“So. You’ll still be you. You’re not going to hurt anyone. Plus, I really don’t think you have a fire. You’d feel it by now. I did by the time I was your age.”
“But it’s hard to control, right? Mom told me you had a hard time controlling yours.”
“Yeah. I did. But I didn’t have another dragon shifter to help me. I’m there for you, brother. You know that. I’ll stay at the house when you start getting close, so you don’t feel alone.”
“Thanks, Bennett.”
“That’s what family is for, man.”
They drove through town in comfortable silence and parked in the small lot of the shopping complex that held the only restaurant, ice cream parlor, and grocery store. The ice cream parlor would only be open a couple more weeks.
Bennett parked his truck and shut off the engine. He turned to Ladon and stuffed his keys into his pocket. “What flavor are you going to get?” Bennett asked as he was getting out of the truck.
He noticed a man enter the grocery store and had an impulse to follow him. His blond hair curled at the ends. His raggedy sweater had a tear on the left shoulder and the collar looked frayed. He held his shoes together with rainbow duct tape. They looked freshly taped if the lack of dirt was any indication. He wasn’t sure if the man was trying out some new trend or if the clothing told a sad tale. For the guy’s sake, he hoped for the former.
“Bennett. Earth to Dragon, come in Dragon,” Ladon said, waving his hand in front of Bennett’s face.
Bennett dismissed the guy when he lost sight of him, meeting his brother’s gaze. “Ready?”
Ladon rolled his eyes. “I saw you eyeing that guy with the hot ass.”
Bennett growled low in his throat.
Ladon’s eyes widened. “Calm down. You want that ass, then it’s all yours. Before you do get some of that, can we have ice cream, please?”
“Sorry.” Something about the man pulled Bennett to him. His dragon cried out when Bennett headed for the parlor instead of the grocery store.Huh?
Chapter Six
Lucas took his coffee cup with him as he made his way out to the small cement landing outside his cabin door. It was just a few feet from the water. It was the perfect spot, in his opinion. He sat in the plastic chair next to the door.
Of all the towns he’d passed through, it was the prettiest. He always felt an itch between his shoulder blades, where Cassie had touched him, when it was time to leave, as if there was an invisible hand pushing him right on down the road. Cassie had said he would know when the vampires were closing in on him, and he figured that itch was it. The itch had come with a vengeance one night, he’d gotten into his car and drove, landing in the cutest little spot in the world, Saint Lakes.
He counted himself lucky.
He usually picked bigger towns or cities to stay in, liking the anonymity. He could control his light of energy a lot better, so he wasn’t afraid to be around crowds of people. Plus, there were usually more job opportunities in the city and more people willing to pay him cash, too.
Cash helped him stay in one place a lot longer than using credit cards would have. He wasn’t taking the chance that the vampires could track him through technology and such. Technology was not his friend now that he was on the run. And keeping a job for as long as possible was a good thing. He hadn’t been doing great financially before going on the run and had tried to save every penny he could in order to get out of his parents’ house.
He never could do anything the easy way, including leaving home for the second time. The brighter side of the whole situation was the fact that he didn’t live at home with his parents anymore.
In fact, he’d probably never see them again. He wanted to cry at the thought.
The past two months had been a lot lonelier than he’d expected. There were times when he missed his old life terribly. And he thought the loneliness, more than anything else, was turning him into a bitter hag.
It was early in the morning, and he still had on his sleep pants and a hoodie. He propped one of his bare feet on the chair and took a sip of his coffee. The water was calm and still like glass. There was an easiness to everything around him. Peace washed over him for the first time in a long time, even before he’d gone on the run.
He was starting to like moving around, though, minus the loneliness and the lack of resources, of course. Thank God for the rainbow duct tape he had found at a supermarket in the last city he’d squatted in or he probably wouldn’t have shoes. They had been getting bad before leaving and now they reflected how rough his life had gotten. He hadn’t been willing to spend what little money he had on clothing, even when he’d lived on his own. Then he’d had to move back home and somehow the little things had gotten shoved aside as he spent every spare moment finding another job.
It didn’t matter. Eating and coffee were more of a priority than clothing. Having a roof over his head was also up there on the list, which was why he was staying in a one-room cabin.
The cute little dude who ran the place didn’t charge him much, probably knew Lucas was hard up based on the state of his meager possessions. He slept in his car the night he arrived, not able to go any farther because he was tired. He’d parked at one of the public beach accesses because there were no motels and the cabin rental office was closed so late at night.
Maybe he could stay there longer than he had in other places. It felt right, somehow. He felt a little less scared there than he had everywhere else. He couldn’t help but think about Cassie’s words. She’d mentioned a place where he would be safe.
If Saint Lakes was the place Cassie had mentioned, then it was filled with monsters. That little detail bothered him to no end.
Yeah. No thanks.
