“Pick the one you like,” he said, happy he’d decided to stop for the game.
Her eyes narrowed with concentration as she looked around the booth. He totally expected her to pick one of the huge dragons, but she surprised him when she pointed to an average size animal half hidden behind the dragons in the back.
And then his heart skipped a beat and he sucked in a breath when he saw that the one she was pointing at was a lion.
“Are you sure you want that one?” the operator asked her with his eyebrows raised. “Your man won you your choice. You can get one of these larger ones.”
“I’m sure,” she replied, her voice firm. “I love lions.”
Shrugging, the operator got the lion and handed it over to her. Hugging it to her chest, she looked up at Noah with a smile.
“Thank you. This was sweet, and I’ll treasure him forever.”
He felt like he was in a daze as he nodded to her. “It was my pleasure.”
Even his lion seemed stunned, stilling his usual pacing inside him. It was just a small thing, but it gave him hope. Maybe, just maybe, she could accept what he was, since she loved lions. Putting his hope into a thought with words made it seem ridiculous, but he couldn’t shake the feeling.
Forcing himself to focus, he reached for her hand again. “Want me to carry him to the truck for you?”
“Nope. He’s all mine.”
Smiling at her enthusiasm, he led her away, his senses on high alert as they walked to his truck. The whole moment might seem surreal, but he took her safety seriously, so he made sure all his focus was on searching for a threat—not on her smile, the feel of her hand in his, or the way she was still hugging the stuffed lion to her chest.
They made it to his truck unscathed and he helped her in, frowning back at the mansion. He hadn’t wanted to take her through the festival, but he’d still hoped to find out something. There was nothing, though. No threats, no danger, not even any shifters he could find—yet there was a festival for dragons going on at a real dragon’s compound.
Something was definitely going on, but fuck if he knew what.
The compound was owned by Fernandez, who was a male dragon. The dragons had a history plagued by violence, and they were rare. Part of it was because they were hunted and killed throughout history. Finding a dragon and being the one to take them out became the ultimate prize, with epic bragging rights for the shifter who was brave enough—and sneaky enough—to kill one.
The other part was because, for whatever reason, the men could only sire dragon babies if the mother was also a dragon. The gene could only be passed on through the female. And if the females mated another shifter, the baby would most likely have the father’s animal. The only way to guarantee a dragon baby was if both parents were dragons. And complicating matters further was the fact that the women struggled with infertility.
Add in the fact that male dragons were, for the most part, an entitled bunch of dickheads who thought they could do whatever they wanted, and it made for a clusterfuck of epic proportions. If the males found a female dragon, they didn’t ask her permission—they just took her so she could sire their babies. The women had no say.
The intel Blake received before he sent Noah to Idaho was that the dragon who lived at the compound, Fernandez, was hunting female dragons. That was definitely a case the Enforcers took on, but the festival made no sense.
If Fernandez was trying to secretly find females and kidnap them, why would he put on a dragon festival, of all things? The females stayed in hiding to avoid being taken. Advertising what he was seemed like shooting himself in the foot.
Something else was going on, but as much as Noah longed to stay and figure it out so they could take the son of a bitch down, he couldn’t. He had to get Lily back to Nevada and the safety of the clubhouse.
And far away from dragons who thought it was their right to take what—and who—they wanted.
Chapter Eight
Munching on a French fry from the takeout she and Noah picked up on the way back to the hotel, Lily checked to make sure her firewalls and encryption were good. She was determined to hack her way into the details for the gala, but she didn’t want to get caught, or for them to trace it back to her.
“You sure you don’t want to eat before you do your thing?”
She glanced up at Noah’s question, shaking her head with a smile. “I really want to figure out what the deal is with this gala. I love this stuff. I’ll eat while I work.”
Nodding at her, he pulled his meal out of the bag, setting it on the small round table in the corner of the room. She shook her head as he pulled out two huge burgers and an extra large helping of fries. She still couldn’t get over how much he could put away.
Absently reaching for another fry, she ran her gaze over him appreciatively. Eating like he did didn’t seem to be affecting him physically, though. Her middle clenched deliciously as she took him in. She had work to do, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away yet.
His ever present ballcap was pulled low on his brow, and she ran her eyes over his full beard. She never thought she was a beard girl, but his was definitely doing it for her. She wanted to know what it felt like against her face as they kissed, and against other, more sensitive parts.
She squirmed a little on the bed, finally looking quickly away when he glanced up. Her cheeks felt flushed, her breathing was ragged, and she was sure, if he saw her eyes, he’d see the desire in them immediately.
She wanted to be more intimate with him. Oh, how she wanted it. But this thing between them was already going fast. Warp speed, really. It didn’t feel unnatural to her—the exact opposite of that, actually. But she couldn’t help thinking they should take it slower.