Olivia shuddered. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted that either. Poor Lindsey. Your family has suffered through so much.”
“We have. But I think it’s just made us that much stronger.” He shook his head, anger rising up inside him. “And do you know, even after witnessing all that, Pops is still trying to force me into the same thing. I’m like my dad. I don’t want a harem of women. I never have. One woman I love is all I need, but he’s still trying to make me do as he and our ancestors did, even after all the tragedy. He didn’t learn from it, but I did. I loved my dad, but he made mistakes that cost him, and me, so much. I won’t do the same. I won’t give in.”
He wasn’t sure, but it felt like she sagged against him in relief for a moment. The thought made his anger recede as he smiled. If his determination to spend his life with one woman and one woman only gave her relief, that was a good thing.
More than good. It was great. Because it meant she was thinking of him in terms of a possible future, even after everything she learned about him.
And that was priceless.
“Now that you know my family’s sordid history, can you tell me about you? About what you went through that put all that pain in those pretty green eyes?”
She stiffened against him, and when their eyes met, the shadows always lurking were darker and more prominent.
“I was kidnapped. All of the women at my house were. That’s why you haven’t met my sister or Sierra yet. They’re still too skittish, and don’t like meeting strangers.”
Chapter 14
Olivia
Olivia felt Cody stiffen against her, his brown eyes shocked and incredulous at first, and then a slow burning anger crept into the dark depths. Her emotions were ping ponging inside her, and she wasn’t sure exactly what was causing them.
Was it because she was about to tell him a story she’d never told anyone? A story that changed her life and turned her—and the other dragons—into different women? A past so dark, she sometimes wondered if it tainted her for good?
Or was it because of Cody’s past? God, her heart hurt for him. What he’d gone through, losing both parents the way he had. She knew what it was like to lose her parents, and that had been a tragedy.
But the way he lost his… she couldn’t fathom that kind of pain.
And all because of archaic rules, and one old man who tried to force everyone to adhere to them.
Even when it made them miserable.
“You were kidnapped?” he asked gently, a thousand questions swirling in his dark gaze.
She knew he wouldn’t ask them, knew he’d let her tell him on her own if and when she was ready. And that just made her fall a little more for him.
The night before, she’d been terrified of him. Of what he might be. And the truth, as crazy as it was, was just as nightmare inducing as she’d feared. But oddly—or maybe not so oddly, since it seemed to fit the pattern with him—she wasn’t at all scared now that she knew just what he was.
He was still Cody—just as she was still Olivia. They just happened to have beasts that lived inside of them, but their animals didn’t define who they were.
She thought she’d probably been more scared of the unknown, of not having answers about what he was, than she’d been scared of him.
The moment he explained what he was, most of those fears evaporated. And she was back to feeling about him how she’d felt when he held her hand at the movies, gazing into her eyes and telling her what was between them felt real and right.
Mostly. There was still a bit of unease about his vampire side. It was an unknown to her, and after what she’d been through, she didn’t do well with unknowns. And while she’d never met a vampire, she knew they were rumored to be unstable and unpredictable.
But looking into Cody’s eyes gave her that same calm and peace she’d felt in his presence from the beginning. There was no hint of unpredictability to him—just the steady man she’d come to know.
She felt safe with him, and that meant the world to her. If she didn’t, she never would have shifted in front of him, let alone told him what she was.
The way she felt for him, though… she had no words for it. And she wanted no more secrets between them. Whatever this was that they had, she wanted to see it through. She wanted it to grow and blossom, and that couldn’t happen with secrets.
With that in mind, she nodded. “To fully understand what happened and why, I think you need the full story.” She paused to gather her thoughts, and he waited patiently beside her, not saying a word. “As you now know, dragons have been in hiding for centuries. Hunters nearly wiped us out. There aren’t as many as there used to be, but they’re still out there.
“But us female dragons… we’ve had to hide even more thoroughly. I’m not sure how much you know about dragons, but one of the reasons we became so rare was because we couldn’t reproduce like other shifter species. Females have a hard time conceiving. We’re not sure exactly why that is, but a lot of us never have even one pregnancy or baby. And the dragon gene only passes through the females. If a male mates with a woman outside of our species, any child produced will always be either human or another shifter species, depending on the woman.”
“I didn’t know all that,” he replied quietly, his big, calloused hand rubbing her arm slowly. “So, are you saying the women have had to hide from hunters and the males of your species?”
She nodded. “Exactly. The males are basically raised to be entitled pricks. Most of them, anyway. They’re taught that they’re superior to all and have a right to anything they want, so if they see something they desire, they just take it. That goes for female dragons, too. The males are obsessed with producing dragon offspring. Maybe it’s a point of pride for them, I don’t know. So anytime they find a female, they take her. No questions asked, no permission sought. It’s always against the female’s will.”
