Caden's Secret

by Jadyn Chase

  No one said anything for a minute. I held my breath and strained my ears listening to this. They were talking about me. The Lynches still planned to come after me. The Kellys did all they could by sheltering me as long as they could. If I stayed any longer, I would be putting them in danger instead of myself. I couldn’t stand that.

  The truth hit me between the eyes. All this time, I thought they decided to send me back to Norton because they wanted to get me away from Caden when that wasn’t the case at all. That might have played a part, but it wasn’t the pivotal reason. They had to send me back to protect the Clan. Xavier took my safety seriously, but he had larger issues to consider.

  My heart wrenched in knots. I never meant to put the Clan in danger—never! I never met nicer, kinder, more considerate people in my life. I loved this Clan like my own family. I would do anything to protect them, even if it meant putting myself in danger. I didn’t want to put myself in danger, and I certainly didn’t want to face the Lynches in all their power, but that was better than endangering good people who already sacrificed to help me and saved my life to boot.

  I descended the next few stairs when Caden spoke up again. “There must be a way we can dictate the time and place of the confrontation. If we could only do that, we would beat them for sure.”

  My senses prickled. Before I knew what I was doing, I descended the last stairs and entered the living room. Caden, Christian, Archer, Xavier and a few other men stood around the dining room table in deep conversation. They didn’t see me until I spoke up. “I know a way you can do it.”

  All of them whipped around in a flash. Xavier’s eyes widened. Then they hardened. “You don’t belong here, young lady. This is a private conference.”

  I stood my ground. “I heard what you just said. You have to send me back, and you have to find a way to determine the time and place when the Lynches will attack. I know a way you can do both.”

  Caden took a step toward me and put out his hand. “Pop’s right. This doesn’t concern you. You’re going back to Norton in the morning. Let us handle the Lynches.”

  “I’m going back, and it’s me they’re coming after.” I saw my chance slipping away, and I talked faster. “You can choose where and when they’ll attack. They’ll attack me. All I have to do is lead them where you want them, you can ambush them when they show themselves. It’s simple.”

  I scanned the faces around me. Xavier studied me with an inscrutable stare. Caden gazed down into my eyes and a light came into his features I never saw before. He didn’t smile, but all the tension and worry drained out of his face.

  The Clan remained silent so long I wondered if I made a mistake speaking out. If they didn’t listen to me, I couldn’t think of any other plan to make this work.

  Caden broke the stillness. He murmured low under his breath. “You can’t do that. You can’t use yourself as bait for the Lynches. You saw what they did last time.”

  “They surprised us last time,” I countered. “They won’t surprise us this time. They’ll walk into a trap and we’ll be ready for them. It’s our best chance to take them down in one hit. You said you couldn’t keep me here anymore and you won’t have to. I’ll report to Morris. I’ll put everyone’s minds at ease that I’m fine and no one is keeping me here against my will. It will also send a message to the Lynches that I’m unprotected. They’ll come after me with all their power, and that’s when you’ll hit them hard enough to make sure they don’t get any ideas about coming back a second time.”

  Caden gazed down at me and didn’t respond. I couldn’t gauge how they received my suggestion until Caden turned to his father.

  “All right, young lady,” Xavier told me. “We’ll play it your way as long as you’re sure you want to go through with this.”

  “I’m sure. I can shoot. I can get some guns from Morris and plant them in my cabin. I’ll tell him I want a few days to recover before I go back to work. I’ll hole up at the cabin and wait there. The Lynches are bound to come as soon as they get word I’m off the Ridge.”

  The other men exchanged glances. Xavier nodded. “All right. We’ll do it. Now you better go get ready to go home.”

  “I’m ready now.”

  I crossed the living room and walked outside to the shed. The decision rested lightly on my shoulders. I might not be able to stay here, but I could give the Kelly’s one last parting gift. Maybe, with any luck, it would show them what they meant to me. If I could communicate that, I could leave satisfied.

  10

  Caden

  The front door slammed shut. Oppressive silence enveloped the house until Christian pushed his hat up on his head and scratched his hair. “Wow! That is one brave young lady. I never would have believed a human could have it in ‘em.”

  “We’ll have to be careful,” Archer pointed out. “Someone’s bound to shift in the fight. There won’t be any way to guarantee she won’t see.”

  “I’m going to tell her.”

  Everyone whirled around to gape at me when I said it. I didn’t know I was going to say it until the words came out, but now that they did, I squared my shoulders at my Clan.

  “You can’t!” Archer blurted out. “You can’t tell her anything. She’s Other.”

  I rounded on him with my hackles raised. “Did you hear a word she just said? She’s putting her life on the line, and for what? For us! For our Clan. Did you hear her say we? She said, ‘they surprised us last time and they won’t surprise us this time’. She said, ‘we’ll be ready for them’. She said, ‘it’s our best chance to take them down in one hit’. She said ‘us’. She considers herself one of us, and she’s putting her money where her mouth is to prove it. She deserves to know, and I’m going to tell her. There’s not a man here that can ask her to go through with this without knowing in advance exactly what she might be facing out there. She thinks she’ll be fighting men. She has no idea she’ll be fighting dragons, and it doesn’t make a hoot of difference what we decide to do. You can bet your boots the Lynches will shift the minute it suits them. Shit, for all we know they’re planning to attack her cabin as dragons and burn it to the ground with her inside. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not doing this without her knowing. She’s doing this for us as much as for herself, and I won’t deceive her.”

