Platinum (Date-A-Dragon Book 3) Read online

  “But did you say you would stay with her? Did you make any sign of commitment?”

  “Uh.” Sever thought back. Wasn’t it obvious? Why else would he make love to her, tell her to trust him? He hadn’t been able to say it all out loud because he didn’t want to scare her, but shouldn’t she know from his actions that he wanted to be with her?

  “Because we humans, we don’t know about mating like you do. We’re used to men trying to take advantage and run off on us. If you don’t tell us it’s going to be different—”

  His heart fell like a dead bird out of the sky. “She thinks I’m a cad. A scoundrel. A bounder, a—”

  “She probably thinks you just want to leave and go home and want her out of the way so she’s safe.”

  “Why is that a bad thing?” he asked. “I don’t get why she’s mad that I want her to be safe!”

  “Because women don’t want to only be safe! They also want to be with those who love them!” Ella snapped.

  “Why didn’t she say that, then?”

  “Lower your voice with my mate,” Dante cut in sharply. “And it’s not your mate’s job to fix everything. It’s yours. You know everything in the situation. You know you’re a dragon. You know you can never leave her. That your heart is entwined with hers. If she is the right woman, then she should accept all of that and love you as you love her. Stop being afraid, dammit, and go after what you want. Make her yours.”

  Sever froze, hand on the phone, staring off in the distance as he realized the truth of Dante’s words.

  He was scared. He had been from the moment he saw her, when his heart beat the first time for his mate.

  He was so used to losing everything that he was afraid to put it all out on the table. Afraid to get rejected, because she was his only chance at happiness, and if he failed…

  Perhaps him talking about moving had been an unfair test of her feelings. Perhaps he’d hoped she would say, “Yes, I’d move anywhere, Sever, as long as I’m with you.”

  But she was afraid, too. She didn’t know he was in love with her. She didn’t know how deep his love went, all the way down to his dragon, past his scales and into his core.

  She was his forever, and if she didn’t take it well when he told her, then he would deal with it.

  As long as it took, until she got it.

  “And Sever?” Ella asked.

  “Yes?” he replied, snapping himself back to attention.

  “We women, we like it when big, handsome men want to be with us.”

  “Hey,” Dante cut in. “I’m the only big, handsome man you can—”

  “She’s not going to turn you down. If anything, this is a fantasy that we want to believe.” Ella continued. “That someone can truly love us. When we accept that, whether he’s a dragon is beside the point. She can love even your scales.”

  Sever swallowed. “I hope you’re right. Because I don’t have any choice but to go to her.”

  “Go to her, then,” Ella said. “And let us know how it goes.”

  “And if you do leave Cate’s Creek, don’t be a stranger,” Dante added.

  Sever nodded. He’d been afraid for too long. Afraid to bond with his friends, afraid to live this new life, afraid of rejection. All of that ended now. He said his good-byes and hung up, but just as he turned around and was about to walk back to the house, he saw the back door fling open and Lori come running out.

  As her curls trailed behind her, he froze. He’d never seen her panicked like this. He ran forward and caught her in his arms, listening to what she was trying to say between harsh breaths.

  “Taylor… he’s… gone,” she choked out. “His window was open. Have you seen him?” Her hazel eyes were wide and desperate.

  Sever cursed himself for screwing everything up. “I was facing the other way, on the phone.” He held her arms. “Lori, I’m sorry. What I said before—”

  “Not now,” she said desperately. “We have to find Taylor. We have to—”

  He took her by the hand and ran back to the house with her, going as quickly as he could. When they reached the house, he ran inside and up the steps, pulse tripping as he realized the gravity of the situation.

  Taylor was gone.

  The room was empty. There was an odd scent in it he couldn’t place, and then his eyes narrowed as he noticed a small wisp of something on the windowsill.

  He walked forward and pulled up a small tuft of fur caught in the edge. “I know who has taken him.”

  “What do you mean?” Lori asked, sitting on the bed, trying to catch her breath. “I thought he ran away.”

  She was panicking, pale, sweating. He knelt in front her, trying to think of what to say, how to do this without scaring her.

  So many things were running through his mind. So many things she needed to know, yet the last thing he wanted was to give her a heart attack.

  But there was one thing more important than anything else. One thing she should know first, and then they could deal with the rest.

  “Lori,” he said, taking her hand. “I know things went wrong this morning, and that I screwed things up. But I want you to know right now, I have no intention of ever letting you go. You’re mine. If you move, I go with you. If you stay, I stay here. You and me? We’re locked forever. If you tell me no, I will fight. I’m not giving up. You’re stuck with me.” The words got easier as he said them, and he knew they were right. Her eyes were surprisingly patient, though he knew she was surprised.

  “I don’t understand. Just this morning, I—”

  “I know. I fucked up. I was scared. I wanted to know if you’d come with me if I asked you to. I was afraid of rejection. The truth is my heart has been set on you from the moment I saw you, and I would have told you, but I thought you would push me away.”

