Only For Her Dragon (Dragon Guard Series Book 6) (2 page)

“I’m sure I want to know. I’m not promising that I won’t have a million questions when you are done. Or that I won’t need to lose my shit every once in a while. But I want to hear it all.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. What’s your next question?”

“You called Lance your mate. Isn’t he your husband? And is this whole dragon thing the reason I couldn’t be your maid of honor?”

Sam laughed out loud and Charlie couldn’t help but smile. Replaying her question in her mind, she realized she sounded like a petulant child. Thankfully, they’d been friends for so long Sam just laughed it off and kept going.

“Yeah, that’s why and you
know
I’m still sorry about that. The dragons have a special ceremony for
everything
. The mating ceremony is very private. Only Lance’s brethren, the guys that he calls brother, the Elders of their Clan, and I could be there.”

“He’s my husband,” she laughed. “But in their culture we’re
mates
. Actually, we’re
soul mates
, destined by the Universe to be together. They have a Holy Book that better describes mates and what they mean to each other than I ever could, and I’m sure some time or another you’ll see or hear more about it. The best I can do is tell you that from the moment I saw him, I just
knew
. I felt it in my
soul
. We’re supposed to be together
forever
.”

Sam had a dreamy look on her face and Charlie could actually feel the love her best friend felt for her hus…
mate
as she spoke. Charlie knew there would come a day when she would feel that way about someone…
anyone
. At that thought, Aaron’s face, complete with shit-eating grin, appeared in her mind’s eye and her lips warmed just as they had when he’d kissed her.

Not wanting to think about him anymore than she had to, Charlie teased her friend. “You always were a hopeless romantic, Dr. Malone.”

Sam feigned annoyance, complete with a furrowed brow, and pouted before grumping, “If I remember correctly
you
were the one with the Backstreet Boys poster that had to be kissed every night before bed.” Sam barely had the words out of her mouth before she was laughing out loud, causing Charlie to laugh right along.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever. I’m not the one waxing poetic about the man of her dreams.”

“I think the lady doth protest too much, but I’ll let you live with your denial for a bit longer.  I know you have a million more questions, so ask away.”

“Are they born dragons or is it magical or what?”

“They’re born as dragon shifters
now,
but when it all started back in Arthurian times there were still
real dragons
. The poor beasts were hunted and on the brink of extinction when some powerful magical guy found a way to combine the soul of the dragon with the soul of the man. All the men the dragons picked were Knights of the Round Table, very respectable and honorable, men they had fought alongside for years”

“Lance said there were twelve in total when they started out, one from each of the clans. The clans, just so you know, used to be divided up by their colors, but now they all coexist since their numbers never truly rebounded. There are more than there were in total, but some of the clans were wiped out altogether. Lance is a golden dragon. He’s the last of his kind. I hope someday we have a boy to carry on the beautiful color and history of his father’s clan. But for now we have Syd, and Heaven knows she’s one special little girl.”

Sam stopped; once again looking right at Charlie, letting her know what she was about to say was very important. “And when I say special…I mean
special
. Devon’s mom, Siobhan, is trying to figure out exactly what makes my girl the wonder that she is. Siobhan is an Elder Healer in the Clan and a super intelligent woman. I’ve learned so much from her already. More on that later.”

Charlie made a little note to remind her to find out more about her niece another day and almost missed what Samantha had gone on to say.

“Anyway, like I said, the guys are born as shifters but can’t ‘call their dragon forth’, that’s what they call it when they transform, until they’re like seventeen or eighteen. Until then they just have the marking of their beast somewhere on their torso.”

“So those aren’t tattoos? I just figured since they all rode Harleys and looked like models they were inked.” Charlie chuckled.

“You would think, right?’ Sam laughed. “But no, they have them from birth. It darkens as they get older, then really pops when they transform for the first time. At least that’s what they all tell me. Their dragon glyphs kinda remind me of the marks on your back. Speaking of that, have yours ever moved?”

