“You mentioned having a brother, but I don’t remember if you told me his name.”
“I didn’t?”
“I don’t think so.” Why wouldn’t Jules meet Elouan’s gaze?
“Donovan. His name is Donovan. I’m told I look like him, but I don’t know anything else.”
Donovan Craigh. Had to be. How Elouan wanted to tell Jules everything, but how did one simply blurt out,we’re both dragons? What if he were wrong in his suspicions? Or what if Jules somehow didn’t know?
Yet his own dragon had accepted Jules, had been urging Elouan all along to get closer.
Donovan Craigh. What if Jules really was the brother sent here for protection? An omega dragon, but also the brother of a king.
They packed to leave. Elouan asked, “Since your aunt and uncle are more open to you having friends now, do you think I could meet them?” Once he got in the door, he wouldn’t leave without the truth.
Or confirmation of the truth. Deep inside, he already knew. Panic and elation warred for dominance in his mind.
Jules stared off over the lake for a moment, scrubbing the toe of his tennis shoe in the grass. “Now isn’t a good time. They’re still in mourning. They told me to go out with friends today and give them some privacy. Maybe some other time.”
There. Elouan hadn’t noticed before, but Jules definitely squirmed when Elouan asked to meet his aunt and uncle.
Questions. Elouan had questions. The mysterious Moira and Ray might have the answers.
Elouan sat on his Harley across the street from Jules’s house. Groups of trick-or-treaters roamed from one house to the next, bypassing Jules’s undecorated house with the porch light turned off.
Jules turned at the steps and waved, then disappeared inside.
Taking a piece of Elouan’s soul with him.
A curtain flapped in one window. So, someone watched. Good that they cared about Jules, but no matter who they were, they couldn’t protect him as well as Elouan could.
Chapter Fourteen
The slamming of a car door on Sunday evening sent Elouan dashing to the window, like every car door slam since noon, when he’d begun cleaning to ensure Curtis didn’t walk through the door and immediately start tidying the place. He’d even looked up recipes online and bought groceries.
Curtis wrangled a bag from his car’s trunk. Curtis. At least Elouan now had someone to talk to, since Jules needed to study, and Elouan needed distracting, since the pending house closing made him antsy. No way would he mention the house to Curtis or Jules until he’d signed the papers and had the key in his hand.
The storminess of Curtis’s mood slammed into Elouan like a fist the moment his roommate stepped through the door. All the questions he’d longed to ask vanished from his tongue. “What happened?”
Curtis threw his bags to the floor, then rounded on Elouan, tears streaming down his face. “I didn’t shift.”
“Aww, man, I’m so sorry.” Elouan opened his arms. While he knew in his heart Curtis would never shift, he still hoped for a better outcome and sympathized with the pain.
Curtis dove into the offered hug, letting out big, gasping wails. Elouan held him, not knowing what else to do but be there for him. “Shh…It’s all right. I’m here for you.”
“You don’t understand. You can’t understand!” Curtis sobbed.
Elouan snuffled Curtis’s hair and whispered. “No, but I can try.” Curtis’s friends, whom Elouan spotted yesterday, should be here offering comfort. They were omega dragons and should understand.
Elouan and Curtis stood in the living room, Elouan rocking slowly from side to side, taking Curtis with him.
At last, the wails quieted to the occasional sniff. Curtis pulled away. “Sorry, man.”
“Don’t be.”
“Each time I go, I keep hoping, you know?” He sounded so small now, like a child.
Yes. Yes, Elouan did. Only he hoped for other things. “We can still try at the warehouse. Maybe you’re under too much pressure with your folks there.”
