Page 20 of Marked By His Alpha Dragon's Desire

“Not having you near me would distress me more than trying to follow some silly idea of what the proper timeline is for a relationship. The house will feel empty without you. You said yourself you were drawn to it.”

“All right.” I wrapped my arms around his middle and pulled him to me. “Lunch first. Then the fire station.”

“Perfect.”

“Let’s walk.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

We walked together, hand in hand, down the side street to Main.

“A lion shifter lives there.” I pointed at the house four doors down from Luca’s

“Mrs. Schaffer is a lion?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. I would have assumed she was a bear. Is it offensive to ask people what their species is? I don’t want to offend anyone.”

“No. Now that you know about them, they won’t be insulted.”

“How did they keep this from me for so long? Am I the only one in town who didn’t know?”

I nodded. “Normally, they would have driven outsiders out of town since they want to keep themselves private and their secret safe, but everybody liked you. They wanted to keep you.”

The smile that spread across my mate’s face made me happy.

“Aw, that’s so nice. Did Tyler tell you that?”

“He did. I think everyone will be relieved that you know now. They were all hoping you’d find your mate among them. You did walk in on several situations that they were sure would give them away.”

“I did notice that everybody goes quiet when I enter a room.”

I chuckled. “Yep, that would be why.”

We were on Main Street now. There weren’t many people out and about, but those that were waved at us. I held the door open to the café, and Luca walked inside. Michelle squealed when she saw him, rushing to his side and wrapping her arms around him.

“Oh, finally! I’m so happy for you!”

Luca raised a brow, looking from me to her and back again.

“Your scent has changed,” she said. “He explained things, right? Dragon, you better have explained things to him before you did the deed.” She glared at me, and even though I towered over her by a foot, I felt about six inches tall.

“They can tell that we…” Luca cleared my throat. “There are no secrets here, huh?”

“Indeed, there are not,” Michelle added. “Oh, Luca, we’re so happy for you. We had hoped that you would find someone here. That’s why we kept introducing you to everyone. But when no one clicked, we decided that we would keep you and just be careful. And look, it all worked out!”

I grinned and squeezed Luca’s hand. “It did all work out.” Even if I hadn’t quite explained all the things to him. We had time.

“Are you guys coming in for lunch?” Michelle asked.

“Yes, please,” Luca said. “We’re starved.”

She laughed. “I just bet you are.”

Throughout our meal, we couldn’t seem to go a minute without someone stopping by and saying hello. News had traveled fast. Each person offered their well-wishes and congratulations. The more people that visited, the wider Luca’s smile became.

“I didn’t know I was so popular,” he said.

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