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“There’s a cream that works to minimize the effects of the drug,” she tells him. “I used it on Lawrence and he recovered fairly quickly.”
“She thought I was a threat,” I tell him. “I don’t think she’s going to hurt any other dragons.”
“She better fucking not,” is all he says, and then Wilson turns and marches away. No doubt he’s going to assign guards to Nicole for awhile, as he should. Br
inging strays to the clan isn’t the best way to ensure our survival as a species, but sometimes these things can’t be helped. Nicole can’t go back to Lucky.
I brought her here to be punished, but things aren’t always as they seem. Part of being a leader means knowing when I’ve made a mistake and how to correct that mistake. With Nicole, maybe she’ll go on to live in another city: one far away from Lucky. For now, though, we’ll keep her close and find out what else she knows. Maybe she can tell us where their main headquarters is.
Maybe she can help us fight for freedom from them.
“Lawrence?” Julie says, looking up at me. “What are we going to do now?”
“Let’s go home,” I tell her. “I just want to go home.”
Chapter Seventeen
Julie
LAWRENCE DOESN’T LIVE far away, so we walk to his place and go inside. He pours us each a glass of lemonade. I down my quickly. He sips slowly, watching me.
“So,” I say. “Nice place you’ve got.”
“She was right, you know.”
“What?”
“The entire ‘mate’ thing. Nicole was right.”
“Was she now?” I raise an eyebrow. “Which part, exactly, was she right about? That dragons believe in having one true mate or that you think I’m yours?”
“Both.”
We look at each other for a long minute, then I set my glass down slowly. He follows suit.
“Does that scare you?”
“No. Say it again.”
“You’re my mate, Julie.”
“How do you know?” I shake my head. “Is it just some sort of weird dragon intuition? You barely know me.”
“I know more about you than you think.”
“Prove it.” I’m feeling feisty, but it’s fine. I know he can handle it. We can handle anything. The invisible rope tugs at my heart, pulling me to him. Before I realize what’s happening, I’m standing in front of him. My hands are on his chest. He’s still naked, but I don’t care. I’m not uncomfortable with this situation at all. Should I be? Yes. I’m not.
“You’ve been through hell,” he says. “You question your judgment of people because you were hurt so deeply. Now you’re wondering what else you’ve been tricked about.”
Bingo.
“You want to believe you’re my mate because you feel something between us, too. It’s not just this raw power or heat or passion. There’s something else. There’s something binding us to each other and if you leave now, you can go on to live a satisfactory life in a satisfactory city with a satisfactory job, but you’ll always wonder.”
“What will I wonder?”
“What if you’d taken the leap?” He asks.
And then I leap.
