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One
Naomi
The male faein the trees had been following me for two entire weeks.
It was a sabertooth—I’d realized that much on the first day, when I caught a glimpse of his fur from the sky. Since I was a dragon, it wasn’t like he was running next to me; I was flying.
Whoever he was, I had expected him to come out and chastise me for leaving without an escort as soon as I landed to eat and sleep for the night. I’d been tense, waiting for it. Hell, I’d listened to my stomach rumble all day to avoid that conversation.
But when I’d landed, I hadn’t seen so much as a flash of fur, or heard a single growl.
Since then, I’d waited for the damn fae to come out and introduce himself every time I landed. Yet he never did, leaving me absolutely clueless as to who he was.
I knew who hewasn’t, though.
Aeven.
The king was probably knocking boots with his new mate as I flew away from the Stronghold. And honestly, I was happy for them.
But bitter for me.
Because I’d ignored him and hoped like hell that our connection would just vanish, fortwo decades. We’d only interacted on six occasions in all those years.
Six.
When the bond hadn’t disappeared, I’d finally figured out a way to split us up entirely.
But then Vevol had shown me myself in a long, painful vision.
And I’d realized that if I would’ve just swallowed my damn pride and talked to the guy, Aev and I could’ve made it work together. He was kind, thoughtful, gentle, and playful. And he knew how to step up and take control when needed.
But I’d missed my chance.
I didn’t regret that—not really. I’d been struggling for a long time, and he hadn’t made even a tiny bit of effort to step in or help. Plus, he and Dakota honestly did seem like a good match. And I was fairly certain that I liked my guys rougher, harsher, and more direct than the king.
But I was still a little bitter that I’d missed my shot. Because if I’d been just slightly less stubborn, I could’ve been sitting on a hunky fae dude’s lap while he rubbed my feet and fed me fruit.
Instead, I was sleeping on the dirt, alone. With some random sabertooth guy stalking me.
I’d tried to come up with who it might be, but drew a blank. The unseelie legitimately hated me for putting Aev through hell. One of their ex-generals had guarded me, but when I left, I was positive he would’ve seen it as me releasing him from that duty.
Which left the seelie guys.
And the only sabertooth seelie I knew was the one who hadn’t bothered putting up a fight when Aev swept me off to the unseelie side of the world two decades earlier. I hadn’t heard a peep from him since then, so it obviously wasn’t him.
But what kind of guy would’ve followed me into the forest after all the hell I’d put Aev through?
Maybe he was an outcast or something.
I didn’t know.
I was itching to find out, though.
Anyway, I’d been itching about it since day one. After I’d flown to the old unseelie territory, I’d been soaring in massive, slow circles, trying to find the cave Vevol had told me about. But she was a goddess, so her directions were shitty.
When I landed for another dinner of fruit and loneliness on the fifteenth day, I was exhausted.
And frustrated.
