Page 1 of Valentine's Day Treasure

1—Not Worried about a Little Snow and Wind

Location: Serenity, Illinois

Sleep.

..

Dream.

..

Deep dreams of chase and kill and hunt and prowl and find and feed and fuck and play and live and risk and die and live again.

..

CRACK.

Somewhere to the north, a great crack sounded, startling Trevor Burbank awake. He lay still and listened intently, eyes wide open but seeing little in the early morning darkness. He was at home, in his bedroom on the second floor, in bed, with his mate, Ella, asleep beside him, their feet entangled—but something was wrong because the constant, familiar hum of electronics in the house had ceased. Outside, the wind whipped and howled, while inside, the room seemed unnaturally dark. Trevor rubbed his eyes, realizing the power was out. He rolled to his back, listening closely to the sounds of the house, sensing his brothers awake downstairs, doing the same.

All good?Trent’s voice rumbled inruhihis head.

All good up here, Trevor replied.

Here too,Troy chimed in.

The house generator started with a thump and a dull roar, and the electronics quietly whirred back on.

Trevor picked up his phone and looked at the time—3:04 in the morning, and he had no notifications, which was very, very good. He put the phone down and settled back on his pillow, snuggling closer to his mate, listening to the whipping winds outside and the snow slapping wetly against the windowpanes. They were in the middle of a big storm—so big that Serenity Civil Defense had called a briefing yesterday afternoon, saying it could bring a foot of snow overnight. Trevor closed his eyes, not worried about a little snow and wind.

He dozed.

2—We Belong with Ye

Graeme Kynock slept lightly, dreaming he was in dragon form, reclining on a pile of gold. The pile shifted and moved underneath him, and the coins tinkled like music, which slowly melded into the sounds of a voice.

We belong with ye, the voice said from all around, again and again.

Graeme woke with a start, the phrase still echoing wildly.

We belong with ye.

He sat up in bed, wearing only silk boxers with no blanket, one hand on his forehead, eyes still closed, trying to recapture the dream. He pondered for a few minutes, until he was certain he’d captured it all.

Aye,deae, as ye wish, he said in resignedruhi, directing it to Rhen, keeping his opinions out of it. Rhen wanted her gold brought to Serenity and the task fell to Graeme, the lastdragen.He would do what was asked of him.

He dropped his hand and looked around his bedroom, taking note of the sounds of the storm outside. His mate Heather slept beside him, beautifully naked, her blonde hair loose on the pillow, and she’d kicked her blanket off sometime earlier, like usual. A golden armband flashed on her left arm, just above the elbow, matching the one on his right arm—their binding rings. Heather moved in her sleep, then moaned like she was hurting, and curled an arm around her four-months-pregnant belly, bringing her legs up.

Graeme watched her closely, wondering what ailed her, and thinking of ways he could provide comfort. When she moaned seemingly in pain again, he got out of bed and transformed into a dragon the size of a big dog, tucking his boxers into his internal cache, then he settled in on the floor next to the bed. He shot a stream of fire out of his snout straight at Heather’s belly, whiledragenmagic protected the linens and bed.

Heather settled right away. Her body relaxed and her breathing deepened. Graeme was glad. He stayed where he was, breathing fire onto her in slow waves.

CRACK.

A noise like cannon fire sounded from miles north of their cabin, and then their power went out. Heather grumbled in her sleep but didn’t wake. The battery-operated clock on the nightstand said it was 3:04. The generator rumbled to life.

Graeme decided he would check on the weather later, for now, he would take care of Heather. He returned his attention to his bond mate, caring for her tenderly, with a special gentleness forged from the deep despair that he’d left behind the first time she’d touched him.

3—Power Outages are Good for One Thing

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