Her Dragon Protector Read online

  “How long was I out?” I asked. “If my injuries aren’t that bad?”

  “I didn’t quite say not that bad,” he said. “Just that you’re lucky. You have a pretty nasty concussion, and that caused your bout of unconsciousness, which was roughly twelve hours, by the way. Your brain made your personality shut down and sleep so it could heal. How long ago did this happen?” He took the tablet back and tapped on it while I considered the question.

  “So, this is Tuesday morning, then?” I indicated the window, where the sunrise had begun to brighten the room even with all the lights on.

  Ava nodded. “You showed up late Monday evening. Last night.”

  “Friday night.” Friday was when I’d made the dinner. My first day off. “Oh, no, I didn’t call work.”

  “I did,” Ava said. “I told them you wouldn’t be back for a while, at least a week. Bought you time to figure out for sure what you want to do.”

  “Thank you.” I studied my hands. No way I was going back to New Mexico, but I felt bad about leaving them high and dry. This whole situation was so damn embarrassing. How had I not realized what Logan was capable of?

  “Well, you’re clear to leave the hospital. You need lots of rest and don’t do anything taxing. You might experience random headaches, moments of confusion or memory problems for weeks to come with a knock on the noggin that severe. You also might not. Either way, take it easy.” He smiled at me again. “Do you have somewhere you can rest up?”

  Ava nodded eagerly. “She’s staying with me as long as she needs to.”

  “Good. Don’t let her do anything more strenuous than loading the dishwasher, and not even that for a few days.” As he spoke, a nurse came around the bed and worked on removing my IV. I’d had them before, and put in a countless number of them at work. As usual, the worst part was removing the damn tape.

  Ava saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

  “Charlotte,” Dr. Hamlish said. “One last thing. I did not do a rape kit. We feel with your injuries it’s necessary to ask.”

  I held up my hands. “It’s okay. I know you had to ask, but no, he didn’t rape me. A kit isn’t necessary.”

  Dr. Hamlish nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Very glad, young lady. Now, the next important thing. The police are outside and need to take a statement. Do you feel up to talking to them?”

  I started to shake my head. Talking to the police and recounting every detail of what happened was the last thing I wanted to do. But Ava’s eyes widened, then narrowed. If I said no, she might give me another concussion. Damn. “Yes. I’ll talk to them.”

  I looked at my friend, the only person I’d had to turn to. “Will you stay with me?”

  “Of course.” Ava sat in the chair again and looked at the doctor. “Send them in.”

  One man walked in wearing street clothes. “Hello, dear. My name is James Kingston. You know Maverick?”

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  “I’m his father. We are the police officers here in Black Claw, along with Maverick’s brother Axel and a colleague of ours named Carlos. Due to the fact that your best friend is in a relationship with one of our officers, I’m obligated to offer to call in someone from the next county over to take your statement.” His kind face put me at ease, even as he tried to tell me I didn’t have to trust him. “However, it’s not just an obligation. I want you to be the most comfortable you can be. This is a difficult process.”

  “It’s okay. If he’d raped me, maybe I wouldn’t want to talk to Maverick’s dad.” I chuckled ruefully. What a sad situation. “But he just beat the shit out of me, and you can take that statement all right.”

  James furrowed his brow and twisted his lips. “Okay. Why don’t you start at the beginning? His name, your relationship to him and so on.”

  “Okay, well, his name is Logan. We met about six months ago at a singles party a mutual friend threw. He’s in advertising.” I wasn’t really sure what else to say. I gave him Logan’s address and phone number. “We dated for about five months before he asked me to move in with him. He’d been an absolute dream until then, so I did it, of course. Jump in with both feet, that’s me.”

  I sighed and looked at Ava. I didn’t want to recount the story of getting my ass beat.

  “It’s okay,” Ava took my hand. “You can do this.”

  With my nerves running rampant, I closed my eyes and told them about the special dinner, the visit to the grocery store, and what happened after. When I finished telling them every single detail, I realized tears were coursing down my cheeks. It hurt more than I’d expected it to, telling them what Logan had done to me. Recounting the hits, the falls, the shaking.

