Not His Dragon Read online

  “An unmated female dragon is one of our most precious treasures. If you don’t want her, then I’d be happy to accompany her back to my territory, where I can care for her properly. According to our laws, I am neither trespassing nor need an invitation to come to New Port as you have an unmated female in your city.” He smirked. “How long did you think you could keep her a secret?”

  Eoin’s body suddenly felt too hot. Cedric was right. Unmated females were rare among their kind and cherished, but Eoin was still thinking of Angie as human. “When the fuck did you become interested in a mate?” Cedric most likely wanted Angie because she was in Eoin’s city.

  Females were welcome to travel where they wanted. They usually settled in the territory of their choosing except Angie hadn’t known she was dragon until a few hours ago. How had Cedric found out so fast?

  Cedric’s eyebrows rose and the corner of his mouth curled in a smug smile. “So the rumors are true.”

  Eoin want to punch himself in the balls. Cedric had that kind of effect on him. The dragon hadn’t known for sure she was a dragon until Eoin opened his big, fat mouth. Fuck, Eoin hadn’t known what she was until they’d met. He had to think fast to keep the other dragon away from Angie.

  “I thought you said that she was human,” Viktor added.

  Eoin wasn’t sure if Viktor had saved his ass purposely, but either way, he’d owe the vampire one. “She’s half human.” He met Cedric’s glare. “She has dragon blood in her ancestry that makes her smell like pure dragon but she can’t shift.” Eoin’s insides were melting from fury, but he somehow managed to keep his exterior cool. This meant he had to postpone fixing Angie’s shifting issues until Cedric’s curiosity was satisfied. The weird shield around Angie’s aura had to be kept a secret until he could figure out how to break it. Otherwise, Cedric would attempt to claim her and force Eoin into a fight, one which he was certain to lose.

  Every time Eoin tried to break through her shields, he could see her aura reaching out to the magic but not making contact. It had been so devastating and he wished he hadn’t put Angie through that kind of agony.

  Cedric gave Eoin a mocking bow. “I will judge for myself, but as custom demands, I declare my presence in your city.” He turned his back on Eoin and Viktor as if he considered them not even a threat. Eoin followed him out of his castle and watched as he climbed into a limousine.

  So the old dragon hadn’t learned how to drive yet. This gave Eoin a small amount of pleasure. He’d take what he could. He suspected the week would become his personal hell.

  Viktor set his hand on Eoin’s shoulder. “You better warn her. He’s an asshole.”

  “How did rumors spread so fast? Must be that fucking wolf pack.” He hadn’t told Ryota to keep it a secret.

  “Pack animals do gossip.” Viktor nodded. “I have a better question. Why are you only finding out about her now? How has she been hiding her nature all this time?”

  “She has something preventing her from touching magic. This shields her from detection. The only reason I found her was by meeting her on the street and she smells like dragon.” Eoin needed to set something on fire but the heat that should be boiling in his belly remained extinguished. If he had to fight Cedric, he’d be shit out of luck without his flame.

  Eoin shook his head. “This is going to get complicated.” He glanced over his shoulder at the vampire and scowled. “Do you need my dungeon?” He had killed a human. It was always how it began before Viktor went on a psychotic murdering spree. They’d made an arrangement long ago. Viktor helped him fit in human society and Eoin kept the vampire from becoming a serial killer.

  Shifting his eyes away, Viktor nodded.

  Eoin grabbed the vampire by the throat before he could change his mind and dragged him to the back of the castle.

  “Wait, wait! I have—”

  “You know the rules, Viktor.” They’d been through this before. Once Viktor asked for the dungeon it was up to Eoin to lock him there as soon as possible before the vampire lost control again. This would be the third time he’d helped Viktor. He was the only one strong enough in the city to do it.