  I cast a quick glance around the circle. If they disagreed with me, they would keep their eyes down and wait for Pop to put me in my place. That was his prerogative as my father and leader of our Clan.

  They didn’t keep their eyes down, though. They all looked back at me with steady resolve. They agreed with me. My spirits soared when Pop nodded. “All right, son. So long as we’re clear on the final outcome of this thing, you can tell her.”

  My shoulders slouched in relief. “Thank you, Pop. We’re clear.”

  Oh, we were clear, all right. He could only mean one thing. Once we dealt with the Lynches, Caroline and I would go our separate ways. She might have earned his respect by offering herself as bait. She might have earned the right to know our most closely guarded secret.

  She would never earn the right to marry one of us, especially not one of Pop’s own sons. That was asking too much even of him, and I wouldn’t be the one to ask.

  I strode out of the house. Once I got to the porch, I stopped to scan the yard. Now that I got his permission to tell her the truth, I paused. How could I tell her? I never had to explain this to anyone. Everyone I knew was a dragon. How did I go about telling her—or worse, showing her?

  She would freak. Of course she would. That alone would drive her away. She would never want to see me again once she knew. Then at least I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking her heart.

  Hell, she would probably change her mind about being bait for the Lynches once she knew they were dragons, too. That’s what I would do in her place.

  A bump drew my attention to the store shed next to the house. Something moved behind the window in there. That must be her. I wandered over and peeked t
hrough the glass. She squatted on the dirt floor and pitched yams and turnips from the bins into a basket. That was so typical of her. She offered to risk her life for this Clan, and she now spent her last night helping Ma make dinner.

  I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t find a better chance to break the news to her. I opened the door and stepped inside. She looked up and her eyebrows lifted. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  “Are the boys all right with the plan I suggested?” she asked. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but….”

  “They’re all fine with it,” I stammered. “It’s just that….”

  “You’re not fine with it. I thought that might be it.” She got to her feet and pushed her hair back with her wrist. “What’s the problem with it? Did they send you out here to tell me they didn’t accept it after all? Or did you come out here to tell me you have a problem with it?”

  “I don’t have a problem with it!” I cried. “Stop putting words in my mouth. There’s nothing wrong with the plan.”

  She frowned. “Oh. Then why did you come out here?”

  I hung my head and sighed. “Look, Caroline. There’s something I need to tell you, something I should have told you a long time ago, but I didn’t have the nerve.”

  “I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupted again. “I know what you said the other time, and you know I feel the same way, but I know that’s the way it’s gotta be. I understand about your family and everything, so you don’t have to explain. Let’s just do this and move on.”

  “It’s not that!” I bellowed. “Will you stop running on at the mouth and just listen to me for a sec?”

  She opened her mouth and closed it again. “All right. I’m listening. What is it?”

  Now it was my turn to open my mouth, but nothing came out of it. When I looked into her angelic face, I couldn’t bring myself to formulate the words. Caroline, I’m a dragon. My whole Clan is dragons and the Lynches are dragons. We’ve been at war for a thousand years and we’ll be at war for a thousand more. You’re one of a handful of humans who knows the truth.

  That didn’t sound right. What was I thinking, trying to tell a human our secret? No wonder no Others ever found out. No one in their right mind could say those words out loud without sounding like a nutcase.

  She blinked up at me and waited for me to spill my guts. She looked more perfect and inviting than ever, especially with that smudge of grime on her upper cheek. I knew her a lot better now than when I kissed her that first time. She did her part around the house and she would do a lot more before she was through.

  “Caden?” she asked. “What is it?”

  I swallowed hard. “You… you feel the same way?”

  “Of course I do,” she breathed. “Don’t you know that by now?”

  I shook my head, but in my heart, I already knew. She never held anything back—not when we kissed, not when we talked. No obstacle of reserve or tension held us apart. Only the unspoken line between one species and another dictated that we could never be….we. There was no we, no matter what she said.

  If there was no we, what was stopping me from being everything I wanted to be with her? What was stopping me from kissing her or touching her? If we could never be, why shouldn’t I? If we were destined to part as enemies, then it didn’t really make any difference what I did in the meantime, did it?

  If I had to let her go, at least I could let her go with love. Just one more kiss….just one more touch of her silken hair….

  “Caden?” she asked again. “Are you all right?”

  I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t even make a decision. I just let myself fall into the abyss that yawned open before me. The vortex towed me down in an inevitable tailspin that ended with my lips attached to hers.

  She didn’t resist it. Of course she didn’t. She just told me she felt the same way. Maybe she even expected it. Either way, it happened. It happened so much more easily than telling her the truth about myself and my Clan.

  If I was going to lose her, why not kiss her first? If she was going to end up hating me in the end, what difference did it make?

