He got the drinks with a deftness only years of bartending could bring, set down the beers and her lemon drop, wiped his hands so they wouldn’t be too cold, and cupped her face. Her eyes widened again, and she froze.
“I will tell you everything. I will, my sprite.”
He watched her throat work as she swallowed, felt the pulse at her neck flutter and the heat of her skin against his fingers as she flushed. Gods, he wanted this woman for his own. He kept his eyes on hers but thought of Jace. Yes, he wanted this woman for them both.
“Why do you keep calling me your sprite?”
His thumb traced her cheekbone, the soft skin smooth and inviting. His dragon practically rumbled at this closeness—the kind he’d been avoiding for as long as he’d known her because, once he touched her, he wouldn’t want to let her go.
There was only so much control a dragon could possess.
“That’s what you are,” he whispered. “Mine.” She narrowed her eyes before pulling away. He let her, knowing that, with his strength, he could have held her forever, but that was another matter altogether.
“No, no. I’m not. I’m not yours, and I haven’t been anywhere near that label. Ever.” She ran a hand through her hair then took a gulp of her lemon drop. Her face scrunched as she swallowed the sour and sweet, but he didn’t go to her, just stayed away as he had all this time.
“Why don’t we just sit down and talk this over?” Jace said as he stood between the two, worry lining his face.
“Why don’t we just talk about what Dante wanted to talk about, huh? And why I should be in here with the two of you when I don’t even know you, and when Dante hasn’t even given me any indication he’s ever wanted to be alone with me. No, he’s always been part of the crew but with a clear line drawn.”
She faced him then, the pain on her face lancing through him like a hot blade. “I don’t even know what’s going on right now.”
“Then sit down and let me get it out,” he said, wincing at his lack of tact. He’d had thousands of years to learn how to speak to women, and apparently he’d thrown it all out the window with the one woman and man who mattered.
“Good one,” Jace mumbled then turned to Nadie, effectively cutting Dante off.
He needed to breathe, to understand what the hell was going on with him. Gods, he’d been walking on eggshells and killing himself over what was happening for far too long, yet he had no idea how to use a little finesse to say what needed to be said, needed to be done.
This wasn’t like him, and he didn’t want to become whoever this man was.
“I’m Jace Goodwin, Nadie.”
Her eyes sharpened, and she snapped her fingers. “I know that name. You’re the man who helped Hunter and Becca.”
Dante let out a sigh. Yes, this would be a good place to start. Get her to know who Jace was then slide into the fact that she was the key to their future and happiness.
Yes, no pressure at all.
He ran a hand over his face then clicked his tongue ring against his teeth. He had to calm down. It wasn’t every day he had a chance to reveal she was not only mate to one but two people.
Jace sat down at the table next to Nadie, and Dante pulled a chair so they sat in a triangle, able to see each other fully. “Yes, I’m the one who helped Hunter and Becca with their Pack. Though, in reality, they did most of the work themselves. I was just there in case they needed me.”
“That’s not exactly how Becca put it.” Nadie shook her head. “She said you were a mediator or something?”
Jace grinned, and Dante relaxed. The bear’s smile always soothed the beast within, and Dante knew, at least in their case, it had more to do with who the man was than his position as a Mediator of the realms.
“I’m a Mediator. Capital M if you care about those sorts of things. My role is to go to warring, or about-to-war, Packs, dens, and other realms, and try to find a way to peace. If that doesn’t happen, then it’s my job to take out those who break their oaths or find new treaties and other ways of keeping the realms safe.”
Nadie tilted her head, her gaze never leaving Jace. Dante could tell she felt the pull toward the other man, the same pull he himself felt for Jace and Nadie, the type of pull he knew she felt for him.
“Becca said you’re a…bear, right?”
Jace grinned even harder, and Dante had to grin, too. Jace was always in a good mood and tried to make others feel the same unless something or someone he loved was threatened, then Jace was the bear inside him in all ways that mattered.
You didn’t fuck with Jace Goodwin.
“Yes, a grizzly as a matter of fact. Not as big as the dragon over there, but one of the larger paranormals.”
Nadie’s gaze shifted between the two of them, and she frowned. “It’s good to meet you, but I’m still confused as to why Dante wanted me to meet you and talk with both of you.”
Dante swallowed hard. “I think you know, Nadie. At least some of it.”
She shook her head. “No, you need to say it because whatever is going on in my head makes no sense and is so far out of the realm of what has ever happened to me that I’m not even going to say it.”
Dante had a feeling whatever she was thinking was perfectly on the right track, or at least he hoped so, but he let her keep those thoughts to herself.
For now.
“When the lightning hit,” he began and hoped he was going in the best direction, “you and the others started your transformations.”
Nadie nodded as her eyes slid to Jace.
“He knows about what happened, Nadie. There aren’t many secrets between me and Jace.”
Her eyes widened, and she let out an “oh.”
Jace’s gaze met his, and Dante let out a breath. “I’m getting ahead of myself here.”
