Chapter 6
Anthony
Rolling over in bed, I pulled the blankets over my head and tried to go back to sleep. It was Wednesday, my weekday off since I’d done my monthly on-call this past weekend. The clinic was open a half-day on Saturdays and Sundays and everyone took turns staffing it.
It’d just been me with Bernie and Cam there. I’d been both thankful and disappointed that I wasn’t working with Skye, but none of the doctors ever worked the weekends together. Though she wasn’t a full doctor, she counted as one as far as scheduling went.
She was right back in the office on Monday, though, which was the day I’d made a total ass of myself with her and her ex.
Bret. How I’d wanted to rip his face off. I’d played dumb, but the nurses had already filled me in on what happened between the two of them. When I saw him talking to her, I had to interject myself. That asshole had to know there was someone that would have her back.
But Skye hadn’t appreciated it. In fact, it had made everything worse. She was my mate, and I couldn’t ignore that, but that made the week packed full of tension. Her dislike for me was out in the open. I had to believe things would work out between us.
I just wasn’t so confident that I had the skills to win her over. Not after all the years away with no attempt on my part to contact her.
Eventually, I fell back to sleep, waking later in the morning to the smells of breakfast.
“Anthony!” My mother’s voice and the promise of coffee pulled me from the bed. “Hungry?”
I threw on some workout clothes and shuffled downstairs. “Morning.”
“Afternoon, more like. You okay?” Mom looked at my face and pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. “Did you catch something at the hospital?”
I shook my head and pulled back. It was time to start looking for my own place.
I loved my parents, but I’d been in town nearly three weeks now, and I was ready to make my own breakfast in my boxers or to sleep in without worrying about anyone thinking I was sick.
“Mom, I’m fine. Dragons don’t get sick.”
She set a plate in front of me. “Well, I worry. You’re around all those diseases. What if there’s one that we haven’t been exposed to yet?” I rolled my eyes, but she pointed at the food. “Eat up. Your father is out back, about to go for a fly. You should go with him.”
That sounded nice, so I scarfed down the egg sandwich and chugged the coffee. “Okay, see you soon.” I pushed the chair back as I took the last bite. “Love you, Mom.”
She smiled indulgently at me. “I’ll get the dishes. Go.”
I took my coffee out back with me in time to see my father set his coffee cup on the picnic table on the patio. “Hey, Dad.”
He turned with his eyebrows up. “About time you got up. I figured you would’ve outgrown the need to sleep in on your off days.”
Chuckling, I gave him a shocked look. “Never. Sleeping in is the best part of my week.”
He nodded toward the back yard. “Wanna go for a flight?” We owned land for miles around the house, outside of the city limits, and near the ocean.
We didn’t fly over the water unless Sammy was around to shield us, but we could head into the woods without fear of being seen.
Sammy had long ago put permanent wards on them to discourage any humans from entering.
“Sure.” I put my cup down and took off running, transforming halfway across the back yard into my dragon.
All the Bluewater Clan dragons were some shade of blue or green, and we all had characteristic marks of iridescence at the tip of each of our scales, making us sparkle in the sunlight like each scale was embedded with a jewel.
Even I thought we were the most beautiful of all the dragon clans.
We had several transplants to our clan, of course. If we didn’t intermarry between one another, we’d be like royalty of old.
Inbred.
Tessa was descended from a mountain clan down in Tennessee.
Her parents had moved to Bluewater before she was born.
As a result, she was more of a deep, forest green with browns mixed in when she shifted into her dragon.
She was totally a viable mate for me, but fate had decided otherwise.
I really had no freaking clue what would happen if and when Skylar and I made it work and had children.
Would they be dragons? It was possible it would be the end of the Bluewater Clan line.
If another alpha took control, the clan would change.
The energy would be different. The colors would morph over time.
We weaved in and out of the trees, dodging branches and spiking high over the tree cover before diving back down.
Deer ran beneath us, content that we weren’t their enemy.
