Chapter Thirty-Four
Laurie
Despite her advanced age and non-functioning leg, Gisele caught up to me almost before I’d reached the doors.
“Did you know?” I snapped, wheeling on her once we were inside.
“Know what? That you’re Rip’s mate? Of course.”
“That he was just using me to get a better stick!” I said hotly, shaking my head. “This isn’t the first time someone has said that word. ‘Mate.’ Why does everyone keep saying it? What the hell is going on here?”
Gisele looked uncomfortable.
“What?” I said, trying to be intimidating and failing as my glare slid off Gisele like she was covered in Teflon.
“I’m not sure how much of it is my place to say,” she explained, “versus Rip’s. If he hasn’t told you everything yet, I don’t want to step on his toes. He is going to be the next prince. It pays not to piss those types of people off.”
“Going to be the next prince?” I asked dangerously. “He told me he is a prince.”
“It’s more complicated than a he is slash he isn’t equation,” Gisele said. “Once he explains it, you’ll understand he wasn’t really lying.”
“Either he’s a prince, or he’s not a prince,” I pointed out.
“It’s sort of a formality thing,” Gisele countered.
“Formality? So, why hasn’t it been made official? What is he waiting for?”
“You,” Rip said from behind me. “I’ve been waiting on you.”
“I think I’ll go be anywhere but here,” Gisele said, scurrying off without waiting for a response.
Slowly, I turned around. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” I said, pointedly keeping my distance from him, whereas before, I would have gladly taken his arm or snuggled into his side.
“I know,” he said, frustration flickering in his eyes.
“I’d intended to do just that, but we were sort of interrupted.
Besides, I’ve already thrown the existence of dragons at you today, and I was trying to figure out how much more to share without overwhelming you.
None of it will make much of a difference if it’s today, tomorrow, or another two or three days. But I was going to tell you. I swear.”
I had to admit he sounded adamant and truthful. There was no guarded glint in his eyes, no body language to give it away that he wasn’t being honest.
“As you said, you’ve already sprung dragons on me,” I said, wondering just when that revelation would hit home and overwhelm me. “You may as well get it all over with now instead of waiting for later. I’d rather know everything instead of being fed it piecemeal.”
Rip nodded. “And you have every right to that,” he agreed. “Do you have questions, or should I explain what I can, then fill in the blanks after?”
I gnawed on my lip. “You explain, then let’s go from there. Probably less jumping around.”
“Very well,” he said, extending an arm. “Can we walk while we do? Fighting like that is exhausting. I need some calories.”
“We can walk,” I said.
I didn’t take his arm.
Rip retracted the offer, clearly hurt but confident enough to understand I wasn’t feeling overly secure in anything just then and that his getting upset over it would only make it worse.
I wanted to feel comfortable close to him, but there were too many unknowns.
Who was he really, and why was I there? Until he answered, I doubted I could get close to him.
“Our society is split into four clans. The God-King, an immortal dragon who lives at the top of Mount Drakonus, set out the rules for our society ages ago. We follow them to this day,” Rip said, taking on the tone of an instructor.
“A prince oversees each clan. Upon their rise to power, they rule for a century. Then the rule is turned over to their heirs. However, those heirs can only assume the mantle of prince if they have a mate.”
“A mate. People keep using that word. But you’re not animals,” I pointed out. “You’re intelligent beings.”
He smiled over at me. “Thank you for the compliment. But a mate, yes. It’s not a pairing like you might think.
Mates are fated for one another. Destined.
It is a union that will never be broken or sundered because the bond between mated pairs transcends emotions or feelings.
It exists in them and draws each mated pair together.
Regardless of anything in the way, including, say, feelings for an ex-fiancé. ”
I looked at him sharply.
“Don’t tell me you don’t feel it,” he said.
“That first night, you would have never driven me to town if I were someone else, let alone come up to my apartment. You felt the connection, the mate bond. We’re meant to be together, Laurie.
You and me. I can feel it in my core, and if you open yourself up to the possibility, you will, too.
Call it love at first sight, if you must. It’s the same thing. ”
“I do feel something,” I said. “Right now, I’d call it anger. Frustration. You’re using me for that new shiny stick you want to fight with. Men. Always about a bigger stick with you.”
“The Trident of the Sea is the weapon given to us by the God-King to defend not just our clan but all clans,” Rip said.
“My people protect the oceans around this entire realm. All of it. The Trident is the best way to ensure we suffer as few casualties as possible. It can only be wielded by the prince, however, as ordained by the God-King. If I were to try to use it now …”
“So you brought me here to wield it.”
