Page 31 of Saving Her Dragon

A heavy, suffocating silence descended on the bedroom. It was like a wet, black blanket covering everything and everyone.

"Where did you find that?" Sydney whispered, her eyes lifting from the glittering red scale to meet his dark, hollow gaze.

Garrett looked over his shoulder at the dark denim jacket hanging on the closet hook. "My pocket."

Sydney’s face changed. The comforting warmth, the desperate hope, the protective shields she had built over the last week– all of it shattered in an instant. The reverberations traveled through their Mating Bond and echoed through Garrett’s mind.

She didn't offer an explanation. No sleepwalking. No trauma. No healing brain was mentioned.

Through their Bond came a sharp wave of fear– not of him, never that– but of what neither of them could explain. The whole situation had officially crossed an invisible, terrifying line.

"When did you wear that jacket last?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly as she stepped closer.

"Before the camera went back up," Garrett replied, his voice flat, stripped entirely of emotion. "I mean, before the first time the camera was on, before I turned it off. I haven't touched the jacket in days."

The implication hung in the air like a physical weight. They had absolutely no idea when he had taken it. It could have been last night, or it could have been a week ago, buried deep in his clothes before they ever thought to track his movements.

Garrett looked down at the tie tack, his jaw tightening so hard the bone felt ready to snap. His immediate instinct wasn't to ask why he had taken it. He didn't ask what it meant.

Instead, he looked up at Sydney, a sudden, devastating clarity filling every fiber of his being. "What else have I taken?"

Those five words hit the room like a localized earthquake. In an instant, Garrett’s entire worldview shifted.

The ribbon, blue silk, muddy boots, the tie tack– How many things had he dismissed because they hadn't seemed connected? How much of his missing time had left evidence behind?

"Garrett..." Sydney said, reaching her hand out toward him.

Instantly taking a sharp, jagged step backward, Garrett retreated into the shadow of the closet. He wasn't backing away out of fear of her. He was backing away to protect her.

"Don't," he commanded, his voice raw and harsh.

Sydney froze, her hand still hovering in the empty air between them. "Don't what?"

Garrett looked at her, his breathing turning shallow, his pulse hammering visibly against his throat. "Don't come closer."

For the first time since he had been rescued from the dark cells of Leviathan, Garrett was genuinely, deeply terrified. Not of the monsters in his past, and not of the void in his mind. He was afraid of himself. Whatever his body was capable of in the dark... Consciously, he loved her more than his own life. But asleep? He didn't know what he was capable of anymore.

Sydney didn't hesitate. “Look, Dragon Man,” she huffed. “I don't play by your tactical rules.” Coming closer, she kept going. “And I absolutely refuse to let you retreat into the Darkness alone.”

Taking the last step with purpose and determination, she scoffed when Garrett warned, "Sydney."

But she didn’t stop. He stumbled backward so quickly that his back pressed against the closet wall. “I said…”

Looking him right in the eye, she matter-of-factly interrupted, “I heard you." Her voice was fierce, steady, and entirely unyielding.

She stepped right into his space. She overrode all his defenses. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, she reached up and took his face firmly in both of her hands. Her skin was warm against his icy jaw, her touch a powerful, anchoring force that demanded his absolute attention.

"You are not afraid of me," she said, her blue eyes locking onto his with absolute, unwavering intensity.

Garrett swallowed hard, his hands clenching into fists at his sides to keep from grabbing her. "No."

"Then I am not afraid of you."

"Sydney, you should be," Garrett whispered, a desperate, broken plea bleeding into his eyes. "Look at what is happening to me. Look at what I'm doing. I don't know who I am when the lights go out."

Sydney squeezed his jaw, forcing him to look deep into her soul, letting him feel the absolute, unbreakable weight of the Mating Bond thrumming between them.

"I am afraid for you, Garrett," she said, her voice striking the quiet room like a bell. "I will never, ever be afraid of you."