He dared a glance at the human’s sleeping face. She leaned against the window, her hair lying against her cheek. He itched to touch the blue streaks she had in it, curious as to why she constantly changed the color there.
What am I doing? He most definitely didn’t need the headache of a true mate on his plate. Dancing around her, never kissing her until she was ready, would distract him from his work, both for the clan and to keep her safe. After all, a dead Tasha was of no use to anyone.
His dragon said smugly, But you’re starting to think it’s worth trying with her. Deny it all you want, but you can’t lie to me.
Damn his dragon and his meddling.
But then they reached the main entrance to StoneRiver. Brad ignored his beast to pull up to the intercom and keypad unit situated several feet away from the twelve-foot-high metal gates. While height was nothing to a dragon-shifter who could fly over them, the spikes on top helped to keep human enemies or the dragon groupies out.
Brad typed in the correct code, and the gates swung inward. When he finally pulled in front of the main security building, he sent a text message to David to meet them, also letting his leader know about the further threats. Since he’d called his leader while the police had been talking to Tasha earlier, David knew mostly what was going on already.
A reply pinged back straight away from David, saying he’d be there soon. Tucking his phone into his pocket, Brad turned slightly toward Tasha.
She was still asleep. He had no idea if she was a heavy sleeper or if on some level, she trusted him to protect her.
His dragon said, I think it’s the latter.
Not wanting to give his dragon hope in the true mate department, Brad reached over and lightly brushed Tasha’s arm. She moved a little but didn’t wake up.
So he touched a finger to her jaw, daring to stroke her warm, soft skin.
Electricity raced up his arm and ended between his legs. Damn, if touching her with just his fingers was this dangerous, he needed to be careful. If she ever crashed into him, Brad might not be able to resist her.
Good. Then I’ll have to make that happen, his dragon stated.
He continued brushing Tasha’s cheek until she finally blinked her eyelids open. Even in the almost darkness, he loved the deep brown color of her eyes. She finally glanced out the window—the front of the security building had lights, so her human eyesight could see it—and then asked, “Are we on StoneRiver?”
“Yes. Now, come on. My clan leader is coming to meet us.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Can’t I use the bathroom first? After all, wild hair and dried drool won’t make a very good impression, and I should be halfway presentable with a dragon clan leader.”
His lips twitched. “You look fine.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I could be covered in mud and feathers and a man would still say I look fine. Sorry, but your words aren’t very reassuring.”
He chuckled and nearly did a double take. He wasn’t one to laugh easily, and here the human had made him do it.
His dragon whispered, Give her a chance.
Not ready to deal with that comment, he opened his door. “Come on. The sooner we talk with David, the sooner we can find you a place to sleep for the night.”
Without waiting for her reply, he exited the car and stood in front of it. Thankfully Tasha followed suit, and he guided her inside the security building. With any luck, he’d be free of the human female’s intoxicating presence soon enough and he could finally clear his head.
Tasha followed Brad inside a several-story building she couldn’t really make out in the almost darkness. So much for gawking at the inside grounds of Clan StoneRiver for the first time. Her curiosity would just have to wait until morning.
Inside the building, the halls looked like many other hallways she’d seen—tiled floors and neutral-colored walls that she could only describe as light brown-ish. It wasn’t exactly what she’d imagined her first impression of a dragon clan would be. It was almost…normal. For all the rumors and tales about the dragons, they might be a lot more like humans than most people believed.
Serving dragon-shifters at her bar had definitely opened her eyes to how similar they were to humans in public. But she still imagined something a little more special when it came to their home turf.
Brad guided her into a room—another nondescript place with a table and chairs—and motioned toward one of the seats. He said, “David will be here soon. Sit down and I’ll get you some water.”
She nodded and Brad exited the room. Tasha tapped her feet as she waited, trying not to let her mind run wild.
After all, she might, just might, have a hateful group bent on driving all dragons out of the country targeting her. She was safe for the time being, but that could change at any moment. Especially if the police ended up being sympathetic to the League guys who’d tried to shoot her.
And tough as she may be, Tasha wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t be able to fend off the League on her own if they were indeed outside the law. She needed help, plain and simple. And not just any kind of help, but from the dragon-shifters.
However, she had no idea how—or if—the StoneRiver dragons would be willing to help her. And if they did offer to do so, there had to be a price. No one would risk so much for free, at least in her experience.
The door opened, revealing Brad’s tall, broad-shouldered figure. She barely noted how much more at ease he seemed here than at her bar when another man entered behind him. The man with short, black hair, golden skin, and assessing brown eyes was no stranger. She’d met him before—StoneRiver’s clan leader, David Lee.
David smiled at her and sat opposite. Brad took the seat next to her.
Before she could say anything, David spoke up. “It seems you being nice to us has backfired spectacularly. Believe me when I say that I never intended for this all to happen.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I know that. You can’t control assholes and their actions.”
David snorted. “True. But you opened your bar as a favor to me and Ashley Swift. And while I can’t speak for Ashley, I can for me. And now that you’re in trouble, you’re under my protection.”
She frowned. “But only for as long as I stay here. You know as well as I do that dragon-shifters can’t stay full-time in Reno. I’ll just have to hire some human security guards.”
Brad grunted. “That won’t be enough.”
She had a feeling he was right. But for some reason, she wanted to push back against him. Almost as if she didn’t do it now, she might regret it later. “How do you know that? The League are human, so other humans should be able to stop them.”
David jumped in. “Except that in recent months, the League has been glorifying self-sacrifice. And that is a huge fucking problem for all of us.”
She resisted blinking at the statement. It was the first she’d heard of it. “What the hell are you talking about?”
David sighed. “Someone is trying to drive up the hatred of dragon-shifters again. And one surefire way to do it is to make sacrificing themselves for the cause as some fucking brave, patriotic act. Something like cleansing the US of dragons will make the humans the strongest, the richest, insert whatever you like here in the world. In their line of thinking, dragon-shifters only hold them back or drag them down.”