Titus woke from his nap with Bree to a sound from his phone. A text. He picked it up and unlocked the screen, looking down to see who had the unmitigated audacity to disturb him when he was with his mate.

It was Aegis.

I’m outside. We need to talk. Come alone.

Titus looked down wistfully at Bree’s sleeping form, so soft against him, her beautiful face peaceful in repose, her strawberry-blond hair splayed all over the pillow, falling loose from her hair tie.

He leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and then gently removed himself from the bed so he could go talk to Aegis.

He put on new clothes, checked his hair in the mirror, and quickly braided it, and then strode outside, shutting the door behind him.

True to his word, Aegis was standing in the front yard, looking up at the house with narrowed green eyes.

“About time you came out,” he said quietly, walking forward. “Man, this place still is a dump. What have you been doing here?”

“Plenty of things,” Titus retorted. “Keeping the platinum dragon off of my mate for one.”

Aegis’s cocked a blond eyebrow. “Oh? Is she your mate, then?”

“No,” Titus said, touching the thin chain he wore around his neck, made of solid titanium. “She isn’t ready for that yet.”

Aegis sighed and walked up the porch to sit on her swing there. “Is she around now?”

“No,” Titus said. “She’s upstairs asleep.”

“Good,” Aegis said. “Because the reason I’m here is that Opal is worried about you. She doesn’t often have premonitions or feelings about what will happen, but she had a bad one about you and Bree. About what will happen if you don’t tell her the truth soon.”

“Oh?” Titus asked. “What do you mean?”

Aegis rocked on the swing as Titus leaned on the railing, facing him. “I mean that the other dragons were perhaps a little too quick to tell their mates the truth about who they were and what they wanted, but you’re going far too slow. I understand your mate has trauma—”

“How do you know that?” Titus asked.

“She moved here, didn’t she?” Aegis asked. “No one moves to a dump like this in the middle of nowhere unless they are trying to escape something.”

“She doesn’t want to be trapped or tied down,” Titus said.

“But you wouldn’t do that,” Aegis said.

“She doesn’t know that.”

Aegis crossed one leg delicately over the other. “Look. There comes a point where, as a good person, you need to be confident in that and tell someone else that you’re good, knowing it’s true. It doesn’t matter if she believes it, because it’s true.”

“That won’t matter if she runs from me.”

“Don’t let her,” Aegis said. “You once said if human women ran, you could chase them. That applies now.”

“But if I just wait, she’ll be ready for me. Some day.”

Aegis leaned forward, resting his head on his palm. “And you’re willing to take a chance on that, hm? Willing to risk something happening while you wait?” He stood, brushing off the seat of his designer pants. He was wearing khaki chinos with a light-green polo. “Look, Titus, I can’t control you. But you really should tell her the truth. Other men may have been lying or had other motives, but if you persist, then I believe she will believe you.”

Titus put a hand through his hair, pulling some loose from his braid. It reminded him of earlier that day when he’d been so free with her. “I can’t. Look, I know what you’re saying about something happening in the future, but I believe I make my own future, and I’m not going to ruin it by spoiling things with her.”

Aegis’s expression tightened slightly. “I had a feeling that was the case. I told Opal you wouldn’t listen, but she told me I had to try.”

He walked down the front steps, and Titus followed him. “I really appreciate you coming out here.”

“Think nothing of it,” Aegis said, waving a hand dismissively. “And let us know if you need anything.”

“I will,” Titus said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He watched as Aegis walked back down the drive toward the car and exhaled in frustration. “Aegis, wait.”

Aegis rolled his eyes and turned around to walk back, joining Titus in front of the house again. “Yes?”

“What am I even supposed to say? That this whole thing with her house was just a big scam to get close to her and that I’m just like every other jerk who has tried to own her? That I’m also not who she thinks I am at all?”

He jumped as he heard a clatter behind them and whipped around to see Bree quickly kneeling to pick up muffins that had fallen with a tray she had dropped.

Oh hell, how much had she just heard?

I imagine she heard everything. That was Aegis speaking into his head.

Shit.

Well, I guess I should be going, then. Opal will be glad it’s all out in the open I suppose.

You just ruined everything, Titus retorted.

I don’t think so, Aegis answered.

When Bree had finished putting the muffins back on the tray, she stood shakily, and Titus jogged over to help her, but she lightly pushed his hand away.

There were tears glistening in her eyes as she avoided his gaze and walked toward Aegis.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to act normal. “I meant to bring these out for you, to thank you for sending Titus over to do such a good job, but I’m clumsy and I tripped and dropped them.”

Aegis took one off the tray and studied it. “No harm done.”

“Don’t eat that,” she said, trying to take it back from him. “It’s dirty.”

“It’s fine,” he said.

She turned to Titus, looking stricken. “Is it true? Did you trick me?”

“I didn’t want to. I—”

“So he didn’t come here because of you?” she asked Aegis. “Or to get a review for the company?”

Aegis slowly shook his head, and Titus wanted to strangle him. I’m sorry, Titus. The truth will set you free.

Bree was shaking now, probably with rage, and Titus wanted to run to her. But he got the feeling he was the last person she wanted to see. She threw the tray of muffins aside, and they tumbled somewhat comically over the grass. “I can’t believe you. I was trusting you.”

