“And Terrowin?” Draven asked, his eyes full of dread. Gunner knew that his oldest brother Terrowin was the one to really worry about.

  “Terrowin seems to have the gift of invincibility,” she said. “His scales and skin are as hard as his heart.”

  “That’s pretty damn hard,” Draven said, shaking his head.

  “You have no idea,” she said, turning even paler than she already was. She leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper as if she didn’t want the words to escape the room. “It’s worse than you can imagine. All four have locked their mates in cells.”

  Draven’s face dropped. A shifter had to be mad to deliberately harm their mates.

  “Why?” Draven asked, looking horrified.

  “They don’t want to lose their powers,” Aleida explained. “So they’ve locked their women away forever.”

  Gunner knew that the mates of dragon shifters also gained power once they bonded to their true loves. The power of the dragon’s core extended to them as well, making them immortal. They could still be killed by physical harm, but they stopped aging the second they bonded and would never die from natural causes. If a dragon shifter’s mate did die by accident, the dragon’s core would extinguish and they would lose all of their powers.

  Draven watched her for a long while before he opened his mouth again. “So, why are you here, Aleida?”

  Gunner leaned in closely to hear the answer. He had been asking her that but she had refused to tell him.

  “I came looking for it,” she said.

  Draven laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Your mother was serious when she prophesied it,” Aleida said.

  “My mother was dying when she prophesied it,” Draven corrected as he shook his head. “The feverish words of a dying old woman.”

  “What other option do we have, Dravenous?” Aleida asked.

  Gunner couldn’t help himself. “Prophesied what?”

  Draven took another drink as Aleida turned to him. “Caliburnus,” she said. “Place it in the hands of the one true Dragon King and he will be unstoppable.”

  “Caliburnus?” Axel said, tilting his head. “The heavy metal band? I love those guys!”

  “Not the heavy metal band,” Draven said as he stared at the empty glass in his hand. “Remember when I told you guys that my father was King Artorius, or better known as King Arthur?”

  Gunner nodded. Draven’s family was so old that his father became the legend of King Arthur in literature.

  “Well,” Draven continued. “Caliburnus is better known as Excalibur.”

  Axel, Jax, and Zane burst out laughing, but Gunner didn’t. He could see that Aleida was not joking about this.

  “The sword?” Jax said, barely able to contain himself. “You have a magical sword?”

  Axel was crying with laughter. “What’s in that Whiskey?” he asked as he wiped his wet eyes. “Magical fairy dust?”

  Aleida squeezed the glass in her hand and threw it onto the floor, shattering it in pieces. The laughter stopped and the fists came up as she sprang to her feet.

  “It’s not funny!” she shouted. “It won’t be funny when these people are tearing each other apart in the streets over the last can of food! You’re the firstborn son of King Artorius, for God’s sake, and you’re hiding here with these sheep!”

  Gunner’s heart broke to see her so upset. He wanted to take her in his arms and make all of her pain go away.

  “What can I do?” Draven shouted, pulling his hair in frustration. “Almost five hundred years and I’m still not mated. I don’t have their kind of power!”

  Aleida’s breathing slowed as she watched her brother. “That is why we must find it.”

  Draven let out a breath and shook his head. “Fairy tales,” he whispered.

  She opened her arms, showing her palms. “Do we have any other choice?”

  “Yeah,” Draven muttered. “We do.”

  He grabbed the bottle of Whiskey and headed for the door. “I need some fresh air. Aleida, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like.” He stopped and turned before stepping outside. “As long as you don’t try to kill me again.”

  She glanced at Gunner with soft eyes before following her brother to the door. Gunner didn’t want to let her out of his sight. Not for fear of what she would do, but he was worried she would leave and he would never see her again.

  Axel bumped his shoulder into Gunner’s chest as he walked by. “Hey,” the polar bear shifter whispered. “Did you get laid on your date?”

  Just the horrifying thought of that made Gunner shudder. “No.”

  Axel was grinning widely. “I got laid on mine.”

  “We know,” Zane said with a roll of his eyes. “You told us.”

  “Ten times already,” Jax added.

  “Well, here’s an eleventh,” Axel said with a smirk on his face. “I. Got. Fucked.”

  Aleida chuckled as she arrived at the door, turning to look at Axel. She had heard every word. “Good to see the true Dragon King has surrounded himself with the brightest and smartest of people,” she said sarcastically.

  Axel nodded his head. “Thank you,” he answered, smiling proudly. “That’s the first sane thing you’ve said since you’ve arrived.”

  She just laughed as she stepped outside. “You’re such an idiot,” Gunner muttered to him as he hurried after her.

  “An idiot that got laid on his date,” Axel shouted after him.

  Her pale skin and bright hair looked even more beautiful in the soft light of the moon, and Gunner had to summon up all the courage he had just to speak to her.

  “Aleida,” he called out. She turned and he nearly took a step back as his chest tightened.

  “Yes?” she asked when he just stood there staring.

  “I’ll help you.”

  She smiled. “This game is for dragons. I don’t want your little pussycat to get burned.”

  Gunner grinned at her playful tone. “How’s your wing?”

