High interest dette, p.1
High Interest Dette, page 1
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
High Interest Dette
Copyright 2023 by Lilo Quie
Digital ISBN: 978-1-68361-847-8
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-68361-848-5
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Decadent Publishing LLC
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
About the Author
By Lilo Quie at Decadent Publishing
Bastien, half Dior dragon of the French Canadian clans and half coyote, has lived a life in quiet hiding, avoiding dragonkind for fear of the pressures put upon him and Dettes like him. But when two silver-ranked reprobate Drakes from the Loch clans catch his scent, Bastien realizes he wants to be part of their lives. When he finds they’ll do anything in their power to merely lay eyes upon him in brief moments, his inner beast declares them worthy.
High Interest Dette
Empty Nests
by
Lilo Quie
Chapter One
Bastien
Mondays. Bastien sighed heavily, ending with a low growl as he stared out his bedroom window, gawking at the boring nightscape surrounding his uncle’s home. It rarely changed, only with the seasons, and Bastien longed for freedom and travel. He wanted to see the world, be free, seek his fortune, but his parents had robbed him of that by making him whatever creature he was.
It was unfair that other Dettes his age got to date and show interest in Drakes. When he, a half-breed, was denied contact with either. He’d never seen a coyote that interested him, but so many dragons needed Dettes, and he burned for a male in his bed.
Then there were those two. Gaelin and Stefan. Bastien adored the two, watching them play with the pups, like Rapunzel from her tower, wishing he could leap down and inspect two potential Prince Charmings.
Sure, they were raunchy and loud. Of course, they were inelegant and clumsy. But they were so very good with the pups, and every time they caught Bastien’s scent, they sniffed him out with dilated eyes, catching glimpses of one another before Sacha could cut them off. And they smelled good. So good, that in Bastien’s last heat, he’d contemplated a thousand times calling the numbers Leo gave him.
Bastien crawled from his window, not to sneak out but rather to enjoy the moon and solitude. Sacha was protective, not barbaric. He could go where he wanted, perhaps with an escort, but he got to pick who he went with. Any number of Dettes and Drakes or attendants would drop everything to see to what Bastien wanted. But sometimes, Bastien wanted to be alone. With the moon full and beautiful, that night was one of those times. Not for long though.
A small rock sailed through the air and smacked Bastien on the temple, throwing him off-balance with a waver and a shout.
“Merde!” Bastien cried out before tumbling down the slight downward angle of the roof. A slew of French profanities slipped from his lips before he shifted, tearing from his clothes to fall on all fours with catlike, if very ruffled, grace.
“Holy fuck! What the hell are you?” a familiar voice asked, and Bastien’s heart sank, the reason he’d not called them, or sought them out. Gaelin and Stefan stared at him with open-mouthed horror.
What the hell am I? Bastien didn’t know, either. His Drake father, Casper Dior, had borne him of his mate, Anna, a coyote.
Bastien’s inner beast, something his father thought of as a chimera, snorted and turned, dashing off toward the back of the house at a full run, claws ripping at Sacha’s lawn. He’d apologize and offer to help the gardeners fix it come morning, but for that moment, he tucked his tail and whimpered, fidgeting with his claws to open the back sliding-glass doors.
Sacha and Gabriel hadn’t settled the young ones down for the night, and Bastien was fortunate to catch their concerned glance. Gabriel ran to the door and opened it, glancing into the backyard suspiciously before letting Bastien shift and come in, covering himself politely until Gabe could give him a pair of shorts as he lingered by the door.
“What happened, Bastien?” Gabriel, shorter than him, reached up to prod at his temple. A sting of pain where the rock had hit him lingered.
Bastien hissed and pulled back. “I wanted to watch the moon and fell off the roof.” Bastien’s cheeks burned, too ashamed to admit he’d shifted in front of the Lochs, the Lochs that, when he thought about it, really shouldn’t have been there.
Bastien cringed when fire blasted from the corner of the house and roaring shook the windows.
Scoundrels! An echoing voice shot through their minds. Even in their thoughts, the accent leaned heavily toward French.
“Grand père?” Bastien blinked as the Lochs ran screaming from a behemoth of a dragon storming down the side of the yard, death in his eyes.
“Oh, honey… Were the Lochs bothering you?” Gabriel took Bastien’s hand to lead him away, but Bastien bit back tears and stood still.
“No. I startled when I saw them and something hit my head and I fell, shifted to stop me from hurting myself, and they saw.” Bastien rounded his shoulders and Gabriel embraced him, patting his back.
“Artur! Please! We’ve attempted to go through the correct routes! We only wanted to speak with him!” one of the two said. Gaelin? Bastien hadn’t been introduced as such yet.
You may speak to my flames! Artur billowed a cloud of flickering embers. He may be half-breed, but he is ours!
