The dragon grunted and she laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll make up for it with this mysterious ear scratching. Since I didn’t get told exactly how to do it, you’ll have to give some signs I’m doing it right.”
The giant beast took a small step backward and turned his head toward her, putting his ear right in front of her. It was a bit more pointed than a cat’s, b
ut the backside was mostly covered in scales. Well, except for a tiny section at the bottom. “Let me guess, scratch you at the bottom, where you can feel it best?”
Another grunt, which she interpreted as a yes. And so Tasha ran her hand down the ear—also firmer than she’d imagined, although it made sense a dragon needed armor-like protection—and finally reached the little area of exposed skin. Brushing her finger there, she felt the heat of the dragon’s body. “Well, if I ever get cold, I know what to do now. Have you shift and then I can curl up against the back of your ear. Maybe not the easiest thing to do, but I’m sure we can figure it out.”
The dragon huffed in what she thought might be laughter—could a dragon laugh?—and she finally scratched the area with her short nails.
The more she scratched, the more the dragon leaned into the touch and hummed louder.
Yep, definitely more like a cat than a dog.
Just as she was about to ask if she could explore the rest of him, a tall, unknown woman with brown hair and light brown skin ran up to her and Brad. Without preamble, she said, “Shift back, Brad. David needs to see you both ASAP.”
Tasha frowned at the urgency in the woman’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
The younger lady replied, “Let’s just say that your mating ceremony needs to happen now or we can’t protect you.”
She looked into one of Brad’s huge dragon eyes but couldn’t read his expression. He motioned with his snout for her to stand back and she followed the unknown clan member to the outer perimeter of the landing area.
Since she would be staying on StoneRiver for at least some time, she looked at the younger woman and asked, “You already know my name, but what’s yours?”
“I’m Maya Santiago, one of the younger Protectors.”
Tasha remembered from her ADDA training earlier in the year that all Protectors in the US spent a year, sometimes two, working with one of the armed forces.
Judging the woman to be in her early twenties, she had to be just out of service.
Tasha asked, “Can you tell me anything about what’s going on now? I mean, I was attacked just yesterday so I’m a little worried about what could happen next.”
The dragonwoman nodded. “I heard about that, and I’m sorry. A lot of the clan may be wary of humans, but I worked with a lot of them in the Air Force and know not all are bad. But as for what happened, we have some unwanted visitors at the gates. I can’t say more than that right now, but if you two don’t get mated right away, StoneRiver might not be able to protect you.”
She’d been so engrossed in Maya’s information that Tasha had missed Brad shifting back into his human form. He stopped right next to them—naked except for his jeans—and stated, “Then let’s go. If Tasha’s in danger, I need to know everything.”
As they walked in some direction she didn’t quite know—Tasha really needed a map—she tried to think of what shitstorm had followed her to StoneRiver. Because while she’d mate Brad for his protection, she wanted to help figure out how to tackle both current and future threats, too. It wasn’t in her nature to stand back and let others figure stuff out.
However, she needed information before anything else. So somehow Tasha ignored Brad’s warm, muscled chest the entire walk to what she discovered was the Protector building from last night.
Chapter Six
Brad clenched his jaw as they walked toward the Protector building, knowing full well that Maya wouldn’t give up details she wasn’t supposed to.
And yet, he wanted to know what the hell was going on.
His dragon spoke up. I’m as eager as you are to find out, so walk faster.
Since his beast’s time with Tasha had been cut short, Brad was a little nicer than normal in his reply. Tasha won’t be able to keep up, and I’m not going to carry her without asking.
Then ask.
No. The building’s right up ahead. Now, let me concentrate on getting all the details so we can figure out the best way to protect our mate.
His dragon curled up inside his mind. At least you’re thinking of Tasha as ours. That’s a good sign.
Maybe if he wasn’t heading toward a meeting about Tasha’s safety, he’d dwell more on the revelation.
But all he knew was that when she’d approached him in dragon form and stroked his scales without thinking or hesitation, it’d shifted something inside him.