Mated to the Storm Dragon (Elemental Mates 1)

Naomi gasped. “You have... a werewolf sheriff?”

“He’s quite good at keeping the peace. And not just because he’s got such sharp teeth.” Gregory grinned at her, as though casually mentioning werewolves was the most normal thing in the world.

But then, Naomi supposed, maybe it was, at least in this place.

And she’d survived a dragon’s attack. A mere werewolf couldn’t scare her after that.

“How would you like a walk through the town?” Gregory’s face was lit by excitement. “I haven’t been home in a while. And I never thought—I mean, I hoped I would find you, but as the years passed...”

Gregory gave her an overwhelmed smile, reaching out to cover her hand with his. “I always hoped that one day, I’d get to introduce my mate. It still seems like a dream... But you’re here. You’re really here with me.”

Naomi’s heart was pounding in her chest. She could feel the way her cheeks heated. No one had ever looked at her the way Gregory did.

She’d had boyfriends before who were all possessive and insecure. But there was nothing insecure about Gregory.

His possessiveness came with pride—and also a strange, endearing humbleness. As though he felt exactly the way she did. As if it was all too good to be true.

Could someone like Gregory really fear that he didn’t deserve love? From what she’d seen of his home, he had everything—money, friends, freedom, power.

But the house is so silent, she realized suddenly. There are children’s drawings... But all the children have grown up. There’s no one living here. It’s just a house right now, not a home. Because there’s no one left to call it a home.

***

They didn’t fly down into the town, although Gregory had jokingly offered it. In fact, as they walked down the winding road that led from his mansion to the scattered, colorful houses below, she realized that even though the sleepy little town couldn’t see much traffic, all the roads were well cared for. And they were wide.

Wide enough for a dragon.

She felt a smile tug at her lips. What must it be like for the children of the town to grow up in a place where every now and then, the road turned into a runway for a dragon?

She didn’t have to wait long to find out. They hadn’t even made it past the first few houses before a small group of children had gathered.

“The dragon! The dragon is home!” they shouted.

With a wink at her, Gregory waved at them—and then crooked his finger. The wind sprung up suddenly, and as the children whooped and jumped in joy, the breeze picked up a pile of leaves, making them dance in a circle all around them.

As they walked on, the children came racing past them, giggling loudly—and then, right before her eyes, the group of children suddenly turned into a group of three golden retrievers, and one long-legged cheetah that effortlessly outraced them all.

Laughing softly, Gregory slung his arm around her. “Sorry. I should have warned you.”

Naomi’s eyes followed the waving tail of the cheetah. What would it be like to raise a child like that? To raise a child here, where everything was so different?

“Children are the same everywhere.” A smile tugged at Naomi’s lips. “Nothing you need to warn for. You told me about the dog shifters, after all.”

“Our children might run a little faster—or fly, of course—but otherwise, life in Mountain View is just the same as in every other town,” Gregory said earnestly. “I promise.”

They’d nearly made it to the center of the town. There, in the middle of a large square, Naomi could now see another fountain, surrounded by pink, yellow and white tulips. And at the top of the fountain, a dragon stood, its wings spread. From its mouth and from the tips of its wings, water came pouring down with a melodic trickle.

“Not quite the same,” Naomi said, barely able to hold back her amusement. “Better, I’d say. Much better.”

“You like it?”

“I love it!” Naomi turned her head to take it all in.

The square was beautiful—and so were the houses that surrounded it. It seemed that the people of Mountain View took a lot of pride in their homes—in fact, Naomi couldn’t help but wonder whether there was some sort of competition going on.

In front of every house, flowers bloomed, arranged in a hundred different shapes and forms. Many had small fountains of their own. As Naomi took a closer look, she realized that many off the doors showed an engraved animal, or the painted silhouette of one. There were many dogs and nearly as many cats. She saw several birds—and one house, with a roof that had been painted the light blue of the summer sky, showed the familiar silhouette of a cheetah with its tail held high.

“If you’d told me all this, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she admitted ruefully. “Before all this happened, I mean. But everything here is so—it feels real. It’s not just dragons fighting each other, and mysterious caves, is it? It’s all... real. Real people. Real families.”