Page 38 of Been There Dragon That
“The people that did this were angry, Wrath, this feels—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. This didn’tfeellike thieves. This felt like anger. Like revenge. Like she wasn’t safe.
“You’re staying with me. I’ll find people to help get the house cleaned up, but you’re staying with me.” He cupped her chin in his hand and made her look right at him. “No fight.”
His brown eyes were so golden, almost like they were burning.
She swallowed and nodded, letting his heat and intensity thaw the fear icing over her whole body. “No fight. I’ll stay with you.”
Some of his stress visibly released in his shoulders. He was so sure this was the same thieves they’d been dealing with. But the mess and destruction felt personal. She had no reason specifically to think it wasn’t the people Wrath suspected, but he didn’t know the truth about what she’d left behind in Texas either.
“What do you need?” He took her hand and led her through a mess of cushion fluff and books that’d been tossed to the floor.
She pointed at the stairs. “My stuff is up in the main bedroom, but I had to have dropped my phone here by the stairs.”
They walked a few feet down the hallway and found the phone–what was left of the phone. Bits of glass and plastic and metal were strewn everywhere.
“Wishful thinking, I guess.” Rylee sagged against him.
“We can get you another phone. Don’t worry about it.”
She nodded, her movements becoming more and more robotic as she distanced herself from the loss and the fear swelling inside her.
They turned and went back toward the stairwell. Wrath tucked her behind him and climbed first. She followed right behind him, and they entered the master bedroom together.
She covered her mouth but couldn’t stop the fearful gasp. The room was trashed just like the downstairs. The closets and dressers were emptied. The room smelled like piss. Everywhere. Tears filled her eyes, glazing her vision.
She yanked her hand free from Wrath’s and walked into the open bathroom. There in the center of the marble vanity was a black velvet box.Till Deathhad been written on the mirror in red lipstick.
The noose she’d been so sure she’d slipped tightened around her neck once more. Why? Why wouldn’t he let her go?
“Rylee, no. Something is wrong with this.” Wrath wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I’ll get you anything you need. Come.”
Rylee slithered out of his grasp and stepped toward the vanity. She knew what was in the box. She shouldn’t have to open it and look, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“I don’t understand why they would write that on the mirror. I need to call Aarav out here.”
She wasn’t listening. She didn’t want to believe she was right, but the box drew her like a flame. She was a moth bent on self-destruction. She had the box in her hands, but her hands were trembling so hard she couldn’t open it.
Then he was right there beside her again. He took it from her. The little black box. He opened it and showed her what was inside–a small crystal bird in a cage.
He held it out to her, a soft hopeful expression on his face. “It’s not broken. It’s okay.”
Her heart lurched in her chest like a train that’d been knocked from its tracks by a landslide. Nausea rolled in her stomach, and she dashed for the toilet. Nothing but dry heaves and tears.Why won’t he let me go?
“Rylee?” He put a gentle hand on her back and rubbed.
* * *
Wrath
The little trinketin the box hadn’t been broken. It was some kind of little bird in a cage. It was pretty. But Rylee was acting like it meant something. Like it was tied to what she was scared of … or who she was scared of.
Protect mate. Claim mate. Now.
He calmed his dragon and continued to stroke Rylee’s back while she hunched over the toilet.
She’d tried to tell him downstairs that the destruction felt personal. She hadn’t said the words, but he knew that’s what she’d meant.
Now this trinket had scared her worse than anything else.
