Chapter 4
Anthony
A coward. I was a damn coward. When my parents sent me to that school in London, I could’ve called. Sent a message. Hell, I could’ve written a letter. But contacting Skye would’ve meant defying my alpha.
And I was a coward who wouldn’t defy my father.
As my alpha, it would’ve been physically impossible for me to, anyway.
I hadn’t had a choice when I was sixteen.
But what about when I was eighteen, about to go to Harvard?
Or twenty-three, in medical school? Or twenty-nine, when I finished my residency?
At that point, though I couldn’t have defied a direct order from my alpha, I could’ve talked to my father and tried to come up with a better solution.
But I hadn’t. And I hadn’t come home. Not once. Now that I was thirty-four and had to come home, I realized how much I’d denied myself and my dragon.
The only good news I’d had this week was that I’d found out that Skye was single. Unattached. If I’d come back a year earlier, I would’ve found her in a relationship with a doctor at the hospital. An asshole, apparently.
Skylar’s words stuck with me. They rang in my ears all night Friday, echoing when I woke Saturday morning. My running away from her had stuck with her, possibly as much as it had me. Had it thrown her entire life off-kilter as well? It certainly had mine.
I threw the blankets off with electricity running through me.
It was the big day. The whole reason I came back to Bluewater Coast. I hadn’t really expected to move straight into a position at the hospital, but the way it had worked out, I’d be taking over the clan the same night I was seeing them again for the first time since I left.
Much of my family and extended clan members had visited Boston at some point over the years, but I hadn’t been with them as a group since my sixteenth birthday when everything went to Hell.
I was in store for a bunch of shit. Especially from the guys I hadn’t seen in so long. I’d kept in better touch with them than Skylar, at least.
As the day wore on, I did my workout, neatened up around my bedroom in my parents’ large home, and generally tried not to come out of my skin. By late afternoon, I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Mom, Dad,” I called as I hurried down the stairs. “I’m going to go see Jace, calm down a bit before the ceremony. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Sure, honey. Your father is out flying, but I’ll let him know.” My mother was in the kitchen, likely making about ten times the amount of food we’d need for the big party tonight.
After escaping my mother, I drove downtown to Jace’s Place and walked in with a big smile on my face.
“Holy shit.”
Here it came.
“I’m seeing a ghost. Can anyone else see this guy? Or is it just me?” My best friend Jace stood behind his bar with a bottle of scotch in his hand, staring at me with his jaw hanging. “Somebody, anybody, tell me I’m not crazy?”
“Hey, Jace.” I slid onto a barstool. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Someone clapped me on the back as they walked by and I turned my head to see Phil, one of the older dragons in our clan. “Welcome back, son.”
“Thanks,” I called. Turning to Jace, I wrapped my hands around the glass that had miraculously appeared on the bar in front of me.
“You could’ve kept in touch better, you asshole.” Jace gave me a dark look and then poured an amber liquid into the glass.
“I know.” I took a sip of the scotch, surprised he’d given me the top-shelf stuff. “In my defense, medical school was pretty intense.”
Jace narrowed his eyes at me, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess it would be.” He grinned and filled my glass again. “I guess I forgive you. You’re here now.”
“That I am.” I looked around the bar, which had been Jace’s dad’s once upon a time. “Place looks great, Jace. You’ve really done a lot with it.”
The bar I remembered had been a smoky, smelly hole in the wall.
Jace had remodeled, filling the bar with memorabilia related to dragons, though the humans in town wouldn’t be able to realize that.
Accolades and awards that dragons had accumulated over the years.
We tended to avoid things like participating in organized sports, but we loved coaching them.
Phil had coached a college in Tennessee to a national championship in football before retiring.
Rumor said they hadn’t had a win since he left.
Jace had that championship trophy up on the wall, next to a photo of one of our clan who was now a high-ranking politician in Washington. Of course, most people knew he was born and raised in Bluewater, not many realized he was a dragon.
“Thanks.” Jace looked around as if trying to see it with my fresh eyes. “It does look good, doesn’t it?”
We chatted a bit about the accomplishments of our clan and Jace refilled my drink one more time. “You ready for tonight?” he asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” I grinned.
“We knew it was coming eventually.” Not that I was upset about it.
Becoming alpha meant I’d be able to make some changes.
