Amelia
Amelia still couldn’t believe the amount of groceries that Wyatt had bought at the store. She had never seen so much food in her life and couldn’t imagine how they were going to eat it all. Dragon shifters had huge appetites, sure, but she was still doubtful that they could get through it all before it started to go bad.
She’d tried to pay him for her share three times when they got back to his house, but each time, he’d asked her a question that had distracted her and put the groceries out of her mind. By the third time he did it, she realized he was distracting her on purpose to prevent her from giving him any money. It would have been sweet, if it hadn’t been so infuriating.
In the end, Amelia had given up trying, but she hated not paying her own way. She hadn’t had anyone to rely on but herself since she left the clan and it felt weird doing so now, even though Wyatt was her mate and mates were supposed to support one another. She knew he was only trying to help, and while she appreciated the gesture, she didn’t want to feel like a charity case.
She had insisted on cooking him a meal to say thank you, and Wyatt had agreed readily, but it didn’t feel like enough. After they had unpacked everything and put it away, they went and sat out in Wyatt’s backyard with a couple of beers until it was time for her to start cooking. The conversation between them flowed and by the time they were on their third bottle—after they’d both said they’d just have the one—Wyatt started to open up to Amelia and tell her all about his life after he was banished from the clan.
“You were so brave,” she said, after he’d finished telling her how he ended up living in Miami.
Wyatt grinned even as his brow creased into a frown. “You’re one to talk. Didn’t you make the exact same move away from Antarctica that I did?”
“Sure, but I was twenty-five. You were only fifteen.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Wyatt said. “Unless life with the clan has changed drastically in the last fifty years, living there has a way of keeping our kind innocent—naïve, even—as to what it’s like out in the real world. I mean, we flirt with life outside the clan.”
He took a pull from his bottle and for one moment the image of those perfect lips drinking fromherflashed through her mind, and she flushed red and forced herself to focus on his eyes as he continued.
“I mean, we fly to South America or Northern Europe, and we mix a little with the locals, sure, but actually learning how to survive in the world can be an eye opener. Something we’re not entirely prepared for.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m not going to lie. It hasn’t been easy. But I don’t regret leaving, not for one minute. Even if my father hadn’t forced my hand, I’m sure I would have left anyway, given time. What about you? If you hadn’t been banished, do you think you would have ever left?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Wyatt said. “I mean, I was so young when I was banished that I hadn’t really had a chance to consider what my life would be like when I was older. I wanted to see the world, sure, but I don’t know if I’d have chosen to leave for good.”
“Do you miss it there?”
“Surprisingly, no, I don’t. I spent years missing my parents and the friends I had to leave behind, and still do from time to time, but the clan itself with all its archaic rules and the primitive, simple lifestyle? No, I don’t miss it at all.”
“Neither do I,” Amelia said. “Not one iota. I thought I would, but I don’t.”
“Do you think that might change in the future?” Wyatt asked and though the question seemed innocuous, she got the feeling that he was hanging on the answer. She tried to give the question the consideration he clearly felt it deserved.
“It could, of course, but I don’t see it changing, no. Since I came here, it feels like I’m actually living my life for the first time. Back there it was like I was just going through the motions.”
They talked for another hour and Wyatt told Amelia all about his job in the FBI. It sounded dangerous, but also exciting and rewarding. Amelia loved listening to the deep timbre of Wyatt’s voice and seeing the crooked smile on his lips when she said something he thought was funny. He was so easy to talk to and she could have listened to him all day. She only hoped she could convince him that being together was worth whatever risk he imagined for her in his mind, and that he didn’t have anything to worry about with regards to the clan ever finding out about them. Because now that he was in her life, she couldn’t imagine a single day without him.
“What are you going to cook for dinner?” Wyatt asked.
“I was thinking about cooking the T bones with a jacket potato and some salad and coleslaw.”
Wyatt groaned. “You do realize I’m salivating already, right?”
Amelia chuckled. “I’d better get started on them then.”
“Great idea. You need any help?”
“No, I’m good.”
Amelia had always thought of herself as fiercely independent and might even have described herself as a feminist but cooking for Wyatt gave her an immense amount of pleasure. After dinner, he helped her clear the table and load the dishwasher before they headed into the living room and turned on the television.
Amelia thought about trying to find a romantic movie that they could watch or perhaps some sort of horror so that she could pretend to be scared in the hopes that he’d comfort her, but her plan was thwarted as soon as she sat down.
“I’m going to go and check the street,” Wyatt said. “Make sure there’s no one suspicious hanging around out there.”
Amelia tried to hide her disappointment. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, there’s no need. You stay here and relax.”
