Page 15 of Sass Me

Steele didn’t take his eyes off of Fleur, the moment his pendant hit his chest it glowed, and so did Fleur’s necklace. Both with the same rich green.

She glanced down at her necklace, then at his shard. He took her hand in his again. Both the shard and her hands imbued him with warmth and power.

Aric growled low in his chest. The wolf needed to protect his mate just as much as Steele needed to ensure Fleur’s safety. He deserved an explanation.

“There are many more demon dragons than dragons in the world. The Black Dragon creates new ones faster than we can kill them. If they have come to Blue Creek because of us, I’m sorry for that. But, we will stay and battle them as long as is needed to protect you, your mates, your children, and the souls of your clan.”

“Fuck me.” Aric’s fangs and claws extended again. “They already killed you once, you asshole. How in the hell do we get rid of them?”

Steele pushed Fleur behind him, returning Aric’s partial transformation with his own.

Dax butted in. “Steele and I have trained since birth to fight against them. We’ll teach you what we can, and call for reinforcements.”

“You fucking do that. We just ended a war, I don’t want to get involved in another one.”

Enough. He’d given all the attention he was going to allow to anyone else. “We can discuss plans and strategy tomorrow. Now I need to take Fleur back up to her apartment and make sure she is unharmed and safe.”

Aric growled deeper, but his mate held him back. Smart woman. Steele may have been defeated by the demon dragons for a moment, but now that he was back and had Fleur by his side, he was stronger and more powerful than before.

The wolf would be no match for him.

Fleur shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m not the one who died tonight.”

Dax moved to their side, putting himself between them and the angry wolf alpha. “Yes, but you did do something no one who isn’t a green dragon has done before.”

“It must be...” Fleur broke off, she sucked in her cheeks and frowned. “I was going to say inherited from my mother, but that doesn’t seem right.”

Something niggled at the back of Steele’s brain. He couldn’t quite grasp it though. “What about your father? What was he?”

“Umm.” Fleur looked around at the other people. She was hesitant to tell either him or them. She shifted from one foot to the other and looked down at the ground. “I never knew my father, and my mother wilts if I even try to bring him up.”

Barbara clapped her hands three times to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get everyone home now. Boys, you can each take one of the other ladies, can’t you? The rest of the enforcers can escort the remaining women from the party and get them home safely. It’s a big day tomorrow.”

Fleur gave Barbara a grateful glance, and Steele kicked himself for pushing her to reveal part of herself like that in front of all these people.

He’d make it up to her.

Barbara came over and looked between him and Fleur, quirking her head to the side, then smiling. “Fleur, dear. Let your dragon take you back upstairs.”

“But, I—” She shook her head and again tried to yank her hand from his grip.

He was never letting her go. Never.

“I know you don’t need him too, but it will make him feel better. He’s had a long night, what with dying and all.”

Fleur glared at him. The fire inside her made her so damn adorable he wanted to lick every bit of her skin right there in front of everyone. He had a new idea to use his dragon tongue to —

“Fine, but you’re helping me clean up.”

He’d scrub her toilet if she asked him to, and he didn’t even clean his own bathroom.

They all went back into Fleur’s apartment. The she-wolves, their mates, and the enforcers gathered the rest of the women from the party and broke off into groups. Dax got nominated to escort two especially giggly ladies who’d decided to make more cocktails for all the non-shifters while they waited for the coast to be clear. Steele recognized one of them as the crab-clawed pincher. He’d warn Dax, but the dude would probably enjoy it.

The three of them were the last ones out of Fleur’s place. She shut the door behind them and leaned back against the wood, closed her eyes, and sighed.

Finally, he had her all to himself, and the first thing he was going to do was carry her to her shower and then her bed.

She still had his blood on her, and looked exhausted. That was mostly his fault.

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