Chapter 16
Kat
There’s a man in my bed I’ve never seen before and a wetness between my thighs that’s alarmingly familiar.
“What the hell did you do to me?” My back hits the wall as I scoot away on my ass.
His mouth drops open while his brows turn down.
He blinks, dark eyes glistening as if they’re damp with tears.
He’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.
His hair sticks up at odd angles like someone’s been pulling it, but it just adds to his charm.
He’s shirtless, and his lean body is cut with muscle.
He moves with a grace that makes me think he’d be a great dancer—or great at other things.
But what the fuck is he doing in my bed?
“Mom!” Lincoln yells from the hall. “Are you okay?” There’s a knock on the door. “I heard you yell. If they hurt you—”
They? Lincoln knows about this guy? Slowly, some of yesterday comes back to me. My memories feel fuzzy, but I remember… Otto. My dragon mate. Fuck.
Okay, yeah, I remember going to bed with Otto last night. That’s right. Maybe… maybe he’s why it feels like there’s cum leaking out of me. But… that doesn’t explain the stranger who looks like someone just punched him in the gut.
“We’re okay.” Otto appears at the edge of the bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes, messy hair sticking up in every direction. He doesn’t seem at all alarmed that there’s a naked man next to him.
“We’re definitely not okay,” I hiss at Otto and the other man, too low for Lincoln to hear because I don’t want to worry him.
“She forgot again, didn’t she?” Lincoln says from the other side of the door.
“Yeah,” Otto answers. “We’ll deal with it. Go back to sleep.”
The man I don’t know squeezes his eyes shut as Lincoln’s footsteps retreat down the hall. Otto gives his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “Go shower, Damian. She’s already forgotten, doesn’t matter if she forgets again. I’ll calm her down, and when you’re done, we can explain and start over.”
“But…” The man—Damian, I guess—looks downcast and a little lost, but then his eyes meet Otto’s. “She remembered. I swear she remembered. When she first woke up, she remembered.”
Otto gives him a confused look before swinging his attention back toward me. “So what happened? Did you go pee and forget to stick together or something?”
What the hell is he talking about?
“No. We just…” Damian buries his face in his hands. “I don’t understand. I was with her the whole time.” He looks up at me, his gaze pleading. “You really don’t remember who I am?”
Tilting my head, I study him more closely.
There’s something familiar about him, but I can’t place it.
He has a friendly face, the kind that feels trustworthy despite all the evidence making him seem very suspect.
I would definitely pick him up if I saw him at a bar on a girl’s night out.
He’s attractive, but has a sort of boy-next-door charm to him.
Although, that beard is all grown-man-masculinity.
He’s probably about my age, but his eyes are so full of pain it makes him seem older.
“We’ve met before?” I ask.
Damian covers his face, shoulders shaking.
“I can’t. I… I’m so sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I never meant for this to—it shouldn’t have happened.
You aren’t supposed to forget when I’m still with you.
Fuck, I didn’t… I swear you wanted to…” His voice breaks as he tumbles off the bed, stark naked, grabbing clothes from the floor, tripping as he steps into his pants. “I’m so sorry.”
Stunned, all I can do is stare at him as he flees the room.
“Where are you going?” Otto jumps out of bed, stopping Damian in the doorway. The way Otto touches Damian is so intimate my stomach flutters in a way I can’t fully explain.
“Call me later,” Damian says. The two share a look I can’t understand, and then he’s gone.
I blink a few times. Why am I on the floor? I don’t remember getting out of bed. My nightstand clock gives off a red glow that shows 5:30am. My alarm isn’t set to go off for another hour. “Otto… what’s going on?”
My backside aches like I fell on it, and I shiver, naked apart from the thin sheet pulled against my chest. Did I fall out of bed?
Otto sighs heavily. “Guess we’ve reset again.” He offers me his hand and helps me up. “Come on, beauty, let’s get you cleaned up.”
His comment and the upward movement make me realize there’s a thick stickiness sliding down my inner thighs. “Did you fuck me in my sleep?!”
“Um…” He rubs the back of his neck. “No.”
“Then why the hell am I… leaking?” I rub my thighs together, more wetness dripping out of me, slicking the skin.
“Really good dream?” He shrugs and gives me a look like he’s wondering if I’ll buy that answer.
I put my hands on my hips. “Explain. Now!”
So, he does. And by the end, I’m sitting beside him on the bed, crying. “Poor Damian.”
“Yeah.” Otto pulls me into his arms.
“We have to fix this.” I can’t keep putting that man through my ‘resets,’ as Otto’s calling them. “But why did I forget him when we were still together?”
“I don’t know, beauty. Maybe…” He shakes his head.
