by Kayla Wolf
”And what happens if you do tell her, and she completely freaks out?” Harvey said flatly. “It’s happened before. You know that.”
Bryce sighed. He’d had a suspicion that someone was going to bring this up. A few decades ago, they’d made friends with a community of humans who lived in the Californian wilderness in a kind of commune—a political experiment, they claimed, designed to prove that human beings didn’t need big government to get along. They were a kind and loving group and had given the dragons shelter during a particularly tough time, and full of trust and gratitude, the dragons had shared their true nature with the humans. Most of the community members had been fascinated, but one—a frightened young man who was new to the commune—had panicked and called the human police. They’d managed to get away before things could turn ugly, but it had been a close call. And needless to say, a visit from the police hadn’t been good for the commune, which had been growing some rather questionable plants alongside what they farmed for food.
But Jasmine wasn’t like that, Bryce told himself now, trying to quash the worry in his heart. “She wouldn’t freak out.”
”How do you know? You’ve known her for what, a day?” Harvey looked stressed—he kept running his hands through his spiky chestnut hair, and it was beginning to look distinctly disorganized as a result, giving him a mad-scientist vibe. “What if she bails and starts telling everyone she knows about the freaks on the peninsula who can turn into dragons? What if that information gets into the wrong hands? You know how many enemies we have out there—”
”Is she your mate?” Emerson said, cutting Harvey off. He was leaning forward, his body language emphasizing how serious he was about the question. Harvey rolled his eyes. It was no secret that their tense, pragmatic friend had absolutely no time for what he thought of as an outdated superstition.
“Come on, Emerson. You know that’s not—”
”What about Lachlan and Serena?”
”I’m very happy for them,” Harvey said irritably, in the tone that suggested that this was a conversation that they’d had before, “but I don’t think some supernatural force brought them together, I think they’re two people who happened to be well suited for each other.”
”One of these days, Harvey, you’re going to fall in love, and I’ve got a skywriting company on retainer ready to emblazon ‘I Told You So’ across the sky in letters a hundred feet high—”
”I don’t know,” Bryce cut him off, anxious that Jasmine would return to the house before he could get the guys on the same page. “I don’t know if I believe in soulmates either. But I feel something for her. I think she’s something special.”
”She’s just a human,” Harvey said, spreading his hands helplessly. “I get that she’s pretty or whatever, but—“
”She’s not just a human,” Emerson cut him off, surprising Bryce, who could feel anger building in him at what Harvey was saying about Jasmine. “She’s a friend of Bryce’s. How long have we known each other? How often does Bryce bring strangers home to the peninsula? She’s clearly something special. I trust you, Bryce,” he said simply, looking across the table at him with a steady expression. “I trust your judgment.”
”Good point,” Harvey said reluctantly, shooting Emerson a glance. “It’s not like Bryce to behave… irrationally. Just—be careful, okay?”
”And your secret is safe with us,” Emerson said, giving Harvey a warning nudge. “We won’t shift in front of her, or tell her what we are. We’ll let you have that conversation with her. Won’t we, Harvey?”
”We wouldn’t want to scare her, I guess,” Harvey said through gritted teeth.
”But do it sooner rather than later, yeah?” There was a look of worry in Emerson’s face, try to hide it though he might. “I trust you, so I trust her to be cool about—what we are. But the longer you keep it from her, the more you risk her getting angry about you not trusting her.”
”You’re right,” Bryce said, a heavy weight settling on his heart, even as he felt sincere gratitude for Emerson for taking his side in all this. “I’ll tell her. I promise.”
”And you call me straight away if it all goes to hell, okay?” Harvey put in. “I’ll feel better if I know I’m your first call—”
”You’re my first call.” Bryce sighed. “Do you guys want to fill in… the others? I don’t really—”
”You don’t want to tell James,” Emerson said, the shadow of a smile dancing behind his eyes. “Fair enough. I’ll fill the guys in, make sure nobody does any true-form sunbathing until you’ve told Jasmine.”
