Chapter 5
Lucan
Itilted my face toward the morning sun and took another massive bite of my breakfast burrito.
Kade might be a grouchy bastard most days, but the man could cook. The eggs were perfectly fluffy, the chorizo had just the right amount of spice, and the potatoes were extra crispy.
“How’s your nose today?” Zarek’s voice cut through my moment of second breakfast bliss.
I glanced up, confused. My nose? I ran the back of my hand across it, checking for hot sauce or something. “What about my nose?”
Zarek’s lips quirked up at one corner. “You know, because you’re a bear now.”
I took another bite of food, and it took me a second to register what he was saying before it clicked. I choked on my burrito, coughing as Atlas pounded me on the back a bit too enthusiastically.
Kade’s head snapped up, his brow furrowed. “What do you mean—” he started, but the sound of tires on gravel interrupted him.
Reese pulled into the spot next to Kade’s truck, and like someone had yanked an invisible chain, Kade was up and moving before she even turned off the engine. His half-eaten burrito sat abandoned on the picnic table, a testament to how thoroughly his mate had rewired his priorities.
“Look at that.” Atlas sighed dramatically, one hand pressed to his chest. “Our fearless leader, felled by love. It’s so romantic I could weep.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Zarek muttered, stabbing at his burrito with a fork. Who eats a burrito like that? “He drops everything the second she appears.”
I watched as Kade opened Reese’s door, his normally stern expression softening into something that would have been sappy on anyone else. When she smiled up at him, he leaned down to press a gentle kiss on her lips. The casual intimacy of it sent a sharp pang through my chest.
My dragon stirred, a restless pressure beneath my ribs. He wanted that.
I couldn’t agree more. Seeing Kade with his mate only heightened the ache that had been growing since I’d caught her scent in the forest. The memory of her face flashed through my mind.
The gentle curve of her jaw, the wideness of her brown eyes, the way her short hair was just the right length to grab onto a handful.
Even terrified, she’d been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“Oh, shit,” Atlas stage-whispered, “look at Lucan’s face.”
“What?” I snapped out of my thoughts, suddenly aware I’d been staring dreamily at nothing.
Atlas pointed at my face with half a burrito. “You have full-on heart-eyes. See, Zarek, you’re clearly the flame killer here if you can’t appreciate this level of romance.”
My neck grew hot. Was I really being that obvious?
“Heart eyes? What? No!” I rubbed at my eyes defensively. “It’s the bear spray.”
I immediately knew I’d made a tactical error.
“Bear spray?” Atlas’s voice rose an octave. “What bear spray? Why were you bear-sprayed? When? And why am I just hearing about this?”
Before I could respond with something that wouldn’t lead to even more questions, Kade and Reese returned to the table, their fingers interlaced. He sat down and tugged her onto his lap.
“Kade, I can sit on the bench,” she protested, though her arms looped around his neck.
“You could, but then you’d be too far away.” Kade’s arm circled her waist possessively.
Atlas made a sound like a deflating balloon. “I can’t handle this. It’s too much. My poor romantic heart may not survive.”
“Shut up and eat your burrito,” Zarek advised him dryly.
Reese rolled her eyes at all of us but settled comfortably against Kade’s chest. “You guys are ridiculous.”
Atlas propped a cheek on his fist and smiled wistfully. “It’s beautiful, truly. It gives me hope.”
My dragon rumbled in agreement, the yearning growing stronger by the second. I wanted that. Needed it. The casual touches, the comfort of having someone who was mine. The weight of a mate on my lap, the scent of her in my lungs, the certainty of belonging.
We’d all gone so long thinking we’d never find mates. I could hardly believe it was finally happening for us.
I swallowed hard, trying to focus on my burrito while ignoring the pull in my chest. If I could make it through breakfast without further mention of bear spray or mates, maybe I could actually come up with a plan that didn’t involve terrifying mine again.
Kade rubbed his hand along Reese’s back in small circles. “How was your morning?” He softened his voice, using a tone he saved only for her.
Reese lit up. “Actually, I found someone to rent my trailer!”
“You did?” Kade’s brows furrowed slightly. “Who?”
“A woman I met at the diner in town. She should be here shortly. She had to run an errand.”
The furrow in Kade’s brow deepened. “How much are you charging her? Did you get a deposit? Run a credit check?”
Reese patted Kade’s cheek affectionately. “I have it handled. She seems nice.”
Kade’s expression told me he wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but before he could press further, Reese reached for her phone.
“Actually, I wanted to show you guys something.” She placed her phone in the center of the table. “Any of you interested in buying a knife?”
The world seemed to freeze for a heartbeat as I stared at the image on her screen.
