Chromium cursed himself as he looked at Helen’s hurt, betrayed expression.

There were so many important things he’d had to tell her that he’d somehow forgotten one very important one.

Given her history, it was the worst one to forget of them all.

Now he had to explain that while Arsenic had spoken truly, he had never been out to use Helen that way at all.

Truth be told, as the Chromium dragon, his poison was the least lethal, and he could have been fine for a long time without a mate. And he would have gladly died before mating for eternity with the wrong person.

But with the mood Helen was in right now, he wasn’t sure how to explain.

He sighed because a moment ago they’d been so happy. The proposal had gone perfectly, and she’d joyfully accepted his ring and fallen into his arms.

He’d been looking forward to a night of celebration. Now it would be a night of trying to keep her from running away.

“I didn’t trick you, Helen. I was going to tell you, but—”

She took a step back, pushing blond hair behind her ears. “But… you didn’t.”

“It was not a big deal. It’s just how our race works. We seal off the poison in our bloodstream when we’re mated.”

“It’s no big deal, but it’s the reason you came to Earth?” She gestured outside where his friends were standing. “Do the other women know they’re being used like that?” She gave him a small shove. “I don’t care how hot you dragon guys are. You can’t use people like that.”

“Now hold on,” he said quickly. “I’m not using you. Yes, mating you will help me in some ways, but that’s not why I want you.”

“That’s right,” she said, folding her arms bitterly. “A guy who looks like you falls for some average restaurant owner and proposes with a giant ring in days because he likes her personality.” She wiped at her cheek, and he was dismayed to see a tear there. “I guess Darren was right, and I was being stupid again. Guys only want to use me.”

“I know how this looks, but honestly, I didn’t do this to seal off my poison.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” She wrung her hands. “You know what I’ve been through, and we’ve already talked about so much. You said you were being open with me. Don’t you think saying, ‘Hey, my kind has to mate with a human or we die,’ was kind of relevant before I agreed to be with you?” She blinked softly. “I mean, I’d already fallen for you, so I probably would have done anything for you, but I would have at least been realistic about why you chose me.”

His voice grew stern. “And why did I choose you exactly?”

She threw her hands in the air. “Because I was an easy target. Soft-hearted. Looking for romance. Willing to believe anything if it meant I got a happily ever after.”

“I don’t think so,” Chromium said. “If you think you’re an easy target, you haven’t met you. You can be infuriating sometimes.”

“I can be infuriating?”

“Yes.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “You don’t believe me when I say you’re beautiful. You didn’t want to let me court you. You kept thinking I was after something other than the incredible person you just are.”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that you’d die without me?”

He growled in frustration. “Yes, okay? I’d die without you. But that has nothing to do with what happened tonight.”

She looked down at her ring sadly. “I… don’t know what to think about this. I need time.”

He reached down and gently tilted up her chin. “Look at me, Helen. You know I care about you. Believe me.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I want to. Honestly, I’ve been trying, and it’s been hard with all I’ve been through. All my insecurities.” She reached up and pulled his hand off her chin, and he felt something break in him as she did so. “But this is too much for me. Maybe you should go home with your friends tonight. I need time to think.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You are,” she said. “Because this has all been overwhelming. You’ve always had all the information, and I’ve had none of it. I shouldn’t have had to hear this from your friends. If you weren’t ashamed of the poison stuff, you would have told me. You must have known how I would react.”

Deep down, he knew that was true. He supposed he’d been stalling, hoping for a better outcome. “I knew you would take it wrong. But only because no matter how much I love you, I can’t seem to make you believe you are worthy of love.”

She rubbed her hand over her neck. “I’m tired, Chromium. And I need to talk about this when I’m not in shock.” She made as if to take off the ring, but he put up a hand.

“Please, keep it. Whatever you decide. There’s no one else I’ll want to give it to, and I’m not here to just use you to save my life, no matter what you think right now.”

She swallowed, and he hoped that she was maybe starting to believe him. “I’m sorry, Chromium. I wish I could take this easier, but I need time alone. Because you’re right. I don’t feel good about myself. That’s up to me to fix. But right now, finding out the guy I’ve been falling for may or may not be using me to save his skin is not helping.”

