Chapter 12 #2
"I understand." His gaze flickered to the garden for a moment, then he returned his attention to me.
"I'm not going to pick one of the others.
It's like I said, when Mother first told me of her plan I didn't think I was going to be able to suffer any of you, but you've caught my interest, Adrian. It's going to be you."
"Because you can suffer me?"
Tyrel laughed softly. "Because you fascinate me."
That again… "Because I can resist your magic."
"Because you should be walking out of here, but you're not. Because you insist on being an equal partner, a parent rather than—" He stopped himself, as if he'd said something he hadn't wanted to say.
"Why did I upset your mother so much by bringing that up?" I asked. There was something there, some family secret, and I wanted to know. I wanted to understand Tyrel.
"Don't worry about it. Mother might not have liked it, but I did."
"I remember you saying you don't want a child." Another one of my concerns. I didn't want an unwilling parent for my baby. I didn't want my child to grow up the way my brother and I did.
"I'm indifferent to that," Tyrel said, which wasn't much better. "I didn't much appreciate the idea of procreating with a mate I never wanted in the first place."
"You shouldn't have a child if you don't want to."
"I have to."
"Why's that?"
"I have to prove that I can continue the family line by the day I turn thirty. If I don't, my inheritance is going to my brother. I can't let that happen."
So he was going to have a baby no matter what. Even if I said no. In that case, he would just have it with someone else. That thought was enough to make my toe nails want to crawl inward. I had to focus on something else.
"You have a brother?" I asked, hanging on to the last part of what he'd said.
"About a year younger than me. Not much family resemblance, thankfully. He doesn't even have my powers." The tone of his voice let me know there wasn't much love lost between him and this brother.
"What happened between you two?"
He remained silent for so long that I was beginning to fear he wasn't going to answer at all. Then he said: "Make you a deal?"
"What kind of deal are you talking about?" I asked, intrigued.
"If I tell you about my brother and my family history, you're going to tell me what you didn't want to tell me on our first date."
I swallowed. Was it too late to back out yet?
That was something I definitely didn't want to tell him about.
Not about Rory, not about the baby we never conceived…
This was supposed to be my restart, my second chance.
I didn't want to spoil any of that by talking about my mess of a past relationship.
"Take it or leave it," Tyrel prompted. "If you want me to tell you something personal, you're going to have to return the favor."
He had a point there. And I did want to take this chance to get to know him. We had precious little opportunity to do that as it was.
"Okay," I said slowly. "I'll tell you."
He picked the bottle up from the ground.
I'd thought it empty, but one sip remained.
He offered it to me. I took it gratefully.
I wasn't much of a drinker, but nothing about the situation I found myself in was normal for me, so I embraced the experience of sitting outside with a hot guy, looking at the moon, sharing secrets and a bottle of something that burned as it went down my throat.
"It's nice to know I can still persuade you to do things without my magic," Tyrel said.
I laughed. "I'm not the most difficult person to persuade."
"Is that so?"
I simply nodded. "The man I don't want to tell you about—he did it all the time. And there's certainly nothing magical about him, although I believed it for a long time." For a much too long time. I'd given Rory years of my life that I'd never get back.
"Your ex-boyfriend?"
I nodded. "His name's Rory."
"I seem to remember you saying the break-up was recent." It sounded a bit like a question.
"Kind of. I mean, it's been a while, but we'd been together for so long, and I'd started thinking I'd be with him for the rest of my life. I thought I was in love."
"Were you?"
"To be honest, I'm not so sure anymore. When I'm…" I stopped because I was about to say things I wasn't sure I should be saying yet. Like how everything somehow seemed more intense with Tyrel than it ever had with my boyfriend—the man I'd been ready to have babies with.
"I'm not sure I believe in love," Tyrel said. "My kind does not hold it in high regard. Yearning for it is seen as something very human."
I shrugged. "I'm human, and I believe in it." After everything, I still did. Maybe Rory hadn't been the right partner for me. Maybe I'd never find the right partner, but that didn't mean he wasn't out there somewhere. I hadn't lost until I gave up the search.
"So tell me what happened between you and Rory."
The request made me lick my lips. Having a baby was important to Tyrel in more ways than the sentimental—when he found out that I had trouble getting pregnant, would he still be interested in me? Would he still give me a chance?
Only one way to find out.
"Rory wanted a baby," I said. "We both did, really." It had been my dream since I'd been young. A family of my own. One that functioned better than the one I'd grown up in. "We had some trouble conceiving, and then eventually he went out and fucked other people until he knocked someone up."
"Sounds like an unpleasant fellow."
I snorted.
"He couldn't get you pregnant?"
I only nodded, unable to get words out through the lump in my throat. This was the moment of truth. I looked at Tyrel, trying to judge his expression, but he kept it carefully neutral.
"No wonder you didn't want to tell me that," he said eventually. "Did you see a doctor when you were having trouble?"
"We did. Well, I did. Rory didn't want to get checked out. He was convinced the problem was with me."
"And was it?" Tyrel's face was still blank, but I could see the way his hands tightened around the edge of the bench.
"The doctor didn't find anything wrong with me," I assured him, remembering my own relief that day.
