by Rinelle Grey
“No. It’s just us. I promise.”
Zara hesitated, but she had no reason to mistrust Rowan. Of the three brothers, he was the oldest, and he’d been nothing but kind and friendly towards her. She opened the door, giving a sweeping look around, but he told the truth, only he and Hayden stood there.
“But this is about him, isn’t it?” she demanded.
“In a way,” Rowan agreed. “But it’s bigger than that. I’m going to need you to come up to the house. What I have to say is private.”
Zara folded her arms and glared at him. “If this is a way to get me to talk to Damien again…”
Even Rowan’s normally unruffled countenance looked a little exasperated. “This is not about your… uh… friendship with my brother. It’s about the resort, actually. We have a problem, and I think you’re the only one who can solve it.”
Zara hesitated, staring at him. No matter what he said, she was sure this had something to do with Damien. And probably about whatever was going on here. If Damien had a secret, it stood to reason his brothers were in on it, if not shared it.
It couldn’t hurt to listen, could it?
Despite her better judgement, Zara grabbed her bag and phone and followed Rowan back up to the main house.
When she saw Damien standing at the top of the steps, his expression serious, she almost backed out.
But there was something going on. She could tell from all three brothers’ serious looks, stiff postures and the fact that Hayden hadn’t said anything the whole way. He was never at a loss for words.
Damien didn’t attempt to talk, just watched her as she walked past, then followed her and his brothers into the main living room. Rowan waved her to a seat on the couch, and the three brothers sat opposite her.
“First, before we tell you anything, I’m going to need you to sign this non-disclosure agreement,” Rowan said, sliding it across the coffee table to her.
Zara looked at him suspiciously. “Is this an attempt to make me keep the existence of mermaids a secret? Because I won’t do it. I discovered it completely on my own, and you can’t stop me.”
Neither Rowan or Hayden looked surprised, so Damien must have told them about her discovery. This had to be an attempt to prevent her telling anyone.
Well, she wasn’t going to let them intimidate her. She sat back in the chair, folded her arms, and stared defiantly at them.
“I will admit that we’d rather you didn’t tell anyone about that, but we can’t stop you. This non-disclosure agreement only covers anything new we tell you in this discussion, not anything you already know, you can see that here.” Rowan pointed out the relevant bits for her.
Unlike many legal documents, this was written in normal, easily understandable English and said exactly what Rowan had claimed.
Slightly mollified, Zara signed her name, then sat back in her chair, folded her arms and looked at them. “Well, what is it?”
Rowan looked across at Damien. “Do you want to do the honours?”
For a moment, a look of sheer terror flitted across Damien’s face. Then he pulled himself together and nodded. He leaned forwards in his seat, and said quietly, “I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time, Zara. And the reason I didn’t was that… well, it wasn’t just my own secret. You get that, right?”
He looked at his two brothers, and both of them nodded, backing him up.
“It’s a secret we all share and have all sworn to protect with our lives,” Hayden said solemnly. It was the most serious Zara had ever seen him. Despite herself, a little chill ran up her spine at his words.
“Well, come on, what is it?” she demanded, her voice shaking a little.
Damien took a deep breath, then said quietly. “I’m a dragon.”
For some reason, those were not the words Zara expected to hear. In fact, her mind seemed to take an inordinately long time to process them.
“A…. a dragon?” she stuttered, re-arranging everything she knew about him. “But… how?”
It wasn’t the question she wanted to ask. She wasn’t quite sure what she did want to ask. Her mind just kept repeating ‘dragon’ over and over, and she couldn’t even formulate a sensible question otherwise.
She’d known he had a secret, why had she never connected the dots and realised what it was? The eyes changing should have been a dead giveaway. But she’d been so focused on mermaids, it hadn’t even occurred to her that there might be a dragon right under her nose.
Damien stared at her intently. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you before, Zara. I wanted to. Especially last night. But… well, with everything that’s going on right now, the risk of our secret coming out is just too great.”
‘Our secret’, so not just him. No, of course not. She looked from Rowan to Hayden. “So you’re dragons too?”
She hoped her voice didn’t sound too incredulous. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe them…
Who was she kidding? This admission was so unbelievable it was blowing her mind. She’d been crazy to just accept it.
And yet, it made a strange kind of sense too.
Suddenly a whole lot of things fitted together far better than they had a few hours ago.
“Hayden, or Hayrian, to use his dragon name, is a dragon as well, yes,” Rowan said. “I’m just an ordinary human. As is our mum. Calrian is the dragon.”
Of course. Calrian, Damien’s father, had the same quality that Damien and Hayden… Hayrian… did.
A thought occurred to her. “Do you have a dragon name too?” she asked Damien.
He nodded solemnly. “Damrian. The ‘Rian’ part of our names is our clan name. All dragons of our clan share it.”
The same as his father. They’d never bothered to hide his ‘dragon name’. Probably because one person with a strange name might pass unnoticed. His sister, Mora, probably had a dragon name too, Morian. She had to admit, having all of them with the same ending would have sounded weird.