  Eoin carried the vampire down to the underbelly of the castle, kicking and screaming, to the far end, where thick silver chains hung from the wall.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Angie squirmed under the sink in room one at Scratch Your Itch. She’d come in on her day off to clear the fucking blockage. At least she got to sleep in today. Adjusting the pipe wrench to the right size, she tried to loosen the trap. Before opening her business, she’d never owned a tool let alone knew how to use one, but the place seemed cursed with repairs.

  It had almost taken a blood offering for her tech guys to get the damn alarm to shut off yesterday. Her ears still rang. Maybe she should take Ken’s advice and burn the place down to collect the insurance money. She even knew a dragon who could accidentally sneeze a fireball on her place.

  All her profits were going back into fixing the building. It was like she had a personal black cloud hovering over her shop—electrical problems, plumbing backups, exploding toilets, for goodness sake. Next the roof would leak. She’d place what little money she had left on that bet.

  The pipe loosened and came apart, landing against her forehead with a solid thunk. A gush of cold mucky water splashed into her open eyes. With a noise resembling a dying moose, she scooted out from under the sink and wiped her face on a towel. “I should’ve called the plumber.” But her bank account said no. Not if she wanted to eat next week.

  Pulling out the pipe trap from under the white sink cabinet, she peered inside. With her fingertips, she pulled out a clump of what looked like dog hair. Had one of the shifters taken a bath in her sink? Was nothing sacred? She knocked the pipe against the inside of the trash can, while holding her nose shut with the other hand and trying to keep her breakfast down.

  She must have been a really, really bad person in another life to deserve this much grief in this one. Nothing would go her way. When she’d made the deal to buy the building, she thought she finally had gotten a break. She could earn a decent living and maybe, just maybe, she could finally afford a decent home. Her throat tightened. Possibly start a family… She squashed that secret dream back inside her heart, not giving it the time of day. She couldn’t allow herself the fantasy. If she couldn’t take care of herself, she definitely couldn’t take care of kids.

  With a growl, she put her pity party on hold and crawled back under the sink. Reattaching the pipe was a lot harder than taking it off; the small threads were worn and hard to realign properly over the Teflon tape. She tightened the pipe with her wrench. Her shoulders ached and her neck would have a kink after the way she had to maneuver her body under the sink. She rested her arms at her side and set the pipe wrench on the ground to catch her breath. Gazing up at the sink’s underbelly, she spotted something in the corner of the cabinet. She’d been so focused on the piping that she hadn’t noticed it. It looked like a bunch of little sticks tied together to form a geometric shape. It was wedged where the sink and counter met.

  She heard the chime of the front door opening and pulled the thing free. Crawling out from under the sink, she examined it in the light. The sticks looked like something out of the Blair Witch Project, an oddly shaped triangle with a string woven around the small branches. She shuddered.

  “Angie?” Beth’s voice carried from the front.

  Angie jumped and banged her head on the cabinet frame. She rubbed the spot, trying to ease the sharp pain. “I’m in room one.”

  Beth flounced into the room carrying two cups of coffee. She handed Angie one of them. “Ryota asked me to drop in and check on you.”

  Biting her tongue, Angie fisted the pipe wrench. “How did he know I was here?”

  The omega shrugged. “He drove by and saw you.”

  “It’s your day off, Beth. He shouldn’t have done that. If I needed help, I would have called.” She was going to need a crowbar to pry the alpha f
rom her life.

  “We need to go over the accounts together. Might as well do it today, so we don’t have to stay late tomorrow.”

  Angie sighed. “Fine.” She held up the thing and took a sip of liquid heaven, strong enough to make hair grow on her chest. Just how she liked her coffee. “Look what I found.”

  “You found my charm?” Beth plucked it from her hand and held the bundle in the sunlight. “I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t know if you would have let me place one in the shop.”

  “A charm? Like witchcraft?”

  “Yes, exactly that.”

  Angie wasn’t sure how she felt about witchcraft. That kind of power could be very harmful in the wrong hands. She usually steered clear of anything to do with witches.

  “I had the pack witch make this when we first opened Scratch Your Itch. It’s to bring good luck.” Beth sounded excited.

