She struggled up into a sitting position. “I dreamed it all,” she said, then paused for a second. “Didn’t I?”
“It was all real, my dear, not a dream at all,” she said, patting her arm again. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. Would you like me to get Malcolm?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m still a little confused.”
“That’s perfectly understandable, you’ve had a bit of a shock, but let me assure you, Malcolm would never hurt you,” she said, shaking her head. “A shifter could never hurt his soulmate; he’ll protect you to the death if that’s what it takes.”
“He’s a shifter,” she said, then paused to let the words sink in. “How is that possible?”
“I think it would be best if we let him explain,” Hattie said, starting to get up. “That is, if you want to see him.”
She took a second to decide, then realized it was what she wanted more than anything right then. “Yes, please,” she said. “He saved me from those men, they would have…”
“Let’s not talk about that right now, it’s over, you’re safe,” Hattie said, getting to her feet. “I’ll get Malcolm. He’s right out in the hallway, he’s been there all night.”
CHAPTER 17
***MALCOLM***
It was the sound of voices from beyond the closed bedroom door that woke Malcolm the next morning, and he jumped up from the chair so fast that he knocked it over, making a big crash. He scrambled to pick it up, but still half asleep, only managed to drop it again, this time with an even louder clatter, and he stood staring at it for a second before finally managing to set it down on all four legs without a sound.
Sleeping sitting in the straight-backed chair had proven to be more difficult than he’d thought it would be, but he wouldn’t have slept at all if he hadn’t been right outside the door. He’d tried and failed, then finally given up and grabbed a kitchen chair and put it in the hallway. That had finally satisfied the dragon, and he’d finally managed to fall into a fitful sleep, but it had been filled with weird dreams about Rose, and as he stood there staring at the chair, feeling a bit foggy-brained, he wondered if it might have been better if he hadn’t slept at all.
Shaking his head to help clear it, he looked over at the door, straining to hear what was going on inside, his stomach in knots, sure that Hattie was going to come out and tell him that Rose wanted nothing to do with him. When it finally opened, he triedto step back, but Hattie still ran into him, and he had to catch her so she didn’t go tumbling to the floor. She just shook her head at him, shut the door, and took a few steps down the hallway, forcing him to follow her, and his heart sank; it was going to be bad news, he just knew it.
“We’re just going to give her a few minutes to freshen up, then you can go in and see her,” Hattie said. “I’ll bring up a breakfast tray later when she’s ready.”
“How is she?” he asked, unable to hide the anxiety in his voice. “Does she want to see me?”
Hattie smiled up at him. “She perked right up when I asked her if she wanted to talk to you,” she said, patting him on the arm. “Don’t worry so much, Malcolm, everything is going to be okay.”
“I’ve never cared this much about anything,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “It’s frightening, I feel so vulnerable. It’s not supposed to be like this.”
“I hate to tell you this, but this is exactly what it feels like to be in love,” Hattie said, shaking her head. “It’s wonderful and amazing, but it’s also scary sometimes. The thing is, you can’t have one without the other. With great love comes great pain. The question you have to answer is if it’s worth it, if the highs are worth the lows. Some people would rather be alone than put themselves through what you’re feeling.”
“You mean give Rose up?” he asked, shocked by the very idea. “That’s not happening.”
Hattie laughed. “Well, I think you just gave us both your answer,” she said. “I think you can go in now. I’ll go see about putting some breakfast together for our girl. Just let me know when she’s ready.”
“Thank you, Hattie,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Oh, you’d manage,” she said, grinning up at him. “Just not as well.”
Hattie disappeared down the stairs after wishing him good luck, and he suddenly found himself facing his future. Whatever happened when he went into the bedroom was going to change the rest of his life. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door, then pushed it open when he heard Rose call out to come in, but he hesitated for just a second before crossing the threshold, praying to whoever would listen that the woman he loved would accept him.
Rose was sitting up in bed, her back braced against the headboard, and a smile instantly spread across her face when she saw him. “Malcolm, I’m so glad to see you,” she said, a blush rising on her cheeks. “I was afraid you were still mad at me.”
He came all the way into the room. “I guess I forgot about that in all the…chaos,” he said. “I might have overreacted. I should have listened to you. I’m sorry, I was just so... shocked that you would do that. But that’s not a good excuse. I shouldn’t have left you at the bar; that was a jerk move. Everything that happened was my fault. Can you forgive me?”
“It wasn’t all your fault. I should have waited for Vanessa inside. I knew Sandra was out there. I guess I was just so upset, I forgot,” Rose said, shaking her head. “You had every right to be mad at me. I was spying on you, but I never told Chet anything, until last night. I didn’t have anything to tell him.”
He walked over and sat down in the rocking chair by the bed. “I think we both screwed up,” he said, then sighed. “I wish we could just start over, do everything differently, or something.”
“But we can’t, we have to go forward,” Rose said, then hesitated. “Were you going to tell me about being a shifter? I’m not mad that you didn’t, I just…well…hope you weren’t going to hide it from me…not that I deserve total honesty…but…”
“I can’t believe that you’re taking all this so calmly. I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried,” he said, shaking his head. “Doesn’t what I am bother you at all?”
She studied him for a second. “I don’t think I was ever scared, not of you anyway. I knew as soon as I figured out it was you that you were there to save me,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “It wasn’t really a conscious thought, I just knew deep inside that you weren’t going to hurt me.”