“I brought you here because you’re my mate,” he said sharply.
“Because I care for you on a level that I have never cared for another. I was skeptical of my mate being a human. I thought it should have been another dragon, but none of them make me feel like you do, Laurie. None of them make me ache when I’m apart from them.
I know this. I’m just waiting for you to know it, too. To believe in it.”
I looked away so that he wouldn’t see that I felt something, too.
I wanted it to be anger, but it wasn’t. Maybe it was because he was the father of my child, but even as I thought it, I knew it was a lie.
I’d felt it before I’d known I was pregnant.
In the days after that first fateful night, I oddly longed to go to his condo to see if he was home.
Just to be around him. It irked me to be called out, that he could somehow know how I felt, but he did.
“So, what now?” I said finally, wondering if maybe I should just go home and try to pretend none of it happened. I found myself torn about that idea—though home sounded nice and peaceful, something I longed for at the moment.
“Now, I have to go.”
I whirled on him. “What?”
“The lines are under attack everywhere. We are weakened,” he said strongly. “My people need me out there.”
“I need you here!” I exclaimed. “I just got here. I don’t know anything. And now you’re going to leave me?”
“I don’t like it,” he said, lowering his tone.
“I hate it. I don’t want to be anywhere but at your side, Laurie.
Forever, if I’m allowed. But I must balance the demands of my heart with the demands of my blood.
If my leaving you for a bit ensures that more of my clan lives, then that’s what I have to do. You must understand that.”
“I ‘must’ understand nothing,” I said bitterly, knowing he was right but hating it all the same. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“I know,” he said softly. “But we must trust in fate.”
“You’re certainly counting on a lot from me,” I told him.
“I have faith that fate has pulled us together. You’re the only one I want. I can see it. I’m just waiting on you to know the same.”
“And what if I don’t?” I asked tightly. “I’m not sure what to do.”
“If that were the case, you’d be asking to go home.”
I stared at him. Had he known I was starting to think about doing that?
Rip grew quiet as I didn’t respond. “You were planning on leaving,” he said.
“Thinking about going home,” I admitted.
“I’m not someone’s object, Rip. I’m not ‘your mate.’ I’m ‘Laurie Stiller,’ the person.
My father raised me not to be possessed by someone but to be cherished and respected by them.
He showed me how to be strong and how to lead.
I’ll raise this child by myself if I have to.
I might like you, but don’t you dare assume that just because I do, I’m going to be your silent arm candy for the rest of my life, expected to sit around and be quiet while the men rule. ”
Rip’s brow grew more furrowed with every sentence. I managed to keep my voice even, and I hoped I spoke without sounding like a bitch because that wasn’t my intent. I just needed him to see things from my point of view.
Trumpets sounded from the bay, catching Rip’s attention.
“You’re wrong,” he said softly. “I’m not looking for arm candy, Laurie. I’m looking for a princess. To stand at my side, not behind me. To rule when I’m not here. I need a strong woman like you.”
I stared, taken aback. That wasn’t at all what I had expected. Me, a princess? Of dragons? Hoo boy.
“I have to go,” he said. “I hope you’re here when I come back.”
I grimaced. “I told you I needed one thing, Rip, when it came to this baby. A present father. Are you always going to be rushing off to battle, leaving us?”
“Not having the Trident is making it worse,” he said bluntly.
“The enemy knows it, and they are testing us. But even with it in my hands, there will be times that I must go forth and do battle. I will not send my people forth to fight while I stay behind. That is not the sign of a good ruler. But when I am here, I will be yours.”
The trumpets sounded again, and his eyes flicked down the hallway.
“Go,” I said. “I … don’t know what I’m going to do. But if I go, you know where to find me.”
Rip wasn’t happy, but he accepted it. He turned to go.
“Rip,” I said, catching his arm.
He looked back, and I rose on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “For luck,” I whispered.
Blue-green eyes stared at me hard, then he nodded once before taking off down the hall in a flash, moving only as a dragon could. I watched him go.
“What the hell am I going to do?” I asked the open air.
“That,” Gisele said, appearing out of nowhere, “is up to you.”
“Maybe,” I said, “I just don’t know if I l—”
A sudden wave of nausea keeled me over, sending me to the floor where I was sick. Then another hit me.
And another.
“Laurie?” Gisele asked, worried. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I gasped between rounds, clutching at my stomach. “Something is wrong, Gisele. I need to get home. Now!”