I had been on cloud nine all morning after waking up beside the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I felt like I was the luckiest man alive to have her beside me all night. I just hoped that this would lead to me having her beside me forever. I kept looking at my watch, waiting for lunchtime to arrive. I couldn’t wait to see her again and see how her day was going. I wished there had been more wrong with her house so that it would have taken longer to fix, and I could be around her all day again. I was grateful for the new job though, and I had been working hard all morning. As noon approached, I stopped what I was doing and headed to the café, excited to see if Lauren was going to meet me there.

    As I walked in, I found her sitting at the bar, sipping a glass of wine. I sat beside her and kissed her softly on her cheek.

    “Good afternoon, my lovely; how is your day going?” I asked as I thumbed through a menu.

    “My day is going well; yours?” she asked, seeming a little distracted.

    I brushed it off, not thinking anything of it, and ordered my food. Once our lunch came to the table and we started eating, she cleared her throat, getting my attention.

    “Dane, there is something I need to talk to you about, and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way. I have come to care for you a lot, and I adore your friendship. I don’t want to lose you, but I am not ready for another romantic relationship right now. What happened between us was amazing, and I am glad you are the one that got that part of me, I’m just not ready for anything more than friendship. I hope you understand and will continue to be my friend,” she told me as she slid her plate away.

    I was stunned into silence. I couldn’t think of one thing to say. I felt different kinds of emotions swirling around inside of me, and I fought to keep my dragon at bay. I had to get out of the café before my dragon came out and destroyed it. I couldn’t bear the thought of my mother’s place being destroyed by anyone, let alone me. I got up from the table without saying a word and made a run for my truck, heading for the job site. I knew I had to get my mind off her and the things she had said before my dragon came out. It was happening a lot more, and for longer now. I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before I went feral and had to be killed. I just hoped I would get the chance to let her know how much I had grown to love her before that happened. I didn’t want to leave anything unsaid between us.

    I worked on the job for the rest of the afternoon and then went home. Lauren was waiting in her car when I pulled into the drive. I knew I didn’t need to talk to her while my emotions were still so raw, and I tried to hold myself together as I stepped out of the truck. I was fine until she got out of her car and I saw her beautiful face. Her words ran through my head like a movie scene, and the anger came rushing back. I could feel my dragon clawing for release as I tried to fight him and push him back down, but it was no use. I felt the green smoke ooze from my nose and mouth as I blurred the line between human and dragon until I couldn’t hold him back anymore. My dragon came forth, snarling and angry, fire shooting from my nostrils. Once the shift was complete, I looked at Lauren to see if she had made it through my transformation without running. She was wide-eyed and plastered to her car, but she had stayed. I slowly walked towards her and ducked my head down, looking at her eye level. I could see myself in the reflection of her eyes, and I knew I had to look scary to her, but I tried to make myself appear less scary by slowing my movements and keeping the fire inside.

    To make her feel more comfortable, I laid on the grass in front of her, my head resting at her feet. I looked up at her as she moved to sit beside me on the grass. She slowly reached her hand out and laid it on my head, gently scratching the scales behind my ears. I let out a pleased growl that made her giggle as I laid my head in her lap.

    “I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you when you told me about this, Dane. I should have believed you, but it was so wild and crazy, I didn’t think it could be true. I believe you now, though,” she confessed as she stood to go back to her car.

    She got in and waved as she backed out of the driveway. I watched her taillights until I couldn’t see them anymore, then I shifted back into human form and went inside. I didn’t know what to make of the way she reacted. I knew that time would tell whether she was okay with it or not, but time was something I didn’t have much of anymore. I knew it, and the clan knew it too. I was roused from my thoughts by a knock at my door. I opened the door to see Rory standing on the porch, his nose bleeding and a black eye forming.

    “Rory! What the hell happened to you? Was this a clan fight? Who did this?” I yelled, not giving him a chance to answer. He held his hand up to stop me.

    “No, Dane, this wasn’t a clan thing we weren’t fighting over a woman or anything. I went to the mainland to get some supplies that I needed to fix the damage the last storm did to my house. When I got to the dock to get on the boat to come back, someone was messing with the lines on my boat, and when I confronted him, he sucker punched me twice before running off. I think he was planning to steal my boat and come this way,” he said, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.

    “We need to call an emergency clan meeting. I think I might know who it was, and if I am right, everyone is going to have to be on guard,” I said as I started to text the other members of the clan.

    A few minutes later, all the members of the clan were seated around the long oval table. I filled everyone in on Bradley and who he might be after, and the clan was supportive and offered to help keep an eye on her. They were hopeful I would succeed in making her my mate so that they wouldn’t have to kill me like they did my father. The day my father died was a sad day for everyone, and no one wanted to go through that again. We finished the meeting and went back to our homes to prepare for the next day. If it was, in fact, Bradley, and he attempted to do something like that again, he was going to get a nice surprise. I went to bed that night in high spirits at the thought of karma paying dear Bradley a visit. I only wished that I could dole out his punishment for making Lauren close herself off and not be open to someone that really loved her. So many people used that word so flippantly, but I meant it when I said it, and it was true. I loved Lauren, and it hurt when she said that she still didn’t want a relationship. It made me want to murder Bradley more than I already wanted to. I smiled as I drifted off knowing what would happen in the morning if he came by the boat again.

    Morning came, but the possible boat thief never came to the dock. Rory and several other men from the clan decided to stick around in case he came a little later. I headed to work, anxious to get the day over with so I could talk to Lauren about the night before. I had worried about scaring her, and I needed to know she was okay.

