Page 1 of A Clutch for Hutch
Chapter One
Dirk
His scales were golden shingles covering his broad back. A back where I perched, riding through the sky under the full moon. He carried me to his lair, this dragon who had stolen my heart.
I thought he’d be cold in this form, but his body was warm between my legs.
Not everyone thought writing a romance was a very alpha thing to do, but it was always my dream. Ever since I learned to talk, I told stories, and when I could hold a pencil, I wrote them down. My twin, Hoover, was destined to be alpha. By virtue of popping out of our omega dad three minutes earlier than me, he earned the honor, the responsibility, and all that went with being in charge of our large, thriving fluffle.
And I was great with that. Why wouldn’t I be? He was such a supportive brother, telling me that he knew I’d reach my goals, publishing my tales of dragon romance, with the other romantic interest often being a rabbit. With his encouragement, I wrote every day, pausing only to eat, sleep, and do my share around the fluffle. Hoover made sure nobody pressured me to do more, to bring in a paycheck or anything like that.
He believed in his heart that everyone should do what they loved best, make use of the talents given by the Goddess, and that would benefit the fluffle in the long run. Although our father was still alpha, he had been training Hoover for years to take his place, and the others were all happily anticipating a smooth transition until disaster struck.
My brother was nearly killed in a car accident, leaving lasting damage to his hearing that made him, made our fluffle, vulnerable to a challenge from outside. And, worse, from me.Because ancient rules from the founding of the fluffle required an alpha with no major health issues that could affect their ability to rule.
Hoover could have been one of the best alphas we’d ever had, hearing loss or not, but unfortunately those rules listed his injury specifically, among others, as disqualifying. It was a huge mess, and one I had no idea how to deal with until he took me down to the river one day. We sat on the bank, the water rushing by, right at the spot where we’d often fished when we were younger. Silence hung heavy between us. I waited for him to speak, but after a few minutes, I had to help him out. Some things were just too hard to come right out with, I supposed.
I looked into the eyes of my twin. Identical until the accident had left him with scars and taken some of the sparkle from his eyes. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
He smiled, but it held no joy and little peace. “I have to, Dirk. I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to be alpha—you never wanted to be alpha, but that doesn’t change what has to be.”
And there it was. In all the words we needed. Laid out in front of us.
“You’re right. I don’t want the job. And if you stayed…it doesn’t bear thinking of. But where will you go? What will you do?” It was hard enough for anyone who left the fluffle, but with his hearing loss and the other traumas from the accident? He wasn’t deaf. His hearing aids helped a lot, or we wouldn’t have been having this conversation. “What can I do to help?”
“Me? Nothing much. But Father? He’s going to need you.”
And so he did.
Hoover left right away with whatever savings he had accumulated and a bit more I snuck into his wallet when he wasn’t looking. Unlike him, I didn’t have much put by, casting my hopes for success onto my stories. But the moment my twin drove away, all that had to be shelved because all the traininghe’d had to be alpha, I had not received. Father had never considered that anything could happen to change the future as he saw it.
At first, it was awkward in the extreme. Neither of us wanted me to be alpha. I had never been particularly athletic or physical at all. Spending nights hunched over my keyboard did not build muscles, except possibly in my fingers. And unlike my early to rise brother and father, I preferred those hours.
So much had changed. And nobody, so far as I could tell, was pleased about it.
“Son, are you woolgathering again?” Father’s voice was stern but not unkind. He was doing his best to deal with what had happened to his plans, but some days he hid his disappointment better than others.
“I suppose I was, Father. I will try to do better.” I meant it; he knew that. But it didn’t make me any better qualified for the job of alpha.
“Son, don’t feel like you have to learn everything in one day. Take your time.”
“But you’re already overdue for retirement. And I feel as if I’m getting nowhere fast.”
Not our first time having this conversation and it would not be the last, but we were sincere, both of us doing our best, and for the good of the fluffle, I had to keep trying.
So I went on, gradually making progress, and gaining a little confidence. This was not the job I wanted, but what choice did I have? Fluffle came first, right?
I often found myself wondering what my twin was doing. For a while, I hadn’t known, but now we did. He was living in the desert with his mate, Grant, and their twins, Daphne and Theodore. Even with me struggling, our fathers were proud of him and, over a year later, as I was finally starting to get a handle on some of what I needed to do, my brother was gaininga reputation as an artist and his mate was opening another smoothie shop. They were doing amazing.
And living their dreams.
I tried hard not to be jealous. Hoover deserved all the happiness in the world. And he’d been so instrumental in my being able to live my dreams until Fate or life or something cut a thread and sent things in another direction entirely. I hadn’t even known he had it in him to be an artist. Sure, he’d been a creative kid, but so focused on being the next alpha, he hadn’t had a chance to live it. The chance he and our fathers gave me to pursue our artistic side.
Duty first.
But late at night, I still wrote my tales where rabbit alphas met dragon omegas and fell madly in love. It made it hard to get up on time in the morning, but it kept my soul alive.
I thought he’d be cold in this form, but his body was warm between my legs. Making me even more sure that this dragon was my mate. Now, how would I convince this magnificent creature that I was his alpha?
