Chapter 1
Present day
As he stepped through the glass doors of the four-story building filled with various offices—lawyers, real estate agents, and more—Dagen glanced at the text on his phone before shoving it back into his pocket.
You’re late.
Yeah, no shit he was late. Not bothering to respond to his new clanmate, he stared hard at the elevator doors, annoyed that he had to take the damn thing instead of the stairs.
But there was tape across the door to the stairs, proclaiming it was undergoing maintenance. It was stupid that after all these years he still hated small spaces. He was a dragon shifter. He could bust out of an elevator if he needed to. Could literally rip the doors off with his bare hands in human form. Still, being in a small metal box had all his hackles rising. He rolled his shoulders once as a petite female headed his way.
Her long, dark hair fell around her shoulders in soft waves, framing firm-looking breasts—and she most definitely wasn’t wearing a bra. He realized he was staring way too hard at the stranger so he abruptly turned away to face the elevator doors.
Not looking at her didn’t do a damn thing to get the image of her out of his brain. Especially when he could still see her out of the corner of his eye. Her long dress was bohemian, flowing down to her ankles. Her bracelets jangled in tune with the sound of her sandals, which made little snaps as she approached. When she didn’t walk past him, down the hallway to one of the many offices on the first floor, but stopped next to him instead, he subtly inhaled her scent.
It was wild, reminding him of the ocean on a windy day with undercurrents of something sweet and sensual.
His entire body jolted at the scent, his dragon waking up, nudging him to move closer. He was big, even by dragon standards, so it wasn’t as if he could step closer without her noticing.
He felt as if he was being tugged to her against his will, a puppet on her strings, but she barely looked his way.
When the elevator doors opened, he shoved back his urge to step inside in front of her. It was shifter nature to go into any room first to protect a female—for a mate. But it was a human custom to let females go first.
And as stupid as he thought the human tradition was, he wanted to be civil, so he let her inside first.
She gave a polite smile as she stepped inside.
“What floor?” she asked, finally looking at him and giving him the full effect of her greenish-gray eyes. They were vibrant against her bronze skin.
It took him a moment to find his voice. She was stunning. “Three.”
“That’s where I’m going too,” she said, her voice melodic.
He could discern the faint scent of members of his clan clinging to her, but nothing overt and nothing to indicate that she had any current sexual partners. He couldn’t help that he could scent that, even if he was sort of invading her privacy. But he couldn’t deny that part of his nature.
As the elevator moved upward, it suddenly jerked to a halt as a groaning sound filled the air.
The subtle scent of her worry sparked the air. She pressed the button again but nothing happened.
“This can’t be good,” she muttered.
He gritted his teeth and reminded himself that he wasn’t in that prison. He was in a stupid human construct, in a small Montana town, that he could easily bust out of if he needed. He wasn’t in a warded, enchanted stone prison thousands of miles away. He couldn’t act like a scared rabbit in front of her. Not in front of this female who his dragon wanted to impress.
He pulled out his cell phone and called the number on the wall for building maintenance. Being stuck in this little box with such a beautiful woman wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Still, he couldn’t stop that familiar tension that wrapped around his chest.
As he ended the call, he turned to the woman. “We should be out of here in twenty minutes.”
“I certainly hope so,” she said with a little laugh. “You sounded very authoritative.”
His mouth curved up in a small smile. He had been kind of brusque with the guy. But that was simply his nature.
“So what are you here for?” he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and trying to appear smaller. Not that it would really help. But he wanted her to feel as safe as possible and he knew his size could be intimidating. Sometimes he used that to his advantage, but not with women. And definitely not with humans.
“A super boring meeting I have no interest in.” She shrugged and gave him another one of those smiles he felt deep inside. This woman was simply stunning.
And that was when he noticed the dangling necklace between her breasts. Two wings that were most definitely fashioned after dragon wings, not angel wings as he often saw in jewelry. Maybe she knew of their kind? Maybe she was dating one of his kind.
He frowned at the thought and realized he was scowling when she took a small but subtle step back.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he scrubbed a hand over his face and leaned against one of the walls to give her as much space as he could. “I’m here for a meeting too. My name is Dagen,” he said, holding out a hand.
