Chapter 7

SEVEN

Samantha

A day has passed at Specter Inc., and I don't know how to feel. Some part of me is empty without Evander, a place inside me that makes it hard to breathe.

I use my fancy new ID card to get into the elevator and come out into fresh air. Having walked without thinking, I suddenly find myself on the edge of the cliff. Down below, a beach with white sand winds its way along the shore, and waves crash on it, leaving a band of white water. This place is beautiful, just like Evander said, but it feels wrong without him here.

Wrapping my arms around my body, I hug myself, feeling conflicted. I'm here with Granger and Aydan. My two best friends are safe, and with me, just like I wanted. And Aydan and I? We're more than friends, which is what I've always wanted. Yet, there's an awkwardness between us, probably because he's pushing for more, and I can't give that to him right now. But I don't like it.

The wind shifts, and I frown, inhaling deeply. Is that… brimstone and electricity? I breathe it in deeper and deeper, every muscle in my body tensing. Spinning around, I see him in the air. My gray dragon. He's flying too slowly and unevenly. Instantly, I know he's not okay.

He lands, but it's not smooth. It's more like he just stopped flying and collapsed. I rush toward him and watch as he shifts from his dragon form to his human form.

My arms are around him in an instant, pulling him close, and tears sting my eyes. "You're okay."

"Just barely," he whispers, inhaling deeply as his face rubs into my hair. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," I say, holding him closer.

A little groan slips from his lips. I pull back and let my gaze run over him. Blood mars his clothes in multiple spots, and his skin is black and blue everywhere I can see. "We need to get you inside to their doctors and have them fix you up."

I start to stand, and he pulls me back down. Our eyes lock, and for a minute, I just drink him in. His dark eyes. His dark hair, cut in a military style. His face, almost too beautiful to be real. I'd missed him, more than I even wanted to admit to myself.

"No doctors," he says, then cups my face, his eyes gentling.

"You need their help." My heart races, and I almost want to pull away. He just makes me feel too damn much.

"I don't need them. I just need you."

"Evander…"

"Sam, please." He leans forward, pressing his forehead against mine. "Please, I just need you."

I swallow around the lump in my throat. "Okay."

I wrap one of his arms around my shoulders and help him stand, and we make our way slowly to the building. There, I flash my card and hit floor number 2, the floor all our bedrooms are located on. Once there, we head down the hall, and I flash my card again to open my room. It's nice. Spacious, clean, with a little kitchen and a bathroom with an actual tub.

I let him sink down to the edge of the bed, and there he sits for a minute, breathing hard. He's filthy, sweaty, and looks like he got the shit beat out of him. If he were human, he'd no doubt be in a hospital getting tended to the way he needs.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

He shakes his head. "Not yet. Can you help me get in the shower?"

I'm not sure he can stand, but I nod. It's hard to be gentle with him as I undress him, but I try damn hard. When he's naked, I have to hold back a gasp when I see all his wounds in all their glory. He definitely needs stitches on a few of them, and bruising that bad probably means something is broken underneath. I hate thinking of what that green dragon put him through.

Knowing he won't be able to clean himself on his own, I strip, turn on the water to get it warm, and come back and slowly help him to the shower. He sags against the wall, and I use my loofa and body wash to clean him as gently as I can. Then I use shampoo in his hair, rubbing it softly in and rinsing it out, and then repeating the process with conditioner.

His eyes open. He catches my wrists and pulls me closer, then brushes a light kiss on my lips. "You have no idea how much I missed you. I thought about you every second. All I wanted was to be back with you."

I don't know what to say. "I'm glad you're okay."

I glance down at his wounds and see that they're healing. Slowly, but they are healing. Some of the tension inside of me eases. He's going to be okay.

When he's clean, I shut off the shower and dry us both before helping him get into bed. I'm about to go get dressed when he snags my wrist and pulls me back. "Sleep with me. Please."

His gaze is soft. Pleading. My heart aches, and I realize that there's no part of me that could tell him no. I slide into bed, and he curls around me, his head resting on my chest.

"Do you want to tell me about the fight now?"

He says nothing for so long that I'm not sure he's going to answer me. "We fought. I was bigger and stronger, but he… he knows how to be a dragon. I was nothing against him. At some point, I knew he was going to kill me, so I did the only thing I could think of. I pretended like I was dead, and he finally left me alone."

"That was smart."

"It was cowardly."

I run my fingers through his hair and feel him ease against me. "It's not cowardly to be smart enough to survive. Especially when everything you did bought me the time I needed to escape. You saved my life."

"Maybe," he whispers tiredly.

I keep massaging his head and within minutes, he's breathing evenly. Asleep.

