Chapter Twenty-Four
Thane grabbed Lily from behind and tossed her on the padded mat. “Ouch,” she called out.
“Come on, Lily. You’re tougher than that.”
She rubbed her butt. “I am, but it still stings.” After a week of taking self-defense classes from Thane, she wondered if this had been a good idea. “Are you sure Birk has no idea we’re doing this?”
His eyes widened. “I didn’t tell him. I thought you wanted to surprise him for his birthday next week.”
“I do. I don’t want Birk to worry about me all the time. I want to show him I can handle myself.”
Thane smiled then placed a hand on her shoulder. “It will be the best birthday present he’ll get, but your claim has to be true. It’s why I ride you so hard.”
“I know, and I appreciate that you’re treating me like everyone else.” She’d spoken to Nessa and Greer about their training, and they both said Thane was the best.
“I normally don’t like to give any of my trainees a big head, but you are doing a great job. Really. Newly formed dragons are stronger and often more agile than us old farts.”
She laughed. “You are an amazing teacher and very strong for, as you say, an old fart.”
He rubbed his chest with his knuckles. “Aw, shucks.”
She punched him. “Okay, let’s try that attack again. This time, I’m not going to let you take me down.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Thane approached her with both arms extended. With great concentration, she ducked below them, stepped on his foot, and then wiggled and twisted so much he couldn’t grab a hold of her. She had yet to learn how to toss him to the ground but first things first. Turning to face him, she jabbed a palm into his chin while she pretended to gouge out his eyes.
Thane grabbed her wrists for real. “Excellent job. I think that’s enough for today.”
“No. I want to be able to throw you to the ground. You said you’d show me.”
He studied her for a moment. “Okay. But then we call it quits.”
She giggled. “Promise.”
“Let’s move over to the mat. If some guy comes at you, I want you to grab his right forearm with your left hand, like this.” He took hold of her arm. “Then with your right hand, grab the back of his head.” He demonstrated.
“That seems easy enough, but what’s to prevent him from pushing me away? Both my hands are occupied. He could knee me or swing his hands upward to dislodge my arms.”
He smiled. “Good question. It’s why you need to move fast.” One second, she was standing, and the next she was on the ground. Thane then helped her up.
Wow. That was faster than she could react. “I see. Can you break that down for me?”
“Sure. With your grip solidly on his arm and neck, wrap your right leg around the right side of his body, placing your calf where his knee is. As fast as you can, push him away, and he’ll trip over your leg, just like I did to you. That’s it.” Thane showed her again in slow motion. It seemed simple enough. “Now you try it.”
Thane could stop her from succeeding, but she suspected he would let her toss him to the mat. As quickly as she could, she executed the four moves in rapid succession. While she succeeded in tossing him to the ground, her leg became pinned underneath him. All she could do was laugh.
Thane chuckled. “I might have forgotten to mention that pushing the person’s body where you want him to fall and then getting the hell out of the way is the key.”
“Ah. The missing piece. Got it.”
She tried several more times until she could execute the move quite well. On the last try, Lily truly believed she’d caught him off guard. She clapped and grinned.
“Excellent job. I think that does it for tonight,” Thane said.
Seriously? “What about our flying lesson?”
He laughed. “You promised this was the last thing.”
“For indoor training.”
“You are a glutton for punishment.”
“Birk’s birthday is getting close. I really want to surprise him and show him what I have learned.”
He smiled and shook his head. “Okay. What do you want to learn first?”
“How to use my tail better to tie up my attacker.”
He raised a brow. “I thought you said you didn’t want to fight?”
“I don’t, but there might come a time when I don’t have a choice.”
Thane smiled. “I can see why Birk is so enthralled with you. Your can-do attitude is refreshing. Come on.”
Birk didn’t like that Lily was working so many extra hours, but he wouldn’t complain. She’d accused him of being too concerned about her already. When he asked about her work, she’d said she had a lot of claims to process, since she had taken off so many days during all that stuff with Toma. He’d thought about telling her that she didn’t need to work at all if she didn’t want to. He could easily support her, but he sensed that her working was important to her.
“You almost ready?” he telepathed.
