Page 12 of The Dragon's Dream Mate (Savage Shifters Special Ops 3)

“What were you running from?” he asked with a smile.

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t going to catch me,” I joked back.

After a brief pause, he said, “I know how hard it is to sit back and wait. Tiny baby steps can be incredibly frustrating. This is especially true when your niece is so close, and you know that she is in danger.”

I nodded.

“I know I don’t have to explain anything to you since you’ve been on the front lines of situations like this. However, it changes when the game involves someone you care about.”

I nodded again. “I feel like a cat who is trying to catch a mouse or bird. My butt is down, and my body is crouched, tensed, and ready to spring. My tail is slowly twitching, and my whiskers are making sure that I will hit my target. If I leap, I’ll get my prey. If I leap too soon or too late, I’ll lose my prey. Timing has to be perfect.” I took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, patience has never been one of my virtues.”

He laughed. “I know that feeling. I’ve faced that situation more than once when I had to bide my time. It drove me bonkers. But Rainey, I got through it and so will you. And don’t think that we are planning on cutting you out of the operation. We aren’t. We just have skills that you don’t.”

“Can you all make people think that they see something other than what is real, like Lucian can? People might be suspicious to see a huge grizzly in the middle of town.”

“We can, to a degree. It takes a lot of energy to do it. I look like a giant chow chow to most people. Jared looks like a dog. Damian looks like an overfed tabby cat.”

“Who are you calling a house pet?” Damian demanded.

“You,” Gage retorted.

“It’s time for me to go relieve Lucian,” he said. “Just wanted to report in, Boss.”

“Be safe,” Gage said.

As Damian left, Gage looked at me speculatively. “So, you and Lucian used to be a thing, huh?”

I nodded. I could feel the heat creeping into my face and turning red. I already knew that he had that part of our past figured out, but I still wasn’t used to talking about it.

“We were engaged. We got engaged the night before his brother died. The next day, when he heard about Cedric’s death, he left without another word.”

“That must have hurt,” Gage observed.

“It did. It took me a very long time to get over it. However, eventually, I pulled myself together and decided to join the FBI. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in other people’s lives.”

“Seems like you are doing just that,” he said.

I tried to figure out whether he knew that Lucian and I had made love. He obviously knew we actually did sleep together, since I fell asleep in Lucian’s bed last night. However, Gage had a great, stoic poker face. He wasn’t giving anything away in his voice or his facial expressions.

We figured that Lucian would be back with his report, so we headed back to Gage’s room, and that’s where we found him.

Lucian was dressed only in a pair of sweatpants as he typed his report from his morning’s activities. He looked so amazing, with his very toned, bronzed body, his forehead creased from concentration. I found the heat stirring a bit in my stomach. I had to squash it quickly.

Changing forms did take energy, and I could see that Lucian was tired. However, he needed to type his notes while everything was fresh in his mind.

“It was very quiet,” he said. “I didn’t flutter around the house too much, because even with the mirage, I didn’t want anyone to be suspicious, but I didn’t see any activity. There was a man who sat on the front porch all day, chain-smoking. There was someone in the backyard doing the same. I didn’t want to get too close, though, so I couldn’t tell you what was going on in the house. However, there were no commotions and no noise.”

Gage nodded. “Alright, go rest. You’re going to need your energy for the evening.”

I followed Lucian to his room. He did look pretty rough.

He smiled tiredly at me. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. We’ll get everyone out safe and sound.”

I nodded. He laid down on the bed and almost immediately fell asleep. He didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before, plus he turned into his dragon form this morning and then used the mirage to hide his true form.

Lucian was a very gorgeous man with the perfect body. His muscles were finely sculpted. His short dark red hair matched his bronze color.

I watched his chest move up and down for a few minutes. I told myself that I should go back to my room and take a nap, write down some notes, or do anything else other than stare at this gorgeous man as he slept.

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