“Wait, so you told her to move?” Dante’s voice was stern as he questioned Sever, once he had finished blurting out the whole situation.

At first, Dante had seemed pleased that Sever had called him, but he’d quickly changed modes when he’d heard the distress in Sever’s voice.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I think I know what’s happened. Ella’s here on speakerphone with me and she can help me explain.”

“Okay,” Sever said. Anything that would help him make up with his mate. Inside, everything had gone way too fast for him to process it. He was a simple man and said things in simple ways, yet somehow everything had gone so terribly wrong.

“Well, have you ever said you wanted to stay with her?” Ella said.

“I said I wanted her,” Sever said.

“But did you say you would stay with her? Did you make any sign of commitment?”

“Uh.” Sever thought back. Wasn’t it obvious? Why else would he make love to her, tell her to trust him? He hadn’t been able to say it all out loud because he didn’t want to scare her, but shouldn’t she know from his actions that he wanted to be with her?

“Because we humans, we don’t know about mating like you do. We’re used to men trying to take advantage and run off on us. If you don’t tell us it’s going to be different—”

His heart fell like a dead bird out of the sky. “She thinks I’m a cad. A scoundrel. A bounder, a—”

“She probably thinks you just want to leave and go home and want her out of the way so she’s safe.”

“Why is that a bad thing?” he asked. “I don’t get why she’s mad that I want her to be safe!”

“Because women don’t want to only be safe! They also want to be with those who love them!” Ella snapped.

“Why didn’t she say that, then?”

“Lower your voice with my mate,” Dante cut in sharply. “And it’s not your mate’s job to fix everything. It’s yours. You know everything in the situation. You know you’re a dragon. You know you can never leave her. That your heart is entwined with hers. If she is the right woman, then she should accept all of that and love you as you love her. Stop being afraid, dammit, and go after what you want. Make her yours.”

Sever froze, hand on the phone, staring off in the distance as he realized the truth of Dante’s words.

He was scared. He had been from the moment he saw her, when his heart beat the first time for his mate.

He was so used to losing everything that he was afraid to put it all out on the table. Afraid to get rejected, because she was his only chance at happiness, and if he failed…

Perhaps him talking about moving had been an unfair test of her feelings. Perhaps he’d hoped she would say, “Yes, I’d move anywhere, Sever, as long as I’m with you.”

But she was afraid, too. She didn’t know he was in love with her. She didn’t know how deep his love went, all the way down to his dragon, past his scales and into his core.

She was his forever, and if she didn’t take it well when he told her, then he would deal with it.

As long as it took, until she got it.

“And Sever?” Ella asked.

“Yes?” he replied, snapping himself back to attention.

“We women, we like it when big, handsome men want to be with us.”

“Hey,” Dante cut in. “I’m the only big, handsome man you can—”

“She’s not going to turn you down. If anything, this is a fantasy that we want to believe.” Ella continued. “That someone can truly love us. When we accept that, whether he’s a dragon is beside the point. She can love even your scales.”

Sever swallowed. “I hope you’re right. Because I don’t have any choice but to go to her.”

“Go to her, then,” Ella said. “And let us know how it goes.”

“And if you do leave Cate’s Creek, don’t be a stranger,” Dante added.

Sever nodded. He’d been afraid for too long. Afraid to bond with his friends, afraid to live this new life, afraid of rejection. All of that ended now. He said his good-byes and hung up, but just as he turned around and was about to walk back to the house, he saw the back door fling open and Lori come running out.

As her curls trailed behind her, he froze. He’d never seen her panicked like this. He ran forward and caught her in his arms, listening to what she was trying to say between harsh breaths.

“Taylor… he’s… gone,” she choked out. “His window was open. Have you seen him?” Her hazel eyes were wide and desperate.

* * *

Sever cursed himself for screwing everything up. “I was facing the other way, on the phone.” He held her arms. “Lori, I’m sorry. What I said before—”

“Not now,” she said desperately. “We have to find Taylor. We have to—”

He took her by the hand and ran back to the house with her, going as quickly as he could. When they reached the house, he ran inside and up the steps, pulse tripping as he realized the gravity of the situation.