When the end of the day rolled around, I packed my tools and quickly put them in my truck, eager to get to her house. I knew there was a chance she would reject me once I got there, but I hoped that she would accept me and continue our friendship either until she decided she would open her heart again or until I went feral and had to be killed.

    I pulled into her driveway and immediately sensed something was wrong. I felt my dragon begging for release, but I knew I couldn’t let him out or I’d be building Lauren a new house. As I stepped out of the truck, I could hear yelling coming from inside the house. I ran up the steps to the porch, careful not to land on my heels so I didn’t alert them of my presence. I looked through the window and saw that weasel Bradley had returned somehow, sneaking past the guards we’d placed at the docks. They were yelling at each other, and she slapped him across the face when he tried to kiss her. I watched as he shoved her to the floor, and that’s when I went through the door, knocking it off its hinges.

    “What the hell are you doing back here? Weren’t you told to stay away and leave her alone? What part of it’s over between you don’t you understand? Get out before I throw you out, and trust me, you won’t like that,” I growled at him as he backed toward the door.

    “The next time you come around here, I won’t be so nice, and you won’t be so lucky. Have a nice day, asshole,” I snickered as he disappeared down the road.

    Lauren came to me, and I wrapped her in a hug and held her until I felt her tense muscles relax. I wanted to talk to her and find out how she felt about what she had seen but now wasn’t the time. I texted Rory and told him what had happened with Bradley, and they made sure he went back to the mainland. I sat her on the couch, making my way to her kitchen, poking around until I found the things I needed to make her dinner. She watched me as I cooked, and I wondered what she was thinking about.

    When her dinner of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn was finished, we sat at the table together while she ate. I was too angry to eat, and I knew if I did, it wouldn’t stay down long. I asked her how she felt about what she had seen the night before, and she told me she was still processing it and she needed time. My heart sank a little at the sound of that word. If only she knew how little time I had left, maybe it would make a difference to her.

    A week had passed since Lauren had seen me shift, and I still didn’t know how it made her feel. I hadn’t seen her since the night Bradley paid her a visit, but some of the other guys had been keeping an eye on her for me. I thought giving her more space would help her in her decision making even though it hadn’t worked out well the first time I tried it. I had fixed the door that I broke down before I left that night so she wouldn’t need anything fixed while I was giving her space. It was hard to be away from her, but I knew I had to do it so she could make up her mind about me and what she wanted. I hoped that in the end, she wanted me.

    I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her much longer, and I hoped she’d finished processing her feelings on the subject. I was ready to know if she was going to be my mate or if I was destined to turn feral and die like my father. I decided that I would go by her place after work that night and see what her answer would be. The thought made me nervous, and I tried not to think about it as I finished the job I was doing. I was glad when the end of the day finally came, and I could go check on Lauren. I pulled into her driveway and heard music blaring from the house. I made my way to the porch and peeked in the window.

    There she was, dancing and twirling around her kitchen, her short dress curling around her thighs, almost showing her panties. I felt my body respond and the hardness press against my jeans. My mind flashed back to the wonderful night we shared together, and I longed to have her beneath me again, feeling the warmth of her around me as I gave her what she wanted. My thoughts were interrupted as she spotted me at the window and came to the door.

    “Hello, Dane, how are you doing? Haven’t seen you in a while. I was beginning to think you might have moved or something,” she said as she stepped aside so I could go inside.

    “No, I haven’t moved; I’ve just been busy with work, and I also thought I’d give you some space and let you process what you saw that night,” I replied, anxious to hear her answer.

    She nodded her head as she moved to the fridge to pour me a glass of tea. I wondered if she had even decided or had processed anything she had seen. I understood it was a lot to take in; my mother had told me the story of when my dad had told her what we were. She had reacted in the same way Lauren had, but it didn’t take her long to realize we weren’t really all that bad. She had come around after she saw my father fighting a wolf shifter in defense of another human woman that my mother was friends with. The wolf shifter had been trying to take her to sell to a pack as a slave.

    Lauren handed me the glass of tea, and our fingers touched, sending bolts of electricity through my body. I wanted her again in the worst way, but I had decided for myself that I wouldn’t take her again until she knew that she was okay with what I was, and she loved me the way I loved her. I waited for her to bring it up and tell me whether everything was fine, but when she didn’t, I knew I needed to.

    “Are you okay with what you saw the other night? You’re not afraid of me now, are you? I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Lauren. I won’t ever hurt you,” I pleaded with her to understand, desperate for her to accept me.

    “Well, Dane, I can’t really say that I am okay with it. I mean, who would be okay with seeing a fifteen-foot-tall fire-breathing dragon in the front yard of a home? I don’t know anyone that would be okay with that unless they were tripping on acid or something.” She giggled at the joke she made which made me smile.

She continued, “I can tell you that I am not afraid of you and I am not going to stop being your friend. Friends are too valuable just to throw them away for being different. Besides, everyone is different,” she said with a smile as I stood to hug her.

I felt relief knowing that she wasn’t going to reject me, and I had renewed hope that I might be able to win her over and make her my mate. If I couldn’t and my time came to an end, I would make the rest of the clan look after her and keep her protected from men like Bradley. The thought of not being around for her made me sad, and I hoped beyond all hope that I would somehow be able to make her mine. I had only felt love like this one other time, and I didn’t want this time to end in tragedy like the last had.

I had to make her see that she really was the only one for me and I would never love another. I wouldn’t get the chance to love another. I had to make her understand that, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how much time I had left, but I knew I had to make the best of it, and I would love Lauren as much as she’d let me.