Page 61 of Kidnapped By The Messy Dragon

She looks at Zuri. “Malachi said he’d give me my life dream.”

Zuri grabs her arm. “The spa? The one you were trying to get the business loan for?”

Renee grabs her back. “That one. THAT one.”

The two of them break out giggling, and then they’re jumping in place with their arms around each other, right there between the moving boxes.

Renee pulls back first. “No loan. All mine. On one condition.” She points at my mate. “You come in as my business partner. Which I have been BEGGING you to do since forever.”

Zuri turns and looks at me.

I keep my smile quiet and my mouth shut. She doesn’t need to say one word. Her caramel opens up rich and full, sweeter than I’ve ever scented it, and I know exactly what I’m smelling.

It’s love.

“I’ll keep the records,” Zuri says.

Renee shrieks and jumps, and then the two of them are holding each other again, rocking side to side.

Treasure crosses the room to Soren’s side, and the women break apart.

Zuri puts her hand out. “Hi. I’m Zuri.”

“Treasure. Soren’s mate.” She takes Zuri’s hand in both of hers. “This is my old apartment. I’m glad it gets to be a home again.”

Zuri ducks her head and studies the floor while the warmth comes up her face.

Then Renee spins past me mid-celebration, and I catch what’s riding under her perfume. My nose knows that note now. Somewhere out in this valley, somebody’s whole life is about to change, and she has no idea she’s carrying the news.

Malachi catches it the same breath I do. We share a look over the women’s heads, and neither of us says one word. She gets the privilege of being surprised, same as everybody else. Renee always belonged here. She just didn’t know it yet.

Treasure heads for the kitchen table, and Soren gets there first and pulls a chair out for her. She eases down into it.

“Can I give some feedback on what this town needs from a spa?” she asks.

Zuri and Renee take the chairs across from her, already nodding before she starts.

I lean against the counter and stay out of it. The talk takes off without any of us, services and prices and what a wolf would pay to sit in a sauna. My mate is going through it all with both hands moving, and my dragon sprawls out inside me, warm and done worrying. Somewhere between that balcony and this table, I set down the last fear I was carrying. She’s not leaving me. Her home is right here.

That leaves one problem, and her name is Delilah. She’s going to come to my town.

And when she does, this whole Creek will be waiting.

24

ZURI

“Next week,” Renee says at the door, holding both my hands. “Shopping center. You, me, Treasure, and those sisters-in-law of yours I keep hearing about. I need everything for this apartment, and you need retail therapy you don’t have to fly to.”

“I’ll be there,” I tell her.

“She will not be on time,” Jalen says over my head. “She’s got a standing appointment with my pancakes.”

Treasure raises her hand from the kitchen table. “I waddle now, but I promise you I still outshop everybody in this valley.”

We say our goodbyes at the balcony door. Malachi, Soren, Sable, and Treasure stay behind to get her settled, and the last thing I see before Jalen lifts us into the dark is Renee in the middle of all those boxes, bossing a gargoyle around by pointing.

She’s going to do fine here.