He was a freaking dragon, meaning that even when she’d been human and ignorant of all that went beneath the surface of the human realm, he would have been able to feel her as his true half, would have been able to feel that pull, that deep desire not only to have the other person in his life for eternity, but to have them in all ways possible.
Yet he’d done nothing about it.
Well, that was just fine then. She didn’t need him anyway.
Another wave of pain drenched in power washed over her, and she closed her eyes, willing it away. Damn that dragon. No, damn her as well. If she’d had the courage to actually speak her mind, maybe she’d have been able to see what he wanted from her or, rather, what he didn’t want from her.
Now she was alone and too scared to do anything about it.
Honestly, she had only herself to blame for it.
She wasn’t weak, but she sure as heck was acting like it. Her fingers slid over the smooth wood on the table as she tried to regain some semblance of control. She didn’t want this to be the last time she came with her six girlfriends into the bar that had become their getaway, but it was looking more and more like that was what would have to happen.
She couldn’t come into the place that called to them and not think about the dragon who filled her dreams. Not that she’d ever seen him in his dragon form, but his human form was exactly what she wanted.
“Hello, ladies,” Dante said as he walked up to them. His piercing blue—not that blue was a good enough word for the pools of color she saw—eyes met hers for a moment before moving on to the rest of the girls at the table.
His attention elsewhere, she could do what she loved best—study her dragon. While she was the plain Jane with straight blonde hair and a way-too-innocent face, according to Faith, Dante was the exact opposite.
He’d tied his long black hair in a ponytail so the blue streaks stood out even more. She wasn’t sure if he dyed it that way or if black and blue just came naturally. Since he was a dragon, it could just be who he was. He’d chopped off a lot of it recently, something she wasn’t sure about, but she thought he was sexy no matter what. So it settled in the middle of his back. She knew that if he didn’t keep on it, though, it would grow so long that it touched the floor again.
God, she envied his hair.
He was built, but not too bulky, and wicked tall. At five foot three herself, everyone seemed a bit tall to her, but Dante was a couple inches over six and a half feet. She felt like a tiny fairy next to him, but she liked it.
If she ever wanted to kiss him, though, she might need to stand on a chair to accomplish it.
She blinked away those thoughts, knowing it was a lost cause.
There would be no kissing when it came to the dragon. He couldn’t even stand to look at her for too long.
Her eyes went to the tribal dragon-like tattoos running down his arms and the small black hoops in his ears and brow. When he spoke, she could sometimes catch a glimpse of the tongue ring he wore, but he’d never flat out shown it to anyone. Becca thought that Dante might have a few more piercings…lower on his body, but Nadie and the rest of them had never been brave enough to ask.
“Nadie, are you okay?” The deep voice broke her out of her thoughts and sent decadent shivers down her spine.
Nadie look up at Dante and swallowed hard. “I’m fine,” she croaked out.
He tilted his head, his penetrating gaze not leaving hers. She needed to stop looking at him because once she left the bar she wouldn’t be coming back. Yes, she’d come to that conclusion. She couldn’t force herself to live in the shadow of what she’d once been and think she wasn’t good enough for him anymore. It would make it only that much harder to leave him if she didn’t stop staring at him.
“If you’re sure,” he said, his voice telling her he didn’t believe her.
Well, it was his fault anyway she was feeling like this. He’d ignored her for years, so apparently she wasn’t good enough to be his true half. The thought that she wasn’t good enough in his eyes burned, but she’d get over it. She had to. Leaving might kill her, but she’d walk out of the bar with her head held high.
She might be rejected, but she wouldn’t be kicked while she was down.
“I’m sure. Thank you for asking.” She held back a wince. No matter how hard she tried to act cool and unmoved, those stupid manners her parents had droned into her never quite went away.
Dante frowned at her, his eyebrow ring moving delicately as he did so. She didn’t like to see him frown, even though she’d noticed him doing it more than usual since the lightning strike.
Not that she’d been watching him or anything.
Much.
Wow, she needed to stop this. Before she knew it, she’d be following him home, climbing through his bedroom window, and watching him sleep.
Stalker much?
She looked up at the man she’d been trying to forget and gave him a small smile. Damn her, she just couldn’t stop doing that. His eyes brightened—or maybe that’s just what she hoped had happened—and he smiled back.
“Okay then. Well, ladies, you all are closing down the house tonight as the rest of my customers have decided to call it in early. And since I’m closing at ten anyway. Do you want another round, or are you done for the evening?”
The others talked, mumbling their words to each other, but Nadie couldn’t keep her eyes from Dante. Something was up with him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The strain in the corner of his eyes and the firm set of his mouth that he thought he hid so well didn’t escape her notice. Before the lightning strike, she might have gotten the courage to ask him as he’d always been a friend and had never made her feel insignificant. Now though? Now she was afraid, too afraid to do anything about it.
And that made her feel insignificant.
Something she’d have to change by leaving and never coming back.
She was better than this, better than the empty shell she was becoming.
