Chapter 3

Rhys watched as the little dragonling flew awkwardly into the sky, the two females hanging on tight. As he batted away the ridiculous amount of lavender covering his face, he looked over at King’s wolves, who were doing the same.

“Damn it,” Darius said as he managed to swim out of the mountain of flowers.

“Could’ve been worse,” one of the other wolves said. “Could’ve been a swarm of bees. Now we just smell good.”

Darius’s jaw tightened. “She obviously wasn’t trying to hurt us. She’s just really protective of the dragon. How the hell does she actually have a dragon as a pet?” Even though it came out as a question, it was pretty clear the male wasn’t looking for an answer. Grumbling, Darius rubbed a hand over his face and grabbed his phone out of his pocket before calling King.

Rhys was quiet as he watched the little gray dragon fly over the treetops and disappear. He wanted to race after them, but unfortunately he followed King’s orders right now, and would as long as he lived in the Alpha’s territory.

Not that he was actually living here in the permanent sense. He’d been here almost two weeks and all he wanted to do was hunt down and destroy Catta. King didn’t actually know his purpose for being here, however. He just knew that Rhys was here while he worked on “something.” And as payment for him being allowed to live here, he got to help out in any way King saw fit. Unfortunately that cut into his hunting time, but he knew he was supposed to be in New Orleans. Could feel it in his blood.

“King says to bring them in,” Darius finally said as he slid his cell phone away.

Rhys nodded because he’d figured as much. He’d just been waiting for the go-ahead.

Darius gave him a hard look. “You can track them?”

He made a scoffing sound. Of course he could.

“Good. Find them, get them to sit still and wait for us. Do not harm any of them.” A soft, deadly order.

Rhys narrowed his gaze. He didn’t need to be told that. Somehow he bit back a sharp response. “I don’t think they’re going to go far. It’s clear all the farmers here are pretty tight.”

“I thought of that too,” Darius said, pulling his cell phone out again. “I’m gonna call all the locals in the area and tell them to contact me if she stops by.”

“They might not listen to you.” The people who lived out here might be part of King’s territory, but almost all of them lived away from the city, away from hordes of people. Because they liked the solitude, and if he had to guess, they liked making their own rules.

Another long sigh. “I know.”

Rhys stalked away and let the change come over him, magic and pain bursting together in a bright display of light as he shifted to his animal form. That was why he hadn’t bothered with clothing before—it would have shredded when the change happened. Without pause, he took to the skies, his wings flapping hard as he flew after the little dragon and two females.

The one that had smelled like heaven and called him a jackass was a witch. He’d known that before they’d arrived and was ashamed that he’d been ready to dislike her upon arrival. Which made him feel…petty and small and worse than the jackass she’d called him.

His dragon had immediately liked the look of her, and okay, he could admit that she was very attractive. Her eyes were a pale gray that had seemed to see straight to his soul. And her scent reminded him of moonlit nights and gentle spring air.

He inhaled deeply, following her distinctive scent and the sharp fear scent of the dragon as it zigzagged across the sky in random patterns.

The sun was setting as he trailed after them, and twenty minutes later he found himself back at the first farm they’d visited. It didn’t matter that it was now dark out, there were solar string lights stationed everywhere, lighting up the place for half a mile in each direction around the house and farm. Not that it mattered, because they were definitely hiding. He couldn’t see the dragon or females anywhere but he could smell them very clearly. Especially the witch.

Dallas. He liked the sound of her name.

Find Dallas, his beast rumbled. And don’t be rude.

Landing in the middle of the field, he shifted back to his human form, then picked up his bag of clothing. If the females and young dragon ran away again, he’d deal with it, but he figured if he wanted to convince them to stay put, he needed to be dressed. Not walking around with his dick hanging out.

Once he’d pulled on his pants and shirt, he stalked across the grass toward a huge red and white barn. There were a multitude of scents here now, not just a dragon and Dallas. He scented the one called Naomi and the other one with dark, curly hair, Hazel. And…at least eight other individuals. He couldn’t sift through all of them so there might actually be more.

He couldn’t see any threat so he stalked straight to the barn. As he reached the set of doors, they slid open and Naomi and Dallas stepped out.

“What are you doing here?” the petite Naomi asked, her eyes narrowed. This was her land so it made sense she was out here demanding answers.

His gaze flicked to Dallas and he found he couldn’t tear it away from her. She watched him warily, her hands balled into fists at her side. “You can’t take my dragon!” she suddenly shouted.

