10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Garrick

I went to bed angry last night, which wasn't something I should've done. It certainly wasn't something I should've let Tan do, and I had no doubt that he'd been angry with me last night.

Actually, angry probably wasn't a strong enough word for what he'd been, and probably still was.

I winced as I dried myself off after my shower.

Tan had been so sweet last night with the movie and snacks and everything. He'd been so amazing, so trusting. He'd even fallen asleep on me, which had warmed something deep inside of me that I hadn't realized was so cold before him.

And then it all went to hell, and I'd turned my fear into anger and took it out on the one person I shouldn't have taken it out on. The one person who didn't deserve even an ounce of my anger.

Closing my eyes, I took a breath, then opened them and finished getting ready.

I needed to apologize and maybe grovel a bit. I'd woken early so I could cook breakfast in the hopes that feeding him would soften him a little toward me. It probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a try.

Since it was Saturday, which was supposed to be my lazy day, I was in sweats and a t-shirt, and that was it. The kitchen floor was cold under my feet, but it felt good. Being a dragon meant I ran hot—even hotter than other shifters—because of the magical fire we stored in our lungs. So the cold floor didn't bother me at all. In fact, I should probably check in with my witch when he woke up to see if I needed to turn the heat up. I tended to keep it cooler in here, and I wasn't used to having non-dragons—or anyone other than Roman—in my condo.

Since Tan didn't eat meat, and I wanted him to forgive me, I decided to make apple cinnamon pancakes. That seemed like a good comfort food. It didn't take long to mix up the batter. While the first batch cooked, I pulled out some fruit to cut up for a nice fruit salad to go along with it.

I'd had groceries delivered to prepare for my witch staying with me for the weekend. I'd been doing research on foods witches ate—since it was almost the opposite diet as dragons—and I'd had a ton of things sent over yesterday. I didn't think I'd ever seen so many fruits and vegetables in my fridge before.

I hummed a song to myself as I continued chopping fruit and flipping pancakes. Mother of Scales, I truly hoped he'd forgive me.

I should've apologized last night instead of being an ass and letting it fester, but I'd been too upset. My dragon had been going haywire the entire time Tan was fighting that blood witch.

I'd wanted to shift, jump in front of Tan, eat the blood witch, and protect my sweet little pretty from any and all dangers. It'd been difficult to be the one to stand back and let him fight, even knowing his shield was protecting him.

And knowing it was my fault he was in that situation to begin with made it that much worse.

My dragon had been beyond pissed—he still was. But I had better control of myself this morning.

I heard Tan come out of his bedroom and slowly walk down the hall, so I took a breath and prepared myself. I'd heard him moving around the condo earlier, so I knew he'd already showered for the day, but I still wasn't prepared for his scent to hit me so hard when he turned the corner and stood in the kitchen doorway.

His scent mixed with the scent of my soap. Mmm.

My dragon felt like it sat up and took a deep breath. It— I —wanted to shift and curl my body and tail around him, bury my snout in his hair, hold him, and keep him safe in my arms forever.

But that was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

So I pushed all the emotions I was feeling down and did the sensible thing and said, "Good morning."

He frowned at me. "Morning. Wouldn't say it's good, though."

Well, I didn't truly think he'd make this easy on me, now did I?

He wouldn't be Tan if he did.

We stared at each other for a moment before he scowled and turned from me, although he didn't walk away. He leaned a hip against the kitchen island with his arms crossed over his chest and his head turned away. Angry but still close by, so I took that as a good sign. Maybe a part of him wanted to be close to me the way I did him.

I knew I'd been in the wrong last night. I knew that. I even knew it while it was happening.

But that didn't make it any easier to apologize to him.

I hated admitting I was wrong. Hated. It.

That was probably why I'd buckled down last night and just… kept being an asshole. I hadn't wanted to admit it.

But I had to do it. For him. For my witch.

So I took a deep breath and breathed out, "I'm sorry."

His head shot around to me, his eyebrows going up in surprise. He stared at me, looking completely shellshocked, and after a few seconds, I scowled at him. Was it really that difficult to believe I'd apologize to him? I mean, really.

Finally he cleared his throat. "Thank you."

When he didn't say anything else, I sighed. "Look, Tan, I was… I didn't like seeing you put yourself in danger last night, and I'm sorry my worry and frustration came out the way it did. You didn't deserve my anger. In fact, you're the one person who I should've been thanking for helping me. So… I'm truly sorry, and also… thank you."

His eyebrows were even higher now. If they went any higher, they'd fly right off his forehead.

He stared at me for several beats before speaking. "Thank you for apologizing. I… am also sorry for yelling at you."

"I deserved it."

A tiny smile pulled up his lips, and he held his finger and thumb up about an inch apart. "Maybe a little bit."

I snorted. I definitely deserved it more than that.

Before I could respond, he pointed at the stove. "Those are going to burn."

Oh shit. I turned back to the food and flipped the pancakes. They were a little darker than I would've liked, but they were still edible.

Tan settled at the kitchen island with his elbows on the counter and his chin in one hand.

"Where's your cat?" I could've reached out with my senses to find her with barely a thought, but I figured she was a safe topic to bring up.

