The water started to turn cold, so I got out, dried off quickly, and threw on the clothes that Zack had left out for me. I finally felt like myself again… almost. I was nervous about what I was going to face once I opened that bathroom door. Would he kick me right out? Toss a tent my way? Yell at me? He didn’t seem the yelling type, but what did I know?
What I hadn’t expected was to open the door and have the scent of cinnamon and pine slam into me all warm, safe, and comforting.
Mate,my dragon insisted.Ours.
I stared at the bear, no, he was my mate. The giant, grumpy alpha sitting in the middle of the cabin that was supposed to be mine was my mate. How was that possible? Did a scammercoincidentally pick my true mate’s cabin? And did I want a mate who’d tried to toss me out?
My dragon kept pushing, shouting at me over and over again that the bear was ours. My beast wasn’t an overly vocal beast, but when he was, he refused to go unheard.
I stepped out of the bathroom, watching the bear, waiting for his reaction, waiting for him to scent me now that I no longer smelled like a gas station. He just looked at me with the same expression he had before. His eyes were still human, the grumpiness still there. Why? Why wasn’t he reacting? He had to scent it too. I didn’t smell anymore. He could scent who I truly was, which meant he wasn’t interested.
Was it because I was a dragon? Or maybe because I was half human? Shit, maybe he already had somebody. Or maybe it was the stupid soap that Sampson gave me being too intense and confusing me and my dragon and this man wasn’t ours at all. No, that didn’t make any sense. Fuck.
Whatever the case was, Zack showed no signs of wanting me. “Now that you’re done,” he said, coming across the room and handing me a small piece of paper, “these are directions to the B&B. The owner’s nice. They’ll probably let you pay with your first paycheck.”
“Yeah, okay.” I took the paper.
It was a reasonable idea. Just because my feelings were hurt didn’t change that. My dragon pushed to get out. He didn’t want to be sent away. He wanted to be here with his bear. The bear was the one who didn’t want us.
Stop. I was firm. My dragon needed to chill.
I grabbed my bag of gasoline-soaked clothes and my suitcase.
“Leave the clothes.” He wasn’t asking. I dropped them and went straight out to the car, driving away without saying anything other than, “Thanks for the shower.”
My dragon kept pushing and pushing and pushing.He’s our mate.
He doesn’t think so.
Maybe he didn’t scent us.
That’s not possible. He’s trying to get us housing. We should be happy about that much.
Go back!
No. We’ve spent our life where we aren’t wanted. We’re not doing that again.
I drove into the B&B parking lot, parked, and went to see if there was any room available, only to be greeted with a sign—less a sign, more a piece of paper taped to the window—saying they were closed while on vacation. I checked the door just to make sure it wasn’t an old sign that someone forgot to take down. Nope, it was locked. The lights were all off.
What a mess. There was nowhere else in town with rooms for rent. The closest real hotel was far away and would require far more money than I had. My cabin wasn’t mine. I had no savings. My old apartment was far away and occupied by someone else. My mate didn’t want me, and I started work in two days.
Nothing about this was the new beginning I had hoped for. I took out my phone and tried to find someplace, anywhere, where I could stay for the night, but I found nothing.
“Maybe he’ll let me have that tent after all,” I grumbled to myself as I climbed back into my vehicle, catching another whiff of gasoline. Was that scent ever going away?
I had to figure out what to do about living arrangements tomorrow, but crossed my fingers that this would work for tonight.
At this point, I couldn’t be picky. Even if that meant staying in a tent outside where my feelings had been crushed. I pulled back into the bear’s driveway. The cabin lights were still on.
My dragon was as proud as punch, thinking he had won. I ignored him and parked. Zack was on the porch.
Please let the grumpy bear take pity on me, because if he didn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do.
5
ZACK
Why did you send him away?My bear was frantic, though he couldn’t explain why.
