She shook her head quickly. “We aren’t.”

  “I would like her to be mine,” Konar said. “But she is undecided.”

  She muttered something under her breath, but Konar couldn’t hear it over the crush of the crowd.

  “Did you just say he’s obsessed with conquering the world?” Felix asked.

  She shrugged.

  “Well, that would explain the ax,” Felix said. “Not one to let his guard down, is he?”

  He shook his head.

  “He only just woke up,” Mara said.

  “You need a job?” Felix asked, folding his arms and crinkling his purple suit. “We can always use another bouncer. And you’re huge. Then again, I’m sure the double dragons have already tried to recruit you.”

  “I hate this planet,” Konar replied. “I will do nothing to fight for it. They stole my life from me.”

  “Sounds like something to drink about,” Felix said lightly, motioning to a burly-looking bear shifter behind the bar. “Benny, can you serve up my friends here? On the house.”

  “Wow, that’s so nice of you,” Mara said, and jealousy burned through Konar again.

  He’d had a good day with her, but now all he wanted was to return to the castle and bed down, holding her safe in his arms.

  In this club, anything could happen. The smell of sweat, of sex, of trouble, was just too strong.

  Nevertheless, he took the drink handed to him while Mara took the one handed to her. His appeared to be a plain glass with a large ice rock, and hers was tall and covered with fruit.

  She sipped it, then grinned. “That’s delicious.” Then she sat back and watched her friends, who had found two shifters to dance with.

  Becky was already eagerly dancing pretty sensually with a large man in flannel that Konar was pretty sure was a bear, while Willow was shyly dancing across from a wolf, avoiding getting too close to him.

  Konar would keep an eye on both of them.

  “I love this club,” Mara said, looking over at Felix, who was still leaning on the counter next to Konar. “It’s awesome of you guys to make a club where shifters and humans can come together and see we aren’t that different after all.”

  “Oh, honey,” Felix said. “We’re as different as the moon and the stars.” He motioned for Benny to bring another round of drinks for her and Konar. “So it’s good you have this huge monster looking out for you.” He winked. “Now help me convince him he should work at the club. The pay is great, and—”

  “Stop that,” Benny the bartender said, setting new drinks on the counter. “If he’s a dragon, you know this is below his pay grade.”

  Felix snorted. “I’ve always believed in people doing what they want.”

  “If you’re a dragon,” Benny said solemnly, “then you have a duty to this world.”

  “A duty to end it,” Konar muttered. “A duty to make them all crawl for what they did to me.”

  Benny raised an eyebrow but said nothing, and Felix let out a sigh.

  “Let me tell you, brother. There is no point to revenge. What’s the old saying? Before you try to get revenge, dig two graves?”

  “Because you have to kill at least two people?” Konar asked, confused.

  Felix laughed. “No, one for the person you’re trying to hurt and one for yourself.”

  Mara was sipping her drink and seeming a little tipsy. “Konar, do you mind if I go dance with my friends, just for a moment? It looks so fun.”

  “I’ll go out with her,” Felix said. “I patrol the dance floor. But think about my offer, big guy.” Then with one more uncomfortable perusal, the odd shifter was gone, ushering Konar’s mate onto the dance floor.

  Konar watched with interest, relieved when Mara found her friends and pulled them in to dance with her in a safe little circle, while Felix, taller than most in the crowd, pushed back any shifter who looked like they wanted to come in.

  He made sure they were fine, then continued to patrol the dance floor around them, looking for trouble.

  Mara’s face was lit with happiness as she danced with her friends, and he could swear he felt a crack in his stone heart forming, just watching her be so happy.

  “This seat taken?” a syrupy, falsely high voice squeaked out before the woman he’d seen in the line before sat down next to him.

  He eyed her in annoyance, not liking anything about her, from her oddly manly and muscular but short legs to her way of dressing like she was trying to show as much skin as possible to the fake hair she’d attached to her head, which looked odd and dead and limp, hanging down to her waist.

  But her face… that was what truly bothered him. A face that shone up with fake admiration as she tried to hit on him even when he’d come in with his mate.

  “Come on, you can’t be into those fat chicks you came with,” she said, and as she looked up at him, he realized behind the makeup, she had some kind of facial issue that made her look almost inhuman. She looked something like a witch, with a huge, hooked nose, a lack of chin, and just a mean look to her expression that couldn’t be hidden by her false smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  She couldn’t have been uglier to him in that moment, having insulted his mate with a word he didn’t even see as an insult.

  Fat.

  This person was an example of why a kind woman like Mara didn’t know how beautiful she was.

  Konar turned to the woman, taking a moment to appraise her, trying to stifle his raging hate for her so that he didn’t say something stupid and get him and his friends kicked out of the bar.

  Benny looked at Konar questioningly, as if to ask if he wanted the tiny woman removed, but Konar shook his head.

  He could handle this ugly, skeletal little creature with the mean eyes.

  “I only like fat women,” he said roughly. “And only her.” His eyes went to Mara.

  But to his dismay, the little woman sidled close. “Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. Look at this body. I lost two pounds for this!”

