Chapter 19
Bri
I had a good mind to slap Jace. Just last night I’d been thinking about how much I was falling for him, and today I found out he’s got a brother he’d never mentioned, plus he knew that Damon was trying to steal Hayden from me. Did I know Jace at all?
It was odd that I didn’t know about his brother.
Now that I thought about it, there was a lot I didn’t know, like his parents or anything about them.
Or his friends. I knew he was friends with Anthony and a part of that cult that Skye didn’t like me calling a cult, but that was it.
I hadn’t met his friends or family otherwise.
Porter told me all he knew, and we went through the papers. The accusations were vague, and all untrue. I found a paper in the documents he gave me that said he was claiming that I was the abusive one and that I had a massive drinking problem.
He had pictures of me going in and out of Jace’s bar.
I didn’t think it was possible to hate Damon more, but when I saw those pictures I sure did.
“I drink sometimes but I rarely get drunk and Hayden is always well taken care of.” My voice sounded whiny and defensive.
I hated Damon all the more for how I sounded.
Damon had written me out to be some sort of drunk tyrant. My blood was boiling and my hatred for the dickhead fueled me past my anger at Jace. I’d deal with him later.
“We can negate the claims because the photos are time-stamped, and they are spaced out enough to make it seem like you’re just like any other woman and single mom blowing off some steam on your weekends.
Trying to make you seem unfit from this is a stretch, but…
” Porter sighed and looked at me with a heavy expression.
“Damon’s lawyer is a bastard who has no shame in trying to make it seem like you have a problem.
And word around the local courthouse is that this guy isn’t above underhanded tactics, but he never gets caught. ”
I wanted to scream. “Should I run again?” I whispered.
“No,” Jace said in a near shout.
Porter eyed him but spoke to me. “Damon doesn’t know that you were given a heads-up. He has no idea that you know what he’s up to. That gives you an edge.”
“I’d rather find him and put a brick in his face.”
Jace chuckled. “Me, too,” he said darkly.
“I know you’re upset, but I promise that I’m going to nip it all in the bud before Damon can even take it to court. Your ex-husband won’t get anywhere near you or Hayden.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “Thank you for doing this for us, but I’m curious as to how you knew this was coming.”
He looked at Jace.
Jace nodded. “I’ll handle it.”
I gave him a warning look. Just what precisely did he think he was going to handle? If he thought he was going to handle me, he had another thing coming.
Porter gave me a grim smile. “It was nice meeting you, and I’ll do anything I can to help.”
“Thank you,” I whispered as he walked out.
Jace held up one finger before following his brother. I waited on the edge of my seat, every nerve in my body firing at the same time.
When Jace walked back in, he didn’t sit. He paced the living room in front of me. “There are things…” He glanced my way and ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn it. There are things I’ve kept from you, but I have a specific and valid reason for doing so.”
Great. Here we went. “You’re married?” I asked.
He stopped short and stared at me. “No,” he said loudly and vehemently. “Never that. Nobody but you. There’s never been anybody for me but you.”
“Well, that’s nice to hear, but then why are you hiding stuff from me?” I asked.
He groaned. “It wasn’t a place of ill intention. I’ve got some family drama that’s hard to talk about. And I had to be sure, like a thousand percent sure about you before I could think about telling you.”
I straightened my spine. “And what does this have to do with Damon?”
“It’s complicated, and it’s best explained if I can show you. To show you, we have to drive out to my mom’s land.”
I arched an eyebrow at him as my anxiety spiked. “What’s there?”
“Proof of what I kept from you and why. I promise you’re in no danger.”
“Sweet baby Jesus, you’re going to take me to the woods and induct me into your cult, aren’t you?” I shook my head.
“What?”
“No, thank you. I should’ve known it was an actual cult.” I stood and started for the door.
“Briana.” Jace caught my hand and tugged on it, but only a little and he let go right away. “Do you trust me?”
I looked at him and thought about the dates and time we’d spent together. The time with Hayden. “I would’ve before today.”
His eyes lit up. “You trust Skye, though, right?”
Instantly, my suspicions were intensified. “What does my friend have to do with all of this mess?”
“Call her and tell her exactly this: Jace has a big secret to tell me. Should I trust him and go with him to his mom’s land?”
I arched an eyebrow at him, but I did as he asked, pulling out my phone and dialing Skye. She answered on the second ring. “Hey, Bri! How are you?”
“I’m in a really strange situation, that’s how I am. Jace is sort of freaking out, he wants me to go with him to his mom’s land to show me something about him and his life, and he’s scaring me. He says to ask you if I should trust him.”
“Yes,” she said without a moment’s hesitation. “Do it.”
“I—” I looked at the phone in confusion. “You know the secret?”
“Yes, and when you do, everything will be made perfectly clear. Go with him. Love you, bye!”
