The woman fell into a fit of laughter and rolled off him. Daphne blinked. Absolutely nothing here was like she expected. Apparently, Erik’s mate didn’t resent him. If anything, they seemed truly happy.
“Don’t pay them any attention,” Casey grumbled.
The woman jumped to her feet, brushed her hands off on her jeans, and held out a hand to Daphne. The jungle of metal bracelets on her wrist sounded like bells.
“It’s great to finally meet you! I’m Bree,” the woman said.
Daphne put on her best business smile and shook the woman’s hand. “I look forward to working with you soon.”
Bree’s expression faltered, becoming perplexed for the briefest second. “Ah, yeah. It’s nice to meet Casey’s sister. He’s said a lot of good things about you. Like how you almost poked out one of his eyes when you were kids.”
Daphne’s jaw dropped. Laughter slowly bubbled out of her before she covered her mouth with her hand. “I did no such thing, and even if I did, he would have deserved it.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” a new female voice said.
Casey made a beeline for the woman who’d stepped into the living area. Her silver hair ended in lavender tips. A whole garden of ink decorated one arm. Black bands circled the other. Daphne never would have expected her brother to fall for a woman like her. He’d always liked country girls who had mud on their knees and natural hair, to say the least.
Daphne shook herself. Her anger toward her brother had made her bitter with everyone. She pulled on her work persona and hid behind it while nasty thoughts festered in her mind.
“So, you’re the one putting up with my brother now,” Daphne said with a sly smile.
Evangeline’s grin spread wide. She closed the space between them and closed Daphne in a big hug. The physical contact melted the last of the ice in Daphne’s disposition.
Daphne pulled back and peered at her brother’s mate. “Are you ready for this? It’s a big step.”
Evangeline tossed her head toward Bree. “If she can do it, then I know I can.”
“That was a sneaky insult,” Bree called out.
Slowly, the rest of the clan came to join them. Dillon and his wife, Isabella, settled onto the couch. Daphne always thought Dillon would need a hardy woman because he might break her. Isabella looked as fragile as they came, but Dillon melted into a total softie around her.
Chapter Three
Ford contemplated his apartment. He wouldn’t have much to pack up if he had to leave. The desire to hit the road sat in the back of his mind, always there. It told him to run and keep running so that no one would ever find out what he’d done. It told him to never make connections with anyone, so he would never have to endure torment like that again.
A stack of stained and altogether ragged-looking notebooks sat in the center of his kitchen table, though. They anchored him to this small town. He’d started in the kitchen as a dishwasher and, through hard work, risen to the head cook. He wasn’t a chef by any means, but working with food, fire, and knives eased the wild thing inside him that still wanted blood.
He had an appointment with a butcher next week to learn how to break down meat on his own. He couldn’t just up and leave, but the dragon woman from the airport made him want to run.
She also made him want to stay.
Her scent begged him to lay down roots again, to fall into her like she was a summer garden begging for bees.
Ford pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t a damned poet. These thoughts weren’t his own. Loneliness had finally gone and driven him crazy.
Because, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he craved seeing her again. He hoped she beat down the kitchen door to find him. Her absolute disregard for rules drove him wild. Would she be so brazen if he got her alone? Not in some wretched alley way, but in the dark of his car or under the starlit sky?
There he went again, trying to be some romantic writer. Ford let his head fall against the tabletop. The dishes at the other end rattled nervously. He spared a glance at them to make sure they wouldn’t tumble off the surface any time soon. They were a safe distance from the edge of the table. So, he banged his head again and again, hoping it would dislodge the desire to hunt that woman down.
He would never have another mate. That wasn’t how fate worked for dragons. He’d loved a woman with all his heart once. If he fell for this new woman and had to watch her fated mate come and steal her away, he would want to fight for her. His beast couldn’t afford to lose another lover.
To keep himself from running out the door, he opened one of his well-worn notebooks and started devising the meal he would cook for her if he courted her. Ford rolled his eyes at himself. His wife would have called him a tender-hearted man, though he knew he was anything but.
***
Daphne struggled to pull herself out of bed. Work called, but she wanted nothing to do with it. The sound of voices and kitchen clatter drifted into her bedroom. It snuck under the door like a noisy invader, keeping her from getting that last little bit of shuteye. She wanted a few extra hours of sleep, strawberry shortcake, and a foot massage. Since none of those were readily available, she took the hottest shower she could manage.
Evangeline showed up late. Daphne tried to hide her irritation, but it slipped out every now and then during the interview process until Evangeline finally snapped.
“Why do you need to ask me all these questions? We already know what’s going to happen.”
Daphne bit the inside of her cheek. Her beast gnashed its teeth, but Daphne managed to hide its burgeoning wrath. “You are my brother’s one and only mate. I want to make sure that this process isn’t going to kill you.”
Evangeline narrowed her eyes. “Like that’s so hard? Bree slept for a day. I wouldn’t mind a day’s worth of sleep.”
Me either, Daphne thought.
Bree wasn’t present to offer her insight, but Daphne had learned from Bree herself that she’d come close to dying. If Evangeline didn’t have the force of will to hold out as her body broke down and changed, then she could die. Daphne wanted to explain that being sassy wasn’t the same as having willpower, but she wasn’t about to insult the woman she would be training soon.
Daphne’s mind wandered. She imagined the small town down the mountain and the little restaurant where she’d found the man who’d left her high and dry at the airport. In her mind, she ran her hand over his bicep and counted the dark freckles on his arms. She wished she had a peach mimosa in the other hand, too.
“Please just bear with me,” Daphne said. “I’m being extra careful because I want to make sure this goes smoothly. There’s no reason to rush this.”
Evangeline cocked her head, as if perplexed. Daphne ignored the expression and asked another round of questions. Evangeline seemed well suited for the life of a dragon shifter. Daphne could tell that Evangeline had emotional scar tissue that would protect her. The woman had endured a lot.
According to Casey, Evangeline’s ex-boyfriend had set the cabin on fire in a fit of rage. If this woman could live through a man who acted like that, then surely, she could live through the change. Evangeline wasn’t happy when Daphne told her that they wouldn’t go through with it today, though.