Her Halloween Treat (Dragon Force - A Holiday Mini Series - Book One - Nature Dragon)

Lyra slowly opened her eyes. Where was she? She didn’t recognize anything in the room.

“There you are.”

Lyra turned her head and found Maverick sitting in the chair beside her bed. She looked down at the white sheets and groaned. She’s in a hospital, and from the looks of it—Maverick knows her secret. She looked back at the large man who was now sitting forward watching her—a smirk on his face.

“Yes, sweets. I know your secret now.”

Lyra snorted, “okay, so I’m not fat. But I’m not skinny either,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Maverick chuckled. “You’re perfect,” he said, taking her left hand from her chest and holding it.

She snorted just as the door opened.

“Baby girl, you’re awake.”

Lyra’s right hand slid down to the bed as she looked at her father and smiled. “Hi, Daddy.”

Albert moved closer to the bed and took his daughter’s hand into his.

“I am sorry about your car, baby girl. We will buy you a new one.”

Lyra chuckled, “I’m not worried about that. Did you get the person who ran me off the road?” she asked, looking at Maverick.

Maverick scowled, and she knew they had not captured the culprit.

Lyra sighed, “I guess I’m still in hiding.”

“I don’t think the disguise is working. That’s two times now they have come after you in your fat suit,” Maverick said, looking from Lyra to her father.

Albert let out a sigh. “I guess you’re right….”

“Oh, goodie, no more paddings,” Lyra said with giddy.

“I think maybe you should continue to wear the vest, though,” Maverick said, looking back at her.

She looked at him and scowled. “You are no help.”

Maverick chuckled and kissed the knuckles on the hand he was still holding.

“I agree with Maverick.”

Lyra looked to her father. “Of course, you do.”

Albert looked from his daughter to the man who was supposed to be keeping her safe.

“Your boss wants to see you in the lobby.”

Maverick looked at Lyra’s father and sighed, then looked back at Lyra and smiled.

“I will be back, sweets.”

Lyra smiled. “Okay.”

Maverick stood, leaned over, kissed her forehead, then left the room.

Lyra watched him leave, then looked to her father.

“Don’t say a word,” she warned her father.

Albert sighed, “your mother would kill me if I did.”

Lyra smiled. “I like him.”

Albert nodded. “We could tell at the party. But he’s supposed to be protecting you, not courting you.”

Lyra sighed. “I know, Daddy. And he is protecting me. Tonight wasn’t his fault.”

Albert snorted. “Then who’s fault was it?”

“Mine, for insisting on driving my own car to my apartment.”

Albert closed his eyes. He almost lost his daughter—again. Maybe he should bow out and let them have the mayor position. He opened his eyes and looked at his daughter. It wasn’t worth losing her.

~🎃~

“What happened?” Tony asked the moment Maverick stepped into the lobby of the hospital.

Maverick took a deep breath and told his boss what had happened. Tony nodded as he listened. When Maverick finished, Tony grumbled.

“They haven’t been fooled with her disguises. They know it’s her.”

Maverick nodded. “It could also be her car. Maybe they know what she drives.”

Tony agreed, and they talked about what to do next to protect the princess.

Thirty minutes later, Maverick returned to Lyra’s room. She was sound asleep, her father nowhere in sight, and his chair where he had left it. He returned to the chair and sat back, closing his eyes. He dozed off and didn’t wake until morning.

~🎃~

“Careful,” Maverick said as he helped Lyra into her apartment.

“I don’t like this. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

Maverick looked at the phone in Lyra’s hand. Her parents were on speakerphone.

“Yes, sir. They know where you live and follow Lyra every time she leaves the house. They don’t know where her apartment is or that she even has one. Staying at her apartment is the safest thing for her. My men and I will keep an eye on her twenty-four-seven.”

Albert grumbled, and his wife shooshed him.

“If this is what you feel is best for our daughter, we are behind you one hundred percent, Mr. Rivera,” Janessa said, her husband still grumbling in the background.

“Thank you, ma’am. And you can call me Maverick.”

Janessa chuckled, “as you wish. We will go now and let you get our daughter settled into her apartment. We love you, baby girl.”

“Love you too, Mom,” Lyra said before she hung up.

Maverick guided her to her couch and helped her sit.

“Are you okay?” he asked, watching her face fill with pain.

She nodded, but he didn’t believe her for a second. She was pale and looked like they had run a marathon rather than walked the few feet from the elevator.

“Are you sure you should be out of the hospital?”

She smiled and leaned over, so her head was on the couch.

“If I stayed there for one more minute, I would have strangled someone.”

Maverick chuckled, “okay, sweets. Do you need something to eat or drink?”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to pass out. Maverick watched her sleep for a couple minutes, then lifted her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom. It wasn’t hard to find. It was the only room that looked lived in. He placed her on her queen size bed and stood above her.

“Sleep well, sweetling,” he whispered, then leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

He left her room door open and headed to the living room. He pulled out his phone and dialed his boss.

“She’s safe,” he said, then listened to Tony go over what they had gone over a hundred times. “I know Tony. Don’t worry, she won’t be away from my side longer than it takes to take a piss.”

Maverick hung up the phone and looked at his watch. His men should be there soon—this time—they weren’t taking any chances. The three of them were going to watch her like a hawk.

Or rather a very protective Dragon.

Two quick knocks and a third harder knock came to the door, and Maverick answered it.

“Well, well, well. Looks like the princess has some taste,” Andrew McCurney said as he entered the apartment.

“Andy,” Maverick said with a nod to his fellow Dragon.

“How is she?” Daniel Ferrin asked, looking around the living room.

