They definitely know how to get down, and I have a feeling the grinning asshat would be a lot of fun taming.IfI were to step into that sort of territory, anyway.
"I'm fine, demon, though I do appreciate you offering your mate to me without her consent."
Zan smiles proudly and takes a step back. “If there is anyone I could possibly even consider sharing my mate with, it is you."
"Despite the fact that you fantasized about killing me when you thought Frankie and I were having crazy forest sex before you mated?"
"Bah. It's in the past. I now know that was but an irrational unmated male response.” Then he grins like the fucking Cheshire Cat. "Now I simply fantasize aboutthe three of usengaging in crazy forest sex."
I bark out a laugh and grab my phone. “You're ridiculous."
"But you love me still."
Yeah.
Yeah, I fucking do.
Asshat demon.
"So, does Andrej know we're watchingArcherwithout him?" I watch Zan step out onto my porch then follow and lock my door.
"Do you really believe my sweet sister would allow us to watch what she refers to asourshowwithout the eldest dragon's permission to do so in his absence?"
I throw a leg over my motorcycle as Zan does the same. "Good point."
All of our dragon brothers and their families are currently overseas in their homelands trying to find what's left, if anything, of their kind because now that Cyril and Ivan's skulls are sitting at their family altar, there is no longer a threat for them to travel. And since Cyril seemed to have various dragons scattered and hidden, Kai wants to reach out to any surviving members of the eighteen dragon clans in order to try to persuade them to come to Ashland.
He feels like it's what his father would have done, what his father would have wanted him to do, and Kai feels like it’s the right thing for his people because there are so few dragons left. Only seven, almost ten—Grace and Posey are both pregnant so there may be two more cooking, and sweet Lily is already showing signs of favoring her dragon genetics—if they don't find anyone during Kai's new campaign.
When he returns, the king intends to do something similar with the rest of us.
He wants us to try searching the States, Canada, and Mexico for any stragglers from our packs, prides, and clans; but before we went to war with Cyril, we all tried to find anyone left and came up with next to nothing. From there, Kai wants to send scouts to find shifters of prey, witches, vampires—now that Havok is technically one of two in line tothatthrone, he thinks it’s pretty important for us to find his parents and make sure they aren't following in Nero's footsteps—and see if there are any of the few other species that may still be thriving in secret so we can do the same. The king has big dreams, big plans, that no other has had before.
He wants to unify everyone so that no one else is wiped out completely.
We're not going to look for any demons, though. They're straight up bad news without souls, and Zan most definitely fills our quota for asshole demon, five times over at least.
Kai is a good king, unlike any alpha I’ve met, but I'm afraid his attempts to unify what remains of us creatures of mysticism might be in vain.
I'm still proud as hell to call him my brother and my king, though. Very fucking proud.
* * *
Zan and I roll to stop in front of his cabin about twenty minutes later, and when he walks his bike to the overhang so he can park it next to Frankie’s, I can't help but laugh for multiple reasons.
For one, I find it fucking hilarious that Zan now has a sidecar for his Harley, which he only bought so he could ride with his mate, and he has to have the add-on because Frankie keeps adopting animals. She hasn’t stopped since she found her new lease on life, and that female insists they have a way for the animals to joyride with them.
She even special ordered all four—and counting—of their animals helmets, old school ones with the spike that shoots straight up from the tiny black domes complete with studs along the brow. And to see that sidecar with the tiny helmets sitting on the seat, fur and feathers all over the inside as it sits between Frankie's vintage Triumph and the demon’s hog, man that is some funny shit.
The other reason, though, is because it’s funny but also pretty sweet.
When Zan saved Frankie's soul, that female really did come back with a crazy new zest for life and her normally eccentric or strange ideas amplified tenfold.
Which is why their small two bedroom cabin now has a glass encased spiral staircase that shoots up from the hall and leads to the rest of their home, which is essentially a goddamn treehouse.
Downstairs is pretty much still the same; open living room and kitchen, bathroom, Frankie's darkroom and what was once their bedroom is now a guest room or a room for the kids to play in when they come over. The iron staircase winds up from the end of the hall through a tube of glass fashioned to look like a tree trunk and it spits you out into the second floor that Frankie designed with the help of Milos. Built by Zan, Havok, the dragons, and I.
They have a master bedroom and bath, more of both, and something Frankie calls azen roomthat's made of all windows, but they also have one room that stays locked most of the time. We've all heard about it, in great detail thanks to Zan's big mouth, but no one has been inside since completion.
