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He frowned. “I suppose, although giving me a list will give me more time to prepare. I don’t claim to know everything.”
Her lips twitched, and the sight made his heart swell. “You’re the first male I’ve met who’s ever admitted that.”
Recognizing that Percy needed to steer the conversation away from her past, he shrugged. “Well, there are a lot of arseholes in the world. I have faults, of course.” He lifted his trouser leg, exposing his missing lower limb. “When you lose a part of your body, you learn really fucking quickly that admitting the truth is a hell of a lot easier than always pretending everything is fine or that nothing has changed.”
He quickly dropped the material, wondering why the hell he’d done that. Her life had been bloody horrible, and him losing his leg didn’t begin to compare.
Percy finally raised her gaze from his leg to his eyes. “How did that happen?”
Bronx didn’t like talking about it. Only his brother, Hudson, had managed to get the story and some of his struggles out of him. “You don’t need any other burdens to worry about.”
She drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. The action made her look so tiny; the first time he’d met her, he hadn’t believed she was a dragon-shifter because of her short stature.
Of course now he knew they’d starved her as one of her punishments, stunting her growth.
Percy said, “If you don’t want to talk about it, just say so. I’ve had a lifetime of bullshit and excuses and the like. I’d like honesty for once. I’m not saying I’ll instantly trust you, because that’s bloody stupid, but it might help us both to be at least a little honest. Then we can skip all the dancing around and awkwardness. Because if you keep treating me like a doll you can break, how am I supposed to handle a wild inner dragon?”
He blinked. This female was fucking astute. “I think there’s a middle ground. Anything related to inner dragons, we’re completely honest about it. When it comes to anything else? Either one of us has to earn that. Sound fair?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not like I have any leverage in this situation. I may have helped Ava and Joey, but that will only get me so far.”
He wanted to shout that sometimes people wanted to help others and not demand repayment for every little thing. Yes, he’d been paid for his search-and-rescue job. But it wasn’t a lot, and he’d loved the thrill of helping someone, of saving them, and doing what he hadn’t been able to do for his mate. It hadn’t been completely altruistic, but a sort of middle ground.
Still, bartering or trading information was probably all she knew. So Bronx risked putting out a hand. “Honesty when it comes to anything related to an inner dragon. Shake on it and make a vow?”
She frowned. “Why?”
Fuck.Did she not know that people made deals or vows and would honor them?
Maybe not everyone, but Bronx certainly did. “Most dragon-shifters take vows rather seriously. It’s a type of honor, a way to prove we aren’t the monsters many humans have made us out to be.”
Her brows scrunched more together. “Monster? You?” She shook her head. “I was always told that I was one of the worst kinds, the ones dragon-shifters wanted nothing to do with. How can pure-blooded dragons be monsters when those like me exist?”
Bloody hell.This poor female really had been fed a bunch of lies and bullshit over the years. “Violet is the same as you. Has anyone treated her like a monster?”
“Well, not yet.”
“And they won’t. She’s part of the clan, and under Bram, we do whatever it takes to protect and help one another. It was us against the world for a long, long time, although now we have other clans as allies, and things are changing.” He paused, seeing his words meant nothing. No wonder, given how she’d been manipulated and treated over the years. “How about this? You can meet some of the humans living on Stonefire. While you’ve met Melanie, there are loads more. You can judge for yourself if any of their half-human children are viewed as monsters. Oh, and maybe you can meet Nikki too. Her mother was human, same as you and Violet. And she’s second-in-command of clan security.”
Percy frowned harder. “People trust a half-dragon-shifter to protect the clan?”
He nodded. “With zero hesitation. I’ll see about Nikki stopping by.” He noticed the circles under the female’s eyes and how she tried to bite back a yawn. He lowered his hand and stepped back a few paces. “For now, I’ll leave you alone. If you need anything, anything at all, just shout or come find me and Violet. Okay?”
She nodded, and Bronx took one last look at Percy, looking all alone, exhausted, and sad, and forced himself to leave the room and close the door.
He leaned against it, closed his eyes, and sighed. His dragon spoke up.We need to do whatever we can to help her.
I agree.
That includes making her smile or laugh or not look as if the world is crushing her.
It was unusual for his dragon to worry so much about a stranger.Don’t get too attached, dragon.
His beast huffed.I like her. And she needs people who will protect her, stand up for her, and convince her she’s both strong and brilliant for surviving this long. Many wouldn’t have.
To lose one’s inner dragon after meeting them was hard on any dragon-shifter. In fact, some even went insane after losing their beast for an extended period of time.I know. But as soon as she’s trained and ready to tackle the clan on her own, we step back.
Maybe.