  “I didn’t know the pack had a witch. It doesn’t seem like Ryota.”

  “You’d be amazed at how often we need to use her.” Beth shrugged. “Accidents happen and she’s very good at cleaning up messes.”

  “Sounds like something I shouldn’t be hearing.”

  Beth wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Do you want me to throw it away?” The omega had only been trying to help in her own way. Witch services weren’t cheap and Angie bet the pack didn’t pay for that charm.

  “If it’s for good luck, we’ll keep it. I sure could use more.” Maybe she should ask this witch to make a set. This time Angie had been able to dodge a plumber’s bill. At this point, she was willing to try anything to save money.

  “Eoin sent a check yesterday. It should cover this month’s mortgage and what we owe the electrician.”

  Angie flinched. Damn it, she’d hoped for some profit from her evening shifts with the dragon but all of it went to repairs.

  Beth played with the lid of her coffee. “Are you finished working on his scales?”

  “I think one more session and I should be done. It might be interesting to branch out in this area. I wonder how many dragons live around New Port.” Now that Angie knew her origins, she was curious about her people. If Eoin was right and she was pure dragon instead of a throwback, what did that mean about her parents? Had they been dragon as well?

  “Dragons are more territorial than werewolves. They live mostly in clans in very isolated areas. Eoin is one of the rare cases who tolerates other races but I’m sure if you advertised, some would fly in for a treatment.” Beth gave her a shy smile. “If Eoin gives them permission to enter New Port, that is.”

  “We’d need to rent a warehouse if that were the case. Maybe you should get some quotes.” Angie rose to her feet and fiddled with her coffee lid. “He kind of took me on a date yesterday.” She had barely slept last night. Seeing her dragon, hearing about magic, and wondering about her parents had left her exhausted yet unable to find rest.

  Beth bounced, almost splashing coffee on Angie’s shirt. “That’s so exciting. Did he kiss you?” She peered at Angie with wide eyes. “What’s wrong? He didn’t force you to do something, did he?” Beth placed her hand on top of Angie’s and gave it a squeeze. “You smell very upset. What did he do?” A small growl escaped Beth’s delicate throat.

  “Eoin thinks that I’m a dragon. Not just part dragon, but all dragon.” She ran her free hand down the length of her body. “One hundred percent pure blood.” Would her clients stop coming if they knew she was dragon? Everyone was frightened of Eoin. She didn’t want that.

  Beth blinked. “But you can’t shift.”

  And there was the kicker. She could be as pure blooded as Eoin wanted but if she couldn’t change shape, the rest of the world wouldn’t view her as a shifter. She wanted to believe Eoin—being a dragon was more than she could ever dream. It was difficult to understand when he was discussing auras and shields. In everyone else’s eyes, even Beth’s, she was still human. “He took me to an isolated area so he could teach me how to shift.” Angie recalled every detail of her dragon, right down to her glossy black scales. Her chest felt hollow. Would she ever see her dragon again? “It didn’t work. I utterly failed.”

  “Does he have any idea why you can’t change shape?” Beth crept closer to Angie, pressing their sides together. As an omega, it was instinctual for Beth to offer comfort to those in need. “That ass shouldn’t have hurt you.”

  Angie tossed her a quick look. “It wasn’t his intention to hurt me. He really believes that he can fix me.”

  “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you Angie.”

  “Fine, help me. Is that better? He says there is something blocking me from connecting to my abilities to shift. He was trying to break through my block. Since it didn’t work he’s going to talk to some of the other dragons to see if they have any ideas.” She didn’t fool herself into believing there’d be a cure. This was a well-traveled route in her life where some shifter would think they’d be the one to make her whole. Hope was for romantics, but she wouldn’t stop Eoin. She liked his romantic side. “He kissed me.” The hollow feeling in her chest faded and the space filled with warmth. Something different and new, something she’d never felt for anyone else before.

  Beth gasped. She bounced on her heels again. “Details.”