Naomi winced and rubbed her temples with her hands. “Dallas, you’ve got to chill for a minute.”

“She’s never hurt anybody!” the female with the long, dark hair shot through with strands of red shouted again as if her friend hadn’t said a thing. “She’s the sweetest thing ever. And you’re a monster if you hurt her!”

“I’m not going to hurt your pet,” he snapped out. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t going to hurt a little dragonling unprovoked. Not even if King ordered him to.

The witch’s shoulders seemed to ease a little bit as she watched him. “Swear it?” she demanded.

“I swear on the name of the Donnachaidh clan—my clan—that I will not hurt your dragon unless it attempts to hurt me or any other beings.”

She nodded once, the mistrust in her gaze easing back a little more. Not by much, but it was something. It was a little ironic that a witch was trusting him, when he’d all but loathed witches for ages.

“I’m pulling my phone out of my pocket,” he said, holding his hand out to make it clear he wasn’t reaching for a weapon. Not that he actually needed one, but he wanted her calm. “I have to call Darius and tell him where I am.”

He could hear murmuring inside the barn as well as the whining dragon when Dallas spoke again. “You think we’re going to wait around for him to get here?”

“Look, I can track you all night. Your dragon is not a very skilled flyer. She’s small and young. You’re not going to get far, which means the only thing you’re going to do is tire her and yourself out. And likely annoy King’s wolves. King wants to bring you in to talk to you about something—it’s part of the reason we were out here today visiting everyone.”

Her face paled at his words and for the first time in a very long time, guilt punched through him. He didn’t know this female. The only thing he knew was that she smelled liked heaven, cared for a dragon and…was a witch.

“He’s not going to hurt your dragon,” he continued. Inside, his own dragon agreed. King was a fair Alpha. Young, but fair.

“You can’t know that.”

“Fine, I’m not going to let anyone hurt that damn dragon,” he snapped in exasperation. “King simply wants to see you.”

“About what?”

“I don’t actually know. I’m not part of King’s pack.”

“Then you can get off my property right now,” Naomi said, stepping forward. “You have no right to be here if you’re not part of his pack.”

That was…actually true. Damn it. He shouldn’t have said anything. Since he had already texted Darius, he shoved his phone back in his pocket and held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Why don’t you just take this up with King’s wolves when they get here? I might not be part of his pack, but I’m here under his orders.”

Naomi bit her bottom lip and looked at Dallas, who appeared just as worried.

Every farmer they’d met today had been a shifter of the peaceful variety. He was pretty sure Naomi was a deer shifter. He wasn’t sure what Hazel was, but she’d seemed so peaceful that he wouldn’t be surprised if she was something along the same lines as Naomi.

“Okay, fine. I’ll go with you, but I’m not bringing Willow,” Dallas said.

“That’s not my choice.” Frustrated, Rhys rubbed his hands over his face and stepped back. That wasn’t his call to make and he didn’t even want to be here—didn’t want to be tangled up with a bunch of random farmers and a random witch who made him uncomfortable. He wanted to be out hunting down Catta.

Just then the barn doors opened and a dozen people strode out, mostly females. But there were two male children as well. None of them looked happy as they watched him with mistrustful gazes.

“You big bully, you think you can come and take our sweet Willow,” one of the females he didn’t know accused. She had to be pushing sixty and was definitely human. Her white curls bounced wildly as she strode forward. “You listen to me—”

“Listen, ladies, calm down—” The second the words “calm down” were out, he knew that he’d made a huge mistake.

The tension in the air ratcheted up as they all continued to glare daggers at him.

“I mean… Dammit, can we just wait for King’s wolves to get here? No one will hurt the dragon,” he insisted for what felt like the tenth time.

Dallas turned away from him then and he felt the loss of her gray gaze on him as she looked back at Willow, who was cowering at the back of the barn, her wings covering her face.

Oh, hell. Poor thing really was scared. Not a vicious beast at all. He stepped forward slightly, only stopping when the other shifters seemed startled by his movement. “Dallas,” Rhys said quietly, even though they hadn’t been formally introduced.

Startled, she turned to look at him.

“I truly swear, on my honor as a dragon, that I will keep Willow safe,” he told her. He wasn’t sure why he wanted her to trust him. It didn’t make sense, but it was clear that she cared about the little beast. And it was hard not to like that.

She stared at him with those piercing gray eyes for a long moment and finally nodded as if she approved of what she saw.

He hadn’t felt very good about himself in a long time, but when she looked at him like that, as if she actually might trust him, he realized he didn’t want to let her down. Which was…disconcerting to say the least.