”Thanks, guys,” Bryce said again as his friends left. Harvey just gave him a stiff little nod, clearly very tense about the whole situation, but Emerson smiled and gripped his shoulder for a moment.
”I’m happy for you, buddy. Truly. Can’t wait to get to know her better.”
But as they headed off down the road, Bryce couldn’t shake the growing sense that he was making a terrible mistake every second he didn’t tell Jasmine what he was. What if Emerson was right—what if she was so angry that he hadn’t trusted her that she left? After all, she’d trusted him enough to drop her whole life and fly out here to meet him… why hadn’t he trusted her the same way?
What if it was already too late?
Chapter 10 – Jasmine
The days turned into weeks, and it wasn’t long before Jasmine was feeling almost entirely at home on the peninsula. After the first couple of days they spent together, Bryce apologetically told her he had to return to work—there was a strict construction schedule that the people in this place were trying to keep to, and Bryce, it seemed, was one of the more efficient workers. She wasn’t surprised—she’d witnessed his profound strength firsthand, and combined with his patience, his care, and attention to detail… well, it all showed in this cottage, the home he’d built for himself.
But had he built it for himself? She couldn’t help but smile to herself when she thought about that. What bachelor would have built such an enormous dining room, such a big dining table? What man dedicated to his own solitude would have included two bedrooms in his cottage—and room to add more, if necessary? She could easily visualize a huge family living in this house—the open-plan living room seemed perfect for kids to play, not to mention the huge backyard and the beach within easy walking distance… the peninsula would be a paradise to grow up on.
But it was difficult to think too closely about children. It was a strange relationship that she had with Bryce. She could only assume he liked her—he was pleasant and friendly and chatted happily enough when she spoke to him. But there was still that frustrating sense that he wasn’t telling her everything… that there were some elements of himself that he was still keeping from her. But why? She’d told him everything about herself—she was an open book. All about her family, her upbringing, her job, her woes with her terrible boss, even her struggles with her body image. He was a wonderful listener, of course. It was part of what she liked about him.
And as much as she was worried about what he was keeping from her, the more time she spent with him, the more she really did like him. His company was just so—easy. He had the pleasant independence of a cat—she never felt like she needed to entertain him or make conversation. They were both as comfortable in silence as they were in conversation. He was caring, attentive, thoughtful… he kept the house tidy without being fastidious, and god, he could cook. Every meal he made seemed better than the last. Whether it was the quite literally farm-fresh ingredients or just pure skill, she wasn’t sure. It was as though he’d had decades upon decades of practice.
He was a great partner, an excellent companion… and as for their physical connection, well, the first night hadn’t been a fluke. Jasmine had been a little hesitant about initiating more sexual contact with Bryce, not quite sure whether he was interested… but their third night together, when she tentatively raised the subject, he’d stared at her for a long moment then burst out into uncharacteristic laughter.
She’d giggled along, a little confused—
”I was worried you didn’t want to,” he’d confessed, drawing her into his arms.
”Are you kidding? The other night was the best sex I’ve ever had,” she’d said frankly.
”Well. Let’s see if we can keep that record going.”
No—no complaints whatsoever when it came to their physical chemistry. And when he came home after work, soaked in sweat from a hard day’s labor and rather attractively dirtied by whatever dust or grime had been in the air… well, her afternoons very quickly became about waiting for him to get home.
It was nice to have the days to herself. Jasmine hadn’t always enjoyed her own company, but the self-love kick she’d gone on recently had involved a lot of time working on being okay by herself, and these days, she was more or less her favorite person to spend time with. And Bryce, even though it usually took her a lot longer to warm up to new friends, was a close second. Well, she supposed he wasn’t exactly a friend. But she didn’t exactly have much experience with how long it took her to warm up to new husbands, now did she?