She hung up.
I stared at the phone, just as confused as before, but far more intrigued now. “Fine,” I said. “But I’m telling you now, I’m not joining any cults.”
Jace bowed his head and motioned me toward the kitchen. “Perfectly reasonable. Let me show you this, and then we’ll get down to business and deal with Damon, okay?”
I grumbled, but I walked down to his truck. He started to open the door for me, but I jerked in front of him and did it myself. A little petty, but he’d been keeping stuff from me. I was allowed to be a little petty.
I was a nervous wreck as we pulled out of the bar parking lot. Damon was out there trying to make up stories just to take my daughter from me; I wasn’t sure how much more I could deal with. But I buckled down and braced for whatever it was Jace was about to tell me.
As we drove out of town and trees enveloped the truck, he glanced at me several times. “Keep an open mind. I promise you I’m not crazy, okay?”
That didn’t help my nerves at all.
“So, there are things in this world that most people don’t realize are here. Supernatural things.”
“Like demons and ghosts?” I asked skeptically.
He paused. “Uh, probably. I wouldn’t doubt it. I’ve never seen either, but that’s a great question.” He grunted. “I should ask Sammy.”
“Who?”
“More like people who shift into animals and witches. Oh, and vampires.”
I gaped at him. He said he wasn’t crazy, but then he talked crazy. “Shit,” I whispered.
Skye had told me to trust him. I’d at least hear him out. Maybe the cult was some sort of fetishists. I wasn’t into that bag, so I’d just smile politely and then ask him to take me home, where I’d nurse my broken heart and figure out how to fight my ex-husband for custody of Hayden.
“I’m a shifter,” Jace said. I turned my gaze from the passing trees to Jace, who kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
Oh, fuck, I bet he dressed up as a pony. Or a cat. Lord help me. “Oh?” I smiled at him and tried to be bland. I didn’t want to set him off, especially while he was driving on a winding road.
“I turn into a dragon, as do all the members of the cult everyone talks about. We stick close to each other for protection and secrecy.”
I nodded, playing along. “That makes sense.” How was I going to get Skye and her babies out of this mess? Maybe they could run with me. Kaylee would help and she had plenty of money if we needed some to get out of town.
“Dragons take a mate. We mate for life, usually. We’re fiercely protective and loyal, and if we choose a mate, it’s because we really care about them.
But we also have something called fated mates, where the universe, or our dragon half or something, chooses for us.
And it just means that the fated mate is a person that is most compatible with us.
” He turned up a driveway and kept talking.
“Not that we’re forced to care about each other, but if we nourish the relationship, it’s almost guaranteed to work out. ”
I kept nodding and smiling. “Sure, sure, makes perfect sense.”
He parked the truck in an open field just off the driveway. “I thought we were going to your mother’s house?” I asked.
“No, just her land. This is clan land.” He hopped out of the truck and circled to open my door.
“I think I’ll stay in here, if that’s okay with you.” I turned the handle on his truck windows and smiled. Inside, though, I was beginning to be scared he was going to kill me out here. But he’d left the keys in the truck and I’d locked the door when he looked away.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m going to prove this to you. I can see you’re humoring me because you think I’m looney tunes.” He put one hand on the truck door and leaned in. “Stay in the truck if you want to, but listen to me now, okay?”
I nodded and paid attention.
“I’m going to turn into a dragon. An actual, like from mythology, dragon. But I still have my mind when I’m shifted. I will not hurt you. Okay?”
I nodded. As soon as he was far enough away from the truck, I was scooting over and driving the fuck out of here.
Jace backed into the middle of the clearing with his eyes on me. He nodded, and I figured he was far enough away, so I swung my leg over the console on the floor and scooted over into the driver’s seat.
When I looked back up, a dragon stood in the middle of the clearing.
A dragon.
An actual dragon. Holy shit. A dragon.
I gaped out of the front window of the truck, fear coursing through me, and reminded myself that he’d promised he wasn’t dangerous. And Skye said to trust him. I pulled my phone out and glanced at it just long enough to dial Skye before bringing my gaze back to Jace’s big scaly form.
She answered on the first ring this time. “Did he show you?”
“There’s a dragon outside the truck,” I whispered.
“Well, go touch him!” she exclaimed. “This is the coolest thing ever, and we’re in the tiny, select group of people who are allowed to know. Go enjoy it and forgive me for not telling you!”
She hung up on me. My heart tried to thump straight out of my chest, but I set my phone down and opened the truck door.
Jace shifted on his feet, and I froze.
He lowered to his belly and put his head on the ground. He was trying to show me that he was submissive and wasn’t dangerous. I highly doubted he was actually submissive, but I got what he was doing.
Jace was a dragon.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, and walked forward to see the dragon, my fated mate.