“We’re not getting paid enough for this,” one of the remaining men grumbled. “Let’s get outta here.” He picked up his dispatched ally with the help of another and dragged him away to a car parked on the other side of the road.
Which left Magnus standing at the front of the shop, hefting the huge axe in both hands like some ancient Viking, red hair wild and free from the low ponytail he usually wore, grunting with satisfaction as he watched the men disappear down the street at full speed.
And while Lindy was still trying to register what had just happened, the weapon in Magnus’s hands disappeared in a bright flash, vanishing just as quickly as it had materialized—out of nowhere.
Then Magnus turned and walked up to her as if nothing has just happened.
“Are you all right?” he asked, worried.
Her knees felt like they would buckle, but she stood firm, keeping herself on her feet as she nodded.
It was painfully clear what she’d suspected was true. Something shady was going on with whomever was running her competitor’s shop. And they had it in for her for some reason.
This was why she’d wanted a bodyguard in addition to general help at the shop. But she’d never have thought it would get this dangerous, even if Magnus seemed more than capable of handling it.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, more insistently this time.
Next to her, Mike crawled out from under the car and dusted himself off. Lindy just hoped he hadn’t seen the whole axe thing, and given the vantage point, he probably hadn’t.
Roscoe and his crew had never been aggressive like this before. Ever. The worst they’d done was do stuff like throw empty threats when they saw her around or vandalize the outside of the shop, warning her to stay out of their business. But she did that. She had no interest in what other people were doing, shady or otherwise.
She was just a lone woman trying to make it in the world.
A lone woman who happened to have a guy who knew cars like the back of his hand, outworked everyone she’d ever known, made love like a storm, and had a protective streak ten miles wide.
And who also somehow made axes appear and disappear like magic.
“You can take the day, Mike. And if you see Tommy, tell him the same,” Lindy said. Mike nodded in response and walked toward the back to get his things, then disappeared.
“Shit. What have I gotten myself into?” Lindy muttered, her thoughts coming out involuntarily.
She felt Magnus’s hand lightly grasp hers, the thick calluses there ticklish and rough, anchoring her in reality.
“Nothing you can’t handle now that you have a dragon by your side.”
Something snapped inside her, and she stormed around to face him, putting her hands on her hips. “Do you even know what you’re saying? That’s not possible. Dragons don’t exist, outside of like, Lord of the Rings. I like you, and that axe thing, I admit that was crazy, but you can’t just keep saying you’re a dragon and not explain.”
He waited patiently for her to finish her outburst. “So you are curious.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Of course I am!”
“You weren’t this morning.”
“I didn’t know what to say this morning. Everything’s moving so fast with you, and I didn’t know if you were just teasing me…”
“I wouldn’t tease about something like that.”
She rubbed her temples. “Okay, let’s just assume for a second that you are a dragon. Why do you look like a human? Why do you like working on cars? What are you doing here in Seattle? Why are you here and not medieval times?”
“Aegis did warn us that our mates wouldn’t take this well,” Magnus said thoughtfully. “Perhaps I should have waited. But I figured with your history, it was better to lead with the truth.”
“Again with the mate thing,” she said, shaking her head. “How about we both call it a morning? I need you to explain in more detail. I mean everything. We can come back to the shop in the afternoon to help the scheduled clients with their cars.”
“All right,” he said. “We’ll get some lunch and go to a spot I know of that’s quiet. And more importantly, private.”
Private. That would be good.
Because Lindy had no idea if her sanity would hold out for what she was about to hear.
7
When they were seated on a bench at a beautiful, totally empty park with a little lake and bird sanctuary nearby, Magnus got ready to tell Lindy everything he had to say.
But it wasn’t easy, not after the way she’d gone off at him in the shop. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d done wrong. After all, he’d dispatched with ease the men threatening her place and reassured her he could protect her.
Perhaps Aegis really was right and humans just really struggled with the dragon thing.
It rankled to think Aegis was right about anything.
She took a bite of her sandwich, chewing quietly, watching the ripples on the dark-blue water of the lake, and sighed. “Okay, I’m ready. All about dragons. Go.”
“Um, well, we have scales,” he said. “When we shift.”
“Shift,” she said, waving a hand. “Is that like when you turn into a dragon?”
He nodded.
She only looked like she half believed him, but it was fine with him if she just played along. One day, hopefully, when she was ready, he would show her. Then she’d know he was telling the truth.
“In my time, dragons of my type formed crews for protection and to man the ships we explored in. The way we lived was something like you would call Vikings, except we formed much smaller crews. We would compete with other dragon crews and steal treasure and sail it over the ocean back to our town.”
“Sounds fun,” she said, taking another bite of her sandwich. “What’s with the axe?”
“We all have a different ancestral weapon. I can’t really say much more about that now, since you’re not my mate yet. Aegis would already be upset that I showed it to you.”
“Aegis? Your boss?”
He nodded. “He’s a different type of dragon, one that came after us but was awakened first.”
“Woke up?” Her brows wrinkled in confusion. “What?”
“Oh, yeah. Me and my crew were sailing in search of mates, having finally fortified our hold and our treasure. We were ready to settle down. But on the high seas, a bad storm took hold, and our ship sank to the bottom of the ocean. We were found through the magic of an oracle and awakened to fight alongside the other dragons in this modern world.”
“So why are you here rather than off fighting, then?”
He looked into her frank blue eyes, loving the dark lashes that curled up at the edges. “Because when we woke up, we wanted what we’d been looking for before we went down. Our mates.”
“Ah, so you want to find them before you join the cause,” she said. “Wait, what’s the cause again? Is there some battle I’m not aware of?”
“There are shifters everywhere,” he said. “Wolves, bears, dragons, and big cats. Whatever you can think of.”
“Dogs?” she asked.
“No,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Why?”