Page 38 of Alan

“She told us you had built up a defense in your mind,” he continued. “That you did not wish to accept everything you’d learned about us. Abut Keira. And you had retreated here.” He looked around. “Your home?”

“Yes. My apartment. Sort of. I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I don’t know much of anything. Did you ever find out a bunch of things you thought weren’t true all of a sudden were true? And nothing made sense anymore?”

“No. I can honestly say I did not. Though I always believed my clan was impenetrable. Invulnerable. That nothing from the outside world could touch us, because we were smarter and had experience enough to keep ourselves safe. The delusion died a bitter death along with many members of the clan.”

Right. He had mentioned something about helicopters and gunfire and tests. “I’m sorry. That’s terrible.”

“It was, and it put me in the position I’m now in. I still have yet to settle things with the coven. I don’t know that anything will ever be settled, truth be told. Too many years of misunderstandings.” He sat back, frowning, looking more than a little defeated.

“Now that you’re starting to talk again, I bet you can work it out.” It was crazy. With the two of us alone, talking inside my head—something I would maybe one day have to give a little more thought to, but couldn’t just then because it was entirely too weird—I wasn’t afraid of him. Probably because I could have kicked him out of my head if I wanted to.

The idea gave me courage.

“I suppose we can work together, though it will take time before we return to a place where we trust each other once again. I am not Gavin. I only need for Selene to remember that.”

“You have Keira now. Both of you. Maybe she can help bring you together again.” I couldn’t speak of her without the hurt coming through. She wasn’t who I thought she was, and she would never come home with me again. I would be alone forever.

Alan heard it in my voice, evidently, because he tried to make me feel better. “She is still the Keira you knew. She’s so very afraid of you not being able to accept her now.”

“How would you know?”

“We spoke of it. She was quite stricken, really. Told me how she loves you, how you are her sister.”

I shook my head as tears clogged my throat. “I’m not her sister. She’s not human.”

“She is everything she ever was throughout the entirety of your friendship. Nothing about her has changed but the understanding of her parentage. That is all.”

I hated how right he was. It made me feel terrible, like I had deserted her when she needed me most. “I wish I understood you. All of you, I mean. Dragons. You don’t look like one.”

“Not at the moment, no,” he smiled. “But I assure you, I do when I put my mind to it. We don’t hurt humans, Emelie. Put out of your mind all preconceived notions you ever heard about from stories or movies. No fire-breathing, for one.”

“A plus,” I shrugged, for lack of anything better to say. I was sort of new at the whole ‘talking with a dragon’ thing.

“I would never cause you harm. This, I swear.” The intensity with which he looked at me should have been uncomfortable, but it was anything but. A warm, comfortable sensation spread through me. The room even lightened a little, like somebody had flipped a switch.

“I really did hurt her, didn’t I?” I whispered.

“She understands.”

“Did I hurt you? I ran away from you, and you were trying to keep me from doing something stupid like I ended up doing anyway.”

“No, lass. You didna hurt me.”

It came and went, that Scottish brogue of his. I liked it better when he used it. But weren’t all girls a sucker for a brogue?

“And you came in here to get me,” I whispered, a little awed with him. “I mean, you went into somebody else’s mind. I would’ve cleaned the place up a little if I had known I would have company.”

He tilted his head back and laughed. The sound filled the room and made me feel even warmer inside. I had felt so cold before he showed up.

“I hated to think of you, alone in here, walling yourself up. Too many people need you in the world.”

“Keira does. She’s the only one who ever has.”

He shook his head, hitting me again with that intense stare. “No, lass. Not the only one.”

A shiver ran up my spine. What was happening? I had the feeling I’d known him all my life—I actually felt as comfortable talking with him as I did with Keira, and that never happened. Literally never.

With him? It seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And not just because we were only in my head. When I wasn’t too busy being scared out of my head, I felt at home when he was around.

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