Page 10

Lucan

Whatever You Like

“It’s not safe for you on my back. Kieran needs to get Ember some sort of saddle if he’s going to continue flying with her that way. I’ll insist on carrying you if that’s how you want to travel.” I checked Riley’s phone, making sure the signal booster attached to my bike worked, and handed it back to her.

I’ll carry her in my claws…

But she might still need a safety harness.

“And this is safer?” Riley eyed the motorcycle warily as she tucked the phone into her back pocket.

“Yes.” I slid the helmet over her head and made sure it was a good fit. She looked adorable. My chest welled with pride at the sight of her protected and trusting me to provide for her. “We’ll take it slow.”

∞

“This is not slow!” Riley screamed into the wind.

My hearing was advanced enough to pick up her words, but it was her body language I paid more attention. The way she relaxed against my back and the grip of her hands on my chest. She was pliant, soft, and perfectly molded to me.

I grew hard thinking about the way we’d fit once I tore those barriers down.

She gasped as I rounded the bend of the road and held to me tighter.

I eased off the throttle, feeling the heat pulse between her legs, and had to bite back a feral groan at hearing her little sound of disappointment.

My Riley liked this.

I increased the speed again.

She let out a laugh, relaxing.

Her head rested against the back of my shoulder.

A little faster… my dragon conceded.

It seemed my mate did want to fly.

∞

“How was that?” I asked, removing her helmet.

Riley’s smile was bright as she tried to tame her wild hair. “It was all right. I used to ride dirt bikes…” Her voice trailed off as her smile fell. “A lifetime ago.”

My mate’s surprises knew no bounds.

“I hardly think it was that long ago,” I teased, excited to be given this new tidbit.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you were ancient.” Riley smiled again and my heart soared. “When I was a kid I used to ride dirt bikes and quads with my friends during the summer. It’s been long enough that I’d almost forgotten.”

“You can drive us back then. I’ll help you remember the basics.” I put the helmets in the empty saddlebags.

“Maybe.” Riley chewed her lip as she looked around the deserted parking lot. “Where are we?”

A tumbleweed blew across the asphalt.

The sun’s heat beat against the distant sand.

“Nevada.” I placed my hand on her lower back, guiding her toward the old shopping mall. “Just outside of Reno.”

“This is crazy. I’ve never been so far south.” The wonder in her voice did something to me.

If she wanted to travel, I’d take her anywhere, even further south than this. The laws of the land and the prophecy had no hold on me anymore. My only job now was to spoil my mate.

I was calling it early retirement—and glad to experience this before the end.

We can’t leave him, though.

The bitter anguish was a sharp reminder.

I turned to Riley, discreetly inhaling her invigorating, spicy scent.

It revived me in a way nothing else could.

“Is there anything in particular you need?” I asked.

“Is anything still open?” Riley frowned as she looked at the darkened windows and chains on the doors. Trash blew against the walls on the south side of the mostly abandoned building.

“A few stores,” I said.

The pain in her eyes was old enough that I had trouble remembering how young she really was. She’d witnessed her generation’s decline and would mourn seeing a once thriving marketplace become a ghostly shell with limited options.

Me? I’d seen the rise and fall of nations and had fought in battles on both sides.

If this was the end, I planned to go out in a blaze of glory, living life exactly the way I wanted with whatever time I had left and enjoying the bits of existence hard enough to survive the downfall.

And protecting what was mine.

Riley’s phone pinged with an incoming message. Her pulse quickened as she looked at the screen.

“Who is that?” I kept my tone casual, feeling anything but. If something worried her, I’d—

“No one,” Riley said as she put her phone in her back pocket again. “So, shopping… I don’t have any cash.”

“Your money is no good here. My bank account is at your disposal.” I’d assumed that was obvious.

“Is that right?” Riley’s look of disbelief had my beast wanting to unfurl his wings. But her pulse slowed and the small hint of a smile ghosted her lips. “I guess I can let you pay. Only if you insist.”

I insisted.

After a few slight protests upon entering the department store and her measurements were taken, Riley stood at the base of a mannequin running her fingers over its silk dress.

“Who can afford to shop here?” She shook her head.

“I can and so can the casino owners who kept this store open.” I nodded to the attendant. She gave me a knowing smile before hurrying to get one of the black silk dresses in the correct size.

“It’s too much.” Riley’s cheeks were a pretty pink shade of embarrassed.

“I have centuries of unspent funds,” I reassured her. Not to brag, just stating fact. “This will hardly make a dent.”

She chewed her bottom lip, stopping in front of the shelf with folded leggings in soft gray. “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be modest, or at least not encourage you.”

