Page 2 of Tempting Her Dragons (Embracing The Bond #10)

Chapter Two

Kingston

“ W hy the fuck are we here?” Mav asks, pacing across the expanse of the rooftop.

“Fuck if I know,” I respond, laying down on the peak, my arms behind my head, my ankle on my bent knee.

“Shade could have given us any details,” he complains.

“You know Shade,” I say. “His name is appropriate.”

“I’m worried about Mom.” He stops by my feet, his hands lightly touching his hips. “We aren’t there to protect her.”

“I hate it, too,” I grumble. “But he promised to watch over her, and she practically pushed us out the door.”

“I don’t understand why he wanted us to come here.” He turns and continues walking.

“He had a hunch,” I say. “Whatever that means. He’s usually right.”

“Fucker,” Mav mumbles, taking his lighter out of his pocket. The rapid clank of the lid of the butane lighter shows his agitation.

Maverick is my brother, my best friend, and one of two people in this life who are my family. We are not related by blood in our veins but by the blood of our bond. We chose each other as children to be family, and then our Mom chose us when we were twelve.

Shade is a friend who sent us to this town for some reason he didn’t specify. He is a genius at computers, security, and digging up secrets. He instructed us to be here, on this street, on this night.

“I suppose we will know when we know,” I say dryly. I’m annoyed with our friend. He refused to answer questions, informing us that he didn’t want us to be disappointed if he was wrong. What the fuck would disappoint us? We have been hardened from disappointment from a very young age.

“Right,” he growls. “I wish to know soon. I’m hungry.” He stops and crouches, his arms dangling over his knees, still flicking his lighter. Mav, or Maverick to most people, is a green dragon.

I am a gold dragon. Our world is a secret from most humans. Dragons are rare and have been hunted throughout time. The world is filled with creatures who shouldn’t exist. Shifters are varied. Any animal in the wild that you can think of could be a shifter. Our mother is a rabbit shifter. She has powers unique to her species, as do we. My brother and I can fly while in our animal form, but what is special about us is we can fly for short periods in our human bodies. We use our magic to float about space. I have no idea if other dragons can do the same; I haven’t spoken to another dragon since I was ten. Twenty-six years ago, both sets of our parents were murdered, and we have stayed out of sight since then.

We can cloak our bodies as we are doing now. Humans can’t see through the shield. Shifters can, but still can’t see our forms—just a blur of mass. We can breathe fire in and out of our dragon form. Our strength is outmatched by most other shifters, and all of our other senses are enhanced. It’s a gift, but it has also caused our lives to derail in ways we didn’t see coming.

“I don’t want to be here,” I sigh. “I want to be on the land.” We live on a thousand acres of land in a house we built ourselves, next to our Mom, in a house we built her. She taught us how to live off the land. We worked together to plant and grow food. Food that we sell for a fuck-ton of money. Our magic aids us in making the best of everything.

“What could possibly interest us here?” Mav turns his squinted blue eyes my way. “All I see are humans in a line.” Humans are weak and have caused havoc and destruction.

“It’s some kind of club.” I turn my head to look at them. They are dressed to attract attention, but I have no interest. We are not social creatures. Being left alone is what we both crave. Attention is what sent our childhood straight to hell. “Shade has helped us in the past. We can do him this favor,” I decide.

“That’s the only reason I came,” he rumbles. “Why are they lined up outside a closed club?” Maverick understands humans less than I do. We have fought to keep our lives secret and our circle of friends small.

“It must be popular,” I say. The Mark. I like the name and the dagger on the brick building. “I feel power.” It’s in the air all around the club, and the source isn’t in front of it.

“I do, too,” he agrees. “I don’t like it.”

“There are other shifters here,” I whisper, sitting up. I fiddle with the rope I wear on my wrist. We don’t play well with others. Of course, we come across other species, but we don’t make friends or answer any questions. Some have never smelled a dragon before, so they know we are one of them but have no idea who they are dealing with. The ones that do are either fascinated or scared.

Everyone should be scared of us.

Our power is coveted by many, both shifters and humans. The greedy think they can somehow steal our gifts by touching our skin or killing us. I enjoy the shock on their face when their skin starts to melt from their body when our poison sinks in.

Others think we have piles of treasure hidden in a cave somewhere. Money is a motivator. The money we do have is sure as shit not held in a cave. As much as we try to hide from the world, we leave the property and interact with buyers and humans. People talk, so once in a while, the talk reaches the right people who think they can fuck with us.

“I feel vampire,” Maverick says, closing his eyes and tipping his head back. “Very old. Very dangerous.” Mav has a gift of feeling supernatural power and age. Most shifters can feel if another shifter is powerful, but not with such accuracy. “He’s five hundred years old.” He opens his eyes. “If Shade sent us here for him, I want no part of it,” he decides.

“Shade wouldn’t fuck with us like that,” I say. Shade isn’t a person to pull pranks or put us in a situation where we would have to defend ourselves without a heads-up.

We don’t just grow food; that’s the front. Our actual jobs are dangerous and secret. Shade gives a commission to help him with specific, delicate, and dangerous jobs.

“There’s always a first,” Mav says, but I know he doesn’t believe his words. Shade has given us a purpose.

“Not likely.” Our mom comes with us to most jobs.

