by J. K Harper
“Marley, are you sure you’re alright?” Slate asked, turning a little in the pilot’s seat even though they were already taking off on the runway.
“I’m fine, honestly. You can stop asking me that,” she said, biting her lip.
“You’re not exactly convincing. You know your man is down there right now, right?”
Both she and Hank looked out the window and sure enough, there he was. Daelan was stepping out of his Camaro, a lost look on his face. Her hand immediately went to the pendant around her neck, but recoiled from it when she felt the heat of it. It nearly glowed with warmth. She hadn’t noticed because it had been on her cardigan instead of against her skin before.
Daelan…
“She’s fine. Keep going,” Hank said sternly, patting Marley’s arm.
Marley sighed. She couldn’t look away from Daelan, who was running up on the runway now, waving his arms.
“I’m not going to be responsible for running over a dragon,” Slate grumbled.
“He’s not that fast,” Hank snorted.
“You obviously don’t know dragons.”
The moment the airplane lifted off, Marley tore her gaze away from the airport and Daelan. She squeezed Deon tighter in her arms, who looked practically haunted.
“Mommy, I don’t want to go,” he said, like he’d done for the better part of the drive.
“I know, honey, but we have to.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because…well, because we do.”
That was the best she had. The fact that she was hurt came without question. She was. Daelan had not only been shady with her, but he’d kept from her why he’d brought her to Shifter Grove in the first place. The way he’d been tense every time they talked about it now seemed so clear to Marley, like a slap in the face.
But I didn’t give him a chance to explain, she thought numbly as the airplane lifted up higher. Should I have?
“Doesn’t seem right to me,” Slate grumbled mostly to himself, though he was speaking loud enough for Marley and Hank to hear him.
“Hey, we’re not asking for opinions here. You just need to fly the plane, all right? That’s what I’m paying you for.”
Slate looked back for a second and Marley could see the telltale flash of gold in his eyes. She held up one hand, trying to calm him down a bit, mouthing “It’s okay” at the same time.
“What the hell did he mean by the dragon bit, anyway?” Hank asked, his greying brows furrowing.
It was sweet that he’d come to look for her, but Marley couldn’t escape the feeling that there was an ulterior motive there. That Hank’s motives weren’t exactly as pure as they could have been. She’d known for a while that he had a slight crush on her – in fact, she’d always feared that it was the reason he’d hired her in the first place, though she’d proven her worth time and time again in her line of work by now.
I’m taking advantage of him by letting him think that I’m going back with him for any other reason than needing to get out of here.
“It’s nothing,” Marley said, waving her hand dismissively.
She didn’t want to get into the topic of her baby daddy being a dragon. Hank was cool with her taking Deon to the office and she knew she’d have to divulge the fact that he was a dragonling at one point, but it probably needed a slightly…different setting.
“Hank, I really appreciate you coming out here to find me. You could have e-mailed me, though… But…I mean, you showed up just at the right time. So thank you for that,” Marley stammered, trying to make sense of what she was trying to say.
“Anything for you, you know that,” Hank said, squeezing her arm a little tighter.
“You know that while I’m thankful, I’m only thankful as…a friend, right?” she asked then, feeling her cheeks light up with a blush.
Hank stared at her and slowly, she could see his neck getting redder and redder, until the color reached his face. He let go of her arm and looked away, his jaw clenching. Slate must have felt the tension build, because he glanced back again from the cockpit.
“Everything all right there?” he asked with an inquisitive expression.
“No…” Hank started, but then shook his head. “Never mind. Yes, it is.”
He nodded at Slate and the pilot frowned, but gave Marley and Hank their privacy again.
“Look, I know that. I won’t lie, I’ve been hoping that would change, but I never knew how to go about it. When you said you’re going off to be in Idaho with someone you might not even know, I felt like I was losing my chance. And when I didn’t hear from you, I thought I’d come and see if…well, if you were okay, and maybe if there could be something.”
He paused, looking at his big palms and then at Deon.
“I thought it was all over when you got pregnant, but you were still alone. And then…I could never get the courage up. That’s why I didn’t e-mail. I didn’t really expect to find you. And I didn’t want you to tell me to not come. That way there was still a chance, in my head, anyway.”
Not only was Marley staring at Hank now, but Deon was as well, clutching his dragon plushy.
“I’m sorry for doing this in front of your kid,” Hank whispered, looking like a defeated man.
This day can’t get any crazier, Marley thought, suppressing a sigh.
She felt like absolute crap for making not one, but three men in her life – including Deon – feel bad today.
“I didn’t mean to lead you on,” she said, putting her hand on his carefully. “I’m so sorry that happened.”
“You weren’t. I just liked the version of life in my head better than I liked my real one. I knew you considered me an employer and a friend. I guess I wished there was more…and here I am, in Idaho.”
Marley grinned.
“Weird things tend to happen in Idaho.”
“Preach!” Slate hollered, before smacking his hand over his mouth. “I mean, sorry. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
Even Hank chuckled at that.
