by Sadie Sears
“Can I get you anything else? Pancakes? I have an old family recipe that Mae likes.”
I lifted my eyebrows. It wasn’t exactly like Grandma to whip up a batch of her special pancakes for just anyone, but Draven shook his head.
“Honestly, you’ve prepared more than enough food.” Then he chuckled. “I wondered where the other guests were.” He glanced around as if still checking for others, and I stepped out of sight to watch them some more.
Grandma laughed. “I know how to feed people. No one ever leaves my house hungry.”
She was right about that. And no one ever left her house without a true opinion of how she felt about them, either, which was why it was so interesting to watch her interact with Draven. It was as though she’d known him longer than one night. She was certainly completely at ease with him—she approved of him in a way I instinctively knew she wouldn’t have approved of Charlie.
Grandma would have known before I did that he was exactly the wrong kind of guy for me. But she wasn’t displaying any kind of distrust or forced politeness with Draven.
She was always a good judge of character… So perhaps I could relax a little and let myself trust his words of last night the way I wanted to.
I pushed myself off the doorframe and ventured into the kitchen to rest my hand lightly on Draven’s shoulder as he sat on one of the red vinyl-topped stools, and I stole a triangle of his soft wheat toast. He grinned at me as I bit the corner off.
“Good morning.” His low, sexy voice set butterflies fluttering in my stomach, and warmth rushed to settle low in my belly.
He moved his plate to position it between us, and Grandma glanced at it before adding an extra spoon of eggs and handing me a fork.
My face warmed, but I took the fork and helped myself to a bite of eggs and a slice of Draven’s bacon. “Thank you.”
He wrapped an arm around me, his hand resting comfortably on my hip, and my cheeks warmed further—I wasn’t used to public displays of affection in front of Grandma, no matter how slight, but she just smiled contentedly and opened the fridge.
“Chocolate milk for you as usual, Mae?” She grabbed the bottle and a glass before I could answer.
“And I thought your only bad habit was coffee.” Draven’s eyes sparkled as he murmured his question, and I swatted his arm lightly in response.
“Do you have any plans today?” Grandma filled my glass with the rich, thick milk, and the luster and sweet aroma of it took me straight back to my childhood.
“I thought we might go and see some of my favorite places.”
“Mm. They probably look better in the light.” Grandma didn’t sound at all judgmental, and even though Draven and I had only talked last night, embarrassed heat rushed to my cheeks as if we’d spent every minute with him buried deep inside me only yards from the house.
I took a drink to alleviate my embarrassment, and Draven chuckled as he used the pad of his thumb to wipe away my chocolate milk mustache.
“Right.” I stood abruptly as more embarrassment prickled across my skin, probably searing a pink color there forever. I craved his touch, though, and I didn’t want him to know how much. And I especially didn’t want Grandma to see how much. “Let’s go out.”
“Will you be back for dinner?” Grandma’s eyes sparkled as she asked the oh-so-innocent question, and I nodded in reply, looking anywhere but at her so she couldn’t tell I was ignoring what I knew she was thinking.
“Where are we going?” Draven slipped his hand into mine as soon as we walked out onto the porch, and his fingers were warm and strong.
He flinched as soon as he made the contact with me, but we both pretended not to notice.
“Oh, we can take a walk past my high school, see the swimming hole in the woods, wander down Main. Not a whole lot has changed here since I left,” I said as I looked around as if to confirm that to myself.
We were pretty much standing in the middle of town. And there still wasn’t a whole lot to do. Maybe it was true—the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
I led him to the high school then wondered why I’d bothered. “Here is my high school.” I gestured lamely at the nondescript building. “I guess it looks like a lot of other high schools in America.”
But Draven shook his head. “Nuh. This one’s special.”
“Why?”
We stood facing each other, and I tilted my head to look at him as he wrapped his arms loosely around my waist.
