Chapter 15
Skylar
Sighing, I munched on my carrot stick and tried not to feel all melancholy.
Anthony and I hadn’t had sex again since that first night and that was three weeks ago.
Three! What in the hell? When a day had dragged to two and then more and more, and one week turned to two and then three, my doubts turned into full-blown paranoia.
I had to have done something wrong. We’d had a great day the next day.
He’d wined and dined me, and then Monday when we went to work, things went south.
Even though we’d had a few more dates since then, the fireworks hadn’t gone off again. Not like the night I showed up on his front porch. So, what? Was it not good for him? I brushed that thought away because he’d clearly enjoyed himself. But I still couldn’t figure out why we hadn’t had sex again.
It wasn’t for lack of me wanting to, because hot damn, I did.
I reminded myself that we’d been working alternating schedules at the hospital.
When he was off work, I was on. It had been his weekend to work, then mine the weekend after.
Most of the reasons we’d been apart hadn’t been anyone’s fault.
One of the days I’d asked if he could go out, he’d promised his parents he’d have dinner with them, and then another time that he’d asked me, I’d promised Dad and Cooter I’d come for dinner.
Even after the two dates, though, it had been Anthony who had shut down the prospect of sex. Both times. It was like he was scared of it.
What the hell? Not that sex was all I cared about, but I’d been going through a very dry spell since Bret had done what he did, and my time with Anthony was like a damn dam had broken loose.
I felt like I should’ve been carrying a wet floor sign around with me.
My libido needed to calm the hell down and let me enjoy the other perks of having a man court me.
As I sat in the cafe eating area, I looked around, trying to figure out what was off about the day. It was like something buzzing in the air. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but my skin was electrified. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel natural.
Was there such a thing as excess electricity in the air? I didn’t want to ask anyone else in case it was nothing more than me being totally nucking futs.
I’d never experienced anything like this before and it made me feel crazier and crazier as the day wore on.
I carried on throughout the day, and it was one of those days that Anthony had off during the week because he’d picked up a weekend day.
I missed seeing him, but the distraction of the strange buzzing electricity distracted me from it.
A little while after lunch, Anthony walked in as I traded out my dead tablet for one with a fresh battery at the nurses’ station. I raised my eyebrow and tried not to look overly pleased to see him. We’d agreed to keep any forms of PDA to a minimum at work.
It was hard to wipe the smile off my face though. As soon as he spotted me, he headed my way. He looked different somehow, and it wasn’t the new-boyfriend haze. I was sure I saw him through rose-colored glasses, but this wasn’t that.
Something in his walk made me pay attention to him, as if the way he moved forced me to acknowledge him, forced me to see him.
His lip curled as if he was pleased. “What do you have planned tonight?”
“Nothing, I thought about going to Dad’s, but I never told him that I was coming.”
He nodded and looked even more pleased with himself or maybe me. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve got something I really need to talk to you about. Can you come to my place?”
My emotions went a little wild. First, I remembered the last time I went to his house, which had been a fun night. Then, I grew concerned, more like an instant moment of panic, about what he could want to talk about. After the absent three weeks we’d had, I couldn’t help but be apprehensive.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but just then, Cam walked up, and he clamped his lips shut.
He might not have thought I needed to worry, but I couldn’t fully trust it.
He greeted Cam warmly but waited for her to walk away to speak to me again. “I’m sorry I can’t pick you up, but do you think you could be there around eight?”
I nodded dumbly. That was so, so many hours from now. Hours for me to finish work and then go home and worry. Great.
Anthony looked around and when he saw nobody was in the vicinity, he leaned over and pecked a quick kiss to my forehead before turning to leave.
Confused, intrigued, and skeptical, I grabbed my fresh tablet and headed to my next appointment.
As I suspected, I spent the rest of the afternoon worrying. Then, I went home and did every bit of primping that I could think of, from painting my nails to plucking my eyebrows to neatening up down there.
I spent extra time in the shower shaving my legs, lotioned every inch of my body, and did my hair and makeup perfectly.
Dressing was harder. Was I going to get lucky?
Ugh. Probably not. But just in case, I put on my favorite lingerie.
As I pulled the lacy panties up, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of lingerie Anthony liked.
Not knowing unnerved me a little. What if he was a sweet sort of guy?
All pale pinks and flowers? Because I’d have to go shopping if that was the case.
I didn’t own a damn thing that was sweet.
Everything in my lingerie drawer was sexy and sensual. Bold colors, sheer fabrics.
Oh, well. If I found out he liked softer things, I guessed that was my excuse to hit up the lingerie store. For now, a black set would do the trick either way. Who didn’t like black lingerie? Nobody.
Arguing with myself over lingerie wasted an entire five minutes, but it was still an hour too early to leave.
