Chapter 20
Jace
Bri’s shock and fear were like a living and breathing thing. It permeated the air. She didn’t seem to be able to speak for a moment. I ducked down and put my head on the ground. I didn’t know how else to remind her that she had nothing to fear from me.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, and finally walked forward. I chuffed at her and she froze again. Inching forward, I looked up at her and rolled onto my side, showing my belly. It would’ve been an incredibly submissive move in front of another dragon, but now, it was perfect.
Briana burst out laughing, then clapped her hand over her mouth. I rolled back to my feet and turned, showing her my tail. I thumped it on the ground a few times.
“Are you showing me how impressive your tail is?” she asked. The fear in the air thinned and amusement and wonder slowly overtook it.
I walked in a circle, then moved closer. As quietly as I could, I growled while looking at Bri.
She raised her eyebrows. I backed away and ducked my head, then did it again, backing and ducking.
“You want me to stay here?” she asked.
I nodded my head up and down, then raised my head toward the sky.
Drawing on my natural water reserves—the going theory was that we took water out of the air—I sprayed the clearing with a stream of water.
Briana gasped. “It’s not fire!” she exclaimed.
I figured she had enough questions to ask me by now.
Shifting back, I walked toward her across the clearing.
“See? I’m still me.” Bri’s blank face concerned me a little.
She stared at me, blinking rapidly. Her expression slowly gained meaning as she processed the fact that she’d just seen me shift into a dragon and back.
Confusion, awe, fear, and a bit of anger flashed in rapid succession.
It helped that being near her and her being my mate, even though we weren’t bonded, meant I could read her emotions, though not strongly, not like I would be able to once we’d bonded.
She shook her head and met me in the middle with her hands in front of her to keep some distance between us. “Why did it take you so long to tell me? All this time…” As Briana looked at me, her face went from full of wonder to looking a bit crushed.
“What is it? It’s new and different, I know, but it’s not a bad thing,” I held out my hands, hoping she’d take them, but she backed up a step.
“Have you thought about the way my life would change? The secrets I’d have to keep from my family, my friends?
It would be one thing if this were our home, and I didn’t have the past I did with Damon, and my parents and sister hadn’t moved with me.
But for them to do all that and then me turn around and keep such a massive secret?
” She was moving into a really big freak-out now.
“And I’ll remind you that Hayden is seven.
How long do you think we could keep who and what you are hidden from her?
” It’s not like we could tell her. She’s seven, kids don’t do well at keeping secrets.
What if she let something slip and it got back to Damon that his daughter was talking about shifters?
He’d use it against me to get custody in a heartbeat.
“Hang on, Briana, calm down. We can deal with all that.”
She was too far into having a very obvious meltdown to listen to me, though.
Her fear was gone, and anger and confusion filled the air.
“I can deal with a lot of shit. I have dealt with a lot of shit. An abusive husband, a nasty divorce, and yet I got through it. What really has me pissed off is that you lied to me. You chose to keep things from me. And not just the shifter thing, because you can’t control what you are, I’m not even mad about what you are.
But it was your choice to lie and keep things from me for weeks.
” She turned and walked back toward the truck. I followed and let her vent her spleen.
“And the fated thing! You said we’re just compatible but are your feelings genuine, or if it’s just some mystical voodoo and you feel forced to be with me?”
“No,” I said firmly. “I don’t feel forced at all. As a matter of fact, it was my choice and it’s always been my choice. You know how I looked near death there for a while?”
She nodded with her arms crossed.
“That was because I have major father issues, and also I had a relationship way in my past that screwed me up. It made me think that I could never have a fated mate, never be a husband or a father. So, I tried to break the fated mate bond. I was at the cusp of doing it. You never would’ve seen me again. ”
“What happened?” she whispered with wide eyes.
“Our clan witch,” she flinched when I said witch, “Sammy, gave me visions of what our life would be like if I gave in to the bond. It was incredible. Beautiful and happy and…” I trailed off, at a loss for words. “Perfect.”
I stepped forward again. “What matters is that I love you, Briana Wallace. I’m in love with you.
And I love Hayden to the moon and back. I made stupid choices trying to handle everything myself, but I know better now, and, in the future, I’ll work harder on this being a team effort, not me fixing everything for you. ”
She sighed. Her eyes had definitely softened when I told her I loved her. She had to know it was true. “I need time to think, some time away from you to just think about everything.”
She walked around the truck and got in the passenger seat.
I walked with heavy legs to the driver’s side.
When I got in, she looked out the window and didn’t speak again until we were nearly back at her car at the bar.
“It isn’t because of you being—what you are, even though that is trippy as hell.
It’s everything that comes with it.” She finally looked at me.
