Page 28 of Klaus

“So I had assumed.”

Now that we were together, he relaxed. The frown lines on his brow smoothed and a faint smile touched the corners of his mouth. In an instant, he was a completely different man.

“What did you want to see me for?” I managed to ask over the furious racing of my heart. I wished it would stop betraying me as it did. I wasn’t entirely certain that this rush of feeling toward him was wise.

As an afterthought, I added, “Did you want to tell me about the presence you sensed, which you didn’t feel important enough to tell me about before?”

He growled. “No, it wasn’t that. Though it had something to do with it.”

“Why didn’t you say anything the other day, when I ran into you out there?”

“We had other things to discuss, or have you forgotten?”

My cheeks flushed at the memory. “You know I haven’t.”

“Then I should think you wouldn’t have to ask such a question,” he retorted, stern and perhaps a bit put-out by my impertinence. “It might interest you to know that I’ve been wracking my brain for two days, trying to find a way to bring your dragon back.”

My heart softened further than it already had, much to my dismay. “You have been? But… why? And what do you think you could do?”

“You might not like the answer.”

I groaned. “Wonderful start.”

His eyes darted back and forth, his head turning slightly to ensure we were alone before announcing, “I decided yesterday to share your problem with someone. Just one person. Mary.”

“You what?” If he’d punched me, I couldn’t have been more surprised. “You told her? Without asking me?”

“Ainsley, before you lose your temper, try listening to me.”

“I’ll lose my temper if I see fit,” I snarled. “How dare you speak to her about me without finding out how I felt about it?”

“Perhaps I knew you would take it the wrong way, as you have, and would fly off the handle over it. As you have!”

When I turned to storm off—somewhere, anywhere but where I stood with him in front of me—he closed his fingers around my arm in a vise grip and was not about to let go as easily as he had before.

“Let go of me,” I snarled, trying to pull away to no avail.

“Not until you listen,” he whispered, which was somehow more threatening than when he’d shouted. “I knew it was of no use to seek your permission, but that we’d find more answers with her help. She has resources we do not, and she can research away from prying eyes.”

He released me, nearly shoving me away in disgust. That small gesture pained me more than I would’ve guessed.

“Did she find something?” I asked, hands on my hips. It wouldn’t do to let him know how he hurt me. I wasn’t even certain why he had. The thought of him being disgusted with me…

He grunted, shaking his head. “Not yet. But if anyone can, she can. She even has the Appalachian clan digging around—not that she would tell them specifics,” he continued, raising his voice over my protests. “She simply has them looking through texts to find any recounting of a shifter who lost their animal, whatever it may be.”

An awkward silence fell over us, one which I wanted badly to fill. I hadn’t forgiven him for going behind my back, but that didn’t erase my guilt for overreacting as I had. He had a point, I wouldn’t have granted permission. Still, it would have been a nice gesture if he’d come to me first.

He was the one to break the silence. “So. I assume there have been no developments.”

I touched the stone closest to me, felt the smooth surface as I rested my palm against it. Centuries of weather had worn them down from what they’d originally been—back when I was a girl; there was hardly enough space between them through which to see the sun.

“No developments,” I murmured without looking at him.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He sounded it, too.

I felt compelled to ask, “Nothing on your side? I mean, looking out for intruders?”

“You would be the first to know.”

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