Chapter 15
Kendra
After the phone call with my mom, all the good feelings were gone. My wet clothes were stuck to me, and the cool breeze made my teeth chatter.
Jaceon walked over and wrapped his arms around me.
"Hey. Let's get back to the cave," he said.
I nodded. He held me to his chest and shifted. But as we flew, I held on to him tighter than I had to. I wanted to feel his warmth against me. The way we met had been crazy, but he really did mean a lot to me.
When we landed at the cave, Jay pulled me against him.
"I'm going to go back and clean up the site. You put something warm on."
"Okay, I will," I said.
"Hey. It's going to be okay," he said as he leaned down and kissed me.
Then he shifted and flew out.
I changed into something dry and sat on the bed. Tomorrow morning, I have to go to my mom's. I was going to sit down and explain everything that had happened. I had been lying. Giving half-truths. So of course, it looked like I had lost my mind.
I pulled my knees up right as Jay flew back into the cave. He walked over and sat behind me. He wrapped his arms around me.
"I have to go to my mom's tomorrow."
"I know."
She's going to be awful, I thought. But I didn't say it. My phone rang.
I pulled it out and looked at the screen. My mother.
“She’s calling to fuss at me. Round two.”
Jaceon started to get up, to leave.
"No." I caught his arm. "Stay. We can figure this out. Together."
He sat back down.
I took a breath. All right, Kendra. You let her say what she has to say, but you are going to hold your ground and explain the truth about Jaceon.
I exhaled and pushed the accept call button.
But all I heard was my mother screaming.
"Mom, what's going on?"
Zoe was crying in the background. My mind was spinning. I couldn't think straight. I didn't know what to say.
Jaceon came over. He picked up the phone.
"Come on, Kendra," he said as he grabbed me and flew out of the cave.
He shifted, and we shot into the air. Then the dragon's head swung back over his shoulder, those glowing eyes locking on mine, waiting.
He needed to know where to go.
"They live in Shadow Wolf Creek. Little cabin. Damn it, what was the address— Privy Lane."
He faced forward, and we dove down.
How had I let this happen? I had known my mother my whole life, and I had never heard her sound like that.
The wind ripped the tears sideways off my face before they could fall.
My mother and daughter were screaming. I couldn't get the sound out of my head. The air was too thin, and it felt hard to breathe.
I pressed my face into the back of his neck. I had been out here living my life. Frolicking like I wasn't a mother. I had been more focused on trying to keep everything a secret, and now it was going to cost me everything.
The cabin came into view, and Jaceon dropped fast. He shifted before he hit the ground, and I almost lost my footing.
I ran behind him, afraid of what I was going to see. Adrenaline pushed through me, and I got to the door before J.
This was the house I ran to. The safe place. The one with my mother in it, the one where nothing bad was supposed to be able to reach me.
I stepped inside. The lamp was shattered, the couch shoved sideways, a smear of blood on the wall by the door.
My mother was standing in front of the pack and play, holding a big gold letter opener.
She was bleeding from her lip. Sweating. Hair half out of her scarf. Her shirt was torn at the shoulder.
David was on his feet by the kitchen with blood down the front of his shirt. There was a big gash above his eye.
"You bitch," he said as he turned and ran toward me.
But Jaceon rushed past me. He grabbed David by the throat and flew right out the window.
The cabin shook.
I ran to Zoe. She was screaming in the pack and play, curled up in the corner. I scooped her up and pressed her into my chest. Feeling her skin and knowing she was okay calmed me down. My chest heaved as I squeezed her.
My mother came over and wrapped her arms around both of us. Her hands were shaking, but her grip was strong. She held the back of my head and pressed her face into my shoulder.
"Mom, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, baby. I'm fine. He thought he was going to come in here and act a fool. He had another thing coming."
"Mom, I'm so sorry. This is my fault."
"No, baby. This isn't your fault. That man is sick. A woman never has to shoulder the blame for a broken man. Do you understand me?"
I nodded my head yes and went back in for another hug.
And then I heard a loud scream.