However, right then, with the slight tension she saw creeping over Dante’s shoulders, it wasn’t about her but about the dragon who seemed to literally be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She didn’t know how to help, or even if she could.
Another flash of weakness—the one that came with meeting her true half but not completing the bond—wrenched at her, and she gasped. Her friends turned toward her, but before she could lie and say she was okay, something odd happened.
It was as if someone siphoned the pain from her, inch by inch, and suddenly, she was fine. Well, not fine, but at least better than she’d been. It made no sense. It shouldn’t have been happening like that. Oh, she’d thought it had happened once or twice before, but never to this degree. The pain slid away, and Nadie swallowed hard, able to breathe again.
Dante let out a grunt beside her, and she blinked up at him through clear eyes.
“Dante? You’re pale. What’s wrong?” she asked as she stood up, worried. She put her hand on his upper arm then froze at her action.
He looked down at her hand then wiped the sweat that hadn’t been there before from his brow. “Just a little dizzy, my sprite. I’ll be fine.” He placed his hand over hers, squeezing, and gave a strained smile. “Thank you.”
She swallowed hard at his touch and smiled back.
He slowly slid his hand away and she moved back as well.
He’d called her my sprite. Well, that was different. Darn it, she had no idea what was going on with this man, but it was something. Something he was hiding. She needed to gain the courage to ask him. It didn’t matter that she was leaving for good. He was her friend, and it looked as though he needed one right then.
But if past experiences were anything, she knew she couldn’t be the friend he needed.
Not anymore, not with the fact he’d ignored what she was to him for so long.
“If everyone is fine then, I’m off to go to Shade and Kelly,” Lily said, and then she said her goodbyes. Faith got up an
d walked to Dante, whispering something in his ear, but Nadie wasn’t sure what it was. Soon the rest of the women left, either not noticing the tension or ignoring it altogether. That was exactly what she needed right then, and she was grateful that her friends seemed to know it.
She followed her friends out the door, letting herself take one last look over her shoulder at the man she wanted but could never have and then went to her car. The others left the parking lot as she got in and tried to start her car.
Try being the operative word.
The car made this annoying chugging sound then ticked before refusing to turn over. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel then cursed when she hurt herself.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Everyone had left her probably thinking she’d be right behind them, and honestly, she didn’t want to call them back just to leave her car there. She searched for her cell phone and cursed. Damn it. Where had it gone? Nothing was working right. She fought back tears of frustration, annoyed with herself more than anything. They’d all gotten in their cars together, not knowing hers wouldn’t start. It wasn’t her friends’ fault she was stranded, but she still felt alone.
She’d have to go back into the bar and call a tow truck or something. Maybe she’d left her phone at the table. This was not the night of eating chocolate while having a good cry she’d had in mind.
The knock on her half-open window startled her, and the scream that ripped from her throat at seeing the man outside would have made any horror movie heroine proud.
The blond man, his hair falling to his shoulders, held up his hands, his green eyes wide. “I’m sorry, honey. Didn’t mean to scare the crap out of you. I was just going to see if you needed help with your car.”
The man had to be taller and wider than even Dante, and that didn’t make her feel any less freaked out. The barrier of the car door would be nothing to a man like that, and all she could think about, despite his soft words, was an image of him ripping the door off, throwing her over his shoulder, and taking her away.
Damn it. Why didn’t she have a weapon of some kind in her car?
And why didn’t she know how to use said weapon?
“I’m a friend of Dante’s. I won’t hurt you. I promise.” Hands held out in a surrender position, he slowly backed up. “Why don’t I get Dante and get you some help? Okay? I’m Jace by the way.”
She blinked up at the man named Jace, unsure of what to do. He might have said he was a friend of Dante, but considering the bar’s name was in his line of sight, that could have been a wild guess and a pretty damn good lie.
Nope, she wasn’t getting out. She’d just call the bar from her car and have Dante—or the cops—come to her. She reached in her purse and cursed because she’d forgotten she didn’t have her phone to begin with. As she had just started to really panic, she let out a breath when she saw Dante himself walking toward them.
“Nadie? Jace? What’s going on?” He didn’t sound alarmed, more like curious.
“Nadie?” Jace rasped. This time there was something like awe in his tone, and she had no idea what he meant.
Had Dante told him about her? No, that would be stupid. There was no reason for Dante to do so. She was nothing to the dragon.
Dante walked up to Jace, cupped his cheek, and then gave a nod. Nadie felt as if she’d been slapped—she hadn’t known Dante had someone…let alone a man. No wonder Dante didn’t want her. He already had his mate. Oh Jesus. Fate really was that cruel to her.
Yet something important clicked inside her at the same time at the intimate sight.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her throat dry.
Dante moved, pushing Jace a step back then stood by her car door. “Come on into the bar, Nadie. We have a lot to talk about.”
She shook her head. “Tell me here. What’s going on?” There was something off about this, something she didn’t understand. It wasn’t fear running through her right then—no, it was something much warmer, something filled with undeniable promise. She needed to put a stop to it before it went anywhere…especially since it seemed Dante and Jace were an item—or something much more.