“I understand.” He let out an exasperated breath. “But I don’t want to leave you.”

She put a hand on his. “I know. But I’ll be fine.”

“Will you go straight home and call me if you have any problems?”

“Yes,” she said dully.

“Look, I wish there was some way to prove what I’m saying is true, that I love you for who you are, but there isn’t. But I believe that deep inside you, untouched by that asshole you dated, is a woman who knows what she’s worth. Who knows that with all you have to offer someone, it’s impossible they could only want you as an antidote to poison.”

She pursed her lips, clearly willing to think about it at least.

“Can I at least walk you home?”

She hesitated, then nodded.

He walked her past his friends silently, then up the stairs to her apartment. She put a hand on his chest quickly, then removed it as she opened the door and walked inside.

“I’ll talk to you soon, Chromium.”

He put a hand in the door to stop it from closing. “And just so you know. I’d have rather died than mate the wrong woman to stop my poison. I know if you think about it, the man you know I am, you’ll know I’m right.”

She leaned up on her toes and impulsively kissed him. “I hope so, Chromium, I really do. Good night.”

And then she was gone, and Chromium knew that for once, this wasn’t something he could push through.

He’d kept something from her and accidentally betrayed her, and she had a right to figure out how she felt about it without him looking over her shoulder.

As he walked back to join his friends, he saw them all looking at him with various expressions of concern, and he waved a hand at them.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said.

“Where will you stay tonight?” Arsenic asked. “I’m really sorry about all this, but I still think she should have known by now.”

“I know,” Chromium said, folding his arms against the chilly night. “I just… With everything I had to tell her about being a dragon, I sort of forgot that part.”

“She’ll get there,” Farrah said, coming forward. “Are you coming back to the mansion?”

Chromium looked around them, seeing the night was empty and safe. Since the robbers that first night, no one had tried to threaten Helen. The muggers had been a clear fluke, and she would be safe in her room.

Yet… he wasn’t sure he could really leave with his friends, even if he wanted to.

But what was his other option?

He nodded at Farrah, and the whole group began to walk down the street toward the public parking area at the other end of the block.

Chromium was lingering at the back of the group and didn’t even have time to protest as he felt someone step out of the darkness, grab his arm, and jerk him into a side alley in just a few seconds.

Chromium looked down at the person, ready to fight him, but was surprised when the man stepped back.

He was wearing all black, a long trench coat, a baseball hat that obscured his face, and a scarf around his shoulders. It was an odd ensemble for a night that was cold, but not freezing.

Though he could sense no ill will from this man, Chromium knew he probably didn’t have much time before his friends realized he wasn’t following and came looking for him, so he stared down at the man with an expectant glare.

“What do you want?”

The man kept his eyes on the pavement. He was tall, but it was hard to make out his build under everything he was wearing.

“Your woman is in danger,” he said quietly in a low voice that seemed disguised and familiar at the same time.

Chromium grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. “You do anything and I’ll kill you.”

The man’s face tipped up, and angry blue eyes stared up at Chromium as he felt himself shoved right back by surprising strength.

“You keep your hands off of me,” the man said sharply. “Look, I’m just a bystander, and I’m telling you don’t leave your woman. I can sense that something will happen tonight.”

“What are you, psychic?”

“No,” the man said. “Something much darker than that.” He jerked away from the wall and started to walk down the other side of the alley. “I gave you a warning. It’s your choice to listen to it. Either you save your woman or I will.”

Chromium just stared at him aghast as he seemed to fade into the darkness.

Who the hell did this crazy person think he was, and why was he interfering with Chromium?

Was he just one of the human drug users that sometimes hung out on these streets at night? Maybe someone crazy?

Chromium rubbed his neck, unsure about it, as he heard footsteps behind him. He whirled around to see Arsenic looking at him in confusion.

“What are you doing back here? We’re ready to go. The others are at the parking lot.”

“I… I’m staying.”

Arsenic looked around them at the alley. “Here?”