“Good,” Maverick said, closing the door behind his men. He looked at his friends and grunted. “Don’t even think it.”

Both men laughed and headed for the couch.

“So, where’s the princess?” Andrew asked.

“She passed out, and I put her to bed.” Maverick gave both of his men a look that told them—hands-off or else.

“I do believe our Nature Dragon has found his mate,” Andrew said with a smirk.

Maverick snorted, “you know we can’t tell just by looking at a woman. Besides, when has a human ever been a Dragon mate?”

“Uh, when Dragons became extinct?” Daniel said, looking at Maverick.

Maverick closed his eyes. His friend had a point; Dragons were becoming more and more rare. Most of it was humans and other Shifters hunting them down because they believed they were demons—sent from hell to destroy the world. But what none of them have realized is that Dragons were placed on Earth to protect other species, not destroy them. That is why he and his friends decided to take jobs in security.

Yes, they may occasionally have to kill—but that was to protect others. They have never taken the life of someone who did not deserve it.

So, a human mate wasn’t so farfetched any longer.

But as he said, you don’t know just by looking at them. The only way to find your true mate was to make love to them, then you will know. But who goes up to a woman and says, ‘hey, I think you’re my mate, mind if I make sweet love to you to see if I’m right? And if not, then hey, it was great.’

Maverick mentally rolled his eyes. Yeah, like that would go over well. Especially with someone as sweet and innocent as Lyra.

‘She’s your job, not your mate,’ he reminded himself.

“Hey Mav, where did you go?” Andrew asked, waving his hand in front of Mav’s face.

Maverick shook his head and looked at his friend.

Andrew and Daniel chuckled.

“I do believe he has a rich little princess on his mind,” Andrew said with a smirk.

Daniel shook his head, still chuckling.

“Have you kissed her?” Andrew asked, wagging his eyebrows at Maverick.

Maverick turned from them and headed to the kitchen.

“Oh my God, he has,” Andrew said with a laugh, following Maverick into the kitchen, Daniel close behind him.

“How was it?” Daniel asked.

Maverick glared at his two friends. They have been friends for a very long time, and he was about to end that friendship by tearing both their heads off.

Andrew laughed harder, “look at that look in his eyes. He did!”

Daniel pulled out a chair at the small table in the kitchen and straddled it.

“Tell us everything,” Daniel said, batting his eyes up at Maverick.

Maverick grumbled and turned to the fridge. He hoped Lyra had a beer in there. He opened the door and said a thanks to whichever Gods were listening when he spotted his favorite beer. He reached in and pulled one out, and paused.

“Ah shit,” Daniel said when he saw the bottle of beer.

“What?” Andrew asked, looking between his two best friends.

“She has his beer,” Daniel whispered, pointing to the beer in Maverick’s hand.

“So, what…,” Andrew stopped talking when it hit him.

Maverick shut the fridge, popped the cap, and took a long swig.

One of the other ways to find your mate is to have many of the same qualities, habits—and apparently favorite drinks.

~🎃~

Andrew looked across the living room at his friend for too many years to count. What was it, three hundred? No, maybe five hundred. Maverick has never gone goo-goo over a woman before, especially one as innocent as Lyra Williams.

“Do you think she’s really his mate?” Daniel whispered.

Andrew looked at his other friend. The three of them had met five hundred years ago, back when Dragons were feared and hunted outright. No one giving a fuck that there were men behind those Dragons. Men who had been protecting their kind since Adam was created.

“He won’t know until he has sex with her,” Andrew said, turning back to look at Maverick again.

“Do you think he will? I mean, have sex with her—to see? What if she isn’t?” Daniel asked.

Andrew understood Daniel’s worries. They have all had those worries.

“He was attracted to her when we thought she was a heavy-set blond. I think he can handle a dark hair, blue-eyed beauty.”

“She was a beauty before the pads were removed,” Maverick said, looking at them.

Andrew and Daniel smiled at Maverick.

“Yes, she’s very attractive, even with all that padding. How did you keep your hands off her?” Andrew asked with a smirk.

Maverick grumbled, flipped his friend off, then went back to reading whatever had captured his attention.

“Ah shit,” Daniel said, his eyes opening wide.

“What is it?” Andrew asked, turning back to Daniel.

“I think he’s reading that book about that fireman he likes.”

Andrew looked at the book in Maverick’s hand and grunted. “He brought that book with him?”

“No,” Daniel whispered. “He found it on Lyra’s bookshelf.”

Andrew looked at the bookshelf, then back at Maverick. “I do believe the Nature Dragon is going to be showing his large head soon.”

~🎃~

Lyra moaned as she cuddled into her blankets. Her blankets? When did she go to bed? Her eyes popped open, and she looked around her. Yep, she’s in her room. She sat up and found she was still in the same clothes she had been in when she came home from the hospital. Even her shoes were still on her feet.

She kicked the blanket off her and jumped out of bed. A pain split through her ribs, and she cried out.

A loud thump sounded in the living room, then the hall. She looked up to find three large men standing in her doorway.

‘Holy Fucking Shit!’ All three were sexy as hell and so big. Maverick was pushed inside for the other two to see her.

“Uh, hello,” Lyla said, looking between the three huge men.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Maverick asked, panic in his deep brown eyes.

Lyra cleared her throat. “Uhm, I forgot about my broken ribs and stitches. I jumped out of bed and nearly split myself in half.”

The three men sighed with relief, and Maverick moved closer to her.

“Come with me so I can look at your stitches. The bandage probably needs a change.”

Lyra nodded and let him lead her into her bathroom. She looked behind her at the other two large men and almost choked when one of them winked at her.

Who are they, and why the fuck are they in her apartment?