"I could never convince Rory of that, though.
When he knocked the other guy up, he simply told me that I needed to get out.
" And the memory still made me feel like a kicked puppy.
Maybe things hadn't been as intense with him as they were with Tyrel, but I'd loved that man all the same. At least, I'd thought I did.
"What a loser," Tyrel said. He inched a little closer, until our shoulders were touching.
"Listen to me. I'm not Rory, and when I try to have a baby with you, I won't just try.
" One of his hands wandered up my back and into my hair.
He tugged lightly at the strands in my neck and I tilted my head back.
As soon as I did, he placed a kiss on my neck, sending delicious heat down my spine.
Then his lips wandered up to my ear. "You will have my baby," he said.
"And it'll be happy, healthy, and powerful.
" It sounded like a promise, and I believed it.
Maybe only because I wanted it so much. Ridiculously so.
And I enjoyed having Tyrel so close to me, feeling his breath on my skin…
But he'd made me another promise tonight that he hadn't fulfilled yet, and if I let him go on, we might both forget it.
"Tyrel…" I said, gently stopping him with my hand.
He backed off, shooting me a quizzical look.
"About your family…"
"You'd honestly rather talk now?" I didn't think he could see my growing erection in the dark, but he eyed my groin anyway.
"How many chances to talk to you will I get before deciding to have your baby?"
He sighed. "Fine. I suppose you ought to know what you're getting yourself into." He made it sound like I'd already said yes to all his propositions.
"There was something about your brother," I prompted.
He looked ahead at the garden, his eyes taking on a faraway look. "Kylan." He spat the name like it was an insult. In his mind, it probably was. He shook his head. "If you really want to know, I need to go farther back than my brother. It's truly… You remember about my sire?"
"Your father?"
"If that's what you'd like to call the man. If he can even be called a man. In truth, he's a coward."
"You said he was human." And I'd immediately felt at least a little sympathetic. Living as human among dragons couldn't always be easy. I knew the same fate awaited me when I had Tyrel's child, but I pushed that thought out of my mind. I could handle it.
"He was," Tyrel said. "A weak little human."
"Has he died?" I asked, noting his constant use of the past tense.
Tyrel shook his head. "He hasn't. But I haven't seen him in the past ten years, so he might as well have.
My mother and he…" He paused, as if he wasn't quite sure what he'd wanted to say.
"Theirs wasn't a good relationship," he finished.
"I don't know why she wants me to mate a human, considering how little luck she's had of it herself. "
"Did they have problems because she was a dragon and he a human?"
Tyrel seemed to consider this. "I don't know if that was all of it, but in part, yes. You have seen my mother. She has a certain rather controlling personality streak."
Which you might just have inherited.
"Did she use magic on your father?"
Tyrel cringed. Looked like I had hit the nail on the head.
"She might have, but…" He sighed. "I really can't blame it all on her."
A feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach as I realized what had likely happened. "Did you?" I made myself ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
For a long time, he said nothing. Then, "I wasn't very good at controlling it."
His words broke my heart. Not just what he said, but how he said it. The moment he uttered his confession, his rich guy, powerful dragon attitude was gone, and when I looked into his eyes, I felt like I could see his soul. And what I saw was a child who hadn't wanted to hurt anyone.
But then he tore his gaze away and the moment was broken.
"My mother used to boss him around, yes, didn't treat him much like an equal partner the way you say you want to be treated… She might believe that's the reason he left. But I know it was me he was truly afraid of."
Part of me, a big part of me, wanted to hate Tyrel's father for making him feel that way, but another part of me realized that Tyrel's power was something to be afraid of indeed.
I wasn't sure why I wasn't more afraid of it.
It scared me, yes, but it was like I just didn't care because it also turned me on, and apparently, my body was now groin-controlled.
"Could he feel your magic? I mean, was he aware of it when you used it on him?"
Tyrel narrowed his eyes, as if thinking hard. "I want to say no, but he must have been, somehow. He knew it was me. One night, he took my brother and ran."
"Because your brother doesn't have powers?"
Tyrel nodded. "That's what I assume. He's a dragon, but he can't do the mind control trick."
"What else can a dragon do?"
Tyrel smiled, and then he breathed fire. It was only a small flame that shot out of his mouth into the night air, but it still made me open my mouth wide in surprise as I felt the sudden heat spike.
"I thought you had to be shifted for that."
His smile grew wider. "Weak dragons have to be."
"Can you shift?" I asked, hopeful. His dragon form had to be stunning.
He shook his head. "You know I'm not allowed. Believe me, I want to, but apparently large flying fire-breathing creatures scare humans."
"You wouldn't scare me."
"No, but you're different."
"I guess…" Because I had this power. Because maybe I was his fated mate or something. I wondered whether his father had been like that for his mother. Whether that was why he'd been aware of his son's magic.
"I'll make you a promise," Tyrel said.
"Another one?"
"When this is all over and you're carrying my child, I'll take you to our island. There, I'll show you what I truly look like. Who I truly am."
"Looking forward to it," I said, although I thought he'd already shown me a glimpse of who he was tonight.