The legends said that when a dragon clan moved into an area, the animal population steered clear, but once it became apparent that we didn’t hunt them, they began coexisting peacefully with us.
The magic in me fortified the magic in the rest of the clan. Every clan had to have an alpha, supported by his betas. When my father stepped down, he became my beta, as did Jace. Others could be betas as well, dragons with the capacity to be alphas who chose not to try.
We turned when we reached the outer limits of our land and headed back toward the house. When we landed, we sat at the picnic table and enjoyed the afterglow-type feeling that came after a flight. It wasn’t unlike the relaxed satisfaction after sex.
“How are you liking being the alpha so far?” Dad asked.
I shrugged. “There’s not much to it at the moment. It’s not like the old days, is it?”
Dad chuckled. “Not at all. Thanks to our alliance with the witches, many of the old duties are much more relaxed. We don’t have to constantly patrol our borders or organize the clan to make sure everyone has jobs.
It’s really more of a figurehead position except for the fact that you’re the conduit for the magic. ”
“I’m glad they don’t depend on me like they did your grandfather or even your dad,” I said. “It would’ve been damn near impossible to have a high-stress job like a doctor back then.”
“How about your old friends? Have you caught up with everyone?”
He gave me a look out of the side of his eyes. I knew damn well what he was actually asking. “Yes, I’ve talked to Skylar, if that’s what you’re trying to say.” I turned my gaze on him, the peace of the after-flight atmosphere broken.
He swallowed and then sighed. “I never liked forcing you away from her. It was a necessary thing, but I took no joy in it.”
It was hard not to yell at him. “I know you think you did the right thing, Dad, but you didn’t.
I didn’t choose Skylar. Fate did. Our ancestors, or God, or whoever it is that decides which mate is perfect for each of us.
My tattoo was pretty dormant in all the years I’ve been gone.
Since I’ve been home, it’s blazing like the sun. ”
His shoulders slumped. “I’ve seen her around town. The guilt has been pretty bad. I should’ve told you years ago how sorry I was to force you to leave.”
“You should’ve brought me home.”
“I figured you would’ve asked if you’d wanted to come, to be truthful with you, son. Once you left, you never brought it up again.”
I decided to cut him some slack. “I’ve always been worried about it. I hoped that I could either get some answers or time and distance or… something so that when I returned either it would go away, or we could make it work.”
“And did you?”
I shook my head, hating the fact that I had to say no. “Nothing changed. No news and she’s definitely still my mate.”
“It drove a wedge between us. I just wanted you to know I only did it because I thought it was the best thing for you.”
“I know you thought that. But you did things your way, and now it’s time for me to do things my way.
I need you to understand that. I don’t believe fate would have chosen Skye for me if she wasn’t truly meant to be mine.
I’m going to do anything I can to fix things and pursue a relationship with her. ”
He didn’t answer right away. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea, but you’re not sixteen anymore. You’re grown and can make those decisions yourself.”
I was a bit more than grown, but he was right. It was my decision.
My phone beeped on the picnic table where I’d left it before we shifted. I glanced down at it to see Jace had sent a message. You should come to the bar. I’ll give you a free drink.
That sounded great, actually. “Well, I’m going to head out. I’ll talk to you later.” I clapped him on the back on my way back into the house. “It’ll be okay, Dad.”
He stood and turned as I opened the back door. “It will be. You’ll make the right decisions.”
I went inside to get my keys with a smile on my face. He was going to be supportive after all.
Jace must’ve seen me pull in. When I got to Jace’s Place, he had a cold beer on the bartop waiting on me. “For you,” he said.
“I was planning to come by,” I said. “Thanks for the beer.”
In the early afternoon, the bar was totally dead. He walked around and hopped onto the stool beside mine. “What’s up?”
“What do you know about Bret?” I couldn’t keep the growl out of my voice.
His eyes flashed. “Ah, so you heard about him.”
