Page 19 of Dragon Thief of New York
The alarm cuts out as a voice comes through the speakers. “Everyone okay in there?”
“Uh, yeah, seems like we stopped, though,” Otto answers when Kat and I don’t.
“Yeah, we’re calling the fire department, but you’re gonna have to sit tight for a bit.” The sound crackles around the words. “Shouldn’t be too long. I’ll check back in with you once they’re here.”
For a moment, the only noise is Kat’s heavy breathing. “I can’t be stuck in here,” she gasps. “I need—I need—” A single wing bursts out of her back, slapping me in the face and out of my stunned daze.
“Shhh, love.” I rub her back in soothing circles. “It’s okay. Just talk to us.”
“He’s right, beauty. Your emotional state will make it harder to control your shifting. Talking it out will help.”
She collapses in Otto’s arms, sobbing. My heart feels like it’s made of sharp, ragged glass, all shattered pieces. Otto slowly lowers Kat to the floor, setting her on his lap, and I take a seat leaning against the wall across from them.
I’ve never known what to do around a crying woman. Thankfully, Otto has an instinctive knowledge of how to handle these things. He holds her, rocking softly, and making soothing little noises that seem to calm her.
Her wing shrinks into her back, her claws retracting. For a long time, silent sobs shake her shoulders. Sobs that rip my heart to shreds.
When her tears finally dry up, Otto tucks her hair behind her ear. “Tell us why you think Damian’s Lincoln’s dad.”
There’s that word again.Dad.I never thought I’d have children, not after my mate refused to bond with me. It was impossible. I grieved and left it behind years ago, but now…
“I don’t remember getting pregnant,” Kat whispers. “I wasn’t with anyone around the time I conceived. No one. I thought I’d been…” Sobs break her voice, and nausea stirs my stomach.
My mate. The woman I’ve silently tried not to love had to deal with all of this on her own. I abandoned her all because I was too much of a coward to keep an eye on her.
When Goddess Week first ended, I thought maybe the stories of human mates forgetting their dragon counterpart were exaggerated lies. I found Kat, and she didn’t remember me. The next day, I introduced myself to her again, and asked her out. She said yes, but when I went to pick her up for the date, she had no memory of me at all. I tried one more time after that, but it was too hard. I could feel the madness creeping into the corners of my mind. So, I cut all ties. Dropped out of law school so I wouldn’t run into her, lost myself in meaningless sex and drugs for a long time, anything to numb the pain. I acted like a child, angry at the world. It took a long time for me to crawl out of that hole.
And now, I learn all that time, my mate was raising a child on her own, a child she didn’t remember conceiving. A child she shouldn’t have been able to conceive as a human. Bile climbs my throat. I should have checked in. Even if she didn’t remember me, even if it hurt, I should have been there for her and for him.
She takes a deep breath. “I thought I’d been roofied. I even saw a hypnotist to see if I could unlock the memories. It didn’t work. I went to a priest who told me I was carrying the antichrist through immaculate conception.”
A growl rattles my chest, replacing the nausea with anger. Smoke pours from my nostrils, clouding the air. How dare someone tell a woman something like that about her child?
“Don’t worry. I punched the asshole.” She chuckles a little through her tears. “But my brother thought it was the funniest thing he’s ever heard. He still calls me Mother Mary.” Her laugh turns bitter.
“Oh, beauty,” Otto coos, holding her tighter.
Helplessness seeps into every cell of my body. I failed her.
“I don’t blame you,” Kat says, finally looking up at me. “I really don’t. It makes sense now, but…” She looks away. “It was… hard.”
Unable to hold back any more, I crawl across the elevator to sit next to them and rub her back. “I’m sorry, love. I’m so sorry.”
“Guess I’m not the only one who needs to grovel.” Otto’s joke falls flat. I glare at him, and Kat grimaces.
“Sorry,” he says.
“I’ll happily grovel,” I whisper. “If that’s what you need, I’ll do anything to help you. Whatever you need. Everything I have. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you sooner, but I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you are,” she cries. “Tomorrow, I’ll wake up, and I won’t remember any of this. I won’t rememberyou.”
Silence settles between us as that truth sinks in.
“Then I’ll tell you again.” I pull my hand back, letting go of her. I mean it, but fuck, it’s gonna be hard to have this conversation every day, maybe multiple times a day.
“No,” Kat says. “I can’t go through this over and over. I just… I can’t.”
Fuck, I thought I knew heartache after leaving her fourteen years ago, but this is real heartache. To see her so hurt and broken while knowing I can’t do anything to make it better. “I’ll stay away then.”
