Page 9 of Melbourne
“Not really.We’re being robbed.”He was just standing up to go to her when she told him that she had it.“It’s never happened here before, and my employees are freaking out.How do I calm them down?”
“You need to be calm, and they’ll take their cues from you.Just project a feeling that you’ve done this before and they’ll be just fine.”He hesitated for just a second.“I’m going to come to you, but I’ve only just realized that I have no idea where you are.Can you give me an address?”
“Yes.”She told him, but also told him to be careful, as they were armed.“I’ll be as careful as I can be.You’re my mate, and I need to protect you.”
“I don’t even know what you are.”He told her that he was a large, mean-looking dragon.“By large, I’m assuming that if you were to shift in my restaurant, then there wouldn’t be anything left of it.”
“You’d be right.”He thought of her stress level and decided to help her out with that.“I don’t think I’ve ever been robbed at my place of business before.I’ve been robbed before when I was out and about.They got about two hundred dollars from me.”
It was more like they got five grand, but he didn’t want her to freak out when that was the amount he had on him.People didn’t carry that much cash on them when they were only walking about normally.As he spoke to her, he made his way to the restaurant where she was working.It wasn’t that far; it was a place that he’d never tried before.And he told her that.
“We have good food and a great staff.The man is demanding that we all get into the cooler, except for me.I have to open the safe for him.He should have timed it better.I only just got back from the bank.All that’s in the safe is about two hundred dollars, which is in each of the two drawers.”Melbourne suggested that she didn’t tell him that.“I won’t.But had he been in here two hours ago, he would have gotten nearly ten grand.Are you coming here by chance?I could use you, I think.”
“I’m standing outside the restaurant now.When he comes out, I’ll nab him with the police and you’ll get your money back.”She told him to be careful, and he promised her that he would.“But you’ll owe us lunch.My brother and I were just getting ready to order some when you reached for me.”
“Deal.You said that the cops were with you?How did you get them there so fast?”He told her that he had a buddy on the force, and he knew when he called for him, he needed him.“Good.I’ll have to remember that if I ever get robbed again.”
He felt her pain, and he also felt his dragon shifting under his skin.Before he could ask her if she was all right, she told him that he’d hit her for not paying attention to him.She’d been talking to him and had missed what he said.
“He’ll be lucky if he makes it to jail for hitting you.”She told him that she was fine but paying attention to him now.“I’m sorry.That was all my fault.”She told him that he was leaving now.
It was over the moment he came out of the back door.Lucky for the man, he’d not been at the back door but the front one waiting for him.Dyson popped him in the head, and down he went.The police had him handcuffed before he could make it back there to teach him a lesson on how to treat his mate.
Everyone was all right but for the head wound on Sammy’s head.It wasn’t that bad, not as bad as it could have been, but she went to the hospital to make sure she was all right.The police told her that she needed to make it look good for the prosecutor when it came to trial anyway.She even told thestaff to make sure that the two of them were fed before they left.Melbourne went to the hospital with her to calm his beast.
After she was seen in the emergency department, he called his brother Edgar to make sure that everyone at the restaurant was all right.He said that he could do that for him, as he was out that way anyway, and was glad to do it for him.It was Tabby who got back with him to tell him that she had been with Edgar and that everyone was having a good time being closed up and writing out their reports as to what had happened.
“They’re all relieved that they made it through the robbery.They seem to think that it was your mate, whom I didn’t know you’d found, that saved them all from being hurt.She’d been so calm.”He said that was what got her popped in the head, her talking to him to calm her.“Well, you impressed everyone here.They’ll be singing your praises for years to come, I’m betting.”
After Sammy’s head was X-rayed, they said she could have something for pain.She was going to need a few stitches, but he didn’t think it would come to that.She was already healing from her wound thanks to her being his mate.When she made it back to the little room she was in, he held her hand, and he was surprised when she let him.
“Don’t get used to this.”He swore that he’d not.“Good.I’m just nervous, that’s all, and you calm me down for some reason.Is that a mate thing?”
“It is.There will be more magic coming to you as well.You should be able to change your clothing at will.You might even be able to bring things to you.That’s what the other women can do.”She asked him what else she might get.“I don’t know, to be honest with you.It’s different for each mate.Amy can bounce in flames, which only takes her seconds to get somewhere.All the others have their own kind of unique magic that came from being mates to our dragons.”
