Marie
“This is stupid. He’s not going to talk to you, girl. It’s been almost a year and a half now. He probably doesn’t even remember who you are.”
It was sad, but it seemed entirely too likely to be true. Toward the end of their relationship Liam had changed, and not for the better. She’d put it down to pre-wedding jitters, but she’d been wrong. The Liam she was starting to see wasn’t a fake, temporary thing. It was his real personality shining through the façade he’d maintained for nearly three years with her.
Marie was sickened by how much she’d trusted him, what she’d gone through with him, together, all the while thinking that he truly loved her. The first thing she’d done after the wedding, besides cry, drink a lot of wine, and eat one—okay two—tubs of ice cream, was go get herself tested. She doubted Liam had been faithful to her. Even now, as she searched Clinton Heights mall for him, she wondered if any of their relationship had been real.
Why do you care? You have Garath now.
Right. Garath. The other dragon. She just couldn’t seem to escape them, despite her stated desire to never see another dragon again after Liam. Heaven forbid she date some nice boy who lived in his mom’s basement until a year ago and wore thick-rimmed glasses and watched cartoons. That guy at least wouldn’t turn into some mythical creature.
Except she didn’t want that. She wanted tall, beautiful, gray-eyed, brown-haired, soft-smiling and big-speaking Garath. Marie hadn’t doubted that. Even when she’d told him to leave, she’d known her feelings for him weren’t faked. That wasn’t the problem. Her feelings for Liam hadn’t been faked either, even if it had taken her two years to feel half as strong about him as she did toward Garath after two weeks.
And that was exactly what scared her. Two weeks was all it had taken for her to realize she was starting to fall for him in a big way. A serious way. How could something come to mean so much to her in such a short period of time? She didn’t have an answer for it, and so she’d pushed Garath away out of fear.
Fear that he was the same as Liam. Fear that she’d fall just as hard for him, or even harder. Fear that he’d take from her whatever was left after Liam was through. Her dignity and her father’s car were gone of course, but she was still hale, healthy, and had a good job. She’d even made a few friends in town, including Joanna. She didn’t want to lose all that.
So she’d told Garath to leave, and then sat down on her couch and cried until her eyes were red and nothing more flowed. She’d pounded fists into the couch, asking herself why life had to be so difficult and confusing. Then she’d tried to cry some more, but nothing had come of it, so she’d turned the television on as a distraction.
Which is when the live team at Clinton Heights mall about some sort of cat fashion show going on there had panned around to reveal none other than Liam in the background. Stunned, she’d rewound the feed to confirm it was him, thankful more than ever for PVRs.
After all this time, she’d found him again. The mall in question was no more than ten minutes from her house. So she’d hopped in her car, broken more than one speed restriction on the way over, and now was desperately searching the mall for him. This was the best chance she’d gotten since her efforts to track him down had begun, and it was all a fluke. She wasn’t going to waste that.
It was time to confront that asshole and see if she could get her father’s car back. It was a slim chance, but she wasn’t going to let it slip by. If there was any hope that he still had the car, she had to take it. For her father.
“Where are you?” she muttered, walking up and down the various hallways. He should stand out with ease, but she wasn’t finding him.
Had he somehow realized she was coming, and given her the slip?
Marie wasn’t looking as she walked around a corner, and slammed into someone.
“Watch it,” she snapped, only belatedly realizing she was the one who had screwed up.
“My apologies, I didn’t…Marie?”
Her head came around like a bolt of lightning. “Liam,” she said flatly.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t little Marie, come to grovel.”
The sharpness of his tone should have been her first warning, but she was too caught up in the other changes. He looked bad. His once nicely kept hair was short and greasy. The powerful regal lines of his cheeks were gone, replaced with a gauntness that reflected his overall weight loss.
“Liam, what happened to you?” she gasped, taken aback. He reminded her of someone who had become addicted to heroin and taken to a life on the streets. It was a painful thing to see on someone she had once cared about, even if he’d mistreated her so badly.
“Nothing. I’m better than I’ve ever been,” he snapped. “Especially now that you’re here.”
“I’m not here for you, dickhead.” This was the Liam she remembered, and the months upon months of built-up hatred started pouring out. “I’m here for my car. Tell me where it is, give me the keys, and I’m gone. All I want is what you stole from me.”
The dragon shifter stared at her for a moment. Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter, attracting the attention of passersby, who started to give the two of them a wider berth.
He sneered at her. “Are you sure that’s all you want? I can think of a few other things you used to want. I can provide that.”
“Ha. You wish. Not a hope, asshole. I used to think you were good in bed. Then I found someone better.”
Liam stepped forward so quickly she couldn’t retreat. He snatched her wrist and brought it to his nose, inhaling deep. His eyes widened. “Oh. Oh this is too good.”
He didn’t release her wrist.
“Let go,” she snapped, trying to shake herself free.”
“No. No I don’t think so. You’re going to come with me if you want to see your car or your precious dragon boyfriend ever again.”
Marie gasped. How could he possibly know about Garath? Her eyes flicked to her wrist. Could he smell him?
“This is perfect. I’m going to get you and him again. Oh, I almost can’t believe it. What a perfect coincidence.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she snapped, twisting her wrist.
It was no use though; his grip was like a vise, unbreakable to her human strength.
“The two of you, together,” he chuckled, still talking mostly to himself. “This is just too great.”
“I don’t understand.”
He tugged on her arm hard enough to send pain stabbing into her shoulder when she didn’t immediately follow.
“You will. Now come along without any fight, or I promise the next time you see your new man he’ll be nothing but a corpse on your doorstep.”
The promise sent chills down her spine. She’d come to the mall knowing it was a public place, that it was probably the best shot she had at confronting Liam without him doing anything. Despite that, Marie hadn’t expected him to try. Liam had never been like that before, even after he’d grown cold and distant. Never once had he lifted a hand or lost his temper with her.
This was a new Liam, a different Liam, and it scared her. And what the hell had he meant about Garath? Did they know each other?
“I don’t understand.”
Liam pulled her along after him, heading like an arrow for the nearest exit, unwavering. People moved aside as he barged along, only too eager to remove themselves from the path of the lumbering giant.
Marie hurried to keep up, hoping she hadn’t just made a terrible, terrible mistake.
What the hell had happened to Liam?