“Heard about him, saw him in action. Saw the pregnant girlfriend.”
“Bret was a POS who had been cheating on Skye for a long time. They were engaged, and the wedding was just a few weeks off when he told her he’d gotten that other woman pregnant.
He’d been paying for most of the wedding, and he ended up keeping all the scheduled stuff and married the woman he was cheating on her with—after getting her pregnant—in the same place, with the same caterer, and the same band. ”
Holy shit. Nobody had told me that. I stared at Jace with wide eyes. “You’re shitting me.”
“Hell, no. Bret doesn’t come into the bar because I made sure he knew he wasn’t welcome.”
“Why would you do that?” I set the beer down and gave Jace my full attention.
“Skye and I aren’t close or anything, but I have looked out for her over the years. I had a strong suspicion she was the reason your arm was shining like the sun the day you kicked us all out of your birthday party.”
“I’m going to make it up to her.” I didn’t know how to express how grateful I was that he’d tried to keep an eye on Skye while I wasn’t here. “Thank you.” Simple, but effective.
Jace inclined his head, acknowledging my appreciation. “Good luck, though, man, seriously. Skye is known by most men in town for still being as tough as nails. She always was when we were kids, too. She’s beaten up most of the men that we went to school with that still live in town.”
I couldn’t stop my smile. It seemed like not much had changed since we were kids. Well, clearly a lot changed but I was beyond glad that Skye was still her. I was ready to get to know her all over again.
I hung out with Jace until the bar got busier, but I nursed the same beer the whole time. I had to work the next morning and had no desire to do it hungover.
Spending the afternoon with Jace just reminded me that I hadn’t spent enough time with the rest of the clan. I sent out a text before bed that night inviting anyone available to a group shift at the bluffs. I’d already made sure Sammy would be able to be there to provide us with protection.
The entire clan paid a monthly fee to Sammy just so she’d make herself available for these times. It was a pittance per family, but enough to help Sammy supplement her natural herbs and home remedies business and make it worth her while to be our clan witch.
Work the next day was much the same. Tons of tension between Skylar and me. I had no idea how to break the ice and begin bringing her around, but it would have to come down to time. What other option did I have?
My mom took the idea for the clan shift and ran with it, I found out when I got home from work. I smelled the barbeque cooking the minute I stepped out of the car in the driveway.
After walking straight through the house, I went out back to find most of the clan there, extra tables set up, and food everywhere. My stomach rumbled. “Oh, man. This looks amazing.”
“Dig in,” Dad called. “We didn’t wait for you.”
I grinned and did exactly what he suggested, filling a plate with barbequed chicken, steak, shrimp, as well as all the sides from potato salad to deviled eggs.
A strong alpha connection was good for the morale of the clan. I mingled among my people, essentially my family. When I picked up a plate of desserts, I stopped in at a different table.
“Anthony, I’ve been wanting to ask.” My father’s oldest friend, Howard, waved at me. He was also Tessa’s father.
“What’s up?” I grinned at the table and squeezed in.
“You’ve got a mate tattoo,” he said, pointing his fork at my arm. “Yet you have no mate.”
“I always thought it would be Tessa,” his wife, Marjorie, said.
Tessa snorted from the end of the table. “I thought it would be me, too.”
I sucked in a deep breath and tried to handle it in the most diplomatic way possible. “In due time, everyone will know everything but, in the meantime, you should focus on what’s happening now, communion and family.”
Most of the other clan members seemed satisfied by my words, but not Tessa.
“Or you could be upfront and honest with us now,” she said. She stared at me with a challenge in her eyes.
“I’ll tell what needs to be told when I’m ready for the information to come out. Being alpha doesn’t mean you’re owed any information about me.” I stood and stared at Tessa until she averted her gaze. “Your behavior is one reason you’re not my mate. You should be more respectful to your alpha.”
Instead of deferring and looking contrite, she just looked annoyed, and I made a note to keep my eye on her.