Chapter 3

Feeling his mate relax into sleep against him made Khadar treasure her even more. In a short period, he’d already discovered she did not trust easily. He suspected she didn’t interact frequently with others but stayed by herself.

She had, however, talked easily with the other mates. This was reassuring because he did not wish for her to be lonely. The mates of this time period seemed different. They enjoyed spending time together. He had come across Aurora and Ciel with Drake and Argenis supervising. Khadar set a mental reminder to invite the two women over to interact with Lalani. He didn’t want her to be as alone as he suspected she’d been.

He didn’t like that the residents of Wyvern had dragged her to the gathering. But what if she had never left her house? He would not have found her.

The dragons without mates flashed into his head. The Blue, Bronze, Red, and Black dragons still searched for their mates. He’d seen each walk through the assembled crowd as they rotated off guard duty and then leave alone. Of all of them, Keres had gone the longest without a mate. His mind was still clear, but his temperament was turning as black as his dragon form.

The dragons would have to talk about him soon. Tonight was not the night. Tonight was the night to celebrate.

“I will take Lalani home now,” he told the others and stood with his mate cradled in his arms.

“We will join you in flight,” Drake decreed. Argenis rose to his feet as well. They scooped their protesting mates up in their arms and walked for the exit.

Khadar followed the path they created through the villagers. To his surprise, many Wyvern dwellers called their congratulations and good wishes. The stories of life outside their ring of mountains were difficult to hear. Lawlessness and selfishness ruled. The dragons prevented the threat of vandals and murderers attacking to take everything. The townspeople worked together to help each other survive and establish a life free of worry for food, clean water, and medical care. There were bad apples everywhere, but those were dealt with harshly. The banished could never return.

Khadar reached a cleared area apart from the others. He brushed his fingers through her short, thick hair. “Lalani. Princess. You must wake up.”

“I don’t want to, Daddy.”

His heart skipped a beat when she called him that name, but he tamped down his excitement. She must think she was talking to her father.

“Lalani. You must wake up for the flight back to my home. If you want to sleep, I’ll carry you in my claw.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” she said, rubbing her eyes to try and wake up. “I can walk to my house from here. It’s a few blocks. Ten minutes max.”

Khadar set her feet on the ground but kept his arms around her for support. “You do not live in your mother’s home anymore, Princess. Your place is with me.”

“You don’t understand. Barbie and her family have done everything to drive me from my mom’s home. I want to stay there to learn more about her—my mother, not Barbie. If I leave, I may never get back inside.”

“That will not happen. Show me where the house is,” Khadar requested, scooping her up in his arms.

“I can walk.”

“You are tired. We will deal with this neighbor problem first only because you will not sleep well if it is not handled.”

As they approached, Khadar heard whispers on the night breeze. Something was definitely afoot.

“Take the last of the food. She’ll have to leave.”

He recognized that voice.

“They’re in there. I can see the lights bouncing around inside,” Lalani said as she struggled to free herself from his arms.

“I will set you down, but you will need to stay behind me, Lalani. Promise?”

“There’s something really important in there. I have to save him.”

“Who, Lalani?”

She hesitated. “Can you just believe that something I need to protect is in there?”

“For the moment, yes. Will you have faith in me? I will deal with these neighbors.”

A long second passed, and she nodded. Khadar didn’t trust that assurance at all. On guard, he stood her next to him. The moment her feet touched the grass, she was off. Having anticipated her flight, Khadar wrapped his hands around her upper arms and stopped her.

“You will be punished for lying, mate,” he said softly. “Do I tie your body to mine with my belt or will you stay behind me?”

“Behind,” she chose. “Can we get in there, please?”

Khadar walked forward and entered through the open door and roared, “Patterson clan. Come immediately to the front door.”

Whispers abounded as they debated whether to comply or refuse.

“Now. You have five seconds before I turn into a dragon and set your house on fire.”

“You can’t do that!” Barbie appeared in the doorway, flanked by two men—one younger and one older.

“Her brother and father,” Lalani whispered, peeking around his wide frame.

“This is not your house. Nor are you the warden of it. Leave and never return,” Khadar demanded.

They started forward to the door, dragging almost empty trash bags behind them.

“Leave everything here,” Khadar informed them.

“Oh, we brought this stuff,” the brother insisted.

“Then it became Lalani’s the moment you entered her house without permission,” Khadar told him.

After a moment’s hesitation, they dropped the sacks.

Khadar stepped to the side, keeping Lalani shielded, to allow them to exit. When they were clear, he told her, “Let me enter first in case of booby traps.”

When they were safely inside, he told her, “Go get whatever was so important.”

She ran toward the couch and threw the pillows the robbers had knocked around in all directions. “Lettuce,” she whispered, grabbing a worn, plush item and hugging it to her heart. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Would you introduce me, Lalani?” he requested.

“This is Lettuce. He’s my oldest friend. I’ve had him since I was a baby.”

As he watched, Lalani sheepishly held out a battered green dragon. “I didn’t know it when I was little, but Lettuce was a gift from my birth mom when I was adopted. She told me she’d visited a toy store here in Wyvern to get me a teddy bear, but Lettuce caught her eye.”

“I am very glad to meet you, Lettuce. I can see how important you are to Lalani.” Khadar tried to control his elation at seeing the stuffie. It was so well loved. And green, of course.

“I think he’s glad to meet you, too,” she said with a small smile before commenting on the stuffie’s name. “Lettuce is a silly name, but it suits him.”

“I believe it is a perfectly appropriate name for a green dragon. I bet you’ll need to come home with us.”

