Scorch(6)

I had to make him understand, even though I wanted to choke on the words. “My mate, he’s married. His wife is in there, with their child. And she’s pregnant. He’s… not available.”

Ty cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowing. “That can’t be right, Maks. Shouldn’t he be gay? He can’t have a pregnant wife. I can’t fucking believe I’m saying this, but isn’t he the one who’s supposed to get magically dragon-impregnated or some shit? I mean, not ‘magically,’ I’m sure you guys actually fuck— nope.” Ty paused, holding his hands up to stop himself. “I take that back. I’m not going there. But, seriously, isn’t it, like, fated?”

My dragon agreed, but Ty didn’t seem to notice the little puff of steam. He was still talking.

“Dude, you can’t fuck with fate. There must be some mistake. Stop looking like your hamster just died. Go after him.”

There was no room for doubt in his voice, and his words eased some of the tension inside me. Ty was right. Again. I didn’t know how it could possibly work out, but I couldn’t just let my mate walk away. But…

“I don’t know where he went.”

“So go find out. The fated mate thing? What my brother has? That’s not something you just let go, Maks,” Ty said, suddenly serious. “I mean, sure the whole ‘my brother-in-law turns into a fucking dragon’ thing is a little weird, and the way Wes gets all swoon-y and shit around his man is a little ridiculous, but… it’s also kind of precious.”

The word Ty had chosen surprised a laugh out of me. “‘Precious?’” I quoted, making it a question. The man clearly spent a lot of time with his one-year-old niece.

He rolled his eyes. “Dude, I mean ‘precious’ like ‘rare.’ Special. The way Dane treasures Wes… the way the two of them get each other… that’s once-in-a-lifetime. Or for some of us, never-in-a-lifetime,” he said, sounding almost wistful when he added the last line under his breath.

It was the same feeling that had made me feel so dissatisfied with the idea of dating men who didn’t matter lately. The same thing that had made me a little jealous of what my oldest friend had found, even though I was also genuinely happy for him. But now I had found it, and Ty was right… again. There must be some mistake. Devin was mine.

It was fated.





4





~ Devin ~





“What happened to you yesterday, Dev?” Sarah asked the next morning when she stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. “You scared me, running off like that without a word.”

I handed her a cup of sweetened tea as a peace offering. I could tell she was concerned, but she also sounded slightly grumpy, and I couldn’t blame her. When she’d asked me to get off work early and meet her at the Hands-On Children’s Museum the day before, I knew that it was partly because she’d wanted me to meet her new friends, but it had also been because she’d needed help with Holly. Despite the doctor’s reassurance that Sarah was healthy, this pregnancy seemed to be taking a lot out of her—and I had deserted her when she’d needed me. My reaction to the man at the party had just been too overwhelming, and I’d run from the museum as if the bats of hell where on my tail.

I’d driven out of town, up the coast, ignoring Sarah’s voice messages and texts before finally turning my phone off completely. I hadn’t had any destination in mind, I’d only known that I needed to put distance between me and the crazy pull I’d felt for the stranger who had felt like he was everything I’d never known I needed.

Which was impossible, of course.

I’d only seen him for a split-second, and despite my physical reaction to him, things like love-at-first sight didn’t happen in the real world. Certainly not to someone like me.

It had been long past dark by the time I’d calmed down enough to return home. By then, Sarah had already put Holly to bed and fallen asleep herself. I’d made my way to my own bed, wrung out and confused and still wracked by a burning lust that it was all I could do to ignore. I’d gratefully let sleep take me away from the wild spin of my thoughts and the urgent demands of my body, but sleep could only be an escape for so long. Now that I was up, I knew that Sarah wasn’t going to just let my weird behavior go. We’d been friends for too long.

“I’m sorry, Sare,” I told her now, pushing my long bangs out of my face. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to find something to say. “I— I can’t explain it,” was all I came up with.