The Dragon's Mate (Book Seven) Read online

  He dropped his gaze to the porch steps and climbed them slowly. He joined her on the porch and when he glanced up, Kaida was giving him an impatient look. “Come inside, quickly.”

  She glanced around the clearing and he turned to study the other cabins again. More curtains were twitching and falling back into place and he grinned at Kaida. “Looks like your neighbours are curious about the humans.”

  She herded him inside the cabin like a wayward child. Her hand grazed his lower back and sent a zinging sensation straight to his dick.

  Tyler was already sitting on the couch next to Corey and holding the fox shifter’s hand. An old man, his hair was pure white with orange streaks and hung to his waist in a neatly made braid, was sitting at the kitchen table.

  “Bren this is Cadmus, the high elder of our clan. Cadmus, this is Bren.”

  Bren walked forward and held out his hand. “It’s good to meet you.”

  The old man stared at his hand and amusement drifted across his face before he shook Bren’s hand. “Hello, human.”

  He dropped Bren’s hand and stood. He drifted across the room toward the door, stopping briefly next to the couch. “You did well with the council, young fox. Do not worry.”

  Corey kept his gaze firmly on his lap as Tyler stared at Cadmus with frank interest. Cadmus smiled at him. “Enjoy Kaida’s teaching, human yearling.”

  “Um, thank you. I will. It was nice to meet you, um, Mr. Cadmus,” Tyler said.

  Cadmus laughed, revealing straight white teeth, before moving to the door. “I will see you at dinner with the others, Kaida.”

  “Yes, Cadmus.”

  He left the cabin and Corey slumped against the couch as Tyler said, “How old is that dude?”

  “Tyler,” Bren said, “don’t be rude, please.”

  “Sorry. Hey, you okay?” Tyler asked Corey.

  “I’m fine.” Corey glanced at Kaida. “I’m ready to go home.”

  “Gram will be here in a bit,” Kaida said. “You look much better this morning and she may agree to send you home.”

  “That’s great news,” Tyler said. “I’ll get you set up in our guest room.”

  Corey grimaced. “Ty, I don’t think -”

  “Holy crap! I forgot to show you what Julie Lesner posted on Facebook.” Tyler yanked his phone out of his pocket. “She and Winston broke up and she went nuclear on his page. Check it out.”

  As the two boys huddled together on the couch and looked at Tyler’s phone, Kaida pointed to the table. “Have a seat, human.”

  Bren sat down and Kaida took two mugs from the cupboard. “Coffee or tea?”

  “Coffee if it isn’t too much trouble.”

  She popped a pod into the machine and made him a coffee before brewing one for herself. She brought the coffee as well as milk and sugar to the table and eased into the chair across from him.

  Bren splashed some milk into his coffee before taking a sip. “It’s good, thanks.”

  Kaida added a generous amount of sugar to her own mug. Behind him, Bren could hear Corey and Tyler talking in low tones. Feeling a bit awkward, he said, “Thank you again for keeping Corey overnight.”

  “You’re welcome.” She took a sip of coffee.

  There was more awkward silence and Bren cleared his throat. Normally, he didn’t have any problems talking to women, even ones as beautiful as Kaida. But for some reason, being around Kaida made his tongue twist into knots and his brain go foggy.

  It probably didn’t help that he kept wanting to check out her rack like he was a horny teenager. He was a tits guy, always had been, and Kaida’s looked perfect. Full and firm and probably as milky white as the rest of her skin. Were her nipples pink? He bet they were pink like her mouth. Or maybe they were –

  Bren!

  He realized he was sporting a semi again and he shifted a little closer to the table, making sure his junk was completely hidden beneath the wooden surface. What the fuck was wrong with him?

  Kaida was staring at him like she knew exactly what he’d been thinking about. She probably did. Shifters had great senses of smell and as a bear shifter, hers was one of the best. No doubt she could smell his arousal.

  Embarrassment heating up his chest, he said, “So, uh, how do you know Bishop?”

  She toyed with the handle of her mug. “We have been friends since we were yearlings. Not much older than your brother and the fox shifter.”

