Chapter 10
Nia lay in bed, staring up at the bright squares of morning sunlight on the ceiling.
She listened to the rush of water through the wall as Brianna showered.
A few minutes later, she heard the whoosh of a hair dryer.
There were several stomps and banging doors.
Eventually, Nia heard a car door and the stuttering groan of an engine coming to life.
It was only then that she got up and slipped out of her bedroom.
Her body felt weak and heavy. She rubbed at her eyelids as she stumbled into the kitchen, noticing how puffy they were from crying herself to sleep.
More than once, she’d been tempted to go to Brianna’s bedroom door and beg her to let her in, to let her explain, to try to convince her that this really wasn’t as bad as it looked on the surface.
But Brianna had given no sign that she’d be willing to talk.
Nia had also considered getting a hotel for the remainder of her stay in Red Lodge. The few that she did find would almost completely drain her savings account, and she needed that money to rent another moving truck and get back to Salem. She was stuck at Brianna’s for the moment.
Grabbing some cereal and a banana, Nia forced herself to eat, even though she didn’t feel like it. That was when she spotted a note from Brianna on the counter, a small square of bright pink paper. Excited for some form of contact with her friend, Nia leaped for it.
Went to the bakery. I can handle it myself today.
Nia’s heart sank. She’d been hoping for even the smallest scrap of possibility, that Brianna might suggest they talk it out over dinner or something. But no. Nia wasn’t welcome. She’d followed her heart straight into trouble.
She stared out the back patio doors and into the woods as she ate, thinking about Cole.
Had he gotten Brianna to speak to him at all the previous night?
Did he ache inside at the idea that they couldn’t be together the same way Nia did?
It’d been difficult enough to try to stay apart, but there had still been a sliver of hope.
That was gone now. Their relationship was over before it even had a chance to begin.
Realizing she was staring in the general direction of the packhouse, Nia decided she could still find something worthwhile to do with her day.
She got dressed and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
She left her car at Brianna’s and walked toward the woods.
Once she reached the safety of the trees, she leaped forward into her lynx.
The beast was angry. It was furious at being penned up, especially when things were going wrong.
It longed to sink its claws and teeth into something, but for now, it would have to make do with a good run through the woods.
Nia ran hard and fast, focusing on the way her paws hit the ground and how her muscles stretched and contracted.
She paid attention to the breeze in her fur, but was briefly tempted to follow a squirrel through the underbrush.
Though she knew she shouldn’t, Nia reached out with her mind. If Cole were in his wolf, she’d find him. What would she do then? What would she say to him? It didn’t matter because he wasn’t there.
She brought herself back to two feet when she reached the backyard of the packhouse. Nia walked up onto the deck, but she felt strange about just walking in. The Montclairs had all been cordial and welcoming, but Nia wasn’t exactly one of them. She knocked.
Scott slid the door open and stepped back, inviting her in with a gesture. “Hey. I thought you’d be at the bakery today.”
Shit. She hadn’t really thought up any excuses. Scott must not have known what had gone down, and she was grateful for that. “I’ll be going over there later. I just wanted to spend a bit of time with the dragons.”
“You’re just in time,” Scott said with a laugh as he shut the door behind her. “The last one hatched this morning, so now we’ve got five little ones tearing up the basement.”
She pointed toward the basement door. “May I?”
“Yeah. I’m sure Cole will be glad to have some help. Deb and Sandy were with them all night, so they’re taking a break.”
Her body went stiff. “He’s not at work?” Cole was a busy man. This was his house, of course, but she’d made the stupid mistake of assuming he wouldn’t be there.
Scott shrugged. “He said he was going in later. There are sodas in the fridge if you’re thirsty.”
“Thanks.” Since she couldn’t think of any good reason to change her mind and leave, Nia let herself into the basement.
Cole’s scent and presence were all over the house, so she hadn’t paid enough attention to realize he was there.
But as she got closer to the room where the baby dragons were being kept, she could feel him.