His hand stilled as his body tightened, and she could feel the disgust and anger rolling off of him. “Son of a bitch. That’s seriously fucked up.”
“A lot of species have dark pasts or horrible customs they have to live with. You’ve seen that firsthand,” she replied quietly. “But that leads to what happened to me and the other women at my house. There was an evil male dragon. Fernandez. He was kidnapping females and then auctioning them off to the highest bidder. The purer the bloodline, the more they went for. All of us were taken by his men and held captive while he found buyers for us. Luckily, the Enforcers found out what was going on and rescued us. It took them awhile to catch up with Fernandez after that, but they finally did. He and all his guards are dead now.”
“Jesus, Olivia,” he whispered, his arm tightening around her. “No wonder you have shadows in your eyes. So, once you guys were free, you decided to stay together, and you moved here?”
“Yeah. We stayed together at the Enforcers’ clubhouse until Fernandez was dead. And after that, none of us really had lives waiting for us. And we didn’t feel safe going back to what was left, either. We were found once. We could be again. I went back to get clothes, pictures, and my dad’s truck, but that was it. I didn’t even stick around to sell the house. It’s just sitting empty. Fiona couldn’t bring herself to go back at all, so I picked up her things, as well. Montana appealed to us because it’s a large state with a small population. And when we found a little town with the name of New Leaf, it felt perfect. We were all trying to turn over a new leaf.”
“I’m happier than I can say that you guys chose New Leaf, but damn Liv, I wish the reasons why never happened.”
“Hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again. One of the dragons he kidnapped, Kennedy, is a scientist. He planned to keep her for himself, but he also had her working on serums that would make it easier for dragons to reproduce. His plan was to sire an entire army of dragons so he could take over the world, so thank God that didn’t happen. But after she was rescued and Fernandez was dead, Kennedy completed her work. Female dragons won’t have such a hard time re
producing now, and males can sire them on their own, with the help of her serums.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair, and she couldn’t fight back the shiver that action produced. “That’s great. Hopefully that means you won’t have to worry about the males kidnapping you anymore.”
She nodded, leaning into him. “Yeah. That’s part of why we decided we’re not hiding anymore. From anyone, even the hunters. The hunters caused the dragons to scatter and isolate themselves, for fear that they’d slaughter all of us at one time if we were grouped together. But we think there’s safety in numbers, and we shouldn’t have to live in fear anymore. So, no more hiding. From hunters, males, or even the shifter world in general.”
“So, it’s like the return of the dragons.”
She smiled as she glanced up at him. “That’s exactly how Paisley said it.”
Telling her story had been painful, but it was cathartic, too. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and Cody’s presence was a balm to her wounded soul.
She wouldn’t say she was suddenly healed, but she thought talking about it with him had definitely helped. She felt more like herself, more centered and at peace than she had in a long time.
He gave her that half smile she loved so much, and then his gaze dipped to her lips. She knew that he wanted, and it didn’t scare her at all. She wanted it, too. Her breath caught as she automatically licked them, making the fire in his brown eyes burn brighter. Ever so slowly, he leaned down closer, and she held her breath in anticipation.
The moment his soft lips touched hers, her body exploded with sensation. Tingling from the roots of her hair down to her toes, she followed his lead as he gently kissed her. The world faded away as they kissed, nothing else existing in that moment except for her and the man making her feel things she’d never felt before.
And then an image of her sister’s face flashed through her mind, and she tore away from him, her chest heaving as she held her hands up. “Wait.”
Brow furrowing, he ran his hand through his mussed hair. “Was that too much? It was, wasn’t it? Too soon after everything you’ve gone through. And hell, you learned some things about me that probably scared you. I’m so sorry, Olivia—”
Quickly pressing her finger against his lips, she shook her head as she halted his words. “No, that’s not it. It’s not too soon, I’m not scared of you at all, and I enjoyed the hell out of that kiss.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Fiona…” she started before trailing off. She wasn’t sure how to explain the reasons for her hesitation.
Frown deepening, he looked at her with confusion. “Your sister?”
“Yeah.” Sighing, she tilted her head back and looked at the sky as she thought. “We’ve always had a tumultuous relationship. She loves me, I have no doubts about that, but… I’m a few years older. I was friends with the popular kids in school, got asked out a lot, all of that. Fiona never had that. She had a small group of friends, and the popular kids barely noticed her. Everyone always compared her to me, and for some reason, she always came out on the losing end. I don’t know why. She’s smart and beautiful.
“I think she resented me for that. I think she thought I felt the same way—like she was less than me. And it didn’t help that I was always so close to Dad. She wanted that too, but… Well, Dad and I worked on cars together, along with other mechanical type objects. That’s why we were together so much. Fiona never had any interest in that stuff, so she never joined us. But I think it made her feel like once again, someone was choosing me over her.”
“And she blamed that all on you?”