I wasted more time picking out an outfit, and then once I was as fixed up as it was possible to be, I sat on the couch and played on my phone and pretended I wasn’t checking the clock every thirty-five seconds.
As I played a mindless game, I came up with a million scenarios as to what Anthony was up to and each scenario was crazier than the last. I finally got control of myself and got my brain to shut down from the crazy before I readied myself to head over to his place.
Everything is fine.
I repeated the phrase over and over as I drove toward Anthony’s place, but that strange energy I felt earlier pulsated around me. It made me feel nauseated and was so overwhelming.
I had to pull the car over for a moment at the end of Anthony’s long driveway, near his parents’ house, and catch my breath.
I rolled down the window and gulped in the still cool early spring air, and as a light breeze tickled past my ear, I could’ve sworn I heard Anthony whisper that everything was okay.
In the back of my mind, the words flashed that I was safe, but that couldn’t have been right.
The buzzing intensified. I was losing my damn mind!
Whatever it was, I had to get there and tell him about it. It had escalated to causing physical symptoms. I needed a diagnostician, but I knew what it had to be. It was a brain tumor. That was the only explanation.
I got to Anthony's place in one piece, and when I got out of the car, it felt like I was going to be blown over, but there was no wind to speak of. The breeze was light and cooled my cheeks, yet it didn’t seem like I was imagining things as I reacted to the pulsing energy in the air.
It became like a trail, drawing me forward. I didn’t know what compelled me to follow it, but my instinct told me to let it guide me.
Fear blossomed and my hands shook. What was happening?
I followed the pull and it led me around Anthony’s house.
There was a small path in the trees and short candles lit the track.
I followed them with my stomach nearly heaving as the buzzing reached critical levels. Eventually, I stumbled into a clearing.
Anthony stood in the center with moonlight shining down on him. He looked ethereal and I didn’t know how I knew but suddenly I was certain that nothing would ever be the same. My life was about to change, for better or worse, out here in the woods on a cool spring night.
Anthony gestured for me to come to him. I looked around, apprehensive, and having a hard time ignoring all the physical symptoms I’d been feeling. But still, my instincts told me to move, so I moved.
Smiling, with a lot of emotion in his eyes, Anthony took my hands.
His skin was warmer than normal, but I’d noticed that a few times.
He seemed to run a little hot. Unusual, but not unheard of.
My body was still acting crazy, but I wasn’t afraid.
Yet something was definitely off. “Anthony,” I whispered. “What’s going on?”
Then it hit me. “Oh, no.” I moaned and tried to pull my hand from his. “Are you guys really a cult? Is this some sort of initiation?” Scenarios for what Anthony might try to do to me to initiate me into his cult ran through my head and none of them were comforting at all.
Anthony laughed and swung my hands. “We aren’t a cult, but we are something… more.”
Damn it. All these years I’d defended them. And here it was down to the wire, and I was about to be inducted into a cult.
Anthony leaned in and met my gaze. He was so serious with so much emotion in his eyes. “I need you to understand that I’d never harm you. Hurting you goes against everything you are to me.”
I laughed, not scared but getting nervous. “Why would I think you’d hurt me?”
“Soul mates are real, Skylar.”
That was a conversation we could have, but not in the woods behind his house at dusk. “Okay, well—”
“For my kind, it’s a lot stronger.”
I stiffened and tried to pull my hands back again. “What the hell are you talking about? Anthony, you sound crazy. Your kind?”
“Don’t be afraid. But there’s more to the world around you than you could imagine.
” He lowered his eyes guiltily. “I haven’t been honest with you, but it was for the safety of me and my people.
” My heart beat hard in my chest. The insane electricity intensified.
“I can’t keep it a secret anymore because our relationship is progressing and there are things that must happen but can’t happen if you don’t understand who I am, what I am, and what you are to me. ”
My stomach clenched painfully as my adrenaline spiked. My fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. “Anthony,” I said warningly. I was about to take the hell off.
“I am the alpha of the Bluewater Coast Clan.”
Alpha of the who now?
He pulled back his sleeve, and I gasped when I saw he’d gotten a massive tattoo. It was of a dragon and went from his wrist to his inner elbow and wrapped around to the outside of his arm. The tattoo seemed to be glowing.
No way. Could he mean—? No. No way. None of this made any sense. It was completely unreal. I stared at Anthony, and he let out a deep breath. “When did you get a tattoo?” I asked weakly.
“Skye,” he said gently. “It’s not a tattoo, not really. It’s a mark that appears when I find my mate. And you couldn’t see it until I told you about it and even then, you’d only be able to see it if some part of you believed in it. I’m a dragon. My family… We’re dragons.”