by Amelia Jade
Except, she was right. Cowl had to let her go. She needed space to be herself, to exist outside of him. They were mates, and partners, but they were not going to become one person. Each needed to exist independent of one another.
“You’ll stay on campus, you promise?”
“I promise. It’ll be fine, Cowl. I’m not in physical danger, trust me.”
“I do.” It was the truth. He had complete faith in Andria.
It was everyone else that he didn’t trust.
Chapter Seventeen
Cowl
They were arguing again.
“I still don’t think we should do as they say!” Ivore pounded a fist into his palm to emphasize his point.
“Do you think they’re lying, then? They have evidence. The dragons who have fought them have scars. These things are real, brother.”
Cowl hesitated. Did he really want to enter the apartment the three of them shared and get involved? He’d been blessedly absent a lot lately, spending all his time with Andria, and he’d completely forgotten the ongoing battle between his two older brothers over whether they should stay or go.
“You stay and commit suicide then. Cowl and I are going to leave.”
Caine growled angrily. “No, Cowl is staying with me.”
Truthfully, neither of them had asked him what he felt and where he stood on the issue. They both just assumed that he would go along with whatever they decided, as per usual. Often Cowl did just to make life easier, even if he didn’t always agree with the choice. It was easier than trying to persuade them otherwise.
This time though he had some scales in the game, and wasn’t willing to just follow their orders.
“Cowl, what are you going to do?” Ivore glared at him. “You don’t really want to stay, do you? To put up with this madness?”
“We have to stay,” Caine countered. “They need our help. We owe it to them. We protected our kingdoms in the past. Why should that change now? The humans need our help. As stronger beings, we should look out for those who are weaker than us. It is our duty.”
Both brothers fell silent, looking expectantly at Cowl, as if they both knew he was going to side with their decision.
Cowl knew his answer was going to cause a whole different set of problems. It wasn’t the way he wanted to bring it up, but the opening wasn’t going to get any better. “I’m going to do whatever is best to protect my mate. She is my priority.”
Both brothers’ mouths fell open. “You found your mate?” they asked together.
“I did.”
A barrage of questions followed. When? Where? How do you know? What’s her name? When do we get to meet her? Are you sure? Are you on drugs? How could she possibly like you? Are you pretending to be one of us? Does she know you have a micro-penis? What about your chronic flatulence, how will she put up with that?
The questions got worse from there, and by the end the trio were all laughing, the earlier dramatics and tension forgotten. Cowl felt relieved. He’d been worried that this would provide more drama. In the end his brothers were his brothers, and they did love each other, even if they had a dragon-sized amount of sibling rivalry.
“Okay, okay,” Caine said at last, quieting the room, motioning them all into seats. “Now, Cowl. You’re positive about this?”
He nodded, relaxing into the comfortable chaise of their sectional. “Completely. I told her the truth.”
Caine was about to say something else, but this revelation paused whatever he’d been about to say.
“You told her the truth?” Ivore asked, frowning at his younger brother. “Like, the entire truth?”
“Everything. That I’m a dragon, and that she is my mate.” Cowl shrugged, confused about the less-than-thrilled looks on both Caine and Ivore’s faces. “I didn’t speak about the Outsiders or anything of course. I just told her what I am.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Caine said quietly.
Cowl lifted his eyebrows. “What? Why not? She is my mate. She deserves to know.”
“Because, Cowl. You should have come to us first. You should have mentioned it to us.”
Ah. So there was the truth. They were unhappy that he’d made a decision without them. “Why?” he snapped. “So you two could just argue over it again while dismissing me and my opinions some more? I’m tired of being treated like a child by you two. I can make my own decisions.”
Caine rose to his feet, thunderous clouds forming in his eyes. “Well maybe you should stop acting like a child then, and think your actions through!”
Cowl was on his feet as well, standing eye-to-eye with his eldest brother. “She is my mate. What more is there to think about? It’s not like I sprang it on the first date, which you would know if you paid attention to me and asked me where I’ve been the past week. I know what I’m doing, I don’t have to ask your permission for it.”
Veins began to pop in Caine’s neck. “Actually, brother, you really should have.”
“And why is that?”
Caine spoke softly. “Because by revealing your secret, you’ve also revealed our secret, without asking us how we felt about that. Before we’ve even met her. Shouldn’t we have some sort of say in that matter? Does our privacy not matter at all to you?”
Fuck. Cowl hadn’t thought about it from that angle. He’d been so concerned about how Andria would react when he told her that he hadn’t really thought about how it might impact his brothers. That they might feel exposed. He’d known he should have talked to them, but for different reasons, to confirm that what he was doing was the right move.
This…this was something else.
All at once their cell phones began to ring. Together.
“It’s Colonel Mara,” Caine said, pulling his out.
The others agreed.
“What the hell does she want?” Cowl mused.
“Only one way to find out.” Caine pressed the answer button on his phone. “Hello?”
“Caine, are your brothers there?”
“Yes.”
