If Raven could have had even an ounce of that confidence, then she would have told her mother no when she made the marriage arrangement. She never would have met Bastien in the first place. The very thought gave her a measure of relief that was palpable.
If only, she thought sourly.
A rap on the door broke her out of her thoughts. She stepped out, and someone else rushed in after her. The door closed behind her, leaving her with nowhere else to run. Across the room, she could see the table of family and friends having fun. She locked eyes with Adrien just as a form stepped into her vision.
She looked up at the grinning biker. He leaned against the wall, one arm propped over her head so that he towered over her. Perplexed, she blinked at him.
“How about you and I wait for that bathroom to be empty again. Then I can take you inside and put a smile on that pretty face.” He tucked a bent knuckle under her chin.
Raven’s mind was slow to catch up. She heard what he’d said, but it didn’t exactly make sense. Not at first. Once she finally understood the meaning, her cheeks warmed. This man she knew nothing about had just propositioned her!
He took her silence for agreement and grabbed her by the wrist. She started to tell him no, though she couldn’t figure out how to keep him from dragging her toward the bathroom.
“You can’t be taking other people’s dates,” Adrien said, surprisingly close.
Raven yanked her wrist out of the biker’s grip just as Adrien stepped between them. While the biker’s body went out, Adrien’s went up. He seemed taller than life when he stepped into the biker’s face.
It was now, staring at the back of Adrien’s head, that she saw a tattoo peeking out from beneath the collar of his shirt. The world shrank down to the little glimpse of ink on an otherwise pristine man. This man, who’d she’d known as a jock, had turned into someone else in her absence. Though they each knew who the other had been, once upon a time, they did not know each other anymore.
She backed away, conflicted. The beast inside her tried to drag her closer to Adrien. The beast adored him in a way Raven couldn’t fully understand. The affection seemed overwhelming and without reason. Raven couldn’t give in to the beast.
They weren’t lovesick teenagers anymore. She had a duty to fulfil.
He had his own life, his own path. It didn’t involve her anymore.
She turned on her heel and ran for the door while Adrien argued with the biker. She expected to hear a crash, the argument turning into a physical fight, before she left. All she could hear was the door swinging shut behind her.
Running away wouldn’t solve anything. Raven kept trying to escape, but she never had anywhere to go. Once she got out of one situation, she found herself floundering in another. It was as if the world always wanted to keep her on her toes. She could never find a moment of stability.
When the door opened behind her, she expected River. Instead, Adrien’s voice reached out to her like a tender hand.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said once he stood beside her.
He didn’t reach for her. Not this time. Adrien kept his hands to himself, even though she watched him clench and unclench his fists.
It was for the best. They couldn’t keep reaching for one another over and over. They weren’t kids anymore. Though they found solace in each other years ago, they couldn’t spend the rest of their lives constantly running back and forth.
Raven had to grow up. She had to face her life.
Adrien wished he could have caved that man’s face in. The way he’d grabbed Raven without her permission had set Adrien ablaze. He’d nearly leapt out of his seat and flown across the room the moment he’d noticed what was going on.
Then, she’d vanished.
In a breath, Adrien’s rage had guttered. Cold fear had slithered in to take its place. Thankfully, he’d caught a glimpse of her just before she slipped out the door.
Adrien had considered teaching the biker a lesson on consent by asking the biker if he wanted to get punched in the face and then doing it anyway even when the man said no. Starting a fight seemed like a dumb idea when Raven was retreating, so Adrien had followed her outside instead.
The cloud of sorrow that hung around her broke something within him. He had no idea how to make it go away. Powerless, he could only stand beside her and hope that his presence helped.
“You don’t have to keep coming to my rescue,” Raven said. There was a note if finality in her voice that confused him.
“If you need help, I’ll be there. I’ve told you that before. It’s not a prob—”
She shook her head. “No. I’m saying you need to stop.”
Adrien took a step back. “What do you mean?”
Now, he could see the tremble in her jaw. When her eyes slid to him, he saw how they had gathered tears. He lifted his hands, deemed them useless when he didn’t know if he could hold her, and let them fall back to his side.
Unable to understand what was happening, Adrien waited. He waited for her to tell him why he had to stop. She didn’t actually love that imbecile back at the boutique, did she? Had she been offended when he sent River in to help?
Adrien didn’t know what was going on if she couldn’t tell him. He couldn’t make anything right until Raven said something.
Anything.
A growl filled with frustration escaped her. Still, Adrien stood by. He thought about pulling her into a hug. He thought about kissing away her concerns. The idea of Raven pushing him away kept him from trying anything.
“I agreed to do this,” she said. Her voice shook, and Adrien had no idea how to keep her from falling apart. “I agreed to marry Bastien. If I don’t do it…then I don’t know what I’ll do. My future doesn’t belong to me. It never did, and I can’t act like it was mine anymore.”
His lip curled. “That’s a load of bullshit. I know what you can do. You can give me a chance. You can take your life into your own hands and go after what you want. You can stop letting people walk all over you!”