Marley relaxed a little in her seat, though it was only by the tiniest bit. The biggest problem she was faced with was still there.
She’d left Daelan behind. And she wasn’t sure if it had been the smartest thing to do.
As if on cue, a voice echoed in her head, and the pendant seemed to be glowing hotter by the second.
Marley! it said.
What the hell?!
It sounded exactly like Daelan. She shook her head, looking wide-eyed at Deon, who was eyeing her back. He was smiling, though. Like he did every time Daelan held him or talked to him.
“Holy… Guys, you better look outside…” Slate said, awe in his voice.
Marley craned her neck to see out of the little window by her seat as well as she could, with Hank leaning in to do the same. There, through the puffy, thick snow clouds, flashed something black and massive.
Marley! that voice in her head called again.
“It’s Daelan,” she muttered in shock, bringing her fingers to her lips.
The cloud cover parted slightly to give them a better view. Daelan was easily five times the length of the tiny airplane as he glided beneath them, light bouncing off his dark, iridescent scales. They shone like a million colors when sunrays caught them. His tail was massive, rounded and thick at the end, and the leather of his wings let light through slightly, showing off the strong build of them.
His head was vulpine in a way, but ridged, just like his back. He looked like something straight out of a story book. Something one would never expect to witness in person.
“Is that…” Hank asked, trailing off.
“Dragon!” Deon announced smartly, pointing his finger at Daelan and looking at Hank for a moment. “Daddy,” was the next word he said, his eyes glued to the mythical beast.
I need to talk to you… Please… Daelan’s voice echoed in her head, sounding deeper and darker, but still definitely his.
“So…the very large dragon is telling me in my head to
turn around and go back to the airport. As long as the lady says it’s okay. Personally, I don’t like arguing with dragons mid-flight. So how about we say yes and turn around?” Slate asked, cocking a brow and looking at Marley over his shoulder.
She tore her gaze from Daelan and paused for a moment. The repercussions of leaving the way she had were already haunting her, and she didn’t like them. Even if Daelan couldn’t explain himself well enough, was this really the way she wanted to leave things between them? Especially with Deon stuck in the middle of it all?
No.
The answer was easy enough. Like it should have always been – following her heart, not her emotions, always took her down a better path.
Instinctively, she brought her hand to the hot stone hanging from her neck and then thought about Daelan, hoping it would carry her message to him.
Okay, she thought. We can talk.
“Take us back,” she told Slate, patting an awestruck Hank on the hand encouragingly. “Don’t worry, he’s a lot scarier as a dragon than he is in person.”
“I’m not sure about that, having met both versions now,” Hank muttered, taking a deep breath.
So maybe going after a dragon’s mate hadn’t been the wisest life choice he’d ever made, but Marley had to admit, he was taking it pretty well, all things considered.
The whole way back, Daelan flew beneath them. It was the most intense escort one could wish for.
Chapter 12
Daelan
The wind was still practically rushing in his ears when Daelan touched down on the airport runway, taking up much of its length and spilling over the sides because of how narrow it was. He’d stayed behind during the small aircraft’s descent, preferring not to cause any undue turbulence for it.
If he caused any more distress for either Marley or Deon, he wasn’t sure he could live with himself.
His dragon was raging within him, but he forced himself to calm.
Breathe, he told himself, a notion which seemed far too complex ever since Marley had gotten in Hank’s truck and driven off.
For a moment when that happened, he’d simply been paralyzed, staring at the back lights of the truck through the falling snow. For a moment, he’d felt sorry for himself, ashamed and hating everything he’d done to cause this situation to begin with.
And then he’d fucking gotten over it.
Which brought him here, in the snowfall that seemed to follow Marley wherever she went, even if the skies had been practically clear at times during the flight itself. Daelan had gotten to the airport a tad too late, but when his dragon kicked in gear, it became blatantly obvious that it wasn’t something that was going to hold him back.
He needed to talk to his mate, really talk to her, and he wasn’t about to let that chance go to waste.
His dragon wouldn’t let go of its reins over the situation before the stairs were let down from the airplane by Slate and Marley came into view, holding Deon. For a moment, they simply looked at one another.
Daelan, with smoke rising from his nostrils and dragonfire whirling in his stomach, and Marley, with Deon in her arms and her eyes red from tears she’d been holding back since that altercation at Snarling Dragon Manor.
She’s here, he thought, relaxing.
The dragon finally let go.
With the snow falling heavier by the second, Daelan turned back to his human form. He smiled, seeing how Deon was watching him with wide eyes full of wonder. The little boy had never seen a dragon shift. It would be his time soon.
With the snow scrunching under his combat boots, Daelan crossed over to Marley. She was bundled up in her coat and Deon was as well, standing there alone. Slate had clambered back inside the airplane and Hank was nowhere in sight.
Which was definitely for the best. The fact that he hadn’t basically killed the damn guy for daring to take his mate from him was something that would have definitely surprised the Silvertip elders, had they been around to witness it. Unfortunately, modern society didn’t exactly look kindly on dragons lashing out when things didn’t go their way.