“Will I be able to shift?Not that I’d look forward to that, but it would be something that comes in handy.”He said that sadly, none of the women could shift, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to.“I guess I’ll have to try it.Why did you come to me when I was being robbed?I mean, you could have just called the police.”
“I needed to know that you were all right.My sole purpose in life now is to keep you safe and happy.I’m not saying that I won’t mess up sometimes, but I will live my life around you and making you safe.That means your sister, too.You have one, right?”She said that she did, but she was older than her by twelve years.“I’m older than both of you by centuries.I’ve been around for a long time.And my mother, since the beginning of time.She and my aunt, along with all of us, are time shifters.They keep the world from having a disaster when there might be people who are needed later down the line.They make sure that there are no blips of any kind so that people, humans mostly, don’t know what the world is doing at any given time.”
“Wow.”He didn’t know if she believed him or not, but let it go.She’d find out soon enough when she met the rest of his family.“My family doesn’t have much to say for itself.My parents were abusive toward Justine and me all our lives, and they would starve us, too, as if they had forgotten that we were around.There were times that we barely made it, but it’s not for them ending up in jail for long periods of time; we might not have.Lucky for us, the two of us were resourceful in making sure we could find something to eat and keep us healthy.They were in prison for a while, and that’s how we were able to move on without them.I don’t know if they’re looking for us or not, but I’m not taking any chances with them.I’ve had enough abuse for one lifetime.”
They talked until she was released to go home and put her feet up.As soon as the doctor told her what to do, Melbourne knew that she’d not do it.It was all he could do to keep her from going back to work right as they were leaving.He told her that she’d have to change her clothing at the very least.She did so with her magic.
“Now that’s what I call a handy thing to have.”He said that he loved it as well.It had kept him from wearing dusty clothing to her restaurant when she’d called for him.“I didn’t mean to take you from your work.I was just scared and scared for the people that work for me.They were stressing out and making me stressed out.Thanks for keeping me calm like you did.”
“It was my pleasure.”Taking her to her home so that she could get her laptop, he got a better view of her home.It was a little two-bedroom condo that held a certain charm for him.She had decorated it with all the earthtones that she could find, and he found it to be the most calming room he’d ever been in.He especially loved the chairs she had in her living room.“I’ll take you back to work and then hang around for a little while.I promise you I won’t get in your way, but I was wondering if we could have dinner tonight.I’d love to be able to get to know you better.”
“You say that now, but I’m betting that once you do get to know me, you’ll wish you hadn’t.Like I said, I’m not much of anything when I was talking about my family.”He told her that he’d be the judge of that.“Suit yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I’m fine with getting to know everything I can about you.Even the stuff that you’ve buried so deep that you’ve forgotten about it.”She laughed, and he knew in that moment that he’d fallen in love with his pretty mate.She laughed like she meant it and didn’t care who heard her.He loved her for that.“I’ll pick you up at six, and we can have a nice dinner, then walk around town while having some ice cream.”
“Very adult-sounding until you got to the ice cream.”He laughed with her and decided to get out of her place before he became too comfy again.He didn’t want to piss her off because he wanted to take a nap in her chair.Besides, he had plenty to do this afternoon to keep him busy, even if one of his other brothers hung out with him to annoy him.“I’ll see you tonight then.Thanks again for keeping me safe and calm during the robbery.”
He drove home when he dropped her off at her restaurant.He loved the name of it, The Morning Dew, and thought that he could have breakfast there every morning.But he’d not, not right away.He wanted to not annoy her while trying to get to know her.Melbourne was going to romance his mate until she fell in love with him, then he’d double his efforts when she said she did.Loving her was going to be easy, and he couldn’t wait to get to know every part of her mind and, of course, her body.
Chapter 2
Rachel didn’t want to be caught by Daniel again.The last time, it was five years ago, he had nearly killed her.But Grandma said that he was in jail and she was counting on that.She saw Melbourne just as he was pulling into her grandmother’s driveway.Without his help, she might well have missed her grandma even more and her little boy, Danny.
