Lori was still looking pensive when they drove into town, and Sever found himself wondering what exactly was causing her change in mood.

He’d slipped up earlier, telling her he might have changed his mind about staying professional.

His senses had been highly attuned to her, and he’d seen her pulse beating rapidly at the base of her neck. Her beautiful, soft, pale neck.

He swallowed, trying not to think about what she was wearing today, how the thin jacket outlined her curves, how she looked soft and generous and made for holding.

She hadn’t said anything when he’d nearly come onto her, and she kept looking at him oddly ever since.

Had he made her uncomfortable? Was he supposed to apologize? But how was he supposed to apologize when he needed to make forward progress with her?

He parked the car in front of a small, wooden shop with an old-fashioned sign out front. All the shops here were small and looked older than the ones in Seattle.

He saw a few people out with their families, crossing the street with bags in their hands.

Looked like a normal town to him, so he couldn’t see why Lori seemed so afraid.

He understood her fear of the Cleavers, since they were threatening her, but just normal women and children?

He stepped down out of the truck and walked over to open the passenger door for Lori, offering her his hand to help her down. He savored her soft touch, the warm, trusting look in her eyes as she jumped down against him.

Then he stepped back, not trusting himself to stay focused if she somehow pressed fully against him.

Taylor opened the door to the back of the cab and jumped out, landing in the dust and sending up a little puff of dirt. He straightened and put his hands on his hips, looking around authoritatively.

If even the little male was nervous about this, then something must be up.

Sever took the lead, heading up the rickety steps to the shop and then holding the door open as Lori and Taylor walked hesitantly inside.

Immediately, Sever saw some of the reason for Lori’s reservations.

The woman at the desk, an older woman with short, curled hair and small eyes, glared at them and then very obviously gave them a once-over, especially Sever, before turning her back.

His jaw dropped.

He’d never seen something like this. The way she’d looked at him, the disdain in her eyes, was unlike anything he’d experienced in Seattle.

As if the very look of him was offensive.

Lori shrugged at him with an apologetic glance and then walked to the refrigerated section, waving for him to follow her.

He heard the woman at the counter mutter something under her breath and tried not to let his hackles go up.

Was this how the whole town treated Lori? As though she had some kind of disease? And Taylor?

This was a boy who had lost his family and the wonderful woman who was looking after him, and instead of treating them like the gems they were, this woman was acting as if they were lowlifes.

Sever rolled up the sleeves of his leather jacket, trying to displace his anger since a scene would probably only upset Lori.

Lori rummaged for something on the shelf and then shook her head. “I was going to show you something I think you’d like.” She turned toward the counter where the lady was still trying to pretend they didn’t exist. “Um, do you know if you have any roast beef in?”

Sever’s eyes thinned to slits as he stared at the woman, who sent Lori a glare and then turned her back on her again.

Lori’s shoulders slumped slightly, and she went back to rummaging. “Oh well. Worth trying. I’ll find it on my own.”

Sever tried to restrain himself. Told himself getting into verbal fights wasn’t worth it.

He found himself angry at whomever had left this little family alone and angry at anyone judging them.

Against his own will, he felt his feet take several thundering steps over to the counter, and he planted his hands on it with a thud.

The woman whipped around, looking angry and then alarmed as she looked all the way up at him.

He pulled out his wallet. If she couldn’t understand courtesy, perhaps she could understand financial leverage. He pulled out a huge wad of cash and put it on the counter, pushing it toward her.

“My lady needs a few things, and I’d appreciate if you’d help her find them.”

She looked at the money, flushing, and then shook her head. “We don’t need business like hers here,” she said, glaring at Lori.

Sever took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He hadn’t known humans could be like this. He knew dragons that were less snobby.

“Why?” he asked, taking his money back and looking down imperiously.

“They don’t belong here,” she said. “We’re nice people here. Quiet. We don’t need troublemakers. Punks.”

“Because of their hair?” Sever asked. “What about mine?”

“Weird,” she said. “But it’s not the hair; it’s what it says about you. That you want attention, that you don’t care what people think, about decent society—”

He slammed a fist down on the counter. “You’re right. I don’t care.”