“Not that I can remember. They itch or tingle sometimes but nothing much more than that. My mom always said they were birthmarks. I’ve often wondered if my birth mom had them too. If they were a family thing…ya know? But, hey, I never really think that much about them.” She hurried on, not wanting to open the whole adopted kid discussion that Sam always wanted to have with her. There would come a day when she would look for her birth parents again, with hopefully better results, but it wasn’t in that moment and she didn’t want to think about it.

Charlie pondered why Sam had asked and thankfully, her friend didn’t make her wait long. Samantha leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, even though they were alone. “Lance’s marking
moves
when I touch it.” Then she did something Charlie only remembered her doing a few times in all the years she’d known her…she winked and giggled like a schoolgirl.

Giggling? Oh, I’m saving this for just the right moment.

Charlie chuckled along, not sure if she was more embarrassed or more jealous that her friend had someone so special in her life. Thoughts of Aaron threatened to invade her thoughts for about the hundredth time. Shoving them away, she worked hard to focus. Sam cleared her throat but couldn’t quite control the blush in her cheeks. Charlie decided to let the moment pass without giving her friend a hard time, something that rarely happened.

Sam spoke, “The twins, Aaron and Aidan, and their crazy ass brother are the last of the silver clan. Devon is the last of the white dragon clan. Rayne’s dragon is red and I think he’s the last too, or one of the last. Well
hell
, only Royce has any family left that I’m aware of, but we always get surprises. You met Rian and Rory at his wedding right? They’re his brothers.”

“Yeah, I did. They all look so much alike except for the hair. There’s
no way
I could miss that they are related. I have to ask though…is Kyra something ‘special’?” Charlie made air quotes to make sure Sam understood. “I just get the feeling she’s more than she seems.”

Nodding as she finished her soda, Sam answered while she stood and made her way to the fridge for a refill. “You’re catching on fast,” she answered over her shoulder. “Kyra’s a white witch. One of the best from what I’ve seen and what little I know. She saved Anya from some nasty spell Andrew had the poor girl under.”

“Was that why we could never figure out what was wrong with Anya?” Charlie butted in. “Well
damn
! Now it all makes sense. I kept wondering how the hell y’all got her to wake up after less than two days at home when we had worked for weeks. I guess we never would’ve been able to help her, huh?”

Sam shook her head as she made her way back to her seat. “No way. And we have nothing to feel bad about. There’s so much crap out there that us ‘normal’ people have no clue about. Just wait, some of it will completely blow your mind… even more than it is now.”

“Oh! And before I forget, there are five other Guardsmen that are part of Rory’s Force and a bunch of others in his clan across the pond. The Blue Dragons have been the most successful at keeping their kin alive, from what I’ve been told.”

“What about the green dragon, Anya, I saw the night of their wedding or mating or whatever?”

“Like I said, she’s the first female dragon in hundreds of years and the first green dragon in almost as long. She’s like a miracle on top of a miracle and no one knew she existed until she transformed. Devon screamed through mindspeak that she was dying and we all came running. That’s when you saw us.”

“Mindspeak?” Charlie asked, almost afraid of what else she would find out.

“Yeah. I should’ve told you about that when I was explaining mating, but I kinda got off track.” Sam paused, winked…
again
… and dived right back in. “There are certain perks to being the mate of a dragon shifter. First of all, we can talk mind to mind with our other half. Later, as the bond strengthens, we can do it with all his brethren too.”

“Secondly, we get to live as long as they do and that can be a thousand years, maybe longer. We age really slowly. We get some of their strength and ability to hear. And our sense of smell becomes more acute. Overall, it’s a pretty sweet deal. The bummer of it all is keeping everything a secret from those you’re the closest too. But you changed all that!”

Sam seemed genuinely happy that she could finally really talk to Charlie about her life. The truth was Charlie was glad there were no more secrets between them. She just wondered how she was going to keep it all straight without going crazy.

The rest of the night went pretty much the same way until they were both yawning. They made it as far as the living room before Charlie remembered to ask one thing that had been driving her crazy. “What was up with the flowers? I mean I like them and everything, but they’re really not your style.”

Sam looked at her like she was crazy, and after all they had discussed that was seriously saying something. “What flowers?”

“The daisies and the rose bush…out back. That you had Lance plant for me…?”