  The heat of a blush made Angie’s cheeks ache. “It was just a simple kiss.”

  “You do realize I can smell a lie, right?”

  Angie laughed. “It was… It was sweet, and hot, and he’s so goddamn sexy, I don’t know what I’m going to do the next time I see him.” Angie felt breathless.

  “Next time?” Beth gave her a knowing smile. “You like him.” She said in a teasing voice.

  “Of course I do, you wouldn’t?”

  “I wouldn’t. I mean, he scares me too much. Actually, he scares everyone.”

  “You don’t want me to see him anymore?” Beth was the closest thing that she had to a family. Her opinion meant a lot.

  “No, that’s not my point.” An unusual seriousness came over her best friend’s face. “I don’t know him and haven’t smelled him enough to make any judgment calls. I know he’s not a player and that he’s fair.” Those were two qualities that Ryota had failed at and were huge bonus points for Eoin. “Even though he’s a dragon, he’s still a shifter. If Eoin meets his mate while dating you, he’ll drop you in a heartbeat. Shifters can’t help but follow instinct.” That was another reason why Angie had left Ryota, and a huge negative point for Eoin.

  Angie stared at the charm in her hand. Maybe the pack witch had a love potion that she could use? She snorted. What was she thinking? “I need to finish with the sink and I might as well check all the other rooms for broken shit before hitting the accounts.”

  “Sounds good. I need to eat. Want me to bring you back something?”

  The familiar nausea kicked Angie in the gut so hard she had vertigo. “No.” She clutched her stomach. Damn, she thought she’d gotten over this.

  Chapter Twenty

  Angie sat at Beth’s desk in the shop’s waiting room. They poured over the expense account on the computer screen. Angie rubbed the back of her neck. Even though her business was doing well, she would only break even this month. The way things were going maybe she should consider hiring a full time repairman.

  Scratch Your Itch was becoming a money pit. She’d be living off ramen noodles and Pop Tarts for a few more weeks or she’d have to dive into her savings account. Her chest tightened at the thought of being trapped in her apartment for another year. That money was supposed to go towards a down payment for a house, not groceries. She would suffer before spending a dime. If she could just figure out how to stop sinking money into repairs, she’d be able to move forward in life.

  The door chimed open and closed. Beth must have forgotten to lock it. They were technically closed.

  She and Beth glanced up at the same time. A man with a mane of golden hair to his shoulders gave them enigmatic smile. Angie would bet he was a lion shifter.

  “
Can I help you?” Beth asked, going into receptionist mode.

  He sauntered in, tossing his fabulous hair over his shoulder. It should be a sin for men to have better hair than women. “I heard rumors that you service dragons.”

  Eyelashes too. Men shouldn’t have naturally thick eyelashes either. Wait, what? She gave Beth a sharp look.

  Her best friend flinched. “I guess what they say about word-of-mouth is true?” She shrugged.

  He ignored Beth’s outburst since he only had eyes for Angie.

  Angie rose from her chair. “I’m offering scale services.” She tossed Beth a what-the-fuck look because they had just discussed this a few hours ago. There was no way this dragon heard about her. The wolf pack had to be behind this. Maybe they thought they were helping her drum up more business. This had Ken’s name all over it, except where was she going to stuff his dragon ass to work on his scales? The back alley?

  Beth scooted behind Angie.

  “You’ve nothing to fear from me, pretty shifter.” With a flowing motion of his hands, he produced a daisy out of thin air and offered it to Beth. “A gift.”

  She stared at the stem as if it was full of poisoned thorns before plucking it from his fingers

  He turned his gaze back to Angie. “I’m not in need of any scale care. I’m here to have my back scratched. Can you fit me in your schedule?” He sat on the edge of Beth’s desk, his body relaxed and at ease as if he were a regular customer.

  “I don’t have a room big enough for you in dragon form.” She couldn’t afford to turn away a new customer, even on her day off.

  “You can’t scratch it while I’m in human form?”