Her Dragon Protector Read online

  Her Dragon Protector

  Black Claw Dragons: Book 2

  Roxie Ray

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Axel

  2. Charlotte

  3. Axel

  4. Charlotte

  5. Axel

  6. Charlotte

  7. Axel

  8. Charlotte

  9. Axel

  10. Charlotte

  11. Axel

  12. Charlotte

  13. Axel

  14. Charlotte

  15. Axel

  16. Charlotte

  17. Axel

  18. Charlotte

  19. Axel

  20. Charlotte

  21. Axel

  22. Charlotte

  23. Axel

  Her Dragon Lover

  Free Bonus Chapters!

  Join my author page!

  Her Dragon Protector

  Prologue

  Charlotte

  The steak sizzled in the cast iron pan as I danced around the kitchen. Logan was due home at any moment, and he’d totally forgotten it was our six-month anniversary. Six months might not have sounded like much to some people, but I had a history of short, volatile relationships. I was proud to hit six months.

  Steak, potatoes, broccoli and cheese. His favorites. It was almost done, and he’d be walking in the door any moment.

  The day had passed quickly. I got up early and cleaned our apartment from top to bottom before shopping for the ingredients for dinner. We’d only lived together for about a month, but I had three days off, so I put in a little extra effort to clean up. We’d settle into a routine eventually.

  My phone blared out the nineties pop I loved to dance to as I cleaned and cooked. As I wiped the kitchen table down, I shook my booty. When Logan got here, we’d eat, then have dessert. Or maybe dessert first. On the table, if I was lucky.

  Logan and I were incredibly passionate in all areas. We argued a lot, but we made up a lot, too. We were both so opinionated that sometimes we butted heads, but that worked for us. I’d finally found a man who could keep up with me.

  Humming, I put out the plates, flipped the steaks, and peeked at the potatoes in the oven. I cheated with the broccoli, steaming it in the microwave and using jarred cheese sauce.

  Who cared? It was yummy.

  The sound of the front door slamming goosed me. I lit the candles and took off the ratty old apron I’d thrown on to keep my dress clean.

  “Welcome home.” I cheered when Logan walked into the kitchen.

  It didn’t take me long to figure out something was wrong.

  “What the fuck is all this?” His suit was half untucked and his normally impeccable hair was all mussed.

  “I made dinner,” I said with my eyebrows up. “Are you okay?”

  Logan slammed his hand on the table. “No!” When he yelled, his breath whooshed across the table at me, smacking me in the face like a shot of vodka. He’d been drinking.

  Shit. He’d told me up front he rarely drank because he was an angry drunk. I didn’t mind. I liked the occasional glass—or bottle—of wine, but for the right man I could give up most things.

  “We’ve been together six months today.” I kept my voice bright. “I got good steaks, which should be done now.”

  I didn’t want to do anything to trigger more anger. Something had to have happened at work to create such a response in him. “Do you want chives on your potato? I can chop some real quick.”

  “What the fuck did you do today?” It wasn’t a question; it was an accusation.

  I put the steaks on a plate to rest and turned the eye off. “Why?”

  Logan’s face darkened. “Because I want to know. Fucking tell me.”

  “Okay, I cleaned, got food, and came home and cooked.” I grabbed the potholder to get the potatoes out. “Oh, and took a long bath to pamper myself so I’d be beautiful for you.”

  I didn’t want to make him angrier on top of whatever had gotten him so riled up, but shit, I worked hard on my day off for this, and he came in like a thundercloud.

  “Did you run into Seth?” He jerked out a kitchen chair and sat down.

  “Your boss? Yeah, I did. I’d forgotten.” He’d been at the grocery store at the same time I was. “He said hello, I said hello. Why?”

  “Were you dressed like this?” He waved at my dress, which was snug and black and showed my curves in all the right places.

  Looking down at myself, I shook my head, confused why that mattered. He was crossing a line, asking how I dressed at the grocery store, and my wariness about not pissing him off was turning into anger. “No. I wore jeans and a t-shirt. What does that have to do with anything?”

  He stood out of the kitchen chair so fast it made me jump. “Why are you such a slut?”

  My eyebrows were in danger of flying off the top of my head. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “Excuse the fuck outta me?”

  “I told you I liked my woman to dress modestly!” he roared.

  I was perfectly capable of yelling, too. “And I do dress modestly, but I do that for me, not because you asked me to. I like to look classy.”

  “You lying bitch.” A little piece of spittle flew from his mouth.

  He didn’t cross the line. He lit it on fire and stomped on it. “He came back to work and told me how hot you looked. You were flaunting it for him, weren’t you? Hoping to get a leg up? Fuck the boss, maybe you could get with him instead?”

  “You’ve lost your fucking mind. I can’t help it if someone thinks I’m hot.” I turned off the oven and threw my potholder down. “I hope you choke on dinner.” I turned to walk out of the room. Time to lock myself in the bathroom and read until he calmed down.

  He’d never gone this far before, gotten this angry. I didn’t know how to deal with it.

