Page 15 of Alpha Dragon's Wings of Love

“Of course. From your description we are almost there, so cross your fingers.”

He held up his hand to show me his fingers crossed. “I recognize this section of road and there’s where I pulled off, right ahead.” He leaned forward. “I think I see my truck through the trees there.”

Luckily, he was correct. Parked not far off the road in a copse was my mate’s truck and it was not even disturbed. Since the people who had run across him had been so concerned for him as a pup, he’d been right to be concerned that they might have also reported the abandoned vehicle. And maybe they had, but law enforcement was stretched thin out here, and they had bigger worries than a pickup truck that might have lost its owner.

The truck started right up, and I followed him back to the cabin, parking partway up the track while Casey continued all the way. I jogged up on foot and helped him unload. I’d never seen anyone so happy to change into their own flannel pajama bottoms, but they did look good on him.

Heck, everything looked good on him.

Even his laptop was still there, something he’d need if he planned to continue his work remotely. Which was the next step. He hadn’t called in since he’d been here, so he was concerned about that. His heat had thrown everything out of his head, and mine had been every bit as gone.

I’d waited a long time to find him, and as I watched my mate sit on the couch in the living room I’d worked so hard to improve, every minute I’d spent on the place was worth it. I’d sought to have a home worthy of my mate and while nothing was truly good enough for him in my mind, our place was neat and clean and cozy and had zero piles of newspapers bracketing the door. While he took care of business, I went into the kitchen and made us some cocoa. The nights were still cool here in the mountains, and the sun was close to setting now.

“All right. I’ll wait to hear back.” Casey hung up the phone, looking less than pleased. “My new boss was not happy with me for not calling, his assistant says, but she’s going to put in a good word for me. It’s not like I can find a lot of work around here.”

I set our mugs down on the coffee table and sat down next to my mate, tugging him over to rest against me. “What are you saying?”

“Huh?” He tilted his head back to look up at me. “Just that I hope I keep this job. If I don’t, I’ll have a hard time pulling my weight.”

“Don’t worry. I’m a dragon with a hoard. That doesn’t mean what it sounds like. I’m not crazy wealthy, but I can take care of us.” I kissed his forehead. “But we have options.”

“I don’t want to be a burden. I might be able to find another remote coding job.”

“Mate, you’ll never be a burden to me, but maybe we need to consider moving somewhere else. If there’s a job you’d rather do, we could live where you’d be a lot more likely to find that. A city maybe?”

He tipped his head back and looked at the high ceiling and around the room. “Have I told you how much I love this cabin?”

“Do you really? I worked hard to make it a place my mate might like.”

“You surpassed like. Every inch of it shows your efforts, and knowing you did it with me in mind, based on a quick whiff of scent? You’re an alpha above the rest. I really don’t want to leave here. The house, the acreage…” He snuggled closer and reached for his drink. “The service is really good too.”

“All right, then we’ll have to—” His phone buzzed, cutting off what I was about to say. “Better get that.”

He reached for the device and looked at the screen. “It’s my boss. Think good thoughts.”

I gave him a thumbs-up and grabbed my own cup.

“Hello, Ralph.” He listened, nodding his head. “You’re absolutely right. I ran into some trouble on my travels, but I have settled in and there should be no more problems.” Listened again. “Yes, exactly. All right then, I understand. Goodbye.” He disconnected and dropped the phone on the sofa next to him. Picking up his cup, he took a long drink and sat back next to me again. “Great cocoa.”

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?”

“Hmm?” He looked up at me. “About what?”

“About your job?”

“Cookies would be good too. Do we have any cookies?”

Setting my cup down, I took his and placed it next to mine then pulled him onto my lap. “Mate, we have delicious cookies. I baked them earlier when you were putting away your clothing and things. Chocolate chip with toasted pecan halves.” A mix…but that counted as homemade in my book.

He wriggled, so much like his pup, trying to get free. “Nolan, why didn’t you tell me about the cookies? I thought I smelled something good, but I was in the closet hanging up my shirts, and I forgot to ask about it.”

“Well, I planned them for dessert tonight, but now I am not sure I’m even going to let you have them then.” I nuzzled his throat, nibbling next to his mating mark. “Because you are such a naughty omega.”

He shivered. “I don’t remember being naughty, but if this is the punishment, I’ll have to do more naughty things.”

“Even if you never get any delicious cookies?”

“Some things are even better than cookies.”

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