up a little. I started to dial Stephan’s number, then the coffee machine chirped its song as it finished brewing.

There was a note taped to the machine, written in Stephan’s bold handwriting. Dyl woke up early. Out having dragon bonding time. Back soon. S.

The panic dissipated as fast as it’d risen inside me.

I sighed in relief and smoothed my thumb over the note.

I wondered what had woken Dylan up. He’d been restless and fidgety recently, complaining more of pre-shift soreness.

Maybe Stephan’s dragon had sensed it, and they’d snuck out without waking me up.

Now that I knew where they were, I had no complaints. The quiet house was suddenly safe and cozy again, so I grabbed my laptop and curled up on the couch with a fresh cup of coffee.

I clicked through my emails. There wasn’t a lot going on at the bank, and most of my urgent work had been diverted to other employees, courtesy of Suri. I answered a few timely questions. Then, one caught my attention at the top—it was from Cassidy.

SUBJ: Stop looking at your work email and open your personal email

BODY: now!

I laughed, then did as instructed. My personal email was a graveyard of marketing emails and expired coupons. No one ever really communicated with me there—anyone I’d want to hear from could text me. But there was Cassidy’s message, right at the top.

I didn’t want to text this to you and catch you off guard. Figured an email would catch you when you were already in work-mode. I happened to see this and thought I’d send it your way. No reason ;)

Below the message was a link to a job posting site.

I clicked it curiously.

It wasn’t any job posting site. It was the Lakeview Public School System job board. And Cassidy had sent me a link to an open third-grade teaching position.

I immediately grabbed my phone and called her. Cassidy answered at the first ring. “Hey, girlie! What’s up? I’m walking into my spin class, so I’ve got about four minutes.”

“What’s this job you sent me?” I asked.

“You finally saw it!” she said with a laugh. “Thank God. That means you weren’t spending too much time working while you’re up there.”

“Cass…”

“It’s just something I saw,” she said. “It’s what you always wanted to do, right? I know you didn’t graduate college with a degree in elementary education to become an account executive.”

“It’s not exactly easy to raise a kid as a single mom on a teacher’s salary,” I said.

“Well, you might not be a single mom anymore, right?”

My heart felt like it was about to explode. “It’s nowhere near that serious, Cass.”

“Okay, okay, sorry, I’ll lay off. I just saw it and thought of you.”

“How did you just see a Lakeview job posting?”

“Okay, I went looking for it.”

I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“What?! I was thinking how great it would be if I had a place to crash up there for my own vacations. It was a totally selfish endeavor.”

“Thanks, Cass. I… I don’t know what to think about this. But I’ll think about it.”

“Good! Call me back, I’m about to spend an hour in hell in this class. Bye!”

I set my phone down and stared at the application.

The salary was a lot lower than what I made at the bank.

But if I was here in Lakeview full-time, I could sell the house in Atlanta…

There was already space for us here in Stephan’s home…

We could be a little family, with Stephan’s businesses and my teaching income, the house, the garage, the clubhouse…

Dylan would have other dragons around, kids like Peter, and his cousin Bella too…

And I’d get to spend my days doing what I loved—teaching kids—instead of being cooped up in my office going over spreadsheets with grumpy clients.

It was a nice thought.

But I thought of Blakely running my car off the road. Stephan’s twin brother. The Lakeview police chief, who wanted to lock Stephan up again. The business endeavors that still weren’t all-the-way legal.

I sighed and closed the job posting, then walked into the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee. I added some cream and swirled my spoon in it, watching the colors blend in a spiral.

I couldn’t simply drop everything and move here. There was too much to lose. I couldn’t do that to Dylan—I couldn’t do that to myself.

But hell, a part of me wanted to risk it.

“What’s got you looking so down?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, and

barely managed to keep my coffee from sloshing over the lip of the mug.

“Sorry,” Striker said with a laugh. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” He was laden down with grocery bags, and I hurried over to grab a few from his hands.

