Mate!
I grabbed a chair to keep myself upright as my heart thumped hard enough to break my ribs.
“You okay?” The human who was occupying the chair half rose and took my arm.
“Yeah. Low blood sugar,” I managed to get out.
I staggered to the empty table and collapsed in the chair while my beast clawed at my insides, demanding I find our mate. I picked up the laminated menu and peered over the top at thecafé clientele. The scent hit me again, cutting out the aromas of coffee and brisket and gravy.
It was so clean and new, but it was already fading.
“Dray, what’s wrong?” Arthur, the human café owner, appeared at my elbow. He was rugged up in a thick jacket and scarf because he ran colder than the rest of us and customers complained if he turned up the thermostat.
“Something just happened.”
He frowned and poked his head in the kitchen. “All good in there.”
I was trying to catch my breath while my beast demanded I find our mate.
“Someone was here.” I gripped the menu like my life depended on it. “Just before I came in.”
“It’s Friday. The place is crowded.”
“Someone new to town, I think.”
Arthur’s face brightened. “Oh yes. June’s nephew. Nice guy. She left him the house.”
June Bartholomew. I’d done some work for her last year, and I was sorry when I heard she’d died.
Her nephew was my mate.
We waited eight years, and you missed him.
I know where he lives.
I caught the eye of my cousin, Garrett, across the room, and he headed over.
“What’s up? You look like you’re about to pass out.”
I beckoned him closer and hid our heads behind the menu as though we were kids sharing a secret in a 1950s diner.
“Dragon trouble?” he whispered.
The family had witnessed me and my beast at loggerheads in the years since the tattoo appeared.
“He’s here, or was. My mate.”
“Damn.” Heads swirled, and I hissed at him to be quiet. “Did anyone see his tattoo?”
In this spring weather, I suspected the guy was wearing a sweater.
Oh shoot. There had been a flaw in my college plan. How would my family have spied the tattoo if my mate arrived in winter?
What if he was here years ago and we didn’t know?
He’s here now.
“There’s something else. His scent tells me he’s no dragon shifter.”
