She quirked a smile. “No. But how did you know to come back?”
“I didn’t leave, not really. I had to go get my powers back so I could beat the ass of the shifter threatening you.”
“And how did you know that again?”
He looked to the side. “I can read minds.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling slightly faint.
“I don’t, though, usually,” he said. “It’s considered rude. But that night, everything made no sense.”
“Um, so… you heard my thoughts…”
“I heard in your mind that you were afraid for me because I was human. And I was because my powers were restrained.”
“Wait, is that normal for your kind of shifter?”
“Depends,” he said. “There are modern dragons and more ancient dragons that are being reawakened. Me and my kind are from more like the Viking era.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said, putting up a hand. “So you were a Viking?”
“No,” he said. “I was a noble in that era. Vikings are brutes. I’m familiar with several of them.”
“So when you said your family was dead…”
“I meant many hundreds of years ago, yes.”
She rubbed her temple. “I need to process this.”
“There are so many things I can tell you about my life back then,” he said, standing up and walking over to kneel in front of her. He put his hands up to take hers. “But all that really matters to me is who I am now, with you. In my old life, I was alone. Pampered. Empty, except for the pursuit of treasure. I wasn’t even that in touch with my dragon.”
She just watched him, waiting for, needing more words.
“Today when I was flying back to you, it was the best I’ve ever felt in that form. I felt powerful, at home, and as you came back into view, so far below, I realized that this time, this place, wherever you are is where I’m meant to be.”
She felt tears bite at the corners of her eyes. “But there are things you don’t know about me, too.”
“And I want to know them,” he said. “So I can be gentle with you. Careful with you. Help you heal.”
“You already have,” she said, squeezing his hands with hers. “You’ve been making me feel alive again by the way you touch me, the way you’re careful with me. The way you love me.”
He blinked at her, gold eyes looking slightly glassy. “Really?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Can I pick you up?” he asked, standing and reaching down for her. She nodded, and he picked her up and carried her to the bed, sitting down against the headboard with her on his lap. “That feels nice. I’m ready for anything you could tell me.”
He was so solid beneath her, and she knew now she could trust him with anything. She’d never thought there could be anyone out there just made for her, just waiting for her.
Now that she knew there was, she couldn’t wait to get started with him. And that meant no longer holding back.
So she told him, burying her face in his shirt, holding on to him as she explained everything with Cliff, both in the past and the present.
He listened patiently and quietly for the most part, save for a few quiet curses and an obvious tightening in his body. When she was done, she let out a long breath.
It felt so good to finally tell someone.
“So he told you no one would believe you?”
She nodded.
“Except your family, who he threatened to harm?”
She nodded again. “But he didn’t bother me after that. He kept his word. Whenever I saw him in school, I freaked out, but he just gave me a disgusted glare and stalked off. I buried myself in my books and decided not to worry about men ever again.”
“Until you met me,” he said with a grin, stroking his hand over her hair in a way she found ultimately soothing. “Now everything’s perfect.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head. But then she laughed and leaned into him. Her tears had dried, and it had set in that she was really and truly safe. “So Cliff isn’t coming back?”
“No,” he said. “I can assure you of that.”
“What will they tell his family?”
“Better shifters than me will sort that out,” he said. “Right now, I just want to be here for my mate and comfort her however she needs.” He looked into her eyes worriedly. “Are you sure you’re all right? He didn’t do anything to you?”
“I mean, he did back then, but—”
“Is there anything I need to be careful of or not do or—”
She put her hand up to his lips. “No. I was lucky in some ways. He damaged me really bad mentally, with his cruel words and the way he scared me. But he wasn’t able to… do that much to me physically since I hit him in the groin pretty hard.”