He waved his free hand. "She's off exploring. I'm sure she'll join us soon."

I nodded and took the pancakes off the stove, then added more batter to the skillet while I waited. I could tell he had something to say, so I figured I'd let him get it out before I said anything else.

I finished with the last of the batter before he finally spoke again. "I don't want to start another argument, Garrick, but I need to know what's going on. Who are these people that are after you? And what was the earthquake thing?"

"It wasn't an earthquake. It was the tower's own defense system. I don't have control over it or anything, and it's a well-guarded secret, so please don't share that with anyone."

"I won't. That doesn't really explain everything, but I guess I'll let you get away with it."

He sounded like he was teasing, and I took that as a good sign. "Thank you."

"What about everything else?"

I set the mixing bowl in the sink and took a deep breath. I'd known he'd ask, and it made sense that he wanted to know. But I wasn't ready to talk about it with him.

"I… I'm not ready to talk about it." Before he could start yelling at me, I turned to face him and continued. "I know that isn't fair to you, but I need… time. I can tell you that the person behind it all is someone I used to know well. Or at least, I thought I did." I ran a hand through my hair and hated that I couldn't stop the nervous gesture. "They want me dead so they can take my… artifact and take over the territory."

He stared at me for a moment. "Will you tell me everything eventually?"

"Yes." I said it without hesitation because I knew, at some point, I'd need him to know. I just really couldn't deal with it right now. "I promise I will."

He gave me a nod. "Alright."

"Is that it?"

He lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "Honestly, no. I have about a billion questions, but if you're not ready to talk about it yet, then the questions will have to wait."

"And you're okay with that?"

He met my gaze. "Gar-Bear, I don't want to make you uncomfortable. That isn't my intention, and I get that some things might be hard to talk about. I don't want to push you if you're not ready. But I do want and need to know so I can better protect you."

"I know. I promise I'll tell you soon."

"Okay."

"Is that… enough for today?"

He stared at me for a beat, then two. "It's enough."

I passed him over a plate of pancakes, and we dug in.

I was relieved that he'd accepted my apology and wasn't pushing for more, but as the day went on, I realized the ease with which we'd talked all week was gone. He might've accepted things, but he was clearly still upset.

And it was making my chest ache something fierce.

After we watched a movie—while sitting on opposite ends of the couch this time—I stood and walked into the kitchen to figure out what to make Tan for lunch.

He was still upset, and it was making me crazy. My chest hurt, and I felt deflated all over. I felt like I'd done something wrong, and I knew I had. It was just… I normally never let it bother me this much. The other person's feelings didn't factor in unless it was Roman. Until now.

It was all I could do to sit beside him and not touch him, hug him, hold him, comfort him. Scales, this was hard.

There was so much I needed to tell him, but I just… I didn't think I could. Not yet. I needed to tell him about my past, but I also needed to tell him about our present. And it was too much.

I'd gone from not worrying about what other people thought of me to freaking out over what Tan thought. And it was making me so damn unbalanced.

Would it be better if I talked to him? Maybe that would help even things out.

I stared at him from the kitchen, taking in his lithe body and the way he was pampering his Bonded, the way he seemed to fit here with me so effortlessly.

The way I knew he'd fit snuggled up to my side.

What if I told him, and he got upset at me again? I wasn't sure I could handle that right now.

I'd talk to him, I would, but it was going to have to wait a little while longer.

I turned away from him as my nostrils flared, and I ran a hand over my face, trying my best to shake off the emotions. The last thing I needed was for Tan to see my expression. I took a breath and let my regular expression fall into place, but before I could turn back around, arms wrapped around me from behind, making me startle.

Tan stepped in close and pressed his chest against my back, and I felt his cheek rest against my spine as he tightened his arms.

I blinked, then opened my mouth to comment before clearing my throat and trying again. "This is… nice, but, uh… what, um, what are you doing?" Please don't pull away, please don't pull away.

"Hugging you. Obviously."

Obviously. As if that was something people did all the time. I honestly couldn't remember the last time anyone had even given me half a hug, let alone a full one, before Tan had hugged me last night. Shit, had that only been last night? I'd gone from no hugs to two hugs in less than twenty-four hours. Not that I was complaining. I wasn't. At all.

I cleared my throat again. "Wh-why exactly?"

I expected him to get annoyed and release me, but he only squeezed me tighter. "Because you looked like you needed it." Before I could respond, he released me, and I felt a pang of sorrow at the loss.

But then I was being manhandled around until I was facing him, and I was so surprised by literally everything he was doing I didn't even try to stop him. He stared up at me for a few seconds, then pulled me into another hug, this time a proper one with us facing one another, and I even let him tug my head down to his shoulder.

I tensed, ready to pull away, but Tan simply tightened his hold on me again and whispered, "Everybody needs a good hug sometimes… including me. Indulge me, Gar-Bear, please."

I was sure he only said it because he thought I needed a hug, but I didn't want to let him go anyway, and just in case he was being truthful, I gave him a squeeze.

And then we held each other for a long, long time, and all I wanted to do was stay in this moment forever with my… my viramore in my arms.