Chapter 8 Dray
EIGHT
DRAY
I’d made the drive to the clearing countless times in my life. But today it was never-ending. This was the moment when I had to tell my mate the truth. And judging by his reaction outside the café, I wasn’t hopeful he’d accept what I was about to tell him.
Pax followed me. Part of me expected him to turn around and disappear back to his aunt’s place. But he stayed there, even when the road became a dirt track and my car kicked up dust.
Don’t worry. He’s coming. I wasn’t the only one tracking Pax. He cares about you.
I wasn’t certain about that. Pax was annoyed, even angry outside the café, and I guessed his distance at the party was because he’d caught sight of my tattoo. He got frustrated at me telling him we were connected. What if he absorbed all the knowledge about shifters and said, “So what?”
I turned onto our land, and Pax’s car bounced over the potholes behind me. When the clearing appeared, I parked and got out. He pulled up beside me but stayed inside, gripping the steering wheel.
I let five minutes pass, but we were here for a reason, and I strode to his car and tapped on the window.
“This is a long way from town.”
I could have argued that twenty minutes wasn’t long but kept quiet, not wanting to start an argument.
“My family likes the isolation because we treasure our privacy.”
“So what you’re about to show me needs us to be in the middle of nowhere?”
His wavering voice and his hand hovering close to the ignition suggested he was scared and considering getting the heck out of here.
“Do you trust me?”
He didn’t look at me but stared straight ahead. “I thought I did. Maybe ask me again after whatever this is.”
That was fair enough. In his position, I might have stayed in town and demanded a full explanation.
Pax got out and followed me down the trail. If I’d been alone, I would have listened to the birdsong or trailed my hand over the bushes, but my shoulders were tense and every breath in and out hurt.
The trees thinned out, and we reached the clearing. I tried to see it from his point of view, with the scorched earth and the stacks of logs piled at the edges.
“What is this place?” He stomped over to a fire pit and rubbed his fingers over the charred stone.
“Some of the family was here yesterday. We come here a lot.”
“To do what? Roast marshmallows over a bonfire?” He glanced around the wide-open space. “You’re not arsonists, are you?”
My dragon was losing patience and telling me he needed to shift. Despite the tension, I almost laughed because we did enjoy setting fires deliberately, though it was always on our land.
“My family comes here to let something out.” That sounded as though they were setting free a bunch of mice or something. The word mice piqued my beast’s interest because he loved them as a snack. “We shift here.”
“Set something free or move stuff around? Which is it?” His testy voice told me he was losing patience, like my dragon.
“My family shifts or changes into something else. An animal.”
Pax’s mouth fell open, and he stumbled backward toward the path.
“I don’t appreciate fibs, Dray. Even though I was reluctant to come here, I did, thinking you’d provide an explanation for the tattoo.” He turned on his heel and stomped off, yelling, “Leave me alone.”
It’s your turn. I’d failed miserably, so we had to show, not tell.
Flinging off my clothes, I gave my beast his scales.
His flapping wings rustled the leaves and the branches swayed, while dust formed a mini tornado.
My beast’s broad wingspan created a shadow over Pax as he turned and shaded his eyes.
Horror registered on his face, with his mouth forming a scream.
He fell backward, and I winced at the hard thump.
That’s enough. I need to be in my skin and explain. Also, if his blood pressure had spiked high enough, I might need to get him to hospital.
After taking my skin, I yanked on my jeans and ran to him, but he shoved himself back, clawing at the dirt and telling me not to come any closer.
“What… what are you?” He gulped. “Dragons don’t exist except in mythology.”
I sat on the ground and crossed my legs because I didn’t want to tower over him. As succinctly as I could, I explained about shifters and that in their human form, they were indistinguishable from… well… humans.
“But you’re not human.” He wiped a hand over his face and streaked his cheeks with red dirt.
“Nope.”
Pax pushed himself up to sit and brushed the crap off his hands. “And what does this have to do with the tattoo, which is right now blistering my skin.”
I’d been concentrating on Pax and had ignored the heat radiating from my shoulder.
“The tattoos… the two matching tattoos are a sign.”
“You already said that.”
I explained that in the shifter world, fated mates were common. And the universe showed the matched pair a sign.
“The tattoo?” His voice was at screech level ten.
“The tattoo.”
He scrambled up. “You’re telling me the universe used magic to decree that you and I should get married.”
The word decree held a lot of weight, and I didn’t like it.
“Sort of, but there is free will involved. And we call it mating.”
Pax turned back along the track, yelling not to follow him. “And don’t do the scaly-winged thing either.”
We can’t let him leave.
That’s exactly what we’re going to do.
This was worse than I’d imagined. I really thought that he’d have questions and a healthy amount of fear, but my mate wanted nothing to do with me. I sank onto the grass and sobbed. I flung dirt over my face so Pax and I matched.
All the years of waiting and I’d joked about my mate doing scientific research on penguins, but there’d been a kernel of hope inside me. But now that was gone, and I was alone. No one else would ever take his place if he couldn’t accept me for who I was.
I gave him a five-minute start and headed after him, but I used the woods as camouflage, hiding behind bushes and fallen logs. I watched as Pax put his foot on the gas and the car complained as it hit the ruts in the road.
Go after him.
No.
I was empty inside, and the heat from my tattoo, instead of being hopeful, was a reminder of what I’d lost. I curled up on my side with my knees pressed against my chest. The years I’d waited for my mate had been filled with work, family, and love while I waited, along with a dose of frustration.
But now there was nothing. I was a shell of a person with a beating heart.
My dragon didn’t wait for permission to shift, and he shredded my clothes and soared up and over the trees. We should be flying away from town, but I didn’t have the energy to tell him what to do. Without looking where we were headed, I guessed we’d be going to Pax’s.
All I could tell my beast was to stay up high. If our mate’s yard was suddenly cloaked in shadow created by dragon wings, Pax might leave town, never to return. And the town’s human residents might film my beast, and the shifter community would be in an uproar.
My dragon and I peered along Pax’s driveway. There was no car parked in front of the house. I directed him to follow the road out of town that our mate would have taken. He flew for miles, but Pax’s car wasn’t on the highway.
We eventually gave up and went back to the clearing so I could pick up my truck. Being a shifter, I kept a bag of spare clothes in the trunk, and I must have put them on because I was wearing them while driving to town. The world had lost its color and everything was in shades of gray.
Not bothering to wipe away the tears, I stared at the windshield, and my vision blurred. The rest of my life stretched ahead, much like the road. There’d be no bumps or turns or pulling over. Just straight ahead with no joy and endless monotony.
I shouldn’t have driven past his house, but it was as if the car had taken control and I found myself at Pax’s gate. He was there, but he’d parked the car in the garage. June rarely did because the old roller door was heavy, and just like her, Pax hadn’t yanked it all the way down.
Was he curled up in bed weeping or sitting at his computer and arranging for the house to be sold? But I suddenly knew exactly where he’d be. I stared at the turret that poked its tip proudly into the sky. He’d be up there, with his back to the wall, wishing June was here to give him advice.
I’d have to leave him be for tonight. But in the morning, I’d wrench myself out of this stupor. I needed a grand gesture. But what?