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I knew that name.

Working at the Rodeo Bar for Maggie Mae and Bonnie meant I’d heard all the family lore. Maggie was Mated to Heath MacAllen. She knew the history, the tragedies, and the ghosts that haunted the MacAllen Clan. Knox MacAllen had been a Texas Ranger. A legendary Dragon Guardsman. A man who had tragically perished in a horrific oil-rig explosion roughly a hundred years ago.

I blinked, looking him up, then down, taking in the impossible reality standing right in front of me.

"Knox MacAllen?" I repeated.

"Yes."

"Texas Ranger Knox MacAllen?"

His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, his posture turning rigid. "Yes."

"Oil-rig-explosion Knox MacAllen?"

He was visibly getting irritated. A small plume of dark smoke curled from his nostrils. "Yes."

I swallowed hard, leaning forward. "Dead Knox MacAllen?"

Knox stared at me for one agonizingly long beat before his mouth twitched into a grim, humorless line. "Apparently not."

I wanted to crack another joke, to keep the banter alive because it was the only thing keeping my heart from beating right out of my chest, but the humor died before it reached my mouth. I watched him closely, and for the first time, I noticed the profound, echoing emptiness in his gaze.

Sadly, I had just accidentally handed the man some seriously catastrophic information. The world believed he was dead. Worse, enough time had slipped away that his entire life, his sacrifice, and his name had been reduced to bedtime stories and historical family tragedies.

I knew the second it all hit him. His jaw locked so hard a muscle ticked beneath his scarred cheek. His hands curled into tight, trembling fists at his sides, and his face emptied of all expression.

It was all written right there on his face: He genuinely hadn’t known how much time had passed.

“He didn't know, Maisie,” Neysa whispered softly, her usual sarcastic edge completely gone, replaced by a deep, heartfelt empathy.

“Yeah,” I responded, my chest aching for the stranger. “I figured that part out.”

I watched Knox force his breathing to steady, though his aura practically vibrated with turbulent emotion. He took another step forward, his gaze boring into mine. "How long ago?"

All the humor was gone. The playful bravado left my voice, leaving it quiet and stark against the desolate landscape. "About a hundred years.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. I kept waiting for him to do something… anything.

But there was nothing… nada, zip, zilch, nuttin’.

The Dragon Guardsman didn't rage. He didn't roar. He just went terrifyingly still, like a man anchoring himself against a storm that threatened to tear him away from reality. The air around him buzzed and hummed, a sure sign he was having a conversation with the Dragon King with whom he shared his soul.

Finally, just as I opened my mouth to ask what the hell was being discussed, he spoke. "Guy MacAllen," Knox said, his voice dangerously low. "My brother. Do you know the name?"

My heart sank to my knees. I knew the MacAllen name inside and out, but Guy’s fate was shrouded in the same dark, historical fog. He had vanished a long time ago, too. When I thought about it, he disappeared about the same time that we all thought Knox had been killed.

I couldn't bring myself to break his heart further. How could I say, ‘Your brother is gone’? I had no clue, but I couldn't lie, either.

"I know the MacAllen name," I carefully replied, making sure to look him straight in the eye without so much as a blink. "But... Well, ummm… Guy disappeared a long time ago, too. Right after you… I mean, right after the oil rig… Well, hell, he disappeared right after we all thought you died. Nobody knows where he went."

He looked like I had just slapped him across the face. Knox's chest heaved under his armor. His hands opened and closed as if he was trying to decide what to punch.

Then he shook his head. It looked like he physically shoved the grief aside. I could almost see him mentally compartmentalizing a century of loss in a single breath.

Then he leveled a piercing look my way and gruffly demanded, "How did you get in here?"

I blinked, then scoffed, "I walked."