“I’m Keva,” she said, taking his much larger hand.
As they touched, he felt the electricity between them spark as if she’d actually shocked him. He couldn’t tell if she felt the same but her cheeks flushed a faint shade of pink as she took her hand back.
“So what do you do?” he asked, inwardly chastising his dragon who wanted him to step closer and run his nose along her neck. Yeah, because that wouldn’t send her running—or pepper-spraying him.
“I make jewelry and art. Sculptures and small pieces mainly. I own a shop downtown.”
That was when it clicked into place. This was the woman he was meeting. Her first name was Eileen. But he’d seen her middle initial was K—and she clearly went by her middle name.
This was the woman he was supposed to be trying to buy property from? He resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck in frustration. Shit, he needed to shred the offer he’d had his attorneys draw up. It wasn’t the worst, but…he had lowballed her. The building wasn’t for sale, but the clan owned almost all the buildings on that particular strip and it was in a prime location. So he’d had one of his attorneys reach out to her so they could discuss buying it.
“It’s okay,” Keva said softly, cutting into his thoughts. “Even if we do fall, we’re not even one floor up. We won’t be hurt.”
He frowned at her reassuring tone and wondered why she was telling him this—until he realized he was holding on to one of the metal bars. And gripping it so tightly he’d slightly dented it. Shit.
“I hate small spaces.” A confession he’d never told anyone. He eased his grip and hoped she didn’t notice the damage. That was definitely a little more than human strength could do.
“If I was as big as you, I’d probably hate small spaces too.”
He barked out a laugh at her words and she nailed him with a smile he felt bone deep. In that moment he felt like a jackass for the offer he’d drawn up to buy her shop. He was used to lowballing people, and while it was simply business for him, with her it made him feel like a dick.
“Do you live in the area?” she asked. The wild, sweet scent rolled off her and it was driving him crazy.
“Yeah. Been here about six months.” Which was nothing for someone his age. Dragons weren’t technically immortal, nothing really was, but they were close enough. He’d never gone into Hibernation, however. Not yet anyway.
“I’ve been here over four years. There’s great skiing in the winter and always something to do the rest of the year.”
He nodded once. He’d been working nonstop and hadn’t taken the time to enjoy himself, though his new clanmates were always trying to get him out. Instead he did what he did best. He made lots of money. He knew it was part of the reason Conall had agreed to let him join the clan. They had a very distant blood tie that linked them, but he was good at turning a profit. Always had been.
“We’ll get out of here soon,” she said softly, and he realized he’d gripped the railing again.
Damn it. He shoved his hands in his pockets again, beyond embarrassed. He was a dragon shifter. A powerful male who’d been on his own for a long damn time. This was ridiculous. He should be protecting and reassuring this female, not the other way around. “I know nothing will happen. It’s just…the small spaces.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Keep talking?” He liked the sound of her voice.
She smiled, and he felt it all the way to his soul. Yeah, he was seriously screwed where this female was concerned. He’d heard about the mating call, and he always thought that it wasn’t necessarily bullshit—but for some reason he hadn’t expected or remotely understood how strong the pull would be. He was just grateful that his mating manifestation wasn’t showing right now. Because that would be impossible to explain. Traditionally, for his familial line his manifestation showed with fire. Everywhere. The flames wouldn’t burn anything, but they would coat him and everything in the near vicinity.
“Okay,” she said laughingly. “What do you want me to talk about?”
“Tell me about yourself.”
“All right. If I start to bore you, just tell me to stop. Like I said, I’m an artist. I make jewelry mostly, but I do sculptures as well. Centerpieces—like for dining room or living room tables—are by far my most popular non-jewelry item… Still want me to keep going?”
He nodded. “What about non-work related stuff. Where did you grow up? How did you know you wanted to be an artist?”
“Oh, well, I grew up in a very traditional, strict household. Then during a class field trip when I was in middle school we went to a museum and an entire new world of art opened up to me. My parents were horrified that my class was shown art with naked people,” she said, laughing. “Honestly they were well-meaning-ish but so ridiculous. Then when I decided to get a degree in art, they about lost their minds. They were glad I went to college at all, however. My mom had been afraid that—and I’m quoting her exactly—I would turn into a hippie and join a commune where I’d end up being one of many wives to some guy. I think she was confusing communes and cults. But yeah. My parents were set in their ways.”
