“Your mountains? I didn’t see any record of you buying land. I checked three months back.”
“Poor detective work, Ob-Nox-ious. I bought this place years ago. Beer?”
Nox spat on the ground at Vyr’s feet. Fuck no, he wasn’t going to drink a beer with the monster who just threatened Nevada.
As he meandered toward the house, Vyr said over his shoulder, “Have a safe trip back to my father’s mountains.”
“I can’t go back without you, and you know it. Your father will burn me.”
“Not our problem,” Torren called as he followed the dragon and tossed the Glock onto the grass. “Have a nice life and death.”
Chest heaving, body aching, blood running down his chest and arm, Nox watched the twin assholes leave him in the yard.
If he returned without the Red Dragon, Damon would punish him, and Nox knew down to his bones that he was unimportant. Expendable. But if he gave up Vyr, Nevada would pay, and she wasn’t expendable. She was good, nice, and pure.
He couldn’t go back to Damon’s Mountains, but he didn’t like Nevada’s name on Vyr’s death list.
Couldn’t go, couldn’t stay.
Cursed.
Nox was knee-deep in quicksand, as usual.
Chapter Six
Dear Nevada Marianna Foxburg,
Your presence is requested at the formal welcome dinner for Nox Fuller on the second day of December. Formal attire is recommended. I’ve included a dress should you need one.
1010 Briar Way
Be there at six o’clock sharp.
Nevada flipped over the card, but it wasn’t signed anywhere. “W-who sent this?” she asked the delivery guy who was holding a large box and vase of red roses.
“There’s no name on the ticket, sorry,” he muttered.
Awkwardly, she took the flowers and box from him, nearly dropped the box, then recovered just barely with the thing smashed against her hip. She offered a toothy smile like a weirdo and stumbled inside. Oh! She turned and followed him a couple steps as he made his way down the walkway from her apartment to the parking lot. “Thank you,” she said in a barely audible voice. She was such a chicken.
Frustrated with herself, she set the gifts down in the entryway of her apartment and shoved the door closed. Nevada untied the shiny red ribbon on the white box and lifted the lid. Inside was a black satin dress, and when she looked at the tag, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. It was the right size and everything. It looked expensive. Who the heck sent her this? She would’ve thought it was a fox match, but the note had mentioned Nox. Maybe it was from his friends.
Delicately, she fingered the edge of the soft satin. She should go if it was for Nox. It was only fair because he was going to come to dinner tonight. Hmm, surely she didn’t have these happy flutters in her stomach at the prospect of seeing him again.
He must’ve talked about her to his friends. A grin stretched her lips. That was a good sign. She wondered what he said about her. It must’ve been nice things if his friends wanted her to come to dinner.
But…
She couldn’t go to dinner with strangers. Already, she was fighting a panic attack over eating dinner at the country club with her family, and she’d known them since birth.
But…
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to meet new people if Nox was there. He was mouthy and protective, and he probably wouldn’t mind if she hid behind him the whole night. No one was scarier than the Son of the Cursed Bear. She would be safe. Safe, safe, safe. Her smile stretched bigger. Maybe he liked her. Right? That’s what meeting his friends meant. He liked her.
A long, angry honk sounded outside. That would be her brother, Jack, and his mate, Fanny.
Nevada stood and smoothed out the wrinkles from her fitted dress, shoved the letter into her purse, and sighed as she opened the door. Let the nightmare begin.
Jack honked again as she was locking her door, as if he couldn’t tell she was coming. If she was a brave girl, she would’ve flipped him off like her sisters did when they were annoyed, but Jack and Fanny were mean and would make tonight miserable if she gave them any attitude.
“Finally,” Jack said as she slid into the back seat.
“Um, I could’ve driven myself.”
In the passenger’s seat, Fanny twisted around to look at Nevada. “Your brother and I wanted to ride with you so we could have some alone time before dinner.”
“Okaaay.”
“You see, we have invited someone for you to meet. Well, you know him, but he has agreed to consider you for a pairing if you exceed his expectations. What do you say to that?” Fanny always talked to her like she was a child.
Exceed his expectations? “I would have to say polite decline.” Because she never met anyone’s expectations, much less exceeded them. And also there was Nox.
Fanny continued as if Nevada hadn’t spoken. “Darren would be the perfect match for you because he’s older and failed to make a pairing—”
“Darren? He’s twice my age, and he’s made pairings just fine. Three of them. He just didn’t keep them.”
“He’s very well-off, and your life wouldn’t be so sad if you had someone to share it with and had babies.”
“You and Jack don’t have babies.”
“Yet. We are in our first year and not rushing because we are so happy where we are. But you could benefit by giving a man offspring and attaching him to you. Make it hard for Darren to leave. His other mates failed to do that, but he’s desperate now. He needs heirs.”
“You think he would be a good match for me because he’s desperate?”
“Well…yes.”
A slap. That’s what it felt like—a slap. Was Nevada so valueless that she could only be attractive to a man twice her age who was desperate for kits? Did she not matter at all? Only her ability to procreate? Fanny was still talking, but there was a roaring in Nevada’s ears and she couldn’t breathe. “Stop.”
Fanny was now talking about Darren’s job and his fancy house.
“Stop,” Nevada pleaded louder. “Please.”
“Listen to her, Nevada!” Jack bellowed much too loud for the tiny car. “I’m sick of watching you sit pathetically in the corner at every family event. Everyone is paired up and happy, and then the second you enter the room, you deflate all the fun. It’s like you’re surrounded by this fog of misery, and you drag everyone’s mood down with it.”
“It’s not misery. It’s social anxiety.”
“Excuse,” Jack said, flicking his fingers. They were almost to the country club, and a big part of her wished she could open the door and escape to walk the rest of the way there. Jack was driving too fast, though.
“Everyone thinks you should pair up with Darren,” Jack said. “Everyone.”
“I’m bringing someone to dinner tonight,” she blurted out. Her cheeks caught fire, but she forced herself to sit up straight in the back seat. “He’s very cute and my age and nice to me. And he isn’t desperate.” Her words tumbled end over end, spilling from her lips before she could chicken out.
“Who?”
“His name is Nox.”