Half-breed… Bastien hated that word. Would that he could be anything else, but an unwanted consequence of a beautiful union? Casper and Anna loved one another very much. From the moment Casper hatched, they’d been inseparable.
“Sir, we really come without foul intentions! We seek to court!” the other, Stefan, said. Stefan was the one with darker hair, and Gaelin had that reddish deep auburn. Both were painfully pretty to look at.
Seek? Do not seek! Go to his sire and you propose courtship. That is a family affair.
“Sir, we would, but our attempts have been denied. Casper will not respond to us. Felix has denied us and Sacha chases us off.” Gaelin’s pleading voice settled Artur’s hackles.
He’s young. And you’re what, sixties, seventies? He’s barely twenty-one. Artur swatted the ground with his tail and narrowed his green eyes. Leo, his father’s cousin, definitely favored Artur. The temper was palpable.
“I’m thirty-three and Gaelin is thirty-five.” The two stopped flailing and running when Artur settled and snorted before shifting, his body a perfect specimen of what a dragon could be. Despite being old as dirt and offensively judgmental, he put most Drakes to shame.
“Then you should have taken it to the council!” Artur crossed his arms.
“Felix is on the council! Also, we didn’t want to petition to court him against his will.” Stefan wilted in Artur’s presence like a kicked puppy and the ancient dragon snorted, smoke puffing from his nostrils, even in human guise.
Artur sighed. “Go home. Don’t trespass. And you saw the boy… Would your families even permit you courting half-breed?”
“Hybrid,” Bastien muttered under his breath while Gabriel tried to soothe him.
“We’re related to the main Loch clans. The ones that kept Eamon around. I doubt their opinions matter much to us, these days. We’re American and respond under the Loch’s head of the council.” Gaelin stood taller. “His scent is attractive, and the children and attendants favor him. He would make a fine mate for someone.”
“Someones,” Stefan added.
Sacha stormed out, face contorted into a twist of anger. “You two!”
“Sacha. Mayhap we should—” Gabriel tugged on Sacha’s arm and sighed when he stomped past, ready to finish the job Artur threatened.
“Bastien! Stay inside. I’ll make sure they don’t bother you. And you two keep the fuck away from him!” Sacha bristled, and the two sighed, their expressions miserable.
“We’re not asking to buy him, or to den him up, Sacha. We’d like a date!” Gaelin’s pitiable expression tugged at Bastien’s heartstrings.
“Then what were you two doing sneaking into his window, hm?” Sacha growled. “And don’t deny it. I caught you two hovering down there on camera.”
“Yes, we were there, but we just wanted to talk. If we had more lascivious intentions, we’d have not been chucking pebbles at his window.” Stefan sighed.
Gabriel put two and two together and scowled. “Pebbles? Window? There’s a welt on his face looks like you hit him with a rock!”
The two blushed so prettily, sinking down. Stefan cleared his throat. “I apologize. We may have been a tad excited.”
“Gabe, it’s fine. I’m okay. I was crawling out the window to moonbathe.” Bastien whined and Gabriel frowned, his expression one of deep thought.
“All of you, calm yourselves.” Gabriel whipped his phone out, dialed a number, and put it to his ear, frowning. A few rings barely met Bastien’s ear before Gabriel spoke. “Hey. Can you come down here for a minute? Caught the Lochs sniffing around again.”
Whoever was on the other end sighed and hung up, not saying a word, but Gabriel handled the situation well, stomping across the yard to grab both Drakes by their ears. “Alright, the two of you are coming over here to sit until we get someone down here to settle this.”
Gabe snarled and jerked, putting the two ragged men to their knees in wait. “Eamon’s lot doesn’t get the benefit of trust, you two.”
“Powel was literally his son, and he did fine!” Gaelin sulked and Stefan patted his shoulder, calming him.
Bastien stood in the doorway, watching the two as guilt swam in his belly, and they avoided looking at him. It didn’t take long before a car pulled up and Hallr barged in, making his way to the back door to stare out at the scene in front of him.
Bastien shrank back from Hallr’s heated expression, making the anger melt from his face. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Hallr opened his arms and welcomed Bastien in for a lingering hug. “Did they scare you? Are you hurt?” Hallr patted his hair, and Bastien shook his head. Hallr may have been many things, but he was a wonderful father figure to any pup or young one.
“They saw.” Bastien couldn’t make more than a whisper, but Hallr frowned.
“Saw your shifted form?” Hallr hesitated and glanced out at the two kneeling Drakes as Bastien nodded.
“Huh. Bozos!” Hallr called out the back door, glancing at the two. “You two see his dragon?”
Gaelin and Stefan nodded.
“What’d you think?” Hallr patted Bastien’s back with paternal gestures, something he reserved for his boys.
“I don’t know. I thought he was pretty.” Stefan fumbled over his words as Gaelin nodded.
Pretty? Me?
“I don’t know what he is.” Gaelin sulked and Hallr sighed.
