Page 17 of Alpha Dragon's Wings of Love

“It was so bad.” I laughed just thinking about it. “And not related, but next time we come to town, we’ll make sure it’s on baking day.”

“Monday or Thursday it is,” he said. “Nothing worse than old baked goods.”

“I can think of a few worse things. But yeah, stale pastries aren’t on my wish list.”

The grocery store was small. Smaller than anything I was used to, anyway. But then again, the pack shopped in bulk, hitting wholesale clubs and dividing our purchases. The alpha even had a little spreadsheet system that paired people interested in purchasing the same items for shared shopping trips. It worked, but it also meant I wasn’t particularly skilled at grocery shopping when I had to do it solo.

We grabbed a cart and worked our way through the store from one end to the other. I wasn’t used to raw dogging something like this, and it slowed me down. We didn’t need a house full of impulse purchases. Unless they were red licorice. If that was the case, I could probably let it slide.

I picked up fruits and vegetables for the week, not wanting to get more than that, since most of it would go bad. Except apples. Apples lasted and were my favorite. I bought three different varieties.

“I love tuna. Especially fresh.” I pulled a ticket at the counter.

While I wouldn’t call anything in this fish case “fresh,” it was frozen at sea, which was close enough. We got tuna and shrimp then headed to the meat counter and loaded up on a variety—plus some extra-thick bacon I couldn’t wait to devour.

“For a small town, they’ve got a lot here.”

“They do,” he agreed, tossing a bag of tortillas into the cart. “We should probably think about getting a chest freezer. That way, we can make bigger runs, stock up on meat.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. The only problem was…our cabin wasn’t exactly massive. Adding a chest freezer meant it’d wind up in the living room the way things were set up now. Maybe adding an addition wouldn’t be the worst idea—eventually. After I got more settled into my job and knew more about what was going on with my beast.

We left the store with an overflowing cart that took multiple trips to unload once we got back home. After the last bag was put away and I shut the freezer door with a satisfying thunk, I turned to find him right behind me.

He pressed me back against the freezer, hips pinning mine, not even trying to hide the arousal straining against his jeans.

“I get to keep you here,” he growled, voice thick with want. “Just for me.” He scented me deeply, and my knees nearly buckled. He had no right to be that sexy.

“Oh no,” I said, eyes wide, voice dripping with fake innocence. “Whatever shall I do?”

“I was about to ask you that very question,” he murmured, nuzzling against my neck.

“My suggestion? Me.” It was a no-brainer.

“Me? I’m confused. How is that a suggestion?”

“Think back. You asked me what I wanted to do and I said you. That seemed pretty clear to me.”

I yelped as he scooped me up and carried me, giggling uncontrollably in his arms, toward the bed, heart racing as the rest of the world faded away.

There was no holding back today. I was going to do Nolan, just like I said I would, and I could hardly wait. He was the best mate ever, and I vowed to show him how much I appreciated him every single day.

Chapter Thirteen

Nolan

I was busy managing my hoard, which happened to be stocks and bonds, and my omega was doing his coding. We were both able to work from home, which was lovely, although there were some shenanigans going on from time to time. But what else could be expected from a newly mated couple in the forest. It wasn’t like we were surrounded by movie theaters, golf courses, and bowling alleys, even if we’d wanted to go to those places.

Right now, all I wanted was to be alone with my mate, and anything we were doing was better just because we were together. The days flowed by in laughter and lovemaking, cooking together and eating. And shifting. Our animals loved when we shifted together, even if they did look quite odd together.

One day, Casey found me working on my laptop and waited until I looked up. “I want to fly.”

“What?” My mind was still half on the numbers I’d been working on, so it took me a second to register what he was saying. “You don’t fly. You’re a beagle.”

“Technically, even if I don’t have a lot of memory of it, I already flew with you once. What I’d like to do now is a take two that’s less of a rescue ambulance and more of a romantic flight into the sunset with my beloved mate.”

“I don’t know if that’s safe. Beagles don’t have a good way to hang on, and once I’m a dragon, I couldn’t even fasten you to my back.” I couldn’t picture a way to make a small dog safe on me, and hanging from a talon was anything but romantic.

“I don’t want to fly with you as my beagle. I agree, that wouldn’t work at all. But look.” He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. “Opposable thumbs.”

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