  The horrible three days I’d slept and pretended to be asleep if he came in the room.

  “I can’t ever see him again,” I whispered. “Never again.”

  “You never have to,” Ava said. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  James makes a few notes on the pad of paper he’d used while I recounted my tale. “You’re free to go,” he said. “Please reach out if you think of anything else or if you need anything at all.” He pressed a business card into my hand, patted Ava on the shoulder, and walked out.

  “You ready to get out of here?” she asked.

  “Beyond. I’m starving.” My stomach growled as if to prove my point.

  I threw my legs off the side of the bed, then groaned when my abdomen hurt from moving so fast.

  “Easy does it,” Ava said. She handed me my pants first, then when I groaned trying to bend over, she took them back and threaded my feet through the leg holes. She pulled them up enough for me to grab hold so I could hike them up as I stood.

  The shirt was a little bit easier. “No, fuck the bra. I’ve got nice, perky tits. Won’t kill anyone to see me without a bra.”

  Ava snorted and stuffed my bra into her purse. “Okay, gimme your feet and I’ll put your socks and shoes on.”

  “You’re a saint.” I sat back down and watched her tie my sneakers. “Ready?”

  “Yes.” She held open the door for me to walk into the hall.

  Walking wasn’t too bad, so I did the best I could to move normally to the elevator.

  “This way,” Ava pointed me to the left, and I spotted an exit door.

  When we hit the fresh air, Maverick smiled at us from his spot leaning on the side of Ava’s SUV, and an incredibly handsome man stood beside him, staring at me intently.

  “Hey, Charlotte. Glad to see you upright.” He held open the back door for me. “Fancy a lift?”

  “Thanks, Maverick.” I walked toward the car, and the handsome man stuck his hand out.

  “Hello. I’m Axel.”

  When I shook it, he only gripped lightly, as if afraid of hurting me. I had no idea why he was here with Maverick and Ava to get me, but at this point I didn’t care. I just wanted to eat and lie down, though anyone else seeing me like this wasn’t my favorite thing.

  “Can we stop at the pharmacy?” Ava asked Maverick. “The doctor gave her some pain medicine.”

  “And food,” I added. “I’m starving.”

  “Of course,” Maverick said. “We only have a couple of fast food places in Black Claw. Do you want breakfast food or lunch food?” I didn’t care and said as much. “Breakfast it is,” Maverick replied.

  He went to a drive-through and I got two breakfast burritos and a huge coffee. Moaning, I sucked down the scalding hot coffee. “Oh, that’s good.”

  The ride was quiet and I ignored everyone and snarfed my food. When we got to the pharmacy, I cleaned up my mess and climbed carefully out of the SUV. “I’ll be right back.”

  Damn, these small-town pharmacies didn’t have a drive-through. I didn’t feel like going in and everyone seeing me, but I had to give them my prescription and insurance information. They’d probably want ID.

  “I’ll go with you.” Axel bounded from the back seat, where he’d sat beside me since we left the hospital. He walked close and touched my elbow wit
h the tip of his fingers. “Would you like to hold my arm?”

  I looked into his gorgeous chocolate eyes and though I meant to say no, my head nodded yes. I was slightly unsteady still, after all.

  He walked me to the pharmacy window and as soon as my hands hit the counter, he let go of me. At least he wasn’t being overly touchy. As soon as I didn’t need his support, he’d let go.

  They had a twenty-minute wait.

  “Come on. We’ll get you home and I’ll come back for it.”

  “Can they release narcotics to you?” I didn’t want to get home then have to turn around and go back out, but now that I’d eaten, I wanted to lie down more than anything.

  “Hey, Jim,” Axel called to the pharmacist. “Can you release her script to me so I can take her home?”

  The older man behind the counter looked up and nodded. “Sure. Since it’s you.”

  “There.” Axel looked supremely pleased with himself. “Let’s get you home.”

  I sighed and let him help me back to the car. Within another quarter-hour, we pulled up to Ava’s cabin.

