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But what would happen when they were alone?
Maybe I could bring her into the fold as far as the investigation and Frederick?
He was far from sure about that, but his mind immediately started conjuring images of before, when things were effortless between them. When they were close. When he used to pull her into his arms. Kiss her. And he couldn’t help but want that again.
He shook himself out of it.
For the moment, he had to do his best to turn his attention to the plan.
They couldn’t afford any mistakes.
Especially because now the stakes were much higher. She needed to be protected.
CHAPTER13
“Thanks,” Bloom said as they walked side by side down Willow Way toward the four corners. She was trying to get her bearings, which was proving a challenge at the moment. She was having trouble keeping up with her rapidly changing feelings toward Dax.
But that wasn’t quite right really. The last thing she had expected in the aftermath of her father’s death had been to begin to develop feelings for the man in charge of the investigation. But that was exactly what had happened. And though her frustration and anger at the department had obscured her feelings almost to the point of extinguishing them, she knew they had never really died. The torch she was holding had never really gone out - despite her best attempts to snuff it.
“Thanks?” Dax repeated.
“Yeah, for not shooting down my idea right then and there.”
“If it had been a dumb idea, I would have shot it down in a heartbeat,” he said matter-of-factly. “But it makes sense.”
“Good to know,” she laughed.
“You know, I am not sure what kind of monster you think I am,” he said, suddenly seemingly serious.
“What are you talking about? I don’t think you’re a monster.”Not per se at least.
“Okay, because I just want you to know I meant what I said. Even to say ‘I’m sorry about your father,” feels like the most feeble attempt at expression. But it’s the best I can do. We really have been working very hard on the case. And though I wish I could share more with you, I just can’t. I hope you understand.”
“It seems I don’t have a whole lot of choice at the moment, but still I appreciate you saying it like you have. Why couldn’t you have said it that way two years ago?” This was a different side of him for sure.
“There was a whole lot going on then, Bloom. I guess I didn’t come across the best. For that, I am sorry. I really don’t have an excuse.”
“I know your pack was dealing with its own problems too,” she conceded, before going silent for a few steps. “In light of this conversation, I am hereby removing your previous ‘monster’ status,” she said as they continued down the main drag of Fae Crossing.
“Good, because I wanted to clear that up. See, I am a Dragon, not just any old monster.”
“Ohhh” she said, laughing, and seeing where he was actually going with that.Not where I thought.“Well, a long time ago, when there were knights and castles, I’m sure they thought of dragons as monsters.”
“True, but they also thought sickness came from one of the four ‘humors’ being bad and all sorts of other nonsense.”
“Point taken,” she conceded. “I guess you’re right, because they also thought that fairies only lived deep in the forest in “Dells” and they danced around circles under the moon.”
“Wait, are you saying youdon’tdance naked on the full moon? You’re shattering my image of fae.”
“Very funny,” she said, giving him a gentle punch in the arm. “Of course we do that. In truth there are as many types of fae as there are of humans and they are just as varied.”
“But they all do the dancing thing, right?”
She let out another laugh. “Yes, Dax, we have established that. We also usually rub oil on each other’s bodies while we do it.”
“Okay, good. Just wanted to be sure I am not buying into any stereotypes.”
“Right,” she said, smiling at him and then shifting to a more serious tone. “But really, truth is, I am not all that well versed in fae history or of the many fae realms for that matter. Being only half fae, and raised by a human mother, I missed out on a lot,” she said, surprising herself by the direction the conversation had taken. She was pretty sure that they had never talked this way back during their short fling.