“Because you were in it.” He smiled softly before claiming my lips in a tender kiss that spoke directly to my heart.
Before he could deepen the kiss, I drew away and tried to bring my breathing back under control. There was no way I could continue to pretend I was unaffected by him.
“Come on. Let’s go to see the swimming hole.” I tugged at his hand as I started to walk away, but he remained standing in place.
He drew his eyebrows into a small frown. “I didn’t bring anything to wear for swimming, though.”
My mind whirled with all the possible responses. “You don’t always need anything.” I ended with a casual shrug and left my comment totally open to interpretation.
A low growl rumbled through his chest, and I laughed as I pressed my palm there.
“Down boy.” Then I gasped as he drew me flush against him and his hard-on pressed to my hip.
He kissed me with ferocity and passion, and I responded, standing on my tiptoes to get closer to him. His tongue explored my mouth and our breathing merged as we inhaled each other.
I plunged my fingers through his hair, and he drew away, panting slightly as he rested his forehead to mine.
“The things you do to me,” he whispered. He shook his head lightly, his expression dazed. “I’ve never—”
I took his lower lip between my teeth, not letting him finish and gave him a small growl of my own. “Come on, I’ll never finish showing you around if we stop for a make-out session on every corner.”
The embarrassment of being so affectionate in public had gone. Instead, pleasure seared through my body.
“There are some nice flat rocks at the swimming hole for us to sit on. We can get pretty comfortable, actually.” Again, I left my comment open to interpretation.
“Privacy?” He sounded eager.
“I hope so.” I felt eager. I wanted his hands on me, his lips, his tongue. I shivered with the anticipation of it.
But when we got to the swimming hole, it was as crowded as a day on spring break.
“Looks like the entire town turned out for the guided tour of your favorite places.” Draven made the observation with a wry smile and my hand firmly clutched in his.
“Looks like.” Disappointment filtered into my chest, but I spotted a space where we could sit quietly—if not in splendid isolation—and talk.
Later, as the sun set over the woods, I cupped Draven’s cheek as he looked at me. My heart beat wildly in my chest, but spending the day alone with him in a place where I wasn’t scared or feeling trapped had brought everything into focus. And as much as I didn’t want to put myself out there, I couldn’t keep my feelings in.
I swallowed, trying to soothe my dry throat and fight back my nausea. Just because I wanted to tell him didn’t mean it was easy.
“I think I’ve fallen in love with you,” I murmured, forcing as much strength into my voice as I could as I gazed into his eyes, watching the deep chocolate brown turn molten.
As he opened his mouth to respond, embarrassment filled me, and I covered my face, peeking out between my fingers as I looked at him.
“That was supposed to be my internal voice,” I mumbled, and he chuckled, the sound both carefree and with a base-note of pain.
“Don’t hide,” he whispered before he kissed my hands over my mouth, soft featherlight kisses until I took my hands away and laid them on his cheeks instead, pulling him in for a proper kiss.
Because I wanted this guy. And now he knew it.
The foll
owing morning, I didn’t lie in bed contemplating whether I should tell Draven I loved him. That particular dragon was out of its cave—although that was maybe stretching the cat out of the bag analogy a little too far. Still, I amused myself, and any thoughts of Aro, so kind and gentle, yet strong and protective, were good thoughts.
I missed him.
The kitchen was quiet when I walked in, totally unlike the previous day, when Draven and Grandma had been chatting up a storm between them, and Draven was sitting on a stool, half slumped over a cup of black coffee, his posture sagging and morose.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Grandma almost whispered. “Someone needs to give this boy some energy.”
Draven looked at her, his eyes hard, and the atmosphere in the room changed. Fear trickled into my chest, turning into an icy weight. I’d never seen that expression on his face before, like something else was looking out of his eyes, assessing.
