Defender Dragon (Protection, Inc 2)

He walked out, the door swinging gently shut behind him. Slamming it would be beneath his dignity.

Lucas paused in the lobby to look at the framed photos of everyone’s shift forms. Rafa’s lion, lazing with his family. Hal’s huge grizzly bear, at home in the forest. Fiona’s snow leopard, lithe and deadly. Nick’s fierce wolf, at the head of his pack. Destiny’s tiger, stalking through the jungle. Shane’s panther, whose yellow eyes seemed to burn through the photo. And Lucas’s dragon, soaring over a castle in Brandusa. Another pang of loneliness pierced him at the thought of Hal taking down his picture.

He had to get control of himself. These feelings were also beneath him. He was a prince and a dragon. He had honor and dignity. And that was all that mattered.

Lucas got his car and drove aimlessly along the streets of Santa Martina. He watched all the passing women walking down the sidewalk, driving their cars, shopping and chatting and working. Out of all the billions of people in the world, one was his mate. But what were the odds that he would ever meet her?

Maybe she was Catalina.

Maybe she was a woman in a country he’d never even heard of, whose language he didn’t speak.

Maybe she was right here in Santa Martina, but had never happened to be in the same place as him. Ellie and Hal had lived in Santa Martina for years before they’d met.

Maybe she was dead.

Maybe she hadn’t yet been born.

Maybe she wouldn’t be born until after he was dead.

Lucas drove until the setting sun turned the clouds to puffs of flame. Then, resigned, he headed for his apartment. As he walked upstairs, he thought, Maybe Raluca found her mate.

And maybe in a year, I can teach a horse to fly.

By the time he reached the landing, he wasn’t surprised to see the tall, straight-backed, gray-haired figure, one arm rising to knock on Lucas’s door. Lucas didn’t need to see his face to know him.

“Grand Duke Vaclav,” Lucas called.

His great-uncle turned around. He had tutored Lucas in etiquette, politics, logic, rhetoric, and swordfighting since he’d been a little boy, often remarking that praise made children soft and a prince needed to be strong. He was a man of his word; Lucas only knew he’d done something perfectly when his great-uncle nodded silently rather than finding something to critique.

The Grand Duke’s stern expression didn’t soften as he said, “Prince Lucas. I have come to summon you home to marry Princess Raluca.”

Lucas’s heart sank into his shoes. Though he knew it was a foolish, obvious thing to say, he couldn’t help asking, “So she hasn’t found her mate?”

His great-uncle’s disapproving stare made Lucas feel like he was ten years old again. “Have you forgotten your lessons in logic after a mere five years? The terms of the treaty stated that if either you or Princess Raluca found your mate, the marriage would not take place. Given that I have come to summon you to marry her, is it possible that she has found her mate?”

“No,” Lucas started to mutter, then remembered that he wasn’t ten. He was twenty-three. He was an adult who had been living by himself for five years. He had protected others with his life. He might have to return to his childhood home, but he didn’t have to return to his childhood.

Lucas forced himself to meet his great-uncle’s cold black eyes. “I was not engaging in a debate, Grand Duke Vaclav. I was making conversation. Have you forgotten your own lessons in rhetoric? That was a rhetorical question.”

Lucas had the small satisfaction of seeing his great-uncle look abashed, though it only lasted for a second.

“Indeed. Well, enough conversation. It is time for you to leave this... place... and do your duty.” Grand Duke Vaclav made place sound like hovel. His disapproving gaze drew Lucas’s attention to every way in which his apartment was not a palace.

Lucas couldn’t help bristling. “May I

invite you into my place for refreshment before you depart?”

His great-uncle folded his arms. “No. I will wait here while you set your affairs in order. We are expected at the castle tomorrow night.”

That gave Lucas a couple hours, at most, to dispose of his apartment, his possessions, and his job.

His entire life.

Lucas looked at Grand Duke Vaclav— looked down at him. With a shock, he realized that he was now taller than his great-uncle.

Grand Duke Vaclav had no true power over him. He couldn’t physically drag Lucas back to Brandusa. Nor was any arranged marriage agreement legally binding in America. All Lucas had to do to make the whole thing go away was to refuse to cooperate. His great-uncle would have to fly back to Brandusa empty-handed. Lucas and Raluca would be free to keep searching for their mates, and perhaps someday find them. Lucas could keep working at Protection, Inc.

As if his great-uncle had read his thoughts, he said, “You swore an oath, Prince Lucas. On your honor and by your hoard. If neither you nor Princess Raluca found your mate in five years, then you must marry each other.”