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When all was said and done, he felt lonely.
The kind of loneliness a trip to town and being surrounded by people wouldn’t fix. Not even Goya’s quiet company could help sometimes.
Kai was missing something.
Someone.
It was foolish to dwell on it, but he couldn’t help what his heart wanted.
Dragons mated for life. He’d chosen his mate, but she wasn’t here. No one would ever replace her. Therefore, Kai would simply have to accept his loneliness as a permanent condition of life.
This particular night, he didn’t want to be alone, even if he stayed feeling lonely.
He walked from the base of the mountain all the way into town. No unnatural conveyances for him.
There were a few modern things he appreciated—all the various kinds of alcohol, fried food and loud music. The punchier the beat, the better.
Ben said Kai liked heavy metal, but it had to be the melodic kind of metal. Whatever that meant. Ere argued that Kai liked alternative rock mixed occasionally with hip-hop. Kai didn’t comprehend. What was the alternative to rock? Stone?
Kai himself decided that he liked rock, stone and metal. It was appropriate, given he was an earth dragon.
A few townsfolk nodded his way or offered words of greeting as he strode down main street. He made eye contact and briefly nodded in return.
Even in the human world, being First among Beasts, a position all dragons held, had a noticeable effect on every kind of mammal. And Kai was Alpha in every way. He was big, scarred, tattooed and scary.
His “resting face” was a brooding scowl, his upper lip curled in a perpetual snarl because of a puckered scar. Ere’s friends kept the hair on his head and face trimmed, but between his thick brows and beard, he looked more menacing than approachable. All that, combined with the way he walked, a loose-limbed lethal sort of strut according to Ere, resulted in a large-and-in-charge male no one could ignore.
People felt compelled to bow or show respect in his presence. Kai could only acknowledge the deference or leave the wrong impression that he was somehow displeased. Goya and Sorin had the same effect. They taught him that with innate authority came responsibility, whether he liked it or not.
Kai realized that in many ways, he liked it. These were his people now. His clan. He would always protect these villagers from any and all threats.
The bar-at-night-diner-for-day that Goya’s mate Maddie and her friends owned was already thumping with music and boisterousness when Kai walked through the door.
Immediately, he caught the bartender’s eye and made a beeline for the goods.
“The usual, hot stuff?” Mikayla Lane, Mike, asked, sending him a saucy wink.
Kai was pleased to know that modernwomenhadn’t changed too much. If anything, they got better.
While the Viking women he’d encountered were amongst the most independent and almost as powerful as their male counterparts, most women in the times he’d traveled to were submissive to men, not treated as equals.
Now, both sexes seemed to be on relatively equal footing. With women staying soft and nurturing in the ways that he appreciated as a man, yet they were also not afraid to be hard and bold when they wanted to be.
Mike was exactly the kind of female he liked best. She’d become a good friend over the past two years.
“Aye,” he growled, commandeering a seat at the bar and resting his arms on the tabletop.
“Coming right up.”
Mike mixed the most potent kinds of drinks. She was a genius with combining flavors and made “specials” just for Kai. It took a lot to get a dragon of his size (even in human form) tipsy enough to feel a buzz. But she got it done every time.
She also knew exactly the food he liked and put those orders in the moment she spotted him coming through the door. Double everything with meat on the menu, plus a couple off-menu treats if Maddie made extra during the day.
This way, he got pleasantly numbed from the alcohol, but had enough in his belly to keep from getting wasted. Which was convenient for all involved. Because when Kai became a deadweight drunk, it took an army and a forklift to move him.
When she came back with three shots of his special-of-the-night, Mike braced her elbows on the bar top in a position that mirrored his and asked, “What’s the occasion? This is the first time in two months I’ve seen you in here.”
“Family left,” he muttered low.