Raven didn’t react. She didn’t yell at him. Her jaw remained firm. She kept her attention on the darkness ahead of her. Adrien wanted to force her to look him in the eye, as if that might show her just how badly this all hurt.
He had one chance to make things right. If he ruined it now, then he would never be whole. He would never know what his cousins had found. The taste he’d gotten would never be enough.
“Tell everyone inside that I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Arms wrapped around herself, she left him standing alone. He didn’t chase after her—not at first. He chewed on his thoughts and considered letting her walk home alone. Unable to overpower his conscience, he pulled his keys from his pockets and called out for her.
Raven paused. He wondered, for a moment, if she’d been hoping he would stop her. Man, he really didn’t understand women. This didn’t make a lick of sense to him.
“Wait here,” he said, his voice carrying in the dark.
Adrien used the remote starter on his key fob to start his truck then ran inside to get food to go. Packing their orders in take-out containers was easy. When he returned, Raven stood near his truck. Her arms were still crossed over her chest. Everything about her leaned away from him and made him wish he knew how to pull her closer.
The first step, it seemed, was to put food in her hands. She was forced to uncross her arms to accept the containers he handed over. In turn, he opened her door for her.
“You can’t take me all the way to the front door,” she warned.
“You act like I’m new at this.” He winked and closed the door.
He noticed a small smile on her lips when he got into the driver’s seat. The drive was quiet for the first few minutes. Then, Raven cracked open the container with her name on it and popped a boneless wing into her mouth. She made a satisfied groan that brought a smile to his face.
“I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday.”
Adri
en almost slammed on the brakes. He did do a double-take, unconvinced he’d heard her correctly.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s…customary,” she said, her voice fading into a near whisper. “All brides diet before their big day.”
Adrien tried biting his tongue. She’d told him to get his nose out of her life, but her confession was too much for him to bear. He couldn’t believe that she’d starved herself for a full day.
The truth dawned on him. When he spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “Who asked you to go on a diet?”
Raven didn’t respond. She closed the take-out container as if it might give her away. That, or she felt guilty for taking even a single bite of food. Rage hit him hard and fast. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel because the power pulsing through his body had nowhere else to go.
“You can’t destroy yourself for someone.” Adrien kept his eyes on the road. “It doesn’t matter if they love you or not. No one should ever expect you to take yourself apart and put yourself back together in a way that isn’t you.”
“I’m not…” She grew quiet.
“That’s exactly what you’re doing. I’ve watched a lot of women try to do it and fail. It isn’t the person you become that makes a relationship work, but the person you are.”
“You say that as if people are supposed to be perfect before they find love.” She let her head fall against the dark window beside her.
“There isn’t a person in this world who is actually perfect—though I know your mom likes to think she is.” He smirked, hoping she would catch on that it was a joke. Raven’s visage didn’t change, remaining as dismal as ever. He sighed. “No one has to be perfect. When someone changes for the better with a loved one, it’s because they’re becoming their true self.”
“Maybe the world works like that for you,” Raven said. “If it does, then I’m happy for you. But that’s not how things have ever worked for me. Everyone I’ve ever known has asked me to change for them.”
He growled. The steering wheel nearly bent under his clenched fists. Silence stretched between them. Not even the radio crackled.
“Have I ever asked you to change?”
She laughed, a bitter sound. “You did earlier.”
He thought back to what he might have said. His gut clenched when he realized what she was talking about. “You mean when I asked you to stop letting people walk over you?”
Raven faced him this time. He couldn’t help but meet her gaze. The sadness he saw in her eyes seemed infinite. Flicking the turn signal, he pulled onto the side of the road and reached for her.
At first, she resisted. Her resolve wavered, and she let out a weak sound. Adrien didn’t kiss her. Instead, he pulled her close and rested his forehead against hers. They sat like that, the sound of their breathing filling the space between them.
“When others step on you, they’re chipping away at you. You don’t have to change a damn thing about yourself to step away from the people who are hurting you.” He ran a finger along her cheek.
The urge to take her home and keep her from her family nearly overpowered his senses. Here he was, telling her to be her own person. Yet, his beast wanted nothing more than to lock her away like a guarded treasure. He could not cage a dragon, no matter how much he loved her.
Her safety would always be his upmost concern, but never at a cost that would hurt her.
“I’m not my sister,” Raven said finally.
His heart dropped into his stomach where it was consumed by despair. He let out a ragged breath. Though he wished he could say something, he found no words that might convince her otherwise.
Adrien leaned back and watched her carefully. Raven righted herself. She tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. The curl defiantly leapt free again. Without thinking, he reached over and tugged on it.
His hand fell away. He could not get through to her tonight. There would be other nights to come. Perhaps he would ask Jensen for advice, since his cousin had wooed the other Montoya dragon woman.
Before Adrien could touched the blinker, something large and dark dropped onto the road ahead. The truck shook with the force of the impact. Adrien reached out instinctively and braced Raven. She clung to his outstretched arm.
