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Home? To the human world? Back to her thankless job and her tiny apartment?
“I did the wrong thing and I know I totally fucked up.” I walked toward her, holding out my hands to placate her. “Our lovemaking was absolutely beautiful, and I—”
A small marble carving sailed at me, and I barely ducked out of its way before it smashed into the wall behind me.
“I don’t want to hear it!” she screamed. “I’ve been dreaming about you for months...months! And you don’t even care about me. I thought we were meant to be, or some crap like that. You almost had me convinced. Almost...”
She stopped talking and a loud sob escaped her lips.
“But wearemeant to be!” I exclaimed, staying where I was and readying to duck out of the way again if I needed to. “We’re fated mates.”
“Well, I don’t care anymore,” she cried. “I just want to go home and get away from you.”
“All right. I’ll take you home,” I said, though it hurt me to even say the words. “But please, please... let me explain first?”
Her lower lip trembled, but I could see by her expression that she was considering my offer.
Eventually she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “Fine. Explain. Then you can take me home.”
I didn’t want to remind her that taking her home would mean carrying her into the human realm, probably on my back, in my shifter form. Today had already been fraught with enough worry.
She’d given me the chance to explain, so now I had to give her a reason to stay.
I took a deep breath, to steady myself. “I’m going to tell you the whole truth, and it’s a long-ish story. Are you okay with that?”
She nodded. “Just get on with it.”
“Okay... so, my mother is, well, a sorceress.”
“A... what?” She blinked at me, like I’d spoken in a foreign language. To her, I guess it was.
My heart started to race. I wanted to get this right, and not scare her off. In the end, I kept it simple. “Mom has magic.”
“Like you being a dragon shifter? That sort of magic?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then, um, whatisa sorceress? Is it like... a witch or something?”
“Sort of. She has magical powers for healing and she can see prophecies and the future. Things like that.” A gift that she considered a blessing and curse in one. A gift that I had only ever seen as a curse.
Charity’s eyebrows drew together as she considered what I’d said. “She used her magic to heal me from Barry’s attack?” When I nodded, her expression cleared. “That sounds kinda cool.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “You don’t... hate the idea of it?”
“Why would I? Yes, it’s a shock, but to be honest it was more of a shock to see you turn into a dragon than anything else I’ve experienced recently. Your mom is lovely, and she helped me in a time of need. That’s pretty special, actually.”
“Well, yes, I suppose it could be seen that way. But my mother grew up with people using her for her abilities, and she can’t shift.”
Charity shrugged. “Yeah? And?”
She obviously didn’t understand. “Being a dragon shifter is the only thing that ties us all together, everyone in this realm. My mother was alone and felt very out of place.”
She groaned, the sound full of frustration. “Can you get to the point? I’m a human! I was a waitress who worked her way up to being a manager. I didn’t go to college. I’m used to hard work and pain-in-the-ass customers. Not magic and flying around the sky.”
She waved her hands around like she was conducting a spell herself. The thought struck me. How had she known what I looked like before meeting me in person? Could she possibly have had an ancestor who was related to this world?
“Charity, you said you dreamed of me, right, before we met?”
