Page 45 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
Then there was also the emotional fallout. He’d have to put up with my tears, my pain, my emotional struggles. Sometimes even my depression. My depression had lifted since I’d met Alaric, but itcouldand probablywouldcome back.
All of these and more were a part of my daily life.Alone, I’d inconvenienced few people other than myself. But in a relationship? It would be a whole different matter. I just didn’t want to disappoint him.
There was also the worry that being in a relationship would be too difficult for me until I healed. How did you even begin to allow someone else into your life when you could barely take care of yourself? When it took all of your energy, health, and determination simply to exist? My mind was willing, was ready, was hopeful, but my body... I sighed. My body was an issue.
What made it tricky was that he wouldn’t really know how he felt about any of this until we were knee deep in a relationship. Youcouldn’tknow, not unless you’d experienced it somehow yourself or with a loved one. I was worried he would eventually grow to resent me. That he would see me differently.
“We’ll take it one day at a time,” Alaric promised. “You’re not and never will be an inconvenience,” he said, tapping precisely into my fears. “And if there are times, days, weeks, months, where you’re too sick to do much, that’s okay. Yes, our life will adjust around that, but that doesn’t mean I will resent you because of it. Are there going to be disappointments? Yes. But that’s life. It doesn’t mean that I will be disappointed inyou.”He smiled. “Maybe just a little disappointed I can’t spoil you in certain ways.”
I huffed a laugh, even as I blinked back tears. “You spoil me plenty.”
He pulled me close and wrapped his arms aroundme, but I was still worried. It was hard to prepare someone else for what my life was. Then again, he was a dragon shifter who currently couldn’t shift, so maybe he understood a little about how our bodies failed us sometimes.
I pulled away and studied him. I didn’t see the flaws he’d warned me about—only the warmth in his eyes when he looked at me, and his kindness, tenderness, and playfulness. None of that required him to shift into a dragon.
On the outside, Alaric didn’t look like he had ever experienced a drop of anxiety or had ever second guessed himself, and yet back at the cabin he’d told me he struggled with those things daily.
It just went to show, you never knew. You never knew what someone else was going through. We all wore masks to cover our struggles. And when you took the mask off, and saw the real person underneath... You began to understand that we wereallgoing through something difficult.
We all needed kindness and comfort.
We all needed love.
Maybe the point wasn’t to close myself off because I felt unworthy or broken. Maybe the point was to try to love anyway, and to try to let others love me.
As if he was echoing my own thoughts, Alaric said, “You are enough, Everly. Exactly as you are.” Then he chuckled. “Nowmeon the other hand.”
I bit my lip as I leaned my forehead against his chest. “You’re enough too,” I whispered.
He sighed. “I don’t feel like I am. Even though I’m healing, I’m still struggling with anxiety. We also still can’t shift.”
You will be able to soon. We’re getting stronger every day.
I blinked, assuming Elandor had broadcasted that to us both.
“Yes, but will it be in time for me to be crowned Prime?”
Have faith.
Maybe that was the answer for both of us—faith. Faith that Alaric and Elandor would heal completely. Faith that I would, too. And faith that everything in our lives would work out—not perfectly, I knew better than to expect that, but well enough. Because I was falling in love with Alaric, and I hoped life wasn’t so cruel as to bring me into his world only to rip me out of it again.
Chapter 15
Everly
“Do you think she goes by Goldilocks?” a voice teased.
Someone sighed. “She has dark brown hair, Taco, so no, I don’t think she does.”
“That’s too bad. Then we could be Goldilocks and the Three Bears!” A smack rang out, followed by a yelp. “Ow! You didn’t have to hit me!”
“If the Prime hears you talking about his mate, he’s going to do more than hit you, he’s going to eat you.”
“I’ve heard bear meat is stringy.”
I blinked groggily awake. Sunlight streamed through the wide front windows of the living room, splashing warmth across my face. My neck ached from the sofa’s armrest, and the faint scent of pine and woodsmoke clung to the air. For a moment, I couldn’t remember where I was. Then I remembered that I’d been exploring the Bear Clan Lodge earlier, but had feltweak a little into my tour and had to sit down on one of the sofas to rest. I must have drifted off.
“Hola, chica. Sorry for waking you,” a man with light brown skin and gray eyes said, his grin more mischievous than apologetic. “I’m Attanassio, but everyone just calls me Taco.”