I panicked. Had David managed to get the upper hand on Jaceon? Jaceon had been flying, so maybe he was tired. If he had gotten hurt because he had saved my family, I would never have forgiven myself.
I handed Zoe to my mother and rushed toward the door.
"Kendra, stay here. I called Nathaniel. He will be here any minute. Just let him handle it."
I looked at her and then at my baby, the two people who mattered more than anything. But the third was out there, and what if he needed me?
I ran out. I followed the screams to the side of the house, and then I saw it.
The dragon was standing over David. He had a claw on David's chest, pinning him down, a thin stream of orange flames was eating away at David's arms. The fingers were mostly bone with flaps of skin. The smell of burning flesh was heavy in the air. I almost gagged but managed to push it down.
Jaceon could have killed David way before I got out here, so it was obvious he was drawing this out, making him pay for all the times he had hurt me.
I had told Jaceon how David had sent a man into my house to hurt me, and it was obvious the dragon had been listening.
The dragon who was so sweet to me, the fact that David was the one who got him to this point, pissed me off.
"JACEON!" I screamed as I ran toward him.
His head didn't move. His eyes were locked on David's face.
"Jaceon, wait. You don't have to do this. His blood doesn't deserve to be on your hands."
“You don’t have to kill to prove you love me.”
He went still.
The flames stopped.
His head turned slowly. His eyes were still glowing. He walked over to me.
He huffed. Smoke curled past my ear.
He shifted back and wrapped his arms around me.
I pulled back to look at him. Tears were on his cheeks. I thumbed them away.
"You don't have to hurt anyone anymore. You can just be J," I said as I kissed him.
He smiled and leaned in for another kiss. His face was hot, but I didn't pull away.
From the corner of my eye, I saw David trying to crawl away. I pulled away from Jaceon and walked over.
David's face was flushed, and he was clutching what was left of his arms.
I looked down at him, at the man who had done everything in his power to hurt me. At the man who had intimidated me and tried to break not only my body but my mind. Who had made me feel small. I looked at him and saw how pathetic he really was.
"If you ever come near me. Or Zoe. Or my mother. Or anybody I love, next time I will not stop him."
"Do you hear me, David?"
"Yes," he said, but it came out more of a muffled sound.
"Get your ass out of here," I said.
He scrambled. He got his feet under him and pushed up off the ground with the arm that still worked.
I turned around and walked back to Jaceon. I took his hand, and we walked back into the house.
We walked over to my mother, but before anyone could say a wor,d the front door crashed down.
We all whipped around and saw Nathaniel's bear standing there.
He looked at J, and he was about to charge.
I stepped in front of Jaceon.
My mother stood up from the couch.
"Baby, it's not what it looks like."
Nathaniel shifted back into his man form. His eyes were glowing. His chest was heaving. His hands were opening and closing. His body was almost shaking.
She handed Zoe to me, and she walked over to him.
"Baby. The dragon didn't do it. It was David."
He looked at Jaceon, and finally, his jaw relaxed. He tipped his head at him.
My mother walked over and grabbed his hands.
“Baby. What did I tell you about busting through my doors?”
We all chuckled. My mom pulled Nathaniel in for a hug.
It was quiet. The heavy feeling was still in the air, but everyone was trying to relax.
J pulled me into him.
"I need to fly. The dragon is restless. I'll give you guys a minute."
"Okay," I said, holding Zoe.
He looked at her and then at me. I wondered if seeing the drama of my life had turned him off.
I watched him walk out.
Nathaniel kissed my mother's head.
"I need to go for a run too..."
"Where is my damn wine?" my mother said as she turned to look at me.
"Mom, where did you get that big-ass letter opener from?"
"Girl, I don't know. One of my followers sent it to me. It looked like some shit a rich woman in the woods would have."
I laughed. This woman was never going to change. She had looked a crazy man in the eyes and still hadn't backed down.
"Mom, I wonder if that's how David found you. Your social media."
I shook my head. "Or it could have been the fact that he was tracking me."
I was clutching Zoe. I looked down. She was asleep. But I didn't want to put her down or let her out of my sight again.
