Page 23 of Dragon's Midlife Secret Baby
Chelsea smiled, remembering a few times she’d stuck up for her own sisters. “No, I suppose not. Do you really think this guy could help us?”
Maeve bobbed her head back and forth uncertainly. “I like to think so. Given what I know about him, he’s going to know more about all the most powerful people around here than anyone else. At the very least, he could be a starting point.”
10
Kendrick hadhis elbow propped on the arm of his chair as he listened. He leaned against his hand, two fingers stretching up toward his eyes. He nodded as Beck concluded his reasoning. “I think you’ve made the right choice, but I know it wasn’t an easy one.”
“It wasn’t, and I just have to hope that I didn’t screw everything up by making it.” He’d seen the pain on Chelsea’s face when he’d left, not to mention the confusion on Corbin’s.
“The risk would’ve been greater by staying, considering everything you’ve told me. It seems quite likely that this person could still be after you—or any dragon they can get a hold of.”
Getting his memories back should’ve been arelief, but Beck still felt weighted down. A little of that had eased now that he’d explained it all to Kendrick and the older man was on board, but his dragon was still uneasy. “I just hope we can get to the bottom of this.”
“We will, but for now, you need to rest.”
“I don’t want to?—”
Kendrick held up his hand to stop him. “You may be the future Alpha, but right now, I’m the one holding the position. You got your stubborn streak from my side of the family, and I can see the exhaustion in your eyes. You need to take some time to get your head right before you can do anything about this problem. Take the room at the top of the stairs, on the right. We’ve only got the first two floors occupied right now, so that will give you a bit of peace and quiet.”
A gentle knock came on the door, and Kendrick called out. “Come in.”
Lilith peeked in the room. “Sorry to interrupt. Beck, I just wanted to see if you were staying for dinner so I know how much to make.”
“He is,” Kendrick replied for him, “and for breakfast and lunch for the foreseeable future. Would you mind taking him up to his room? I told him to take the one at the top of the stairs.”
“Sure.” Lilith opened the door a little wider and looked around. “Do you have a bag or anything?”
“I didn’t have much of anything to bring,” Beck explained. Though the coven had given him some clothes to wear for the moment, he hadn’t taken anything more than what was on his back.
Lilith took this in stride as they approached the main foyer with the twisting staircase. “I’m happy to go out shopping with you sometime. You’re going to need at least a few things.”
“Maybe sometime,” he hedged. Lilith was right, but Beck didn’t really care at all right now about material things. “You don’t have to take me all the way up. Go back to whatever you were doing. I can find it.”
“If you’re sure. Dinner is at six!” She trotted off into the kitchen.
Beck climbed the stairs. The house was only somewhat familiar to him, but at least this time that wasn’t due to a magical mental blockage. He’d simply not stayed there very long before he’d gotten his own apartment. Beck knew enough about the layout to make his way upstairs without burdening Lilith.
He reached the second-floor landing. Only bedrooms were up there, and he believedEwan was down at the end. They’d given Lilith the room with the biggest closet. Kendrick would be down on the first floor, and Griffin had probably taken over the second-floor room that Beck had only occupied for a short time. He continued up the stairs.
It wasn’t difficult to find his new quarters. Beck stepped inside. The dormered windows that poked through the mansard roof meant the walls and ceilings were at odd angles here and there. That made furniture placement difficult, but not impossible. In fact, he kind of liked the way it felt, like he was tucked away from the world. Beck crossed to the window and looked out over the surrounding rooftops.
There was no chance of seeing Chelsea’s house from there, but he thought about her anyway. Their connection was special, a binding of two souls that every shifter looked for. It was the kind of bond that could withstand many things, yet he found himself hoping that theirs was strong enough to see them through this. At least he knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’d never left Chelsea on purpose.
His thoughts turned to Corbin. How could he be a good father to his son when he was practically in hiding? How could he ever explain to Corbin, evenonce he was much older, that he’d completely missed out on the first part of his life? How was anything ever going to be okay again?
Beck may have had his mind back and was with his family, but he was so uneasy, he could barely stand to be in his own skin.
When he heard a knock on the door, he expected it to be Lilith with another suggestion. “It’s open.”
Instead, Griffin stepped in. “Kendrick said you were back. Physically and mentally.”
“I am.” Beck held out his hands and then let them drop, trying not to take that as an insult. “At least for now.”
“Yeah. You gotta make sure the coast is clear.” Griffin lingered near the door, shuffling his feet.
“Listen, I’m sorry this has worked out the way it has,” Beck began. “You know I didn’t leave on purpose, that I wasn’t trying to abandon the clan or anyone else, but I’m sure it looked and felt that way for a while. I guess I just want to apologize that you had to step into my position, but also to thank you for doing it.”
Griffin flapped his hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”