She swallowed. “So… uh… why did you tell me this now?” She looked at Damien. Damrian. That was going to take some getting used to.
Was this about them sleeping together? She looked at his brothers, wondering if they knew.
“I have not told them about our relationship, though it is likely they can guess.” Damien/Damrian’s voice filled her head. It sounded different than usual, and when she looked at his brothers, their expressions hadn’t changed.
He was talking only to her somehow.
“Did you just…” she stared at Damien, not sure quite how to even ask the question. “Can I…?”
Rowan and Hayrian looked amused.
“I use dragon speech, yes,” Damien said quietly. “Dragons can speak to each other, and to humans, telepathically. Unfortunately, you can’t speak back that way.”
Somehow, Zara sensed that he’d left something off that sentence. Like there was more to the story. But he held her eyes, as though promising to tell her later.
A shiver ran up her spine.
She’d come here searching for mermaids, and instead she’d found dragons.
Her best friend, the man she loved, wasn’t human. He was a dragon.
Somehow, that changed everything. Her mind was still spinning, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine what this was going to mean for her. For them.
“The reason we’ve told you this now,” Rowan said seriously, “Is because your discovery puts us at risk. Right now, the world is very interested in dragons, and we’re trying to keep a low profile. We’d really rather not have a whole heap of scientists and reporters hanging around the island.”
Of course. That made sense.
Was that why Damien, Damrian… she was never going to get used to this name change. Was that why he’d given her such a hard time about wanting to write her thesis on the mermaids earlier? He’d been trying to protect his family?
“It’s not just that though,” Damrian said quietly. “Our clan is dealing with the repercussions of humans knowing of our existe
nce. Hopefully it will work out well, but at this stage, we just don’t know. I’d hate to be responsible for putting another race into that same situation.”
As soon as he said it, it all became clear. It explained all his strange behaviour much better than her idea that he was trying to stop her leaving the island.
Maybe she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion…
Damrian turned to his brothers. “Can you give us a minute?”
Rowan and Hayrian both looked to her. Rowan raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay with that?” he asked her.
Hayrian looked equally determined. “If you still don’t want to speak to my brother, I’m happy to fight him for you.”
For a moment, the thought of two dragons fighting, as she’d seen in a photo in the newspaper only last week, filled her mind. She definitely didn’t want that.
The fact that both brothers were prepared to take her side though, if she didn’t want to speak to Damrian, warmed her heart. It was kind of them.
But the reality was, she wanted to hear what Damrian had to say. Now that his secret was out, maybe there was a chance they could figure this out.
What she would do if they did she wasn’t sure.
She nodded. “I think we have some things to say to each other.” She stared into Damrian’s eyes, a little overwhelmed by the intensity she saw there.
She heard Rowan and Hayrian get up and leave the room, but she couldn’t bring herself to break eye contact with Damrian. This new, dragon version of her best friend. He was still exactly the same person that he’d been yesterday, but somehow, she’d never be able to see him in quite the same way again.
She wasn’t quite sure how long they sat there, staring at each other, seeming to connect, to share their thoughts without even speaking. It wasn’t even the dragon speech he’d used earlier. This was something deeper than that.
Damrian was her best friend. The man she loved. And he was a dragon.
Everything else paled into comparison.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.” Damrian’s words in her mind conveyed far more emotion than they would have if he’d spoken them. She could almost feel the years of regret and sadness. “I’ve wanted to since we were kids, but… well, it wasn’t just my secret. And right now, the stakes are even higher than normal.”
Zara couldn’t help a slight laugh at that, and it broke the spell between them a little. “What, you’re more worried about people finding out you’re a dragon now that they already know about dragons?”
Damrian gave a wry smile too but shook his head. “Six months ago, if you’d claimed I was a dragon, no one would have listened to you. Now, they’d take you a little more seriously.”
He had a point. It was the same reason she felt it was possible to search for mermaids now. People would be more likely to listen.
She sighed, feeling that dream slipping away. It wasn’t that she minded, so much, finding dragons was almost as exciting. But now she had no idea what she was going to do next. Any other thesis topic seemed boring in comparison.
Then again, anything seemed boring next to finding out your boyfriend was a dragon.
If he was even her boyfriend.
“So… is this why you were acting so strangely this morning?” she asked softly. “Why you suddenly wanted to be just friends again?”
For a second, she was afraid that wasn’t it. She knew nothing about dragons. Maybe he could only be with a dragon. Maybe his family already had one picked out for him.
“Yeah,” Damrian said softly. “I knew that I shouldn’t have mated with you.”
For some reason, his use of the word mated set her heart beating faster. Maybe it was the deep inflection he put on the word, as though it meant something big. Something important. Or maybe it was that it sounded so foreign and sexy.
Damrian though, didn’t pause in his explanation. “Not without telling you who I really was. But I couldn’t resist you. The trouble was, I couldn’t do it again until you knew the truth. I was planning to tell you, this morning, but then Mum had to go down to the dragon clan, to help them with something, and everything was on hold.”
