Page 9 of Savage

“But I promise you this, Kingston, I will not make a move toward them unless they do to me and mine first, and that would include you and the others.” He nodded, knowing that even before he said it. Savage was true to his word, too. More so than most men that he knew. “We’ll know how to act when they get here. Hopefully, they’ll come, say what they want, and leave.”

“Do you believe that? That they’ll just come here and tell us what they think of things and leave?” Savage asked what he thought. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t put anything past them at this point.”

“Then we’re going to be ready for them when they arrive. Whatever happens, when they do get here, will be all on them.” He agreed and decided that his parents were going to be on their own from now on. They’ll either leave on their own or not, but it was going to be entirely up to them.

~*~

Kaida watched the couple coming up the runway. For some reason Kingston’s family had asked forthem all to be there at the airport. It was funny to her that they had demanded that they all be dressed in finery, whatever that meant to an older couple of dragons. And they were to be respectful. Only if they were would she be respectful.

Savage had told her enough about them that she wanted to hate them on sight. But there were Kingston’s feelings in this and she didn’t want him to be hurt if she were to be nasty to them. She didn’t want them around, not at all, but it wasn’t her call.

Yesterday all their furniture had arrived. It was just as wonderful as she’d thought it would be. Even today, while they were here, a white picket fence was being put in and she was so excited that she wanted to stay home to be the first to see it. Silly, she knew but that had been something that she’d been dreaming about for years. It was going to be epic living there with Savage. So long as he kept his temper under control.

Last night, after everyone had left, he sat her down and went over his finances. With the help of his attorney, David, she now had a good grasp on how much he was worth and how many homes he owned as well as businesses. She knew how much he was worth and, in turn, she was worth, but it was still circling around in her mind about how many zeros were in the amount. It was something that she didn’t believe there were numbers for. But she had smiled and nodded like she was some sort of simpleton. This morning, she was given a handful of credit cards, keys to a nice new car, as well as dressmakers coming tomorrow after Kingston’s parents arrived to fit her for some nicer dresses so that they could go out when they wanted.

It was nearly too much for her.

She watched as Kingston’s mother was barking orders at the people around her. They were busy carrying bags, and such with them, and to her, it looked like they were planning to stay for a long time, if not forever. As soon as she was within touching Kingston, she drew back her hand to slap him, she thought. Instead of allowing that, Kaida grabbed her hand and held it.

“We’ll be civil around here. Isn’t that what you said? And if you draw back to slap him or anyone here again, I’ll rip your arm off and beat you to death with it.” She smiled at the woman but she was far from humored. “My name is Kaida Loren Savage, mate to Tucker. I’m thinking that I’m going to be calling him by his first name from now on. He’s not a monster, no matter how many times you say that to him. And I’d keep a civil tongue in my mouth about that as well.”

“You dare touch me? You’re nothing to me. Do you hear me? Nothing.” Turning on her heel, she started to leave the airport. The men would follow her or not but she wasn’t going to be embarrassed in the local airport because some broad was having a hissy fit. “Where do you think you’re going? Kingston, get back here right now. I demand that you treat me the way that I deserve.”

“Oh, trust me on that, Mother, I’m treating you better than you deserve. Right now, you could say that I’m giving you a few feet until you calm the fuck down. And yes, I said that. Now, either you keep your trap shut, or I’m going to close it for you. I’m finished with you treating those that I love like they’re nothing beneath your feet.”

Someone touched Kaida on her shoulder, and she turned to look at Tucker.

“I have fallen in love with you. I think I might have been all along, but when you grabbed her hand and told her off, I nearly fell over. My love for you hit me so hard.” She stood there and opened her mouth, unsure as to what to say when Kingston caught up with her. He too told her that he loved her but she wasn’t sure it was the same. Catching up with Cassian and Brenin on either side of her, she was in the limo, and on her way to the home she shared with Tucker before the older couple got out of the airport proper. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know.” Tucker nodded. “Do you care if I call you by the name that Kingston gave you? I could go back to Savage, I suppose, but I’d rather not.”

“I’d be honored if you’d call me anything other than Savage. Thank you for your help in dealing with the Savages. I don’t think that it’s finished yet, but you sure showed them what you’re going to be tolerating or not.” She said that she didn’t want her to hit her friend. “Nor did I, but you handled it a good deal better than I would have. The airport is still standing, thanks to your way.”