“He’s half coyote. He’s a Dette. His scent is pretty powerful and can ensnare unmated Drakes. We have to be very careful.” Hallr squeezed Bastien and glanced down at him. “What do they want?”
“I think they want to take me on a date or something?” Bastien shrugged.
“You two ask him over to your place to shag?” Hallr glared at them and they shook their heads rapidly. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Dinner. Garden walk, anything really,” Stefan said. Without lifting his eyes, he quietly added, “Tonight, we just wanted to give him our tokens and speak.”
“Tokens? You two brought tokens?” Hallr raised his brow. “Show me.”
Gaelin and Stefan dug in their pockets and held a silver coin in each hand and a small ornate box made of carved jade. “It’s got nestblossom and nettle in it, because we heard he loves it. It’s a tea. We asked Leo…”
Bastien had known for a while that they’d been chasing his heels, and had feelings for them both ways. On one hand, he was very interested, and the other, he feared they’d oppose his beast. He didn’t even know if he could lay. No heat he’d had so far came with blanks.
“That’s weirdly sweet for you two.” Hallr scoffed and pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
It rang until a voicemail came up. He sighed and dialed another number. A female voice on the other end spoke up sleepily.
“Ma’ma!” Bastien gasped as shame burned his cheeks. They’d been so protective of him, and if they thought he was in danger… They’d keep him at home again.
“Hey, Anna. It’s Hallr…” Hallr sighed as she spoke. “Casper isn’t answering, and I have questions about Bastien.” He frowned and her motherly, smothering tones cut through the speaker and Bastien wilted. “No, he’s fine. I wanted to clear a few things.”
Staring at anywhere but Hallr and the Lochs or his family, Bastien turned his head away and fretted.
“Huh? Nah. Kinda. The Loch boys—” Hallr paused. “Yeah, the unmated ones. No. Powel is doing fine. Overwhelmed with pups, as usual. Anyway! They want to ask Bastien out for a date.”
His mother’s angry voice came out clear over the phone, and under no circumstances did she permit those reprobates potentially kidnapping and enslaving her son to some egg farm and winding up with a clutch they didn’t want or abandoning him. He’d heard all the excuses before. Bastien’s eyes stung.
“Anna. I remember when you were barely up to my knee. Don’t give me that.” Hallr grumbled and Anna smarted back something about biting his ass before and she’d do it again. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Anna, caught off guard, barked a sharp note of laughter. Hallr broke through quickly. “Now, Anna. I know you and Cas. Who supported your mating? Unconventional, yes, but some things are. What if they’re mates? They’re awfully keen. I think Bastien’s had an eye on them for a while.”
Some begrudging muttering went on in the background, and Casper, Bastien’s father, argued a bit before getting on the phone with Hallr, his deeper tones snapping angrily. The two were always so formal and reserved, perhaps part of them hiding their relationship forever or having to.
“Will do. Thanks, Cas. Buhbye. Yes, I will. Thanks. Bye!” Hallr hung up and swore under his breath.
“Okay…” Hallr stared down at Bastien, finishing their hug with a few pats on his back before parting and speaking in quiet, soothing tones. “Would you like to get to know them better? I can chase them off, break some spines, throw a little fire and they won’t come back, I promise.”
“I—” Bastien stuttered as his cheeks grew searing hot. “I would like to.”
“They’re idiots. You sure?” Hallr stared him down and Bastien nodded. He was so very sure he wanted to get to know them better. “Alright, then. This is the first time you’ve been courted by a Drake before. We can be pushy, horny bastards. Anyone given you the talk before?”
Bastien glanced away, his cheeks staying hot. “Not like there’s a book on what’s right for what I am, Hallr. Don’t boink during the heat unless I want to chance a pup is the best I got.”
“That’s a start. Have a talk with Ryan about what to expect from two Drakes.” Hallr glanced around at stiff-postured and nervous people. “What do you even see in those two?”
Bastien glanced over then back at Hallr. “They’re young enough not to be set in their ways and the kids like them? Bryn and Leo seem to think they’re well-meaning. Also, they smell really good and I think that is a good indication you’re compatible… I think.”
“Fair enough.” Hallr sighed and marched out, thumbs in his pockets. “Sacha. Artur.” He nodded toward the Drakes.
Artur glared at Hallr.
“I really hate to put my foot down and call the shots on your territory, but we’ve a situation. They’re very interested. Bastien is interested, and his parents’ consent as long as he’s supervised and willing.”
“But we aren’t doling out Dettes like cattle anymore!” Sacha’s growl made Bastien squirm anxiously.
“We’re not, but the opposite side of that coin is that maybe, for some strange reason, there’s a Dette out here that would actually like to be pursued by Drakes, and we have to allow them their freedom, too. You can’t keep the boy locked up and away from all Drakes to keep him from the bad ones. That’s just another form of imprisonment and control.” Hallr tilted his head down to stare at the two cowering Drakes.