  “Yearlings,” he said. Cadmus had used the word earlier as well and it struck him as strange. “Is that what bear shifters call teenagers?”

  “Yes,” she replied before looking over at Tyler and Corey.

  Tingles went down his spine. He had an excellent bullshit detector – he wasn’t sure if that was from years on the force or if it was an innate trait – and he knew Kaida was lying. He tucked the little tidbit of info away in the Kaida file he’d created in his mind.

  “So, was Bishop a part of this clan or…?”

  “No,” she said. “I found him in the woods one day. He’d been caught in a bear trap.”

  “Jesus,” Bren said.

  Kaida’s face turned soft with the memory. “It had done incredible damage to his leg and he’d lost a lot of blood, but he was still alive. Even as a child, he was one of the toughest shifters I’d ever met. I pried open the bear trap and brought him to Gram. She thought he might lose his leg even with his healing abilities and her healing poultices, but,” another soft smile that sent a weird streak of jealousy through Bren’s stomach, “my bear is stubborn and fierce. I believe he kept his leg by sheer willpower alone.”

  “Your bear?” Bren said.

  Shit, did he sound jealous?

  Pink tinged Kaida’s cheeks. “My nickname for Bishop.”

  Unease settling in his stomach – did Kaida have a thing for Bishop? Jesus, what was with him having the hots for every woman who wanted Bishop King? – Bren said, “You know that Bishop is getting married to his human girlfriend in two weeks, right? They have a kid together too.”

  “I know. I’ve been invited to the wedding. Bishop and I are only friends, nothing more.” She eyed him over the rim of her coffee mug. “Are you going to the wedding?”

  “Yes.”

  He’d been a little surprised when he got the invitation. Despite saving Bishop’s life, the grizzly shifter still wasn’t that fond of him. He’d wavered on going or not and, in the end, RSVP’d yes.

  There was a knock on the door before it swung open and a young woman stepped inside. She had long blonde hair with streaks of orange in it and she was, by Bren’s estimate, about thirteen months pregnant.

  “Kaida, do you have any eggs? We’re out and Jarvis has a craving for an omelet. How weird is that? I’m the one who’s supposed to have pregnancy cravings, but Jarvis has been…”

  She stopped dead in her tracks, sniffing the air before staring first at Tyler and Corey on the couch, and then studying Bren at the table. Her hand rubbed her distended belly and a smile of delight crossed her face. “Humans!”

  Kaida stood up abruptly. “Sika, I don’t have any eggs, but Gram probably -”

  “Hi! I’m Sika!” The pregnant woman hurried over to the couch and grinned at Tyler.

  “Hi, I’m Tyler and this is Corey.”

  Sika was almost vibrating with excitement. “It’s so cool to meet you.”

  “Sika, did you hear me?” Kaida took a quick glance at Bren.

  “I heard you.” Sika walked toward them, smiling at Bren when he stood and shook her hand. “Hello, human!”

  “Hello,” Bren said. She pumped his hand rapidly and he grinned at her, making her smile widen. Her enthusiasm was weirdly infectious.

  “Bren, this is my best friend Sika. Sika, this is Bren.”

  “It’s so awesome to meet you,” Sika said. She was still holding his hand, her bright gold eyes with their flecks of orange staring into his eyes intently.

  Did everyone in their clan wear contacts?

  “It’s nice to meet
you too,” Bren said.

  “Sika.” Kaida stared at their joined hands and Sika dropped his with a soft giggle.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve never touched a human before,” she said.

  “Seriously?” he said.

  She nodded and, ignoring Kaida’s grunt of protest, plopped down in the empty seat beside him. “Yeah. Our clan doesn’t interact with humans very much. I rarely go to the city and it’s not like I could just touch random humans, is it? Besides, my mate Jarvis would have a fit if I started touching humans. He says they carry all sorts of diseases and who knows what I would catch. Which is silly because we have healing powers. We can heal ourselves of any of your gross human diseases.”

  She paused. “Not that you have gross human diseases. I’m sure you’re very clean.”

  She leaned forward and inhaled deeply, her nose almost buried in Bren’s throat. “You smell clean.”

