Severin sighed. "I'm sorry. I can't let you go back to him," he said.
"I'm not going back to Samuel," Theresa said, swallowing hard. She didn't think she could stand it anymore, being around him knowing he didn't reciprocate her feelings when she loved him so much it felt like her heart might burst with it. Their ten days were almost up, and she didn't think Samuel would stop her leaving a little earlier, not if she explained what had happened. She was going back to Clarksburg and never looking back, and maybe eventually she'd stop feeling like her heart had been torn out of her chest.
Her eyes were stinging again. Theresa swiped at them angrily.
"Oh, stop it," Severin said sharply. "I didn't believe it from him, and I'm not gonna believe it from you, either. You think I don't know my own brother? Anyone could see how much he loves you, even if I couldn't tell about the bond."
"What the hell are you even talking about?" Theresa snapped, losing her patience with the whole cryptic, creepy conversation.
Severin squinted at her narrowly. "Did he tell you what he is?"
"Yes. I know," Theresa said impatiently. Presumably the dragon thing wasn't a secret from Samuel's own brother, who had to be a dragon shifter himself, didn't he? Probably even a full one. Unbonded dragons can't transform all the way, Samuel had said, but the way he'd talked about Severin's feelings for Vivienne, she was pretty sure Severin had found his mate in her. "I still don't know what you're talking about, though."
Severin laughed. "The two of you really didn't realize, did you. You're his mate."
"But he's not in love with me. You heard what he said." Her voice cracked. The memory still hurt.
"I heard what he said when he was lying to protect you," Severin said. "I also saw the way he was looking at you. He's my brother. I'd have noticed he was in love even if I couldn't sense the two of you were halfway bonded already."
"He's in love with me?" Theresa asked. Her voice shook. A spark of hope was blooming inside her chest, so intense it was almost painful; like life coming back into your fingers when you'd been out in the cold too long. "I'm his mate? But… I'm human."
"So's my Vivienne," Samuel said. "That's no obstacle."
"He never said anything."
"I don't suppose he realized it himself," Severin said. "It took me almost a month to realize, with Vivienne. That's pretty common, actually. It happens so gradually, and it feels so natural, I didn't ever consciously think about it. And then one day I looked up and knew I'd found my mate, and I hadn't even noticed." The hard look in his eyes softened for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a smile at the thought of his mate. Theresa's heart clenched. Could that really be how Samuel felt about her? But if he really loved her, then why had he lied to Severin?
"I need to get back! I need to talk to him."
Severin shook his head. The smile was gone from his face. "I can't let you do that," he said. He sounded genuinely sorry. Theresa blinked at him, confused.
"He'll challenge me, once he's bonded," Severin said. "He's always thought he'd make a better alpha than I do."
It didn't make any sense to her for a moment until she remembered what Samuel had told her: Dragons didn't gain their full powers until they met their mate. So Severin would have been the stronger of the two of them—until Samuel met his mate. And if she was his mate…
"You understand now, don't you?" Severin asked, watching her face. "That's why I can't let you live."
"What?" Theresa asked. He couldn't really mean…
But he did, didn't he. The whole picture was becoming clear now. This was what Samuel had tried to protect her from, with that whole elaborate set-up—the ad, the money, the lies: Severin deciding she was a threat.
"But—"
"Believe me, I don't want to do this," Severin said, and weirdly, she did believe him; something about the little crack in his voice when he spoke. He sounded genuinely miserable about this. "I'm a businessman. I've never killed anyone in my life, and I'd really rather not start with my brother's mate. But I have to," he added. She thought he was talking more to himself than to her now. "He'd come after Vivienne once he's the alpha. I have to make sure she's safe."
"He wouldn't," There said, horrified. "He'd never—"
"Of course he would. Don't you understand? He doesn't want to kill me. I'm his own brother. So you go after the mate. That's how it's always been done, between dragons."
He really did believe that, Theresa realized. He couldn't see that Samuel would never do anything like that. Killing a woman just to gain power for himself? Never.