  “The kids are up at the manor,” Ava said. “We’ll have the house to ourselves for the rest of the weekend.”

  When I turned to open my door, Axel was already out of the car, around it, and opening the door for me. He held out a hand with a helpful smile and I accepted it gratefully.

  “Ava’s Maddox drove your car down and he and my brother took all your stuff in.”

  That was a relief. It was a car full.

  He continued as we walked into the enormous cabin. “Our mom got your bags unpacked for you while you were at the hospital.” He smiled tentatively. “She said to tell you she didn’t mess with anything that looked too personal, not even your underwear. She just put a few clothes away, so you’d have something unwrinkled to wear.”

  That was lovely. I trusted Ava’s judgment of the woman, and she’d told me before how much she trusted her. She must have because she let her kids around the woman constantly. That was nice that she’d gained grandparents for Hailey as well as Maddox.

  Maddox was Maverick’s son, but around the time Ava found out she was pregnant, Maverick had left town and she couldn’t find him. They reconnected when Maddox was seventeen and Ava had another child, Hailey, from a previous marriage. Maverick and his family had absorbed Hailey like she was Maverick’s. I loved them for that. Hailey was the sweetest child.

  The stairs took me ages to get up. “I felt better than this yesterday,” I grumbled. “Why do I feel so bad now?”

  Axel kept holding out his hand as if to help or grab me and keep me from falling, but I wanted to make it on my own. “You were probably running on adrenaline. Were you still in the house with whoever did this yesterday?”

  “Well, no. I was driving yesterday. But the day before I was, and I felt horrible, but not this bad.” I felt comfortable talking to him for some reason, even though I barely knew him.

  He nodded as we topped the stairs. “Yep, probably adrenaline. You’ll be able to rest now, and heal.”

  We walk into the same bedroom I’d used when I visited before. “Here you go.”

  I wondered why Ava hadn’t walked me up, but Axel was nice, so I didn’t complain. He was nice to look at, too, but that was beside the point.

  “Listen, Charlotte.” I turned back to him to see him looking nervous. “I’m one of the police officers in Black Claw, and I live just up the road. The house you first came to when you got here, that’s my home. If you ever need anything, just yell. Or call. Ava has my number so you can put it in your phone.”

  He pulled the door nearly closed. “Stick with us, Charlotte.” I liked the way he said my name. He put a little lilt on the vowels. “We’ll keep you safe.”

  He shut the door. I looked around the room at my bags and boxes, everything from my car, but the bed was too inviting to begin thinking about unpacking. I collapsed on the bed, waking only long enough to take one of the pills Ava put to my lips. I had nothing to think about but Logan and six wasted months of my life. Crying softly, I fell asleep as the effects of the pill took hold, drifting into a dream where Axel kept trying to tell me something, but I was too upset to listen.

  3

  Axel

  My patrol was almost over, thank goodness. Every time I turned around, I found my cruiser moving closer and closer to Ava’s place. The town was having a sleepy Friday, most people staying home in the early spring chill. It wasn’t warm enough for the drive-in theater to open, and the only place the kids liked to hang out was a local diner, which only offered a limited menu in the winter.

  We were technically in spring, but the cold hadn’t quite let up. The days were fairly warm, but not the nights.

  With a sigh, I turned around after realizing I was halfway back to the road that led up to Ava’s cabin and my parents’ manor house.

  Charlotte was burned in my mind, a now-permanent fixture of my psyche. I hadn’t seen her since the day I helped her to her room, but that didn’t mean I’d stopped thinking about her. Not for a second.

  Asher had wanted me to take her on the bed right then, but of course, that hadn’t even remotely been an option. I wouldn’t violate her trust for all the money in the world.

  Dragons were sexual beings. They wanted to express all their emotions with sex. Feeling protective? Have sex. Sad? Sex would cheer him up. Angry? Have some angry sex.

  Luckily, I had more sense than that. Charlotte would sleep with me when she was damn good and ready and not a moment before. She’d take the lead with the physical side of our relationship. It was the best way to build trust with her. She had to trust me with her life before I could tell her the truth or else she’d spook and run.