Encourage me?

My dragon bristled as I stood waiting for Riley to come to terms with the reality of her situation. She was getting clothes. This wasn’t up for debate.

“But you did kidnap me and I’m getting tired of pretending I don’t want nice things.” She winked.

My beast relaxed as Riley leaned forward, calling to the attendant, “Can I get a pair of these in black, please?”

Two glasses of champagne later, Riley stood waiting outside the doors while I paid Vanessa and her team to deliver the shopping bags to my house. When I was done, I met her in the open walkway that led through the center of the old mall.

“Is that what it’s like?” Riley tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

“What’s what like?” I asked.

“Having money. People just bend over backwards and make food when you ask.” She held out the bag of popcorn to me.

I smiled as I grabbed a handful, feeling my dragon sigh at the gesture. I’d made sure she had something to eat along with the champagne they poured while she was trying on her wardrobe.

Now my mate was feeding me.

“It’s common decency to feed paying customers,” I teased, offering my arm. “It doesn’t take money to be kind.”

“Touche,” she said.

When she slid her arm through the crook in my elbow, I felt ten feet tall.

We strolled casually through the darkened walkway past the closed shutters and old ‘Going Out of Business’ signs. Dust gathered in the corners and our steps echoed through the grand space.

“I don’t know when I’ll ever wear that gown.” Riley smiled wistfully. The softness of the champagne was wearing off and logic tried to return.

“There doesn’t need to be a reason.” I realized I was walking extra slowly, trying to enjoy the feeling of having her beside me. “But if you need an excuse, I’ll set a time and date.”

“You’d do that for me?” She giggled, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

I took her wrist and tugged it back down. “That and more.”

Riley blinked as she stared into my eyes. “Is this all because you think I’m your mate?”

“Maybe.” I couldn’t lie, but I didn’t want to scare her again. “Or maybe it’s because you deserve it.”

“You don’t even know me. How do you know what I deserve?”

I smiled as I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “What do you think I’m doing now?”

We stared at each other for a breath.

Then another.

Riley broke first, looking away. “I need to get to know you, too. They said you’ve been in battle.”

“You could say that,” I chuckled as she started walking. At least she didn’t take her arm away.

“Oh no. You’re not getting off the hook that easily.” She scooped out another handful of popcorn. “Why did Fredrick say you were, and I quote, ‘scarred, not soft?’”

Nosy old dragon.

I tsked. “Fredrick is telling stories again.”

“Why don’t you tell me a story, then?” Riley rested her head against my shoulder.

I wracked my brain for something easy to tell. A tale that wouldn’t frighten.

And settled for the truth.

“I’ve done my share of fighting,” I said, keeping my tone soft. “I was cursed with a guardian’s size and strength, so I found ways to make it useful.”

“Are you done fighting now?” There was a hint of fear in her voice. I prayed it was for me and not because of me.

“I hope to be,” I said.

It was the same answer I always told myself.

Riley studied me. My dragon puffed up with pride at being the object of her gaze.

“How does it work with your dragon? Kieran says his talks.” Her curiosity almost made him sing.

She doesn’t hate me.

“It’s not that he talks exactly,” I mused aloud. It wasn’t often—if ever—I discussed this part of my being. “We aren’t separate. I am my beast. But we don’t exist on the same plane.”

“So… he’s like a voice in your head?” she asked. “Or sensations that make you think?”

“Something like that.” I nodded.

“I’ve got plenty of those.” Riley gave a self-deprecating laugh as she looked around. I could see the moment where she beat herself up as if she’d said something crazy. Then she shrugged it off. “You know, the last time I was in a mall, my dad was taking me Christmas shopping for my mom.”

I embraced the change of topic, but made a note to remind her that there was nothing she could say I didn’t want to hear. “I’d like to meet your parents. Where are they now?”

“Dead,” she said.

I almost missed a step.

“They died in a car crash when I was sixteen,” Riley kept talking as she patted my arm. “That’s why me and Ember get along so well. Trauma bonding. We’re both orphans. That, and she gives good book recommendations.”

“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t know.”

“Don’t be,” Riley said. “It’s awfully convenient for you.”

“Excuse me?” I pulled her to a stop.

This was spiraling fast.

She shrugged. “See, now you can kidnap me and declare me your mate without having to answer to any potential father figure.”

“I… I…” For the first time in centuries, I was struck speechless. Things had gotten dark.

Even for me.

“Geez.” Riley rolled her eyes. “I figured you could take a joke.”

A what?

“Never mind.” She turned and kept walking, leaving me gaping like a fish as I stared after her. “Where are we going anyway? The parking lot is in the other direction.”