She looked up at him. “A brute. Of course you are. No brains and all brawn.”

Lori let out a little growl. “Why I oughta—”

Sever stopped her with a hand. “I can handle this,” he said. “You know, I’m familiar with people like you. People who look down on people, people who think anyone different is a problem, people who think silent bullying and intimidation and making someone else feel lesser can make them feel better about themselves.” He looked her over. “But I’ve never seen someone with so little justification for it. Who are you anyway? If you came to where I’m from, you’d be out of place. Would you want to be treated like this?”

She glared at him, uncomprehending. “I wouldn’t leave my circle,” she said, slitting a glare at Lori. “I wouldn’t go where I’m not welcome. This is our territory.”

There was something odd going on here, and he wasn’t sure what. He’d never known a human could be like this, and he felt oddly helpless, unable to make this woman be kinder to Lori.

“Fine,” he said, shoving his wallet in his pocket. “Lori, let’s get out of here.”

The woman watched them warily as Lori put an arm around Taylor, who stuck his tongue out as they left.

They went out into the sun, and the heat only served to further aggravate Sever’s mood.

“We could have still shopped there,” Lori said. “She’s rude, but she lets me check out sometimes.”

He bit the inside of his cheek a little too hard on accident and then whirled around to face Lori. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that, and I refuse to give her my money.”

“I could have paid for it,” Lori said.

“No,” Sever snapped.

“But—”

“No,” he snapped again, this time louder.

“I… I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He put up a hand and walked down the street, looking for other shops. But as he did, he saw people glare, go inside, shutter windows.

What the hell was going on here?

“And you’ve been here how long?” he asked.

“Two months,” she said. “But we keep to ourselves.”

“And you shop here? Here only?” he asked.

“No,” she admitted, a flush coloring her face. “Sometimes we drive a bit farther. To a bigger town a few hours away.”

He hated that she was embarrassed. He hated that he couldn’t change that. He walked to her and slowly put both arms around her, gathering her in against him as she let out a ragged sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I saw it from an outside view.”

“You’ve been on your own,” he said. “Not realizing how bad it’s gotten is probably important to survival.” He put a hand through her hair and realized he wanted to keep it there, wanted to continue holding her.

“What do we do now?” Taylor asked.

“We’re going for a drive,” Sever said. “And getting whatever you and Lori want.”

“We don’t have to,” Lori said.

“Nonsense,” Sever said. “Driving with you two is a pleasure. Besides, I need to see some people who aren’t terrible representations of humanity.” He shook his head. “Get rid of my bad memories.”

Lori laughed. “Fair enough.”

* * *

The trip to the bigger town was a success, and Lori was glad Sever had convinced them to go there for shopping. It had been nice to just see other humans and say hi to them and not get glared at.

Lori didn’t assume all small towns were like Cate’s Creek. After all, from what she’d read and seen in movies, weren’t they supposed to be friendly? But ever since she’d moved here with Taylor, they’d had nothing but trouble.

So it was nice to get out into the world now and then.

As they headed down the road and her ranch came into view, Lori saw what looked like a lot of dust in the air. She gasped as she realized it wasn’t dust at all, but smoke.

“Sever,” she cried. “I think something’s on fire. Please hurry.”

Sever’s eyes widened as he looked ahead. “You’re right.” His foot jammed down on the gas, and she thumped a hand on the dash as the truck shot forward, trying to get them home as quick as possible.

“Lori, why would someone set our land on fire?”

“I don’t know,” she said in a low voice.

Taylor went quiet at that, but Lori could still feel his nervousness.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Sever said. “We’ll deal with it when we get there.”

As they pulled up, Lori put both hands over her mouth and let out a little shriek as she saw flames rising in the grass all around the front drive. She saw something burning in the center of it, as if it had been lit and thrown there hastily to catch the rest of their brush on fire.

Luckily, the grass was sparse in this part of the yard, and it hadn’t spread much.

Someone had been watching for when they left. Someone was trying to make an even stronger statement about how much they were wanted out of town.

She bit her lip, wondering why this was escalating now. She’d had threats, little notes in the mailbox, and threatening arguments with the Cleavers, but she’d never had anything set on fire before.