Lily had been in the bedroom changing for over a half an hour. Sure, it was his birthday celebration, but they were only going to The Wing’s Bar.
“I’ll be right there.”
Now that they could mentally connect, it helped calm his nerves. At least he would know—if he asked—where she was at all times, and he could sense if she were ever in trouble.
The door opened, and as soon as Lily stepped into the living room, his cock took on a life of its own. He could only hope his zipper didn’t leave a permanent mark on his dick. “Wow. You look stunning.”
Lily was wearing a tight pair of black, shiny pants, and a bright pink top that clung to her perfect body. She turned around, and he admired the low-cut back. Ever since her dragon had healed her old scars, she’d been showing off her body more and more, and he couldn’t be more pleased.
“You like?” she asked, spinning back around.
He laughed. “I more than like. If we don’t leave right now, I’m going to tear off your clothes and make love to you once more.”
She stepped toward him, swinging her hips back and forth. “Well, it is your birthday. You can have anything you want.”
“With you occupying my mind, it’s a good thing the Guardians aren’t needed tonight to take down any evil beings, or I’d be killed for sure.”
She dragged a finger down his chest. “I distract you that much?”
“You know you do.” He lifted that finger and drew it deep into his mouth. Her blue eyes turned purple, and her scales shimmered on her chest. “Yum.”
Lily withdrew her hand. “I would say we should skip going out, but your whole family is going to be at the bar.”
“They are. Nessa told me that Mom even baked a cake.”
“Is this birthday more special than others?”
He smiled. “We go big every ten years once when we turn 110, and then 120, 130 and so forth. Come on, we need to go.”
“And this is one hundred and ten, right?”
He tapped her nose. “Yes, but don’t rub it in. You’ll be there someday.”
Birk still couldn’t believe how happy Lily made him. She slipped her arm in his and looked at him with what he called her adoring eyes. That made his body surge with endorphins and happiness.
Once they arrived at the bar and stepped inside, one of the cocktail waitresses motioned them to the back room where special events were often held.
“Are you excited?” Lily asked.
“I am. Even though I’ve had more birthday celebrations than I can remember, I have you with me this time, and that makes it more special.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You always say the best things.”
He planned on doing that for the rest of their lives. As soon as they entered the room, he stopped in his tracks. In the past, his parents and maybe a few of his siblings showed up. Today, all his cousins were in attendance. Helium balloons covered the ceiling and streamers were taped to the wall. In the center was a huge cake with two plastic dragons on top. Someone had gone to the trouble of painting his ruby scales on one, and Lily’s seafoam green ones on the other.
“This is incredible,” he said.
His mom beamed. “Everyone helped. Now sit down so we can get this party started.”
They all laughed. For the next fifteen minutes, he opened presents. His parents gave him a beautiful watch. From a few of his cousins, he received a gift certificate for his favorite gym, where he’d been taking classes for a while. The whole gift card thing was a concept the dragons brought back from Earth, and it was catching on fast in Tarradon.
After all the presents were doled out, Lily handed him a card. This would be the most special gift of all. He opened it and read the message. Twice. He glanced up at her and then over to Thane who was beaming.
“What does it say? Unless I don’t want to know,” his mom asked and then chuckled.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just stunned. For the last two weeks, Lily has been coming home quite late. She said it was because she had to make up her case work, but it seems she has been deceiving me.” He tossed her his best fake evil eye.
“I didn’t want to ruin my surprise.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“I’m glad you didn’t. I’ll read what she wrote: To the most wonderful man I know. Ah…blah, blah, blah. Can’t read that in public.” His face heated for a second. “Birk, because you’ve spent so much time worrying about me and my safety, I asked Thane to teach me self-defense, both in my human and my dragon form. I can’t wait to show you my new moves.”
His heart hammered. Thane was grinning ear to ear. “Birk, she is amazing. Not only is she a fast learner, the girl can kick some major ass.”
“I don’t know what to say. That is the best present anyone could give me.” He cupped the back of her head and kissed her. He didn’t care that everyone was looking. Okay, he cared a little, especially when everyone started clapping in unison.
