Dragon Returning (Torch Lake Shifters Book 1) Read online

The bartender eyed her suspiciously, as though she had just asked him a trick question. Then he shrugged. “Same as any other Tuesday, until you walked in.”

  He turned his gaze back to the television, which was playing a local news program. Mandy got the feeling that she wasn’t going to get much intel out of this guy. He was perhaps the least friendly bartender she’d ever met. Or maybe he didn’t want to talk to a woman who looked like she belonged in a swanky club instead of an unassuming dive bar. Mandy cursed whoever had listed the Token Tap as a “happening Chicago spot” in Russ’s file. Then she cursed herself for trusting someone else’s research. No doubt a quick Yelp search would have been enough for her to realize that this place wasn’t exactly what one would call “happening.”

  Mandy took a long swig of her beer, which tasted delicious, and contemplated whether she should take another stab at conversation with the bartender. She had just opened her mouth to speak, though, when the front door of the bar creaked open. She closed her mouth and turned in her barstool, catching her first in-person glimpse of Russell Porter.

  He was even taller than she’d expected him to be, and his thick muscles pressed against the sleeves of his t-shirt. He looked even handsomer in person than in his picture, and Mandy felt a strange tingling sensation rush through her stomach. Embarrassed by the sudden emotion, she looked down quickly—only to catch a glimpse of her stupid, sparkling shoes. She groaned inwardly. She had reason to be embarrassed, alright. She would have given anything in that moment to be wearing comfy jeans and a t-shirt, like Russ.

  “Russ, my man. How’s it going?”

  The bartender, suddenly friendly, reached over the bar top to give Russ’s hand a hearty shake.

  “All’s good,” Russ said, settling into a barstool two seats away from Mandy. “I’ll take the usual.”

  Mandy watched as the bartender filled a mug with the same IPA she had ordered, and she felt irrationally proud that she had chosen the same drink as Russ’s “usual.” At least she’d done one thing right.

  Russ and the bartender started discussing a story on the news about a crooked Chicago alderman who’d been caught embezzling money. Mandy took the opportunity to gather her thoughts. She’d been caught off guard by how strongly Russ’s presence had affected her. She hadn’t expected to be so attracted to him, but that attraction was a good thing, right? It would make the job she had to do easier.

  Mandy took another long sip of her beer and tried to listen to the conversation Russ and the bartender were having. She needed a good jumping-in point, although finding one in a discussion on local politics was proving a bit difficult. Before she could think of something to say, the door to the bar creaked open again. Mandy swiveled in her chair to see a group of three men, dressed as casually as Russ, walking into the bar. They were regulars, as evidenced by the way the bartender greeted them by name. Russ also waved hello and asked one of them about how someone named Stacy was doing. This must have been some sort of inside joke, because the question was followed by roars of laughter from everyone. Mandy felt decidedly out of place, but that feeling was about to get even worse. The door creaked again, and another group walked in. Then again, and again. Over the next fifteen minutes, the Token Tap went from virtually empty to standing room only. Everyone except Mandy was a regular, and none of the regulars seemed to even notice the crazy girl with glitter shoes and too much makeup who had invaded their midst. Mandy wondered whether she should leave and try again on another night, when she was better prepared to fit in with a crowd like this. She was about to slide off her barstool and slink out the door when the barstool next to her was vacated and Russ suddenly sat down beside her.

  “This seat taken?” he asked.

  Startled, Mandy shook her head no.

  “Good, because those bozos down there forced me to move over. They want to sit together so they can make out all night. Young love, I tell you. Must be nice.”

  Mandy glanced at the “bozos” Russ was referring to. A man and his girlfriend, who looked to be about the same age as Russ despite his calling them young, were snuggled up close on their two barstools. The man gave Russ the finger, and Russ gave it right back. Then the two men both burst into laughter while the woman rolled her eyes at them.

  “What are you drinking?” Russ asked, turning his attention back to Mandy. “You can’t have an empty glass in here. House rules.”

  “Uh, the Goose IPA,” Mandy stammered.