Grandma had her back to him as she tended some biscuits fresh from the oven, but another chill ran through me as he swung his gaze to me. He lifted his hand to push his hair back from his face, and my gaze rested on his nails, no longer neatly trimmed. Now, they were dull and black, and twisted and pointed. When he brushed his hair aside, more of the ugly skin from his lower arm had crept up onto the side of his neck, replacing the usually lickable firm skin there.
Stifling my shudder as I briefly met the foreign gaze staring out of Draven’s face, I walked toward him.
“Hey.” I summoned the remnants of my courage and rearranged his hair to conceal his neck before clutching his fist in mine, fingers folded so Grandma wouldn’t see his brand-new Halloween make-up effects.
I wanted to protect him, to hide the parts of him that weren't who he truly was. But part of me faltered. I needed Grandma to be aware of what might happen. Protecting Draven wasn't protecting her. What if she didn't notice the changes and didn't know she'd need to act first to avoid him?
Holy crap. This wasn’t Draven looking at me, and I didn’t trust him.
“Draven? Dray?” I looked deeper into his eyes, hoping to make some sort of connection with him.
Was he still in there? I had to hope so.
“Dray, step outside with me for a moment?” I gave his hand a small tug.
“The biscuits will be ready in five.” Grandma barely looked over her shoulder as she spoke. “I know you two lovebirds can’t give each other a decent good morning with me in the same room. So, go do what ya gotta do, and I’ll have your breakfasts ready when you get back.”
I was too flustered to even bother with embarrassment. I just needed to get Draven away from my grandma.
Once outside, I closed the door behind us and leaned against it, blocking his return to the house.
“Good morning, Draven,” I started. Then I cupped his cheek and tried to ignore the tremble in my fingers.
He remained stony faced, so I tried a different tack.
“Aro.” I crooned his name like I was chanting some kind of summoning spell. “Aro, are you in there?”
I was rewarded by the slight sheen of green scales tipped with gold visible under Draven’s skin. Or maybe overlaid. It was like looking at some sort of phantom as his face shimmered with scales that weren’t really there.
“Aro.” The relief was obvious in my tone. “Can you help me find Draven?”
“Mate.” The old voice creaked from Draven’s mouth like Aro hadn’t needed to speak for a very long time. “Tired.”
“I know.” I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice. “I know you are. But I need to talk to Draven. Is he in there? Can you help him come back?” I didn’t even know what I was saying. I was just babbling, but Draven had essentially told me the three of them existed side by side in his body, so if Aro and then that…thing were in there, surely Draven also had to be?
“Try.” Aro hissed out the last word on a whisper before the scales over Draven’s face faded away.
I drew him to the bench where we’d sat together on our first night, prepared to wait out Draven’s return.
“Take your time,” I murmured. “I’m here.” It probably made no difference that I was the one there with him, but there was no one else but me to try to bring him back.
“Mae?”
“Yes? Yes? Draven?” I sank to my knees at his feet and gripped his hands. He curved his fingers so I couldn’t see his nails.
“Yeah.” But he sounded groggy, like he’d just woken up from a long sleep or he’d had too much to drink.
“I’m glad you’re back.”
He gripped my hands. “Me too.”
“What were the chances you were going to hurt Grandma?” It wasn’t the most sophisticated thing to say, but it was the first thing out my mouth.
“No.” He stopped and looked beyond me. Maybe at nothing at all. “I mean, maybe. Yes. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I just don’t know. I don’t know. I think it would help if I could bring you to a friend who can explain everything.”
I drew in a breath and nodded. Maybe that would help. “Okay,” I said. “I think we should go.” I glanced about the familiar yard, noting the bushes that had been there since I first came to live with Grandma.
Even the slightest chance Draven might have injured her… No, not Draven. His demon. Even that chance wasn’t one I could take. The idea of leaving hurt my heart, but I couldn’t stay if Draven didn’t know whether he was a danger if he stayed.
His eyes cleared, the strange confusion lifting. “Yeah. I think that would be best.” He nodded as he made the concession, but he flinched and pressed his forefingers to his temple.