“Stay here,” Sever hissed, opening his door and jumping out. He slammed the door behind him before they could answer, and she tried to open her door to go help him. To get the fire out. To save her land, the land that meant so much to Taylor.

He tried to open his door, too, but couldn’t.

Sever must have put on the child locks. She scrambled over to his side of the door and banged on the window as she watched him pull off his jacket to put out the fire.

“Let me out! We can help you.”

But he just ignored her, throwing his jacket over the main flames and trying to extinguish it. It wasn’t enough. He gave her a desperate look over his shoulder, and she didn’t even know what to tell him. The hose would never reach here. What was he supposed to do?

He pulled his tee shirt over his head, much to her shock, and then threw himself bodily on the ground, rolling over the flames.

Her jaw dropped, and she fought harder against the door. What the hell was he doing? His body was worth so much more than that. Wasn’t he going to get burned? Wasn’t he going to get hurt?

But the flames weren’t very high, and they were only in about a six-foot circumference, so, much to her shock, he seemed to be able to extinguish all the small pockets of them just by smothering them with his body.

How the hell was that supposed to work? And wouldn’t he be very burned?

As he stood up, she saw singe marks on him and heard Taylor crying quietly in the back seat.

She finally figured out how to undo the child locks and opened the door, stumbling out onto the ground and landing behind him.

He whipped around to face her, looking slightly angry until he realized she was okay.

She stared at the singed ground and then at his body, which seemed oddly okay. “You scared Taylor,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But it’s fine now. I took care of the fire.”

She looked over his chest again, watching for any sign he was injured. What was he, fireproof? How was that possible?

“The fire wasn’t bad,” he said. “I knew my shirt would burn, though, so this was best.”

She just stared at him, so handsome, muscles bared in the afternoon sun, shaded by soot, rippling with tension.

The back cab door opened, and Taylor fell out, running to Sever and throwing his arms around him.

Sever put an arm awkwardly around the boy and looked down. “What is it?”

“You can’t just go on fire like that,” Taylor said. “Lori and I need you now. You can’t just die.”

Sever’s face went still as he seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.

Taylor had lost the last man who had meant everything in his life, and now that Sever was standing in as a male figure, any loss would be traumatic.

Had she done the wrong thing bringing him out here?

No, the fire just now proved how bad things had gotten. How much she needed help. And no matter how much this was above and beyond what he’d agreed to, Sever had never made her feel bad about it at all.

Taylor swiped at his eyes and pulled back, looking embarrassed and then angry. “Sometimes I hate this place,” he said. “Why do people bother us? We didn’t do anything to them. We just want to be home!”

Sever looked at Lori, but neither of them had an answer.

Taylor stormed angrily toward the house, small legs taking awkward strides over the dirt as he left them in silence.

“He’s been through a lot,” Lori said.

“I know,” Sever said, putting a hand in the hair that had come loose from his braid. “I need to keep that in mind. It’s just… I’m more durable than he thinks I am.”

“Yeah, but not invincible,” she said quietly.

He looked as if he were going to argue the point with her for a moment and then shook his head. “I’m really glad I came out here. Something is very wrong for people to make a threat like that. With all the dirt, I don’t think this fire would have reached the house. But I need to figure out what these people want from you. I need to figure out the best way to protect you both.”

“It’s not your job,” she said.

He walked closer to her, looked down at her, rubbed her arms lightly as if she were the one who needed to be comforted. As if he wasn’t the one who’d just thrown his body on a fire. “They took advantage of us leaving. We don’t do that again.”

She nodded.

“Is there something we can do here? On the land, just for fun? Something Taylor likes?”

She thought about it a moment and then nodded with a grin. “Yes, there’s something. It’s at the back of the property, but as long as your truck is here, I don’t think they’re going to come back.”

He nodded. “And it’ll make Taylor feel better?”

“I think so,” she said. “Hopefully, it’ll make all of us feel better. After we get you cleaned up and make sure you’re fine, that is.”

“I’m fine,” he said flatly. “What is it? What are we doing?”

She started for the house, waving for him to follow. “Fishing.”