Page 8

ACE

I leaned against the polished surface of the bar and shook my glass at Striker.

Even though the clubhouse was packed to bursting, I was the clan alpha, and as such, Striker always had an eye on what I needed.

And what I needed tonight was something strong.

The booze never gave me a buzz, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

“Everything all right?” Striker asked. Although he was on bar duty tonight, he was also acting as one of our enforcers.

He was tall and barrel-chested, wearing a beat-up leather jacket with our clan insignia on the back.

He didn’t talk much, but he could shut down troublemakers with a single severe look—an excellent quality for an enforcer.

“Yeah, just tired.” It was more than that, but I couldn’t identify what it was. I felt… out of sorts.

Striker didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push. He stepped to the other side of the bar to pour drinks for a few of our guests.

Around me, music and laughter rang through the dim clubhouse.

It was a big, comfortable space, like a cross between a bar and a good friend’s living room.

There were couches, pool tables, a large back porch, and a few stuffed deer heads mounted on the wall.

It was a typical Friday night—a time for the pack to wind down, relax, enjoy a few drinks, and listen to the classic rock blasting over the speakers.

It wasn’t only our clan, though. On Fridays, the clubhouse was open to all, and the space filled with people from Lakeview and nearby towns.

Most of the people who showed up were curious about shifters, or were hoping they’d get a chance to sleep with one.

The booze didn’t work on shifters, but with the shifter-chasers around, it did us well to keep the bar stocked.

Yeah, it was mostly shifter-chasers tonight. Shifter-chasers were a real thing, and there weren’t a lot of dragons on the East Coast. That meant a lot of them came into our territory for a chance to see what we were about.

They weren’t all tourists, though.

My gaze slid over to the couch. One of our younger clan members was sprawled on the couch with a drink in one hand and the other on Blakely’s waist. Blakely was a tall, athletic woman with deep red hair which she wore short, like a boy’s, but in a stylish way.

She called it something once when I’d teased her about it—pixie cut?

Who knew. I wasn’t really interested in the nuances of her style choices.

Tonight, she was wearing a plunging black tank-top and tight black jeans.

She had both hands on the guy’s chest and was laughing at something he said.

She must’ve felt my eyes on her, because her gaze darted to me. She patted his chest, then slid off his lap. He looked disappointed for a second, but another girl quickly filled Blakely’s spot—definitely a benefit of a buzzing Friday night.

Blakely sauntered up to me and leaned one elbow on the bar. “Hi, Ace. You’re looking particularly pissy tonight.”

“Not pissy. Keeping an eye on things.”

“As per usual. I always say the clan alpha deserves a few more breaks. You need to blow off some steam?”

I rolled my eyes. “Cutting straight to the chase, huh?”

She hummed, then shrugged one shoulder. “Something like that.” Her fingertips danced up my torso from my belt buckle to my sternum.

My dragon growled internally at the touch, even though her touch made arousal flame low in my gut.

Blakely was sexy. That much was undeniable.

I hadn’t had any conjugal visits—so to speak—while I was locked up, and when I got out, I did some…

Well, overcorrection. I’d slept with a lot of shifter-chasers who’d made their way through the clubhouse doors, because I was horny, and they were easy.

Blakely was always my most-regular hookup.

She was hot, willing, and extremely flexible.

Didn’t hurt that she was adventurous in bed.

But whenever I fucked a woman who wasn’t Harley Founty, my dragon grumbled with irritation and disgust. No matter how much I tried to explain reality to him, he refused to let it go.

Dragons weren’t creatures of logic. But the truth was the truth.

Harley was gone. We had to live without her.

And yet, since Harley, I’d never met a woman my dragon was even ambivalent about.

He was always growly and pissed off. I’d gotten used to ignoring his frustration.

“What do you say?” Blakely purred. “Should we get out of here? Head to your place?”

Maybe a roll around with Blakely was exactly what I needed. She liked it a little rough, so she usually targeted me when I was looking pissy. She liked her hookups halfway between fucking and fighting. Perhaps I wouldn’t even take her home, just step upstairs to one of the private rooms…

“Ace!” Hawk called as he burst through the clubhouse door. “There you are!”

“Where else would I be?” I said.

Blakely suppressed a sigh and took a step back. She waggled her fingers at my brother. “Hi, Hawk.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Mia and Bella tonight?”

“Change of plans,” Hawk said. “You need to come to the house. Now.”

Hawk’s expression was deathly serious. He wasn’t the type of guy to skip an opportunity for a good joke, so hearing this tone of voice on a Friday night instantly put me on edge.

Whatever was going on—it was a big deal.

And probably something pretty bad. I immediately thought of the invoices I’d been reviewing earlier.

Did one slip through? Did we have feds knocking on our door, looking to take me back into custody?

