The Dragon's Bidder (Tahoe Dragon Mates 3)

As he headed back to his cottage, his dragon said, Breakfast will be fun.

Don't get too comfortable, dragon. Remember, there are still enemies out there.

There will always be enemies. However, I'm going to enjoy our breakfast with Ashley and Mom. It'll help us relax.

Relax? How in the hell is that possible when you'll be only thinking of claiming her?

His beast stood a little taller. I can restrain myself. You'll see.

Wes resisted sighing. He hoped so because dealing with both his dragon and his mother at the same time would be exhausting.

Still, it was basically a dream to have Ashely on PineRock, staying in his old family home.

Not that he could linger on that thought. There was too much to do, and he needed to start on his clan leader duties ASAP. He changed the subject with his dragon. For now, we need to send messages to Cris and Troy about what's going on. There's a lot to do before sunrise.

Cris was in charge of clan security, and Troy was PineRock's head doctor. The pair were his closest confidants, and he'd long ago agreed to tell them everything when it came to the clan as a whole.

They were also two of the few clan members who knew that Ashley was Wes's true mate.

Walking faster, he soon reached his office. And as Wes went to work, the familiarity of clan business kept his mind from straying about having breakfast with his true mate.

Well, mostly. Wes had little control over his dreams, which had her in his house, naked, and at his mercy.

Chapter Six

The next morning, after Ashley had showered, changed, and did as much work on her phone as she could, she finally faced the door.

It was nearly 8:00 a.m., and she could hear Wes's mother moving around downstairs.

She was about to have breakfast with two dragon-shifters. The idea was kind of surreal given that ADDA had strict rules about how employees could interact with their charges. True, Wes wasn't exactly her charge, but he was close enough.

Even without ADDA rules and restrictions, there was a huge elephant in the room she still needed to discuss, too—being his true mate.

A night's sleep hadn't helped to settle her brain on that topic at all. If anything, sleep had made it worse since being near Wes for hours, inhaling his scent and feeling his heat, had only given her brain more fodder to use in her dream fantasies.

While there was plenty she didn't know about him, bidding on him and winning him for an evening may have not been the best idea. Because now she wanted more of everything—his touch, his teasing, and the feeling of being safe any time she was around him. All things she'd never felt with any other man.

Her cell phone beeped a reminder about the time, and she pushed aside every thought of a future with Wes. Figuring out what to do about the League was far more important. And to work on that issue, she needed to survive breakfast first.

So she stopped hesitating, opened the door, and headed down the stairs.

Despite not knowing the layout of the house, it was easy to follow the music and clanging to the kitchen. Ashley stopped in the doorway and smiled as she watched Cynthia do a little twirl before breaking an egg into a bowl.

The dragonwoman said without looking up, "Come in, Ashley. Breakfast will be ready soon-ish."

"Thank you," she murmured as she headed toward the tall chairs at the counter overhang.

Stirring the contents of the large bowl, Cynthia looked up. "I've seen you around and know you're an ADDA employee, but I'm not entirely sure how you ended up on PineRock in the middle of the night with my son."

Ashley did her best not to swing her feet as she thought of how to answer the question. In general, she didn't get along with a lot of women because she was too direct and wasn't very good at being delicate.

However, she'd just have to trust her gut, which said Cynthia wouldn't be offended at her being blunt despite the fact they'd just met. "I won him for the evening in a charity auction, but our night got cut short by the League."

Cynthia clicked her tongue. "The AHOLs, huh? I thought they'd mostly faded away around this part of the country."

She resisted blinking. It seemed Wes's mother was more informed than most of her fellow ADDA employees on the topic. "Er, yes, they were barely a flicker around here until a few years ago, when certain groups started funding recruitment drives again."

Cynthia poured some batter into a frying pan, picked up a spatula, and looked Ashley dead in the eye. "Then if Wes brought you here, in the middle of the night no less, it means you're in trouble. I hope you aren't one of those stupid females who think they can do everything without any help, even when it means facing people who probably want to kill you."