  “That little scratch?” she asked with a slow smile. “You’re going to need more than a nibble to fight off a mated dragon.”

  “Whatever you need me for, I’m here,” he said. And he meant it. If she was going to be in danger, he wanted to be by her side.

  She looked like she was about to make another playful comment but then stopped when she saw the seriousness on his face. “Thanks, Gunner. I might just take you up on that.”

  Gunner grinned as she walked away.

  I hope you do.

  Chapter 4

  Aleida

  “I still don’t understand why you’re here,” Dravenous said.

  Aleida sighed as she looked up at the blanket of stars. They were sitting outside of the firehouse on the gorgeous night. She had been all over the world, but there was just something about Montana that spoke to her. She understood why Dravenous had chosen to live here for all of these years. The rugged terrain, the natural beauty, the spark in the air. It was perfect for a shifter. She could even see herself living here one day. That’s if she survived what was about to come.

  “Do you think that little of me, brother?” she asked.

  Dravenous just looked at her and then looked away without saying a word. I guess that answers that.

  “I’ve changed,” she said. “As I’m sure you have too.” She looked down at the fire truck below and then back to him. “Actually, I know you have. When you fled you were the heir to the greatest throne in the world, and now you’re a fireman in a small town.”

  “Fire chief,” he corrected with a grin.

  “Excuse me,” she said with a shake of her head. “Fire chief.”

  “You’ve changed, I’ve changed, the whole world has changed,” Dravenous said. “There’s no need for kings and kingdoms anymore if you haven’t noticed. That way of life is so outdated.”

  “That’s why our brothers are so intent on bringing it back,” she said, trying to make him see. “Look at these people. What are they going to do when the power shuts off? What are they going to do when the grocery stores are empty and the gas stations run dry? It’s going to be utter chaos, and Jarin, Berinon, Valerius, and Terrowin will rise up and devour them in flames. They’re going to bring hell on earth.”

  “Four mated dragons,” he said, staring at her with a blank face. “Against us. What do you expect me to do about it?”

  “If we can find Caliburnus—”

  “Enough with that,” he said, raising his hand to cut her off. “That’s fairy tale shit. Kid’s stuff. Next, you’re going to be suggesting we ride on unicorns to get there.”

  Aleida rubbed the back of her neck as she looked up at the sky. “Maybe you’re right,” she said as a tightness settled in her chest. “But I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Neither do I, but chasing fairy tales isn’t the answer.”

  They sat there for a long time in silence before Dravenous stood up. “We can figure it out in the morning. You can stay here for the night. Take my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  “Gunner offered me his bed,” she lied, trying to hide her grin. “He would love to sleep on the couch.”

  Dravenous looked at her funny for a second and then shrugged. “Whatever. We’ll talk again in the morning.”

  She could have offered to sleep on the couch, but there was just something irresistible about sleeping in Gunner’s bed surrounded by his rugged masculine scent.

  “Oh,” she gasped as she squeezed her legs closed. She was getting warm and wet just thinking about it.

  Whatever you need me for, I’m here, he had said. Aleida wondered what exactly that entailed. Whatever you need me for.

  I might need him for more than just fighting after I sleep in his bed.

  She grinned wickedly to herself as she stood up and strutted back inside. The boys had gone upstairs for the night after they cleaned up the mess she made. Gunner was still in the kitchen. Still shirtless. Still looking sexy as sin.

  “Dravenous offered me your bed,” she said, quickly licking her lips as she approached.

  His back straightened as he pushed his massive chest out. “I was going to offer the same thing.”

  “It’s not full of cat hair, is it?” she asked with a smirk.

  He smiled back. “Just hairballs.”

  She gave him a sexy smirk as she strutted up to him. “Balls I can handle,” she whispered in his ear as she dragged a fingertip down his hard abs.

  A low groan rumbled up from his naked chest as she continued to the stairs. She smiled to herself as she walked up, swaying her hips with every step.

  Aleida could feel his eyes burning into her. It felt good.

  Aleida couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t from the stress of what her brothers were up to. It wasn’t from seeing Dravenous after all these years. It wasn’t from the fear of what was to come.

  It was from the need and want and desire of being in Gunner’s bed.

  She was surrounded by his erotic scent and it was driving her crazy. The thought of his big muscular body laying in these sheets was making her body tingle. She wondered if he slept naked and if his long thick cock was on these sheets that were currently touching her skin.

  Her clit was aching with need. Her sex was on fire as she fantasized him walking in and taking her on his bed.

  “Oh, fuck,” she moaned as she slid her hand down her stomach to give herself some relief.

  A warm shiver rippled through her when her fingertip touched her clit, and she began rubbing it in tight little circles, imagining that it was Gunner’s hand instead.

  It wasn’t long before her back was arched and spots were dancing in her vision as an orgasm slammed into her.

  She opened her heavy eyes, staring at the ceiling as she caught her breath, smiling to herself at what she’d done. The thick scent of her arousal was all over his sheets and she couldn’t stop grinning as she thought how it would drive Gunner and his cat crazy when he smelled it.

  She would get his pussy as hot and bothered as he got hers.

