Page 28 of Ronen
Rubbing at my temples, where my headache was coming back in full force, I said, “I’m not really sure what you’re telling me.”
“What I’m telling you is that my son is stubborn, like his omega papa, and you’re gonna have to be the aggressor when it comes to this,” he gave me a pointed look. “And none of this cutesy, secret I-like-you-but-I’m-too-afraid-to-tell-you crap you’ve been pulling with him. Fucking hell, it’s like watching two middle schoolers. I half expect you to pull his hair, drop a note on his desk that says, ‘Do you like me, circle yes or no’, and then run like hell.”
He ran a hand down his clean-shaven jaw. “I know Ro likes being in charge of things, but he needs a strong alpha. And I don’t mean one that is going to try to stifle him, either, or control him, but one that can accept him and all his…eccentricities.” He pointed a finger at me, “Ronen has a bad tendency of getting bored very easily. Not just anyone can keep him interested after the chase. Once he allows someone to catch him–” he flicked his fingers, “he shoos them away. On to the next adventure.”
Scraping my teeth along my lower lip, I told him truthfully, “I have no clue what you are talking about. I don’t really see him as eccentric. Or easily bored.”
Jamie pushed off the wall. “Good answer. There’s a lot about Ronen you don’t know. He doesn’t let just anyone see certain sides of himself. He’s a master of showing people what he wants them to see. Just like you have your secrets,” another pointed look that reached into my very soul, “so does my son.”
Taking a few seconds to absorb what Jamie had said, I still wasn’t sure about most of it, honestly. The man talked in riddles half the time, and despite the doctor assuring me I didn’t have a concussion, I just wasn’t up for sorting it all out.
Between the lack of sleep, the fall, and discovering Ronen was my fated, my body had had enough for one day. The things I was sure of was that I needed to speak to Ronen and I knew I wanted to see where this thing–us being fated–went. Anything beyond that would have to wait.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Jamie headed for the curtained doorway. “Good luck, you’re going to need it. I will tell you this; Ronen is very much like my husband, and it might not be easy, but I can guarantee it will be worth it.”
“Jamie?” I called softly, before he could slip out. He turned to me, a question in his eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask?”
The crooked smirk was back on his face; the same one I had sometimes seen on Ronen’s face when he thought I wasn’t looking, and something amused him. “Ask what?”
“What kind of shifter I am?”
Jamie gave a small chuckle, his shoulders shaking with theeffort. “What makes you think I don’t already know?”
His answer left me shell shocked, but I couldn’t tell if he really knew about my dragon or if the man was fucking with me.
But if he did know, how did he know? I was super careful when I let my dragon out, and my mind raced to think of any time I might have screwed up. I came up blank.
My mouth opened, but before I could say one word, Jamie once again left me speechless.
“Mason Andrew Caldwell, thirty-five. Alpha father, Andrew. Omega father, Cord. One older brother, Connor. Grew up on a six-thousand-acre ranch just outside of Denver Colorado. Fate definitely knew what she was doing there.”
Once, again, I had no clue what the man meant, but I continued to listen to him recite facts about my life.
“Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Colorado State, with a minor in psychology. Entered the police academy at twenty-two. Worked your way up to homicide by the age of thirty, impressive, by the way, before you applied for the position of sheriff to fill the remainder of Becks’ term when he retired. Well, applied is a casual term, since I know Becks approached you about the position, not that you went looking for it. But you took it, likely because your family didn’t approve of you turning your back on ranching–your legacy–to go into law enforcement. And also because you were getting burned out from looking at dead bodies, and feeling like you weren’t able to help people enough because you were limited to dealing with cases after the crime had been committed. But that’s just me speculating. How am I doing so far?”
Staring at the man with a mixture of anger and awe, I whispered, “I…how?”
“I’d tell ya kid, but then I’d have to kill ya,” he joked. At least I thought he was joking. “And that might upset my son, which I try to avoid. I know you leave little ducks on my son’s Jeep when you think no one is looking. I know you go tothe library almost every day, and you pretend to lose books, so my son is forced to talk to you. You have a small farm off the highway, that sits on about thirty acres, with a hodge podge collection of assorted animals. The question is are they for your enjoyment, or for your beast’s?”
What? My…what?
“Ew, you think…?” Giving him a horrified look, I exclaimed, “I love animals! They aren’t…just no. The only ones I’m planning to eat are the beef cows I’m getting in the spring. As a human. Steaks, hamburgers, roasts. Cooked.” I added, just to clarify.
My dragon liked meat, but I wasn’t feeding my animals to him. He would stay quite happy with a random deer every once in a while.
“And I know that no matter how much Ronen says he doesn’t like you, he is definitely attracted to you. Which drives him nuts, because you really do piss him off,” he turned to go, before stopping again, while I sat there in stunned silence at all the things Jamie Sinclair knew about me.
“It’s Sawyer, by the way,” he told me softly, and my head shot up to stare at him. “The S stands for Sawyer.” He pointed a finger at me, his face turning deadly serious. “He told us you’ve been trying to figure it out, I’m guessing as a way to get him to talk to you. But if you tell him that it was me that told you, even the ability to breathe fire won’t save your ass from me. And, you’ll never see me coming.”
Chapter Ten
Ronen
“Can you believe that hottie sheriff is your fated mate?”
Emily was practically vibrating on the back counter she was perched on, her legs swinging back and forth at a rapid pace.
It was about the twentieth time she had asked the same question and I was well and truly over it. I was having a hard enough time coming to grips with my life right now, without being reminded every few minutes by a ghost.
