Chapter 16
The bed wascold when I woke up.
My forehead furrowed, and my arms searched the sheets and blankets for August before I opened my eyes.
He wasn’t there.
That was weird, after so many weeks of waking up together.
Was he already making breakfast?
I slipped out of bed, frowning when I couldn’t find the t-shirt I’d stolen from him the night before. I could’ve sworn I brought it back to our room.
Maybe I’d left it on the couch.
Shrugging, I grabbed a clean shirt and headed to the kitchen. My legs shook with every step, but I figured it was because of the sex the night before.
The kitchen was empty.
I stared at it for way too long.
Way.
Too.
Long.
Finally, I turned back to the couch.
My shirt wasn’t there.
Neither was August.
An awful feeling washed over me.
Though I was pretty sure I knew what had happened, I checked every room in the house, my legs still trembling.
Plus the porch.
And the single vehicle in the driveway, which belonged to me.
He was gone.
Tears welled in my eyes.
He’d left me without saying goodbye.
After talking like we’d last forever the night before.
I dashed the leaking emotions away angrily.
The bastard had ghosted me.
After I suffered through heat, and had sex with him, and we’d been a team.
Yes, he was headed for prison. And yes, I’d known we’d be over as soon as heat ended.
But I’d thought I knew him better than that.
I’d thought we were friends.
The tears fell harder and faster.
I gave up on trying to wipe them away.
I was allowed to be sad for a few minutes, while I packed my bags.
Then, I was going to be furious, whether my emotions got on board with it or not. I wasn’t going to cry over the douchebag who’d left without saying goodbye.
I was sucha shaky mess that I gave up on packing after a few minutes. Instead, I threw a change of clothes and my laptop in a bag. My backpack was missing too, so my stuff went in a tote I’d gotten for free from some school-related event. The bag’s zipper had been broken for as long as I could remember, and there was a big coffee stain on one side of it.
I clutched my phone in one hand and my keys in another as I walked out of the cabin without bothering to lock it. Even if I’d wanted to do so, I didn’t have a key.
And the place smelled so strongly of August, there was no way I could stay. The memories I had there…
I shook my head.
I couldn’t let myself think about any of that.
My mind needed to stay firmly in the present.
The present, in which I needed to get back to my old apartment. Vi and Randa hadn’t rented out my room, so I should still be fine to sleep there. None of my stuff was there anymore, but I’d survive.
I was practically a professional at surviving after the last few weeks.
I finally got in my car and pulled away.
Tears were still streaming down my face, but I didn’t pay them any mind. I didn’t have the energy to fight them, or to muster up the anger I’d promised myself.
It tookme ages to get out of the forest and back to the main part of Scale Ridge.
Though I tried to focus on what was happening in the moment, my mind kept replaying the way I’d woken up alone.
August had abandoned me.
And it hurt like hell.
When I finally stopped in my old apartment’s parking lot, I stared over my steering wheel for a solid two minutes without moving. My gaze was on the building I’d called home for so long, the one my best friends still lived in.
But I felt nothing.
Nothing for the building, at least.
I wiped some more tears away, and finally shut my car off.
It was useless to dwell on what would never be.
My phone rang before I got out of the car, and I halted when I looked at the screen and found an unknown number.
My stomach clenched.
What if it was August?
That was ridiculous, though. I had August’s number. The one he’d use in Scale Ridge, at least. And if he was saying goodbye from Mate Mountain, he wouldn’t bother calling me. He’d just text.
And he wouldn’t have had to sneak away.
Even if he was being dragged off to prison, the other dragons would’ve let him say goodbye to his mate.
Although… we hadn’t sealed the bond.
I wasn’t his anymore, and he wasn’t mine.
I let out a slow breath through my nose.
Everything was going to be okay, somehow.
I hit the button to ignore the phone call, and slipped out of my car. My bag went over my shoulder, holding the few things I’d brought with me. My apartment key was still on the loop with my car’s, so I didn’t have to dig for it.
My phone rang again, and I ignored it again, without letting myself consider what might happen if I answered.
My legs were still shaking.
A text came through as soon as that call went to voicemail, and I didn’t have the heart to ignore it.
I was halfway up the first flight of stairs that led up to my third-floor apartment when my feet paused as I read the message. One of my hands remained on the stair rail, just in case my shaky legs decided to give out without warning.
Unknown
ANSWER YOUR PHONE, EL
I’M SUPPOSED TO BE GUARDING YOU, DAMMIT
I bit my lip and wrestled with my options. I could ignore the message and move on with my life… or I could figure out who was texting me.
There really weren’t many options as far as who it could be. Not many people on the planet called me El.
Me
Who is this?
Unknown
Eli
My throat swelled.
What did he mean, he was supposed to be guarding me?
