He’d briefly contemplated locking Braeden inside the house again, but the fire dragon had shown up just when they were getting ready to leave, complaining about being hungry.
Right now, Braeden was in the kitchen—hopefully not setting Timothy’s house on fire.
He didn’t like trusting him. After all, Braeden was still a fire dragon. But on the other hand, he had saved Autumn, the earth dragon’s mate, and he was wearing the obsidian cuffs in addition to the dragonsbane that kept him from using his powers.
He wouldn’t be able to do anything. And if he was really stupid enough to run, Timothy finally had a reason to drag him back to the chimera and get him locked into his cell there.
Also, Timothy really, really wanted to some alone time with Liana.
The sun was shining brightly. Liana had exchanged her jeans for a white skirt and sandals, which she now carried in her hand.
The weather was glorious. A gentle breeze was blowing in from the ocean, and the air smelled of salt. The distant cries of gulls filled the air, together with the constant background noise of waves lapping at the shore.
She giggled when another wave washed over her feet.
“This is incredible.” Her eyes gleamed as she looked at him. “I can’t believe you don’t live on the beach all year.”
Timothy laughed. “I know it looks like paradise. But how would you feel about not getting to head out to a bar with your friends, or getting Chinese take-out when you feel like it, or doing a 1 a.m. donut run—or just popping into the latest movie?”
Liana shrugged uneasily. “I don’t really have any friends that go to bars,” she admitted. “That’s always just been my sister dragging me along. Although I like her friends! They’re just all so... smart and successful, you know? But you have me at missing out on movies and take-out options...”
“Chameleon Coffee has excellent donuts,” he said. “It’s just that they don’t stay open until 1 a.m., so you need to plan ahead for late night cravings.”
“It’s not like we ever had the money for sudden late night cravings as a kid,” she said thoughtfully. “I could deal with that...”
“I like having the best of both worlds,” Timothy admitted. “Obviously, I wouldn’t want to commute in a car all week from here. But for a dragon, it’s a short flight. I can spend all my weekends in the city. Or the other way around—come out here every weekend instead.”
Or rather, we could fly to the city every weekend...
He didn’t dare to say it out loud. Not yet. Asking her to move in with him definitely didn’t come at a point when all they’d done was kiss a few times.
But she’d said she wanted to give this a try. That she wanted something serious, too.
And if he could just be patient and show her that life in a little shifter beach town wasn’t so different to the life she was used to, then maybe that day would come even sooner than he hoped...
“What’s that?” Liana asked suddenly when something rustled in the bushes.
A moment later, a wolf came out, stepping onto the beach. He was large, with gray fur that turned white at his muzzle.
His golden eyes stared at them unflinchingly, and Timothy raised his hand.
“Hey, James. What’s up? Is John out fishing? Thought we’d come and say hello.”
Liana leaned against him. “Werewolf?” she whispered into his ear.
She didn’t sound scared—just fascinated.
The wolf opened his jaws, the large, red tongue lolling out as he seemed to silently laugh at them.
Then he gave them a soft, affirmative yip and turned back to vanish into the bushes and trees that lined the beach here.
“Werewolf,” Timothy said when he was gone. “That’s James. They’re good people—not great talkers, though. They like to keep to themselves. As werewolves usually do, really. They normally aren’t much for company.”
“Why did they settle down here, did they say?” Liana asked curiously as they kept walking.
“Mainly age, I think. They don’t talk much about the past—from what I’ve heard, they came from rival packs. They left their packs to be with each other. And eventually, John wanted to settle down by the sea. Now they’ve lived here for several years. They make good neighbors—very quiet, except for the full moon.”
“Neighbors?” Liana asked, frowning. “But I haven’t seen a house since we left.”