But I'm not tired yet. I lie on the bed wondering what I'm going to do. As much as I want to fool myself into believing something different, I care about Evander, and I think he cares about me. It might be because our dragons are pulling us together, but I'm not sure if it matters.

What's more, Evander being back complicates things with Aydan and I. The last thing in this world I want to do is hurt Aydan, but that's exactly what this will do. Just the thought of it makes my heart feel heavy. I love him. There's no doubt about it. There's also no way I can give up Evander.

Aydan's going to have some big feelings, and I need to be prepared for it.

I mean, if I had to see Aydan with another woman, I'd lose my mind. The thing is, this isn't a human situation where I pick one man, and that's just how it goes. This is a dragon situation, where I can't possibly pick one of them over the other.

I just hope with time he can understand that.

Time passes, and I drift off. I'm not sure for how long. Suddenly, there's a knock at my door. I feel so groggy. I kind of hope the person will just go away and let me get back to sleep, but they knock again. Not wanting Evander to be awakened, I slip out of bed and put on one of the robes in the closet.

I hit the button beside the door and it slides open, and then I'm face-to-face with Aydan.

Fuck.

He grins at me. It's the kind of look that could make any girl's heart race. He pulls me against him for a hard kiss. For a second, I lose my mind and kiss him back, but then I remember that, just out of sight, Evander is sleeping.

Breaking from the kiss, breathing hard, I manage, "What's up?"

"You weren't at dinner," he says, leaning one arm against the doorway as he stands over me.

"I wasn't hungry," I lie.

He tilts his head. "Since when? You're always hungry."

Damn it. "I just decided to head to bed early."

"Want some company?" he offers, taking a step toward me.

My hands go to his chest. "Uh, no, not tonight."

His smile is gone. "Why not?"

"Aydan…"

Now, he's studying me, and I don't know what to do. He knows me too well. He's going to see right through my lie, but he's also going to go ballistic if he catches Evander in my bed.

"Can we please just talk tomorrow?" I practically beg him.

His eyes flash with something, and he moves around me, pushing his way into my room. I grab his arm, trying to haul him back, but he keeps going. When he reaches the foot of the bed, he freezes, his eyes widening as he stares at the man in my bed.

"What the fuck?" he shouts loudly.

Evander's eyes flash open, and he's sitting up in an instant.

"Aydan, please!" And now I am begging.

"Who the fuck is this?" he asks, turning to me.

"Who the fuck is he ?" Evander asks, more calmly, but there's a threat in his voice.

Everything feels like it's spinning out of control, and I can't seem to stop it. "This is Evander, and this is Aydan."

Evander's expression grows thunderous. "The not-boyfriend?"

"The fucking dragon," Aydan growls, hands curling into fists.

"Can we stop? Just stop!"

"Why is he in your bed?" Aydan asks, and he sounds on the edge of something dangerous.

Evander smirks at him. "It's where I belong."

"The hell it is!"

"Face it, not-boyfriend. Sam was running around unclaimed by anyone, and I went ahead and put my name on her. She's mine."

Aydan takes a step forward, breathing hard. "I don't remember her being yours when I was inside her last night."

"Aydan!" I say, mortified.

Evander's head jerks to me, and I can tell he's trying to figure out if what Aydan said was true. He must read it in my face, because his jaw twitches. "Well, she needed someone with me gone. I'm back now, so she's done with you."

"Not a fucking chance. She was with you because she didn't have a choice, but now she's with me."

"You're no dragon," Evander tells him, cocky and angry. "You can't offer her what she needs."

I shift to move between them, and I grab Aydan's face. "You need to go. Right now. He's hurt. He can't be wasting energy arguing."

Aydan smirks, but it's angry. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving him in your bed. He's leaving. I'm staying."

"He needs me," I say, stretching out the word need.

Hurt flickers across Aydan's face. "What are you saying?"

"She's saying she wants you to leave," Evander says, stretching back on the bed like the overconfident asshole he is.

"Be quiet," I tell Evander, then turn back to Aydan. "He needs me right now, so can you please leave."

He takes a step away from me. "You're choosing him."

"No!" I shake my head and take a step toward him, not liking the distance between us. "I'm not choosing him. I just need to watch over him tonight."

"Fuck this," he says, then turns and starts for the door.

"Aydan!" I call after him. "This doesn't mean anything. Okay?"

He's out the door without looking back.

I stand, frozen in place. I replay the expression on his face over and over again. I'd hurt him. I can't believe I hurt my best friend. This isn't what I want. None of this is.

"Come back to bed," Evander tells me, sounding tired and hurt, and not at all like the cocky asshole he'd been a minute ago.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I just stare at the door, unsure about what to do.