Taylor was gone.

The room was empty. There was an odd scent in it he couldn’t place, and then his eyes narrowed as he noticed a small wisp of something on the windowsill.

He walked forward and pulled up a small tuft of fur caught in the edge. “I know who has taken him.”

“What do you mean?” Lori asked, sitting on the bed, trying to catch her breath. “I thought he ran away.”

She was panicking, pale, sweating. He knelt in front her, trying to think of what to say, how to do this without scaring her.

So many things were running through his mind. So many things she needed to know, yet the last thing he wanted was to give her a heart attack.

But there was one thing more important than anything else. One thing she should know first, and then they could deal with the rest.

“Lori,” he said, taking her hand. “I know things went wrong this morning, and that I screwed things up. But I want you to know right now, I have no intention of ever letting you go. You’re mine. If you move, I go with you. If you stay, I stay here. You and me? We’re locked forever. If you tell me no, I will fight. I’m not giving up. You’re stuck with me.” The words got easier as he said them, and he knew they were right. Her eyes were surprisingly patient, though he knew she was surprised.

“I don’t understand. Just this morning, I—”

“I know. I fucked up. I was scared. I wanted to know if you’d come with me if I asked you to. I was afraid of rejection. The truth is my heart has been set on you from the moment I saw you, and I would have told you, but I thought you would push me away.”

“How is that possible?” she asked. “That soon? I—”

“I know it doesn’t make sense to you. You’re human, and I’m… something else. But these guys who took Taylor are something else, too. My guess is they are trying to get to you. Threaten you. I went out the other night. I snuck out to go track John and Jud. I found out some things about them. I’ve been trying to decide what to do about it ever since.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re shifters.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Like… shape-shifters. Like werewolves, I guess you could say. But not wolves. These ones are cats. Bobcats or something.”

“Seriously? This is what you’re saying now?” She leaned back on the bed, shaking her head. “I just… Why are you doing this? Don’t you see there are bigger things—”

“No, this is the biggest thing,” he said. “You and me. You knowing about me. Because if I’m going to go take on the guys who have Taylor, I need you to accept me. Because I’m a shifter, too, but not like these guys. And this ring keeps my powers bound.” He held up his hand. “And the only one who can remove it is the woman who agrees to be mine.”

“Yours?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“Forever,” he said. “So think if you can do it. Really listen to your heart. Because I know what mine has been saying, almost from the moment I met you. No, even when I read your letters. And maybe, if you listen deep down, yours is saying the same.”

“But we barely know each other, and we—”

He put a hand to her heart. “Just listen.”

She closed her eyes and seemed to do just that, and when she opened them, her gaze was clear and meaningful. “It just makes no sense, though.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense,” he said quietly. “There are million terrible things in the world that don’t make sense. Can’t there be one or two wonderful things that don’t make sense as well?”

She smiled slowly. “I guess so.” She looked down at his hand. “We’ll have to talk more about this later, but for now, I just take off this ring?”

He nodded. “Yes, but it’s permanent. So be sure you want me.”

“I wanted you from the moment I met you,” she said. Then she leaned in and kissed him and at the same time removed the ring from his finger. Her lips tasted salty, like tears, and he hated that he’d probably been the reason.

She pulled back and held the ring out, but he pushed it back toward her.

“You hold on to it. If you trust me, then you can put it on.”

She slid it on her finger, looking at him bravely. “I trust you.”

“Okay, now let’s go rescue Taylor,” he said, grabbing her hand and heading for the window. He jumped through it and landed on the ground with a thud and then held up his arms toward her. “Jump.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she muttered.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll catch you.”

She took a deep breath and then crawled through the window and let go to fall into his arms. He caught her against his chest, crushing her tight before setting her down so they could run to the truck.

As he started it and took off down the road, he saw her watching him skeptically.

“Wait, you said the Cleavers are cats. What are you?”

He smiled at her and gave her a wink. “Well, you know. Date-A-Dragon.”

She gaped at him, and he just laughed. She’d see soon enough.