“The shop?” I asked. “Did we screw up an order?”

Hawk shook his head, and relief instantly rushed through me. Whatever it was, at least I wasn’t going back to prison. Not today, at least.

“Then what? How bad is it?”

“It’s not work related,” Hawk said. “But it’s important. You’ve got to come with me, now.”

Blakely touched my forearm. “Come on, Ace, if it’s not work it can probably wait an hour or two…”

I shrugged off her touch. “Gonna have to take a rain check, Blakely.”

Hawk nodded, and I followed him through the crowded clubhouse to the front door. I ignored Blakely calling my name and glanced over my shoulder at Striker. “You’re in charge, Striker!”

He saluted in acknowledgment.

Our pack ran like a well-oiled machine. I was grateful I could leave on a busy night like tonight and know the clubhouse was in good hands.

I followed Hawk out to his old Mustang—I assumed Mia had the sedan with the car seat in the back—and slid into the passenger seat. “You gonna tell me what the hell is going on?”

Hawk threw the Mustang into reverse and pulled out from the clubhouse.

He headed down the gravel road that circled the lake, toward the cabin on the other side of the lake, where he lived with his wife and daughter.

As he drove, he glanced sidelong at me. “I can’t tell you, but I need you to try to stay calm, okay? ”

I waited for my dragon to sense a lie. But there was none. Whatever was going on, Hawk really couldn’t tell me.

That only worried me more. What the hell was going on?

Hawk pulled up to his cabin, turned off the car, then took a deep breath. “Please remember to stay calm.”

“Saying that over and over isn’t helping.” I climbed out of the car and slammed the door a little unnecessarily hard. My dragon was alert, sniffing the air. He could sense something, and I did as well—a tingling under my skin.

“Ace—”

I needed to find out what this was about. Now. I marched up the steps to Hawk’s porch, then pushed open the front door.

My heart stopped. I froze in place. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. It wasn’t Harley.

The woman I’d spent years trying to forget about.

The only woman my dragon wanted.

My fated mate.

She was seated on the old leather couch in Hawk’s living room, looking just as beautiful as I remembered—hell, she was even more beautiful.

She was perfectly curvy. Her thighs filled out her dark jeans, and a soft pale blue sweater with her alma mater on the front accentuated her perfect waist and full breasts.

Her long, auburn hair was piled into a bun at the top of her head, but a few strands escaped to frame her round face and her bright, warm blue eyes.

My dragon thrashed inside me, whining his demands. That was Harley. Our mate—our fated mate. She was the only one we were supposed to be with.

“Hi, Stephan,” she said softly.

Smoke burned the back of my throat.

I never thought I’d see her again. And here she was, on my brother’s couch. Like a ghost. Like a dream.

But that wasn’t all. There was something else in the house. Some one else. Family. Not Mia, not Bella, not Hawk. An unfamiliar presence, but one my dragon recognized all the same.

“Who else is here?” I looked between Harley and Hawk. “There’s someone else here.”

Whoever it was, their presence was making my dragon thrash harder inside me. He wanted to escape. He wanted to search this place from top to bottom like a dog.

The back door swung open, and a bright laugh rang through the house.

A boy, no more than eight or nine, bounded into the living room with Hawk’s puppy Zoey in his arms. The little German shepherd wriggled and yipped as she licked the kid’s face.

“Mom, she’s so cute and already so good at fetch!

Can we get a puppy too? Please? Please please please? ”

Harley brushed a few sweaty strands of blond hair out of the boy’s eyes. “I’ll think about it, kiddo. A dog’s a big responsibility.”

Mom.

Her touch was so gentle on her son’s face.

Her son.

My dragon was trying to crawl out of my skin. I squeezed my hands into fists at my sides. It took all my self-control to stay still.

Zoey wiggled out of the boy’s arms and bounded around the living room, sniffing at Hawk’s feet before trotting over to me with her tail wagging. The kid’s eyes followed her around, and that’s when he noticed me. His eyes widened.

Blond hair. Hazel eyes.

It was like looking into the past. He looked exactly like I had as a kid.

A whirlwind of emotion rushed through me, and I couldn’t pinpoint any one except shock.

My dragon was equal parts confused and overjoyed—he desperately wanted to take this fledgling dragon under his wings.

My dragon recognized its own blood. This young dragon hadn’t shifted yet, but it was coming soon.

I could sense the kid’s powerful dragon just under the surface.

Nine was young for a first shift. It was the same age when I’d first shifted.

I tore my gaze away from the boy’s face. Harley was pale, her brow furrowed in concern. I immediately wanted to soothe my mate’s worries—the woman who was supposed to be my mate— but I couldn’t give in to those instincts. Not yet.

My voice was like gravel when I spoke. “Harley, I need you to explain.”