The other two phones stopped ringing. Cowl looked back and forth between his brothers. Whatever this was, it couldn’t be good. Colonel Mara was in charge of the dragon program. She’d been the woman in military dress observing them when they’d first awoken, and they’d dealt with her a lot during their orientation sessions. She was a formidable personality.
“We have a problem, and you need to know about it.”
Cowl spoke first. “What problem?”
“We have proof now that somehow the Outsiders are infecting shifters, merging their DNA with yours. I just finished having a meeting with others to let them know, but I felt it prudent to warn you as well. You three need to be more careful. Being out there without mates, you’ll be encountering lots of people. We don’t know how they’re doing it yet, but you need to be on the lookout.”
“We weren’t invited to the meeting?” Caine sounded irritated.
“No, you need to be out looking for your mates.” There was a pause. “How’s that going?”
“Good.” He answered before either of his brothers could.
“Oh?”
Caine glared at him. “Cowl believes he has found his mate. Ivore and I are still looking.”
“Very well. I hope you’ve found her, Cowl. The rest of you, keep looking. We need all the help we can get. We believe there’s at least one more infected dragon out there, but we have no idea who.”
Cowl tried not to feel smug. He was well aware of why the issue of finding mates was such a big deal. Apparently the bond between a dragon and his mate acted as some sort of shield against the lifeforce-stealing powers the Outsiders possessed. Nobody knew how it worked, but a number of other dragons who had fought the Outsiders had verified the claim’s accuracy.
The more he thought about it though, the less smug he felt. Yes, he’d found his mate, but she still hadn’t accepted him. Now, on top of the men giving Andria trouble, he had to worry about himself becoming infe
cted and turning against his brothers and everyone else.
“Is there any more information you can give us?” Caine asked before she hung up.
“Not really. The only thing we have so far is a report from an onyx dragon and his mate that the effects seemed similar to that of a drug addict gone bad. Loss of weight, gauntness, paled skin, and redness around the eyes. They also seemed to stop taking care of themselves. Not shaving and the like. Other than that, we have no signs. It’s still too early to tell.”
They acknowledged the risks and Colonel Mara hung up. The three brothers looked at each other, for a moment none of them moving. Then, as if by a mental agreement, they all stood up and went their separate ways. Caine headed to his room. Ivore the roof.
Cowl headed for the pub. It was time he went to work.
Chapter Eighteen
Andria
“You need to get down to the pub. Now.”
The words echoed in her head as she weaved through traffic. Cowl had called her while she was working on a project in the library. He’d not wanted to say what was going on over the phone, but the darkness in his tone told her it wasn’t good.
Was he going to break up with her? Were they even together to the point that he could break up with her? That was all part of what she’d wanted to find out earlier, to determine what the hell was going on between them. Andria wasn’t sure if she was ready for anything despite her body’s apparent claims to the opposite. She didn’t regret sleeping with Cowl, but it had made things unnecessarily complicated, something she’d been desperate to avoid.
That she trusted him enough to let him into her body spoke volumes about how much she trusted him, but that wasn’t the same as saying she was ready for something serious. Baby steps.
Pulling up to the pub she noticed several police cars, and a heavier-than-normal civilian presence out front. The parking lot in the rear looked normal however, and because of the direction she was coming from she wasn’t actually able to see the front of the pub until she parked and hurried around. Only the flashing lights down the alley between the pub and the dry cleaner next door alerted her to the police presence.
“Cowl?” she called, emerging from the alley itself.
“Over here.”
He was standing in front of the pub, his white hair and size immediately setting him apart from the crowd of bystanders. He pointed one giant arm toward her and everyone seemed to part, allowing her to rush to his side.
“What’s going…” her question died away as she saw the front of the pub.
Or what was left of it. The windows had been smashed in, and the doors ripped off the hinges. Giant chunks of brick had been ripped off the outer wall to reveal the wooden frame below.
“Oh my God.” She covered her mouth with both hands as the devastation truly registered on her.
Chairs had been thrown out the windows and they lay scattered about the remnants of tables. Glass was everywhere, and she could smell booze from here. Boxes of full beer bottles had been tossed haphazardly, and she could only imagine the extent of the devastation on the side. It had to be thorough.
“What happened?” she asked, blinking swiftly and pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth, trying not to cry. She’d worked there for eight years and had never seen the place look so terrible. Not even close.
His voice was filled with icy fury when he replied. “It was Jake and his friends.”
“What?” She lifted her head, staring at him in disbelief. “No. You can’t be serious.”
“I am. Deadly serious.”
“How can you tell? Did the police find evidence?”
He shook his head. “I can smell them.”
Andria wilted. She’d thought that they actually knew who the perpetrators were, and that maybe justice would be brought. “You can smell them. Right. Because you’re a dragon.”
“Yes. And I’m going to kill them for this.”
“What? You can’t do that, Cowl.”
He stared at her, his blue eyes cold and white, the blue almost faded out entirely. “Why not?”
“Please tell me you’re kidding?” He shook his head. “Because you can’t just go around killing people, that’s why!” she hissed at him, trying to keep her voice low so others wouldn’t hear.
