I watched her as she splashed around in the water like a kid. It made my heart happy to see her so light and cheerful. I was afraid that she would come back without that childlike joy that had drawn me to her the first day I met her. She splashed me, bringing me from my thoughts, and I smiled as she laughed so hard, she snorted. The snort only seemed to make her laugh more.

Seeing this side of her did me good, and I knew no matter what happened, she would find a way to be happy again. I wasn’t sure what our future held, or if it held anything at all, but I did know that as long as I still lived, she would be safe and protected.

Once we finished at the beach, we went to my place, and I cooked us dinner. She ate her meal like she hadn’t eaten in weeks, and I laughed when she flushed red with embarrassment at her poor table manners. The more I watched her, the more I fell in love with her. She was everything I wanted in a mate and fate was doing its best to keep her from me.

After dinner, we sat on the couch and started to watch a movie when she turned to me and looked at my face for a long time.

“Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?” I asked as she continued staring at me.

“No, there’s nothing on your face. I just wanted to look at you and memorize the way you look in case I’m too late,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“My sweet girl, I am going to do everything in my power to hold on as long as I possibly can to give you the amount of time you need to make the right decision. You take your time, okay? I’ll be here as long as I can be,” I said, pulling her close to me and kissing her forehead.

I knew she was struggling with her inner self and fighting all the demons from her past. I had suspected that it wasn’t just Bradley that had done her wrong, but she had never mentioned any other guys. The movie ended and she yawned and stretched. I knew she was getting tired and I was going to have to take her home soon. I felt a sadness creep over me at the thought of taking her back to her place.

“Lauren, stay here with me tonight. Please?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes.

She was the only woman since Natalie that I wanted to have stay here with me, and I knew that meant that I had finally let go of my past completely and I wanted Lauren to be a part of that.

“Sure, I’ll stay, but you’re not getting into my pants tonight,” she said as she smiled and winked at me.

I knew she was joking, but I also knew that she meant what she said because we had both agreed to not have sex until it meant something for both of us. I hoped it was getting to that point because I wanted her bad. I wanted to feel her against me again. I wanted to feel how it felt to be inside her again. I wanted to watch her face as I pleasured her again. I wanted to show her that I loved making her feel good.

I knew she had nothing to sleep in since this slumber party between us wasn’t planned. I grabbed one of my oversized shirts and gave it to her, along with pillows and blankets for the couch. I helped her get her bed ready and covered her up when she laid down. I watched her as she fell asleep and I couldn’t help but think she looked just like an angel.

I watched her sleep for a long while before going to bed myself. I laid there wondering how long I did have. I knew I had probably made a promise I wasn’t going to be able to keep. The urges to shift were getting more difficult to control and push back, plus I was staying in my dragon form a lot longer than I should be. It was only a matter of time before I became that creature for good, and that thought scared me.

I woke the next morning to my front door being pounded on. I tried to ignore it in hopes they would go away, but they just kept pounding. I heard Lauren jump up and open the door. Rory’s voice filtered in from the doorway.

“Hi, Lauren! It is wonderful to see you! Is Dane awake yet? I need to talk to him; it’s urgent,” he said as I bounded around the corner.

“Hey, Rory, what’s up? Everything okay?” I asked, concern starting to fill me at the look on Rory’s face.

“I actually have two pieces of information I need to give you. The first one is Amanda contacted me, and they determined that it was wolf shifters that killed Nat. I’m so sorry, Dane, I really am. If you need time to process that before I give you the next bit of news, I can come back later,” he offered, seeing the look of distress on my face.

“It’s okay, Rory, I am fine. What is it?” I asked, wanting to get it over with, whatever it was.

“Our contact on the mainland has gathered intel that Bradley is planning an attack on the island and has gathered people to help him do it. Some of them are wolf shifters.” He stopped as he saw the look on my face.

Anger filled me to the brim, consuming my every thought. The wolf shifters had taken the woman I had loved with all my being and made me think she had just abandoned me, and now they were going to try to help some weasel that didn’t know how to treat women attack my home and take it too? I couldn’t let that happen. My home was too precious to me to let anyone come and try to take it. I told Rory to gather the others for an emergency meeting, and he left the house. I found Lauren rummaging around the kitchen, trying to get coffee started.

“Want some help, my lovely?” I asked as I came up behind her.

    She nodded, and I began helping her with the coffee and breakfast as memories of what almost happened on the counter flooded through my mind. I needed to stop thinking about those things or it was going to make me push her for an answer. I didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the relationship we were finally building. I felt like she was learning to trust me while being cautious with herself.

After breakfast, I took her home as I went to the meeting. The men were angry, and nervous energy filled the air. No one knew what we were going to do since there were no weapons on the island as it was protected by us dragons. We would be able to keep some of the attackers at bay, but the humans on the ground wouldn’t be able to defend themselves if we were in the air. We had no idea what to do, so we decided to take some time to think about it.

I left the meeting feeling more worried than I was when I went into it. If we didn’t find any weapons soon, everyone would be sitting ducks if a battle did happen. I stopped and checked on Lauren, making sure Bradley hadn’t made an appearance, and filled her in on what was happening. She was worried, but she knew we’d be able to handle ourselves. We both hoped that Bradley’s plan would fall through and no one would help him carry out his plan.

A week had gone by, and there was still no sign of Bradley or a posse. We had finally come up with a plan, and even though we were ready to enact it if needed, we hoped it wouldn’t be necessary and started to let our guards down. I knew that was the wrong thing to do, but it had been a week since Rory brought the intel and there had been no sign of him. We had kept the entrances to the island protected and offered training to anyone who wanted to help us fight if they did show up. For the first time since arriving on this planet, my people had a military.

I watched Lauren look herself over in the mirror as she dressed herself for our date. It was her birthday, and I was going to take to dinner and a movie on the mainland. That was a good accomplishment for me since my fear of boats kept me from getting supplies without help from Rory. Lauren finished primping herself in the mirror, and we headed to the door. I stopped short as I reached for the knob.

I was shocked and enraged at what I saw. There, on Lauren’s front lawn, stood Bradley and several other people. I recognized several of them as wolf shifters that my clan had run off our property several different times. I told Lauren to stay inside, and I stepped out on the porch.

“Good day, gentlemen, what can I do for you?” I asked as gruffly as I could.

Bradley smiled, and the others cackled like old hens.

“What can you do for me?” he asked. “You can tell Lauren to come out here so she can watch as I kill you,” he stated as he moved toward the porch.

“That would be such a bad idea for you. Do not do that,” Rory said as he came on the porch from the side steps.

Bradley froze where he was and backed away. I couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy trying to ruin the life of an ex just because she didn’t want to stay with him. He was the greatest definition of trash and didn’t even know it.

I stepped down a step bringing myself closer to him, letting him know I wasn’t afraid of him.

“I can tell her to come out here, but I’m not going to be the one who she watches die, buddy,” I said, the anger revving up my dragon.

I knew at some point he would come out, but I didn’t want him to come out just yet. I didn’t want anyone to die, and it made me sad to know that most likely some of us would. I tried to push that thought from my mind as I stepped off the porch and approached them.

“If you think you’re big enough to take me, here I am,” I said, holding out my hands.

Bradley grinned at the invitation and started toward me. I felt the anger trying to split me open, and I knew if that happened, everyone that had come with Bradley would die. I wondered if he had thought about what he was doing when he formed his little group, but I gathered that he didn’t think about it.

I turned and looked at the window for a split second, catching a glimpse of the most beautiful face before my view was skewed and I couldn’t see her anymore. I felt the beast in me beg for release, and I couldn’t resist letting him out for a while.