  I gave myself a million excuses. The underlying reality was that I wanted to. I wanted to do it from the minute I met her. Everything else simply confirmed what I already knew.

  I took her hand and led her toward the door. “Come with me.”

  I guided her out of the shed. From here, a clear path wound away into the woods. No one saw us leave. I got Pop’s permission to tell her the truth. Anyone who did see us would assume I was doing that. They didn’t have to know the legal details of what came before that.

  Silent tension simmered up my arm from her hand. Did she know what I had in mind? How could she not know?

  I entered the shadowy undergrowth where the foliage hid us from prying eyes. She trailed after me, her delicate fingers laced into mine like they belonged there for all time. For a little while longer, I could pretend the rest of eternity stretched out before us with nothing to stop us.

  I followed the trail into the ravine and out the other side. It crisscrossed the stream for half a mile before it emerged into a bowl-shaped valley. The mountains rimmed a mirror lake reflecting a perfect replica of the peaks and sky.

  She faltered looking around at everything, but I persisted around the lake to a hollow under a huge boulder. A make-shift hut with no walls perched on the ledge overlooking the water. Four posts help up a shake roof that kept the rain off a mattress underneath.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I came up here. I never really had any reason to come until now. I sat down on the bed and tugged her toward me, but she couldn’t stop staring out at the lake. The moist surface of her iris shone with the gentle light glistening on the surface.

  I laid my hand against her cheek and turned her toward me. In a flash, I replaced that vision. Those wide, fathomless eyes stared at me. I couldn’t wait a second longer. I closed my arms around her waist, planted my lips on her mouth, and eased back on the bed with her on top of me.

  Her breath caught in her throat. The next instant, she relaxed into the destiny assigned to us. Her hair cascaded around me and her body softened down my stomach and thighs. God, she felt so good!

  If I couldn’t have her for all time, at least I could cherish this memory. No one could take this away from me. I offered this sacrifice to my Clan. Caroline could do it, and I could do it too, but not before I took just one nugget of happiness for myself. I defied anyone to begrudge me that.

  Her lips swirled in a rippling wave of goodness that translated down her neck to her breasts. Her body undulated on top of me down to my pelvis. We were alone, without Clan or people, with no connections in the world. It was just her and me and the beauty of nature.

  At that moment, all the rules and restrictions fell away. No one would tell us not to. They couldn’t if they tried.

  She felt so immaculately good in my arms that nothing could stop me. My blood rushed to my crotch. She didn’t stiffen or pull away. She rocked her pubic bone against my hardness, and her legs draped on either side of my hips to straddle me. Oh, yes!

  When my vision cleared, I discovered her gazing down at me out of those deep, dark pools of enticing mystery. She questioned and delved into me in ways no one else ever did. She read secrets in my soul I never knew were there until now.

  They weren’t there until now. She created them. She opened them and made them possible. She made me whole when I didn’t even know I was broken. I might say goodbye to her in the morning, but I would never be the same man. Not ever!

  I slipped my hands over the rolling roundness of her ass. She sighed and breathed heavily when I squeezed her glorious rump. Her mouth sagged open and her tongue slithered into my mouth. I met her coming and we danced in a delirious passion for what seemed like hours. Time didn’t stand still up there. The sun crept up the mountain until it set the very pinnacle on fire. The sky burnished a deeper blue. Night was coming.

&nb
sp; My rational mind could think of a thousand things to do with her now that I got her alone. For some reason, though, I didn’t get around to doing them. I just lay back and enjoyed the magical sensation of her body on top of me and her lips exploring my mouth. What could be better than that?

  All at once, she broke off my mouth and burrowed into my neck. She dropped scorching little kisses along my throat and up to my ear. Sparks exploded in my brain at the sudden power of it all. What was she doing to me?

  Before I could fully comprehend it, she dove lower and nosed my shirt aside to reveal the sensitive skin next to my collarbone. When she kissed it, a firecracker went off in my head. I rocketed off the bed and bucked her onto her side.

  She tumbled over next to me with her arms still wrapped around my ribs and one leg tucked under my waist. From here, nothing stood in the way of my hard sex digging into her juicy center. I felt it through her jeans. The twitch of spasming flesh spoke volumes to my blood churning in my veins.

  I felt no desire to take it any further. Just kissing her like this, tangled in one another’s embrace, answered all my prayers. I never really let myself fantasize about taking her body. I never doubted she would let me if I wanted to. Maybe she even wanted to. Maybe she wanted me to.

  Kissing her, holding her, gazing into her eyes, and sensing that buried shudder of aching passion between her legs—what more could a man ask for? What more could a man want to make him feel complete?

  Her eyes told me all I needed to know. I could go as far as I wanted with her. She wouldn’t stop me. She welcomed me. She felt the same way about me, so why not?

  I didn’t need to. I didn’t need anything but this moment to confirm what she already told me. We met in this moment, and it was enough.

  I kissed her again, and an agonized quaking tremor racked her frame from her lips to her knees. She arched her back and pumped her hips against my package. Her eyes sagged closed and she groaned in matchless longing.