“That’s a stupid rule. They deserve it.”
Andria sighed. “Come on.” She took his hand, tugging him away from the scene. “There’s nothing more we can do here. Not with you acting like this. Mr. Logan is here, and he’ll handle everything.” She pointed out the pub’s owner to Cowl, who had yet to meet him.
He stood his ground. “With me acting like what?”
She shot him a hard look. “Like a murder vigilante out seeking justice.”
“But I am seeking justice. Look what they did to the pub. They deserve it.”
Andria pulled hard and finally he relented, allowing himself to follow her. “Cowl, you can’t prove it to anyone but yourself. Nobody is going to buy the excuse that you can smell them.”
Cowl was still furious. “I know a few people who will. I’m going to track them down, and—”
“No! You’re going to stay here with me.” All at once she couldn’t hold it back any longer and the tears she’d kept walled away started to flow. Andria hated how emotional she was, bursting into waterworks over every little thing, but she couldn’t control it. She cried a lot.
Right away Cowl’s demeanor changed, the icy fires melting away as warmth poured into his eyes. “Andria? Andria, what’s wrong?” His powerful arms embraced her as she nearly flung herself at him in desperate need of support.
She’d been strong for so long, without anyone to lean on. Doing it all herself, keeping up the act, pretending that she was fine. But this was the straw that broke her. The final weight on her shoulders that made her crumble.
“What’s WRONG?” she shouted. “What’s wrong is that I’m finished. It’s over, Cowl. Done.”
He stared at her blankly, his hard features softened by the blur of salty tears in her eyes. A strong hand took her face into it, and Cowl’s thumb wiped away her tears, first on one eye, then the other.
“Andria, it will be okay. I promise you this. You’re not finished.”
“I am though.” Her voice was hollow. Empty. Like the rest of her. “I needed the pub, Cowl. It was my only source of income, and the only thing putting me through school. I was already likely to be nearly three thousand dollars short for tuition for second semester. With no bar, I won’t make any money, and I’ll be even more behind. Which means I won’t be able to stay in school. Which means no Master’s degree. Which means I have to stay in this fucking city for even longer!”
Cowl held her tight, but he didn’t speak again until she’d cried herself out of tears for now.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said, kissing her head.
“What?”
He spoke softly. “You’re going to school. You will finish your degree. This I promise you.”
“But I have no—”
Cowl cut her off. “I’m aware of that. I’m going to pay for it.”
The little hope that had been building in her flickered out like a candle in the wind. “How are you going to pay for it, Cowl? You’re even more broke than I am.”
He scoffed loudly.
“You work at a bar, Cowl. For even less money than I make, by the way.”
She stepped back as he laughed in her face.
“I’m sorry, Andria. But did you really think I was working there for money? No, you’re wrong. I’m a dragon. I will use my treasure to pay for your school.”
“Right. The whole dragon thing again.”
Cowl grabbed her by both shoulders, bending at the waist until he was even with her. “I’ll make you a deal.”
She eyed him warily. “What sort of deal?”
“I’ll prove to you I’m a dragon. But in return, you have to tell me what is going on between you, Jake, and that arrogant old ma
n you say is his father.”
Andria looked away. How was she supposed to tell him what had happened? To reveal what had been done to her? She desperately didn’t want Cowl looking at her differently. She loved the raw sexuality and desire when he was checking her out and he didn’t think she could see it. He looked at her with a sense of curiosity about what lay under her clothes.
It was so very different than everyone else.
Of course, if I have to tell him, it’s only after he somehow proves that he’s a dragon. And I get to decide what makes good-enough proof. He’ll never be able to come up with something strong enough.
Andria nodded, her decision made. “Fine. Deal.” She stuck out her hand, and Cowl took it immediately.
Either way, this ought to be good.
Chapter Nineteen
Cowl
He couldn’t believe it.
She’d agreed to tell him the truth. Of course, she had only done so because she knew with absolute conviction that there was no way he was ever going to be able to prove to her that he was a dragon.
Boy was Andria going to be shocked when he transformed in front of her. Cowl wished he could videotape it, because this was going to be good. He looked forward to seeing her jaw drop open in surprise. Hopefully she wouldn’t run away in terror. There was something stronger in her than that, but still, the complete destruction of reality as you knew it was enough to get most people to act differently.
“You seem pretty sure of yourself over there,” he teased.
Andria smiled, her hands gripping the wheel tightly as she guided them to an abandoned part of the city as requested. “I figure that this is a win-win situation for me.”
“How so?” Cowl noticed the buildings around them growing seedier. He’d asked for open fields or abandoned industrial areas. Somewhere that he could hide his huge form from any casual bystanders. The rest of the world wasn’t ready to see his kind yet.
The time was coming though, they couldn’t remain secret for much longer.
“Because. Either I get to watch something really hilarious happen as you try to prove you’re a dragon and reveal it to be a joke. Or you prove yourself utterly crazy, and I find out before I become even more attached to you, saving myself plenty of heartache and pain down the line.” She winked. “See? Win-win.”
