Chapter Twelve

Sarah

E verything was wrong. That wasn't how I'd planned it.

My legs trembled with a barely restrained desire to run, making descending the stairs hard. I forced myself to move slowly. They didn't need to know how badly I was panicking on the outside.

Falling back on the years of hard-trained self-discipline, I managed not to panic. It was a close thing because I was keenly aware of the vulnerability of the figure pressed to my hip.

"Mommy?" Jake asked as I shut the door and leaned back against it, exhaling a long, slow breath, trying to calm my frantic heart.

"Hey, baby!" I said, kissing his forehead repeatedly and squeezing him extra hard.

My driveway seemed an eternity ago now. Saying goodbye to him, thinking I'd never again get to hold him like this, to ruffle his hair.

Blinking hard, I tried to hold the tears back. In hindsight, I never knew why. The only one around was my son, and he'd seen me cry before. It was healthy to show emotions, to let children know adults had feelings, too. They grew up to be more complete people that way.

"Are you crying?"

I nodded.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I can go home now. I didn't mean to make you cry."

Well, that went and fucking did it.

"Oh, Jakie," I laugh-cried, tears streaming down my face as I sobbed into his hair. "These are happy tears, little buddy. Okay? You understand happy tears?"

He shook his head with all the solemnity a four-year-old could muster.

"Remember when I surprised you with SuperPawMegaDog, and you cried?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"You weren't crying because you were sad, right? You were crying because you were happy."

"But, Mommy, I didn't get you a dog."

I laughed. "No, but you got me something better."

"What's that?"

"You came to visit me," I said, purposefully choosing that word.

Visiting. Because once I got Levi alone, I would make sure he understood there was no way in hell my son would be staying. As much as another goodbye would break me, I would never be able to rest otherwise. The Dragon Isles were no place for a child from my world.

"Is this where you had to go for work?" Jake asked, squirming out of my arms.

I set him down, following him as he started exploring Levi's apartment.

"Wow! It's so high up, Mom! Way higher than our house or Gramma's. Look, I can see everything from here. All of it."

"Yes, you can," I said. "It's high up."

"Mom, it was so cool! I was so high up before."

"What do you mean?"

"The dragons, Mom. They picked me up, and we went vrooosh and wheeee!" He stuck his arms out to the side and started racing around like he was a dragon-plane. "I got to fly on the back of a blue dragon. There was a red one, too. They brought me here, you know. Did you know that, Mom?"

"Yes, I did."

But he wasn't listening to me, not really, too caught up in his excitement.

"We flew so high. It was way higher than this, Mom. Like, at least a bit higher. Like, here!" He jumped with his hand to indicate how high. "Then we were over the water. I fell asleep, then. Then I woke up, and I was still on the dragon! It was real, Mom. It really was. I swear it!"

"I believe you, baby," I said, smiling, glad that, despite everything, he could be oblivious to his predicament.

Internally, however, I was anything but calm. Every instinct in me screamed to swoop in, snatch Jakub up, and make a run for it. Not that there was anywhere I could go. We were stuck there. At least Jakub would be headed home soon. I needed to make sure I made the most of it while he was there. The unexpected visit would be my last. I—

The sound of dragons departing—something I wondered if I would ever get used to, with the whoosh of air from their wings and claws scraping on the roof–was followed almost immediately by Levi's return.

Glancing at Jakub, ensuring he was occupied for a moment, I intercepted Levi, stopping him with a hard jab to his chest with my index finger.

"You lied to me."

It took a moment for Levi to respond. I actually watched him return from wherever he had been, his focus gathering itself.

"I lied to you," he said. Was that a hint of sarcasm?

"Yes. You did. You lied to me. Purposefully deceived me."

"Interesting." He shook his head, focusing more intently on me after. "And when did I lie to you? How did I deceive you?"

"You're joking, right? You let me believe I was going home. That you were going to send me back."

"I did?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "Or did you just assume that? Did you ever ask me what I was going to do?"

"You … you …" I shook with fury.

"Sarah, you need to understand something," he said with sudden intensity, his orange-brown eyes burning into mine, flickering with embers that never fully went out. "You are my mate. Mine . My dragon knows it. I know it. Even if you don't. That will change. I will win you over. No matter what I have to do. You aren't leaving."

I rocked back, any number of thoughts and emotions clamoring for priority in my brain after that little speech.

"Maybe not," I said. "But Jakub is."

He fixed me with a stare. That time, I gave it right back, not budging. I would make him look away first. Eventually, he did.

"How could you?" I whispered, keeping my voice down as my son continued zooming around, exploring everything with childlike eagerness, examining everything and nothing all at the same time. "What possessed you to think this was a good idea, Levi?"

"I was trying to make you happy," he growled.

I licked my lips. "That's not the point I'm trying to make."

"Well, then, hurry up and make it, please."

I frowned at the rudeness. Why was he mad at me ? I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Levi. I'm an adult. I understood what I was getting into when I agreed to come here."

"Did you?" he asked. "Because I think you were under the impression you were going to be my concubine. My plaything. I don't think you're taking this ‘mate' part seriously."

I wasn't. "That's not my point either. My point , Levi, is that I understand I'm in a dragon's world. Jakub? He doesn't. Bringing a human child here is insane. What were you thinking ?"

Levi looked past me. His face didn't move, and the pause went on and on. Then slowly, with earth-trembling intensity, his eyes met mine. The force behind them, the knowledge , hit me like a runaway big rig.

Oh, no .

The bottom of my stomach dropped out, plunging through the three floors below us as the meaning of that look became clear.

He knew. Somehow, impossibly, he knew .

No, it's not possible , I tried to tell myself.

"A human child, is it?" he asked with absolutely unimaginable calm.

I swallowed a boulder-sized lump in my throat, feeling it work its way down. Was that why he'd insisted on bringing Jakub there? Had he somehow known the truth?

Then I recalled the distracted air with which he'd reentered the house. Skin that had perhaps been a shade pale. The lack of focus when I'd approached him. No, it was a shock to Levi as well.

"Tell me the truth, Sarah," he ground out in a voice harder than granite. "No more lies . Purposeful ones. Not misunderstandings."

I didn't want to. I didn't want to admit it. To tell him the truth. Speaking it would make it real. Until I did, there was always the chance I could brush it off, somehow, that I could—

" Say it, Sarah."

My mouth didn't work.

Anger flared across his face, but he quickly restrained it, his eyes darting to Jakub.

"Your son is born of a dragon, isn't he?" Levi hissed furiously.

I nodded, feeling dizzy as everything came crashing apart.

"Is he my son?" Levi asked. There was a hint of fear, of nervousness. "Is Jakub my boy?"

"He's your offspring, yes," I said, finding my backbone. "But he's not your son. Not yet."

"What do you mean? Are those not the same?"

I snorted. "He's nearly five years old, Levi. Where the fuck have you been for that? You don't just get to waltz into his life. If you want to be his dad , then you're going to have to prove you deserve to be first."

Levi blinked in surprise, but a moment later, a fierce determination filled his eyes as he glanced past me at the four-year-old who was still flying around like a dragon-plane.

"I will. I don't know how, but I will," he promised fiercely, eyes glowing with purpose.