  “Oh my God, Sika,” Kaida said.

  “What? He does. You smell really good actually,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Bren replied.

  “Do all human males smell as good as you?” Sika turned to Kaida without waiting for a reply. “Have you smelled him, Kaida?”

  She leaned forward to smell him again, making a squeak of surprise when Kaida’s hand wrapped around her wrist. “Sika, enough. You are making the human uncomfortable.”

  “Am I?” Sika’s expression was suitably chastised. “I’m sorry, human. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “You’re not,” Bren said. “I’m totally used to random women smelling me.”

  “Really?”

  “No, not really.”

  Sika stared blankly at him before laughing. “You’re making a joke, human.”

  “I am,” Bren said.

  “You’re funny. You’re funny and you smell good. Do all humans smell as good as you?”

  “It varies,” Bren said. “Teenage boys – or yearlings as you like to call them – do not smell good.”

  “I smell fine,” Tyler hollered from the couch.

  Bren shook his head before leaning forward to say in a low conspiratorial voice, “Don’t believe him. Hormonal teenagers rarely smell good.”

  Sika giggled. “It is the same with our yearlings.”

  “I guess humans and bear shifters have something in common after all,” Bren said.

  Sika blinked at him. “Bear shifters?”

  Kaida cleared her throat and Sika sat back in her chair before saying, “Oh yes, bear shifters. Such as myself.”

  Bren’s bullshit detector blipped out another series of high-pitched noises.

  “You should probably go now, Sika,” Kaida said. “Jarvis will be looking for his omelet.”

  “Yes, in a minute.” Sika was still studying Bren. “May I ask you a personal question, human?”

  “Sika…” Kaida said.

  “Yes,” Bren said. “If I can ask you one.”

  “Deal,” Sika said.

  “Sika, no,” Kaida said.

  “It’s fine, Kaida. There’s no harm in asking one question,” Sika said. “Right, human?”

  “Right,” Bren said. He turned his smile up to ‘killer charm’ and aimed it at Kaida. To his disappointment, it seemed to have zero effect on her.

  “You’re so handsome when you smile,” Sika said. Her face beamed with delight as she grinned at Kaida. “Isn’t he handsome for a human?”

  Kaida’s cheeks went bright red. “He’s, uh, okay.”

  “I usually win the ladies over with my sparkling personality rather than my okay looks,” Bren said.

  Kaida blushed even more and Sika giggled. “Do you have a girlfriend, human?”

  “I don’t.” He took a quick look at Kaida. She was staring at Sika with murder in her beautiful golden coloured eyes.

  “I’m surprised.” She examined Bren’s hair and his shoulders before eyeing his body. “You are handsome and, for a human, you have a pretty large body.” She reached out and felt Bren’s bicep. “Ooh, and you’re muscular too. Why are you not mated? Do human females not enjoy a strong and muscular male?”

  “Um, women seem to like it when a guy keeps in shape,” Bren said.

  “Hmm.” Sika’s gaze dropped to his crotch. “Is your,” she pointed at his dick, “on the… smaller side?” She held her thumb and forefinger a few inches apart in case he couldn’t figure out what she was saying.

  “Oh my God, Sika!” Kaida’s face was so red that Bren wouldn’t have been surprised if he saw smoke coming out of her ears.

  He did a double take…wait, was that smoke coming out of her nose?

  Before he could take a closer look, she spun around and stared at the cupboards.

  “Sorry, that was rude,” Sika said. Her own face was a little pink and she rubbed compulsively at her belly.

  Secretly amused by the bear’s question but knowing that Kaida was upset and Sika was embarrassed, Bren said, “I have a busy job so that doesn’t allow me to date much.”

  Not a complete lie. Not the complete truth either, but he didn’t need to try and explain to a bear shifter he’d just met about the intricacies of online dating and how horrifying it was.

  “It’s time to go now, Sika,” Kaida said.

  “But I haven’t asked the human my personal question,” Sika said.

  Kaida spun around and sank into the chair, glaring at her best friend. Glancing over Sika’s head at Tyler and Corey, she lowered her voice. “Asking the human his dick size is not a personal enough question for you?”

