Slowly, she ran her nails up his spine, raising gooseflesh where she touched him. “L-word. Don’t run.”
The beaming smile on his face was instant, and his eyes were so silver they were almost white. Beautiful beast. He leaned down and kissed her again. It was a steady kind of kiss, one where they just laid there pressed against each other, their mouths soft but unmoving. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. She’d always thought a beautiful moment like this wasn’t made for a girl like her.
Nox eased back with a soft smack of his lips and rested his forehead against hers. “You’re terrifying…but I’m not running anymore. Fuck your den, Nevada. They can shun you, but you won’t be rogue and you won’t be unprotected. I’ll take care of you.”
There was honesty infused in every syllable he spoke. And utterly stunned by his oath, she cupped his cheek, his rough beard scratchy against her soft palm, and whispered, “Truth.”
“I’ll do everything in my power to keep you from having to register with the government.”
“Truth.” Another tear slid from the corner of her eye.
“My body will be between you and anyone who ever tries to hurt you.”
“Truth.”
“I’ll fuck this up.”
She laughed thickly. “Also truth.”
His voice dipped to a whisper. “But I’ll try for you.”
She sighed happily and slid her arms around his neck, hugged him tightly. She’d never had a connection with anyone like this. She’d never understood someone so easily. She’d never felt so free to be just as she was.
“Nevada?” he asked, hugging her tight.
“Yeah?”
“L-word.”
She smiled up at the ceiling, her eyes burning with happy tears because this was one of those moments a girl dreamed about.
One of those moments where everything changed.
One of those moments where she knew from here on someone would be at her back, and she wouldn’t be alone anymore.
L-word. He’d said it with such confidence.
She rubbed her face against his in a sign of complete devotion. And then she whispered, “Truth.”
Chapter Eleven
“What does Bone Ripper mean?” Nevada asked, tracing the logo on Nox’s black T-shirt.
He leaned forward and, pulling on his boot, he explained, “It’s the name of my company. Bone Ripper Bounty Hunters.”
“You own a company?” she said, sitting straight up on the couch.
He chuckled as he laced his boot. “Are you surprised?”
“A little. What does your company do?”
“I’m a bounty hunter. I did all the jobs for the first five years I was in business, but I got too overloaded and had to hire help.”
“You’re someone’s boss?”
“Kind of. I hate talking to the guys I hired. There are three of them who live around the country. I give them the jobs that are closest to them, and they’re paid on commission. All shifters. I’ve got two tigers and a boar. All loaners who work well in this kind of environment.”
“What kind of environment?”
“Hunting. Fighting. Not having to deal with people.”
Nevada drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “So the people you bounty hunt…they’re shifters?”
“Most of them. Or sometimes I get really bad humans. The dangerous ones who ran, or escaped. I like a challenge, and so do the others on my team. If a job’s too easy, the hunt isn’t as fun, and we get bored.”
As he spoke, he kept his profile to her, lacing up his other boot. It wasn’t lost on her that he hadn’t met her eyes for even a moment while he was explaining, and a little alarm went off in her head.
It was best to ease into serious conversations with a man like Nox. “Do you like it in Damon’s Mountains?”
“It’s okay. It’s a place to stay. I live off in the woods, though. Alone. There’s no pros and cons to living there. It’s just a place to rest my head between jobs.”
“Huh.” Just ask him if he’s here bounty hunting one of your people. “Are you in Foxburg on a job?”
Nox’s lips flickered into an empty smile. “You don’t even want to know.”
Nevada tensed. Uh oh. “Nox, you can’t bring one of my people in. They’ll be found out, and foxes will be exposed. I’ll be exposed.”
“It’s not a fox hunt, Nevada.”
“Foxes are the only ones in Foxburg.”
“False statement, and trust me when I tell you, you don’t want to know.”
“Is this a shut-down? Is this how it’ll be? I can’t ask about your jobs? Is it dangerous what you do?”
“Yes.”
“How dangerous?”
Nox growled and narrowed his eyes at the front door like he wanted to run. He didn’t, though. Instead, he turned to face her, pulled the backs of her knees until her legs were bent against his chest, cupped her face, and then uttered, “It’s very dangerous, but I’m good at my job and don’t take unnecessary risks. I was telling you the truth. You can hear it in my voice. I’m not here to hunt one of your people. I’m hunting something much scarier than anything your den could produce.”
“What are you hunting?” she whispered, her blood chilling.
Nox scratched his beard in an agitated gesture and muttered a curse. “The Red Dragon.”
Completely stunned, Nevada’s mouth plopped open. The Red Dragon? Here in Foxburg? Oh wait, this was Nox. This was a joke. She offered him a slow smile. “Ha, ha. Very funny.”
Nox pursed his lips and arched his eyebrows. He definitely wasn’t mirroring her smile.
“Wait, are you serious? The Red Dragon?” Panic filled her veins. “You think Vyr is here?”
“I know he is.”
“No, no, no! This is Foxburg, population like…zero. There’re foxes here, but no dragons. No scary, fire-breathing, people-eating dragons!”
“That invitation you got? That’s from Vyr.”
Nevada flinched like she’d been slapped. “The Red Dragon sent me an invitation to his lair?” she asked in a squeaky voice.
“Yep.” He popped the p at the end. “That’s why I told you not to go to that address.”
“Why does he want dinner with me?” Yep, her voice was an octave too high, and Nox winced at the pitch.
“Because, apparently, he’s a fucking magical mind-reading dragon, and he pulled your name out of my head when I tried to bring him in.”
“Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh! We should call human law enforcement. The army. SWAT. The coast guard, the navy, special forces, the army reserves, the president, and also aliens. If there are aliens out there, we need their help and their technologically-advanced weapons. I saw the video, Nox! Of Covington? He burned everything. He ate people!”
“Well…he ate asshole gorilla shifters and like…two lions.”
Nevada waved her hands around in the air. “Wait! Are you defending him? He’s evil.”
“Wooooould we call him evil?” he asked in a sing-songy voice. “I’ve seen evil, Nevada. Vyr has an out of control animal, but he’s not evil per se.”