Page 92 of Second Chance Dragon Chief

“Not going to hold my breath on that, but you’re right. You go, though. I need to make things right with my frog.”

“We need a better analogy.”

We can work on that later,” Dax said dismissing the distraction. “Regardless, she is what truly matters. I must go to her.”

CHAPTER27

Great, now it’s starting to rain. Perfect.

The storm clouds had come in out of nowhere. The first raindrops fell against the exposed skin of her hands. Seemed that nature wanted to pile on to her woes.

Fine. What do I care?

But that just brought a fresh torrent of tears. Because she did care. She cared a lot. She hadn’t even realized.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She wasn’t supposed to be sad and alone and tipsy walking out in the rain. But it seemed try as she might, it always came back to this in the end. And even worse, she knew she had something to do with it. She had built up so much armor to keep out the pain, that she was keeping out the love too.

Wendy and then Tam had both wanted to talk, but she was too proud. Or was it just too sick of the hurt?

PotAto -potAHto.

It didn’t really matter, because it added up to the same thing in the end. And it had been like that with Dax too. Rather than trusting him, she had wanted to belong. To look pretty in the Council’s picture. And now it was too late. The damage had been done.

What had Mack said when they were talking about the town?

Dax wants to protect Fae Crossing.

Was it really that simple? That she had been so fixated on the Fae and in doing things her way, that she had lost sight of what Dax had to handle? It wasn’t just the fae he had to deal with, or the shifters, or the myriad of other beings that passed through on a regular basis. He had to hold it all together.

God, that must be exhausting.

But it was true. Her world was just part of it. He had to look out for everything and for everyone.

She thought of her father again.

Their romance had come about from the most unlikely of circumstances. Or maybe it was cliché? The detective and the damsel in distress?

Regardless, they had built a connection that had finally become romantic. And when he couldn’t solve her father’s case and magically make everything better, their cliché romance had hit the wall.

Because of me.

She had been so busy feeling like the victim of cruel fate that she hadn’t realized how much she was putting it on Dax to just make it all better. When the case went colder and colder it was just too much for her to handle. It had to be someone’s fault. And that someone was Dax.

And then, to pile on top of that, she had challenged his work at every turn, hadn’t she?

Wonderful.

She walked on miserably, the rain beginning to pick up its tempo as if to magnify her grief.

Too bad she had realized all this two days too late.

Or maybe two years too late.

She let out an audible sigh.

So much for her chance with Dax.

She looked out into the deep impenetrable swamp on her left as she made her way down the loneliest stretch of her regular route, watching the rain make a thousand little circles where it hit the clear pools of the swamp. The place had always given her the creeps.

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