“And yet you’re not getting anywhere,” Nadie mumbled, and Dante choked off a laugh. He loved it when Nadie spoke her mind and actually used the attitude she was born with rather than the quiet one she tried to pull off.
It hadn’t helped that he’d had to put distance between them after the lightning struck. It had taken all of his control not to claim her as his right then.
If he had, though, it would have been for naught.
If he had, he’d have left Jace behind, not completing the mating in truth and only hurting the three of them more.
Only Nadie hadn’t known that.
“No, I guess I’m not. Well, shit, okay. So when the lightning hit, you were able to start to feel what it was like to be a paranormal.”
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I still have no idea what I would turn into if I...uh”—she blushed—“completed the mating with my true half.”
He nodded, knowing this was where it got tricky. “You’ve been feeling a pull though. Right? And even a little weak.” The last part was a partial lie. He knew she’d been feeling a hell of a lot more than weak when it came to their proximity to one another.
He’d stayed away from her for a reason, and yet no matter what he’d done, it hadn’t been enough.
She narrowed her eyes, and the dragon within him rumbled, ready to take the brunt of what would come next.
“You’re my true half, my mate, Nadie.”
Her face didn’t change. She didn’t even bat an eyelash. He watched the rise and fall of her chest but didn’t breathe with her.
“Nadie? Are you okay?” Jace asked.
She blinked at him then stood, forcing Jace and Dante to stand with her. The two of them towered over her small stature, yet she didn’t look scared.
No, she looked fucking pissed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You just now tell me I’m your mate, and yet you’ve known for how long? No, don’t bother. I’ve known since the lightning hit my body who you were. I knew then that we could have something more, something worth the pain, weakness, and unknown. I could have loved you more than anything and anyone in the world. Can’t you understand that? It might have taken Lily and Shade�
�s courtship for everyone to make complete sense of all this, but I knew that you were meant to be something to me. Or at least that’s what I thought. You would have known from the start, Dante. You would have known since I walked in here with the others and had to wear that damn hand stamp because I wasn’t even old enough to drink. Yet you’ve done nothing. Even when you must have figured out that I knew we’d be something together, you didn’t step up.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but her look forced him to stop.
“Shut it. I want my say. I had to stand by and watch three of my friends fall in love with mates who fought for them. Yeah, Ambrose took his sweet time, but that’s because he didn’t think he was good enough for her. Don’t lie to me and tell me you’re thinking the same thing because we both know that’s not true. You’re the one who stood on Jamie’s side when Ambrose needed to grovel, so that couldn’t be it.
“No, all of this means that, no matter what fate wanted, you didn’t want me. Fine. I get it. Whatever. I’ll deal. I’ve been dealing since I walked in here and saw you.”
Her body shuddered, but Dante couldn’t speak. The pain radiating off her wasn’t the physical kind he could heal—had been healing since the lightning strike. No, it was from deep within, and he didn’t know what words to use to fix what was going on between them…if there were even any words to begin with.
“I’m not a dreamy-eyed girl, Dante. I might have been when I first met you, or at least a dreamy-eyed woman, but I’m not one now. You stayed away and left me in pain for years. What am I supposed to say to that?”
“I had to, Nadie.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”
He looked at Jace, who had the same achingly painful expression on his face that Dante knew he had on his own face.
“It’s my fault, Nadie,” Jace said, his voice that low growl that Dante had missed for all those years they’d been forced apart. Before Nadie could speak, Jace held out his hands. “You see, you’re not just supposed to be with Dante, but me too.”
She backed away, shaking her head. “Oh no. No. What are the two of you talking about? I’ve been alone all my life and now the two of you are standing before me and telling me this? No.”
“Think about Jamie, Ambrose, and Balin. Within the paranormals, triads are commonplace. It’s how we’re wired,” Dante explained. “Sometimes we just want, no, need, two different people to feel whole.”
“And we’re not just a triad, or at least not just a possibility of one,” Jace said, his gaze never leaving Nadie’s face, and Dante was glad for it. “The three of us are mates. Three parts of a whole. I know you can feel that spark because I sure as hell did when I saw you in your car tonight. Now, we need to sit down and hash out the particulars as to why Dante had to keep things from you, and then we get on to the part that is actually important. Us.”
Dante held back a grin at Jace’s words. The man had a point. No matter what happened, the future they could have together was a hell of a lot more important than his own hurt feelings. Fuck, he’d been waiting for ten thousand years for them. He couldn’t screw it up now.
At least not any more than he already had.
Nadie let out a sigh that ended on a sob. Tears formed in her eyes, and Dante let go of whatever was holding him back and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, my sprite. I’m so, so sorry.”
She clutched at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and he tightened his hold. He felt Jace’s hand on his back, and from the way the bear was standing, he had a feeling Jace’s other hand was on Nadie’s back.
Dante’s dragon took the attention as though it was his due.
Fucking dragon.
He needed to get everything out in the open, and then they could start from there. Keeping secrets and hiding behind hurts was only making this harder.
