by Alicia Banks
Antoine didn't know what to say. She just walked out amongst the other two guys like they hadn't been holding her hostage the whole time and it hadn’t bothered her at all. He was impressed, really, and he wasn't the only one watching her leave with admiration. She really was an enigma, making no sense to have that much confidence in the situation, but having it nonetheless.
Everyone was so shocked from her getting up and walking away, that nobody did anything to stop her. Gill was left gawking and it took Antoine only a moment to pull himself together and break the neck of the second man in his hold. He started to walk toward Gill, and Gill ran out of the bathroom.
“That really isn't very becoming, is it?”
“I never said that I was going to get killed for Fire Island. They are not even the ruler anymore. Let Nathan have it, if that's what he wants. The title is worthless.”
Antoine watched in fascination as the guy ran out of his cabin. He knew that he was going to have to go after him and end him. There was no way that he could leave him alive, especially knowing that he had the whereabouts of his house. Nobody knew where he lived and the only way to keep it that way was to make sure that no one with flappy lips was able to find him.
He went to Cassandra, after he closed the door, and asked her if she was alright. She said that she was and even though she had been brave and walked out of there, it didn’t change the fact that she was shaking terribly, and he had to pull her close to assure her. There was nothing but an enormous amount of guilt that ran through him. Once again, Cassandra was getting dragged into things that had nothing to do with her. In truth, that had nothing to do with him, either.
“I'm sorry to leave you, but I need to go take care of this.”
“And by take care of it, you mean?”
“We don't really need to talk about it. Why don't you stay in here until I get back, so that I can get the other ones out of the way?”
Cassandra looked over at the bodies down the hall and then looked away quickly. She said that she had no problems being there with the door shut. The last thing that she wanted to do was have anything to do with the bodies.
“I think I'm going to lay down. When you're done in here... When you're done, just come get me.”
“Okay, Cassandra. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I'm sorry that my life has been so hard for you.”
“I know that you didn't mean for this to happen. But I do need to ask you something.”
“What? Whatever it is that you want to know, just ask.”
“He kept calling me a human, like there was something else to be. It was so weird.”
“Did he?”
“Yeah, and you said it, too. You said that I was just a human. What did you mean by that? And what else is there?”
Antoine paused for a moment, maybe to run, because she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
“What is it that you're not telling me?”
“Trust me Cassandra, there are some things that you are just better off not knowing.”
“And who gets to make that decision?”
“At the moment, I do. You don't need to know everything.”
“So, you're not going to tell me what it was all about? You're not going to tell me why he kept calling me human and acting like there was something else besides humans?”
“If I said that I wasn't going to tell you, would you still try to find out?”
“Of course, I would. You can’t expect me just to leave it. With everything that is going on, I need to know what is really going on. I have been here for a couple of weeks now and there has been another attack. I don't even want to think about what that guy Gill was going to do to me. If I'm going to be in the middle of all this, I at least should know what is really going on. What is this big secret that you have, that you won't let me know? How much worse can it really be, than what I already know?”
He chuckled and it sounded bitter, even to his own ears. “Trust me, Cassandra, it can get so much worse.”
“I do trust you, Antoine, but the problem is that you don't trust me. You said that we're meant to be together and I am yours, but are you mine? And if you are, how can we be together and me not really know the truth about you?”
“Why do you think that there is a truth that needs to be found?”
“Because I can just feel it. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll stop asking. If you can honestly tell me that I'm barking up the wrong tree and I'm completely off, then I will quit altogether. But I think we both know that you can’t honestly say that.”
Antoine wasn't going to argue with her. He was keeping something from her, several somethings, and he wasn't ready for any of it. It was his dragon that had claimed her, not him. It wasn't like he wasn't too far from doing it himself, obviously, but the dragon pushed things along a little bit faster than he was prepared for. He did not know how he was supposed to do everything in the short amount of time that he had. He hadn't even gotten to know her before he had made her his mate.
Soon, she would have to be told about the babies, or she would just start to realize it when she had morning sickness and her stomach started to grow at an alarming rate. Shifter babies were faster. They were harder on human mothers, and they couldn't be safely delivered in a hospital. There was a lot that was going to be different for Cassandra, more than anything she would have ever expected. They had not even talked about children, and already they had settled down with one of their own, something Cassandra didn’t even know about.
“I'm not saying that I don't have secrets, but I don't think you're ready for them yet.”
“Secrets, as in plural?”
Antoine nodded his head. There was no sense in lying as far as he was concerned. He didn't want everything to be a secret, but he worried that it would be too much, too soon. He was still trying to get her used to copulating with him. Motherhood and being with a dragon were obviously going to be hard to wrap her head around.
Most women would be completely freaked out by it. Antoine didn’t know how Cassandra was going to take it. She might freak out and not want anything to do with him. That’s what worried him. It was scary if she didn’t accept him, because it wasn’t like he could just stop being a dragon. It's just who he was. What if she didn't want him for who he was?
