Page 44 of Bad Blood Alpha

Chapter 17

Xander said, “Okay. Boring shit first. Back there,” he waved his arm towards the space behind the big cabin, “are the new cabins we built for Tank and Lissa, and Jaz and Brody, which are your average everyday log cabins except for the love shack bathrooms. Once you’ve fucked in a billionaire bathroom, you can never go back.”

“That’s a disturbing thought,” said Kira. And was immediately distracted by the image of Flynn making love to her in the giant shower, backing her up against the wall, hot and wet and naked. Or pulling her onto his lap in the giant Jacuzzi tub…

Xander snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hellooo? Still here? Sheesh. If that’s how you look just thinking about fucking Flynn in the billionaire bathroom, I really don’t want to be around when you’re actually doing it.”

Kira said, “If we’re actually doing it, you better not be within fifty feet, or I’ll stab you with my lethal hair ornament.”

Xander shook his head. “I keep telling you. Flynn’s perfect woman.” He returned to the tour. “Anyway, there’s also a tiny house that looks like a fairy-tale cottage where nobody lives right now, but in case you give a fuck what we do for a living, that’s half of it. Building tiny houses. The other half is flipping houses—and not flipping them over, Ms. Draken. So don’t get any ideas.”

“I know what flipping a house is. I used to have HGTV when I lived with my guardian.”

“Good for you. Now for the not-boring parts of the tour. Come on.”

“What about the dishes?” She glanced dubiously at her breakfast plate. She might be an ex-princess, but she did know she was supposed to clean up after herself.

Xander shrugged. “Leave them. I’ll get them later. This is our trailer—mine and Jenny’s.”

She slid off the porch, bringing her drink, and followed him. He gestured grandly toward the kiddie pool. “That’s Jenny’s island getaway. We can’t go on a real island vacation because it’s too risky to fly commercial, with our animals. So I built her the beach. And the bar. Tank and Sloan helped me.”

Wow. That was a lot of work to go through, just to please his mate. “That’s kind of sweet.”

“Isn’t it?” Xander said, pulling out one of his throwing knives and tossing it in his hand. “I ply her with tiki bar drinks on the beach whenever I can browbeat somebody into watching Brandon, and then we fuck in the cabana.”

Maybe “sweet” wasn’t exactly the right word. Kira shook her head. “You have no concept of privacy, do you?”

“No.”

Xander gestured carelessly at the next-door trailer. “That’s where Sloan and Caitlyn live. Boring again. Want to see my tree house now?”

Tree house? “Is that like a clubhouse? Do you wear Mickey Mouse ears? Are girls allowed?”

“Har har,” Xander said. “Funny dragon.”

“Dragons aren’t actually known for their humor.”

“Right?” he said. “Which is why you and Flynn make such a cute couple. Because he’s grumpy and not funny, except when we prank him and he gets pissed off.”

They were walking up the path, Xander jumping up every once in a while to slash at overhanging leaves with his knife. “Flynn’s like I used to be. He pretends he doesn’t care about people and stuff, but he does. And he pretends he’s not lonely, but that’s only because he thinks he can’t have a real mate.”

He slashed at another branch, not looking at Kira. “I’m not good at looking out for people, but I try to look out for Flynn. He looked out for me, when other alphas would have put me down a long time ago for wanting to kill people all the time.”

He turned to face Kira, walking backwards. “Flynn’s a good alpha. The best. If he wants to be your mate, you should take him up on it. He needs a mate.”

Before Kira could say anything more, Xander ran ahead through the main clearing and swung himself into the branches of a giant spreading oak tree on the far side. Looking up, she realized it held the beginning framing for an enormous three-level tree house. “Come on up,” he said.

Kira scrambled up the makeshift wooden ladder fixed to the trunk.

“Everybody else is getting cabins,” Xander said, when she was standing next to him. “But Flynn said we could have a tree house. This is my favorite tree, and Jenny and Brandon and I hang out up here all the time. The first time I ever held Brandon was in this tree.” His hard, tough face grew soft for a moment, before he turned away.

“Living room, dining area, kitchen,” he said, walking around the circular platform, indicating which part of the framing was for which room. “Then there’s two bedrooms up here.” He bounded up to the next level. “So we can have more cubs. And the master up there.” He pointed to the third level.

Kira stared around her, entranced. Even though her dragon was bound and she’d never flown, she’d always loved being high up. “This is going to be the coolest thing ever.”

“I know, right?”

She could hear the pride in his voice.