  “How is that possible?” she asked. “That soon? I—”

  “I know it doesn’t make sense to you. You’re human, and I’m… something else. But these guys who took Taylor are something else, too. My guess is they are trying to get to you. Threaten you. I went out the other night. I snuck out to go track John and Jud. I found out some things about them. I’ve been trying to decide what to do about it ever since.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’re shifters.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Like… shape-shifters. Like werewolves, I guess you could say. But not wolves. These ones are cats. Bobcats or something.”

  “Seriously? This is what you’re saying now?” She leaned back on the bed, shaking her head. “I just… Why are you doing this? Don’t you see there are bigger things—”

  “No, this is the biggest thing,” he said. “You and me. You knowing about me. Because if I’m going to go take on the guys who have Taylor, I need you to accept me. Because I’m a shifter, too, but not like these guys. And this ring keeps my powers bound.” He held up his hand. “And the only one who can remove it is the woman who agrees to be mine.”

  “Yours?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  “Forever,” he said. “So think if you can do it. Really listen to your heart. Because I know what mine has been saying, almost from the moment I met you. No, even when I read your letters. And maybe, if you listen deep down, yours is saying the same.”

  “But we barely know each other, and we—”

  He put a hand to her heart. “Just listen.”

  She closed her eyes and seemed to do just that, and when she opened them, her gaze was clear and meaningful. “It just makes no sense, though.”

  “It doesn’t have to make sense,” he said quietly. “There are a million terrible things in the world that don’t make sense. Can’t there be one or two wonderful things that don’t make sense as well?”

  She smiled slowly. “I guess so.” She looked down at his hand. “We’ll have to talk more about this later, but for now, I just take off this ring?”

  He nodded. “Yes, but it’s permanent. So be sure you want me.”

  “I wan
ted you from the moment I met you,” she said. Then she leaned in and kissed him and at the same time removed the ring from his finger. Her lips tasted salty, like tears, and he hated that he’d probably been the reason.

  She pulled back and held the ring out, but he pushed it back toward her.

  “You hold on to it. If you trust me, then you can put it on.”

  She slid it on her finger, looking at him bravely. “I trust you.”

  “Okay, now let’s go rescue Taylor,” he said, grabbing her hand and heading for the window. He jumped through it and landed on the ground with a thud and then held up his arms toward her. “Jump.”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she muttered.

  “Come on,” he said. “I’ll catch you.”

  She took a deep breath and then crawled through the window and let go to fall into his arms. He caught her against his chest, crushing her tight before setting her down so they could run to the truck.

  As he started it and took off down the road, he saw her watching him skeptically.

  “Wait, you said the Cleavers are cats. What are you?”

  He smiled at her and gave her a wink. “Well, you know. Date-A-Dragon.”

  She gaped at him, and he just laughed. She’d see soon enough.

  Chapter 16

  As they drove, Lori still felt like she was in a daze. Like nothing was real.

  But when he’d asked her to take off his ring, she’d known it was the right thing to do. And just as she’d known what to do when she’d gotten the call about Matt’s death and gone to find Taylor, she would just have to take a leap of faith and try to work out the rest as best as she could.

  But looking at Sever, his jaw set, his expression grim with determination as they hurtled down the road in his truck, she was sure things were going to work out this time.

  It was easy to tell when he was lying, and when he’d been kneeling in front of her, holding his hand, she’d known he meant every word of what he said.

  He loved her. He wanted her.

  And after they found Taylor they could work the rest of it out. After all, what else was a lifetime for?

  In a surprisingly short amount of time they reached the edge of the Cleaver’s homestead, marked by a dilapidated wood fence and a rusty signing warning “Private Property: Trespassers Will Be Shot”.

  Ominous.

  Sever slowed slightly, then drove until they reached the edge of a large clearing dotted with old trees with a semicircle of houses surrounding a central point. All of them looked old, and a small handful of people milled about, not seeming too interested in anything at the moment.

  Sever quickly and quietly hopped out, came to her side of the truck, and helped her down. Holding her by the hand, he led her behind a gigantic oak with gnarled branches.

  “Stay here. No matter what you see, just trust me.”

  She wanted to protest. Taylor was her family. Her responsibility. But if what Sever had said earlier was true, then she really had no idea what she was dealing with. But did he?

  “I promise.”

  “I’m going to go get Taylor back. I love you.” He turned away before she could answer him, striding toward the center of the clearing, where two men were standing, conversing about something next to a large fire pit, but she couldn’t make out much more than that at this distance.

  “Where is he!” Sever barked out, his voice booming through the wide space. He was standing at his full height, and even from behind he was an intimidating sight to see.

  “Where’s who?” She heard one man reply. It sounded like John, from before. She’d know that drawl anywhere.

  “Hey, he’s not supposed to be here,” Jud said, alarmed.

  “Taylor, where did you take him?” Sever responded angrily.

  By now a handful of people were starting to gather around them, as more started to appear from the doorways of the rickety cabins.

  And judging by the looks on their faces, outsiders were not at all welcome.

  Not surprising, given the reception she and Taylor had received.

  “What, that little stray? Hopefully he got the right idea and ran for it like his old man did way back when,” John replied.

  Jud just giggled maniacally, muttering something unintelligible.

  “If you don’t tell me what you’ve done with him, you’re going to regret it,” Sever practically growled, a deep animal-like sound that sent a tiny shiver up Lori’s spine.

