“After all, he’s been spying on you for me for years now. Hiring him to destroy my bar was a mere business transaction,” Marvin said matter-of-factly.

  So that was how they had been able to catch her off guard the other day at her home. Or how her uncle and aunt had shown up unexpectedly dozens of times over the years, usually when she was packing up to leave or trying to make repairs to her home.

  “Did it ever occur to you that I almost died?” she yelled.

  Mansley paled. Marvin looked annoyed by her outburst.

  “I’ve always liked you, April. This whole thing… I never wanted to hurt you.” Carl tried to sound earnest, but the whole setting-her-workplace-on-fire-and-nearly-killing-her thing kind of contradicted his words.

  “We never should have done this…” Mansley stuttered.

  “Stick to the plan. We need to get rid of her before she tells anyone else,” Marvin said.

  And she needed to get out of here, fast.

  She elbowed Carl in the gut as hard as she could and bolted to the right, dodging her uncle and Mansley as they tried to stop her.

  She was almost through the kitchen, headed for the back patio, when Carl was there in front of her, blocking the path and grinning meanly. “I may not be all wolf, but I’m a lot faster than—”

  She kicked him in the groin, and Carl yelped, falling to his knees as she turned around and made for another exit, the mansion feeling like a maze now.

  With her trapped in the middle.

  She bolted for the front door, but Mansley was there, arms reaching wildly for her. So she ran past, hoping to reach the exit on the other side of the house, looking over her shoulder to see if Carl was still following, when her uncle appeared in front of her, violently swinging an iron fire poker that barely missed her face.

  This was bad.

  She ducked back into the room behind her, only to discover she was trapped in Marvin’s den. The familiar scent of aged wooden shelves and horrible cologne assaulted her senses as she backed behind Marvin’s huge mahogany desk just as all three men filtered in at once, each in various states of panting for breath.

  She grabbed an elaborate letter opener and swung it wildly, but the three men bore down on her slowly.

  “Don’t do anything hasty,” Mansley said.

  “You’re going to regret that,” Carl said, face still a little purple.

  “You should have died in that fire,” Marvin said cruelly.

  She was stuck. No weapon. No way out. She could try to toss something through the windows behind her, jump into the bushes, but the second she turned her back, she knew they’d catch her.

  And she didn’t want to find out what they were planning to do to her right now.

  Gunnar, I’m so sorry. Her thoughts spun, her heart beating like a racehorse in her chest nonstop for the past few minutes.

  Then there was a rumbling at her feet, quiet at first, distant, like a semitruck going down the highway. But it got louder and faster in seconds, and April backed away from the desk even as the three men continued to advance.

  What was going on? Was it an earthquake?

  Suddenly, without warning, the wood-paneled flooring in front of April exploded upward, splitting the heavy desk in two and making the cracked halves roll to the sides as something big and human-shaped shot up from the ground.

  And amid a hail of dust, upturned earth, and broken wood that cast a blurry haze over everything, April saw Gunnar standing in front of her, his arms folded, his clothes looking a little dustier but the same as she’d seen him only a few minutes ago.

  Before she could register what was going on, she saw a hole in the ground at Gunnar’s feet close behind him, but she didn’t have time to ask how he’d gotten here as he looked at her, then at the three men before him.

  His eyes went red in an instant.

  “Time to die,” he growled furiously, his voice so sharp and rage-filled it almost made her faint.

  He’d come for her. How, she didn’t know yet.

  Gunnar lunged and slammed the back of his hand into Marvin’s face, sending him rolling to the side like a runaway tire. In the same instant, he grabbed Mansley by one hand and raised him into the air as Mansley emitted a fearful, high-pitched screech that hurt her ears.

  Carl rushed forward, attacking Gunnar, but Gunnar’s free hand rocketed forward and hit Carl in the jaw, sending him collapsing onto the ground in front of him just as Gunnar’s boot slammed onto the top of Carl’s chest, trapping him.

  Gunnar just growled. And his growl was getting louder and louder, like a feral lion set off on a violent rampage.

  He threw Mansley backward like a toy, and Mansley collided into a row of bookshelves off to the left, and heavy books rained down on him, partially burying him.

  Then Gunnar’s attention glanced down at Carl beneath his boot, and his fist came down in another heavy blow on his quarry, knocking Carl out in an instant.

  But April’s mouth opened in a gasp as she looked over and saw her uncle hiding in the corner where he’d been thrown and pulling out what looked like a gun from his suit pocket, aiming it directly at her with malicious intent.

  Before he could even cock the hammer, though, Gunnar was there in a blur, yanking the weapon from him and crushing it like plastic in his powerful grip. Then Marvin was yanked high into the air as a low, deafening rumble started to vibrate through the room.

  And Gunnar’s tattoos started to glow red.

  Oh no…

  Uncle Marvin couldn’t even speak as Gunnar’s grip around his neck tightened, and Gunnar raised his other hand toward Marvin’s face. Then his claws extended, slowly, coming so close to him April could see the razorlike tips press into the soft flesh beneath Marvin’s jaw, ready to impale him completely with even the slightest twitch.