  Konar went silent, trying to keep his cool. He didn’t hurt women, even emotionally, if he could help it.

  But his protectiveness over the woman he wanted to be his mate, his loyalty to her…

  “I know. Let’s start as frieeends,” the woman said in an annoying voice. “You’re like a giant, and I’m super tiny! It works great! Best frieeends! Everyone needs friends!” She made an attempt to snuggle in toward him, and he nearly knocked his stool over to get away from her.

  Mara looked over in concern, but he just waved her back to dancing with her friends.

  He could handle this.

  He turned to the tiny woman who was getting uglier by the second.

  He could tell her ploy to be “friends” was just a trap, something to entice him to spend time with her.

  He could see in her eyes that she wanted to fuck him. He sneered as he let her see his gaze wander over her in disgust.

  “I think you might be the ugliest woman I’ve ever met, and that was before you opened your mouth,” he said. “Come near me again, try to touch me again, and I’ll have them throw you out.” He looked to Mara. “I see only one woman. And she would never talk down or look down on another woman like you have. That makes her even more beautiful to me than she already is, and she already lights up the sky—”

  The tiny, ugly woman stood in confusion, clasping her tiny fists. A shifter passed by, looking at her muscular but oddly proportioned physique and odd face and grimacing.

  Normally, Konar would have wanted to defend any woman of any body type, but he now saw what Mara said.

  How people in this world treated those with extra curves. How mean they could be. How ugly.

  “I’m giving you one more chance,” the woman squeaked. “You can’t possibly want to be with that cow—”

  Konar stood, rage filling him, fists tightening.

  “I got this,” Benny said, stepping over to the woman and pushing her toward the exit. “Lady, we don’t allow people to harass our customers or talk badly about other customers. You’re going to have to leave!”

  “I’ll be outside!” she yelled desperately. “We can go get tacos!”

  But Konar knew no one would spend any amount of time with such a person, regardless of the food offered.

  Disturbed, he went out to the dance floor to see his mate.

  As he did, the music changed, and a slower song started playing.

  Mara moved over to him with folded arms as her friends paired up with other shifters.

  “Perfect,” she said, reaching for his arms and draping them around her waist before putting her soft hands on his shoulders.

  Drakkaris, it felt good holding her like this.

  “Are you okay? I figured you didn’t want me interfering,” she said quietly, stepping side to side in a way Konar could mimic, hoping it somehow approximated dancing.

  “I am fine,” he said. “I’ve fought countless battles. I simply was surprised by how much evil one tiny human can possess.” He hung his head slightly, then met Mara’s eyes. “I know now what you mean by how cruel people can be.”

  “But they can be nice too,” she said. “Don’t worry about one human. The world still needs you.”

  His expression darkened. “Then they shouldn’t have locked me up.”

  “Do you want to talk about it with Troy and Jack? They might know what happened—”

  “Nothing would excuse it,” he said. “I can’t remember my family. I can’t remember my past…”

  “It will come,” she said. “In the meantime, you have me. I’ll be here for you.” She smiled at him, her expression so pure and full of all the good things that other woman had lacked.

  Besides, he had never really liked people who tried too hard or those who were shallow or mean.

  Mara was kindhearted and strong, and Konar loved that about her.

  Damn… if it was possible for a stone heart to love, he would love this woman…

  “What are you thinking?” Mara asked. “Your eyes have gone so soft.”

  He smiled. “Just that you’re incredible. And I’ll never forget these days with you.”

  “Have I softened your stone heart up?” she asked with a giggle, her eyes sparkling from dancing and exertion, so beautiful he could barely breathe.

  And the feel of her curves against him…

  She was so the opposite of the other human, soft and warm and kind instead of mean and desperate and manipulative.

  Some part of him had given humankind in general credit for her being so kind and goodhearted, but now he knew it was truly just her.

  She was special. Kind in a world where it didn’t pay.

  He’d seen her give away countless crystals at the store earlier, always infusing them with her energy.

  Perhaps if she stayed with him, she could give him advice, help him conquer the world humanely…

  Her hands on his shoulders felt like such heaven he could almost forgive a hundred lost years just for the fact that he was here with her now.

  But his memory…

  But just as he was about to go foggy again, he heard a disturbance at the door and saw a large, burly man with brown hair striding in, hands at his sides, eyes glaring.

  The man moved past the bouncer and into the crowd, shoving through as shifters and humans alike began yelling at him.

  He focused in on Willow, moving closer, and Konar quickly pushed Mara behind him, blocking her body with his.

  Killing intent, or worse, emanated from this creature. A bear, by the smell of it. A bear gone bad.

  “I have to help her,” Mara said, darting out from behind him before he could stop her. “She has trouble saying no, and I don’t like that guy’s vibe.”

  Konar was still trying to decide on the appropriate level of violence that wouldn’t make his mate hate him, frozen to the spot.

  Almost in slow motion, as Konar felt like his heart was going to explode from the fear of it, he saw his curvy little mate running over to join Becky in trying to help Willow, who was trying to politely tell the bear she wasn’t interested, by the looks of it.

