Chapter 5
FIVE
Granger
Aydan's room is painfully silent. I might be a coward, but I miss Sam's warm, reassuring hand in mine. I even miss the presence of the other two dragons as a buffer between us.
He rounds on me, studying me in an unsettling way. “For this to work, we need complete transparency.”
I nod, swallowing hard. “Transparency. Right.”
“No lies. No softening things.”
“Just the truth,” I choke out.
His deep blue eyes lock onto me. “What happened after you became a dragon?”
I clear my throat. “I focused on Sam, because she was hurting, making her shift to heal some of her wounds.”
His eyes widen. “She was hurt?”
“The green dragon nearly tore her wings to ribbons before I shifted into a dragon and fought him off. Then, I carried her to shore, because she couldn't fly herself.”
His brows wrinkled. “You did that, after just shifting for the first time?”
It's weird. I watched Aydan and Evander struggle to learn to be dragons, but for me, it felt so natural. Almost more natural than being human. “It was… easy for me. Like I've always been a dragon.”
He seems to file that information away. “And then what happened?”
I wince, but push forward. I promised to be honest, and I can tell our future depends on it. “We had sex… a lot. I had never, I mean, it was, well, it was my first time. That added some complications, as well as dragon pheromones.”
“You were a virgin?” He gives me a funny look. “I suspected, but I wasn't sure. You never talked about it.”
My face feels hot. “I mean, I tried dating and stuff, but Sam was always in the back of my mind.”
His lip quirks. “You really always loved her?”
I feel a wave of embarrassment. “There was always her staring at you, and you staring at her, and me staring at her. It was a lonely place to be, but I accepted it. I knew deep down I could never be with her, but there was this hollow ache inside no one else could fill.”
“I'm familiar with it,” he says under his breath. “But nothing happened between you? No stolen kiss? Nothing?”
“When the green dragon dropped me near the ice, Sam and I kissed. I felt something, but I wasn't sure if it was just her being glad we weren't dead, so I tried to forget about it.” Before he can say more, I add, “Until Sam became a dragon and had multiple partners, I gave up all hope of being with her. But then, seeing her with all of you killed me. It was like there was finally a world where I could be with her, except I still didn't have a chance. I wasn't a dragon.”
He nods. “That must have been hard.”
I shrug, trying to ignore how my heart aches. “Aydan, you were always the one who was supposed to end up with her. You just had issues to work out first.”
“And you were always so sure of that.”
“Yes,” I tell him without hesitation. “It was always going to be Sam and Aydan.”
He smiles. “And Evander, Zane, and… Granger.”
My heartbeat thumps loudly in my ears. “Not me. Not Granger. Just the storm dragon.”
His smile doesn't falter. “Nah. I think some part of her has always been in love with you too.”
I think of my round face, my messy hair, my terrible fashion sense, and my belly. No, a guy like me was never going to end up with a beautiful, smart, creative, caring woman. “She's out of my league.”
He snorts. “She's out of all our leagues, but least of all yours. The rest of us are a bunch of damaged weirdos. You're the kind of guy women want to marry.”
What? What the hell is he saying?
I shake my head in shock. “You can't honestly think that.”
He lifts a brow. “Remember, no lies.” Then he sits down in a chair and gestures for me to sit too. I do. “I think Sam would've realized her feelings for you a long time ago, she just needed a person she could trust with her whole heart.”
“No.” I'm sure he's wrong.
He laughs. “I've never seen any other girl cuddle and flirt with a ‘friend’ the way she did with you.”
A little flutter of hope awakens in my heart. “You really think so?”
“I know so. If I wasn't sure about all this fated mate stuff before, I'm sure about it now.”
Rubbing my chest, I stare in shock. Sam really felt something for me before all of this? Even Aydan thinks so? “Are we okay then?”
“Yeah, we're okay.” He smiles. “But now you have to deal with sharing her with Evander and Zane. Zane’s okay, but Evander is a real asshole.”
I smile. I'm a dragon too. Part of the group. “He's grown on you.”
He flops back in his chair. “Maybe.”
I laugh.
He reaches over and pats my shoulder. “Get some rest, storm dragon. We’re going to need you, because I’m not so sure that those asshole dragons are going to give up just because we found you now. And spend some time with Sam in this new role. Being a dragon and protecting Sam has a lot of challenges, so you should enjoy the quiet times as much as possible. Get comfortable with each other as mates.”
I release a slow breath and nod. That, I can do.