He didn't want to think about it. Antoine had always been the man that didn't feel anything. Women fell in love with him, lots of women had done it in the past, but he had never felt equally what they felt for him. For the longest time, Antoine had genuinely thought that he was broken. He had imagined that he was so messed up that he wasn't even capable of love. How sad was that?
“There are a few, but like I said, I'm worried about it being a bit too much for you.”
“How bad could it be?”
He laughed to himself because it was funny. She was envisioning horrible things, but Antoine was certain that she wasn't thinking about anything close to what the truth was. How could she? In her reality, people like him don't even exist.
“I don't know, I guess it depends on how open you can keep your mind.”
“It depends on how open it's supposed to be. Is it going to be one of those things where I need to be like open to you having a second wife? Because I can honestly tell you that I’m not going to be okay with that, ever.”
“Why is that where your mind goes? Do you really think that I have other women in my life? I’m out here in the middle of nowhere, so I don’t have to deal with them.”
Antoine could see that she wasn’t sure what to think.
“Losing you is the worst thing that I could think of happening, so I guess I am worried about you finding another woman, one that will know things that I don’t. I know that men like experience.”
“I want you, Cassandra, no one else. You will never have to worry about me being with someone else. It wouldn’t be possible.”
“Just because you say you won’t doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
Antoine sighed. How was he supp
osed to just come out with it? She was going to freak out. How could she not? She was never going to be okay with this. The closer he got to telling her, the more Antoine started to sweat. He was worried, genuinely scared, because he didn’t want to lose her, either. He knew that he might, how could he not?
“Trust me, Cassandra, it’s physically not possible. I will only get hot and ready for you, forever.”
Cassandra smiled, telling him that he had said the sweetest things and that was certainly one thing that Antoine meant. He meant every word of it. His dragon had claimed her and that was that.
“That isn’t just a line.”
“You know that I don’t understand half of what you say, right?”
He chuckled. “I am not trying to be that way, I promise you. I just don’t know how to say it. Why don’t we go get a drink? Maybe that will help it all come out.”
“Is it that bad that you need to drink to tell me?”
“Yeah, I guess it is. I think you’re going to need one, too, but you probably shouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because you are probably pregnant, Cassandra, and it’s not good for our baby.”
She had disbelief on her face. “Our baby?! What in the world are you talking about?”
Antoine touched her stomach. “It’s okay, Cassandra. It’s a good thing.”
Chapter 13
Cassandra
“It’s a good thing? I don’t know what you’re talking about Antoine, but that’s not really how it works.”
“We’ve been together, Cassandra.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that it is going to happen.”
“My family is very fertile.”
Cassandra paused and looked at Antoine. He said it in a weird way. She was missing something, a feeling that she had most of the time when it came to Antoine. It was one of the most frustrating feelings that she’d ever had. She just wanted to know what he was talking about.
“I don’t even know what to say to that, Antoine, but I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t matter how fertile your family is. You don’t get pregnant after having sex a couple of times.”
“Alright, I’m not going to fight you on it, but I’m just saying you might want to take it easy. You wouldn’t be able to get drunk anyway, we barely do. The healing starts kicking in and since it’s basically a poison, it gets flushed out, anyway.”
“Okay, Antoine, I don’t get half of what you’re saying. You’re making my head hurt.”
“Don’t you see?”
“No, I don’t.” Cassandra was trying hard not to let her frustration show, but it felt impossible. She was ready to explode and she just wanted him to stop talking in circles. It was doing her no good, and they might as well not even talk, if he was just going to come out with all of that gibberish.
“I am not like other men, Cassandra.”
That made her smile. “Well, that’s no secret, Antoine. I already knew that. It’s what I like about you most.”
Antoine sighed and Cassandra wished that he would just spit it out already. He was working it up, and there was no way that whatever he was going to say was as bad as he was making it out to be. Cassandra wanted to just tell him not to worry about it, it didn’t matter. It did to him, though. He wanted to tell her, so all Cassandra could do was sit down and wait it out.
When she realized that it wasn’t coming out of him just yet, she asked him if he would like her to make him a drink.
“I won’t have one, if you think that there is a chance that I’m pregnant, but I don’t think there is. I know we didn’t use anything, Antoine, but that’s okay.”
Antoine nodded and said that he would like a drink. He was off in his mind and Cassandra still had to wonder what was going on in that head of his? What would make a man like Antoine, so capable and secure in himself, what would make him stove up like he was? It had to be something really bad or really good. She had no clue what to think, none at all.
Cassandra was at the sink, rinsing out a glass, when she looked through the window. She dropped the glass in the sink, breaking it on contact. It made a horrible crashing sound, but Cassandra wasn’t worried about the glass. She was worried about the dragon that was coming toward them. It had its mouth open and she heard a scream. Cassandra didn’t realize that she was the one screaming.