“I met Jace over eighty years ago, Nadie, and I knew from the moment I met him that he was one of my mates. But while we were blessed to find each other, we both knew that there was another one out there for us. While others could have dealt with that and continued on with just each other, both of our animals are far too predatory for that. They needed, no, we needed the three to complete the bond. It wouldn’t have been the same otherwise.”
He met Jace’s eyes and cursed at himself. He wasn’t saying this right.
Jace gave a small smile. “I know what you meant, Dante. It’s not that we weren’t good enough for each other and that we couldn’t love each other and be enough, but we needed our third to make ourselves whole. It was agony not to be near and yet even worse when we were near, knowing we were missing something.”
Nadie pulled away, her gaze shifting between them. “So you stayed away from each other all this time.”
Dante swallowed hard then nodded. “Yes. We had to.”
“And with my role as a Mediator, I had to leave for long periods of time anyway, and I couldn’t contact him. We were both on the lookout for you though.”
“I’ve been here for a while now though,” she said, hurt still in her tone. “If you’ve known all this time, why didn’t you say anything?”
“That’s why I said it was my fault,” Jace answered. “I was off on a job, my duty, and was trapped there. I couldn’t get back, and by the time I did, I needed to make sure I could cut ties if I needed to. I still don’t know if that is possible, but I couldn’t wait anymore. Dante thought he had to hold back and wait for me because he couldn’t find me. I’m so sorry.”
Nadie sucked in a breath then shook her head again. “You could have said something, Dante. You’ve had all this time. You could have told me why you were waiting. I…I was left in the dark, and I feel like a fool. I don’t like feeling like a fool.”
Dante cupped her face and licked his lips. “You aren’t a fool. I am. I had to keep us apart because if I had broken my promise and told you everything, I wouldn’t have been able to hold back. With the way you were weakening, I didn’t think I’d be enough for you alone while we waited for Jace. It could have killed you.”
He didn’t tell her that while he used his powers to push energy back into her body, it wouldn’t have been enough. He’d only been able to keep her as healthy as he could because he was a dragon. If he had been any weaker, any younger, he might not have been able to do it at all. He didn’t know why Nadie’s paranormal reacted the way it did considering he didn’t even know what she was, but he had a feeling it was one strong creature. He’d taken her pain into his body, not letting her know because he had been too afraid of what she’d do if she knew. Without their third, and the full bond, he’d never have enough energy to keep her alive…and she’d have eventually faded away, pulling him with her if he’d let her.
And he’d have let her.
She pulled away again. “No. You should have told me. It was my choice to make. Not yours. You treated me like a child, and yes, I understand you’re a few hundred years older than me, but that doesn’t give you the right.”
“A few more years than that,” Jace mumbled, and Nadie shot him a glare.
“I need time to think,” she continued. “I had planned on walking out of here for the last time. Did you know that? I was going to throw in the towel because whatever fate wanted with us hurt too much to deal with it here. I was going to find a way to live my life without you, and yet you changed it all. Again.”
The thought that she’d walk out of his life made the dragon want to rage, but he didn’t let it show. He would have found her. A dragon always found its treasure.
“Being a dragon doesn’t excuse you, Dante. And you, Jace? I don’t even know you.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m human. Or at least mostly. Don’t you see this is weird? That everything we’ve talked about today makes no sense, or at least wouldn’t have in truth a couple of years ago. I need time to think, and I can’t do it if I’m in the same room with either of you.”
He nodded, knowing this was far better than her saying she would leave forever.
> “I’ll drive you home,” Jace said, shooting Dante a look. It seemed Dante had said enough that night and now it was Jace’s turn to pave the way. He would never be jealous of the man. After all he felt the same way about Jace as he did about Nadie.
“I don’t know you,” Nadie whispered, but it wasn’t fear in her tone; it was sparked interest.
Good.
“Then get to know me. We’re starting from scratch, you and I. We both might have history with Dante, and that will come into play, but you need to know all the facts and we need to start with open eyes. What do you say?”
Nadie looked at both of them before nodding. “I…I’ll take the ride home, but I need to think. I wasn’t expecting this tonight,” she said on a dry laugh.
Dante went to her then and cupped her face one last time. “Neither was I.” He let his lips brush against hers, a promise of a kiss rather than one. His dragon perked up, ready for her, for their life, but he held back, knowing it was important to go slow—even slower than they already had been going. “We’ll figure it out.”
They would, he promised himself. Because he needed his mates by his side if what he thought was happening around them was evidence of what was to come.
He watched them walk out of his bar, Nadie so much smaller than Jace but almost at ease with his size. As soon as they left, he sucked in a breath, a primal fear washing over him. He was a dragon, he shouldn’t be scared…yet he was.
He went back to the envelope on the bar and sighed. Could he ignore it for a few more moments? Would they notice?
The building shook around him, its walls quaking as if the whole place were the epicenter of an earthquake. Dante gripped the sides of the bar, knowing this was only a warning and would pass soon. This was not of his power, but that of something that haunted the dreams of those around him. The room gave a few more shakes before settling down as if nothing had happened. Oh yes, they were pissed.
Tangled Innocence Page 3