Heart of a Fighter (Rocky River Fighters 1)

But she trusted Alex fully, and she knew he wouldn’t let anything slip out. Especially with her safety on the line. If there was anyone who would take it even more seriously than her, it was him.

Chapter Ten

“What do you think this little one will be?” he asked Cammie, rubbing her belly as she reclined against him on the bed.

“I think it’s a boy,” she answered with a serene smile.

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Of course not,” she said, musical laughter spilling from her throat. “Male dragons aren’t born evil. It’s taught. They’re told from birth they’re superior. Taught from day one to take what they want, when they want it. We’ll teach our son differently. We’ll raise him like he’s any other child, no better or special than anyone else.”

Pressing a kiss to her hair, he rubbed her belly, heart threatening to spill over when he felt a little hand or foot nudge him in return. “He is special, though.”

She craned her head around and gave him a soft smack on the lips. “Without a doubt, he is. Especially to us. But we’re not going to teach him to think he’s anything other than ordinary, like everyone else. And he’ll be fine. Just look at how you turned out. And if he takes after you, I’ll never worry.”

He smiled as he searched her eyes, dropping another kiss on her lips before she faced forward again. His chest felt like it was too big to contain all of him, and he had more than he ever imagined he could have, right here in his arms.

Alex gasped as the vision faded, and he stared at the sink in in front of him in confusion for a moment, before remembering he was shaving when this daydream hit him out of nowhere. His arms were locked against the counter, and he breathed deeply as he looked at the razor shaking in his trembling fingers.

Glancing at his chin and neck, he searched for any cuts. Having one of these intense waking dreams while he was shaving was dangerous. There was probably a lot that was dangerous for him to do when there was the possibility this could happen, now that he thought about it. But he’d been sure the first two would be all he had, that they were mere aberrations, especially since it had been almost two weeks since the last one.

Blowing out a breath, he rinsed the razor, then sat it down on the counter and splashed water on his face. Grabbing a towel, he wiped his face, making sure all the shaving cream was gone. He was still shaking, and he willed his hands to steady.

He absently glanced at his eyes in the mirror and froze, ice filling his veins. They were a blazing pale silver, the color bordering on white, with little swirls of pale gold. But that wasn’t what had horror flooding his system. It was the fact that his pupils were elongated.

Was he… no, he couldn’t be. If he was a shifter, he’d know, right? And for some reason, he felt it would be doubly so if he were a dragon. But no matter how he argued with himself, the truth was staring right at him. Literally. He raised a hand and it hovered close to his face as he felt something in him stir. Moments later, his chest vibrated as a rumble filled the room.

Knees weakening, he turned around and slid to the floor, leaning his back against the cabinets. The sight of his eyes, and the noise that came from his chest, unlocked a flood of memories, and they hit him one by one, stunning the breath right out of him.

His mom and dad, loving parents, waking him and his sister up in the middle of the night to move somewhere new again, as they did every few months. His dad showing him how to shift for the first time, though John Kincaid had been a lion, not a dragon. His mom, Kelly, sternly telling him he had to sit still for his lessons, a twinkle in her gray eyes the whole time. Both of them teaching him what it meant to be a good man, telling him he was no different than anyone else, even if he did have a dragon inside him. His dad striving to show him by example what being a good man truly meant.

Their elation when his mom gave birth to his sister, and their worry as they realized she was a dragon, as well. Having one dragon baby when the parents had different animals was rare; having two was almost unheard of. And having a dragon daughter meant nothing but worry and fear that a male dragon would snatch her away. That’s when they started moving more and more often, until soon they only stayed in one place for three or four months at a time, sometimes less.

Discovering computers for the first time, and conquering them with ease. He thought for the longest time they were his gift. He could take a few of them apart and build a new one from spare parts in hours, and he could hack into almost any database. He remembered when he took a job with a security firm, using his hacking skills frequently. His sister teased him about being the biggest geek on the planet, but he hadn’t been able to argue, because he knew it was probably true.