“I can’t go without him.”

“Of course you can’t,” Khadar agreed before looking at the sacks in the entryway. “Let’s get all this put back away.”

It didn’t take long for Lalani to store the squished butter stick, a few withered potatoes and carrots, and the almost empty peanut butter jar. The additional things in the bags made Khadar’s blood boil. Knives, jewelry, and personal items that had become so needed: soap, shampoo, and toilet paper.

His gaze lingered on the knives. They had deliberately taken the only weapons Lalani had to defend herself. He felt the vein in his temple throb with outrage. Those people were the worst kind of bullies.

He sent a mental call to Keres.

Bring a transport cage to my location.

“Go pack a suitcase, Lalani, for you and Lettuce. You will return to my home with me.”

“But they’ll come back the minute you leave.”

“They will not,” Khadar assured her and followed her through the house to pick up the few things she’d unpacked over the days she’d lived there.

“Remain here on your front steps. That should be close enough for the mate bond.”

“O—Okay.”

Khadar walked outside and over to the neighboring house. Taking hold of their door, he ripped it off the hinges. Immediately, the father shot at him. Khadar dodged the bullet, enraged. He knew his dragon was close to assuming control and his eyes were blazing green.

“You have two minutes to gather anything precious you wish to take with you. Any further aggression will result in the loss of that privilege,” Khadar growled.

“You don’t have the right to tell us that,” Barbie said, stepping next to her father.

“You cannot endanger a dragon’s mate. Consider yourself lucky to be alive.”

Khadar stepped back into the open space in front of the house and released his control. Immediately, that area became much smaller as a large emerald dragon filled it. He treasured Lalani’s gasp of amazement while trying to tune out the squeal Barbie let out as she fled into her house.

Neighbors gathered in the street. Khadar was not surprised when no one came to the Petersons’ defense. Obviously, Lalani had not been the only one they’d targeted.

The sound of wings approaching made him shift away from the building. Put it against the door.

Keres, almost invisible in the night sky, hovered. He set the cage with its waist-high railings against the Peterson house and backed away.

Khadar blew a blast of smoke into the house.

“The house is on fire. Get out!” Barbie’s voice screeched.

The three came running out with empty hands. Jumping over the railing, they attempted to flee out the other side, but Keres immediately lifted it off the ground as Khadar’s snout kept them from escaping. Barbie’s father pulled his gun from the back of his pants. Before he could shoot, Khadar melted the metal with a pinpoint of flames that happened to set the sleeve of the younger man on fire as it blazed in a narrow path. While the young man frantically batted at the material, Keres soared upward with the cage trapped in his claws. A flaming shirt wafted down from above to smolder at Khadar’s feet. He stomped it out with one massive foot.

Spontaneous applause came from the assembled neighbors.

Drop them out of town?

Khadar confirmed the black dragon’s assumption. Shifting back into human form, he addressed the crowd. “They will not return. Take anything you need from this house but share with your neighbors. Leave the residence next door untouched.”

“We’ll keep an eye on it, Khadar,” a familiar voice called.

Making eye contact, Khadar realized the man who spoke was the leader of his gardening crews. Khadar nodded his thanks.

“I’ll finally get my favorite hammer back,” a male voice crowed as he ran toward the open doorway. Others followed him, calling out things the Petersons had claimed as their own. No one would miss that family.

Khadar shook his head as he walked back to where Lalani stood with her suitcase and her stuffie clutched tightly to her chest.

“Are you ready to go home?” he asked.

“I thought this would be home,” she answered sadly, before walking forward into his arms.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding Lalani close. “Your next home will be your last, Princess.”

“Can we go there now? Is it far?”

He was pleased to hear her voice had lost most of the frightened tone. “It is difficult to see at night. My home is on one of the mountains that encircle Wyvern.”

“Not the one with all the trees and grasses planted in a pattern that looks like diamonds.”

“Emeralds,” he corrected. “You are correct. My team of gardeners has created the effect of stones joined together. Everything is green. Emeralds.”

“Do diamonds come in green?” She got the words out before an enormous yawn cracked her jaw.

“Let’s talk about this later. You need to be in bed.”

“You’re going to fly me there?” she asked.

“Yes, Princess. You chose. I’m going to walk a few feet away and allow my dragon to come out and greet you. Then you may lie on the grass, and I will pick you up. Or you can climb on my back and hold onto my neck.”

“I will ride on your back.”

“Step on my front leg,” he recommended.

“Is there a saddle or a bridle?”

“I am not a horse, Princess. You will find a comfortable place to stretch out with your arms around my neck. Tuck Lettuce inside your bodice to keep him safe.”

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It was an honest question. You are allowed to ask me anything,” Khadar told her softly. “Stand back and I will change.”

This time, the noise she made seemed less surprised and more in awe. Khadar could live with that. It was pretty damn special to see the transformation. He bent down to make it easier for her to climb into position. When she settled with her arms around him, he thought to her.

Hold on, Princess.

You can read my thoughts?

Only when you concentrate on sending a message to me. At some point, we may decide to open the lines of conversation fully.

No way! drifted to him and he knew she hadn’t meant for him to hear that thought. He released a snort of laughter and felt her cringe.

Are you going to breathe fire?

No, Princess. Even if I did, I would not put you in danger. Your safety is more important than mine.

What will happen to Barbie?

I don’t care. Her family was not from Wyvern, nor was it willing to contribute positively to life here. Do not think of them again.

A jumble of thoughts answered that decree.

Try not to worry about them, Princess.

Okay.