The figure unfolded itself and stepped into the glow of the truck’s headlights. A black-scaled dragon with gleaming yellow eyes glared at them. The beast’s gaze locked onto Raven. It snarled at her.
Adrien poured out of the driver’s side and approached the dragon before he could stop himself. Still in human form, Adrien looked up at the unfamiliar dragon. Adrien craned his neck to look up at the massive beast, but he wasn’t intimidated by the dragon’s size. The beast lowered its head and curled its lips to reveal sharp teeth, but Adrien was still unimpressed.
“Is this how you get the world to bow at your feet?” Adrien asked. “You make a big fuss and try to be scary so that everyone will give you what you want?”
Smoke poured out of the beast’s nose to curl around Adrien’s legs. It was acrid, but Adrien stayed unflinching. He wasn’t going to be cowed by some asshole with a god complex. Adrien knew exactly who he was dealing with. There was only one unfamiliar dragon shifter in town: Raven’s fiancé.
Adrien heard the sound of a door opening and closing behind him. Raven’s footsteps slowly approached. Though he wanted to tell her to stay back, he stayed true to his word and kept from giving her any commands.
“I wanted to leave the dinner with my sister early,” Raven said to the dragon in the road. “Adr—this man was nice enough to offer me a ride home.”
The fiancé huffed. More smoke billowed out of his nose. Adrien rolled his eyes. He would show this man what it meant to be strong and dominant the moment he gave Adrien the chance.
Adrien had been forced to grow up quick. When his father and uncle died fighting together, Adrien had to become man of the house far too soon. Jensen had his shifter mother to take care of him and give him a while longer, but Adrien didn’t have that in his life. His mother had been human.
She’d been busy, trying to keep food on the table. She hadn’t been prepared to deal with a young dragon shifter all by herself. Adrien learned to keep himself in check quickly. He learned to be in charge of his beast so that he didn’t make his mother’s life any harder than it already was. That kind of control, now as much a part of Adrien as his eye color, made a man strong.
He could look at this monstrous dragon and feel nothing. His rage and the violence that came with it were tucked away in the corner of his mind. He would reach for them when the dragon attacked and not a moment sooner.
The dragon didn’t strike. Raven ducked her head and wrapped her arms around herself as she crossed the space to stand on the other man’s side. She wiped at her cheeks, a sign that she was crying.
Adrien wished he could shout something inspiring, but he’d already tried that once. Raven wasn’t ready to hear the truth. He would be there when she was, though. He would keep finding her, keep telling her that she was strong and capable.
His beast would not fall for a woman who was anything otherwise.
That long-trained control helped Adrien keep his feet on the ground as he watched Raven fly away with her damned fiancé. The beast inside Adrien thrashed and rioted, but he kept still.
There would be another day. There had to be another day, another chance.
Or else, Adrien was screwed.
6
Alice seethed.
Raven took a cautious step back, her heart hammering all the while. She’d never seen her mother so angry before. The whole way home, Raven had been worried about the way Bastien would react, but they were quickly intercepted by her mother the moment they touched ground at the house.
“How dare you walk out on your fitting session to run away with those traitors!” Alice’s lips curled away from her teeth in an ugly sneer.
“Mom, that’s my sister you’re talking about. River is your daughter,” Raven said.<
br />
Alice didn’t say anything for a long moment. It seemed to stretch and devour the night. Raven began to fear that the sun would rise. But the night held firm.
“You told me that you’re committed to doing the right thing,” Alice said.
Raven swallowed, wishing she could take those words back. She didn’t have the power to turn back time. If she did, she would have gone back to her teen years to experience the freedom she’d shared with Adrien a little while longer.
Her mother would have a punishment waiting for her. Bastien was inside and likely had a few words for her, too. Raven felt the tug of the reins in too many hands. Her mother pulled one way. Bastien pulled another. Her own heart wanted to go in another direction, but she didn’t know how to take back control.
She’d given it up too many times. She didn’t even know how the reins would feel in her own hands. River had been daring enough to reclaim her autonomy, but that only proved that she and Raven were nothing alike.
Raven waited for her punishment. What would it be? Would the wedding get pushed up so they could ship Raven out even sooner? Would she get ground-bound? Would they try to keep her trapped in the house? Raven had always done her best to avoid situations like this.
“You should apologize to your fiancé,” Alice said before turning her back.
So, that’s how this was going to be? Raven’s punishment was in the hands of Bastien. With heavy feet, Raven headed inside. She yearned for River’s presence. She would have even liked it if Reece could spare a little time for her. All she wanted was someone who loved her so she wouldn’t feel so achingly alone in this house.
Adrien had walked away from the group to be by Raven’s side, earlier. The thought helped her breathe a little easier. Someone out there cared for her. Even though he wasn’t physically by her side, he was out there somewhere. He was thinking about her. She knew it in her heart.
But thinking about Adrien put a small smile on her face when she went inside. Bastien took one look at her and his scowl tightened into a dark sneer. Her heart sank, and her smile slipped away.
A Star Crossed Fate (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 4) Page 5