“Hey, Dray?” I rested my hand on his knee. “Think Aro would like a breakfast of biscuits to power his flight home? Or is whale the only thing on his menu?”
“Aro?” Draven’s forehead creased.
“Would you like biscuits for breakfast, Draven? I’ll say goodbye to Grandma and then we can leave.”
He nodded and I stood, ready to help him back into the house.
“I can walk on my own.” He grinned, a spark of the usual Draven, before he drew me to him. “Thank you,” he murmured against my lips, and then I lost myself in his kiss.
A short while later, we sat at Grandma’s small kitchen table, still in the same room as her, but far enough for some privacy to talk or for me to spot if Draven became overwhelmed again. So far, he just looked sad and tired.
Too many emotions collided inside me—fear was there, but also sadness and regret because loving me was hurting him. That was a hard realization to come to terms with.
But before I sorted through all of those feelings, I had something even more difficult to do.
“Grandma?” I turned her name into a question, and she looked at me, her eyes immediately narrow like she suspected something.
“Yes?” That was all she said, and I sighed. The same suspicion in her eyes rang in her tone.
“We’re going to head off after breakfast if that’s okay?”
“Of course.” She shrugged, but her disappointment still showed through the casual movement.
“I know we haven’t spent much time together…” I was making it worse not better, acknowledging that I’d probably let her down.
I glanced at Draven, unexpectedly lost for words as to how to make this better. It felt selfish all of a sudden. I’d come here to escape a threat, and now I was leaving… Although to protect her. Surely that made it better.
“It’s my fault.” Draven stepped in to take the heat. “There’s a meeting in Port Lair that wasn’t urgent but now is urgent, and—”
“You need to go back.” Grandma sighed again then she turned to me with a grin. “I was wondering when you’d stop cramping my style. How can I be expected to have wild nights of drinking, poker, and sex with my granddaughter here to supervise me?”
I barked out a laugh of surprise before standing and hugging her. “Thanks, Gram,” I murmured against her hair. “And you don’t get rid of me tha
t easy. We’ll be back soon.”
“More’s the pity for my social life,” she huffed, but she also tightened her arms around me. “You just be careful.”
I stifled my shiver. My grandma always seemed to know more than I’d told her.
It wasn’t the best time of day for a flight, but Aro managed to stay mostly above a low layer of soft gray cloud on the way back to Port Lair. His movements were a little more sluggish like something had already tired him out, and he wasn’t as talkative, but he was sturdy and dependable, strong and there when I needed that stable presence. I stroked my hand idly over his scales as we flew, and my reward was the occasional ripple of his muscles beneath my hand.
I nestled deeper into the crook of his wings and closed my eyes. He wouldn’t let me fall.
Mae.
I opened my eyes at the voice in my head, disoriented for a moment.
Mae. We’re back in Port Lair. As he spoke to me, he swooped lower, approaching Draven’s house from the ocean, and I let out a whoop of delight as my stomach dropped away and Aro skimmed the waves, sea spray coating me in a fine mist.
Aro half turned his head toward me, and I caught the gleam of pleasure in his eye as he huffed out a heavy breath.
All too quickly, he touched down on the grass at the back of Draven’s house.
Good luck today.
“Wait. What do you mean?” But before I even finished speaking, Draven stood before me, and I reached automatically for the bag with his clothes. The ugly sludge-colored leathery skin covered his left arm up to the shoulder and crept across his chest. When he half turned as if to conceal himself, I spotted them across his shoulder blade, too.
“Does it hurt?” I could hardly force the words out from my dry throat.
He shook his head, but his shadowed eyes and pinched face told a different story.
He pulled on a shirt and some pants. “I really need to take you to see that friend who can answer all of your questions. Someone you can really talk to about how you’re feeling.”
“Oh?” I hadn’t really figured out how I was feeling yet. It was all… a lot.