The knife I’d given to her.
Zarek snatched the phone before I could react, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “Where did you get this photo?”
My dragon surged forward, and heat flooded through my chest, a possessive growl building in the back of my throat.
Reese blinked, clearly taken aback by his intensity. “Whoa, calm down. It’s just the woman renting my trailer. She found it camping.”
She’s renting Reese’s trailer. She’ll be here. At Wings End.
My mate would be here, living on our property, where I could see her and protect her.
“Let me see.” Atlas plucked the phone from Zarek’s white-knuckled grip and whistled low. “Holy shit, that’s definitely from the hoard.” He glanced up at Kade. “When was the last time we inventoried?”
Zarek was on his feet before Atlas finished speaking, his eyes flashing darker blue. “She touched our treasure.” His voice had gone deadly quiet.
The possessiveness in his tone snapped something in me. Without conscious thought, I launched myself across the picnic table, tackling Zarek to the ground with enough force to knock the air from his lungs.
“Mine,” I growled, pinning him to the ground, my face inches from his. The word tore from my throat, raw and primal, my dragon ready to burst free. I could feel the heat coursing through my veins and scales rippling across my arms.
The shock on Zarek’s face would have been comical in any other situation. His eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply before flooding with violet light as his dragon responded to the challenge.
“What the actual fuck?” Atlas’s voice seemed to come from far away.
Kade stood, depositing Reese on the bench. “Lucan, stand down.” His command cut through the haze of territorial fury.
I blinked, the red tinge slowly fading from my vision as I realized I had my forearm pressed against Zarek’s throat. With effort, I pulled back, pushing myself off him and stumbling to my feet.
“Sorry,” I muttered, shame flooding in to replace the adrenaline. “I just—”
“Just what?” Zarek growled, getting to his feet and brushing dirt from his clothes. “Lost your damn mind?”
“That’s the knife I gave her,” I admitted, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “She’s my mate.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Zarek’s anger didn’t decrease in the slightest, Atlas’s mouth hung open, and Kade’s eyebrows had nearly disappeared into his hairline.
“Mate?” Atlas finally broke the silence.
Reese looked from me to the phone still clutched in Atlas’s hand. “Liz didn’t tell me where she got the knife, but I didn’t think to ask.”
Liz. Her name echoed through me, setting off a cascade of warmth. Liz, Liz, Liz.
“I didn’t know her name.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I know her scent. I found her camping last night. It didn’t go well.”
“You were naked, and she assaulted you.” Zarek sounded ridiculous, and I kept him in my line of sight. If he even took a step toward town, I wouldn’t hesitate to toast his ass.
“She slept in her car last night.” Kade held up his hands when I growled at him. “I told her she couldn’t camp in her car, like I would with anyone else.”
I’d scared my mate so badly she’d hiked all the way back to her car in the middle of the night to sleep. I was really nailing this mate thing.
Zarek’s eyes hadn’t shifted back. “Did you go get the knife last night when you realized she was your mate?”
I hesitated for a second too long, and Zarek was on me, grabbing my shirt and pulling me closer. This was exactly why I hadn’t told him the night before.
“Zarek.” Kade’s voice held no room for compromise. He needed to back off immediately, or he’d be answering to Kade’s dragon.
Zarek reluctantly let me go, and I smoothed down my shirt, trying to come up with something plausible. If I lied, he’d immediately fly to our hoard and check how old my scent was.
“That campsite by the nearest clearing had her scent. I grabbed the knife when we went to check the hoard.”
“She was near our hoard!” Zarek clenched his fists.
Reese stood and walked around the picnic table, ignoring that Zarek was one breath away from snapping. “I don’t think that was her. She said she’d only been camping five nights, but she mentioned she’d been at a few different campsites.”
We’d been on patrol for weeks after discovering footprints and pistachio shells near the entrance of our hoard. I’d assumed when my dragon had scented her at the campsite that it was the same person.
“I have to get back to work.” Zarek turned and stalked off toward the lake.
My shoulders relaxed slightly, but I was still on edge. Zarek was going to be an issue, even if we could prove my mate hadn’t been near our hoard. He was incredibly possessive of it, and it had progressively gotten worse over the years.
His dragon didn’t do well without a mate.
Reese took her phone from Atlas. “Well, she texted that she’s on her way, so you’ll have a chance to make a better second impression, and we can ask her some questions.”
“Right now?” Panic and excitement warred in my chest. “What am I supposed to say to her? ‘Sorry I terrified you in the woods, but good news, we’re destined to be together’?”
“Maybe leave out the destined part.” Kade kept his eyes on Zarek until he disappeared into the trees. “And maybe wear clothes this time.”