  “Piece of shit. You die now,” Gunnar said calmly, pressing the black blades that looked like knives a little harder, slowly, and blood trickled down Marvin’s neck where one had already punctured him.

  “Gunnar, no!” she yelled, rushing to his side, yanking on his arm that was inches away from doing something neither of them could take back.

  Gunnar hesitated, growling angrily like he didn’t want to back down.

  She didn’t blame him.

  If she had come upon a similar circumstance where he was trapped like this, she would have wanted to kill everyone that had endangered him as well.

  But she was safe now that he was here. And though she was horrified by what might have happened, she wouldn’t have her soon-to-be mate become a murderer just because he was overprotective and didn’t know how to stop sometimes.

  Gradually, the flaming red of his tattoos went blue, then dissipated back to black, and Gunnar pulled his clawed hand away. Her uncle still sputtered, frothing at the mouth for air a moment longer before Gunnar slapped him so hard his eyes rolled back in his head, and Gunnar dropped him to the floor in a heap.

  “He doesn’t deserve to live,” Gunnar said, shoulders still tense.

  Seeing her uncle bruised, beaten, and exposed for the utter criminal he was was vindicating enough for April, though.

  Her heart calmed just at Gunnar’s nearness. And when she grabbed his hand, his fingers entwined around hers before he pulled her into his chest, snuggling her close.

  Now that she knew who was behind the whole thing, and peace had been brokered between the shifters of Clawson’s Creek, it was all over.

  She didn’t care what happened next as long as it meant she could start her new life with Gunnar.

  Nothing else mattered.

  20

  It took a long while for Gunnar’s basilisk to calm down from seeing the image of three men—people April should have been able to trust—that had all been after her like they wanted to kill her.

  In the moment, it seemed only fair to him that he kill them instead.

  Thankfully, April had pulled him from the brink, as usual, and when Diesel showed up a minute later, Gunnar instructed his friend to keep an eye on the three beaten criminals until the proper authorities arrived.

  With the double dragons’ help, he’d make sure Mansley and Marvin went away to prison for a long, long time. And Carl, in spite of being only half shifter, would be punishable by shifter rules, which were notoriously harsher than human laws.

  Those bastards.

  Just the thought of them made his claws want to extend from his hands.

  Instead, he focused on his beautiful, strong mate sitting in the passenger seat of his car as he made his way toward Reno’s place.

  And how, hopefully, she’d be his mate very soon.

  “That was amazing what you did back there. I didn’t know you could… Well, what exactly was it that you did anyways?” she asked, watching him with a puzzled expression.

  Gunnar grunted. “Basilisks are subterranean dwellers. One of our powers is to shift the earth around us, allowing us to move through it. In my basilisk form, it’s a lot easier to burrow and dig due to our claws and our size. But since awakening, we’ve figured out we can move through the ground in our human forms much faster.”

  “Kind of like how Ajax could control rocks and stuff?”

  “Sort of, though only he can do that specifically. But we all have power over the earth beneath us. To move and shape it so we can get from place to place silently and without warning.”

  She gulped, and yes, Gunnar supposed being able to pop out from beneath the ground at any time might be considered scary to most people.

  Hopefully not April, though.

  But she looked only curious and interested as ever. “But how did you find me? How did you know where I was?”

  He reached over and lightly tapped the left side of her chest, making her blush. “Your heartbeat.”

  “My heartbeat?”

  He nodded. “Basilisks can sense vibrations from long distances. It’s why the rain wakes us up. Or how I can track footsteps or feel a tree falling a mile away. But you’re special, something I only discovered after our first kiss.”

  She just watched him like he was her whole world.

  Fuck, if he didn’t feel the exact same way about her too.

  “No matter where I’m at, no matter how close or far from you I am, I can always hear your heartbeat. Like a signal in the back of my mind that tells me how you are. I sensed the second your heart began racing that something was wrong. I just followed the sound until I found my mate.”

  She let out a breath, looking stunned and so cute he considered parking his car and mating her right there. “That’s amazing.”

  “Just further evidence that you’re my mate, April. I want you, and only you, for the rest of our lives.”

  She bit her lower lip and looked away, cheeks red. “So tell me more… about mating.”

  His cock jerked at how sexy she was, still wearing the green sweater over her white tank top with blue jeans that hugged her curves. “I’m not positive, but all we should need to do is have unprotected sex. If it’s like dragons, which I would expect since they’re our closest relatives, we should also share our lifespan.”

  “How long do basilisks live?” she asked excitedly.

  He grinned. “You’re going to be stuck with me for a long time. Maybe forever. So don’t make this decision lightly.”

  She reached across the middle of the car and wrapped her arm around his, nuzzling her head on his shoulder. “I already said yes the first time you asked. I’m only more sure it’s what I want now, Gunnar.” She sighed. “I want to see the world with you. Learn new things with you. Make love to you. Meet new people and help you and the other basilisks save others out there that need it.”

  He growled. “We’re not going anywhere until you’re mine, April.”

