I looked up. Was that a face at the black and red guest room window? Did Cassius watch my dragon land?
I walked to the patio and quickly dressed.
Inside the warm house, I began to shiver more. I went to the game room and started a fire. Footsteps fell behind me. I turned to see Cassius standing there.
“It’s cold tonight,” I said, fiddling with the logs in the hearth.
He nodded, then abruptly sat cross-legged about two feet away. “I saw your dragon.”
“Did you?”
“He’s pretty. And big.”
Ah, two compliments. He likes me.
My teeth pressed inside my mouth. “His name is Malinekan.”
“I can’t imagine having a beast like that. So colorful, so graceful.”
“You’re used to shifters.”
He shrugged. “Not inside myself.”
I wondered if he felt hollow, like a shell waiting to be occupied. “You’re still of the shifter world, angel.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m no angel.”
“All right, little wolf.”
“I’m not a wolf, either, remember?”
“Of course you are.”
He stared at me, mouth slightly open.
“You belonged to a pack,” I said. “You did all the pack things.”
“Yes. Before I was outcast and sold.”
“You’re a shifter who simply can’t shift.”
“Because I have no animal.”
I was not sure why I answered the way I did. It wasn’t because I was trying to be nice. That wasn’t me. “Maybe you do. Maybe he’s just too far away on another life’s journey for you to connect.”
He frowned and lowered his head but not before I saw the tears rapidly collect and fall to his cheeks.
“If I offended you, you’re not the first.” Why did I care?
Malinekan interrupted.Your alpha has stirred, am I right? That’s why.
I watched Cassius swipe at his face with his knuckles. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before.”
That’s because they’re all dicks, I thought. To cover for the fact that I never used sentiment, I said, “But it’s just the truth, isn’t it?”
He looked up with reddened eyes. “It’s one theory. Not really talked about. Only online. Did you look it up?”
“No. I just had the thought.”