“Having to lie and keep secrets. You keeping things from me, especially things that directly affect me and my daughter. That’s what has me the most upset and questioning.
I can handle a lot, but when it comes to Hayden… ”
“I understand,” I whispered. “You have to make the best decision for her. But just know, there are spells we can do that would prevent her from telling anyone once we decided to tell her. We have to do them for our own children as well.”
She blinked. “I’ll take that into consideration. I want to talk to Skye and think.”
I parked beside her car and turned in the seat. The ache had returned to my chest. Our bond was pulling and not in a good way.
“I care for you still,” she whispered. “I’ll call you. Please, give me space.”
“I can give you time and space,” I said. I just hoped and prayed that in time she didn’t decide to leave me for good. She got out of the truck, and my chest ached harder the farther away she got.
I remembered one more thing I hadn’t told her and jumped out of the truck as she shut the door on her car. “Bri!” I called.
She heard me and rolled down her window. “Yeah?”
I jogged over. “One more thing I almost forgot. Not intentionally.” I held up my arms.
With a tight smile, she nodded. “Accidental forgetfulness is forgivable.”
“Now that you know about all this, I can tell you, our clan witch said she gave Hayden a necklace?”
Bri’s brows furrowed, then her eyes widened in recognition. “The dragon. That old lady on the beach was a witch?”
“Well, Sammy’s not an old lady. Or she could be, actually, but she doesn’t look like one. She probably had a spell on to look like an old lady. Anyway, the necklace will protect Hayden from Damon. Make sure she wears it, okay?”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. “Well, I don’t think she’s taken it off. She wears it under her shirt because she says it feels warm and comfortable there. But I don’t know how I feel about her wearing something that has a spell in it.”
“You have my word, if you can still trust it, that there are no known problems relating to any of Sammy’s protection spells.
I’ve never even heard of them going wrong.
I have heard of them helping immensely. I’m not a witch or a scientist. I can’t say that the spell absolutely positively will not affect Hayden in any way.
But I promise you I would eat my shoes if it did.
I trust Sammy with my life and yours, and Hayden’s. ”
She stared at me for a long second, then nodded. “I’ll risk it. She can wear it.”
I patted the top of the car and watched her pull out of the parking lot. My heart wanted to follow her, and the tugging in my chest made it feel like it was trying. But knowing that Hayden would wear the necklace made me feel marginally better.
Over the next few days, I knew I had to make peace with the choices I made. The first was my mother. After giving myself a couple of days to process, I went to see her and was incredibly relieved when she didn’t turn me away.
She was busy in the kitchen, cooking dinner, and it gave her an excuse to keep her back to me. A sure-fire sign that she was still terribly upset with me.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. After dropping the Bri bombshell on you, I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell you about Porter reaching out to me. I know now that was a mistake.”
“I’m not a child, Jace,” she said. “I can handle two bits of bad news at one time.”
“Not necessarily bad, either one. But the thing is, Mom, you knew about Porter? And you never told me.”
She sighed and finally turned to face me.
“I never mentioned him because I wanted to protect you. I didn’t want you to know that your dad chose his first son and his mother over you and me.
I didn’t want to build resentment between you and your brother even if I was envious of them for a while.
Out of sight, out of mind. And I didn’t think Porter would ever find out about you.
It’s been decades.” She sighed and put her hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry for not telling you that you had a brother.
I’d wanted no further parts of your father’s life and Porter was the final connection to him. ”
“Don’t forget that my father abandoned Porter and his mother as well. It wasn’t just us.”
She nodded. “I couldn’t say I was surprised when you told me that. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, even Porter’s mother after she forced the same outcome on us.”
“She’s dead,” I told her. “That’s why Porter knows about me. She told him on her deathbed.”
Mom moaned. “That poor child.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue. Porter was hardly a child. But if Mom felt sorry for him, she’d accept him and maybe we could eke out some sort of relationship.
Over dinner, I updated her on what was going on with Bri. Her ex, the custody threat, and me telling her everything, as well as her reaction.
Mom bopped me on the head with the paper towel roll. “What in the hell has gotten into you? Why do you suddenly think you need to keep secrets from people?”
Like she hadn’t kept a whopper from me all my life. “I was just trying to do the right thing and protect Bri.”
She put the paper towels down and nodded.
“I get it. Well, if we’ve learned anything from all this, it’s that sometimes you protect people the best when you are honest with them.
If Bri is as you described, then she’ll come around once she’s given herself time to be angry and process it all.
I’m sure things will work out for you.” She put her hand on my head.
“My boy. You need to prepare to prove yourself in a big way, a way that she’ll never question your love and loyalty to her or her daughter. ”
I leaned over and gave her a big hug. She was right, and I was prepared to do anything for Bri.