  No, I had to go about this the right way.

  Driving aimlessly, I watched the clock on the dash tick toward four, when I could go back to the station. At least there I could sit at a desk and contemplate Charlotte instead of doing it driving around town where I could easily head in her direction. Patrol shifts were normally fun. I’d stop in and check on different businesses, say hi to people, and generally spend the time socializing.

  Not this week. I just wanted to drive somewhere closer to Charlotte. I had to give her space.

  Even Asher was committed to giving her all the time she needed, but it was so damn hard to stay away. Her scent lingered in my mind like a siren song, transfixing me.

  We are Maverick’s brother. We can be at the cabin.

  It was true, we could hang out at the cabin, but it might weird Charlotte out. I didn’t want to add anything troubling to her already fragile life. She’d had a rough time of it and deserved the space.

  Finally, the clock gave me permission to head back to the station. I went in and relieved Carlos, who had been on desk duty and would now take over patrol. When he got back at eight, then I’d go home and our probie, Jordyn, would come in for the night shift. I settled in to organize my desk. I had no paperwork to do, and Carlos had cleaned the station, dusting and sweeping. We had no prisoners at the moment, either. Black Claw was generally the best place to be a police officer. We stayed somewhat uneventful, which was always good, if somewhat boring at times.

  Three-quarters of the way through my shift, my baby brother Jury and nephew Maddox burst through the doors, laughing and grinning. They held several Tupperware containers I recognized as belonging to my mother.

  “Excellent. Dinner?” My mother sent dinner to me when I worked this shift. Sometimes she delivered it, sometimes she sent another member of the family. I knew she sent lunch frequently as well, but we were more likely to stop and pick up a sandwich somewhere during the day than go out for dinner.

  Jury nodded. “Yep. Mom sent us. Said you’d forget to eat if we didn’t feed you, so here we are.”

  They set the containers on Maverick’s desk and unpacked a canvas bag. She’d put in plates, napkins, silverware, the whole kit. That was the way she was, remembering every detail.

  “She
knows we have all this stuff here.” I laughed and shook my head.

  Maddox held out a plate. “Don’t fight it. She said we’re to stay while you eat, bring back the dishes and leftovers and not leave anything you’d have to clean up here.” He wiggled the plate in front of me. She hadn’t even sent paper plates and plastic cutlery. She sent the real stuff and would wash it as soon as the guys took it back.

  With a snort, I took the plate and began peeking into the containers. “Well, by all means then. You can’t disobey Mom. She’s a bear when pissed.”

  “I haven’t seen her mad,” Maddox said. “She can’t be that bad.” He looked pretty skeptical, but if he’d never seen it, I understood his confusion. My mother was a small, quiet woman…until she got mad. Then she turned into a whole different kind of dragon.

  Jury and I burst into laughter and Jury elbowed Maddox in the ribs. “She’s terrifying.”

  Maddox shook his head in disbelief. He’d learn one day. One of us would piss Mom off enough and Maddox would see. Then he might run for the hills.

  But who knew? He was her first grandchild. She might be different with him.

  Jury was born a few months before Maverick and Ava conceived Maddox, so they were pretty close in age. Now that Maddox was about to graduate high school, they were talking about their futures and what they want to do with their lives.

  Jury already graduated nearly two years before, but he was special. He had to stay close to the family due to his rare ability to track. If other clans learned we had a tracker, they’d either try to kill him or steal him. Neither was an option. He hadn’t been happy about not being able to go away to college, but eventually, he’d given in. The danger was too great to have him away from his clan. At best he could’ve gone to stay with our grandfather, the High Alpha of our clan, but he’d opted to stay at home.

  He wanted to be a forest ranger, though, and had found an online college to take wildlife and ranger classes. I was so proud of him. He worked hard, much harder than I did at his age. All I did was goof off and try to skip classes. I’d taken classes in Arizona after we moved from Black Claw to be near my grandfather.