Shaking her head with eyebrows raised, Sam answered, “I didn’t have Lance plant any flowers.” She scoffed, “He’s really not the green-thumb type”

“Well, if you didn’t do it, then who?”

“I have no idea. Guess you have a secret admirer.” Sam wiggled her eyebrows before collapsing on the couch. “I call dibs on the sofa.”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” Charlie absentmindedly answered, trying to think of who might have left the flowers.

Maybe they weren’t even for me. Maybe they were for Sam. But who would’ve dared leave them for her. Anyone that knows her, knows Lance, and knows he will kill them just for looking at his wife. Dammit, this is gonna drive me crazy.

Snuggling into the oversized recliner while Sam curled up on the couch, she let all thoughts of flowers and annoying dragons slip away. For the first time since ‘the incident’, Charlie slipped into slumber with a smile on her face. Her last thought was of haunting blue eyes and the kiss that changed her life.

CHAPTER TWO

He knew Sam was aware of his presence, or at least thought she was. She‘d been mated to Lance long enough that her senses were almost as sharp as those of a full-blooded dragon shifter. He would never be able to thank her for not telling Charlie that he sat outside her window like a lovesick teenager.

Aaron used his enhanced hearing to listen to their conversation, but more than that, he focused on his mate, the one destined for him by the Universe. He could hear her heart beat faster when Samantha mentioned his name and
knew
every time she’d thought of him. Their kiss just a few weeks ago had triggered the mating call and it was taking no prisoners. He’d thought of nothing but Charlie every waking minute of every day.

Since the night she’d fled from him–from them all–he had been keeping watch over her. Not only was he worried the traitor would find her, that Andrew might be able to sense that she was a mate...
his
mate. He was worried that any wizards who hadn’t died in the blast might find her, or that hunters might be in the area. Basically, he couldn’t stay away and was using any excuse he could come up with to be near her. Charlie was
his
, whether either of them wanted it to be true or not.

He shook his head.
Who the hell am I kidding? I want her more than I want my next breath. Heavens knows my dragon is going to turn me inside out if I don’t get this shit handled.

“You got that right, and I might just kick your ass if you don’t learn to keep your thoughts to yourself,”
Aidan chuckled through their unique mental link.

“Sorry, Bro
.
I thought I was shielded.”

“I’m sure you are from everyone else or Lance and Royce would be giving you shit. You’re just broadcasting loud and clear to me.”

After a pause where Aaron heard Aidan talking to Grace, his twin’s mate, his brother continued
, “Anything I can do to help?”

“Thanks, but no. You’ve got enough on your hands. How are Grace and the babies doing?”
He smiled, thinking about how soon he would be an uncle. Aaron had never been a kid kinda guy, but Sydney, Lance’s adopted daughter, had changed that for all of them.

“Siobhan says they’re great and Sam did a sonogram yesterday. She said they’re big and healthy. We still don’t know if they’re girls or boys, just that they’re identical. Heavens help me if they’re girls. I may have to kill every male within a thousand miles.”

Aaron laughed under his breath as he imagined teenage daughters making his twin crazy. He immediately frowned, readily agreeing,
“I’ve got your back. I remember what we were like as teenagers. There’s no way in hell a hormone ridden teenage boy is getting anywhere near my nieces.”

The sound of female laughter drifted through their link before Grace spoke,
“You two are a mess. Whether our children are boys or girls, they will have their father’s good looks and strength along with my brains. We’ll have nothing at all to worry about.”

“I agree about your brains, but I’m damn sure hoping they have your looks, not his.”
Aaron laughed aloud, but Aidan’s words stopped him short.

“We look just alike, asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. You know I’m the good looking one.”

“You two are incorrigible.”
Grace snickered
.  “Take care of yourself, Aaron, and man up. Just tell the girl how you feel. The rest is written in the stars.”

He knew she was right but couldn’t help smiling at her words.
“Whatever you say, Counselor.”

“Speaking of work, I’m due in court in the morning and I have briefs to read. Take care.”

“You too, Grace…and thanks.”

“I gotta run too, Bro. Grace is right, stop the lovesick shit and get the girl.”

