Chapter 2
Blaze
My chest had never been this tight. Ever. Not to mention my forearm tingled like I’d been stung by a bee, I imagined; I’d never actually been stung. Even insects avoided dragons.
It was still hard to believe I’d found my mate. I’d only known for about ten minutes now, so my disbelief was warranted. She’d just appeared on our pack lands. Out of the blue.
As a kid, we’d all been told about fated mates. It was every dragon’s dream to find theirs, but it was so rare that we were taught not to hold out hope.
This tiny, fiery woman was mine. And she wasn’t a dragon! The rumors of the clan in Maine who had been taking on human mates had reached us, but here was their witch.
A witch.
Witches and dragons didn’t mate. Ever. I’d heard whispers of dragons taking on human mates before the whole Maine clan thing.
Rumors. Fairy tales, really. But never had I ever heard of a witch and a dragon.
Yet there was no denying this pull in my chest, and my dragon was ready to rip out of my skin and burn the world down to celebrate.
He was a little dramatic at times.
Even though she wasn’t a dragon, she wasn’t scared.
I’d imagined that if a dragon and a human mated, the human would go through quite a shock.
Not so with Sammy. It was like it hadn’t affected her at all.
She’d marched her small self up to the front of the room and sat down, ready to speak to Gage and me as if from her throne.
Not a whiff of fear.
I did, however, sense a ridiculous amount of power. It was easy to differentiate Sammy’s power from Olivia’s. They were both strong, stronger than any witch I’d ever met before.
Sammy’s power rivaled Gage’s, and that was really saying something. He was the most powerful alpha I’d ever met. She might even exceed his power. Intense.
And I’d met a lot of alphas and a lot of witches. I knew what I was talking about. I’d jumped from clan to clan before settling in Grove Holler. I’d finally found my home here.
I jerked my attention back to Gage when he looked at me. “Excellent. I’d like for you to accompany Sammy and Olivia here back to their home. Speak with their alpha on my behalf.”
Uh. What?
“Now, hang on,” Sammy said, looking agitated for the first time since I first saw her. She’d looked pretty damn freaked out then.
Gage held up a hand. “I’m afraid I insist.”
Sammy clamped her mouth shut and a wave of anger rolled over me. I didn’t know if I felt it because I was her mate or if Gage did as well.
“I don’t mind going,” I said, hoping to dissolve the anger flowing off of my mate.
My mate. Wow.
“Exactly what is it you think you need to talk to Anthony about?” Sammy asked in a stiff voice. Oh, she was pissed. I almost snorted. Gage had met his match, maybe for the first time ever.
And I’d damn sure met mine.
Gage straightened his spine. “I’d like to understand the dynamic of having two witches in the clan. See if it makes them stronger.”
“It’d be good to know about Bluewater, too,” I supplied. “Maybe we could become allies, create a bond.”
Sammy’s nostrils flared as she slowly moved her gaze from Gage to me. No doubt her glare made most men shake.
I just wanted to kiss her lips until they softened.
“An alliance can be accomplished with a phone call,” she said dryly, making Olivia chuckle. Sammy clenched her teeth and arched one eyebrow at Gage.
I had to admit, I was a little surprised at how Sammy was talking to an alpha. But if Gage wasn’t bothered, I wasn’t. He was amused if anything.
Gage grinned at Sammy. “It’s more about Olivia than you,” he said gently.
“What do you mean?” Olivia asked, leaning forward, and narrowing her gaze on us.
As second-in-command of this pack, I had a bit of authority and knowledge as well.
I shifted my gaze to the little witch beside Sammy.
The little, pregnant witch by the smell of her.
“If Sammy is the witch of Bluewater, then you can’t be.
And if that’s the case, you don’t technically belong to their pack. ”
Sammy leaned forward, blocking me from being able to see Olivia. “Livvie is mated to one of our clan. Therefore, she is a part of the Bluewater clan.”
“How is that possible?” Gage looked from Sammy to Olivia—Livvie, as Sammy called her—in shock. “Witches can’t mate with dragons.”
I avoided looking at Sammy, not ready to announce to my alpha that, in fact, they could, and I had. I started to tell Gage I wasn’t so sure that was true, but Sammy beat me to it.
“It is possible,” she said. “I always thought it was impossible, but here we are. There was something about my magic, maybe because of Bluewater…” She flashed her gaze toward me for a split second. “Maybe not. I’ve triggered unforeseen matings.”
Gage glanced at me, startled. I raised my eyebrows and tried to look shocked as well. I was still pretty damn surprised to have my mate sitting across from me, but at least it wasn’t the first I was hearing about it.
I had to admit, I was intrigued. Gage narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “I will reach out to your alpha myself and arrange the meeting.”
Sammy’s spine stiffened and the regal look returned. Her presence filled the room, not even counting the weight of her power. If she’d been human, she would’ve commanded any room she entered. It was her demeanor, not the magic.
Though the magic added a weight to it. For sure.
“I don’t appreciate anyone snooping around my boys,” Sammy said quietly.
Gage’s proverbial feathers ruffled, and he opened his mouth, but Sammy continued.
“Take that for the threat that it is.” She stood, turning her icy blue gaze on me, sending a visible shiver down my spine and goosebumps all over my arms. Not to mention I really didn’t like my mate calling another male her “boys.” What did that mean?