He snorted, enjoying the soft, melodic rhythm of her words. “You’re talking about your parents in the past tense.”
She nodded. “My dad died of colon cancer years ago. And my mom was an alcoholic, though I didn’t realize it until I was older. Her liver finally just gave out. They died a few months apart.”
There was a wealth of sadness in her voice and he regretted asking her to talk about herself. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I probably should’ve stuck to something lighter for elevator talk with a stranger.”
Before he could respond, the elevator jerked to life, and her smile grew even bigger.
“Well that’s perfect timing. We can both get to our meetings.” She seemed relieved, probably because of the heavier tone of the conversation.
He simply nodded. Though he hated small spaces, he wouldn’t have minded staying where he was just a little bit longer. They both stepped out onto the third floor.
“I think we may be going to the same place,” he said, nodding at the reception desk where Mrs. Heck, an efficient human woman in her forties, sat in front of a computer. She smiled at the two of them. There were various offices on this floor, so Keva might not realize they were headed in the same direction, but he had no doubt.
“Mr. Hunter, good to see you again. And you must be Ms. Sheehan?”
“Yes.” Keva then looked at him questioningly. “You’re one of the attorneys?”
“No, I made the offer on what I think is your property. The first name listed is Eileen.”
Surprise flashed across her face. “My legal first name, but I go by Keva since my mom’s first name was Eileen too.”
“The conference room is ready if you two would like to follow me,” Mrs. Heck said.
“Did you need to wait for your attorney?” Dagen asked. Suddenly he was annoyed that she was here by herself. Someone should be here to look over the offer for her.
Her cheeks flushed pink and she shook her head. “It’s just me. And to be fair, I’m likely going to tell you no. But I know your attorney, so I agreed to it out of respect for…” She trailed off, snapping her mouth shut.
He wanted to ask what she’d been about to say, but the administrative assistant stopped at the last door and nodded to where the two attorneys were already waiting inside. “They’re ready for you.”
He moved inside and dropped his voice to subvocal levels so Keva wouldn’t be able to hear. “We need to come up with a better offer. Stall for a few minutes and draw up something new.” Then he laid out his new offer quickly, knowing it was higher than what the building was actually worth.
He wouldn’t risk insulting her. More than that, he wanted to start courting her properly. Because screw this acquisition—he didn’t care about any of it. He simply cared about getting to know the woman from the elevator who’d tried to make him feel better when it was clear he was feeling claustrophobic.
Turner nodded once and started to gather the papers from the long conference table.
But he saw that Keva had already picked up one of the proposed contracts and was frowning.
“This is the wrong offer,” he said, stepping forward, wishing he could simply snatch it out of her hands.
She frowned more as she flipped one of the pages. Then she snorted, the sound adorable. “Well if you’d told me this offer over the phone, I could’ve saved you a lot of trouble. I’ll admit I was a little curious about this meeting. But this is beyond insulting.” She dropped the stapled set of papers back onto the table, her face a neutral mask as she looked between the three of them. Her expression might reveal nothing, but he could scent her anger. Gone was the friendly, smiling woman from before. Instead she gave him an icy smile. “I can tell you right now I’m not going to sell. I’m sorry you wasted your time. Actually, I’m not sorry about that. I’m sorry I wasted my time.” She picked up her purse and started for the door.
His dragon was desperate to stop her. Moving with inhuman speed, he stepped in front of her. “This offer was a mistake.”
Fire sparked in her eyes, and a hint of fear, which disturbed him. He immediately stepped back, not wanting to crowd her space. “I’d say it was a mistake. Look, I don’t like wasting my time. If Conall wants the property, just tell him to call me. I’ll work something out with him. But this,” she said, motioning to the contract on the table, “is garbage. I expected more from him.” A hint of disappointment crept into her voice.
She knew Conall? He was surprised enough that when she stepped past him he didn’t try to stop her. Not that he had the right to. Unfortunately he had to let her go. For now. But he was going to make this right.
And then he was going to make her his.