  “Joe! Two more for me,” Russ yelled. The bartender gave him a thumbs up and then went to fill two fresh mugs.

  Mandy took a deep breath and settled into her seat. Looks like she’d be staying a while. Perhaps her night wouldn’t be a waste, after all. Maybe she could still find a way to impress Russ and get started on convincing him to come back to Torch Lake.

  A few moments later, the bartender set down the two mugs in front of Russ. Russ slid one over to Mandy and held his up for a toast. After they clinked their glasses together, Russ took a long sip before setting the mug down and tilting his head in Mandy’s direction.

  “So, you’re not from around here are you?” he asked.

  Mandy took another deep breath. Time to get to work.

  Chapter Three

  Russ eyed the pretty brunette as she spoke, doing his best to keep his eyes on her face and off her body. It was no easy task. He didn’t want to be one of those sleazy, disrespectful men who undressed a woman with his eyes, but damn, it was hard not to stare when a woman as beautiful as Mandy was sitting in front of him. Russ forced himself to pay attention to what she was saying.

  She’d arrived in Chicago a few days ago. She was here for work, although she seemed reluctant to tell him many details about what kind of work she did. When he asked what she did for a living, she’d waved her hands dismissively and said “Government stuff. Really boring to talk about.”

  Then she’d immediately changed the subject, launching into a description of her shopping attempt gone wrong. She apologized at least five times for her shoes. Now, she was apologizing again.

  “I don’t normally wear things like this.”

  Russ shrugged. “They don’t bother me.”

  “Are you sure they’re not blinding you? I’m concerned for your eyesight.”

  Russ laughed. So she had a sense of humor. He liked that in a woman. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he grimaced. He shouldn’t be thinking about liking this woman. She was a nice diversion from the usual crew at this bar, but, despite her protests about how she didn’t normally wear flashy shoes, he had a hard time believing that her whole outfit was all that different from her normal style. Why would anyone wear something like that out to a bar in an unfamiliar city unless that was the sort of thing they liked to wear? Anything else seemed like too much effort. His guess was just that Mandy had intended to head to one of the more clubby bars and was embarrassed that she’d accidentally ended up in a place like the Token Tap. How she’d accidentally ended up here was a mystery in itself. This place was purposefully hard to find. Joe only wanted people here who were looking for the spot. That usually kept away the clubbing types who preferred fifteen dollar cocktails to five dollar pints.

  Still, Mandy acted more down to earth than Russ would have expected, given her clothing choices. Maybe he shouldn’t judge by appearances. After all, he looked like a normal guy, but he was anything but. Which was the real reason he couldn’t get involved with Mandy. No one could know that Russ was a dragon. No one. Which meant that he was destined to live out his days alone. The thought made him sad sometimes, but he never allowed himself to get too depressed. After all, he had a lot to be thankful for. He had a good job, he was healthy, and, perhaps most importantly, he’d managed to escape being destroyed by the Great Dark Magic War. If that war had taught him one thing, it was that one could never be too cautious. He had no idea how the dark wizards had found him before, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let them swoop in and ruin his life again. Sure, everyone from the Shifter Undergro
und said that the dark wizards had been completely obliterated, but Russ wasn’t letting down his guard. And that meant not getting into a relationship, and not letting anyone get close enough to know he was a dragon. If there was another uprising of evil, Russ sure as hell was not going to be caught up in its wake again.

  “Are you okay?”

  Russ snapped back to the present at Mandy’s words. She was looking at him with a worried expression, and he knew it must have been obvious that his thoughts were a million miles away.

  “I’m fine. Just…long day at work. My mind wandered. Sorry.”

  She smiled. “No worries. I was just asking if you want another round. I think it’s my turn to buy.”

  Russ looked down at his mug in surprise. He hadn’t even noticed that it was empty. “Nonsense. I never let a pretty lady pay.” He signaled Joe for another round and turned back to Mandy, determined not to let his mind wander again. Just because a relationship was off limits for him didn’t mean that he couldn’t have a little bit of fun.