“Wait,” he said as she tried to run past him and into the house.

“I don’t need another liar,” she said, jerking out of his reach. “So it was all just a way to get in my pants?”

“No,” he said. “So much more. I don’t want to just be in your pants. I want to be with you.”

“That’s worse,” she said. “You had ulterior motives all along, and you just hid them from me.”

He just gaped at her. What was he supposed to do? Tell her, “Actually, I’m a dragon, and I want you forever. And you were destined to be mine,” right when she had thanked him for being patient and allowing her time?

Would there ever have been a right time to tell her?

He wasn’t sure, now that he thought about it.

But he knew that he loved her and he’d never wanted to deceive her, and he just needed time to explain.

“Get off my property,” she said, sounding devastated.

“But we need to talk, and—”

“So you can lie to me? No,” she said, wiping a tear away. “Get off my property. You’ve brought all my bad memories back, and I need you to be gone now.”

That was the thing that hurt most. All he’d wanted was to be the man who broke the pattern, who took away all the other pain. Instead, he’d added to it.

As she ran past him and into her house, slamming the front door behind her and sliding the deadbolt into place, he looked helplessly at Aegis.

Aegis walked casually over to him, holding the muffin up in one hand. “See this?”

“Yes,” Titus said.

Aegis raised it to his lips and, surprisingly, took a bite of it. He chewed thoughtfully and then handed it to Titus. “People think things are ruined far too easily. Like this bread thing, which would have been thrown in the garbage but is still perfectly edible. Delicious even.”

Titus nodded slowly, catching on. “So you’re saying things between me and Bree aren’t broken.”

“Your relationship took a tumble,” Aegis said. “Pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Fix this.”

“Okay,” Titus said.

“She’s your mate,” Aegis said. “You do whatever it takes.” Then he tossed the dirty muffin to the side, spitting the bite out. “Can’t believe you made me do that to make a point.”

Titus burst out laughing, then stopped as he remembered the seriousness of the moment. But Aegis was right and had made a perfect point.

Just because something took a tumble, it didn’t mean it was worthless. And just because she wanted him gone because he didn’t seem the same anymore, didn’t mean he was. He was still the same Titus who loved her, who would take care of her.

He would give her a little time and space and come back to show her exactly who he was.

* * *

Later that evening, Bree watched out the back window as Biff ran in the backyard, sniffing around.

She didn’t have anything else to do, other than think about Titus and how much she’d been hurt by him.

A part of her wanted to somehow get in touch with him, have him clarify what he’d lied about, what Aegis had been talking about.

Deep down, she knew there was always something that had been too good to be true about him. But she hadn’t wanted to consider what.

Maybe, if she’d been more attentive and less stressed thinking about her own situation, she would have seen he was hiding something from her.

Or maybe not. She’d never been able to catch betrayal coming before.

She still couldn’t believe he had lied to her. She’d given him everything, her body, her heart, though now she was glad she hadn’t told him about it. Or was she? Did she want him to know she loved him, even though it turned out that he’d hurt her?

She had no idea. Every time she thought of his panicked blue eyes, pleading with her, she felt guilty for sending him away. But her heart had been cracking in half, and even if she did want to listen to him, she didn’t want to accidentally say anything she didn’t mean in the heat of the moment.

She had to let the past fade away before she could think clearly about the present.

She jerked when she heard Biff barking animatedly at something outside, realizing he’d gotten close to the edge of her property. With a sigh, she walked out her back door and onto the back porch and called for him. He didn’t return.

It was cloudy outside, as late afternoon was turning to evening, and with everything that had happened, the gray skies above seemed to mirror the confusion in her soul, casting a shadow over everything.

She stepped out and called again. “Biff!”

But Biff’s barking only got quieter as he continued to chase whatever it was he was after.

Boy, he was really out there.

She pulled the cardigan she was wearing more tightly around her and slipped on her sneakers, heading for the tree line at the edge of her property several hundred feet away, looking for Biff, who was no longer visible, hidden somewhere amongst the tall grass and shrubs.

Probably chasing a rabbit or something.

After a few minutes of walking, she came up to the tall trees that marked the end of her land. She rounded one and found Biff a short distance off, sitting obediently, tongue lolling around as he panted excitedly.

“What are you doing out here, boy?” she said, coming closer.

Then, in an instant, a dark figure appeared from behind the thick trunk, stepping into the light and grabbing her by the wrist.

“Sever, what are you doing here!” she squeaked out as her stomach dropped into her toes in shock.

In the waning light, Sever’s face was much colder, more shadowed as he looked down at her.

“Good boy, Biff,” he said, and Biff stood up, but didn’t look happy anymore. Instead, he began to growl.

“Let me go,” she insisted. But unlike Geoff, who was a man but still weak enough to fight against, trying to get Sever to budge was like trying to move hewed granite. 

“Don’t try to resist. It will only be worse for you,” he said, the sound of his voice resigned, unfeeling.

“What are you talking about? Why are you doing this?”

“It’s not your fault. But I have to do this,” he said darkly. 

And then, with the sound of wind rushing, two giant, metallic wings the color of platinum metal unfurled from his back. They shimmered even in the overcast weather and were covered in scales that were as sharp as they were beautiful.

What. The. Hell. Was. Going. On?