Zara could kind of respect him for holding back, for not continuing to deceive her, but it didn’t seem completely logical. “You could have just told me later, when things were sorted out,” she pointed out. “It didn’t mean you had to completely call off our relationship.”
“Yes, it did.” Damrian’s voice was solemn. “You see, mating is more serious for dragons. Once dragons mate three times, they mate for life. They become magically bonded and are linked forever.”
Zara stared at him. She was aware that her jaw was dropping open and that she probably looked like an idiot, but she couldn’t help it. “Magically bonded?” she asked faintly. “What does that mean?”
“It means that our attraction for each other will grow exponentially. To the point where neither of us are even interested in looking at another mate.”
For a few moments, that vision blinded Zara. Being with Damrian had already been better than any other relationship she’d ever been in. And that was on top of their irreplaceable friendship. The thought of being bonded to him for life should have scared her.
It was almost the epitome of what she’d been afraid of. If she’d thought a kiss could be used to try to convince her to stay, it was nothing compared to a magical bond that tied them together forever.
And yet, surely if they loved each other that much, enough to make that sort of commitment, then they’d be able to find a solution that worked for both of them. Maybe if he were bonded to her, he’d come to the city with her.
Somehow, she couldn’t imagine that. Couldn’t see him in the city. He just didn’t belong there.
It hit her that this could have been what he’d been planning all along. That he might even have talked his brothers into helping him convince her. Maybe he was counting on the fact that if they formed this bond he was talking about, she’d be so attracted to him, she’d never want to leave.
The trouble was, she could easily see it working. She’d nearly walked right into it.
“That’s why you wanted to stop me going back to uni, isn’t it?” she demanded. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got. “Your brothers might think this is just about not having reporters and scientists sniffing around your resort, but you can’t deny that you’d do anything to stop me from leaving again. Can you?”
Chapter 19
Damrian stared at Zara. Of all the places he’d thought that conversation was going, that wasn’t it.
He’d been prepared for her to back away, to be a little scared about the level of commitment being with him would require. It was a big ask for anyone, let alone someone who hadn’t grown up with the idea of a lifemate bond their whole lives. He wouldn’t blame her for wanting some distance. Some time to think things through, if nothing else.
But to think that he was trying to stop her from going back to uni? He thought they’d had this conversation. That he’d proved to her that he supported her.
“That’s not the case,” Damrian said firmly. “Of course I’d hate to see you leave. But I didn’t try to stop you when you left the first time, and if that’s what you really want to do, I’ll do everything in my power to help you. Except help you find mermaids. I’m sorry, but I can’t be responsible for exposing them when they want to remain hidden.”
He winced, sure she was going to lash out at him.
He tried to tell himself that if she did, it wasn’t about them. She’d had a lot of shocks today. It would be normal for her to need to let off steam. It wasn’t personal.
But he still couldn’t help holding his breath while he waited for her response.
“You mean you don’t want me to stay here and form this… bond… thing… with you?” Zara folded her arms and glared at him.
Damrian suspected there was no right answer to that question. So he went with the truth. “Zara, if I’d wanted to trick you into
staying, I could have let the bond form without even telling you. But I didn’t. I’d love it if you wanted to bond with me, but if you don’t, I’d understand that too. It’s a big commitment. And it’s your choice. Whatever you decide, I’ll respect that.”
“It’s more than a big commitment,” Zara said flatly. “Do you realise what you’re asking of me? Do you realise that staying here would mean giving up everything I’ve planned for my life? If I… if we… it’s hard enough to even think of leaving with the way I feel about you now. If it gets more intense… you won’t even have to convince me—I won’t want to ever leave.”
The anguish in her voice tore at his heart, and made him realise that this wasn’t about what he was doing. It was about how she felt about him. It was her own doubts about herself that she was fighting.
“I’m sure that whatever choice you make, you’ll find a way to make it work,” Damrian said firmly. “You’ve always been strong, Zara, and determined. If you want to make a career for yourself off the island, you’ll make one, whether we are bonded or not. That’s one of the reasons I love you.” Zara was staring at him strangely, and he broke off his speech. “What?”
“You love me?” she asked, her expression stunned.
It was Damrian’s turn to flounder. “I… ah… surely you’d already guessed that?”
There he went again, messing things up with an unexpected declaration that she hadn’t been expecting. Maybe he should have told his brothers to stay, so they could have stopped him making a fool of himself.
“I… I suppose I could have guessed… but…” Zara seemed as lost for words as he was. “But… uh… don’t you want to… I mean, I’m not even a dragon. Wouldn’t you want to mate with a dragon?”
Damrian smiled and shook his head, a little confused. One minute he was trying to convince her to stay by bonding with her, the next she thought he would prefer to mate with a dragon. Didn’t she realise that the two didn’t belong together.
“Zara, I don’t care if you’re a human or a dragon, it’s you I love. It’s your face I want to see every morning when I wake up, and it’s you that I want to be with every night and share the story of my day with.”
