Chapter 17

Seventeen

"My brother is an idiot," Ensley says as we lie side-by-side on her bed Saturday evening, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars we stuck on her ceiling when we were eight that she never bothered to take down. We put stars on Becks' ceiling as well, but he took them down ages ago.

"If you're expecting me to disagree with you, you're going to be waiting a long time," I say.

I haven't spoken to Becks since our public disagreement in the halls of Nightlark the day before, so I'm firmly in the Becks-is-an-idiot club as well, but as I turn my head to look at her I wonder what pushed her to become a member.

Ensley huffs out a frustrated breath. "He's an overbearing boar who's too stubborn to see he's ruining his life. Talking to him is like talking to a brick wall lately."

I don't disagree with that, but old habits die hard so I can't stop myself from defending him. "He has a lot going on right now. Especially with the dragon heir and council stuff."

I was hopeful when Becks finally told his sister about the arranged life-mating that she'd be able to help, but according to her she'd gotten nowhere with her parents, and Becks refuses to talk about it with her. So as of now, Shadow Striker isn't my fallback plan, it's the only plan. But things have been so up and down with Becks lately, I'm no longer confident that he'd even want to be paired with me rather than some random girl.

Flipping over on her stomach, Ensley stares at me, her green eyes probing. "Can we be honest with each other for a minute?"

My stomach drops. "What do you mean? I'm always honest with you."

The look Ensley shoots me says she doesn't believe that's true, but besides my feelings for her brother, I've never been anything but completely truthful with her, so I don't know why she's looking at me like that.

When she says, "What about the fact that you have the hots for my brother?" I'm so surprised that I jackknife to a sitting position.

"What are you talking about?" I say, my heart already beating double-time.

"Come on, Locklyn, it's been obvious for ages. I haven't brought it up because I've been waiting for you to talk to me about it. But since you haven't . . ." She splays her hands as if to say, "Here we are."

"I don't know why you would think—" I start, feeling my face reddening.

"He likes you too," she says, cutting me off and stunning me into silence.

We stare at each other for a few bloated moments. Me processing. Her waiting for me to finally spill my guts.

"Why do you think that?" I tentatively ask, and a grin spreads across her face.

Popping to her feet, she points a finger at me. "Ha! I knew it!"

I groan and cover my face with my hands. This is so embarrassing. And awkward.

"You guys should just kiss and get it over with," she says, making me groan again. "Wait, have you already kissed?"

She leans toward me, and I do my impression of a deer in headlights.

"You have?"

"No," I say quickly, while my wily friend interprets every micro expression that flits across my face.

"But you almost did," she says, a smirk curving the corners of her mouth. "When? How did it happen? I want all the deets."

"We didn't kiss, but we did have . . . a moment. At the Chaos party in Deepseat Caverns. It happened when the lights went out."

She gasps. "I was right there. How did I miss that?"

"Probably because you were occupied by a specific bandmate you've sworn up and down you're not interested in?" I answer with a smirk of my own.

She rolls her eyes. "Konan is cute, but he's just a friend. There's no spark there, ya know? I'd tell you if there were." Ensley is a beautiful girl and has guys after her all the time, yet she rarely dates. Sometimes I worry she's holding back because of me. Like she doesn't want to jump into a relationship when I'm so utterly and completely without prospects, but she holds fast to the story that she's just waiting for the right guy. "Back to you and Becks. You guys have been dancing around each other for years. Everyone sees it. The only thing I don't understand is why it hasn't happened yet."

"It's complicated."

"You don't say," she says as she plops down on the bed beside me.

"I can't talk to you about this."

"Why?" she says, looking genuinely confused.

"Because you're his sister . It's weird."

"Is that the reason you've been avoiding talking to me about it?"

"Well . . . pretty much."

She waves me off. "Whatever. It's not that big of a deal. Besides, I love him, and I love you. Who else would I want to see my brother with than my best friend?"

I scrunch my nose. I don't have any siblings, but if I did have a twin brother I don't think I'd want to see Ensley coupling up with him. But I guess as long as she's cool with it, I shouldn't worry about it.

"Nothing would make me happier than to see you both happy together," she stresses.

"Did you forget about the arranged life-mate issue?" I say, reminding her of the biggest hurdle. In a few months Becks will be pledged to another female and then eventually life-mated. He's been very vocal about not wanting to date or have a girlfriend in the meantime.

Ensley's face falls and anger lights her green gaze. "I have a mind to hunt down those council members and give them a piece of my mind."

"You could, but what good would that do?"

"It would make me feel better."

"But it wouldn't change Becks' situation."

"No, it wouldn't," she admits. "You know what we need to do?"

I shake my head. I truly don't or I would have done it already.

"We need to find out why the council wants Becks to mate so early. If we knew why they were pushing for it, then maybe we could change their minds."

"But how are we going to find that out? Dragon shifters are notoriously private about their internal politics." As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember the law text I borrowed from the Emporium.