Roxanne Keller is the best mother, friend, and tough as fuck. She would be pissed if she heard our doubt about her ability to protect herself. I know she has the skills to deal with any problem or person that comes to her, but I’ve already lost one Mom. When we discussed our conversation with Shade and his insistent belief that we should travel across Oregon, she told us to go. She also knows Shade’s reasons are valid. She worries about us, too. We’ve heard many lectures about finding a mate and how we will if we don’t leave her side or the property except for jobs.

A mate. The bond of fated mates.

Shifters are destined to find the person or people who are the perfect match. When it happens, magic ties us together, and we would rather die than be parted from them. I’ve met bonded mates, and the dedication they show is intoxicating. They say the universe is all-knowing. I have reservations about believing in the universe when they allowed our parents to leave this world brutally. On the other hand, meeting Mom in the effects of their death was meant to be. I can’t imagine not having her to love us and teach us.

Maybe things do happen how they are supposed to. I have to have faith that the universe has a plan for Mav and me. Trust is a hard-earned emotion. The only people I truly trust are Mav and Mom. Shade is trustworthy, but it has taken years for him to break through our defenses.

We’ve talked about having mates and wondered if they would be separate people. Multiple mates are normal within the shifter community, even with shifters who aren’t related. It’s believed that the universe knows who to pair with whom. We can only hope the creator knows we wouldn’t want to be separated. Most shifters thrive on physical touch, whether within a pack or a bond. We show affection easily to each other, Mom, and even Shade. I hope we are fortunate to have the same mate. She would want for nothing with two gruff dragons who would be loyal to her. We are possessive of what belongs to us, and she would be no different.

“It has to be personal,” I muse.

“What?”

“This mission,” I reply. Shade gives us every tiny detail about any jobs we do. He’s too secretive about this. We do extensive research before we go out for him.

“I agree.” The lighter quiets. “My skin has been itching every mile closer to this place.”

“Same,” I say. “I feel an anticipation I can’t explain.” As much as we bitched as we packed a bag and complained to Mom, we didn’t pause leaving.

“We are here for someone,” he concludes. He drops to his ass, his empty hand gripping his hair. “What are the odds of another dragon being here?”

“High,” I say. “I felt many shifters in the area. I haven’t caught a dragon’s scent yet, but they are here. It’s been years since we have been around our kind. I do remember how it feels.” I pound my chest. Any dragon in the world should be valued since we are so few.

“I wonder how they will react to us.”

“We will see,” I mumble. Some shifters can be very territorial. This is their home, and they may see us as a threat to it.

“King,” Mav says softly.

“Yeah?” I look away from the people below to look into his speculative eyes.

“What if it’s her?” he asks.

“Mate?” He nods. “Do you think she’s here?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. If she is, I hope she’s not human,” he says.

“Why?” I ask, my lips twitching.

“You think a human can handle the truth about us?” His eyebrows raise.

“Possibly,” I lie.

“Bullshit,” he grins.

I shake my head. “There are so few of us left,” I say, looking back at the street. “What are the odds of finding a female dragon?”

“What were the odds of finding Mom?” he points out.

“You are not an optimist,” I quip.

“Maybe I’m changing my pessimistic ways,” he says, but a short laugh follows his statement. “You’re right. It didn’t feel right when I said it.”

“Go with it. If you are wrong, I promise not to say anything.” I reach out and cup his shoulder. “You deserve to be right now and then.”

“Fucker,” he says, pushing my hand away. “You would love to be right as much as I am.” He nudges my leg.

“Sure,” I say. Mav doesn’t show this side of his personality to many people. We are both usually reserved in social situations. We can be ourselves fully, knowing we would never judge when it’s just us. Filling the silence has never been a need. Talking for the sake of it is never expected between us.

“How long are they willing to wait?” Mave sneers.

“Apparently, a long time.” The line hasn’t moved.

“How long are we willing to wait?” he asks.

I glance at my wrist. “The club opens in an hour.”

“So we wait another hour,” he growls.

“At least.”

“Shit.” The clicking resumes. “You know how impatient I am,” he reminds me.

“I do.” I lift a brow his way.

“Torturous.”

“At least it’s a nice night,” I reply. Mav has to be moving at all times. He gets bored and very impatient when he’s not working towards a goal.

“I’d rather be flying.”

“Who wouldn’t rather fly?” I ask.

“It’s going to be challenging to find a place to shift here,” he says. “We don’t know the area well enough.”

“We might have to make friends with a shifter,” I tell him and watch his eyes widen.

“Shade never said we would have to make friends,” he grits out.

“I know it’s a foreign concept to us.”

“Shit,” he sighs. “I won’t be making friends with the vampire I sense.”

“Maybe he’s a nice guy,” I mention lightly.

“A nice guy?” he huffs. “Have you met a vampire who is?”

“Not yet,” I admit. Vampires are more possessive and territorial than any other. We might be the exception.

“Knowing his age, I can tell you he’s not a nice guy. He’s fucking dangerous, especially if he has a mate.”

“Scared, brother?”

“Fuck you.” He slips his lighter into his pocket. “You know better.”

I do. I know Mav isn’t scared of much. We have that in common. “Then we wait. If we meet the vampire, we attempt to be nice guys.”

He scoffs. “What if we find a mate?”

I hold his gaze. “Then we claim her.”