“No, I really don’t know. We don’t understand rejected mates and how the magic works.
It doesn’t happen very often and hasn’t happened in a very long time—at least, not that I know of.
Apart from you two, I guess. But no one knew about that either. ”
I stop his rambling with a hand on his thigh. “So, what do we do?”
“Well, let’s start with showering and getting Lincoln some breakfast. Then we can call Damian and figure out a plan.”
Otto drags me into the bathroom, where he washes my hair and body with a care that nearly makes me break into tears again.
I’m not usually so emotional, but the past twenty-four hours have been a lot, and even though I don’t remember these resets I can tell they’re affecting me. I feel wobbly and off-balance.
A lot of men I know would probably take advantage of an emotional woman, naked in the shower, but Otto just cleans me off without trying to press for more. He’s sweet as he wraps a towel around my shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asks, eyes meeting mine in the mirror.
“I’m… not sure.”
I trust what he told me about Damian, but there’s this vulnerable part of me that feels like I just had sex with a man without agreeing to it.
It’s not entirely true, but it wasn’t this me—the me I am right now, with the memories I have in this moment—who agreed to it.
I may not remember, but I can still feel the ache between my legs, the slight buzz of endorphins in my system.
My hands shake as I get dressed. Otto doesn’t leave my side.
Like a puppy who knows you need comfort and stays by your feet to give it to you.
It’s exactly what I need right now. He may have jumped the gun when he stole me off the streets of New York, but he’s been nothing but sweet and respectful since then.
I’m surprised to find I’m not even a little mad at him anymore.
I’m not about to let him know that yet, though.
By the time we’re dressed, Lincoln is already in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. I really love having a teenager. The self-sufficiency thing is super nice right now. He still needs me, but he’s not entirely reliant on me the way he was as a kid. And I love that.
I give him a side-hug and ruffle his hair. “Hey, kiddo.”
“Hey, Mom.” He smiles a little awkwardly at Otto and gives him one of those upward chin lifts guys do. “Hey.”
Lincoln points to the counter, and I see my purse—the one I thought I lost yesterday.
“How did that—?”
“Someone dropped it off this morning,” Lincoln says. “It was on the mat when Damian left.”
“Guess there are still good people in the world.” I ruffle through the purse, surprised to find everything inside just as I left it. Including my phone, which is a huge relief.
While Otto and Lincoln chat, I stare out the window, thinking about Damien. I try to picture him, but nothing comes to me. Is his hair brown or blond? Does Lincoln look like him?
I glance over at Otto and my boy. Lincoln is showing him his latest sketch.
A dragon. It looks a little like Otto in his shifted form, but also different.
Really different. The two of them seem to have hit it off quickly.
Maybe Lincoln needed an older male influence more than I realized. Not that Otto is that much older.
I laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of being with a younger man—one with piercings, tattoos, and a secret dragon identity. Both of them look at me like I’ve lost it, and maybe I have. This whole thing is so ridiculous. Two mates! Dragons! Lincoln’s father!
That last one sobers me up and steals the breath from my lungs.
For years, I’ve wondered about Lincoln’s dad and been confused by what happened.
Everyone assumed I was roofied, but that never fully made sense to me.
I wasn’t at a party or anything like that.
The last thing I remembered was being in class.
I wasn’t drinking anything. And I didn’t just have one gap in my memory, but multiple blackouts that week.
I even had a brain scan to make sure it wasn’t a tumor or something.
Now, it all makes sense in a way I never could have possibly imagined.
“You okay?” Otto asks, a concerned wrinkle creasing his smooth brow.
“Yeah.” Smiling in a way that I hope is reassuring, I reach for the cereal and pour myself a bowl.
Otto and Lincoln go back to talking about a video game Otto’s helping design for his internship.
Maybe it’s okay that I don’t remember Lincoln’s father.
I think Lincoln and I could make a nice little life with Otto.
Maybe this is all we need. Lincoln doesn’t need to know his dad.
As of yesterday, he kind of gained a new one.
Sure, it wasn’t in the most conventional way, and I’m still not exactly sure how this is going to work, but despite myself, I like Otto. Strange as it is, he fits us well.
Besides, how would it even work if I remembered Damien? He’s my mate, too, but it’s not like I can be in a relationship with two men. Can I?
It wouldn’t work.
But my gut clenches as I think about how I would feel in Damian’s shoes. Who am I to rob him of a chance to get to know his son? And can I really keep Lincoln from knowing his father just because I don’t want to keep forgetting him?
We need to fix this. Not so that Damien and I can be together, but so Lincoln can have a full relationship with his dad—one I understand and know about.
The cereal on my spoon is soggy by the time I bring it to my mouth, but my resolve is firm.