Hearing the sorrow mixed with anger in Alex’s voice, Sawyer placed his hand on his mate’s back, offering comfort and support. “What happened?”
Shaking his head, Alex snorted. “I basically said thanks but no thanks. There wasn’t any way I was going to accept my father’s gift...especially if he couldn’t even show up to give it to me himself. All it did was to make me realize how much time I wasted all those years, dreaming about my parents and wishing they would take me home. It was all a fantasy…a fairy tale with a really shitty ending.”
“Hey, your fatherwaswrong to leave you alone all those years.”
Smiling faintly, Alex said, “Thank you, Sawyer. That means a lot to me. I said that too…and I also told the lawyer it was too late because I never wanted to hear from my father again. Then I left. Only I didn’t get far. The bodyguards blocked the door and wouldn’t let me pass. The only way out was if I shifted, so I called on my beasts but before one appeared, one of those bastards grabbed my wrists and snapped a pair of handcuffs on me…game over.”
“That fucking son-of-a-bitch!”
“Yeah, that was my feeling too.”
“What did you do?”
“Before I could figure out how to escape, the lawyer dismissed the bodyguards, then he told me if I refused to go to the apartment, my father would be forced to tell the High Council what I was. And if that occurred, the High Council would take me to one of their facilities and I’d live there until I died. According to the lawyer, my father did me a huge favor when he sent me to the boarding school because otherwise I would have spent my youth being probed by scientists as they tried to figure me out.”
“Uhmm, Alex…I’m missing something. Why would the High Council be so interested in a fox shifter? You are a fox shifter, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m a Fire Fox shifter to be exact.”
“Whoa…no fucking way! Do you know how fucking rare you are? Duh…of course you do,” Sawyer said, slapping his forehead.
Giggling at his mate’s gesture, Alex felt some of his fear evaporate, easing the tension in his gut, hoping it would be gone for good once his mate found out the rest. “I didn’t even know it was rare because the headmaster always insisted I couldn’t shift until he gave me permission. I never thought much about it, but in hindsight, I realized he only allowed me to shift when no one else was around.”
“So your headmaster knew what you were…did you ever ask him about your parents? He had to know at least one of them because boarding schools are not cheap, unless you were there on a scholarship.”
“You have a point; however, I never asked because it didn’t occur to me. Even if it had, I still wouldn’t have asked him because he was an asshole; I spent most of my time there trying to avoid him. The weekly shifting appointments with him were bad enough.”
“Fair enough. How did you find out you were rare?”
“There wasn’t much for me to do during the summers so I read a lot. One year, the regular librarian was sick, so the school hired a temporary one. She and I struck up a friendship and that’s how I gained access to the books on rare paranormals…that were kept locked up.”
“Oh, sneaky, sneaky…I like it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s how I found out how rare my fox was.”
“Okay…but I still don’t get why the High Council would want you? A Fire Fox shifter is rare but so is a Ghost Bear shifter, in fact there are two of them in my cousin’s pack.”
“That isn’t the only reason they’d want me,” muttered Alex, nervously bouncing his leg. Swallowing the bile he suddenly felt in his mouth, Alex imagined Sawyer’s reaction when he told him therealreason the High Council would want him. Even now, his fear about that was a constant companion. Many a night he’d fallen into a fitful sleep, worrying about those who might know his secret—a secret he’d never revealed to anyone—and what he would do if the High Council ever found out. Now he was going to voluntarily tell another person and, even though that person was his mate, it didn’t make it any easier.
Placing his hand on Alex’s thigh, Sawyer stopped the nervous movement of his mate’s leg. “Sweetheart, please look at me.” When he finally had his mate’s attention, he said, “Alex, we’re mates…whatever you’re afraid to tell me will not change that nor change my love for you. I need to protect you…and that includes keeping you safe from the High Council…and anyone else who wants to harm you. I will never betray you…your secret is safe with me.”
Feeling the truth in Sawyer’s words, Alex placed his hand on top of his mate’s, intertwining their fingers together. “The reason I was so eager to read those books was that I overheard one of my classmates talking about a Fire Dragon.”
“A Fire Dragon?”
“Yeah…he said they didn’t exist…I just wanted to prove he was wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because he was always spewing shit like that…always putting down anyone who wasn’t a wolf shifter like him.”
“And he put you down for being a fox shifter.”
“Yes…no…at least not to my face…but that wasn’t the only reason,” Alex mumbled. Biting his lower lip, he gathered his courage and blurted out, “I’m a Fire Dragon shifter, too!”
Chapter 12
Alex’s words ran through Sawyer’s mind in an endless loop: he tried to make sense of them but failed miserably.Can’t be…impossible! Staring at his mate, he wondered if the loneliness of his mate’s childhood caused him to conjure up an imaginary friend—someone to play with him, listen to his troubles, comfort him when he cried. But he quickly discarded that explanation when the truth of Alex’s words were clearly reflected in his face. Getting a nudge from his wolf along with a low growl suddenly made Sawyer aware that his mate was anxiously waiting for his response.
