Page 65 of Tempt the Dragon
“But that’s just it, missy. You did have a mother and she loved you. So did your daddy. They had to bring you here or you would’ve been killed too. They’d made enemies on the Far Realm, enemies they knew would come back tohaunt them, and they weren’t willing to let you pay for their transgressions.”
She took a deep breath, letting it out as slowly as she possibly could without fainting. So her parents had loved her and they had wanted her. That was all well and good. Now she could get back to her life.
“You’re sitting over there right now telling yourself it doesn’t matter, when you know good and well itdoes. Every decision, every move you’ve made in your life has been led by the assumption that your parents didn’t want you. That somehow you weren’t good enough for them.”
She interrupted Rosilda. “Apparently I wasn’t good enough to teach about being a Drakon.”
“You were six when I got the message from a Drakon in a neighboring clan that you were in that foster home. But you were fourwhen they died. At four years old you wouldn’t remember if they’d told you about dragons or snakes living in the belly of the earth.” Rosilda’s tone was getting snippy now. “Maybe I should’ve told you, but I wanted to keep you safe. I didn’t want any of the mess your parents had gotten into to ever find you. And when you grew up and started getting into the preternatural world, I considered tellingyou again so you’d be on the lookout. But you seemed to be doing so well and I had my job with the shifter tribes. We both did what we had to do with the life we were given. Now, I’m stuck like this, examining how much longer the human half of me is going to keep on truckin’ on this realm. And you, you’re backtracking and denying yourself happiness.”
“I’m living my life.” She stood now becauseshe was irritated, and she needed to pace. “I’m doing what I was born to do, just like you said. I’m helping people.”
“While being too afraid to help yourself. But you know what, I’m not going to regret waiting to tell you all this, because you needed this journey. You needed to prove to yourself that you could stand on your own, and you did.”
Throwing her hands up in the air and thendropping them down to her sides, she yelled, “What do you think I should be doing that would be better than taking care of you? Just say what you want to say, Rosilda.”
The room went silent. She’d never raised her voice at Rosilda before and immediately felt like crap for doing so now.
“You love him. He loves you. There’s no reason the two of you shouldn’t be together.” She made it soundso simple.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. He made a choice. When I woke up from the tonic Ravyn made to reverse the effects of the poison, I asked for him and was told he’d already left.” And she hadn’t argued with his choice because she’d decided she needed to return to Miami before they’d even set out on the mission. Aiken’s leaving first had saved her from being the one to walkaway this time.
But every day she wondered if he felt the physical and emotional pain she did.
“Did you try to convince him that choice wasn’t the right one?”
“No. I let him go. The same way he let me go before.”
“That makes both of you idiots. Just because you’re Drakon don’t mean you’re gonna live forever and it doesn’t promise happiness in the years you live. The only thingthat can give you that is following your heart. Letting go of everything else that stops you from being your best and the happiest you can be. In the end, that’s all that matters, Melody. The happy moments are all that matter.”
“What are you doing here? It’s almost two in the morning,” Mel said when she opened the front door.
And still his beast was wide awake, his heart thumping wildlyas his gaze settled on her for the first time in two months.
“Sorry. I just finished up another assignment and I decided to come.” There really was no other explanation, but he knew he needed to say more. “Can I come in?”
She was wearing a pair of barely there shorts and a tank top. Her feet were bare, sparkly pink painted toes seemingly smiling up at him and hair mussed the way he’d comeused to seeing first thing in the morning. Stepping to the side she opened the door wider and he entered the house.
From the outside it was a cute little bungalow on a street with many more that looked the same. It was a warm night in Miami, no breeze. She switched on a light as he stopped in the living room.
“What are you doing here, Aiken?” She stood a few feet away from him, her armsfolded over her chest.
He wanted to reach out to her. To hug her, hold her close, the way he’d missed doing all those nights since he left the Congo. “I’ve been an idiot.” He stopped when it looked like a smile ghosted her lips. “Again.”
She cleared her throat. “You came all the way to Miami to say that to me? You really could’ve called.”
Deciding he deserved that slap, he draggeda hand down the back of his head and turned away from her, walking to where there was a patio door, covered by vertical blinds. Taking a second to replay all the words he’d rehearsed while sitting alone on the jet, he turned back and decided it was now or never.
“I should’ve stayed. In the Congo eight weeks ago and in Miami eighty years ago. I should’ve fought for you, for us. And I didn’t.I don’t have an excuse; I just know that this time I plan to stand and fight.” There, he’d said it.
She was shaking her head instead of speaking and he didn’t know what that meant. “Talk to me, Mel. Tell me what you’re thinking. If this isn’t enough I’ve already called a skywriter to write the wordsI was an idiotin the sky at noon tomorrow. If that’s not enough I’m prepared to grovel.” Hesighed. “Reese suggested I start with that, but I was hoping we could come to some better terms.”
When she still didn’t respond, he continued. “In the Congo, I left because I felt so guilty that you’d been hurt. After all the time I’d spent telling you that your purpose was to do exactly what you were doing, just to have you end up hurt because I couldn’t protect you, it cut me to the core.I felt like there was no way I deserved a woman like you.” He shook his head. “Every day of these past two months I’ve thought of how stupid I was, how selfish and inconsiderate I’d been to you, and again, I felt undeserving. But then I recalled a conversation I had with Shola and Ravyn about the beast selecting its perfect partner. That’s what you are, Mel, it’s what you’ve always been, my partner,my heart, my soul.”
“Eighty years ago, I did what I wanted to do, Aiken. I made my choice and I had to live with it. Eight weeks ago,Idid the same thing.Idecided. Not you. Not Theo. Not anybody, but me.”
He nodded. “I know you did and I respect you for doing what was right for you every time. And I know it’s taken me a long time to come to my senses. When we were in the Congo, I wentback and forth with whether it would be better just to leave you alone once and for all.”
“Why didn’t you do that?”
