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“You keep using that word...mate...”
“So?”
“So...what does it mean?”
She’s quiet for a minute, and I look out over the tops of the trees. Lawrence is flying close to them. It might be my imagination, but I think he may have slowed down, just a little. Maybe he’s paying extra close attention right now.
“I’m new to Lucky, but I’m not new to the legends of dragons,” Nicole says finally. Maybe I shouldn’t believe her, and it’s not that I trust her, but something about the way she’s speaking makes me think that this much, at least, is truthful. “But there’s a belief that each dragon has one true mate.”
“Like a soul mate? Like the princess-meets-the-fairy-prince kind of thing?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. It’s more serious. The shifter’s inner-dragon will call to him or her and let them know that this is their mate.”
“And you think that Lawrence and I are mates.”
“Don’t tell me you’d mind.”
I can’t see her face, but I know that there’s a huge smirk on Nicole’s lips right now. The worst thing is that she’s right. I wouldn’t mind. If Lawrence tells me I’m his mate, I don’t care. I feel a strange connection to him, as if there’s a rope pulling us toward one another. I’ve been missing something my entire life and I suddenly feel like he’s it.
I feel like he’s the one.
With Andrew...things were never easy or simple. I never had a real conversation with him that didn’t end in some sort of strife. Looking back, I don’t know how we managed to be together so long except that I worked so much and our relationship just sort of...happened. We were comfortable together. There wasn’t a mad, blinding attraction. We didn’t laugh or get along, but we stayed together because sometimes staying together is easier than breaking up.
Sometimes being with someone is simpler than being brave enough to
walk away.
Then I remember something.
“Bernie said you just got out of a relationship, too.” Nicole’s body stiffens.
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” Perhaps I shouldn’t push her, but I’m feeling kind of brave and kind of snarky and to be honest, kind of determined. If Lawrence actually is my mate, like Nicole thinks he is, then I should help him find out as much about her as possible. Maybe he’ll get some answers about what Lucky did to his clan. Maybe he’ll find some closure.
“What always happens,” she shakes her head. “You fall for the wrong guy and he breaks your heart.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“Did he cheat on you?”
“Nope. He cheated with me.”
I’m silent for a minute. That’s big. Being the other woman?
“I didn’t know,” she pauses, and I realize she’s crying. Fuck. I shouldn’t have asked, shouldn’t have forced her to talk to me. “I didn’t know he was fucking married. I never would have done it if I...oh, I’m so stupid...”
“You aren’t stupid.”
“I am. The signs were all there and I was too dumb to see them. He never wanted to do anything with me on the weekends and he was never able to meet up for dinner unless it was early. He’d meet me late at night or during the day, and he didn’t like me calling him at home. Seriously, I should have known.”
“Love is blind, right? I feel the same way about Andrew and Sam. They had been sneaking around for awhile and I just...I just didn’t even see it. In retrospect, it was super obvious, but when it was happening? I had no clue.”
“The worst thing is that I still miss him, you know?”
I don’t know.