  “I… well… it wasn’t the personal question I meant to ask,” Sika said.

  “Too bad,” Kaida replied.

  Sika’s face fell and Bren said, “It’s okay, Sika. Ask your question.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded and Sika’s smile returned. “How do you know when someone wants to mate with you?”

  Bren stared at her.

  Sika smiled encouragingly. “Well, human? For shifters, we know when someone wants to mate because we can smell their arousal for us. Humans have such a poor sense of smell. How do you know when someone wants you in their bed?”

  “Uh, well, you ask them out,” Bren said.

  “Ask them out?” Sika cocked her head at him.

  “On a date. Like to dinner or a movie. If they say yes, it generally means they’re at least interested in you. And as you get to know each other better, it becomes easier to tell if the person wants to sleep with you. Maybe not by smell, but by the way they look at you, or if they, uh… flirt.”

  Sika grinned at him. “I do know what flirting is. I flirt with my mate all the time. But it’s easier because I can smell that he wants me. What if you do all of this flirting and the human still doesn’t want to mate with you?”

  “Well, then you could just be friends and you look for someone else to flirt with who you find attractive and hope they feel the same way.”

  “It seems like a lot of work just to sleep with someone,” Sika said.

  “It can be,” Bren glanced at Kaida, “but it’s worth it for the right person.”

  Kaida looked away as there was another knock on the door before it opened. Kaida’s grandmother stepped into the cabin. Today she was wearing a burgundy velvet track suit with a matching velvet headband strapped around her forehead.

  Bren hid his smile as Gram stopped next to Tyler and Corey on the couch and held out her fist. Tyler bumped it with his own. “You’re looking ballin’ today, Gram. I like the velvet.”

  “Thanks,” Gram said. “Now, move out of the way for a minute so I can look at your boyfriend.”

  All of them watched as Gram poked and prodded at Corey’s head and ribs.

  “Headache gone?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Corey said.

  “How’s your ribs?”

  “Sore, but my healing is starting to kick in.”

  “Still peeing blood?”

  Corey blushed and took a quick look at Tyler before shaki
ng his head. “No, ma’am. Not since last night.”

  “Good. You’re a fast healer, little fox. Although I suppose you got youth on your side.” Gram heaved herself to her feet.

  “Can I go home?” Corey asked.

  “I think so. You don’t feel dizzy when you stand, do you?” Gram said.

  Corey shook his head again. “No, I feel fine.”

  “All right then, you’re free to go.”

  Bren didn’t think it was his imagination that both Corey and Kaida looked immensely relieved.

  Corey hopped up from the couch and grabbed his sweater that was on the armchair. “C’mon, Ty, let’s go.”

  Ty blinked at him. “Right now?”

  Corey turned to Bren. “Can we go, Bren? My foster family is worried about me.”

  “No, they’re not.” Tyler stood and followed Corey to the door of the cabin. “You’re coming back to my place, Corey. I’ll look after you.”

  “No,” Corey said.

  Ty scowled at him. “Dude, c’mon.”

  “I can’t,” Corey said. “I appreciate the offer, but,” he glanced at Bren, “with your dad, it’s not a good idea.”

  “He’s hardly home,” Tyler said stubbornly. “He won’t even notice that you’re staying with us.”

  “I can’t,” Corey said again. “Please, Ty, I want to go home and sleep in my own bed. Okay?”

  Bren could see the hurt on his brother’s face, but Ty said, “Yeah, okay.”

  Tyler turned and smiled tentatively at Kaida. “We’re still on for learning to fight, right?”

  “Yes. How about Wednesday evening?” Kaida said.

  “That long?” Tyler said.

  “The fox needs to be completely healed,” Gram said before patting Tyler’s arm.

  “Can you bring us here Wednesday night?” Tyler asked Bren.

  Bren mentally reviewed his schedule. He was testifying in court that day for an ongoing case, but unless something got fucked up, he would be done in time. “Yes. Say around six?”

  “Sure,” Kaida said.

  Gram joined them and smiled at Bren before putting her arm around Sika’s shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “How are you feeling, sugarpie?”