Ashley’s face became more serious, as evidenced by the firmer line of her lips. “That’s part of the reason I’m here, Tasha. No matter what I do, ADDA won’t budge on you being able to run your bar from StoneRiver—they’re still at a hard no. However, I think I have a compromise that may just work.”
Pushing aside the sadness at the first part of Ashley’s words—she would deal with the hard truth later—Tasha focused on the latter half. “Which is?”
“First let me stipulate that it requires approval from David Lee first. But provided he agrees to the plan and StoneRiver gives you a tiny piece of their land to build a new place—a bar at the edges of their territory which isn’t too far from the town of Truckee or even determined people coming from Reno—then ADDA would allow you to open it and serve both humans and dragon-shifters. I’m sure there could even be a landing area for dragons from other clans, too. It’ll be like a kind of experiment for them, to see if it indeed helps bring people together or not since it’d be on dragon-shifter land and ADDA will oversee everything and not local human politicians or governments.”
While Tasha would love for nothing more than some of her determined patrons to visit her new bar maybe once in a while or the possibilities for what she could do with a fully integrated bar, Tasha was too rational to jump for joy just yet. “Part of me is excited to try. But what’s to keep the same thing from happening with the League all over again? They could just go after my new place.”
Ashley nodded. “I’ve thought of that, trust me. But if you have both StoneRiver and PineRock on your side, the League may think twice about it. My opinion is that the League idiots grew bolder with their actions over the last few years simply because no new alliances have been formed between the four dragon clans in the greater Tahoe area. But if we get two clans to agree to an alliance, and maybe hint that we want more, it could make the League a bit more cautious. After all, pissing off two clans’ worth of dragon-shifters is a little more of a deterrent.”
With a dragon alliance to strengthen protections, it could—just maybe—all work out.
The lingering sadness of giving up her business in Reno faded, replaced with a small thrill of anticipation. If Tasha could create her own place—from the design upward—and deliberately plan how to run it so it appealed to both humans and dragon-shifters, she might be able to break new ground. At least locally, since Tasha had no idea how things worked in other parts of the country.
But no such place—bar or otherwise—had been created from the ground up in such a way. ADDA usually recruited existing businesses.
Which made the possibilities endless.
However, she was also practical and needed more information before letting her hopes get too high. “While it all sounds great, you said David has to agree to the plan first. What happens if he doesn’t?”
Ashley waved a hand in dismissal. “I suspect he wi
ll. Wes thinks David wants to form an alliance with PineRock, so this will make it all happen faster. And before you say I’m too optimistic, there are other possibilities. David has no mate, for example, and maybe wants one. If so, opening up a whole new clan for him to visit and see if he can find his true mate will probably be appealing.”
She raised her brows. “You’re obviously happy having a mate, but maybe David doesn’t want one or isn’t ready. I know I hadn’t thought of settling down until recently.”
Ashley shrugged. “Sometimes it’s the unknown that keeps you from wanting to put yourself out there. For you, it was fear of losing control of your business. For my own mate—and myself—it was fear of losing the ability to help dragon-shifters. But you know what? It actually worked out better in the end, and once we saw that, the reservations just melted away. I suspect David is the same. Dragons, in general, want families of their own. So if he’s holding back, there’s a reason I don’t know yet.”
Tasha snorted. “And yet, I have a feeling you’re going to make it your mission to find out if there is a certain reason for his singlehood.”
Ashley grinned. “Of course. I’m a liaison officer now and need to make sure my clan gets along with others.”
Tasha nodded. “Then talk with David as soon as you can and let me know his answer. It might make my decision about what to do with Brad a little easier.”
Ashley searched her eyes. “Is everything okay?”
She hesitated a second and then decided what the hell. If anyone was going to understand, it would be Ashley. “His dragon is getting impatient. And while Brad is doing everything he can to calm him, I think I have to make a decision about the frenzy pretty soon.”
The other woman tilted her head. “And if David says yes to the bar idea, how will it help?”
Relieved she could finally voice some of her thoughts, she answered, “Well, if Brad is supportive, then I’ll be more hopeful about a future and probably agree to the frenzy. If Brad tries to forbid me from trying—even though I’ll be smart and safe about everything, I’m not an idiot—then I can’t imagine a happy future with him. While I do want a family someday, I want more than just being a mom. Otherwise, I’ll be miserable.”
Ashley took her hand and squeezed. “Well, then we’d better go talk with David ASAP, huh, and get this all figured out?”
“What about Brad? I’m supposed to stay here. And if there wasn’t a possible threat to my life, I wouldn’t just say yes to being confined. But there is a small chance danger could find me, and I trust his judgment when it comes to my safety.”
Ashley shrugged. “I said I wouldn’t kidnap you and that I’d stay with you, so I’ll be keeping my promise. Besides, we’ll be visiting the clan leader, which is one of the safest spots on StoneRiver. And if some League asshole did manage to sneak onto the clan, I have this.” The other woman held up what looked like a type of Taser. Ashley continued, “It’s for protection, especially since I’m still in the early stages of my self-defense training. All things you’ll have to do, too, I’m sure. Maybe we can even start a weekly human meet up. That way we can socialize and appease the dragon halves of our mates at the same time since we’ll be doing more than talking—we’ll be learning how to defend ourselves.”
The thought of being able to talk with other humans mated to dragon-shifters on a regular basis lifted Tasha’s doubts a little more about staying on StoneRiver. “I’d love that.” Eyeing the Taser, she decided it was good enough for a short walk. So Tasha stood. “Then let’s go talk with David. I don’t like waiting around for the future, and I can’t start planning anything until we have an answer.”
Ashley laughed. “I like you more and more, Tasha. I’ve talked to a lot of humans over the years about dragon-shifters—I helped run the yearly lottery for a while—and most have some fairy-tale type view. But the world needs more practical people. After all, muscles and great sex will only get you so far in life.”
And so the pair of them left the cottage and headed for David’s office. Tasha didn’t complain as she had to almost jog to keep up with the ADDA employee. Her future was so close to changing in a good way, and Tasha was eager to get it all started.
Chapter Ten
Brad had heard about Tasha and Ashley visiting David, but his boss had prevented him from running over and barging into the meeting. Jon had said it was something between David and Tasha, and so Brad had been forced to focus on other things until the end of his workday.
But his day was over, and as he headed home, where he had been assured Tasha had safely returned, it took everything he had not to run toward his house.