He eased to the side and she backed up closer to the door, thanking her lucky stars she slept closest to the exit. She hated the fear coursing through her, and hatred for him making her feel it to begin with filled her.
“Cammie—”
“For all I know, you were going to try to play this game forever. It’s not like I would have been able to tell, even if we had the offspring you no doubt want from me. Having a dragon baby would raise no red flags with me, not when my partner is a ‘human’. Hiding your dragon eyes would have been the hardest part, but in the end, you couldn’t do that well, now, could you?” She backed up until the door was right behind her. “I’m leaving the house. Don’t bother following me. Pack your shit and leave, and don’t touch a hair on the head of anyone in this house. And you can forget about hanging around Eagle Creek, waiting on me to appear, because I won’t be back again. Just one more thing you stole from me. I’ll be hanging around the area until you’re gone from Eagle Creek, but you won’t see me, and remember how fast I am. You won’t catch me either. Now get the fuck out of this house, and out of Eagle Creek.”
Without waiting on a reply, she whirled around and quickly jerked the door open, applying her shifter gift for added speed as she left. She was already clearing the yard and heading into the woods when the front door burst open, and she swiftly glanced back, taking in a naked Alex in the doorway. Turning back around, she ran for what felt like hours, through Rocky River property and beyond. She circled the town a few times, taking breaks when she got too winded, vigilant for any hint he was following her.
It was late afternoon when she went back to Rocky River property. She needed to make sure Alex had left, and she couldn’t disappear without saying goodbye to her brothers. She walked past her favorite spot, and then doubled back. The events of the morning were catching up to her, and she sank down to the grass, pulling her knees to her chest and fighting tears.
How could he have fooled her so thoroughly? He fooled all of them, but she was supposed to be smart enough not to fall for shit like this. She let her attraction for him, and then her stupid dragon’s declaration of mate, blind her to the truth of what he was. He approached the situation so differently, and there was no way she could have guessed. Add in the fact that he somehow slipped lies past shifter senses, and she couldn’t have known. But that didn’t stop her self-recrimination for not figuring it out.
A few tears slid out of the corners of her eyes, and she drew a shuddering breath. She felt like she was a heartbeat away from losing it. Rocking a little, she tightened her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. Losing Alex made her feel like she couldn’t breathe. Cursing herself for a fool, she shook her head angrily, her cheek brushing her pants. She didn’t lose Alex. She never really had him to begin with, and she couldn’t lose what she never had.
He probably laughed at her this whole time. She prided herself on being strong, wary, always aware of the world, and the people, around her. But for the last month, she acted more like a green, naïve teenager who had no knowledge of the evil in the world.
What he thought he would gain by approaching the situation like this, she might never know. It might have made it easier for him to snatch her, but he had to know doing it like this would only make her hate him more when she found out. And eventually, even if today hadn’t happened, she would have found out. That wasn’t something he could have kept from her forever. He would have slipped up at some point.
She briefly wondered what had happened this morning to cause his eyes to go dragon. It must have been something else to make him forget, even for a moment, what his purpose was. But it didn’t matter, and she was grateful for whatever it was that made him slip for a moment, allowing her to see what he’d been hiding. A dragon. She still had trouble believing he was one of her kind.
See? Strong enough for us.
Stupid dragon. Yeah, this meant he was strong enough for them. Actually, it made her needing protection a moot point, because being claimed by another dragon was enough to make her virtually invisible to other males. Maybe if he’d been real, and honest from the beginning, it could have worked out. But not now, and her dragon was out of her mind if she thought Cammie would accept Alex now, dragon shifter or not.
Exhaling heavily, she scrubbed her hands over her cheeks, removing evidence of the few tears she hadn’t been able to keep from falling. Another thing to hate him for. She hadn’t truly cried since her parents died. Sighing, she looked at the creek, hoping to find some peace like she usually found in this spot, before she went to the house to make sure Alex left, and to say her goodbyes. She didn’t want to leave her brothers, or Shelby, but they were in clear danger if she stayed.
Finding no peace, she put her hands on the ground, preparing to push herself up. She had a feeling it would be years until she found any peace again, if ever. Pausing when she felt a something sting her arm, she frowned. Insects always left shifters alone. Lifting her suddenly weak arm, she froze when she glanced down and saw the dart lodged in her skin. Reaching over with her other hand, she tried to grasp it. It was hard because her hand was trembling madly, and it took far longer, and was more effort than it should have been to pull it out.
She stared down at the dart blankly for a moment before h
er eyes rolled back into her head and everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
Alex trudged back to the house, shoulders slumped with weariness. He hadn’t been able to find Cammie, and he didn’t want to stop looking, but it was getting dark. Besides, he knew if she didn’t want to be caught, she never would. Soul hurting, his dragon curled up into a miserable ball inside him, he walked into the yard, pausing when Ian pushed off from where he was leaning against the porch and moved toward him. Looked like Cammie had already made her way back here, though he’d been expecting that. Bracing himself, he waited for Ian to either kill him, or ream him out and then kill him.
“What happened?” Ian asked as he reached him. “We haven’t seen you or Cammie since late last night. You two can’t do this shit. She needs to tell someone when she leaves so we don’t think the worst.”
“She hasn’t been back yet?” he asked in surprise.
“She hasn’t been with you?” Ian asked, eyes narrowing as he looked him intently. “You look like shit, man. What the hell is going on?”
“We… argued this morning,” he hedged. “She told me to leave, and then she took off outside. I’ve been looking for her ever since.”
“Told her about your dragon, did you?”
Eyes widening at the calm question, he stared at Ian, taking in his laidback demeaner. “Wait, how… you already knew?”
“Almost from the beginning, but I’m guessing it’s just been in the last few days that you remembered.”
“How did you know? And why didn’t you kill me back then?”
Ian inhaled deeply, staring off into the woods. “It’s part of my gift, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone. Even the fighters don’t know. One part of my gift is that I can tell, on average within a day of meeting someone, if they’re good or bad. Sooner if they’re purer than average, or truly evil. I could tell within less than a day of you waking up that you were a good man, and weren’t here to cause trouble. The other part of my gift, that no one knows about, is that I can sense what animal a shifter has. I knew you were a dragon from the moment you woke up. I was just withholding judgment until I knew if you were one of the bad ones.”
Alex blew out a breath, stunned. “You never let on that you knew.”
“I thought it was best if you remembered on your own. Besides, I thought you and Cammie could be good together, and she wouldn’t have given you a shot if she knew you were a dragon, too.”
“It made no difference in the end. She’d be happy if I went straight to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.”