  Aleida hadn’t slept that well in a long time. The sun was already up when she pulled herself out of bed. She was about to put on her clothes from last night when she saw one of Gunner’s t-shirts laying on his dresser.

  She put it to her nose and inhaled his scent before opening it up. Guns and Roses. Don’t mind if I do.

  The shirt draped down her legs to just above her knees, and with her boyshorts underwear on she went downstairs to where the boys were already up.

  Her curly red hair was always so wild in the morning so she just fluffed it up with her hand, not even trying to tame it.

  Axel was cooking breakfast at the stove and the smell of bacon was making Aleida’s mouth water. Dravenous wasn’t there but the rest of the guys were sitting at the table chowing down on the food, all except Gunner who was staring at her with an open mouth as she walked down the stairs.

  The desire was thick in his eyes. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.

  “Good morning,” Aleida said as she strutted over to the coffee pot and helped herself to a cup. She glanced at the dark glass of the microwave and smiled when she saw Gunner still openly gawking at her.

  “Bacon?” the polar bear shifter at the stove asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” she said as she took a sip of the hot coffee. “Burnt to a crisp.”

  “You dragons,” Axel said with a laugh as he shook his head.

  “What’s on the calendar today?” she asked as she walked over to the table. “Do you guys just sit around and jerk each other off until the alarm rings?”

  Jax and Axel laughed.

  “Why, are you going to join in?” Jax asked with a grin.

  A low possessive growl rumbled out of Gunner’s throat as the lion shifter glared at him.

  “Calm that pussy down,” Aleida said, smirking at the flustered hottie. “Nobody is jerking anything.”

  “Who wants to get jerked off?” an old gravelly voice called out from the door.

  They all turned their heads to the front door as an old wrinkly woman in a red dress came shuffling in. Her blonde wig was shifted to the side and her lipstick was smeared up her cheek like she just made out with a ditch. She was scratching her crotch as she yawned.

  “Oh, no,” Gunner muttered as he dropped his head. “I forgot all about her.”

  The decrepit woman exploded into a coarse coughing fit as she reached into her ancient purse and pulled out a pack of slim cigarettes.

  “There’s no smoking in here,” Zane said as she put a cigarette to her wrinkled lips.

  “Let me smoke this and I’ll smoke your pole after,” she said, lighting up anyway.

  Jax and Axel burst out laughing as Zane’s cheeks turned red.

  Aleida watched in amusement as she walked behind Gunner and slid her hands into his blonde hair. His cringing face looked like he had a nest of spiders crawling up his back.

  “Did we fuck last night?” she asked in a hoarse voice. “I can’t remember.”

  “You sure did,” Jax answered before Gunner could. “You guys kept the whole street up.”

  “Did we use protection?” she asked, looking worried. “I don’t want to get pregnant.”

  The boys exploded into a fit of laughs. Aleida couldn’t help but join in.

  “You’re going to make a wonderful father, Gunner,” she said, teasing him.

  He just glared back at her.

  “Coffee?” Axel asked the woman.

  She grunted out a yes.

  “How do you take it?”

  “With bourbon.”

  Axel poured her a cup, added some whiskey, and handed it to her. The ash from her cigarette fell in, but she took a sip of it anyway. “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Phyllis,” she said, “but the guys at the bowling alley call me Sy-Phyllis.”

  Gunner’s body shuddered again.

  Aleida loved how uncomfortable Gunner looked. It was time to play with him a little bit.

  “So, this is your girlfriend, Gunner?” she said, grinning at him.

  “No,” the woman said, shaking her head, which made her wig shift even further out of place. “I don’t want to get tied down. This was strictly business. I paid two thousand dollars for his cock.”

  “Really?” Aleida said, her eyes widening as she looked at Gunner squirm. “So you’re a prostitute as well as a firefighter. Interesting…”

  She wondered how much his services cost. She would have happily paid for them last night.

  “No,” he said, quickly shaking his head. “We had a charity auction, and Phyllis was the one who bid the highest for me.”

  “Does my two thousand dollars include a morning screw?” Phyllis asked, leering at Gunner as he shifted in his seat.

  “It sure does!” Zane said.

  “Great,” Phyllis said, looking around. “Where’s the bathroom? I want to wash my crotch in the sink.”

  Aleida laughed as Gunner gagged, looking like he was about to throw up his breakfast.

  “It’s next door in the muffin shop,” Gunner said, pointing to the door. “Tell Gwen that Zane sent you.”

  Zane leapt out of his seat and followed the old woman out in a panic.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Aleida said, watching the lion shifter from across the table. She was almost a little bit jealous.

  “Interesting is not the word I’d use,” Gunner muttered. “Horrifying is more like it.”

  “There you go, my lady,” Axel said as he placed a heaping plate food in front of her. Scrambled eggs, burnt toast, black crispy bacon, and a sausage that looked as fried as a charcoal briquette. Her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled.

  “I think I’m going to like it here,” she said as she dug in. She glanced up at Gunner who was watching her closely.

  Yup. I think I’m really going to like it here.

  Chapter 5

  Gunner

  “Remember the rules,” Gunner warned his date as he helped her climb into the backseat of the pickup truck. “Or I’ll put you in the cargo bed.”

 

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