Page 20 of Dragon's Midlife Secret Baby
“Possibly. I’m not aware of any other prisoners. A few times, they forced me to shift. It wasn’t anything like what I felt at the clanhouse yesterday, though. Instead of feeling strong and healed, I was weak. I could barely hold my head up.”
“Goddess,” Chelsea whispered.
He didn’t like revisiting all of this, especially since it made Chelsea so uncomfortable, but he knew he had to get it all out. “One time, he had his assistant do whatever spell it was that forced me into my other form. I can’t tell you if he did it wrong or if I just got lucky, but I actually had some strength. I bit him. Hard. I think I took his arm off, or at least it was close. I turned and ran. There were sharp cliff faces along the edge of the island. I was going to fly, but all I could do was fall into the water.”
“And then swim to shore,” Chelsea said, completing the story. “Beck, that’s just awful.”
It definitely wasn’t the happily ever after he felt everyone was waiting for. “You and Maeve—and Corbin—broke the spell and brought my mind back.We know what happened to me now, but we don’t know why or by whom.”
“That’s okay.” She took both of his hands in hers now. “We’ll figure it out. You can take some time to process everything, and then we’ll see what we can do.”
“No, Chelsea. I don’t think you understand what all of this really means. I was an unwilling test subject in some sick lab experiment, but there was more to it than that.” He could still hear the man’s words.All I had to do was get you out of the way, and I might as well get something out of it.“Someone wanted me gone. Someone told this nutjob where I lived and what I am. This wasn’t random.”
She shook her head slightly, her red curls catching on the deep blue fabric of her top. “Okay, but doesn’t that mean we still have to figure out who this is and what we need to do about it?”
“It meansIneed to,” he corrected.
“That’s dangerous,” she shot back. “Whoever this is already knows who you are. If you escaped, if he’s looking for you, then trying to find him again only puts you at risk.”
“I’m already at risk. I’ve probably had a target on my back since the first day I arrived here.” He jerkedhimself up off the couch, once again no longer able to keep still. “I’m going to stay at the clanhouse.”
She pushed herself back slightly into the couch. “Beck.”
His dragon had been arguing with him about it ever since he’d come up with the idea. After so long of being away from the people who mattered the most to him, it felt inherently wrong to purposely pull himself away from them. It felt even more wrong, however, to allow them to be in harm’s way when there was something he could do about it. “I need to get this figured out before I involve anyone else in my life, Chelsea.”
“We’re already involved,” she said quietly.
“I know. I know.” He’d argued himself through numerous circles as he’d taken that walk. There were too many things to think about, so Beck had decided only to concentrate on what would keep everyone safe. What else could they possibly have if their lives were in danger? “I don’t want to put you, Corbin, or your coven in harm’s way. I still want to be a father to Corbin in whatever ways that I can. You and he both deserve that, but I won’t sit around here and wait for whoever this is to come and get me and take out everyone here along the way.”
She looked away from him for a moment, andwhen she looked back, tears shimmered in her eyes. “You’re really going to just leave?”
“I have to, Chelsea. It’s the right thing. Please understand that I’m doing this for your sake and for Corbin’s.” He was leaning heavily on logic, but it was caving under the weight of emotions. Beck had to stay strong. “Once I find this guy and figure out what to do about him, I’ll feel safer about moving on with our lives.”
“If that’s what you really want,” she replied, her voice barely audible.
No. It wasn’t what he wanted at all.
It was the only thing he could do.
9
“It’stime to go to bed, honey. Let’s get your PJs on.” Chelsea pulled Corbin’s favorite pajama set out of the dresser drawer.
Corbin rubbed his eye. “I not sleepy.”
Chelsea knew that wasn’t exactly true. “Sometimes, we have to go to bed even when we aren’t sleepy.” She removed his clothes and put them in the hamper before taking him to the bathroom to wash the last of the day off his face.
“You going to bed?” he asked.
“Not yet, but I will soon.” Chelsea could certainly use some sleep. Her mind and body were exhausted, but she knew that if she laid down, she’d only be staring at the ceiling all night.
He rubbed his eyes again. “When Daddy coming home?”
She choked back her tears as she gently combed her fingers through his wild curls. Beck had made sure to tell Corbin goodbye before he’d left, and he’d promised he’d come to play with him again soon, but there was no indication as to exactly when that would be. “I don’t know. Soon, I hope.”
“I miss him.”
Chelsea paused as she put a small smear of toothpaste on his brush. In his short life, Corbin hadn’t had much cause to miss anyone. She’d moved back to the covenstead while she was still pregnant, knowing she’d need the help and support of her family to deal with a pregnancy close to forty and being a single mother. Though not everyone in the coven lived here, they came and went frequently enough that Corbin saw all of them fairly regularly. Beck was the first person she could recall that he’d actually said he missed. “I miss him, too.”
