I was a half-breed, an abomination according to the supernatural society I was born into and hidden from for my protection; half caster and half dragon shifter. My mother, who was also a caster, cursed me when I was twelve years old to forget about my life in the supernatural world and suppress my growing powers. The curse had not only changed my identity, but it physically manifested itself as a large tattoo-like mark that grew the first night of every new moon for fifteen years, and now covered the entire span of my back.
When the mark had completed itself, my powers returned to me along with not one, but two mates. Xander Liu was my shifter mate, not to mention my childhood best friend. We grew up together until I was stolen away, but he found me again when my dragon was returned to me.
My other mate was Ronan Young, a Scottish caster who worked for the very Council I was running from. He had ambition to spare as a staunch supporter of the government, so I wasn’t exactly sure where his loyalties lay when it came to me. I knew he wanted me as much as I wanted him, but it became tricky when you involved your life’s ambition in the mix.
For that very reason, I hadn’t accepted Ronan as my mate, and I wasn’t sure I ever would. Well, because of that and the fact Xan wasn’t exactly the sharing type of guy. No one has ever had more than one mate, but then again, no one has ever been a mixture of two supernatural races before. You could just imagine how excited he was with the idea of it.
I didn’t blame him, really I didn’t, but it didn’t quench the longing I felt for Ronan. Not even a little bit.
Xan turned off the ignition to the car and turned to face me.
“Promise me,” he demanded, his sable-colored eyes blazing into mine.
He wanted me to teleport out of the diner at the first hint of danger, with or without him, and I had yet to agree to it. To say he was protective of me would be an understatement. He was a dragon after all.
I rolled my eyes and exited the car without answering his ridiculous request, because there was no way I’d ever leave him behind. I had lost too many people in my life, and I wasn’t about to leave the most important person to me behind. Ever.
I began walking around the side of the building to the front door and Xan caught up to me within only a few steps, taking my hand in his. He stepped in front and pulled on the door handle, swinging it wide and letting me pass through first.
Xan was a gentleman, but I knew he wouldn’t have let me go first if he hadn’t scanned the room before I walked inside. There were only a few patrons in the diner, along with a waitress in a pinky-peach colored uniform. Everyone looked up when we walked in and tracked our movements as we walked across the scratched checkered floor. They were all definitely otherworldly, and it was obvious they could sense we were too.
I sat down at one of the stools at the counter and Xan took one beside me, turning his body to face me so he could see both the dining room and the space behind the counter.
“Can I help you, sugar?” the waitress asked me. She didn’t address Xander, not that he would have answered her anyway. He was focused on keeping us safe.
“Sure,” I smiled and looked at her nametag. “Susan, can we please get a couple of iced teas?”
She nodded her head with a friendly grin and turned to pour our drinks. When she turned around, she carefully placed each cup in front of us with two straws and looked at me expectantly.
“Is there anything else?” Her eyebrows were drawn up in question.
“Yeah,” I drawled out. “There is one more thing. Do you know someone named Di? A friend told me I could find her here.”
Xander tightened his hand on my thigh when Susan stood upright and stiffened at my question. Her smile faded away and a look of paranoia crossed her face.
“Di? I’m not sure I know who you’re talking about,” she mumbled and began inching toward the kitchen door.
“Really? That’s a shame. I was really hoping I could find her,” I insisted.
Before she could reply to that, a giant of a man came lumbering out of the kitchen and stood beside her. Susan scurried away to the kitchen and the big man took her place in front of us.
Xan turned his head fully toward the man, showing him that he wasn’t intimidated.
“What business do you have with Di?” the man asked in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Well, that’s between Di and me, don’t you think?” I asked, challenging the newcomer. Xan squeezed my thigh again, but I could tell even though this man’s was huge, he wasn’t planning on hurting us. He wasn’t aggressive in the slightest. I could also tell he was more like someone we had to get through to get to the woman in question. He was just protecting his interest.
He cracked a smile and shook his head. “You’re right, sweet thing, but you see, anyone who comes in here and asks for Diane has to go through me first. So, it is actually my business. Ya understand?”
I looked at him thoughtfully for a second before deciding to answer him.
“My friend, Devlin Stratton, told me I needed to come to this diner in this town and ask for Di. That she could help us. So, if she can, could you please point us in the right direction? If she can’t help us, or
