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“Pretty much the same thing that you are,” Dean said. “I told you that I’ve been in love with Lucy since we were in fifth grade. I have to take a mate, and I can’t imagine being with anyone other than Lucy. I’m hoping that I can get her to see how much I love her and to make her fall in love with me.”
Micah shook his head.
“I don’t think that is going to work. I think that you should go back to Montana,” Micah said. “Find another bear shifter to be your mate. I know that you’ve always had a ton of women following you around like your own little harem. Choose one of them.”
Dean laughed.
“I know that you said the two of you are officially betrothed, but if Lucy really wanted to go through with it, she wouldn’t have run away to here,” Dean observed. “My guess is that you are here to convince her to go through with the mating ceremony. Are you in love with her, too?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Micah said. “However, the elders and my father are talking about exiling her if she refuses to go through the mating ceremony with me.”
“Well, if she chooses to be my mate, I can protect her. She won’t need your clan anymore because my clan will be her clan.”
Micah sighed and shook his head. He knew that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by arguing with Dean. Dean had already made up his mind that he was going to stick around and try to get Lucy to fall in love with him.
“Good luck,” Micah said.
Dean looked at Micah as though he was expecting more of a fight from Micah. Micah wasn’t going to do anything so juvenile as to get into a school yard fight over a woman, who would, in the end, make her own decision.
“Where are you staying?” Dean asked.
“Ivy Springs Inn. It’s a quaint little place. The rooms are clean and comfortable.”
“I’m staying at the Forest Resort. It’s very luxurious. They have a hot tub, an indoor pool, a bar, a restaurant, and even a game room with a pool table. I had a nice massage last night,” Dean said. “If nothing else, this is a nice, relaxing vacation before I have to assume the duties of the alpha. You should stop by and we’ll hang out.”
“I’ll try to fit it into my schedule,” Micah said.
Dean hesitated for a minute.
“What are you going to do now?” Dean asked.
“I’m going into this store to see if they have anything that Anna and Belle might like,” Micah said. “Then, I’m going over to Ivy Springs Treasures. Mom has been wanting a turquoise and silver cuff bracelet like the one that is in the window.”
Dean laughed and said, “I hope your dad isn’t planning on getting her one for her birthday.”
“He’s not. I think that he is planning on another pair of earrings. That is what he usually gets her for her birthday. At least he is a little creative about it. One year he gets her pearl, another garnet, another emerald.” Micah laughed.
“There is that,” Dean said. “My dad always gets Mom something practical and it drives her crazy.”
Micah laughed, glad that the awkwardness between the two of them had dissipated somewhat.
“I’ll see you around,” Dean said, as he walked to his truck.
Micah headed into the store. There was a tall man, who was obviously dressed in tailor made clothes, standing aggressively at the counter. Micah almost left, not wanting to get involved in any drama that might be going on. However, he decided that he would just look around and avoid the man who looked like he had just eaten some rotten fish.
“We all know that Luke was a dragon shifter,” the man growled at the clerk behind the counter.
“We do now,” the other man said, whose name badge read Dillon.
“Both you and Ethan had been seen hanging out with Luke. I heard that he was even invited to a couple of your poker games,” the man said.
“We did hang out with him,” Dillon said. “That doesn’t mean anything, Raf. You talked to him several times, yourself.”
“You had to know that Luke was a dragon shifter,” Raf said. “Who else are shifters in this town?”
“Neither Ethan nor I had any idea that Luke was a dragon shifter. You know as well as I do that all of the shifters take great care not to share their shifter status with the rest of the world. It is much too dangerous in this town for them to do that,” Dillon said. “Like I said, you talked to him several times and you didn’t know that he was a shifter. Alexis was all over him, and she didn’t know that he was a shifter.”
Raf stared at Dillon as though he had grown horns on his head.