  When I tried to stalk past him, he grabbed my arm, jerking me around to his front. My hip banged into the table painfully, rattling the dishes. “Hey!” I jerked my arm out of his grip, but he wasn’t ready to let go. He grabbed the front of my dress and yanked, throwing me off balance again and ripping my dress down the front, exposing my lacy bra. I lost my balance in my stupid heels and fell against the table again, this time knocking over an empty water glass.

  It hit the table and cracked, half of it breaking away.

  Logan grabbed my arms in a vice grip and dragged me upright again. My blood pounded in my temple as he spoke, narrowing my vision. “You have to learn you can’t embarrass me. I won’t be made a fool of.” He shook me once, hard.

  “Let go of me,” I screamed. My head flopped as he shook me again, but I couldn’t get my arms free. The moment I realized I couldn’t get free, I began to panic.

  Twisting my body, I tried to bump him back with my hips. He was too strong and too angry. “Slut!” He pulled me around to face him again and shook me harder until my teeth clacked together with a sharp pain in my jaw.

  If I didn’t do something, he’d genuinely hurt me. I kicked at his shin with my heel and missed but tried again and made contact. He shoved me backward into the refrigerator with a guttural yell, then continued calling me horrible names as he advanced on me. Every name was like a physical blow to my confidence. Not because I believed him, but it showed me how angry he was and made me fear I wouldn’t be able to get away from him. I got to my feet and prepared to try to get around him, my gaze darting around the room to find an escape. I brushed off the filthy names like a splash of water. I’d remember them, but they didn’t harm me, not really. Not like he was capable of doing.

  Unsure how I’d gotten on the floor, I moaned as I took in my surroundings. The last thing I remembered was worrying about getting around him. Consciousness returned slowly and pa
infully. My cheek throbbed the most, at least until I moved my head. When I tried to sit up, the back of my head pounded enough to make me dizzy and nauseated. Reaching up, I touched my fingers to the spot that hurt the most. And when I pulled my fingers away, they came back covered in blood.

  I hadn’t even seen his fist coming. I didn’t feel my body hit the floor. I didn’t feel my head hit the corner of the small deep freeze beside the refrigerator. Based on my grogginess and the pain in my head, it had happened, knocking me out cold.

  Rough, cold cotton pressed against my aching cheek, making me gasp. My eyes flew open to find Logan sitting beside me on the kitchen floor. He’d made a cold compress and held it against the side of my face. Without sitting up, I took it from him so I could press it against my skin with far less force.

  “Why did you have to do that?” he asked in a low voice. “This all could’ve been avoided if you’d behaved in a respectful manner.”

  I couldn’t argue with him. If I did, he’d get angry again. I whimpered as my jaw opened. I didn’t think it was broken, but it was sore as hell. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  I wasn’t sorry. The first chance I got, I’d be the fuck out of there. But for now, he had to think I was obedient and contrite.

  I’d seen that movie. Bitches that stuck around ended up dead. I was not going to be a statistic.

  “You’ll learn.” He pressed a kiss to my hand as I pressed the ice pack on my cheek. It took everything I had not to scream at him not to touch me. “Come on.”

  After hopping to his feet, he bent over and picked me up off the floor with barely a grunt. That’s how much stronger than me he was.

  His hands on my ribs sent a shot of pain, but what made me cry out was moving my head. There was no way I didn’t have a concussion.

  The whole way up the stairs, he crooned in my ear, told me he loved me and promised to take care of me.

  I didn’t want him to take care of me. I wanted him to fucking leave so I could escape and never see this psycho again.

  To my intense dismay, Logan took the next day off work to take care of me. Then I had to wait through the weekend. I definitely should’ve gone to the hospital, and even suggested it at one point, but he insisted I’d be fine with a bit more rest. Thankfully, I’d been a nurse long enough to know that I was hurt, but not seriously injured. A few days of rest and anti-inflammatories would set me right.

  Still, becoming a statistic wasn’t in my future. I’d fucked around and let him fool me into thinking he was just passionate. High-spirited. Not fucking psycho.

  I hoped I was right about my injuries, because he didn’t leave me alone long enough to get the fuck out of the house. The weekend passed in a blur of sleep and pills that Logan got from fuck knows where. At least I recognized them and could tell they were safe. Thank heaven for my training.

  Sunday, I realized I had to act more normal or he might try to stay home on Monday, too. I didn’t want to get up too early, though, and have to spend the entire day faking complacency and affection. After Logan brought my lunch and I heard the sound of his favorite PlayStation game turn on, I took a long shower.

  Damn, I moved like a slug. The headache had faded to a dull throb, but my body was in slow mode. By the time I got out of the shower and dressed, Logan was on his way up to check on me.

  “Hey, sunshine. I thought I heard the shower. You need help?”

  I turned away from my vanity mirror with a smile plastered on my face and my light blonde hair in a messy bun. “I’m moving slow, but I’m okay. I wanted to get up and move and see if I’ll be able to work tomorrow.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “With your face like that?”

  I shrugged. No big deal. “I’ll tell them we were in a wreck.”

  “They’ll wonder why you didn’t come to your own hospital for treatment.”