Just this morning, Tucker had shown her his dragon. He said that he was smaller than the others because he was a fire dragon and they were not. She’d not known there were different kinds of dragons, but the others were white dragons. They could breathe fire a little bit, but they mostly used their huge bodies to destroy rather than burn. Brenin told her that was because Tucker was more powerful than they were. Not only could he burn through almost anything, but he was bigger than other fire dragons as well.

“What are you thinking about, love?” She told him about his dragon and his fire. “I would never harm you. Not intentionally. You must be, as I said to you before we left be careful around me. My tail sometimes had a mind of his own and will whip out when it thinks to.”

“I remember it’s size.” She also remembered the spikes along it. The dark, blood-red scales that covered it to the end. She, at the time, had been intrigued; now she knew that, above anything else, he’d protect her with his dragon. No one in her life had protected her from anything or anyone as far as she knew. “He’s beautiful. I wish now that I’d taken his picture. No one would believe that you’re real, but I would know.”

“Perhaps next time.” She nodded and laughed when he pulled her closer to him. “They will fight dirty when it comes to getting what they want. I don’t know what that is other than they want Kingston to come back to their home with them but they will stop at nothing to get that. Did you notice the other woman with them?”

She looked up at him, concerned they were already causing trouble. When he told her the woman was Cassian and Brenin’s sister, Margo, she felt her hair dance on her arms and her body chill. She’d heard what sort of person she was, too, and she was by far worse than the other two.

Cassian told her that when he’d been born, she tried to pull his wings off. Kaida hadn’t known that when a dragon was born, it was a dragon no larger than a human infant. Then, when his brother had been born, she tried her best to chase him around the house with an axe, wanting him to die as well. Their parents had done nothing about it, saying that she was simply teaching them how to be better dragons when they grew up. Cassian told her that all it had done was make him more leery of his sister than most were of their worst enemy.

As she got older, her methods of trying to kill them off got more dangerous. It was why, as soon as they could, they left the nest in favor of raising themselves. It was that, or Margo was going to kill them in some way, and that would have been a great loss to her. Even in the last few years, she’d tried to kill them. Or to maim them in a way that she could take care of them. Kaida didn’t have any family, but she thought that they’d have been better than Margo was to her younger brothers.

They found out that the Savages and Margo with them were going to be staying in town at the local hotel. It wasn’t a grand one, barely called a hotel but it was quaint and close to downtown. They were perhaps only about four blocks from Cassian’s home and even closer to their own. It was yet a few more blocks to Kingston’s house and he wasn’t sure if they thought that he was closer to them. Perhaps even living in the house that Tucker and her were living in.

“What about sex?” She nearly fell over she had turned so quickly to make sure what Tucker said. After asking him, he laughed and told her what he’d said. It wasn’t that funny of a subject if he asked her. “I’d never rush you, but I was wondering if you would allow me to sleep with you from now on. I won’t harm you in any way nor take advantage of you. But I’d love to feel your warmth close to us, my dragon and myself, with the others around.”

“Is that really why you want to sleep with me?” He said that he wanted to make love with her as well, but he’d be happy with just holding her. It would make both him and his other half happy to know that she was close when something went wrong. “I suppose that’s as good a reason as any other. However, I will tell you if you get it into your head again that I belong to you, I’m going to hurt you in ways that you’ve never dreamed of.”

“Trust me when I tell you that I’m well aware of that. And that you could hurt me. But I also want you to know that you hold my heart in your hands for as much as I love you.” He got down on his knee and looked up at her. “I’ve been a fool. A cruel man who only looked at you as something andsomeone that I would have to care for. Never taking into consideration how much you would give me in return. With only a look or a thought, you could render me useless. Have me rethink my life choices and what I’ve been up until now.”

“Get up.” He put something in her hand and kissed it after closing it. “You don’t have to do all this Tucker. I said that you could sleep with me.”

“I didn’t do this before I asked you because I didn’t want you to think that I was blackmailing you into something. I love you, Kaida Loren Savage—I fell a bit more in love with you when you called yourself that earlier. But I have this for you that I made so long ago that I nearly forgot it.” He opened her palm and she got a look at the ring—such a mundane word for the piece of jewelry that lay there. “The base is made of my scale and will magically size to your finger when you wear it. You don’t have to worry about it breaking, either. It’s made of my other half and will not only not shatter when hit, but it will protect you from harm as well.”

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