The first few days she spent wandering up and down the beach a few hundred yards from her door. The sand and the water were exquisite, but she was interested in the sand dunes, too—she spent a pleasant few hours walking along the edges of the dunes, examining the range of wildlife and plants that grew there. She mentioned this new interest to Emerson, one of Bryce’s friends—he’d mentioned the tall guy liked birdwatching, and his angular face had lit up with an almost manic expression of delight when she’d asked if he had any books. They were an interesting bunch, Bryce’s friends… That first week, she met Harvey and Emerson, as well as the bright and very extroverted Daniel, who peppered her with questions about Denver. She also met Lachlan, the leader of the little community, his beautiful wife Serena, and their absolute handful of a toddler who made Jasmine’s heart melt into a clucky puddle of goo.
But was she just being paranoid, or was the same slightly withholding, slightly guarded energy she’d noticed in Bryce shared by his friends? There was a sense of hesitation in all of them… she noticed it most when they talked about the history of the settlement, their younger years, the time they’d spent on the road. But it wasn’t just about that. Neither Serena nor Lachlan had been part of the original group of five guys who’d lived on the road, and they had an identical energy… there was something that Jasmine wasn’t being told. Or was she just extending her own suspicion of Bryce to his friends? Impossible to know. She almost wanted to try to get one of them alone, to see if they’d crack under some one-on-one pressure… but she didn’t want news to get back to Bryce that she’d been prying about his life. After all, they’d only known each other for a few weeks. So what if he was keeping something from her? She could be patient. She’d prove herself a trustworthy person—the kind of person he could tell whatever it was he was keeping from her.
That being said, she couldn’t help but feel a niggle of worry every time she checked in with the staff at ‘Forever-Now’. There was nothing bad to report, so she always answered Hannah’s questions positively—yes, they were getting on fine, no, there were no problems with the living arrangements, yes, she was perfectly happy… but she couldn’t help but worry about the looming deadline. The actual, official marriage ceremony was just weeks away, now—and this one was a lot more legally binding than a few promises spoken in a chapel. That wedding ceremony would involve a legal connection, not just a trial period. And could she go through with that kind of serious commitment to a man who was hiding something from her?
No, she couldn’t, she decided one day as she walked the length of the beach, lost in thought about her husband. That would be a deal breaker. She’d just have to hope he came clean before that day arrived... because if he didn’t, there would be an awkward conversation ahead of them.
But the decision made her feel better—setting those kinds of boundaries always did. So she was able to enjoy the weeks with Bryce—exploring her new home, getting to know the local wildlife and the gorgeous wilderness that surrounded her. Once she’d thoroughly explored the beach, she turned her attention to the thick forest inland, going for long walks along dirt tracks that Bryce had pointed out. A few times, he packed her lunch in the morning so she could explore thoroughly, phone in hand just in case she needed the GPS to find her way back to the road. She could feel her legs getting stronger from long days of walking—it was so good to be away from the desk she’d spent her days at.
She was trying to avoid thinking about her old job as much as possible. Unfortunately, her ex-boss didn’t seem to have gotten the memo. He was still in constant contact with her… she’d tried blocking his number but had forgotten how many goddamn phones he had. Personal phones, work phones, phones to handle specific clients, phones for specific purposes… you blocked one number, four more would pop up within the hour, like some kind of technological Hydra. Some of the texts were downright abusive and nasty—she never responded to those. Then she got messages from someone called ‘Sandy’ claiming to be his new assistant, a barrage of questions about where things were kept and how his schedule had been organized. She’d responded to those, feeling a wave of pity for the hapless woman who’d been roped into replacing her. But soon enough, the tone of the messages from ‘Sandy’ turned creepy. Suspicious, she called a friend who still worked at the company… who said that nobody called Sandy worked there. Sure enough, when she read her friend the number, she confirmed that it was yet another of Grant’s phones. He was crafty, she’d give him that.