“What’s all this?”

“Delivery,” Striker said. “The clubhouse got its big monthly order, and this is the alpha house’s part of the order.”

I peeked into the bags. It was like a super-mega Costco order, full of pantry items: canned beans and vegetables, paper products, and dry goods. “Are you guys stocking a bunker?”

Striker laughed. “No, it’s cheaper to order all the stuff like this for the businesses and inner circle all together. Saves us all money in the long run.”

“Wow. You guys really have a system in place.”

“Part of being a clan,” Striker said. He gave me a sidelong glance as he unpacked the cans into the pantry. “What are you up to this morning?”

Prying-without-prying. I appreciated it, honestly. I shrugged as I unpacked a bag myself. “Catching up on my work emails.”

“Work?” Striker asked. “Your job in Atlanta?”

I nodded.

“It’s a remote job?”

“No, I’ve got to meet my clients in person,” I said. “That’ll pick up again in the fall.”

“So, you’re really leaving at the end of the summer,” Striker said thoughtfully. “Huh.”

“Of course.” I definitely wasn’t going to tell Striker I had been considering exactly the opposite moments before.

It was an unrealistic dream—and it was foolish to think I could just pick up and move my whole life here because of a few good weeks with Stephan.

“My job’s there, my home, Dylan’s school, his friends, everything. We’ve got roots in Atlanta.”

“Mm,” Striker said with a nod. “Well, I’ll warn you, Ace won’t be happy about that.”

“He already knows,” I said. “It’s always been the plan to go back.”

“He might know logically, but I doubt his dragon does,” Striker said.

“You’re his fated mate. It’s hard for a human to understand.

But the feelings are… different. His dragon will hurt when you leave again, even if he knows you’ll come back.

His feelings are deep, all the way into his bones. It’s not something that will go away.”

“I have feelings, too,” I said. “It’s not easy for me, either.”

“I didn’t say that,” Striker said. “I mean… I think there’s more of a chance of you breaking Ace’s heart than his breaking yours.”

I clicked my tongue. What did Striker know about our relationship? Hell, what did he know about the ten years I’d spent as a single mom? “I think that’s a major exaggeration.”

“You’ve both been through a lot,” Striker said gently. “That’s all. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

My irritation eased. “Neither do I. Especially not Dylan. That makes all of this harder.”

“Well, those two seem to be having a blast this morning,” Striker said with an easy smile. “I saw them out in the clearing before I headed up here.”

“Steph said they’re ‘dragon-bonding.’”

“I saw a lot of smoke rings,” Striker said. “It’s good for them both. Should make Dylan’s shift a little easier, whenever it hits.”

“I hope it’s soon,” I said. “The waiting is killing me.”

“It seems frustrating now, but it’ll be a good memory,” Striker said. “It’s good Dylan’s with his sire. No matter what happens, he’ll remember this forever.”

Suddenly, tears prickled hot behind my eyes. “Dylan or Steph?”

Striker chuckled. “Both.” He finished unpacking the last grocery bag, then headed to the door. “I’ll let you enjoy the quiet while they’re finishing up.”

I nodded, then moved to the sink to wash some dishes that didn’t really need to be washed, mostly so I wouldn’t risk bursting into tears in front of Striker. He closed the door behind him, and I was alone in the quiet house again.

I took a long shower to clear my head, dressed in my comfy clothes, then sat back down on the couch with another coffee and some toast for breakfast. I had no idea when Dylan and Stephan would be back, so I decided to take advantage of the quiet and catch up on more of my work.

That was better than ruminating on the conversation I’d had with Striker, anyway.

It was midday when the back door opened and Stephan and Dylan tumbled inside.

I looked up from where I was posted up at the dining room table.

Stephan was dressed in a white undershirt and jeans, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his skin.

The shirt clung to his muscular chest under his pecs and abs, and I could see the faint outlines of his tattoos through the thin fabric.

I swallowed. I only realized I was staring when Stephan cleared his throat.