“I will.”

“Later,”
Aidan said
.

“Later.”

Aaron felt Aidan break their connection and concentrated on restoring the block between he and his brother. It was a true testament to how much the mating call was messing with him that he’d let his thoughts bleed through. Nothing like that had happened since they were young and still learning. Aaron was going to have to keep his shields locked and loaded. Aidan was right about the hell he would catch from the other Guardsmen of his Force if they caught a stray thought about Charlie. Of course, then he would have to kill them.

He moved to the front window when the girls talked about going to bed, listened as Charlie asked about the plants, and smiled when he heard the joy his presents had given her. She may not have known they were from him, but she now knew for sure they were
not
from Sam. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out. Dr. Charlene Gallagher was smart, as well as beautiful, strong, quick-witted, and a force to be reckoned with. All the things, he had to admit, that made her perfect for him.

When he’d realized she was his mate, Aaron had done everything in his considerable power to stay away from her. Had gone so far as to ask Rayne to take him off Sam’s guard detail so that he didn’t have to be at the hospital at all. Anything to avoid seeing the woman who made him think of all the things he’d sworn didn’t matter.

Thoughts of her were incredibly distracting but also a lot of fun. Charlie had curves in all the right the places, was tall enough to rest her head on his shoulder, and best of all, fit perfectly in his arms. The first time she’d glanced in his direction, her piercing blue eyes had grabbed him by the soul, making him helpless to do anything but stare. He’d felt the long, warm fingers of destiny wrap around his heart, embedding themselves for all time, followed by the scent of roses and dewdrops that had filled the air, a scent forever identifying her as his mate.

He closed his eyes, imaging the bounce of her short blonde hair and the sway of her perfectly rounded ass as she walked away from him. Her laugh reminded him of tiny bells singing their song, and her clear, melodious voice was smooth as the finest whiskey. Aaron wanted to hear her shouting his name in passion as much as he wanted to draw his next breath.

A sigh escaped as the thought of their first kiss floated through his consciousness. Aaron had heard his brethren talk about kissing their mates. He’d scoffed and dismissed them as the musings of lovesick fools. It was now obvious he had joined the ranks of those fools, having to admit he’d never been more wrong in all of his hundred years. Her perfectly bowed lips were soft to the touch, sweet to the taste, and in that one heart-stopping kiss, he had been forever lost; helpless to do anything but claim the one miraculous woman meant for him and him alone.

I really am a lovesick idiot. The guys are never gonna let me live this one down.

He spent the night watching her sleep and wishing he were lying beside her. As the first rays of sunshine shone through the trees, Aaron touched Charlie’s mind one last time. He had to be sure she was still sleeping soundly before he left. Rising from his crouch, he made his way down the dirt round to his Harley. After climbing on, he sped away, vowing to
man up
and talk to the Charlie later that day.

As he turned onto the road leading to the lair, a familiar voice sounded in his head.
“Where are ya, loser?”
Royce, the oldest of their Force and most levelheaded, laughed.

“Two minutes from home. Where are you?”

“Standing on your front porch with a bottle of scotch and an extra-large everything

pizza. Hurry the hell up.”

“Pizza and booze before noon?”

“Pizza, at least. It’s the breakfast of champions.”

“I’m hurrying,”
Aaron chuckled.

True to his word, Royce was standing on his porch, a pizza in one hand and a bottle in the other. Parking his bike in the driveway, Aaron made quick work of opening the door and getting glasses and plates, not wanting the pizza to get cold. He also grabbed the iced tea and set the scotch aside for later, while catching up with his longtime friend. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but I thought you and Kyra weren’t coming back until you found Calysta.”

“Yeah, that was the plan, but Kyra found new clues and needed to talk to her Aunt Della. Plus, I think she wanted to see Grace. I have a feeling the baby bug has bitten my lovely mate.”

“Oh
damn
, lucky you. You ready for the family gig?”

“Actually, I think I am. I know Kyra will be an awesome mom and having a little guy to teach to use a sword, hunt, and fish…be a mini-me, sounds cool.”

“What if it’s a girl?”

