Chapter 30: Chapter Twenty-Nine

I was surprised to see Fox sitting with his back against my door. Before I could say anything Daniel pushed me behind him and growled low and menacingly. “Why are you here?”

He stood up and started to take a step toward us, but Daniel growled again causing him to freeze. “Jax stole my clothes and brought them here. He locked me out after Amaya left. I need to talk to you Amaya, about more than the clothes Jax stole.”

“Dad, it’s okay. I’ll see you later,” I said, turning him to me. He gave me a conflicted look but finally decided to let me deal with this. I gave him a tight squeezing hug which he returned happily.

“Let me know how it goes, little one,” he whispered so that only I could hear him.

I nodded and looked past him to my mate who was waiting, staring at his shoes. Once Daniel was gone we stood in the hallway, unable to move into my apartment. “So, I thought you were going for a run. Why did Daniel bring you back here?”

I could tell it’s not the question he really wanted to ask but I answered it anyway, “We had things to discuss, so we met for coffee.”

He bobbed his head. I moved around him trying not to touch him in the process afraid I would lose my resolve. He brushed against me as I opened the door to my apartment and Niamh cooed, but I held back the shiver that threatened to go up my spine. “What happened to your back?”

I snorted, “Now you care?”

“What do you mean?” He was frozen where he stood.

“I mean two years ago you were asked to come help me because I had been hurt badly. What did you think had happened? They were exaggerating?”

His face turned white, “I didn’t know. They didn’t say.”

“If a dragon is hurt badly assume it’s pretty fucking bad.”

He sat down on the couch with a heavy thud. He asked quietly, “What happened?”

“What does it matter now? It’s over and done with, they’re dead, you didn’t show up, and I made it through,” I snapped back.

His eyes met mine and I saw nothing but regret. I could feel it coming off of him in waves, “Why did Jax steal my clothes?”

I sighed because I didn’t want to admit I was still having problems to him, “I still have nightmares. Jax thought your scent might help since you won’t have anything to do with me.”

He looked down at his hands, “I don’t understand how I could help if you don’t even like me.”

“I’m angry with you. Mates have a connection called the mate bond, even when they’re angry with one another or don’t like each other. Niamh, my dragon, still coos any time you’re around and would purr if you hugged me right now even though I’m pissed at you. The sparks you feel when we touch is the mate bond trying to make us come together. If we slept together I would sleep through my sleep cycle, maybe the entire night at this point, without any nightmares because your presence comforts me. Here get up,” he gave me a look but complied, “Hug me.”

Again he did as he was told, it was a bit stiff to start, but he and I both relaxed into it and Niamh soon began to purr. “Does she do that for anyone else?”

“Not really. She does it in a different way for Jax, Josie, Jace, and Daniel,” I started to pull away but he held me to him. “Fox, you still smell like her. Please let me go.”

At that he released me, “I’m sorry. Matt said he scented you and you weren’t a virgin, which I though was really fucking weird and a huge invasion of privacy, but at the same time Jax said shifters save themselves for their mates. Then you were there with that guy Jace and he had his arm around you and he was whispering in your ear. I thought you guys were a thing and the whole ‘mate’ thing was just something you guys made up to fuck with me, so yeah I flirted with a girl and we got handsy. I didn’t, couldn’t, go further though. All I could think about was you so I went home, with her scent all over me apparently.”

The words tumbled out of him and he looked at me half expectantly and half dejectedly as if expecting my rejection. “Jace is my cousin. Dragons crave physical contact so him putting his arm around me was his way of comforting me when you walked into the bar. He whispered that everything would be okay. I’m not a virgin because I was raped two years ago. In fact the guy that raped me first said he enjoyed that our kind saved ourselves for our mates, because he liked virgins.”

He went white again, “First guy? There were multiple?” I nodded. Before I had a chance to object, Fox had me in his arms again, “I’m so sorry I didn’t come to you. I’m so sorry.” He just kept repeating it over and over again. I started crying at some point and from the salty taste in the air and the wetness on my head Fox was crying too.

I didn’t know how long we stood there but we pulled apart too soon for Niamh and me. “Are you hungry?” I asked him, wiping my eyes.

“Uh yeah,” he checked his phone, responded to a text, and followed me to the kitchen. “What are you going to fix me for lunch?”

I snorted, “Are you sure you can trust me?”

“Not in the least, but I’ll chance it,” he said with a smile.

I chuckled and opened the fridge. The fact that I never spent any time in my apartment hit me really hard when I looked into my fridge and found it pretty much empty. “Well. Looks like we’re going out for lunch because I have no food in my apartment.”

He laughed, “Sounds good.”

“Just let me change and we’ll go.”

As we walked to a small bistro near my apartment, we made light conversation. He caught me up on Jax’s shinagagins while we ate, “Wait so Jax actually uses his title to get his way when he wants something from Matthew?”

“Yep. He’s such a little shit about the whole prince thing,” he said with a chuckle.

“Does it actually work?”

“Not usually. Occasionally he pulls it and Matt just does whatever he doesn’t want to do, but it’s very rare.”

We finished up our lunch, and the look in Fox’s eyes told me he wanted more time together. “I need to get back to the base since we ship out tomorrow,” he said with a little sadness in his eyes.

We walked back to my apartment, “Where are you guys headed?”

“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. It’s a security thing. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” he seemed disappointed with himself.

“It’s okay. I understand,” I said.

“What about you? When’s your next assignment?”

I smiled, “I’m not sure yet.”

He nodded his understanding with a look of guilt also passing over his face, “Do you mind if I come in and grab most of the clothes Jax brought over? He stole basically my entire closet.”

I laughed, “Yeah, come in, but I’m going to insist on keeping a shirt or two.”

“Whatever you need,” he said with a lazy smile on his lips.

We exchanged numbers and hugged, as we pulled apart he placed a kiss on my forehead, “See you later.”

“Yeah, see you later,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.