He arranges his hold to squish me tighter against his chest and slides his hand over to cover as much of my ass as possible. All of the important bits are covered, but it leaves my back completely exposed. For once, I don’t really care about the fact that a stranger is going to be taking in the scarred mess of my skin and making assumptions. I only care about the fact that I can’t see what we’re walking into, and unknown situations give me hives.
“You’re free to stroll in on your own two feet if you really want to, beautiful, but then we can’t be held responsible for our actions,” he counters, not even slightly winded as he hikes the steep incline with my added weight.
“What do you mean?”
Stone snorts. “Female shifters are not only extremely coveted, but you’d be walking into their territory naked, Amara. Even the sight of us at your back won’t stop them from gawking, in both appreciation and confusion. We’re not going to stand by and watch them eye-fuck our mate.”
Raiden’s gaze slowly slides down my side in a heated caress. “And don’t think it’s escaped our notice that your boredom has turned into arousal over the past half hour. Ifwecan pick up on it, then the shifters here absolutely will be able to catch the scent. A fight isn’t a hypothetical scenario if you walk into their territory naked and horny, it’s a guarantee. But if you really insist…” he trails off with a shrug, like he couldn’t care either way.
Rolling my eyes, I rest my chin on Kodiak’s shoulder and settle in. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Me and my bruised pride will meet your friends while clinging to Kodi like a baby koala. And I accept zero responsibility; it’s not my fault that my rideshares’ seats are made of dragon cocks. Bright side though, the horrifying reminder that strangers can smell if I’m horny or not has successfully killed the mood, so that’s one problem taken care of at least.”
“Don’t worry, firefly, I’ve got your back. Literally.” Kodi, bless his heart, swivels on his heel once we reach an invisible boundary line so that we can both see anyone approaching while we wait to be invited in.
Smiling into the side of his neck, I kiss him quickly before turning my head in time to see two shirtless men jogging our way, clad only in basketball shorts. They have to be blood brothers, their features are so similar. Deeply tanned skin, black hair, and moss green eyes. The only notable difference between them is that one appears to be in their late twenties, and the other closer to sixteen. When they come to a stop in front of us, their nostrils flare. While they seem completely unperturbed by our nudity, whatever scent they picked up on does have their eyes widening.
The younger one breaks into an excited grin, attention bouncing between the four of us. “You’re those dragons everyone’s going on about, aren’t you? Fuck, sends a chill down my spine justlookingat you, and my fox is shriveled up with his tail between his legs. Never met a dragon before.”
His brother sends him a reproachful glare and sighs, but his face lights up as he decides to go for broke and ask, “Did you really roast an entire news crew for breakfast like they’re saying? If you eat people anyway, can I throw a couple names your way?”
I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at them fanboying over the guys.
Raiden takes point, his normal reservation abandoned as he extends a hand to the younger one with a smile. “Not used to guarding the borders, are you?” At his confusion, Raiden clarifies, “You don’t want to give possible intruders anything they can work with to spin in their favor to get your guard down. Now I know I could pretend to be one of those dragons and bluff my way into your territory.”
His hackles rise, realizing his mistake and not knowing how to fix it. His brother doesn’t appear to be in a rush to help either, watching him sweat so the lesson will hopefully stick, but Stone takes mercy on the poor kid so we aren’t stuck standing here forever.
Stepping up to Raiden’s side, Stone frees his wings, using one to shield me so that I’m stuck craning my neck to see anything. Holding up one hand, mottled grey scales creep up his arm, his nails extend into talons, and then he sheds both just as swiftly, dropping his arm to his side. His wings, though, he leaves out on full, impressive display. The sunlight trickles in through the leaves, alighting the abalone coloring that’s as hypnotic as his eyes.
Bothof these guards seriously need some formal training, because their expressions give away every single one of their thoughts. Relief they didn’t fuck up and we’re really dragons, then awe, but there’s no hint of fear. Either they’re idiots with no sense of self-preservation, or they have absolute faith in the alliance their leader established with Raiden and don’t consider us a threat.
They act like people that grew up safe and loved, never forced to experience how cruel the world can be in anything other than stories. My chest hurts, and I’m not sure if it’s from envy, or guilt that I’m the reason their peaceful life is about to come crashing down around them.
“And of course we ate those humans,” Kodi announces with a perfectly straight face. “They wouldn’t stop staring at our mate.”
They blanche, pointedly staring at the trees above our heads, and I smack Kodiak’s shoulder. “Stop tormenting the poor boys, they're more impressed by you three than my ass. After all, how often do you really get to meet living legends?”
Jolting out of his starstrucked state, the younger one blushes and sends me a quick, grateful smile. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he bellows, “Yo, Dom! Report to the south gate! You’re in trooooooouuuuubbbbllllllleeeeeeee.”
Muffling my laughter behind a hand and failing miserably, we wait several minutes before anyone appears. Thankfully, their pack leader has more common sense than his patrol and shows up with four men in tow. Not that it would really matter. One of my guys alone is a force to be reckoned with, let alone the three of them working together.
The rest of the world is a threat, but my mates are a bigger one.
I shake off the thought, straightening my spine.Anyonecan be caught off guard, it doesn’t matter how much combat experience the guys have under their belts. Malcolm proved that perfectly well, and he was only one man; albeit a demented one. Yet he managed to not only hurt them with a car bomb, but stole me right out from under their noses.
Raiden, Stone, and Kodiak are dangerous, but so is the rest of the world. And unlike them, it doesn’t know the meaning of the word mercy.
All traces of concern evaporate from Dom’s face as he catches sight of Raiden. “Garrison!” Clasping hands, they do that guy hug, back smack thing. He takes in our naked state, swiftly cutting his gaze away from me and back to Raiden, raising an eyebrow. “When you called me a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t realize things were already so dire.”
Raiden sighs. “Unfortunately. I need to borrow a phone, Dominic. And some pants.”
Dom barks out a laugh. “Of course, come on. I’m sure Anita or Lissa will have something that’ll fit your mate as well.” Walking away, he waves for us to follow. A few minutes of awkward silence and building tension later, he sighs wearily and makes a shooing motion to the other men hovering around us. “I’ll handle it so you idiots can get back to the lake.”
Not needing to be told twice, all six men hightail it out of here like their asses are on fire.
Stone watches them run off with a curious tilt to his head. “No offense, but your guards are rather…”
“Awful?” Dominic scoffs. “Tell me something I don’t know.” Running a hand through his unruly mop of brown hair, his lips buzz with his exhale. “In all fairness, they’re not usually this terrible, you four just have shit timing.”
“How so?”