Do things the way they should’ve been all along, instead of keeping our pack stuck in the Dark Ages.
I supposed my father had done what he thought was right at the time.
And maybe back then it was right. All I knew is that things were different now and we had to adapt.
“I never got the details of why you left. But I always thought it was Skylar.” Jace gave me a square look. “Was I wrong?”
I sighed and shook my head. “You’re not wrong. Skylar’s my mate. Fated, destined, all of that.”
Jace’s jaw dropped. “I knew it,” he whispered.
“Hello, Anthony.” A woman’s sultry voice caused me to freeze with my drink halfway to my mouth. I looked to my right to see a gorgeous woman standing in a provocative pose, with her cleavage prominently displayed. She had long black hair and deep hazel eyes and a smirk that told me she knew it.
I’d known women like her all my life, although in this case, I’d known her all my life. “Hey, Tessa. How’s it going?”
She practically purred as she ran her hand up the outside of my right arm. “It’s good to have you back, Anthony.”
I let my arm turn over, displaying my mating tattoo, which hadn’t stopped throbbing since I stepped foot into the hospital the past Monday. Since I wasn’t physically near Skylar, it wasn’t actively burning, but a residual ache remained.
Tessa’s eyes fell on it, and she knew exactly what it meant. Her breathing quickened. “Who is it?” she whispered. I read excitement coming off of her. Did she think it was her?
“I’m not sure you know her,” I said. It was difficult, not rolling my eyes.
There was nothing wrong with a woman who liked a good time, no more than it was wrong for a man to.
But Tessa’d had her eyes on me since we were too young to think about such things.
I should’ve known she wouldn’t be able to be cool when I saw her again.
She had to make it weird. She didn’t just want a good time from me.
If she had, I might’ve taken her up on it. She wanted a whole lot more.
“I know everyone in this town,” Tessa said. “And I know she was someone at your sixteenth birthday party.” She arched one eyebrow, challenging me.
“When I’m ready to talk about it, I will,” I said firmly. “For now, just know that as attractive as you are,” she preened at my words, but it didn’t last long, “it isn’t you.”
Her face fell sour. “Well, then, you’ve made a mistake.” Tessa flipped her silky black hair over her shoulder and turned away. “See you tonight.”
When she was across the bar, with plenty of talk and music confusing the sounds she could potentially overhear, Jace leaned one arm on the deep mahogany bar. “Can it even work? With a human?”
I sighed as my heart sank deep. Practically to the floor. “I have no idea,” I whispered. “My time away from Bluewater wasn’t only about training to be a doctor, you know. I also spent a lot of time researching it.”
Jace was called away to pour a couple of beers for some humans I didn’t recognize. While he was gone, I thought about the things I’d learned.
“So?” Jace asked when he came back. This early in the day, the bar wasn’t too busy. He had time to lean near me and talk. “What did you learn?”
“It never happens,” I said. “Dead end after dead end. If it happens, it’s kept so quiet I couldn’t find it. I contacted clans all over the world, traveled on holidays, the whole nine yards. Not a whisper.”
“Well, I know we can have sex with humans because I’ve done it over the years. A few times.” He leered at me with his eyes full of laughter. “Quite a few times.”
I shook my head at my old friend. Same old Jace. Half playboy, half jokester.
“But what about kids?” he asked. “No instances of half-shifter, half-human babies?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. If it’s happened, it’s been really well covered up.”
Jace shrugged. “Then why did your dad send you away?”
“Old prejudices, I guess? If it’s something more, he won’t tell me.”
“Well, still, if it’s happened to you, it stands to reason you’re not the first. You just haven’t found anyone willing to talk yet.” He filled a few more beers before returning. “So, what are the big plans now that you’re home?”
I gave him a weird look. “What do you mean? What do you think my plans are? I’m going to be the alpha and a doctor. What else would I do?”
Jace returned my look. “And that tat on your arm?”
Rubbing it absently, I rolled my shoulders and gave Jace an uneasy grin. “I’m planning a few changes, once I’m in place as alpha.”
Jace’s grin changed his whole face. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. Time to shake things up again.”
We joked around until it got later, and the sun went down. Jace had a human part-timer that worked the bar at times like this when the clan got together. Jace and I walked together to the meeting, my nerves jangling all the way.