My mom walked over and held her arms out. I passed Zoe to her, and she settled the baby against her chest, one hand on her back like she wasn't going to set her down either.
"I've got her."
"I'm going to go take a shower," I said.
I stood there looking at the two of them, but my feet stayed planted, like I was too afraid to move.
"It's okay, baby. Go shower. I got it."
I smiled and turned away.
I walked down the hall to my and Zoe's room. I grabbed some clothes from the closet and went to the bathroom.
When I got to the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror.
There was soot on my cheek. A smear of blood that wasn't mine on my collar. My hair was a mess. I didn't look like myself.
I turned the water on as hot as it would go and got in.
The grime came off in streaks. The smell of smoke was in my hair, and it took two washes to get it out. I stood under the water with my eyes closed.
I thought about J. I wondered if he was okay. I decided I would go see him tomorrow after things had settled. Maybe I'd take Zoe. Let him meet her without anyone watching his every step.
I wondered what life with him was going to look like. I should have been afraid. I had seen this man almost burn a man alive. But then I remembered the way he had used it to heat a pond just so I could have hot water. He wasn't going to be a threat to Zoe, but a protector.
I got out, wrapped myself in the robe Mom had hanging on the back of the door, and slid my feet into the fuzzy slippers I saw under the sink.
I looked down at them.
I thought about the way J had held my foot in his hand the first time he noticed how hurt I was. How careful he had been.
I sighed.
I wanted to throw on some clothes and go find him, to march into that cave and wrap my arms around him, but I needed to be a mother and a daughter tonight.
When I walked out, she was sitting on the sofa.
I walked over and sat beside her.
I leaned my head on her shoulder like I did when I was a little girl. This whole time, I had been fighting the fact that I needed her. Thought I had to prove that I could stand on my own two feet, but feeling her next to me was exactly what I needed.
"Mom. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what was going on with David, but I thought you would be ashamed of me."
"Why did you think that?"
"Because you raised me to be fearless. To stand on my own. I went against you."
"Maybe I thought I deserved it because I didn't listen."
"Oh no, baby. I never would have thought that."
"I know, Mom. I just felt weak compared to you. Look how you live, Mom. You go out. You're an influencer. You hike. And I was letting David drain me."
I leaned into her and told her about everything David had done to me. And when I got to the part of telling her about the man he had sent to break in, her grip on me tightened, but she didn't say anything.
When I looked over at her, her eyes were glassy, and there were tears on her cheeks.
She wiped them away.
"Do you remember when you were a little girl? You would sneak into my bed."
"Yeah, because for some reason yours was more comfortable."
She motioned for me to turn around.
She sectioned my hair with her fingers and started to braid it.
"I want you to know, Kendra, you can tell me anything. And I'm sorry if I ever came across judgmental. You are an amazing mother. You are smart and capable. Just stubborn as hell."
I laughed.
"Now tell me about this dragon."
"Jaceon is a good man, but he's not a soft man. He has been through some stuff, but he has healed. And he took care of me while I was with him."
"He took care of you, or he kidnapped you?"
"Wait. I'm sorry, baby. Keep going," she said as she kept braiding.
"He was attentive to me. He listens. And I know he chased you, Mom, but it's because of his hoard. It's not just diamonds and gold. That stuff belongs to people who died out there on those mountains. He and a lady named Gladys take them back to their families."
“Gladys Patterson?” she said.
"You know her?"
"Yeah. She is always out at the ranger station, bossing the guys around. She lost her husband and son on the mountain, so she sort of adopted the guys."
"I had no idea she was out there doing that."
"I can tell you love him, Kendra. And if he treats you well and makes you happy, then that's what matters."
Zoe whined.
My mom passed her back to me, and I settled her against me. She looked up at me and then drifted back to sleep.
I leaned back against my mother, and she wrapped her arms around me.
"Thank you, Mom. For everything. The life you provided me. The things you instilled in me."
She rocked me from side to side.
The three of us sitting here felt like a full-circle moment. She had always loved me from her healed places. She didn't carry her pain through the generations, and neither would I.