“You’re welcome, Sweets, but one thing we’re gonna do first is, you’re gonna tell me how the hell you knew that dragon and what the hell that shit was about phone calls.”
I close my eyes and sigh. I know I need to tell him. He deserves to know about the calls. How I was getting them for so long. He deserves the truth. All ofit. Not just about the creepy calls, but everything. Pyro needs to know my past because it’s a part of me. With him knowing it all, I know in my heart that he’ll understand and won’t judge who I am.
Tilting my head back, I meet his gaze once more. “I’ll tell you.”
FIFTEEN
PYRO
“Growing up,I was excited to carry the dragon mark,” Carina says, holding my hand and walking with me back to the clubhouse. “I loved it so much that I would go around telling everyone that I was going to marry a dragon. I would show the world, and as I got older, I learned it wasn’t something I should talk about. That I shouldn’t share that with the world.”
“What happened?” The question is rough-sounding even to my own ears, but I want to know. I want to know everything there is to know about my mate.
I didn’t like the fact the dragon had showed up here and challenged me to win my mate. I knew itwas a possibility it could happen if one ever found out that my mate carried a mark. What I hadn’t understood was how the damn dragon found her.
“It started off with simply bullying. Girls would call me a freak. Guys would tease me for it. I’d be laughed at and whispered about loud enough that I could hear what they were saying. Some guys would spread rumors about me.” She sighs and shakes her head. “I handled it for as long as I could. It got worse over time. Bad enough to the point I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror. I still struggle with that sometimes.”
Carina shouldn’t have to struggle with looking in the mirror. She’s beautiful and perfect in my eyes.
“One day, these girls cornered me in the bathroom at school. They took great pleasure in shearing my hair while holding me down on the bathroom floor.”
My dragon roars in my head at the thought of anyone putting their hands on our mate.
“When they were done, they laughed and took pictures of me before letting two of the guys in the girls’ bathroom.”
“They hurt you,” I state, not having to hear it to know the truth.
Carina stops and looks up at me, tears prickingher eyes. “No one knows this. Not my grandparents or brother,” she whispers.
“What you tell me, Sweets, stays between us. No one will know unless you make it their business.”
I won’t ever fuck with her trust in me with this.
Nodding, she casts her gaze away. “I used to write everything down.”
I remember her telling me about the journals.
“That day was the last day I was here.” Her words are barely audible. “I ran away after that. I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt so dirty. Unworthy of who I wanted to be. I had planned to save my virginity for my dragon. I was going to be pure. But after that day . . .” She shakes her head again. “I wasn’t pure. I didn’t keep my word to myself. They raped me.”
Unable to stop myself, I jerk Carina to me, wrapping my arms tightly around her.
“They took great pleasure in calling me a whore. Laughing. The girls . . . they stood by and watched. One of them filmed it, saying it was going to be great to share it with the rest of the school.”
I want to kill them all. I swear, if I find those who hurt my woman, I will take great pleasure in tearing them apart limb by limb. I’ll claw their intestines from their stomachs, drag them through the streets of town, spreading the blood all over theplace. They’ll learn never to touch what’s mine again.
“You’re not a whore, Carina. You’re not what those fuckers said about you.”
“I know,” she murmurs, breath hitching. “It took a long time to heal, but I did. I started traveling and swore never to come back here.”
“Now, you’re home.” I point out.
“I am,” Carina agrees softly. “I’m done running away.”
“Good, because there’s one thing I’ve learned about my mate.”
“What’s that?”
“She’s not a quitter. She doesn’t let anyone walk over her. She’s not weak, and she sure as hell isn’t one of those who put up with someone’s bullshit.”
