He sensed his dragon about ready to speak up, so he hurriedly said to Tasha, “Joking around won’t change anything. You need to close the bar for a little while, period.”
She raised her brows. “So they can target me at home? Hiding away won’t help me, if they’re truly determined.”
The human was right. However, there was one place the League members would never set foot—Clan StoneRiver. For all their talk about hating dragons and wanting to get rid of them, they were cowards when it truly came down to it. Visiting dragon clans wasn’t part of their usual actions. Especially with ADDA monitoring the clans more than before.
Not that he was going to suggest for Tasha to come live on his clan, though. No, he’d make sure her house was safe and then set up a constant watch. That might be a solution the human could live with.
As she continued to stare at him, clearly waiting for an answer, Brad motioned toward the back door. “Then let me make sure you get home safe, at least. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”
“This isn’t your bar, Brad. And it’s not your decision to make.”
Maybe he should be nicer to Tasha, given everything that had happened, but even if he had no intention of claiming his true mate, he’d sure as hell protect her. Which meant being truthful. “I know this is your place, Tasha. But you hired me to be security, and I’m not going to push aside my duty because you don’t like how I do my job.”
As she studied him, he wondered if he’d have to lay out even more facts to get her out the door. But she finally sighed and headed toward the back area. “Fine, I’ll go home for now. If you weren’t so damn good at your job, I’d be tempted to fire you.”
He grunted in response as his inner dragon spoke up again. She has noticed us. That’s good, very good. Maybe with time, you’ll tell her the truth.
Not ready to rehash the same argument, he ignored his beast and instead ensured the coast was clear to see Tasha out.
Just as they reached her car parked behind the building, he noticed all four tires were flat. There was also a piece of folded paper stuck under her windshield.
As his dragon growled in warning, Brad ordered, “Stay here but stay alert. Something’s wrong.”
The human female nodded, clearly still surprised at the slashed tires. Brad plucked up the note, opened it, and read, “This is your final warning. Shun all dragons or face the consequences.”
There was no signature, but just a stamp at the bottom of the note with the League’s logo.
He stormed up to Natasha, knowing the note had changed everything.
She would have to come home to his clan after all. Which meant finding new ways to stay away from her while also protecting her.
Brad handed her the note, and once she finished reading it, he stated, “You’re coming home with me tonight to StoneRiver. Don’t argue, either. Because none of your arguments are worth your life.”
He gestured toward his car farther down the street and waited to see if Tasha would agree or if he’d have to act the part of barbaric dragon-shifter and carry her to his vehicle.
Not because she was his true mate and his dragon was growling about her safety. No, Brad convinced himself it was because she’d hired him to protect her, and he prided himself on being the best. Nothing more.
Tasha Jenkins wasn’t stubborn for the sake of it. Her perseverance had helped her over the years to achieve a lot of her goals. It was how she’d come to own a successful bar in Reno, one that had become even more profitable when she’d finally opened her doors to dragon-shifters.
So when some assholes had tried to scare her, she’d tried to brush it off. It wasn’t the first fight or time a man had tried to harm her. When people drank too much, sometimes shit happened.
But as she stared at the note in her hands about a final warning, and then glanced at her slashed tires, she knew that this was more than an idle threat to scare her. The crazy AHOL bastards might actually try to kill her.
It seemed that when she’d stood by the ADDA employee Ashley Swift and her dragonman date over a month ago, she’d made some dangerous enemies.
Since the jurisdictions were
all messed up when human and dragon worlds collided, like they did with the League, she didn’t have faith the police would take it all seriously despite their promises. They could entirely brush it off as ADDA’s responsibility and look the other way.
In other words, she needed the help of dragon-shifters if she was to survive.
So when Brad stated she was going home to his clan for the night, she knew it was the only option. So she nodded. “For tonight. But I plan on figuring this out, Brad. I won’t give up my bar this easily.”
He grunted, took her hand, and guided her down the street.
Tasha tried to ignore how warm and large his hand was around hers. In her experience, most dragonmen were sexy, muscled, and had some sort of draw that most human women—and quite a few men—had a hard time resisting.
Not only was she determined to avoid being distracted by any man—dragon or otherwise—she knew Brad Harper didn’t like her much. He only worked at her bar as a favor to his clan leader, and most days he ignored her unless a security threat cropped up.