"Or, I have a better idea," Ensley says with a grin. "We blackmail the council into holding off. Or better yet, changing that rule altogether. It's antiquated and outdated. The dragon heir should be able to pick his own life-mate."

I almost choke on nothing. "You want to blackmail some of the most powerful dragon shifters on the planet?"

She shrugs like it's no big deal. "There's little I wouldn't do for my family. And just for the record, that includes you."

I love her . "Same."

"Besides, we don't need to blackmail all of them. We only need to get one on board and then let him or her convince the rest."

"I can't believe I'm considering this."

"But you are."

I nod. "Yes, I am. It's crazy, but it might just work. You really are an evil mastermind, you know that?"

She fluffs her hair. "Yeah, I know." She takes so much pride in the title it makes me laugh.

"Okay, if we're going to brainstorm, I'm going to need sustenance."

"The energy drinks and chips are where they always are," she says, knowing exactly what I want.

"Be right back," I say, and hop off her bed and slip out of the room to hit up the extra fridge in their six-car garage, and then head to the kitchen and grab a bag of potato chips. With my arms loaded, I turn to leave the kitchen and find Becks standing in the doorway in low slung gray joggers and a black t-shirt tight around his arms, the bottom half of his dragon tattoo visible. He looks good, too good, and my mouth goes dry as he stares at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Becks," I say, my heart beating in my throat.

I've been in this kitchen with Becks hundreds, maybe thousands of times before, but never with the air so charged as it is now.

His gaze slides over me and I swear I feel it like a physical caress.

"I'm hanging out with Ensley," I say unnecessarily. "I just felt like a snack." I hold up the drink and chips as if he can't already see them in my hands.

"Yeah, okay," he says, and then slowly walks toward me, his gaze never leaving my face.

I should leave, I really should, but my feet are rooted in place.

He comes to a stop right in front of me, close enough that the heat coming off his body brushes against me and I can count the dark flecks in his green eyes.

"I'm feeling like something salty too," he says, and ever so slowly reaches over my shoulder to open the cabinet door behind me where they store their junk food. I shift back to give him more space until my lower spine bumps into the counter and I can't retreat any farther.

With his gaze still locked with mine, he stretches up to grab something on the top shelf, which brings him even closer.

Gah. He smells amazing.

His shirt rides up to reveal a sliver of tight abs, and then his chest brushes my shoulder before he backs away with a bag of pretzels in his hand.

My skin is tight and over-sensitized, and I can't stop myself from imagining him running his palms up my arms. I try to remind myself that I'm still mad at him, but my body doesn't seem to care.

One of us should be leaving right now, but neither of us move an inch. We just stand there staring at each other. Me with a bag of chips and an energy drink clutched to my chest, and Becks with a bag of pretzels clenched in his hand.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I should have never tried to dictate who you could see or talk to." He sighs. "The beast inside just goes nuts lately when it comes to you. I'm finding it harder to control myself. I don't know why."

With his free hand, he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear, gently trailing his knuckles down my throat before pulling away.

My mind goes completely blank. All I can concentrate on are the sensations he just brought forth with that single light touch. I lick my lower lip, my hands starting to shake with how badly I want to grab his face and bring him closer. His gaze drops to my mouth and just like in the caverns, I think that's what he wants as well.

Someone clears their throat and I start, dropping the chips and drink. The can explodes when it hits the hardwood floor, shooting sticky sugary liquid all over the floor, cabinets, and Becks' and my legs.

Becks quickly grabs some paper towels and starts mopping up the mess, and I turn to see Ensley standing with her hands on her hips. "I was checking to see if you got lost," she says with a barely contained smile that makes the corners of her mouth twitch.

"Um, no." Of course I didn't get lost. She's fully aware that I know their house as well as my own.

I pull some paper towels from the roll on the counter and drop to help Becks. We don't look at each other as we soak up the sticky mess, and when we're done he grabs his pretzels and turns to leave.

He tries to go around Ensley, but she steps in front of him, forcing him to stop. "Listen," she says in her authoritative sister voice, "we need to talk."

He cocks his head, scowling at her. "I'm sure it can wait."

She plants a hand on his chest when he tries to skirt her again. "It really can't," she says.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Ensley explains our plan to Becks, and they bicker back and forth about it. At first, Becks is furious that we'd come up with such a hairbrained and dangerous scheme, but as his sister banters with him, I watch his resolve crumble. This is the most progress I've seen Becks make with this whole arranged life-mating thing.

Finally, Ensley throws down the gauntlet. "Do you really want to pledge the rest of your life to some random creature that a group of old dudes pick out for you just because she's powerful?" she asks, and I don't miss that Becks' gaze flicks to mine before returning to his sister.

With his lips pressed into a thin line, he slowly shakes his head.

"That's what I thought," she says smugly. "Now sit your butt down and help us figure out how to dig up some dirt on the dragon council members."