At that moment, he heard the gentle sound of the wolves’ paws against grass in the distance. They would be here soon.

Less than five minutes later, he was proved right when Darius and the other two strode out of the darkness, in human form and fully dressed. The wolves looked surprised to see all of the farmers outside the barn and glaring at them.

For a moment, as all the farmers stared at them with mistrust in their gazes, including Dallas, he was struck by the reality that he’d mistrusted all witches for so long. Even if he hadn’t known them. That was…not a good feeling. The mistrust that rolled off them right now scraped against his senses, making his dragon edgy.

“I’m sorry you felt the need to run from us,” Darius said as he approached Dallas.

“Are you really surprised? When four warrior males show up on my land and try to take my dragon away?”

He paused. “Fair enough. Look, King wants to talk to you about setting up some greenhouses, food plots and mini-forests in the city. He knows how talented you are with natural magic and basically growing things. He wants your help. The dragon surprised us, that’s all.”

“Willow. Her name is Willow,” she snapped, all fire and attitude.

“Ah, yes, Willow surprised us. You can bring her into the city with you. Nothing will happen to her and I swear she’ll be under King’s protection.”

Dallas looked over at Rhys then, eyebrows raised.

He nodded, and the fact that she actually trusted him felt strange. She didn’t even know his name.

“Okay,” she finally said. “But first I need to go talk with the others to make sure my goats and crops will be tended to. And I need to get my sprinklers set up so everything is watered.”

Hazel strode up then, a couple inches taller than Dallas, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry about anything. We’ll take care of everything. Just make sure you take your damn phone and I’ll keep you updated. Stay as long as you need.”

Dallas turned and gave Hazel a big hug. “Thank you.”

Rhys had the strange thought that he wished she was wrapping her arms around him.

“I guarantee if any of you hurt Dallas or Willow, you’re going to answer to all of us,” Hazel said matter-of-factly as she looked Darius in the eye. “You won’t like what happens if you screw up.”

Rhys blinked in surprise because it was clear that Hazel was a peaceful shifter. There were no waves of aggression rolling off her and she didn’t carry herself in the way apex predators did. But he could also see the electricity spark between her and Darius.

Darius cleared his throat, and there was almost a hint of amusement in the wolf’s gaze as he nodded in agreement—as if he didn’t take her seriously.

Rhys kind of figured that he should, because this whole group of pissed-off females could probably wreak havoc if they chose to. It didn’t matter if they were apex predators or not.

“I will bring your friend and dragon back in one piece, unharmed and happy,” Darius said quietly, watching Hazel with a whole lot of male interest.

Hazel sniffed once. “Good.”

“How long will I be in the city?” Dallas asked Darius.

A deep, completely uncivilized part of Rhys wanted to demand that she look at him, and only him. Which was ridiculous. But there it was. His libido had been dead for…as long as he could remember. But one sniff of this beautiful female—this witch—and something had awoken inside him. He didn’t like it at all.

“A week, maybe. But I can’t say for certain. We’ve got a place for you to stay, though we didn’t realize you had a pet,” Darius said, looking past her at the still cowering Willow, who was watching them with her wings lifted just enough to show her eyes. “She really is cute,” Darius murmured.

Dallas sniffed as if to say “duh.”

“How do you think she’ll do around a bunch of wolves?” Dallas asked, biting her bottom lip.

“She can stay with me,” Rhys said before Darius could answer.

They both turned to look at him then. He lifted a shoulder. “What? You know who I live with. Almost all females.” He was staying in a mansion owned by his oldest brother’s mate and a random group of shifters—avian shifters, a phoenix, a couple tigers, and a lazy male lion. It was a misfit crew to be sure, but he had a feeling Willow would be at ease with the females. They would probably fawn all over her and spoil her.

“We’ll talk more about it once we get back to the city,” Darius said instead of answering one way or the other. He turned back to Dallas. “First, let’s head back to your place so you can pack a bag and then we’ll head out. Will Willow be okay flying to the city?”

She nodded. “She’s a little wobbly but she can do long-distance fine.”

“Okay then, let’s go.”

Rhys scented the subtle pop of fear rolling off Dallas and he couldn’t blame her. She was going to be heading into the city with him, her treasured pet, and three other warrior males.

In that moment he vowed to make sure she felt secure during the trip as much as he could. His mistrust of witches might run deep, but right now she was a female who needed protection. And he would keep her and her dragon safe.