  The big man wasn’t listening.

  The crowd surged between them, and he couldn’t reach out and grab her.

  The bear shifter turned, malice in his dull-blue eyes, and Konar saw him raise his hand toward Becky, pausing when he saw Mara.

  A leering grin lit his lips as he reached for Konar’s mate.

  Rage ran through Konar as he realized the man’s intent toward the woman who meant everything to Konar.

  In a blink, Konar’s ax materialized in his hand, and he threw it at the bear without a second thought.

  To protect his mate, her friends, and the rest of the club from this dangerous bastard.

  No one, no one would put a hand on his mate while Konar was there.

  It was only after his ax had left his hand that he realized what he had done.

  It flew true and immediately sank deep into the man’s forehead, and he barely had time to let out a choked scream as he fell to his knees then onto his back, jerking.

  Everyone in the club began screaming, and then an odd scent began to fill the area, like lavender.

  “Keep calm!” Lock said, walking onto the dance floor as the doors to the club shut tight. Everyone was still panicking, and blood was pouring from the bear shifter’s face as Becky and Willow held each other, coming over to Konar.

  “Thanks,” Becky said, looking up at Konar gratefully. “He was going to grab Mara—”

  “Are you okay, Willow?” Mara hugged Willow, who still looked shocked but nodded. Mara then turned to look up at Konar. He expected harsh judgment, but all he saw was shock in her eyes.

  And something else. Maybe gratitude? Maybe something darker…

  “I’ll be right back,” he said softly, leaving her with her friends for just a second as he walked over to retrieve his ax, staring the dead shifter in his eyes as he removed it from his forehead, making blood spray up.

  In his mind, he felt he’d done the right thing. But it was his body that had acted… to protect her, regardless of the consequences.

  And he would do it again, human rules be damned.

  The lavender smell got stronger.

  Slowly, to Konar’s shock, everyone in the club began to rub their eyes, forgetting their shock and getting sleepy.

  “Tsk, you can’t just go throwing axes at people’s heads in this world, dragon,” Felix said, coming over to Konar and Mara and their friends. “You two.” He gestured to Willow and Becky. “Come upstairs and meet my mate.” He looked over at Konar and Mara. “The two of you should go clean up and talk in the staff bathroom. You need to make yourself scarce in case dragons show up to question us.” He looked at the blood that had hit Konar’s shirt when he removed the ax.

  “What about the people who saw?” Mara asked.

  But everyone in the club was slowly lowering themselves to the floor, curling up in piles to nap.

  “I will put them to sleep, and then Lock will administer memory removal serum. It will be fine.” Felix looked at Konar. “But you need to get your man in control. Though, that bear had it coming, and I’m sorry we weren’t on top of it sooner. Try a punch next time, big guy.”

  “He’s a bit protective,” Mara said.

  Felix nodded. “I can see that. You two make yourself scarce, as I said.”

  “Will you be okay?” Becky asked Mara.

  Mara nodded. “I have to talk to Konar.”

  Konar merely took Mara’s hand, dragging her off in the direction Felix had pointed.

  After everything that had happened, he was ready to be alone with his mate.

  Or the woman he hoped would be his mate, even though he’d just thrown an ax at a human.

  19

  It had all happened so fast.

  In the small space of the staff bathroom, she could practically feel heat radiating from Konar as he slammed the lock to the door closed, then began to pace furiously from one corner to the other. With his impressive height, he seemed to almost fill the room completely with his powerful body.

  She could still hear music pounding from the club. It was so odd how things had changed so quickly.

  And Konar… she’d thought he’d be able to hold his violence back. She’d hoped he could handle himself. And he’d killed someone.

  But the fact that someone had been trying to assault her friend, and then reached for Mara with a look in his eyes that had sent dread down to her soul, just made her glad that Konar had acted at all.

  And there was something so hot about the way he’d done it. So fast, without hesitation.

  Dammit, why did she have to find even his barbarian side so hot?

  Still, the way he’d protected her and her friends all day, she had to hope there was a chance he could come around to being like one of the double dragons and helping the world rather than conquering it.

  Hope was all she had now that she was utterly falling for this gorgeous dragon.

  She’d been worried when she saw him being hit on by the tiny woman who had mocked them outside.

  But he’d handled it perfectly and then come to hold Mara, heating up her body and making her ready for so much more.

  Even though she knew after so much blood and violence, she should feel differently.

  Now all she could see was Konar, his body taut with rage (and something else), his sunset-colored eyes watching her with a perpetual glare.

  “Are you disgusted with me for what I’ve done?” His gaze was defiant. Unapologetic.

  She shook her head slowly. “No. A little surprised, that’s all.” She swallowed. “I’m grateful you didn’t let him hurt us. Though, as Lock said, a punch might have sufficed.”

  “I didn’t know if I could reach you through the crowd,” he said in a low growl.

  Konar continued to pace, making the ground shake with his movement. She couldn’t help but watch his taut muscles encased in his blue jeans and the black tee shirt he wore.

  Her body craved more of him. In a primal way, even the excitement had put her in the mood.