He broke the kiss. “Maybe later, you can show me some of your skills.” Of course, he meant when both of them were naked.
She laughed. “Oh, I plan to.”
The group returned to chatting amongst themselves a bit more, and then Lily pushed back her chair. “I need to use the restroom. Be right back.” Birk stood to go with her, when she stopped him. “I’m good.”
He had to trust her. “Ok, baby. Hurry back.”
Lily was thrilled that Birk was so happy with her present. He really seemed to understand what it had taken for her to step out of her shell and not only ask for help—but to ask for help in learning how to fight. When all was said and done, she had so much more confidence because of gaining those new skills. Hell, she should have taken some classes years ago.
To think she’d been so dead set against dragons at one time. Of course, she had Nelor to blame for that.
Take some responsibility, her dragon grunted.
Fine. I should have seen what a jerk the man was, but back then I was thrilled that someone seemed to care for me. Yes, I now know that I was a fool.
As she approached the door leading to the ladies’ room, the men’s door open, and her body vibrated. She was still getting used to the ability at telling the difference between a dragon shifter and other types of shifters. This one about to come through the door was a dragon.
When the man’s head appeared, her muscles froze and her heart lodged in her throat. It was Nelor. Holy crap. What was he doing there? He was a wanted man.
Her initial instinct was to duck into the bathroom and hope he hadn’t seen her, but then her dragon told her to face him. It was the only way to erase all of the bad memories—and guilt.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Lily Harper.”
She squared her shoulders. “I thought the police were looking for you.”
He stepped closer, and her dragon pushed her talons out of her fingertips. She wasn’t going to fight him. It didn’t matter that she might be able to take him. After all, she was strong. And fast.
But at the first sign of stress, she knew who would come to her rescue, and Lily wanted to show Birk that she could handle this herself.
“I did leave, but I’m back. Don’t worry about me. The cops are too stupid to catch me.” He sniffed and then sneered. “I see you mated with a dragon? Was it that sad sack Caspian?”
She refused to comment.
“I never would have thought you’d mate with him. Poor guy has to look at your scarred back for the rest of his life.”
“What are you talking about?” She loved the look of confusion on his face. Lily lifted her hair to the side and twisted partially around, keeping a close eye on him. “See?”
“Well, well. I see your dragon healed you, but you still deserved what you got.”
His bitterness cut a hole in her gut, and something snapped. “Get out of here, Nelor.”
“Say what? You’re giving me orders now? That’s a laugh.”
A door banged open, and the music and voices from the bar finally registered in her brain. Birk must have sensed what was happening because his anger surged through her.
Without warning, Nelor lunged at her, and her instincts kicked in. In one swift move, she grabbed his neck and forearm while she wrapped her right leg behind his body. Probably because he had no idea what she was capable of, Nelor didn’t fight back, or else he was just plain shocked that she wasn’t backing away.
Just as Birk rushed down the hallway behind her, along with someone else, she shoved Nelor backward, and he tumbled on his ass. The satisfaction bolstered her ego.
“Let her do this,” Thane called out. “She can handle him.”
Birk growled, but he kept his distance. Nelor rose to his feet and spit on the floor. “You aren’t worth it,” he said.
As much as she wanted to laugh and ask if he thought he was, Nelor spun around and walked past her, Birk, and Thane, heading most likely toward the door. Being bested by a woman would be worse than death for Nelor, so she let him be.
“I’m going to kill the son of a bitch,” Birk said.
Lily didn’t need any more grief over Nelor Dobbins. She’d put him in his place. Something deep in her soul told her he’d never bother her again. “You can call the cops and let them deal with that asshole.” He still needed to have a trial for what he did to her the last time.
She touched Birk’s arm, and he spun around toward her. The lines around his face softened, and waves of desire radiated off him. Her heart filled with pride.
Birk stepped closer and cupped her face. “You’re right. I have to say, seeing you toss that jerk to the ground was the best birthday present I could have ever received. You are amazing, Lily.”
She smiled and then winked at Thane. “There are more smooth moves where those came from. Maybe I can practice on you?”
“Oh, baby. I can see this birthday is going to be one of my very favorites.”
THE END
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