  Blinking, I thought fast. “We went away for the weekend, got in a wreck in a cab, my face hit the headrest in front of me.”

  He nodded. “If you don’t act all slutty again, what we went through…” He said it like I’d been a willing participant in the abuse, “…will never happen again. We care about each other so much. There won’t be a reason for me to get that angry again, will there?”

  I stepped into his arms and wrapped my hands around his waist. The words that came out of my mouth made me nauseated, but I was nobody’s fool. I played the game until I could get away. “Of course not. I didn’t do it intentionally, of course. I’d never flirt with another man. But from now on I’ll make sure I don’t inadvertently come across flirty.”

  Logan’s delighted smile was almost more than I could take. I buried my face in his chest instead of keeping the fake happiness on my face.

  “We’ll speak no more of it,” he crooned in my ear. “It’s over. Behind us.” His finger touched my jaw with a soft touch, applying a bit of pressure so I’d look up.

  With a deep breath, I looked into his eyes vulnerably. “Maybe by tomorrow after work, I’ll feel like making up all the way.” Fluttering my eyelashes, I prayed he got the hint and wouldn’t ask me to sleep with him tonight. “My head still hurts enough to make me want to mostly rest today.” It was such a fine line between too sick to fuck and well enough that he didn’t have to stay home from work tomorrow.

  His eyes lit up. “That will be nice. We can redo our dinner.”

  I squeezed him around the waist, then released him. “I’m going to take a little nap, okay? I’ll come down and cook a simple dinner soon.”

  He pressed a kiss to my forehead, the only place he hadn’t bruised on my head, then turned away. “Enjoy your nap.”

  Fuck. I’d intended to go down and spend more of the day around him showing him I was okay, but now I was nervous he’d ask for sex. I couldn’t give him that, not ever again.

  After making a quick pot of spaghetti, I begged off again and went to bed, actually falling asleep. I stirred a teeny bit when Logan came to bed but was actually sore and sleepy enough that I slept through his settling down.

  The next morning, I got up when our alarm went off and we started our normal morning routine, which was too busy to say much to each other. Logan was in a cheery mood, whistling as he shaved, and generally making me want to shoot him.

  Finally, finally, I pressed a kiss to his cheek as he ran out the door with his briefcase. “See you tonight,” I called. “Can’t wait.”

  His SUV pulled away from the curb. I let the curtain I’d been peeking behind fall into place once he turned onto the next street and I couldn’t see him anymore.

  I had a few hours. Very rarely, Logan came home for lunch. I had to be gone before that.

  My parents were total assholes. Couldn’t go there. I only had one place to turn.

  Time to drive to Black Claw, Colorado.

  1

  Axel

  The scent of peonies drove me wild as I stalked into the house with my mate in my arms. I’d known her all of thirty seconds, and already Asher was losing his shit. If he didn’t calm down, he’d affect me more than he already was. Normally, I had no problem controlling my dragon, but we’d never met our fated mate before. This was a world unknown.

  When I watched the car speed up the driveway and come to a stop in a cloud of dust in the middle of my nephew’s shifting celebration, I’d done so with only a mild interest. My curiosity was slightly raised when I realized it was an extremely attractive friend of Ava’s.

  My police officer training had been kicked on when I saw her bruises, but none of that prepared me for the moment the wind shifted.

  Asher had stirred as soon as she climbed out of her tiny red car. He sensed far before I did who she was to us. I was in the dark until her smell danced around us provocatively, ensnaring us in its grip with the lightest touch of a feather wrapped around a fist of iron.

  Mate. We have a mate. She’s our mate. Asher went so wild I nearly shifted right then, a problem I’d literally never had. As a beta dragon, Asher was predisposed to foll
ow, to listen to reason.

  He was still a dragon. Headstrong, willful, stubborn. He had a violent streak. But I’d always been able to control it. My human will was stronger than his.

  Most of the time.

  Today, it took everything I had, plus Zephyr, my alpha brother’s dragon, to keep Asher in check.

  When I’d seen her nearly collapse, wild dogs from hell couldn’t have kept me from catching her. As soon as she was in my arms, Asher calmed somewhat. Until, as we walked in to the manor, he started worrying about her health.

  She needs a human doctor.

  I agreed with him. Rushing inside with Ava and pretty much our entire clan on my heels, Asher alternated between worry and rage.

  Personally, I funneled my worry into rage. Whoever did this to her had to pay.

  He must burn.

  As a cop, I couldn’t exactly set some dude on fire. However, I could use all my resources to see him brought to justice. I’d keep myself—and my dragon—far away from him as I did it.

  Our oversized sofa was the closest place to lay her down comfortably.

  She couldn’t have come at a better time. Our entire clan was here for my nephew Maddox’s first shift. He’d had his shift and we’d been just about to start the party—which normally would’ve lasted into well into the night—when Charlotte pulled up.

  The clan doctor, Buddy, was here, which was a rare occurrence. He tended to stay near my grandfather’s part of the clan because he held a much larger and more populated territory than my younger brother, our Alpha.

  “Let me through.” Buddy’s voice cut through the worry and rage as he tried to get to Charlotte on the couch.