Olivia shrugged, trying to seem like that hadn’t bothered her, but it had. A lot. “She was a teenager. We’re not all that rational when we’re that young. But even after we grew out of those years, I think she still had all of that in the back of her head. And that was made clear to me when she met Greg.”
“What happened with Greg?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“He wasn’t who he said he was.” The words were said simply, but there was nothing simple about it. Inhaling deeply, she continued on. “I told her something wasn’t right about him. I told her he couldn’t be trusted, but she refused to listen. She accused me of being jealous. Said I was only saying those things because a man actually liked her instead of me for once. She continued to see him, and eventually told him what she was.”
Cody sucked in a breath. “Tell me that’s not how you two were kidnapped.”
“I wish I could.” Pausing, she took a deep breath, her emotions rioting inside her. “I believe he already knew, although I’m not sure how. He turned out to be one of Fernandez’s scouts, looking for female dragons. He wouldn’t have been sniffing around her if he hadn’t already suspected. But her words confirmed it, and one night when he came to pick her up, he forced her inside a van.
“I’m sure he and the men with him intended to go into the house and search for me, but I was outside when it happened. I saw it all go down. I thought I could save her, so I went running toward them and fought them with everything I had. It wasn’t enough, though, and they shoved me in the van with her. And that’s how we were both kidnapped.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said gently, his hand once again rubbing her arm, the soothing motion sinking into her. “It wasn’t even Fiona’s. She had no way of knowing what Greg intended. She just trusted the wrong man.”
Olivia nodded. “I agree, and I’ve tried to tell her that, but I’m not sure she really feels that way. She was traumatized by her own experience, and overwhelmed with guilt because her actions got me kidnapped, too. I’ve tried to tell her Greg most likely already knew, but I’m not sure she really hears me when I say it.”
“She probably just needs more time. Honestly, after hearing your story, I’m surprised you’re here with me at all. I wondered why it seemed like you were fighting our attraction so hard, and now I’m wondering how you managed to overcome your fears enough to go out with me.”
“I don’t want to live in fear anymore,” she replied softly. “I lost so much of myself during that ordeal, and I wanted to get it back. So I did things that scared me, like leaving the house to go into town. And when I met you… I kept thinking I just needed to find my faith again. In people, in the world around me. And you actually helped me find it. Once that happened, I refused to let anything else hold me back from something I wanted.”
Chapter 15
Cody
Cody’s heart leapt at Olivia’s words, and the meaning behind them. He was the something she wanted when she found her faith.
That, coupled with her saying he helped her find it, made him feel like he was on top of the world. He already knew he’d do absolutely anything to make her happy, and knowing he’d done something that helped her find a bit of happiness, meant everything to him.
Pressing another kiss to the top of her head, he held her closer to him. “I can’t tell you what it means to hear that I helped you, even in some small way.”
She gave him a smile that made his heart leap even as contentment filled him. This woman meant everything to him, and he already knew he’d do absolutely anything for her.
Anything.
Mate. If she was his mate, like his gorilla said, then the way he felt for her made total sense. Shifters would do anything for their mates. Whatever it took to make them happy and keep them safe. Nothing was too big or too small when it came to their mates.
And the speed in which he’d fallen for her made more sense to him now, too. That was how it usually was with mates. He’d just never considered that to be a possibility, because he hadn’t known his kind could have mates.
How had his people gotten it so wrong? He thought maybe they’d just given up too quickly, and then once they had, they never thought to try again. Because they hadn’t known it was possible.
But he was living proof that it was.
And he’d shout it from the rooftops at the earlie
st opportunity.
Olivia’s smile faded and her gaze turned pensive before she looked away. “But that’s why I stopped us. I loved that kiss, Cody. I can’t tell you how much, and I didn’t want to stop it. But my sister…”
His brow furrowed as he tried to understand. “You think she’ll feel like you’re once again getting everything handed to you while she’s struggling to find something of her own?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” she replied, her voice uncertain. “I thought we’d moved passed all that, but when all the girls were talking about you, about how they were certain you were attracted to me, she seemed… off, I guess. And she was nowhere to be found when everyone was talking about our date, and then the next day when they were helping me get ready. I can’t help but wonder if it’s bothering her because of our past.
“Plus, Fiona and I grew close after we were kidnapped. Incredibly close, more so than we’ve ever been. And I don’t want to lose that. If being with you will tear us apart, or make her start feeling like she’s not good enough again… I just don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to lose the progress we’ve made.”
He could feel her pain and uncertainty radiating off of her, and it burrowed right into his soul. “Can I tell you something?”
She nodded, her silky-smooth hair brushing against his arm. “Anything.”
“Axel—my half-brother—and I have been pitted against each other from the moment we both shifted for the first time. I told you how there’s always been one Silverback born in each generation in my family, making the alpha of our troop always an Aaron. But this last generation, there were two born.”
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