But she started to worry when she got a call from Elena. Elena wasn’t the kind of person who’d ever call—she was a creature of text only. So when Jasmine felt her phone vibrating against her hip as she trekked through the lush forest a few miles north of the cottage, she half expected it to be Bryce, home early from work and wondering where she was. She frowned when she looked down at the display.
”Hey, Elena!” She half expected it to be a pocket dial, but sure enough, her friend was on the other end of the line, sounding a little worried.
”Hey, Jazzy. Listen, where are you?”
”Uh, hard to say.” Jasmine looked around her at the dense thicket of trees and undergrowth that had her walled in. The road wasn’t too far, she knew that, and if she had her bearings, she was within a few minutes’ walk of a particularly nice clearing with an enormous rock in the center of it that was a comfortable place to sit and journal. She’d had lunch there the last couple of days, just enjoying the solitude and the pleasure of her own company. “I’m in the forest.”
”You’re alone?”
”Yeah. Bryce is at work till five or so, so I’m exploring.” She’d been keeping Elena up to date with how the whole mail order bride arrangement was going, given that it had been all her idea. It was good to have someone to talk to who was on the outside of all the craziness—it was a good way of keeping herself grounded. She’d shared her misgivings about whatever secrets Bryce was keeping with Elena, who’d offered to look into his online presence—she’d turned down that offer, tempting though it was. She’d already decided not to invade his privacy, and that had to extend to his digital privacy, too.
”Gotten any weird calls lately?”
”I mean, pretty weird of you to call. You’re a text-only kind of gal. Why the change of heart?”
”Not me. Anyone else? Like—unknown numbers, you answer, there’s no voice on the other end, they hang up after a few seconds? That kind of call?”
”Not really, no. But I haven’t been picking my phone up much. Grant keeps calling from all these different numbers.” She’d mentioned her creepy boss and his inability to let go of his staff to Elena a few times. “He must have a hundred phones or something, it’s insane.”
”There are sites that you can run calls through that spoof caller IDs. He’s probably using one of those.” Elena still sounded distracted. “Jazzy, did you tell him anything about why you left?”
&nb
sp; ”No,” she said, blinking. Why was Elena asking about her old boss? “I just said I’d been offered an opportunity elsewhere, and I was taking it. He tried to interrogate me about where it was, but I didn’t tell him.”
”Okay. So he doesn’t know where you are?”
”Elena, what’s going on?”
”Your boss came here,” Elena said simply. “To my house. He was demanding to know where you’d gone, who you were working for, all that stuff. He seemed—really unhinged, Jazzy. Like he hadn’t been sleeping. Crazy angry. Like he was about to explode any second.”
”He came to your place?” Jasmine was shocked. Grant didn’t know anything about any of her friends—how had he known where to find Elena? “How did he get the address?”
”Off your phone, probably.”
”My phone’s here. Do you think he… made a copy of my address book while I was there, or something?”
”Maybe. Or maybe he’s hacked you. It’s not hard to do. I do it all the time. Phones are insanely vulnerable. The minute you install an app, you’re basically putting a welcome mat out for any bored hacker who knows what she’s doing…”
”You think Grant’s hacked my phone?”
”Maybe. I don’t know.”
”Can you find out?” Jasmine was chewing on her lower lip. This wasn’t good. She’d thought her distance from Grant would keep her safe from him—she hadn’t known he was tech-savvy enough to follow her digitally. And it made her furious to think he was bothering her friends.
”Yeah, I think so. If you give me remote access to your phone, I can check some stuff out, see if there’s anything there that shouldn’t be.” Jasmine always appreciated the way Elena simplified the tech talk for her. In the early days of their friendship, she hadn’t been in the habit of translating the tech talk, and it had been like listening to another language. “I’ll send you an email.” Elena hesitated at the end of the phone, and Jasmine’s frown deepened. It was uncharacteristic of Elena to sound so worried. “Be careful, okay? Maybe make sure you’re always—around someone. He seemed pretty… intense, when he came here. If he knows where you are, I wouldn’t put it past him to… come down there.”