Nia hesitated with her hand on the doorknob.
Spending any kind of time with Cole was asking for more trouble.
But she reminded herself that she wasn’t there for him.
She’d come over there to help the dragonlings.
She wanted to be around so they could be near someone who understood them, even if only a little. She knocked softly.
“Come in.”
Cole had his back to the door, and the tail of a baby dragon was draped over his arm. He turned around, and his brows shot up to his hairline. “Nia.”
“Hi.” She swiftly closed the door to keep a tiny dragon from escaping. “Crawling already?”
“They’re incredible.” Cole shook his head in amazement. “Even for shifters, they’re progressing really quickly. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if they’d hatched while they were still up there in the mountains. They’d be scattered all over the place.”
Nia scooped up the one closest to her feet, an adorable little green dragon. “Poor dears. Are they eating anything yet?”
“Hell, yes.” Cole jerked his head toward a small table near the wall. “They just want bottles when they’re in their human form, but when those scales come, they just want meat. Linda slow-cooked a roast and shredded it really fine, and they’re really taking to it.”
“Goodness, you’re really—” Nia cut off her baby talk as she felt a change in the dragon in her arms. He stretched his legs and twisted his torso as he yawned.
In that moment, he looked like any other baby.
But then his scales shimmered and seemed to flip over entirely, coming back together like a puzzle piece until he was human again.
“That was fast!” Nia had seen Corbin shift with ease, but he was much older than these dragonlings.
“Isn’t it incredible?” Cole said. “It makes them hard to keep track of, though. One moment I’m chasing a baby, and the next, I’m trying to keep them from setting the curtains on fire.”
“They’re already doing that?” Nia asked, impressed and even a little worried that they were already working with their fire.
Cole pointed at a dragon who was curled up asleep on a twin mattress on the floor. Her scales were silver, tipped with green. “That one can.”
“Do we need to find some bassinets?” Nia asked, looking around.
Despite the room being in the basement, it was finished and cozy.
The window high up on the wall let in quite a bit of sunlight, and a comfortable couch sat beneath it.
A TV hung on the other side of the room, and the rest of the furniture suggested it was a guest room with a foldaway bed.
There was no baby furniture, though. “Maybe some of the other pack members have items from when they had their own children, or I could always check the local Marketplace for freebies.”
“Don’t bother,” Cole told her as she reached for her phone. “We had one in here, but we had to take it out again. They’re very good climbers. I don’t like the idea of keeping them on the floor, but it’s the only way we can make sure they’re safe.”
“Until they start using their wings,” Nia noted.
“I really have to hope that takes a while longer.” Cole sighed. “I can just imagine if one of them got outside!”
The baby in her arms was beginning to fuss. Nia mixed a bottle of formula and sat in an easy chair to feed him while Cole changed the diaper on another one. She watched him from the corner of her eye. These weren’t Cole’s children, but he took care of them without any hesitation.
When a baby started fussing, Cole gently laid it over his shoulder and patted its little back. He looked at Nia as he danced and swayed around the room. “Do you know what’s funny?”
“Hm?” The baby in her arms had nearly sucked down his whole bottle already.
“That the two of us taking care of dragons is the most normal thing happening between us right now.” His voice was soft and solemn.
She agreed. It was awkward for them to be in the same room, trying so hard not to talk about everything that’d happened between them. “I probably shouldn’t have come.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Cole quickly replied.
“Maybe not, but it’s true.” Nia pulled the empty bottle from the baby’s mouth before he could suck down any air and began burping him, glad that she’d had some experience with little ones while she was still with the coven.
“Brianna doesn’t want me at the bakery, and I needed to find something to do with myself.
I thought, at the very least, I could be here for the babies since that’s why I’m staying in town.
In retrospect, that wasn’t a very good idea. ”
“You’re being too hard on yourself.” Cole lifted the baby off his shoulder. The little one had fallen asleep and gone completely limp, so he gently laid it down on the mattress. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry things have worked out the way they have.”