2. Levi

2

Levi

“ Y our mare is doing great,” Levi said as he finished up his work on Kellan’s ranch. As a large animal veterinarian, Levi took care of all the horses in Cedar Lake.

Kellan put his hand on the horse’s neck, rubbing over her shiny coat. “I’m glad to hear it.” He picked up an apple slice and offered her a piece from his hand.

Kellan was a dragon shifter, and he was originally from Ireland. Well over twenty years before, his clan had been destroyed by witches. He’d escaped with his best friends Quinn, Liam, and Brennan. The three of them were not biologically related, but they were brothers in every way that mattered.

Kellan was also a billionaire. He’d been running a corporation for well over a decade, but over the last few months, he’d devoted his time to his ranch. Quinn and Liam had joined him recently, and they were all taking care of the cows and the horses part time.

“Come have dinner with us,” Kellan said. “It’ll be a full house tonight, but we always have room for one more.”

There was no way Levi was going to pass up the opportunity. “Did you finally get Brennan out here?”

“Yep. Just last week. He was our holdout.”

Brennan was the sheriff in Cedar Lake. He was committed to his career in law enforcement and wasn’t planning to give it up. Brennan had insisted that he wasn’t interested in country living, but after the other brothers had moved out of town to the ranch, Brennan had caved. He had taken over the chickens, and he’d fallen in love with them.

Kellan led Levi through his massive foyer. “You can clean up in there. The spare clothes in the closet should fit you.” As a fellow dragon shifter, Levi was built a lot like Kellan.

He took a quick shower, put on the clean clothes, and then joined Kellan in his massive kitchen.

Liam was there waiting for them. He shook Levi’s hand and pulled him in for a firm hug. “Good to see you.” Liam was the town’s lawyer, and he was good at what he did; he had a full docket most days and his phone never quit ringing.

Next Quinn came in. He was the town’s doctor. Just like the other brothers, he was excellent at his job. All of the humans preferred him as their care provider.

The three of them sat down at a massive oak table to eat.

“Where are your mates?” Levi asked.

All four of the brothers were mated. Kellan’s mate was a human woman, and so was Quinn’s. Liam’s mate was a dragon shifter female, and Brennan was mated to a Fae.

Quinn lifted his beer. “They’re out touring colleges.” He frowned. “Even the sophomores.”

He’d seen Kellan’s son Declan out working the farm, but he was pretty sure Declan was already attending Baylor University, and Brennan’s oldest, Rowan, went to Rice University, but came home on the weekends. There were several other kids though, and a few had to be close to graduating high school. “What areas?

Liam grimaced. “East coast. West coast. Midwest. Anywhere but Texas.”

The door banged and Brennan came waltzing in. He paused in the doorway to remove his cowboy boots and his Stetson hat. “Damned sheep. Two of them jumped the fence. The third got tangled in the boards.”

“Do you need my help?” Levi asked.

Brennan came up behind Levi and whacked him on the back. “Not now. One of them is adventurous. I checked her over, but you could have a look after dinner.” He held out his hand to Levi. “Good to see you.”

“I heard they finally lured you out here.” Levi nodded toward his hat and boots. “Looks like you’re fully embracing the aesthetic.”

Brennan rubbed his face. “Yeah, an Irishman in a cowboy hat.” He chuckled. “The kids thought it would be hilarious, so they got all of us the works—chaps, boots, belt buckles, and a wide-brimmed hat. But the joke was on them. Cowboys use that stuff for a reason. It works.”

“I think we’re all more Texan than Irish these days,” Liam said.

A door banged open, and several younger children came racing through the kitchen, squealing. One of them was holding a kite, and another had a boat paddle.

“At least we still have a few years before we’re all empty nesters out here,” Quinn said.

Brennan sipped his drink. “And at least we’ll have the cows and sheep to keep us going.”

Everyone laughed, and Levi was struck with longing. This was what he wanted. The camaraderie. The relationships. The hatchlings running through the house. The mate .

He had a family, and a clan. They lived nestled in a remote area in Canada, and they were so old-fashioned. Sure, they’d gotten better over the last few years, thanks to a shifter named Owen who was a pilot in Wyoming. Owen had married a half-wolf shifter/half witch, and forced their hand. But even though they’d eventually welcomed Owen’s mate—after a whole lot of strife—they were still backwards in their thinking.

Levi’s family didn’t want him to leave to become a veterinarian. They still resented his decision to leave for college, and he was thirty years old now. Plus, if he brought home a non-dragon shifter mate, they’d turn their noses up. He’d resigned himself to living without a true clan until a few years ago when he’d met Kellan, and Kellan had invited him to join his small clan.

They’d slowly been trying to lure him in ever since. So, he had the family part now, but how would he ever find a mate? There weren’t exactly a bunch of shifter females hanging out in Texas. Kellan and Quinn were mated to human women, so that was an option too, but he just hadn’t clicked with anyone yet. He’d tried, but his career hadn’t left him with a lot of free time. He was waiting for that moment, the one where you just knew . He knew it was stupid, but he didn’t want to force a relationship through a dating website, or a blind date. He wanted to meet someone naturally.

Which was what he’d just tried to tell Brennan, when Brennan offered to set him up on a date with the newest sheriff’s deputy.

“How’s that going to happen when the only people you see are the four of us, our mates, or the cows out in the field?” Brennan asked.

Quinn smacked Brennan on the shoulder. “Leave him alone. He’ll figure it out.”

“Not if he doesn’t get out more, he won’t!” Brennan yelled and the two of them began to wrestle. It was a common occurrence when their mates were gone. They knocked over a chair, laughing so hard they could hardly talk, and Levi and Kellan started placing bets on who would win.