Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

Then he stepped around her and kept moving, heading towards the Transport Hub to catch a carpet wole back to the Dark Side.

Each step felt like his boots had been dipped in lead. He wanted badly to turn around and take back his words, to tell her that he did love her and he wanted to be with her forever.

But he knew if he gave Iyanna any hope at all, she would never let go. And she needed to let go—needed to move on. Because she didn’t want what Dra’vik could offer her and he couldn’t offer her anything else.

His biology made it impossible to bond with a female without breeding and impregnating her. And since he knew how Iyanna felt about that—how horrified the idea made her—he needed to let her go.

Even if it was the hardest fucking thing he’d ever done in his life.

FIFTY-THREE

“Honey, just talk with him!” Iyanna’s mother urged her gently. “He’s out there in the living room with a big bunch of roses. Maybe the two of you can work something out.”

“Momma, what exactly do you think we’re going to work out?” Iyanna asked, exasperated. “You know how things ended with him—he basically dumped me.”

“Honey, just try,” her mom begged.

Iyanna just sighed and shook her head. She had thought it would be a good idea to stay with her parents after leaving the Monstrum Mother Ship, which she had done the day after returning from the disastrous mission to Lix’dor Prime. She had told herself staying with her mom and dad would save her money on rent while she tried to figure out her next move, but maybe she’d made a mistake.

“I know how hard it was, sweetheart,” her mom murmured, breaking her train of thought. “But sometimes people deserve a second chance. Won’t you just talk to him?”

“Okay, fine—I’ll talk to him.”

Iyanna looked at herself in the bedroom mirror, checking her appearance. She’d lost some weight in the three weeks since she’d left the Monstrum Mother Ship. Mainly because laying in bed and crying so much she felt too sick to eat had become her new favorite pastime, she thought dryly. She wasn’t exactly skinny—that was never going to happen—but she was markedly thinner.

She knew her mom was worried about her—it was probably why she was pushing this reunion so hard. So if for no other reason than to make her mom happy, she would comply.

Why not? she thought dully. What do I have to lose that I haven’t already lost?

Sighing, she let her mother lead her out of the bedroom for the first time in what seemed like weeks and went to greet her visitor.

Standing in the middle of her parents’ living room, holding a dozen long stemmed red roses was her ex-fiancé, Ian.

“Iyanna!” His hair was as golden and his eyes were as blue as she remembered. But somehow his surfer-boy good looks paled in comparison when she remembered Dra’vik’s curling horns and scaled skin, his glowing yellow-gold eyes and his hot bonfire and spice scent…

Stop it, she told herself fiercely. He dumped you weeks ago! Why are you still letting him mess you around? Leave him alone—he’s in the past.

The past three weeks since she’d come back home had been difficult. She’d felt like used goods—like there was something wrong with her. Why did she drive every male she got close to away? What had she done wrong with the big Drake? Why had he acted like he wanted her—maybe even loved her—and then dumped her so suddenly?

She didn’t buy the idea that he was some kind of player. There were no other females aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship to “play” with except the few human wives the Monstrum were slowly bringing aboard as they bonded with them. But they were spoken for and the Monstrum never cheated—at least from what she’d heard.

So why did he dump me then? There were no answers and when she’d gone to the Dark Side of the ship, she had been unable to find the big Drake to ask him. After a long search, calling his name, with nothing but a flashlight to guide her way in the darkness, she’d become sure that he was avoiding her and wanted nothing more to do with her. After that, she had gone back to her suite and packed her bags.

Commander Rarev had been surprised and disappointed. The Monstrum hated to lose her, he told Iyanna. She was a valuable member of their ship family and he hated to see her go.

But go, she had. She couldn’t stand to be there anymore, not knowing that she was aboard the same ship as the big Drake but he refused to see her.

So now here she was, with a bruised heart, in the middle of her parents living room, confronted by her ex-fiancé—yet another man who had dumped her. A saying of her Granny’s ran through her head.