My phone rang again, and I answered it.
“Where are you?” He didn’t bother with greetings or pleasantries. “I try to do a good deed by going out to buy you pastries, and this is how you pay me back? By vanishing? What the hell?”
I bit my lip, hard.
“Hello?” he demanded.
“I’m here. Just… why are you calling me? And buying me pastries? And why do you think you’re supposed to be guarding me?”
Someone passed me on the stairs, giving me a weird look when they heard the guard thing.
I forced my feet to start moving again, carrying me up toward my old apartment. I was uncertain if my legs would actually make it up before my knees buckled, but they kept moving.
“What do you mean, why? Didn’t August tell you?”
“Tell me what? I thought we were good. He made it sound like he planned to stay last night—but when I woke up this morning, he was gone.”
“He didn’t say goodbye?”
“No.” My voice cracked a little.
I wiped a few new tears away with a trembling hand.
“Shit. Want me to kill him for you?”
“I don’t think he wants anything to do with me, so there’s no point in that.” I finally reached the apartment and unlocked it. It was the middle of the morning, around 10 AM, so Randa would be at school and Vi would be asleep.
“That’s bullshit if I’ve ever heard it. My brother’s an asshole, but he’s not a liar. If he didn’t say goodbye to you, it’s because he plans on coming back. The thunder took him away this morning.”
“It’s sweet of you to lie for him, but I’m not that delicate, Eli. I can handle the truth. The thunder might have taken him to prison, but he’s not coming back for me.”
Eli growled into the phone. “He specifically asked me to keep you away from other men, El.”
“Sure he did.”
“I’m serious. I’ll prove it, too. Where are you?”
“Don’t worry about that.” I sat down on the comfortable-but-weird-smelling couch my best friends and I had gotten the day after we’d moved in. It should’ve felt homey, but it didn’t.
It felt wrong.
Smelled awful with my dragon’s sense of smell, too.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll be forced to eat the rest of the donuts I bought you while I track you down.”
“How are you going to track me down? And why do you assume I want donuts? I thought you brought pastries? Are donuts considered pastries?”
“I don’t know, but you just survived heat without giving in. You should be hungry.”
I was. I’d just ignored the hunger in the whirlwind of my emotions.
“I’ll buy myself donuts if I want them. Go home, Eli.”
“I promised my brother I’d protect you, remember? That means until he’s back here to keep you safe himself, I’m going wherever you are. Starting as soon as I find you. Give me your location, or I’ll figure it out myself.”
“Good luck with that.” I hung up the phone, dropping it on the couch beside me.
Another text lit up the screen a heartbeat after the device landed.
Brynn
How are you feeling? Did the thunder pick August up yet?
My eyes burned.
If they had, he hadn’t let me see them do so.
I erased the message from my phone’s screen, then stuck it between two couch cushions so it couldn’t bother me.
Grabbing a throw pillow, I curled in on myself on the other end of the couch and squeezed my eyes shut again as more tears started to fall.
I was going to be okay.
I was going to be okay.
I just needed some time to cry first.
So I hugged the pillow to my chest and let my tears fall.
I’d driftedoff for a bit when a knock sounded on the door.
Clutching my pillow tighter to my chest, I ignored it.
A moment passed, and I hoped the person had walked away.
Instead, they knocked again.
Louder.
I blinked the sleep from my dry, crusty eyes.
The person knocked again.
Something told me I knew who it was.
My phone started to ring in the crack between couch cushions
I ignored it without looking down at the screen.
The call went to voicemail.
A text came through a moment later. I accidentally saw the top half of it on the part of the screen that showed over the cushions.
Eli
Open the door or I’ll break it down
My forehead creased.
Would Eli actually break my door down?
I considered it for a long moment before deciding he wouldn’t.
Then, I sent him a middle-finger emoji.
He sent an angry one back.
Eli
I’ll be forced to eat all the donuts if you leave me out here
Did I care if he ate all the donuts?
My stomach growled loudly at the thought of the sweet pastries.
Maybe I cared.
I stared at the door, arguing with myself for all of one minute before I finally crossed the living room and opened it. My legs shook with every step. My body felt weak, for some reason.
The gigantic, blond shifter stood on my doorstep with a donut in his hand. There was a single bite taken out of it.
I plucked it from his fingers, then grabbed the purple donut box from him and walked back to the couch.
“You look…” he started, trailing off when he realized he had nothing polite to say.
I took a vicious bite of my donut.
The chocolate glaze melded perfectly with the abundance of sugar in my mouth.
The way I looked didn’t matter.
“I told August I’d give Jasper updates about you,” Eli finally said. “What am I supposed to tell him?” he gestured to my face, which was probably red, blotchy, and a little swollen.