And once again, Nadie had been left on the outside looking in.
“Nadie, please,” Dante begged. “Come inside. For me?”
At that last word, she nodded. She’d never seen her dragon beg, and she didn’t want to see it again. He wasn’t the type to do so, and that meant something far greater than she could imagine was going on here.
“Fine, but you need to tell me what’s going on when we get in there.”
Dante nodded. “Yes, I’ll tell you everything. Finally.”
She got out of the car and swallowed hard. She looked at Jace and blinked. The feeling of being by his side was strangely just as intimate and heated as being by Dante’s. That didn’t make any sense, and yet she wasn’t sure she wanted it to. For some reason she wanted to move closer to them both, hold them and never let them go. The warmth in her belly wasn’t a mere attraction, no, it was something far greater.
Something tugged at her heart, her breath, her…everything.
She had a feeling she’d just taken a step toward a future she hadn’t thought possible, but this time, she wasn’t turning back.
Chapter Two
Dante Bell had to take a deep breath and get a grip, or he’d lose it. As it was, he could practically feel his talons scraping his fingertips, so he fisted his hands and fought for the control he’d had for thousands of years. It wouldn’t be good to go dragon in the middle of his bar in front of the woman—and man—he was trying to soothe.
Not good at all.
He’d let Nadie walk out to the parking lot herself, despite the fact he’d told Faith he’d go out with her to make sure she was okay, because he’d known Jace was out there getting off his bike. The man had texted and let Dante know he was there, and Dante had wanted Jace to meet Nadie, or at least see her and keep her safe. Dante had told Jace who Nadie was, what she looked like. Even if it took a moment for the bear to understand, deep down, Jace would have felt that pull, would have known that Nadie was important to them. He hadn’t known her car would break down, and he’d end up in his bar alone with them.
Not that it was a bad thing.
Oh, not at all.
He stepped into his bar, Nadie and Jace right behind him, and inhaled. He loved his bar. He’d built it from the ground up and had changed it over the years to make it blend in with society. With his magic, the humans had never caught on that he never aged and was still the same black-and-blue-haired man he’d been for decades. He’d only added his adornments—the piercings and the like—in the past ten years or so when they came back in style, and he quite liked them.
He knew Nadie liked them too.
Not that he’d done anything about it.
Not that he could have done anything about it.
He’d watched Nadie from the first time she’d walked into the bar and had never stopped. Just seeing those wide eyes and plump lips had sent his dragon into overdrive. He’d known from the start who she was, what she could be, and would be with him and Jace, and subsequently had known that he could do nothing about it until the time was right.
Considering his age, he hated not being able to do as he wanted. Those actions had left both of them in pain, and now Dante was ready to face the brunt of her anger at what he was about to tell her. He would deserve it, as would Jace, but damn, he was so fucking happy they were both here.
This moment, this time, was theirs, and it had been an eon in coming.
Dante, Jace, and Nadie didn’t speak when the three of them were finally in the bar, and now he found himself at a loss for words. No matter how many times he’d envisioned this in his head, he still hadn’t quite found the way to get it all out there.
He’d fight the world for the two in front of him, and yet he couldn’t stop fighting himself.
How could he say what he’d been feeling for years, decades in Jace’s case
, and not sound like an idiot? It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t deserve any anger directed his way, but getting started was another matter.
“Dante, why don’t we sit down? You’re looking a little pale under all those piercings.” Jace laughed, but Dante and Nadie didn’t join in. The tension in the room was too thick at the moment to even think about doing something as simple as laughing.
He cleared his throat, knowing they probably needed a drink to get through this. Yes, he could get the three of them drinks. That would help keep his hands busy and might help Nadie calm down so she wouldn’t beat or kill him right away.
Not that he’d blame her if she tried.
“Um, I’m going to get us drinks.” He sounded as scattered as he felt. He never sounded scattered. “Take a seat. Oh, and I only have one piercing on my face,” he said absently, and Jace let out a small laugh, the tension in the room lowering just a little bit.
Thank the gods for his bear.
He risked a glance at Nadie. Hopefully Jace would soon be their bear.
“I don’t know if I need a drink, Dante,” Nadie said, her voice soft and just as sexy as it had ever been. “I’ve already had one with the girls.”
“You might need another now, my sprite.” Damn it. He’d called her the pet name he’d always had for her in his mind twice now without thinking, and both times her eyes had widened. He’d been so careful keeping his endearments to himself, but he couldn’t anymore apparently.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to for much longer.
Nadie tilted her head and frowned. “You’re scaring me. Actually you both are, and I don’t even know Jace or why he’s here. Not scared in that I’m worried for my safety because, for some reason, I feel like neither of you would hurt me physically, but scared in another sense. Why won’t you just tell me?”
He went back behind the bar, ignoring the thick envelope with his name written in calligraphy on the front. He had other things to worry about now rather than the summons that seemed to have come out of nowhere. That would still be there later, and he’d deal with it then. Right now, he had a bear and the woman that could be theirs in his bar.
Tangled Innocence Page 2