“Then I move us to the farthest regions of the earth and build a hundred foot wall surrounded by a moat filled with gators around our well-guarded home and have fifteen locks on every door of our castle.”

Aaron choked and spit his tea across the table, “Seriously, old man? No way Kyra would let you get away with that.”

“Get away with what?” Kyra asked as she made her way through the front door with another pizza, and what smelled like muffins in a basket hanging from her arm.

“Your boy here says when you have a little girl…and I quote… ‘I’ll move us to the farthest regions of the earth and build a hundred foot wall surrounded by a moat filled with gators around our well-guarded castle.”

Kyra shook her head and chuckled, “Whatever, big guy. Just keep dreaming. If our children are anything like you and your brothers, we’ll need our clan and theirs, plus the coven just to keep tabs on them.”

“You know that’s right,” Royce agreed before pulling Kyra into his lap and kissing her like he hadn’t seen her in days.

Aaron was immediately uncomfortable as thoughts of Charlie and feelings of jealousy that she was not in his arms threatened to overwhelm him. Never one for sharing his feelings, he quickly covered with his best defense…
sarcasm
. “All right you two, stop that shit or get a room.”

The couple broke apart, the old man laughed, and Kyra stuck out her tongue as she crawled off Royce’s lap. “Do you have anything to drink besides beer, scotch, or iced tea, nasty ass?”

“Nasty ass?” Aaron asked in mock anger.

She smacked him on the back of the head on her way past. “You heard me.”

Chuckling and rubbing his head, he answered, “There’s Diet Pepsi. Kyndel threatened to beat me senseless if I didn’t have her favorite when she came over, so I relented.” Then, as an afterthought he added, “There’s also caffeine free something for Grace in the cabinet.”

While Kyra was rattling around the kitchen, Royce asked, “So you gonna fill me on what the hell’s going on with Charlie?”

“You know most of the story. We danced. We kissed. She saw Anya in dragon form and ran away. End of story.”

“Okay…” Royce’s eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared under the hair laying across his brow. When he spoke, his tone said he wasn’t buying Aaron’s story. “Why haven’t you gone over there…made things right? Come on, man, you’ve battled hordes, wizards, and hunters, you gonna let one woman bring you down?”

Aaron chose to ignore the snort that came from the kitchen, deciding he didn’t want the white witch in on the conversation any more than she already was. He stood as he spoke, “Yeah, sure, okay.”

He threw his hands in the air as he paced from one end of the room to the other. “I’ll just show up, knock on her door, say ‘hey’, then tell her all about dragons and knights and old mages that combined the two. If she hasn’t fainted by then, or better yet, kicked me in the nuts, I’ll also tell her she’s my mate. And that the Universe said so. Wonder if I’ll get the ‘we’re meant to be together for at least a thousand years or so’ part out before she slams the door in my face?”

Turning on his heel and heading back the direction he’d come, he mumbled more to himself than his brethren, “Should go over like a fart in church.”

Royce’s chuckle stopped Aaron mid-pace and the words his brethren spoke grated on his nerves, especially because of their truth. “That’s about the size of it. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that straightforward and honest works the best. Oh! And then there’s groveling…that seems to be a winner for me.”

Kyra nodded behind him just as another voice entered the fray. “You know you really don’t have to grovel. All you need to do is take your ass over there and talk to her,” Sam instructed, shocking both men.

Aaron and Royce spun around at the sound of their brethren’s laugh and found both with ear-to-ear grins.

Afraid to hope, Aaron asked, “You really think that’s all it’ll take?” Then added, pointing at Sam, “Weren’t you sleeping soundly at the cottage just a few hours ago?”

“I was, but this whole dragon’s mate thing means I don’t need much sleep. Now, for your original question…I
know
that’s all it’ll take.” Sam nodded and Lance shrugged behind her. Leave it to the pain in the ass of their group to lend no moral support whatsoever.

“We spent the night talking…”

“And drinking.” Her husband laughed, quickly followed by a grunt as her elbow connected with his gut.

“As I was saying, we spent the night talking. She asked tons of questions. I answered them all the best I could, and when we went to sleep, she was her old self. I’m sure you could tell a difference in her.”