I took another violent bite.
Its deliciousness would not sway me.
“I thought of a way to prove it.” Eli changed the subject again.
“To prove what?” My mouth was full when I spoke.
“That he’s planning on coming back. Here.” Eli tapped the screen of his phone a few times, then handed it to me.
I scanned the text conversation.
August
I put the cabin in her name. She should get an email a day or two after I’m gone. Tell her after heat ends, so she knows she doesn’t need to leave.
Eli
Tell her yourself
August
She’s dealing with enough right now
Eli
She’d rather hear it from you
August
Just tell her
The date on the conversation marked it as taking place a week and a half before heat ended.
“That doesn’t prove anything. Transferring a mortgage to me when I don’t have a job doesn’t exactly seem like a kindness.”
“There’s no mortgage. Dragons get paid well to protect the prison. I’m sure you know that.”
He had mentioned buying Eli a cabin when he bought his. We just hadn’t really talked about money before.
I finished off my donut and grabbed another one from the box.
It was far emptier than it looked like it had started, which made me flash an annoyed look at Eli.
He lifted his hands as if in surrender. “He wanted you to have a place to live after graduation, and he thought it was yours as much as it was his.”
“He wouldn’t have put it in my name if he was planning on coming back.”
Leaving it to me was just another wordless goodbye.
“Of course he would. August didn’t want you to move out while he was gone.”
I scowled.
“Check your bank account,” he added.
“Why would I do that?”
I knew my bank account was looking grim. I’d been aware of that before I met August. My scholarship money was about gone, and I only had a two-month cushion to start my job in Scale Ridge, or I’d need to move back home.
I’d already emailed Brynn’s brother-in-law about working for his vampire-hunting company, and he’d agreed to hire me after all of the mate stuff was sorted out.
So I had a job… potentially.
One that would remind me of August constantly.
“Just do it, El.”
I took another bite of my donut.
He sighed, crossing the room to sit down beside me. When he grabbed my phone off the couch, he tilted it to unlock the device with my face. Then, he went looking for my banking app.
Eli scanned my face again after pulling it up, then placed the screen in front of my eyes.
I stared at it for a long, silent moment.
And another.
And another.
Then I finally ripped it from Eli’s hand, my forehead creasing as I stared.
There were more numbers than there had been the last time I opened it.
A lot more numbers.
I clicked around, finding my name at the top, then opened up my transactions to find multiple large deposits from an A Sky. They had been occurring throughout the past month, so I knew Eli hadn’t just wired the money.
“What the hell?” I finally asked, looking at the dragon again.
“I told you, he’s coming back,” Eli said. “He would be here right now if he wasn’t in prison.”
I shook my head, dropping my phone back on the couch.
It would take me ages to process the money thing. And the cabin thing.
But ultimately, none of those proved what Eli thought they did.
“August felt bad about putting me through heat, and about the pain I felt during it. If he’s as rich as you’re suggesting, leaving me the cabin and a ton of money isn’t a sign he’s coming back. It’s an apology.” I put the rest of my donut down, my stomach clenching.
I was still hungry, but I was also sad.
And hurt.
Tears were stinging my eyes all over again, refusing to dry up for good.
I’d cared about him.
Maybe I’d even been falling in love with him.
And he left me without a goodbye.
“He bit you,” Eli pointed out.
My forehead creased.
He gestured to the back of my neck, where August had bitten me the night before.
“His bite gives you his magic for months. It takes ages for the power to work its way out of a human. The scar looks fresh, so he must’ve just bitten you. He wouldn’t have given you more of his magic if he wasn’t planning on coming back. Surviving the prison would be hell at full strength—it’ll be worse with part of his power embedded in your veins.”
My forehead creased further.
I didn’t have an argument for that.
He had spoken like he wasn’t leaving me the night before.
“I’m not saying this happened, but if a dragon were to bite a human twice in one night, what would it do?” I asked.
Eli frowned. “Twice?”
“I didn’t say it happened,” I said quickly.
His frown deepened. “I don’t know. It might give you more of his magic, or make that power remain longer. Or it might not do anything outside of pleasure. Biting is supposed to be enjoyable.”
Oh, it was.
My face warmed at the reminder of the way he’d bitten me while he fucked me from behind.
His hands on my breasts.
On my ass.
On my clit.
“You reek of him,” Eli said, his nose wrinkling. “Whatever you’re doing to make the smell worse, stop.”
I hadn’t showered yet.
And I didn’t know if I wanted to. Not when it would take his scent off my skin.
Was the lust in my memories making me smell more like him?
I lifted his shirt to my nose and inhaled.
My body relaxed immediately as I breathed in his scent.
He smelled so good.
Would I ever be able to let him go, even if he really had walked away for good?