  And, oh, what fun he had. For the next three hours, Russ and Mandy talked and drank, and even drunkenly sang along when the jukebox started blaring out some of Russ’s favorite tunes. At some point after one a.m., Russ was even considering breaking his rules about not bringing a woman home with him. He wasn’t normally a one night stand kind of guy, but he couldn’t bear the thought of parting ways with Mandy when the bar closed at two a.m. Besides, if she was into him, what was wrong with having a little fun? She lived halfway across the country, so it wasn’t like she would expect anything serious from him, right?

  And god, the way that dress hugged her curves. The din in the bar was deafening, and she frequently leaned over to yell in his ear. Every time she did, the dress stretched tight against her stomach and hips and boobs. Perhaps Russ had started out the evening rolling his eyes at the dress, but he wasn’t rolling his eyes anymore. He had to admit that the little black number looked good on her. Then again, he was pretty sure anything would look good on her. The longer he sat next to her, the more he realized just how beautiful she was. Her shiny, dark brown hair and honey brown eyes were the perfect complement to her slightly tanned skin, which was accented with just the tiniest bit of freckles. Russ hated to admit it to himself, but he was head over heels in lust with this woman. Not only was she beautiful, but she was funny, and smart. The hours of talking to her flew by. If there’s one thing Russ couldn’t stand, it was boring conversation. But Mandy kept him captivated. He forgot to glance at his watch, and he barely noticed when the bar started to empty out around two in the morning. It wasn’t until Joe leaned over the bar top and said, “Last call, bud,” that Russ realized he and Mandy had closed down the place. How long had it been since he’d done that? He couldn’t remember. It must have been before the war.

  The thought sobered him slightly, and he decided he didn’t want another beer. He pulled out his wallet and started fishing out some twenties.

  “How much do I owe you,” he asked, trying to ignore the raised eyebrow Joe was pointing at him. He knew Joe must be thinking he was drunk as a skunk. What other explanation was there for Russ, the man who never so much as touched a woman on the arm anymore, to be sitting so close to Mandy that they looked like they were glued together at the hip? For once, Russ felt annoyed with Joe. Wasn’t it a bartender’s job not to judge? Why did Joe’s eyes look so judgey? Was it because Russ had chosen to sit next to the girl who was clearly out of place in this bar? Whatever. Russ didn’t care that Mandy wasn’t dressed like the rest of the crew here. She was smoking hot, and he was only having a bit of fun. It’s not like he was going to marry the girl.

  Russ threw some cash down on the table and gestured to Mandy. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”

  Mandy looked up at him through her long eyelashes and smiled. She seemed pleased by the prospect of spending more time with him, and Russ once again considered whether he should invite her over to his place for a little fun. They were both adults, after all. Maybe she wanted a night of pure pleasure as much as he did.

  But even as Russ thought about the glorious possibilities of what lay beneath Mandy’s dress, he knew he would never be able to go through with it. Stereotypes about macho men notwithstanding, Russ had never been able to fully separate love and sex. Sleeping with Mandy was too dangerous. He was bound to fall in love with her if he did, and he knew that love was not an emotion he could ever act on.

  Still, he didn’t pull away when she reached for his hand. He had offered to walk her out, and if that meant steadying her so she didn’t drunkenly trip over her glitter shoes, well, then that’s what he would do.

  The fresh air outside the bar felt glorious as it filled his lungs. He hadn’t realized how hot and stuffy it had become inside, and he breathed in deeply as he and Mandy started walking down the sidewalk hand-in-hand. When he let out the breath, he heard Mandy stifling a laugh.

  “What?” he asked, glancing over at her. She looked even lovelier in the warm light of the streetlamps than she had inside the dim bar. Russ was well aware that he was drunk, but he still knew that her beauty was due to more than just the alcohol fuzz surrounding his brain. He’d known from the moment he walked into the Token Tap tonight that this woman was in a league of her own when it came to looks.

  “It’s just funny that you’re breathing in so deeply in the middle of a smoggy city. It’s not like it’s fresh mountain air you’re inhaling.”