His breath caught painfully in his chest as he thought about Daria. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten her, even for a moment. Everything else, yes, but not her. Though sometimes he wished he could forget her, she was memorable in every way, and he was always glad in the end he couldn’t forget, even when he wanted to. She was beautiful, with an eff

ervescent and bubbly personality. They teased each other constantly, but they never fought, though their parents laughingly said it was unnatural. But moving so often, and having to keep to themselves, meant they didn’t have any friends other than each other. She hadn’t just been his sister, she’d been his best friend.

Up until two and a half years ago, when his world fell apart. They shared an apartment, and while they hadn’t been lax in their precautions with Daria’s safety, they refused to move around like their parents did. And that decision cost his sister her life.

Eyes burning, he remembered the day his world changed forever. He mostly worked from home, but that day he hadn’t been able to get out of going to the office. Halfway through the meeting his sister called. He ignored the first call, but when she immediately called again, he became worried, and stepped out of the room to answer. She was frantic, and between sobs, she told him a male dragon found her, and she knew he was coming for her.

He rushed home without even telling the boss he was leaving, going as fast as he could, but he was too late. When he got there, the apartment was a wreck, and his sister was dead. It was clear she had put up a struggle, and while he was proud she hadn’t just gone easily with the dragon, a part of him still wished she had. Having a forced mating wouldn’t have been a happy life, but at least she would still be alive.

Her death had all but killed his parents. They withdrew from life, just shells of who they used to be. Fueled by ever growing hatred and thirsting for vengeance, Alex used his hacking skills to track the dragon down, and infiltrated his group, hoping to find a weakness he could use to take him out. He’d have his revenge, and maybe, just maybe, it would give his parents a spark of life again, knowing the monster who killed their daughter was dead.

That’s when… he sucked in a breath, spine going rigid as he suddenly remembered what his gift was. The episodes he had weren’t waking dreams. They were visions of the future. They weren’t always absolute, because the future could alter in small or large ways in the space of a moment. People changed their minds all the time, and something as simple as taking a different road to work one day could forever change a future. But they were what was most likely to happen at that moment in time, and usually, his visions were accurate. Still, it wasn’t an exact science.

He’d been working for Ivan, pretending to track down another female dragon, though he had no intention of actually finding her for the bastard. And he had a vision of the female Ivan was trying to find, and from the vision, he knew she was his mate. Some things in his visions could change, but not that. Shifters had one true mate. They could love as many as they wanted, but there was only one real mate for them. That person was perfect for them in every way, and they’d do anything for their mate, with no limits. Absolutely anything to make sure they were happy. The female Ivan wanted for himself was that for Alex. And that female was Cammie.

Finally. Yes, mate.

Jumping at hearing his dragon’s voice for the first time in ages, Alex brought a hand to his chest and rubbed. He didn’t know why his animal hadn’t spoken the words to him before. No, he did speak to him once. Alex just didn’t recognize it for what it was. But he still didn’t know why his dragon was so quiet, his presence so muted for the last month, for that matter. He searched his returning memory, but events leading up to his wreck were a little murky. At least he finally knew why he came to Eagle Creek looking for the fighters. He was coming to warn Cammie, maybe even try talk her into running with him.

His breath stalled in his chest and he tensed as he thought her name. Fuck. How the hell was he going to explain any of this? She hated male dragons. The second he told her what he was, she would kill him before he could say more. The whole fight crew would kill him, but the guys would probably toy with him first, throwing in a little torture before they finished him off. She would kill him instantly, without giving him a chance to explain. But he had to figure out a way to tell her. Even if she kicked his ass, and hated him for what he was, it would be worth it if she was safe. She knew she had to hide from the males, but she didn’t know a male was searching specifically for her. She had to be warned.

And he knew, from his very first vision after he arrived here, that they were still looking for her. At least the timeline made sense now. What he saw was two weeks in the future at that point, which meant it was probably happening this week. And that meant they still had a small amount of time, because Ivan hadn’t found her yet. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to buy him a little time to figure out how to explain everything to her.