“Like I said, it was a home for kids.” Logan had one hand tucked into the front of his jeans as he leaned against mydoorframe.
“I have a stupid question,” I blurtedout.
He nodded. “Shoot.”
I plopped my pillowcase on the bed and looked up at him, playing with the hem of my shirt. “Are my dragon and I … the same person. I mean, are weone?”
Logan nodded in understanding. “Yes. Although it doesn’t feel that way at first. Especially if you have lived your whole life as a human. She’s just another aspect of your soul. It’s all you, but she will come to the surface to keep you safe, just as your anger or rage would come to the surface in anargument.”
Huh.Interesting.
When I didn’t say anything else, he ran his fingers over the scruff on his chin. “Well, I’m just next door, so … if you need anything orwhatever.”
He was positively blushing and I couldn’t help but smile. I don’t think he had meant it to sound like a sexual invite, but it did; now he lookedembarrassed.
“Alright. Thanks,” Imuttered.
“I mean if you hear something in the night and get scared orwhatever…”
I nodded. “I’ll run in screaming, don’tworry.”
He relaxed a little. “I’ll see you bright and early fortraining.”
Ugh. Training. Sounded awful, but I nodded because I knew he was trying to keep mealive.
As the door closed behind him, I sank into the bed and stared up at the happy unicorn jumping through a rainbow on the wall. What the hell had become of my life? Dragon shifter, on the run with a bunch of wild animals. Selling my scales for majorcash.
Cash!
I sat bolt upright and scrambled through my pillowcase to pull out my black laptop. It had a custom skin of a fairy on it that I drew in freshman year of college. All those years of fantasy drawings, I couldn’t believe some of them could be real. Now theywere.
After pulling up my banks website, I logged on. My sharp intake of breath hung in the air. “Holy shit!” I screeched. My account read $100,009.64.
I did nothing, thought nothing. I just stared. My mother worked her entire life as a teacher dedicated to nurturing young minds, and when she died the insurance payout was barely a quarter of this. I had just made this in one night. Oh my God! All of a sudden I was giddy and squealed, bopping up and down on thebed.
I heard someone scramble in the hallway. “Sloane? You okay?” Logan’s voice came from the other side of mydoor.
Crap. “Yes.Sorry.”
The knob turned. “Are you sure? It sounded like you screamed?” He didn’t sound convinced that I wasn’t being held hostage by adruid.
“Come in,” I said. The door burst open as Logan took in every corner of the room with hisgaze.
I felt stupid. “I just checked my bank account,” I toldhim.
His entire posture relaxed and he chuckled, giving me that glimpse of his sexy straight teeth. “What are you gonna buy withit?”
I didn’t know. I wanted to hold on to it for a rainy day. Being poor my whole life made me want to save the entire thing. “Probably pay off my student loans and save therest.”
He nodded, impressed. “Smart girl. The first time I sold a scale, I paid for the entire town of Glastonbury to drink at the pub. Was a funnight.”
Glastonbury? “You’re from England?” He didn’t have anaccent.
He nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Yeah, but I’ve been in the US long enough to lose theaccent.”
Something occurred to me then. “Do you need the money? I mean, should I be sharing this with youguys?”
I remembered he had said he paid the pack’s salary on the sale of his scales and other dragonly things. He smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I can take care ofyou.”