Was she sisterly toward them? Or did she have some other sort of relationship with the dragons?
I opened my mouth to ask, but it was too late.
Sammy grabbed Livvie’s hand, and they literally disappeared, taking the oppressive weight of their power with them.
I sucked in a deep, calming breath as my dragon fucking lost it. Having his mate in the room had sent him into a tizzy of happiness, but for her to disappear so suddenly had made us feel lost; adrift.
Gage had jumped up when the women did, and now he turned toward me with his eyebrows raised, an incredulous look on his face. “Man, are you okay?” Gage asked.
I must’ve looked a little crazy. A cold sweat had broken out all over my body, and my forearm went from tingling to a full-blown burning the instant Sammy had disappeared.
Gage was my best friend as well as my alpha. I’d never kept anything from him, so I sighed and moved my hand off the burning spot on my forearm and watched his chin drop.
“What?” he whispered. “Them?”
I chuckled. “Don’t curse me with two witch mates. Just Sammy.”
Gage dropped back into his chair, his weight making it scoot across the stone floor just enough to make a screeching sound. “What?”
Laughing, I leaned forward and put my head in my hands, focusing on calming my dragon. “The moment I saw her in the woods, I knew. It was all I could do not to take her right there. I never imagined finding my mate could be such an intense experience.”
“But…” He sighed. “It’s not possible!”
Turning my head, still propped on my hands as my dragon raged, I smiled at him, sweat still pouring out of me. “I assure you; it is. But I wouldn’t have believed it an hour ago, myself.”
He put his hand on my arm, and calm strength flowed from him to me. “Get your dragon under control.”
Having my alpha right here was helpful. I’d never known support like this before coming to Grove Holler. It was a big difference, and one of the main reasons I’d put down roots here.
“Well, congratulations,” Gage said when I’d gotten myself a bit more under control. “You’re the first Grove Holler pack member to find your fated mate, as far as I know, ever.”
“I don’t know what to do with the news,” I admitted. “It’s very complicated. For one thing, she lives in Bluewater. I have zero desire to leave this pack, but I can’t reject my mate.”
Gage sighed. “Go to Bluewater. Get to know your mate. If Olivia has to stay there with her mate, maybe you can convince Sammy to come here.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe she will. She won’t want to avoid the mating pull any more than I do.” Dragon females felt the pull the way males did. I had to assume witches would as well. This was all new territory. Maybe it wouldn’t bother her in the least.
“You can see if you can figure out what’s so special about the Bluewater clan,” he continued. “They’ve been talked about a lot recently, mainly for having so many fated mates. I’d love to figure out how to give that to our pack. A fated mate is a glorious thing.”
I nodded woodenly. “Complicated,” I said. “So complicated.”
Gage laughed and clapped me on the back. “You’ll figure it out. If anyone can, you will.”
I sighed and stood. “I guess.”
He walked me to the door. “Get the girl to fall in love with you. She’ll follow you anywhere if she loves you.”
“And what if she doesn’t?” I stopped at the door and looked at Gage, feeling lost for the first time in the twelve years I’d been his right-hand man.
He just shook his head and squeezed my shoulder again. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I believe in the fated mate process. It’ll work out, as long as you don’t reject your bond.”
Nodding, I walked out and headed back to my place. Our pack land covered an entire mountain, which had been hidden by witches long ago, well before the fiasco with Leonard, and had been before my time. As far as humans knew, this mountain wasn’t even here.
I couldn’t get the little witch off my mind.
She was beautiful, but in an unconventional way.
I’d imagine most people would say she was cute.
And she was. She was small, tiny next to me and Gage.
Her short black hair had been tucked behind her ears, and those ice blue eyes stuck in my mind, haunting me, teasing me.
I wanted to see them heated with desire, rolled back as I brought her to one orgasm after another.
Sparking with fire as I bit her, claiming her as my own.
Shit. I needed to get off that train of thought before it took me too far and I needed to relieve the tension. I didn’t have time for that.
I’d been dreaming about her, but I hadn’t realized what it was. All I’d seen in the dreams was her eyes. Those beautiful eyes.
Her demeanor had varied from irritated to regal and back. Only twice did I think she was close to losing her cool: when we first met, and when Gage challenged her.
It wasn’t going to be easy to get through to her. But I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge just because it seemed difficult.
I got to my cabin and began to pack, throwing clothes and toiletries in my suitcase without really thinking about them. I packed my laptop and my spare laptop. I had no idea how long I’d be in Bluewater for. I’d have to work from there.
That was fine. As a computer tech, I could work from anywhere through the remote servers. No big deal.
A couple of hours later, Gage called. “What’s the word?” I asked.
“Anthony isn’t fond of his clan being checked out,” he said with a suffering sigh. “He said he’ll check with Sammy to see if my claims were true. In the meantime, all we can do is wait, see if Anthony says no. And if he does, we’ll have to try again later.”
It didn’t sit right with me and my dragon really didn’t like someone potentially trying to keep us from our mate. I hung up with Gage and unpacked my suitcase.
My skin crawled with the need to take off, hit the road, and go to my mate. If I drove, I’d be there by morning.
Now that I knew who and what Sammy was to me, waiting to see her again was going to be more difficult than most anything I’d ever done.
And I’d done some shit.