Antoine grabbed her seconds before the flow of fire coming out of the beast’s mouth was upon them. She screamed while he covered her with his own body, even though it felt different as time went by. Cassandra was scared, terrified really, not sure what was going on. She didn’t know what was happening and she screamed again, unable to stop herself.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. She covered her face, her eyes closed, and she waited for the fire to hit her. If it was real… But it couldn’t be. Cassandra wrestled with the thoughts, back and forth, driving herself crazy.
She didn’t feel the burn that had to be coming. The whole place had to be engulfed in flames. Cassandra remembered the way that the office building had gone up. It was about the same time, the sun hitting the horizon, the dark shadow, and then an explosion of fire. Was that what had happened before?
Cassandra tried to get up and look around, but whatever was on her was so heavy that she couldn’t budge it. She was worried about Antoine. He had been on her a minute ago, so where did he go? She struggled to get up and free, to see what was around her, but all she could feel was heat. It wasn’t direct, but there was enough of it around her that she knew that it was an inferno. Something was protecting her, but what about Antoine?
She fought with renewed power, but it was only when the thing wanted to move that she was able to. As that thought played in her head, Cassandra was finally about to see what was on her, keeping her safe from the flames.
A huge dragon, black, though she wasn’t sure if that was its real color or was from the soot and flames. It was getting up next to her. It was so close that screaming seemed like a bad idea, and she just looked up at it, gawking, trying to figure out if she was really seeing it or not.
It got bigger as it sat upright, looking at her as if she wasn’t supposed to say anything. Like it was annoyed with her. Cassandra would have gone somewhere to run and hide, but the cabin was gone, burnt to ash. She couldn’t even imagine how hot a fire had to be to do that. Cassandra was shaking and Antoine was nowhere around.
The eyes of the beast made her feel a little better. She didn’t see it at first, but as she stared up at it, it occurred to her that Antoine was still right there. Cassandra started to also realize that what he had been trying to tell her was impossible. No wonder he couldn’t find the words, she thought to herself.
The other dragon, the one that was a dark red color, was coming back. It had already attacked and this time, Cassandra wasn’t covered. She saw it coming and started to panic. The black dragon came toward her and bent down. She didn’t know what to do, until the idea came to her. She should just get on and he could take her to safety.
It was a bit of a longshot and Cassandra couldn’t believe what she was doing. She was putting her faith in something that didn’t even make sense. None of it did.
Jumping on, she held on tight, as the dragon started to take off. Antoine. Cassandra couldn’t think about it just yet. At the moment, she was afraid of the flames coming out of the other dragon’s mouth, trying to attack them. Cassandra closed her eyes, sure that she was going to be burned alive and not wanting to see that as her end.
The air around her moved quickly and she had the same sensation that she had in her dream. Her body naturally moved with his because she’d been practicing in her sleep. She heard screeching coming from deep within the beast she was riding, and it was enough to make her shake.
She opened her eyes in time to see her ride trying to bake the attack dragon with his fire. It was coming from within it, and there was something gurgling and mixing in there. It was the strangest feeling and Cassandra felt the power, almost like
it was her own.
The dragon she was on flew maneuvers to stay out of the line of fire. Cassandra had to hold on tight. There were several times that she felt like she was going to fall at any moment, but she didn’t. Her dragon made sure to keep her safe and once the other dragon was left behind, she was able to actually enjoy the ride. It was so much like she had remembered her dream feeling like.
Cassandra needed to get off of the dragon and when it finally landed, she scrambled off of it as quickly as she could. She didn’t know what to think. Her mind kept going to the dreams and how they had all ended. Would that be so bad?
Cassandra waited for the dragon to do something. She was convinced that it was Antoine, and he was somehow the guy in her dream. The dragon that he drew was himself. The dark color and eyes gave him away.
“Antoine, you can’t stay like that forever, can you? Don’t you need to change back or something?”
Cassandra wasn’t sure if she was losing her mind or not, but the worst that would happen was she was wrong. Then, it was just a regular dragon… Cassandra’s head hurt from trying to play out all of the scenarios.
Even though she had said to do so, when Antoine became Antoine again and there was no longer a possibility of something else, Cassandra was finally faced with the truth. She was also confronted with an attraction that felt stronger than before. Why did he look so damn good to her now? Was it because in her dreams, this was the time that he would pull her close, kiss her, taste her, take her?
Cassandra shivered with the words and looked around. They were closer to the top of the mountain and the view was breathtaking. It would have been perfect, if not for how they got there.
“So, that’s what you were trying to tell me earlier, huh?”
He shrugged. “It’s one.”
Cassandra groaned. “Tell me another one.”
“I’m still trying to see if you’re going to lose it over this one.”