  She shuddered beside him, and he could sense her arousal at his words. Up ahead, the log mansion high on the hill came into view, and he tried to not speed in his eagerness to get April home so he could pleasure her completely.

  The car stopped, and April’s pretty gray-blue eyes looked up to meet his. “Then what are you waiting for, big guy?”

  In an instant, he was out of the car and on her side, nearly ripping the car door off its hinges in his excitement as he picked April up out of the car and immediately started to shower her with kisses.

  FINALLY, his basilisk roared inside, and arousal and need surged within as he carried April up the steps toward his room.

  April would finally be his mate.

  Gunnar the basilisk would never be satisfied without her.

  21

  April’s body clenched with arousal as Gunnar carried her through the quiet home, the whole place warm and silent and making her skin hot from just the contact of his big hands squeezing her ass while she wrapped her legs around him.

  They were only halfway down the hall, and April leaned in to tease and kiss Gunnar’s ear, secretly loving how he got all sexy and caveman-y whenever she played with him like that.

  In response, he growled and moved to a short table littered with odd paraphernalia that sat idly in the hall, one they’d passed a dozen times before. And with the swipe of one hand, the contents spilled onto the floor as he set her on top, pressing his big body into hers.

  “Oh, Gunnar…” She sighed as he sucked at that sensitive spot at the base of her neck so hard it would certainly leave a mark tomorrow, but she didn’t care. Then his hand was at her pants, undoing the button, and she got wetter just in anticipation of feeling those deft fingers slide up and down her center. “Wait, but—”

  “No one’s here. They’re all in town, sorting out the treaty,” he said gruffly against her skin, even his breath teasing her in erotic ways. “You’re too delicious. Too sexy to wait a second longer. I need to see you come apart, April.”

  Her hands clenched his shoulders as the zipper on her pants slid down, and in response, Gunnar easily gathered both her wrists in one hand and pinned them to the wall above her, trapping her between it and his ripped body, unable to move.

  She struggled against him slightly, testing his grip, but he was immovable. Yet when he held her like this, showed her his absolute strength, she could also feel his restraint just for her. Like he knew exactly what she wanted in the moment just by the way his beautiful eyes could read her like a book.

  April let out a long, pent-up breath as Gunnar’s gaze roved over her, and he licked his lips, long and slow. Then his hand slid beneath her underwear, spreading her slick folds, and he stroked slowly against her clit, making her whole body ache for release from just the arousal that had been building since the second they’d left the car.

  But he took his time, withdrawing his glistening fingers and sucking them slowly in front of her while she felt her whole body go red from embarrassment and arousal.

  “Only I can make you feel this way,” he said as he finished licking his fingers off.

  She nodded desperately in assent.

  He glared at her possessively, his blue eye going red like the other. “Only I get to touch you like this, ever.”

  “Yes.” Her sex clenched for more of him. All of him.

  “Only I can see you like this. Hear you like this.” His rough palm smoothed over her belly, then lower, so close she could almost feel him. “Promise?”

  “Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Only you.” She couldn’t want another man like she wanted him. Not before. Not now. Not ever.

  And seeing him so hot and fiercely possessive like this only made her more eager to come with him.

  “Perfect,” he said. Then his fingers found her clit, and arousal like warm lightning shot through her veins as he started to stroke her quickly.

  But he wasn’t satisfied with just his fingers, and as he continued to kiss her neck, her collar, the tops of her breasts, still keeping her pinned, April knew she wouldn’t last long against the overwhelming sensation of her protective basilisk pleasuring her like this.

  In moments, she came, screaming his name, the sound filling the halls of the empty house for long seconds as Gunnar continued to tease her clit, making her release even more intense. Her legs tightened around his midsection, pulling his huge hardness against her, and the thought of his cock inside her wrung the last bit of her release out of her.

  When it was over, she was breathless and desperate for more.

  “Now I take you to the bedroom,” Gunnar said harshly. Then he let her hands go, which she let slump over his shoulders just as he hefted April up again like she weighed nothing—her pants still hanging open—and resumed his path toward the room.

  In a matter of seconds, they were in his room, the familiar sight and smell of it already feeling like home to her.

  Though, in reality, wherever Gunnar was felt like home. He was home to her.

  And for someone who had never really felt at home anywhere, the thought was so warm and comforting it burned to touch it.

  She’d never be grateful enough for him.

  He set her on the bed, making her bounce against it, and was on top of her in a second, peeling off her clothes with unyielding intensity until she could feel the heavy afternoon air warming her skin everywhere.

  “Yours too?” she asked, and he didn’t deny her, literally tearing off his shirt and pants until he was naked and above her in all his perfect male glory.

  Just the two of them.

  Heavens, he was a sight to look at.

  His eyes were still red as he leaned down to squeeze her breasts, kneading them as he kissed and licked each nipple slowly and lovingly. And when he sucked the turgid peaks there, zings of arousal went up and down her back, making her squirm against the soft bedsheets beneath her.

  He took his time. Kissed her everywhere like he wanted to mark her as his own in some primitive, sensual way. Write his name on her skin with his tongue and lips and steady hands.