Three Months Later
Julie
Falling in love isn’t what I thought I’d be doing when I left for my camping trip.
Nope.
I figured I’d get to spend some time outdoors and come to terms with the way my life has turned out. I thought camping would help me feel recharged. I thought it would make me feel like I’m actually doing something meaningful with my life and with my time.
I didn’t expect him.
I didn’t expect all of this.
Now I’m in love with the sweetest, most wonderful dragon I’ve ever met and I know my life will never go back to the way it was.
I finished the semester at school, but I turned in my notice. I didn’t want to spend any more time away from my dragon than I had to. He assured me that the school in Fablestone had an opening for a well-qualified English teacher, and luckily, I just happen to be one.
Life in the clan is everything I hoped it would be and more.
It’s calm.
It’s relaxing.
It’s wonderful.
Best of all, I get to spend all of the time I need to just loving on my dragon guy. He makes me feel like the world is mine. He makes me feel like I can do anything I want to do. Most of all, he believes in me, and that’s something no one else has ever done before.
I don’t know what’s going to happen with Lucky. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that bad guys are tenacious, and they’ll probably come after the clan again.
It doesn’t matter because I’m going to do everything in my power to protect these dragons, just as I know they’ll protect me. That’s the wonderful thing about being in a clan. We all love each other, look after each other, guard each other. Individually, we can’t do all that much, but together, we can conquer anything.
Even Lucky.
And I know that with Lawrence by my side, no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay.
Nicole
They still don’t trust me.
I get it.
I probably wouldn’t trust me, either. Not after everything that happened. Not after I fucking shot Lawrence. I think about that moment constantly. Running it over and over in my head, I wonder why I didn’t do things differently. Just like I didn’t see things were wrong with my ex, I didn’t see things were wrong with Bernie.
I should have known.
Now I’m living in the clan, working to earn my keep, but it’s not where I want to be. I’m not happy here. They don’t like me. There’s always someone watching me, waiting for me to screw up. I know they’re looking for any excuse to kick me out of here, and I hate that. I hate being the reason the dragons are tense and on edge.
I need to get out of here.
I need to run away.
If I can escape, if I can get far away, then they’ll be safe, and so will I. I won’t go back to Lucky. I can’t return to my old apartment. That life is gone: dead and buried. I can start fresh, though. I can start new. I just need to make a plan, and then I can get away.
I can escape.
I can be free.
It’s the middle of the day and I’m in the bakery, stocking the shelves for the dragons who work here. I don’t get paid. As the resident human everyone loves to hate, I kind of just take the odd jobs no one else really wants to do.
When the door jingles, I realize I’m going to have to leave the stockroom. No one else is here taking orders right now: it’s just me. The others are all out on break. They figured I’d be able to handle something as simple as taking orders for half an hour.
“Coming,” I call out. I push the bag of flour onto a shelf, wipe my hands on my apron, and go to the front of the store.
Then I stop dead in my tracks.
It’s him.
He’s here.
My heart soars until I see the scowl that crosses his face as he recognizes me.
“Oh,” he says. “It’s you.”
The End
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