“No,” Chromium said. “I’ll hide out on the top of a building if I have to, but I’m not leaving her.”

He hadn’t ever really wanted to and doubted he could have gone through with it, no matter how much she’d asked.

“Okay,” Arsenic said simply, not questioning him. He took off his jacket and handed it to Chromium. “Do you want anyone to stay with you?”

“No thanks,” Chromium said. “I think I can handle it.”

Arsenic nodded and walked out of the alley, looking down at the parking lot as Chromium followed. “I really am sorry, but for what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right decision. I know I couldn’t leave my mate.”

“Yeah.”

Arsenic patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. “She’ll get it. It’s hard for humans to understand this sometimes, but the fact that all of us have mates is proof that love finds a way. And I can tell Helen loves you.”

“She does?”

Arsenic gave him a wry smile. “We can’t be hurt that badly by those we don’t love.”

There was an odd logic to that, even if Chromium still felt awful for hurting her at all.

“Thanks, Arsenic. I’ll talk to you soon.”

And then Arsenic was gone, headed into the night, turning back to give a wave as Chromium looked around him, wondering where to go to best keep an eye on his mate.

* * *

Helen sat in her front room, waiting for a pounding headache to pass and staring at her phone, wondering if she should call Chromium.

She hated that everything had to ruin such a good night, but she knew she had to take time to think this over before making such a big step.

She walked upstairs to her bedroom, wondering if maybe she could get some sleep, but she couldn’t help thinking of Chromium. Where he was, how he was feeling, whether he was getting along with his friends after what had happened.

She still felt betrayed, but the sting had softened, and she’d looked at her ring and wondered seriously about whether she could believe the man who’d given it to her.

He’d come from space. He was a dragon. He wanted her from the start. He’d always been honest about that. And she honestly couldn’t picture him as the type who would manipulate someone for a secret motive.

So now that her adrenaline wasn’t rushing, all that was left was to believe him when he said he forgot to tell her and that it wasn’t a huge deal for him and definitely not the reason he proposed to her.

Deep down, she supposed she believed that with all of her heart, despite her brain and her past telling her she would be stupid for doing so. That she was unlovable. That people only pretended until they got what they wanted.

She could remember her parents’ love. She knew she had her friends’ love. But romantic love… that seemed unreachable.

Except for these past few days with Chromium. She walked into her bathroom to take a good long look at herself in the mirror. What was so wrong with her that she couldn’t see herself as lovable?

As she studied her reflection, she first felt the harsh castigations Darren had heaped on her during the last year of their marriage.

Her huge thighs, her puffy stomach, her curly hair.

But then she paused, pulling off her shirt to take a closer look at herself, trying to see what Chromium saw.

Her breasts looked good in her bra. That was something. But her body was just her body, no more, no less. She put her shirt back on and stared at the mirror, tapping her foot and waiting for something to happen.

And then it did.

She remembered how she used to look at herself before Darren.

How much she liked the blue of her eyes—eyes that looked at everyone with kindness. She liked her small hands—hands that always reached down to lift up anyone who needed it.

Her body was soft, true. The body of someone who enjoyed life and food and who had been utterly treasured by Chromium.

Most importantly, inside that body was a heart that, when uninhibited, loved deeply and freely, everyone but herself.

Perhaps it was time to extend that to herself, too.

Because the woman looking back at her was someone who deserved Chromium and, more importantly, someone that Chromium deserved.

She was glad that she could stop his poison. She was no longer mad about it because she knew with how stubborn he was, he truly wouldn’t have been able to marry just for that.

She pulled out her phone because she needed to call him. They still had things to talk about, but she needed to make sure he wasn’t feeling sad. She needed to apologize for her part in this, for not making sure she was doing better. She vowed she would take a little time each day to try and make sure to take care of herself so she didn’t keep doubting his love.

And she needed to tell him she loved him more than anything else in the world.

But just as she was about to dial his number, the sound of a fire alarm broke out, and she jerked upright, listening intently as her heart began to pound.

It was coming from the direction of the restaurant.