Chapter 15
Soft raysof sunlight filtered in through the edges of our blackout curtains, emphasizing the gorgeous lines and curves of Elodie’s body.
She’d fallen asleep a few hours ago, but I hadn’t allowed myself to close my eyes.
Eli’s note had made it clear that the thunder wouldn’t let me have another day to make sure she recovered properly from the hell we’d made it through.
I bought you tonight. You’re welcome.
That was all it had said, but it had been enough.
And now, it was time for me to walk away.
I took in a deep breath of her scent, then forced myself to get out of our bed.
Dragons didn’t usually carry bags when we flew, but I didn’t give a fuck about tradition anymore. I needed my female’s scent with me. I wasn’t going to survive leaving her otherwise.
So I grabbed her backpack, carefully emptied her school stuff onto the kitchen table, then packed it full of things that smelled like her.
Two of my shirts that she’d been wearing.
The throw blanket on the couch that should’ve been three times as big as it was.
A couple of her hairbands.
A few dirty pairs of the spandex shorts and tiny bras that had been tempting me for weeks.
My phone, with her number saved on it.
The individual items went into plastic bags, so the scents weren’t disturbed when the thunder went through my shit. They probably wouldn’t let me keep the phone, but it was worth a shot.
Quiet footsteps on the porch told me my time was up.
I stepped into our bedroom one last time and took a long look at my sleeping female.
My mate.
Then, I stepped back.
And made my way out of the cabin.
Every breath I took as I walked away from her hurt like hell, but I kept walking.
Because the only alternative was to make her mine, condemning her to six months in a prison she could never survive.
But my chest still ached with the knowledge that I was leaving her.
Eli was waiting on the porch.
“Ready?” There was a question in his eyes, and an apology.
He and Jasper knew as well as I did that if one of them had been in Scale Ridge like they were supposed to, I wouldn’t have had to make a deal with the Villins to keep our sister safe.
And if I hadn’t made a deal with the Villins, I wouldn’t be headed to prison.
But there was no point in dwelling on the past.
I’d survived heat to keep my mate alive. Now, it was a question of whether or not I could make it through prison long enough to get back to her and make her mine permanently.
Eli had asked if I was ready.
Of course I wasn’t.
I never would be.
But I closed the door behind me anyway. “You’re going to protect her.”
“Of course I am.” Eli slipped his hands in his pockets, crossing the front yard with me.
“Don’t let her touch any other guys.”
He shot me a look that told me I knew he couldn’t enforce that.
My jaw clenched.
I’d just have to prove myself better than any other bastard she might take home while I was gone. The possibility of her sharing our bed with someone else made me want to kill something—preferably whichever man she tried to take to bed—but I’d have to deal with it.
I’d win her back.
There was no alternative.
“Let’s go,” Gordon barked.
I didn’t let myself look back at the cabin as I stripped and shifted, catching my bag in my talons before I took to the sky.
I’d be back for my Fireball, and the home we’d made ours, as soon as possible.