  She’d seen him be ferocious before. But there was something different in the raw power that emanated from him now.

  But whatever secrets the Cleavers had, they seemed determined to keep them to themselves.

  “Yeah, I’d like to see you try to do something,” Jud said sarcastically.

  At that Sever’s arm wound back, then rocketed into Jud’s face, sending him reeling backward like a rag doll, the impact of the punch so loud she could practically feel it from where she stood sequestered behind the tree.

  Jud rolled along the ground for a second, kicking up dust as he went, until finally stopping at the foot of a rotting staircase. In shock, everyone gaped for a moment, then turned back to the interloper, rage in their eyes.

  “You’re not going to get away with that,” John snarled as the small crowd inched toward an unflinching Sever.

  Then with a loud cry, the shape of John began to change, his arms lengthening and his head enlarging, with fur growing everywhere until he was no longer a man but instead a huge bobcat, several times larger than any real one she’d seen before at a zoo or on TV.

  Holy shit. Giant cats. In real life.

  Sever hadn’t been joking. This was real. Or was it? No, it had to be. She was watching it with her own two eyes.

  Then a bright flash sent a wave of blinding light through the clearing, and when her blurry vision cleared, she saw a gigantic, metal hammer in Sever’s hands, ornate and glimmering shades of silver and deep platinum. And on his back, similarly metallic, were two wings, spread wide and glorious.

  Dragon wings.

  Power flowed through Sever like water from a broken dam, mixing with his rage and protectiveness all at once. It didn’t matter that the Cleavers pretended to not know about Taylor. He’d seen the evidence of their perfidy, and he was going to tear apart every one of these houses if he had to in order to find what he was looking for.

  Granted he wasn’t going to kill the cats, even though as a dragon he very well could. No, he would do what he came here to do, then take the two people he loved far away from the freakish place to somewhere safe.

  With a hiss John charged, leaping through the air like a tiger pouncing on its prey. But giant cat or not, Sever had fought far worse, and with ease he hefted his hammer with both hands, swinging it and catching the cat in the side. The impact sent him flying into a nearby tree, but that only seemed to make everyone else angrier.

  In an instant, several others shifted, leaping at Sever. With a loud whoosh his wings propelled him into the air, as the bewildered cats caught nothing but the dust left behind on the earth where he stood a split-second earlier.

  With a quick glance he saw Lori, still safe behind the tree, watching him.

  Safe. That was all that mattered now.

  Quickly, Sever went back on the attack, diving down at the cats and batting them away a swing of his hammer. Several dodged, but those that didn’t were sent flinging toward nearby trees and houses.

  But the more he seemed to knock down, the more there seemed to be, as the humans that stood nearby began to shift and join in the chase, cursing and charging in a frenzy of claws and fur hell-bent on his demise.

  Apparently Citrine had been very right about cat groups being very insular, and very territorial.

  But when it came to Lori and Taylor, Sever could be territorial, too.

  He landed, swinging wide and catching two cats with one blow. But a third surprised him, it’s claws biting down hard on the handle of his hammer, long teeth bared white in the lat
e-morning sun. He grunted and wrestled the cat to the ground, and it growled angrily right before he punched it dead center of its face, knocking it away and freeing his weapon from its grip.

  Sever made for the sky once more, but felt everything turn upside down as a large paw knocked him from behind, sending him tumbling back to the earth before he could catch his balance.

  With a thump, he hit the packed earth beneath him hard. But he didn’t even feel it, between the adrenaline surging through him and his dragon skin protecting him.

  “Ha ha ha, try that again and you’ll lose one of those pretty wings of yours,” Sever heard John’s voice behind him.

  Sever whirled around to see the biggest cat of all of them, presumably John, his coat a mixture of light brown and sandy blond fur, his murky blue eyes the same as before, marching slowly toward him ominously.

  But Sever had made it past avalanches, rival dragons, and even time itself to find his new family, to find his mate. A few pissy cats weren’t going to stop him.

  He gripped his hammer, debating whether he should shift or not. The last thing he wanted to do was lose control and burn everything to the ground. Even if he did it protecting his family, he knew a woman with Lori’s kind heart would not approve of murder.

  “I don’t think I know what I’m going to enjoy more. Eating you, whatever the fuck you are, or getting a taste of that lady of yours once you’re dead,” John said.

  But just as Sever raised his hammer to smash the dumb cat’s face in, he was interrupted by a loud roar, followed by a blur of motion from the side that shot out from the bushes directly at John. John was caught even more off guard, and claws and fangs glinted in the sun as Sever made out the shape of a large lion cub, only barely beginning to grow a shaggy brown mane, clashing with a now-enraged John.

  He glared at the shape for a moment, trying to figure out what was vaguely familiar about it.

  Holy shit. Taylor was a lion.

  As shocking as the revelation was, it explained a lot. The Cleaver’s territoriality toward the supposed intruder. They wouldn’t want another cat on their turf. The fur on the windowsill. After Sever and Lori’s argument, Taylor’s anger must have made him shift. And without the aforementioned knowledge, Taylor must have run away.