This time, Daelan knew for sure that he was the one in the wrong. Hank had just been an unfortunately timed excuse for Marley to bolt.
“You’re here,” he said, echoing his thoughts out loud.
“I am,” Marley said tentatively.
She was shaking. He wanted nothing more than to pull her in his arms, but Daelan could see how doing so would only work against him.
For once, it was words over actions. He’d fucked up too much because of not using those before. Words were the simplest tool in any man’s arsenal, yet one they could rarely figure out how to use.
“Thank you. For giving me a chance to…talk.”
She nodded quietly. Even Deon seemed to be subdued now, glancing from one parent to another and not butting into the conversation as he usually did.
“Okay, so,” Daelan started, scruffing a hand through his hair as he tended to do when he was nervous. “The full story is, I knew you were my mate the first time I saw you. There was no questioning it. Any shifter should know, and I did. But I didn’t accept it. Love’s not been good on my family. My sister’s alone, raising her kids. My father…well, he had children, but never with a woman that could have been called his mate. Fate simply doesn’t work that way for our family, I thought.”
He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. A snowflake fell right on her nose and before he could brush it away, Deon had done it for him. The kid was a real scene stealer.
Just like his old man, I guess, he mused.
Marley was slightly pale in the face, but she nodded for him to continue. So he did.
“I left you the dragonstone because I wanted to know if…if you were in any trouble. And then I spent more than a year trying to get as far away from you as I could. I kept failing. I was so close to Boston so many times…my dragon kept dragging me back, and I kept fighting it. At one point, the dragon stopped trying to drag me to Boston and took me to Shifter Grove instead. And that’s when I realized what was going on.”
“You mean Donovan or Sabrina realized?” Marley asked.
“Yeah, basically. Donovan made me see what I’d been doing…he told me what my dragon already knew. That you were my mate. And the reason I was being led back to you was because I needed you. Probably more than you and Deon ever needed me.”
“So why didn’t you come?”
That was like a knife to the gut.
Why didn’t I?
The expression she wore was so… He couldn’t call it hurt, but shocked, in a way. Like she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around why he kept his distance for so long.
The problem was, he didn’t like what little of an explanation he could give her, either.
“I was afraid,” he said bluntly.
“Afraid?” Marley repeated.
“Yes, afraid.”
Daelan took Deon’s hand, who squeezed his fingers tightly.
“Afraid of coming to you, and you telling me you didn’t want me there. That you didn’t need me. That I was something that you just had no room for in your life. So I concocted this little scheme, thinking everything would work out, or even if it didn’t, then no one would really get hurt. And then it did work out…and then everyone got hurt.”
He flicked his gaze down, Deon’s grip on him only getting tighter. He’d be a strong man one day.
“I never wanted this to happen. I thought you’d either come here and think nothing of me and leave, and I could set up a fund for the kid like my father basically did for me. Or…well, there was no or. I didn’t think it could go any other way. And yes, it was selfish, because I needed to prove to Donovan that you existed, that Deon existed. But I didn’t even believe it myself.”
“And why didn’t you tell me?”
Marley’s voice was soft, inquisitive. Daelan looked back up and there was no sign of those tears anymore. The woman who stood before him was one that understood far too much, and saw throug
h his insecurities so easily that it would have been scary, had he not known that this was exactly the person he was supposed to be with-.
The fact that it had taken him this long to realize it, though, was a whole other matter entirely.
“I didn’t want you to think any less of me. That’s why I didn’t take you to Donovan earlier. But your return flight was getting close and Donovan was being insistent and…I should have just taken you and run off and never looked back. But I wanted to provide the kind of life for our son that he deserves, that any dragon deserves.”
Both Marley and Daelan were looking at Deon now. The little boy was perfectly content right there, with his two parents. Not a care in the world.
And he definitely didn’t give a crap about having the right kind of future. Just like Daelan wouldn’t have, if the alternative would have been to spend his childhood with his father.
He’d made the exact same mistakes as his father, time and time again. The recognition of that was staggering to him.
“Marley, I love you. I have since I saw you. I should have told you sooner. I should have…I should have done a lot of things. But I didn’t. And so I stand here now in this damnable blizzard, asking you to give us a chance. You don’t owe me anything, but I owe you a lot, and I want to be a better man, a better dragon for you.”
He quieted then, biting down on the urge to tell her that it would be okay if she said no. The fact of the matter was, it wouldn’t be okay. He’d be a broken dragon.
Marley met his gaze and he could feel the swirl of gold intensify in his eyes. His dragon was on edge just like he was, hanging on her every word.
Daelan doubted he’d ever said quite as much in as short of a period as he had now. He felt raw and exposed and the only reason why that was okay was because he was doing it with the people he could ever expect to understand.
His family.
Family…
It was a word that had barely had any meaning for him before. Until he’d been faced with the possibility of losing it.
Now, it had become the most valuable and important word in his vocabulary.
