Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(2)

“I think fire out of the fingers is more of an Avengers thing. Here, let me show you again.”

With a flick of his leg, he’d swept my legs out from under me before I could react, sending me on the ground next to him, but in a much less flattering position. My brother was an asshole.

“How about I show you something for a change, little brother?”

I slapped the side of his head. He usually pulled that move on me, but it was my turn. “Okay. You made your point. If you really want in on this business, you’ve got to be good at a skill. So far you suck at fire-making. What else you got?”

“What else is there? Cactus-skinning? Squirrel-shooting?” he said, and then threw one arm over his face to shield himself from the sun beaming down on us.

Cactus-skinning. Someone should skin him.

I looked around the mess of a campground for something Samson could do. He had always struggled with a blue-collar approach to life, and camping was no exception. “How are you at pitching a tent?” I asked and then immediately regretted it.

“Ask my female. She knows my tent-pitching skills best.”

I curled my lip at his remark. My brother had always been a little on the crude side. Before I could answer, a gargled snore tore from his mouth and I knew the conversation was over before it began. I’d wanted to ask his advice, from a male that hadn’t yet found his mate to one who had been mated, happily mated, for a long time. Not that any dragon was unhappily mated. Once you were mated, joy was pretty much guaranteed.

Taking another look at the flyers I had been working on while he attempted, and failed, at making a fire, I wondered if this whole thing would be a bust.

“Stop scratching at it. It looks like you’re one of those wolves—like you’ve got fleas or some shit. It certainly isn’t going to make your life any easier if you look like you’ve contracted the mange, is it?”

I brought my hand out of the back of my shirt where I hadn’t even realized I’d been messing with the scales again. There were four now, and I could feel another beginning to emerge from my neck.

“I wasn’t scratching. I was just touching them. It’s a habit. It’s weird having them there when I’m not…”

“Flying around? Yeah, I can’t even imagine. It’s like you’re in a perpetual shift or something. Plus, you were talking to yourself again. While we’re on the subject, no, you aren’t going to fail and I’ll be damned if you burn those fliers even if I do make a fire.”

Samson was the only one I allowed myself to space out with. The more the craze took over, the more I spaced out, the more I talked to myself, and the more scales that refused to shift into skin. I was like the real version of Howl’s Moving Castle, but there was no Sophie to save me from the monster inside.

Believe me, I’d tried to find her.

There weren’t many choices in Castleton, and as the Alpha, I didn’t travel far away from the clan’s treasure. It was my job, above all, to protect the clan, which meant protecting the clan’s possessions as well.

“Even if it does fail, at least it will keep me busy for a while. Anything that takes up hours in the day is a plus lately.”

Samson sat up. “Is something else happening? More than the scales and the talking to yourself?”

There was a lot more.

“No. Not that I would tell you if there was. It’s fine. One day I’ll hike through the woods and stumble on a lost woman with blonde hair and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. That will be it.”

“Damn, I didn’t peg you for the Barbie type, but okay. Whatever makes the scales go away.”

I restacked the wood into a teepee formation and waved my arm toward it. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t you get your head out of my ass and put it to better use making a fire?”

He shoved me out of the way. “Whatever. I made a perfectly good fire last night and you know it.”

“Yeah, but half-shifting and spitting fire onto the wood doesn’t count. You have to use the sticks, or at least the flint and steel. No more spitting fire.”

“You’re no fun. Even when we were kids you were no fun.”

“You were having enough fun for the both of us. There was no point,” I said as I looked over at him.

“I guess that’s what lost me Alpha, huh? Dad had no choice but to pick the respectable one. The responsible one.”

I shrugged one shoulder and menacingly looked at it like it had done me an offense. I never shrugged. Just wasn’t that kind of guy. “I don’t know why Dad did some of the things he did.”





2





Kallie





“Owww!” I flicked Rhiamon’s fingers away from my arm, knowing the assault would continue if I ignored it. I loved her, I really did, but her habit of pinching me when she thought I wasn’t paying her enough attention drove me bonkers. Fine, to be fair, I wasn’t actually listening to her, but unlike her, this was not my spring break vacation, it was work.

“Are you even listening, Kallie?” Rhiamon’s voice held the fake contempt she used when she wanted to push her point. I gave a sideways glance and my eyes were drawn to her bouncing knee. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t fake contempt as much as it was annoyance. Ugh.