  Russ frowned. “Oh, come on. Chicago isn’t that smoggy, as far as cities go.”

  “Well, the air here might not be as bad as in Los Angeles, but it’s not the Swiss Alps, that’s for sure.”

  Russ laughed. “I hardly think it’s fair to compare Chicago to the Swiss Alps, but if you’re having trouble breathing I’d be happy to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Russ cringed. Even in his drunken state, he knew that what he’d just said sounded like an exceptionally corny pickup line. But if Mandy thought he was being too cheesy, she didn’t show it. Instead, she fluttered her eyelashes at him and pursed her lips, a clear invitation. Before he could rationalize himself out of it, Russ leaned in and put his mouth on hers.

  The next few minutes were a glorious blur. He pulled her into a small alley between two brownstones and pushed her up against the wall, pushing his tongue into her mouth and sucking in the taste of her. Heat filled his body as she wrapped her arms around his waist, and he put his palms up against her face. He could feel himself stiffening between his legs as he pressed his body against hers, and his mind screamed at him to pull back and get out while he still could. He knew he needed to let her go before things got too out of hand, but he found it impossible to pull away.

  Just a few more minutes, he told himself. You can’t let this go any further, but you can enjoy a few more minutes of this. Her hair fell around his hands as he cupped her face, and he tried to memorize the feel of it. This was a fleeting pleasure for him, a stolen moment of happiness that he could never fully embrace. Not since the war. Not since he knew what darkness was capable of.

  The thought brought him to his senses. He pulled back, ignoring the ache he felt in his very core as he did so.

  “Mandy,” he whispered, reaching to trace the line of her face with one finger. “Mandy, I can’t.”

  She looked up at him, breathing hard. Her eyes had gone from girlishly flirtatious to very adult and very hungry. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, and it killed him to have to take another step back.

  “I can’t,” he repeated.

  “Why not?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, too.

  “I…I have secrets.”

  She cocked her head at him, giving him such a knowing look that for a moment he thought she was about to laugh and tell him that she already knew he was a dragon. But after looking at him long and hard, she just shrugged.

  “Everyone has their secrets, Russ.”

  “Yes, and some are bett
er left secret.”

  She shrugged again. “Suit yourself.”

  She pulled away from his finger on her face, but put her hand in the front pocket of his jeans. His skin was on fire everywhere her hand went, even though the thick denim fabric of his pants separated them. He closed his eyes, thinking that if her hand moved toward his dick he was going to have a hell of a time pushing it away.

  But she didn’t reach for his stiff dick. Instead, she felt around in his pocket until she reached his cell phone and pulled it out. She held it up to him with the lock screen displayed.

  “Unlock it,” she commanded. He did, and then watched as she went to his contacts list, then to the “add new” button. Moments later, he had a new contact in his phone, listed simply as “Mandy.”

  “I’m in town for a bit,” she said. “If you feel like showing me some of your favorite local places, I’d love to see the parts of Chicago that the guidebooks don’t tell you about.”

  He said nothing, only nodded. He didn’t trust his voice right now. Mandy leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and walked out of the alley with a small wave. Russ stood there for a long time, waiting for the telltale bulge in his pants to relax before he walked out from the shadows he was standing in. He fingered his phone in his pocket, already arguing with himself over whether or not it was a good idea to call her back.

  It was only later, after he’d made it halfway home, that he realized her request for help in finding local places seemed a bit contrived. After all, if she’d found the Token Tap then she’d already strayed far, far away from the guidebook recommendations. And no one found the Token Tap by accident.

  Russ shivered, even though the night was warm, and then quickened his step toward home. Mandy hadn’t been kidding when she said that everyone has their secrets.

  What was hers?

  Chapter Four

  “Shit, shit, shit.”

  Mandy’s mother was probably turning over in her grave at the amount of cursing that Mandy had done today. But Mandy didn’t have the energy right now to act like the “proper lady” her mother had raised her to be. Not when Mandy had botched this job up in the worst way possible.