When his arm curved tighter around her, she savored the sensation of feeling safe and protected. Savored him. This male who she shouldn’t want because she knew there were no happy endings.
But that knowledge did nothing to douse her growing feelings for this ancient dragon who had awakened something inside her she didn’t even know existed.
Chapter 7
“I think my brothers are avoiding me,” Avery said as she and Mikael stepped into the foyer. It had been a long day and she was beyond exhausted. And she couldn’t find one of her favorite hair clips, a sparkly dark blue claw she liked to pull her hair back in after her shower. None of the males in the house had taken it, so she hadn’t bothered asking them. And it had nothing to do with her brothers at all except she was feeling annoyed right now.
“Why do you say that?” He locked the door behind them.
“I don’t know, they’re being weird.”
“So are my brothers. Maybe it is a younger sibling thing.”
She laughed lightly because both sets of their brothers had disappeared after work tonight, acting all cagey. If they wanted to go hook up with people…who cared? She just hoped they weren’t getting into trouble. “Hey, want to go out tonight? I’m tired but I could have a couple drinks and unwind.” For some reason she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts, didn’t want to think too much on…anything.
“Of course.”
“Okay, I want to shower first.” She was covered in a fine layer of dust.
He simply nodded and she hurried up the stairs.
She was so thankful that the city had running water and electricity. She might like getting all sweaty and putting in a hard, physical day’s work, but she absolutely loved running water, thank you very much.
She actually put on a little makeup that she hadn’t used in months—it wasn’t like she could go to the store and buy any more right now—and slipped on a dress that made her feel sexy, feminine. Not like the boss of over fifty men—mostly—who viewed her as one of the guys. Which was good, but still, she needed to feel feminine tonight. Needed to feel alive, sexy.
More than she’d realized until that moment as she put her mascara wand back into the tube. Because right now too many emotions swirled inside her, as riotous as a hurricane. She knew it had everything to do with her father showing up and the stupid feelings she ignored whenever she was around Mikael. Which was often now. Going out with him alone was probably stupid but she was feeling reckless enough not to care. And he was the sole reason she’d dressed up—put on makeup. Yeah, apparently she was vain enough to want to look nice for him. Ugh. What was wrong with her?
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Mikael appeared out of nowhere, as always, a freaking ghost. God, he looked so damn sexy in jeans and a gray T-shirt that molded to every delicious muscle. She bit back a groan. How was he so effortlessly sexy? His hair was still damp and she guaranteed he’d put absolutely no thought into what he was wearing. He’d just taken a shower and tossed on clothes and now looked like a walking, talking wet dream.
His eyes widened slightly when he saw her, that smoky gray sweeping over her from head to foot and then back up again.
“What?” She fought the heat spreading across her cheeks. “It’s not that cold out.” The weather was in the weird in-between stage where it got chilly-ish at night but into the eighties in the day. And screw it, she didn’t care if it was chilly out, she was showing some leg tonight, hence the blue summer dress with light gray polka dots. It pulled in at her waist, had little flutter sleeves, and while it had give in the material, it hugged the rest of her as well. She loved the way it made her feel.
He made a sort of coughing sound, his eyes pinned to hers. “You look…stunning.”
“Oh,” she murmured. She cleared her throat again as butterflies danced inside her. “Thank you.” The dress was definitely better than her jeans and flannel work shirts. “I don’t really have a chance to dress up anymore, obviously, so I figured why not tonight.” She was such a liar! She’d dressed up for him and now that he’d noticed…what did she even want to happen?
He made a sort of rumbling sound as he opened the door. He stepped outside in front of her, something she’d discovered shifters simply did out of habit. Especially those of the warrior class; they entered rooms before anyone they saw as more fragile than themselves. And Mikael was so overprotective of her and her brothers. He always went into any room first to ascertain danger. Not that she was expecting any on her front porch. But she appreciated the thought. He had this way of making her feel so damn safe and protected all the time.
Inhaling, she savored the fresh air as they stepped outside, could smell just a hint of rain on the air and was glad for it. Even if it might slow down their job a couple days, they needed the rain. “Riel texted me that he’s going to be late tonight. I think he’s hanging out with Axel, something I’m not so sure about.”
Mikael’s gaze skimmed over her again before he scanned the neighborhood in that intense way of his. When he looked at her like that, his expression so damn unreadable, she had no idea what to make of it. “The lion is no good, I told you.”
She nudged him with her hip as they headed down the sidewalk. They hadn’t discussed where they were going, but there was a local bar close enough to walk to. They rarely drove anywhere anymore; living and working within a small radius made the most sense for everyone. At least in New Orleans. She hadn’t heard much about what was going on in the rest of the world except for a few cities. The news and internet were spotty here—everywhere, she’d heard—and they didn’t get things as quickly as they had before. She knew that King was in touch with Alphas all over the world, and really, she was trying not to worry about any of that since their territory was functioning.
“I don’t understand why you and Axel don’t get along. He’s so sweet, if a little mischievous.”
Mikael mumbled something under his breath, his face doing that cute scrunchy thing he did if anyone even brought up “the lion.”
Which she could admit she liked. Because she liked everything about the sexy male. Tall, dark and brooding. That was Mikael. His eyes were what had first drawn her in. The smoky gray was mesmerizing—and so were his broad shoulders and ripped body. She’d seen him without a shirt on a couple times since they lived together and holy hell, the gods had been created after him, no doubt.
“Have you heard from your…ah, sperm donor?” he asked cautiously as they reached a four-way stop.
Under other circumstances she might have giggled at him using the term sperm donor. It sounded strange coming from him, especially when he often spoke semiformally. “No. He doesn’t have my cell phone number anyway. I don’t actually know how he found out where I live, though I imagine it’s not that hard.”
“If you need me to do anything about him, just let me know.”
“Well you’re not going to kill him, if that’s what you’re saying.” They’d never really discussed what he’d said last night about killing her father, and there was so much about Mikael and his brothers she didn’t know.