But looking into Cody’s eyes gave her that same calm and peace she’d felt in his presence from the beginning. There was no hint of unpredictability to him—just the steady man she’d come to know.
She felt safe with him, and that meant the world to her. If she didn’t, she never would have shifted in front of him, let alone told him what she was.
The way she felt for him, though… she had no words for it. And she wanted no more secrets between them. Whatever this was that they had, she wanted to see it through. She wanted it to grow and blossom, and that couldn’t happen with secrets.
With that in mind, she nodded. “To fully understand what happened and why, I think you need the full story.” She paused to gather her thoughts, and he waited patiently beside her, not saying a word. “As you now know, dragons have been in hiding for centuries. Hunters nearly wiped us out. There aren’t as many as there used to be, but they’re still out there.
“But us female dragons… we’ve had to hide even more thoroughly. I’m not sure how much you know about dragons, but one of the reasons we became so rare was because we couldn’t reproduce like other shifter species. Females have a hard time conceiving. We’re not sure exactly why that is, but a lot of us never have even one pregnancy or baby. And the dragon gene only passes through the females. If a male mates with a woman outside of our species, any child produced will always be either human or another shifter species, depending on the woman.”
“I didn’t know all that,” he replied quietly, his big, calloused hand rubbing her arm slowly. “So, are you saying the women have had to hide from hunters and the males of your species?”
She nodded. “Exactly. The males are basically raised to be entitled pricks. Most of them, anyway. They’re taught that they’re superior to all and have a right to anything they want, so if they see something they desire, they just take it. That goes for female dragons, too. The males are obsessed with producing dragon offspring. Maybe it’s a point of pride for them, I don’t know. So anytime they find a female, they take her. No questions asked, no permission sought. It’s always against the female’s will.”
His hand stilled as his body tightened, and she could feel the disgust and anger rolling off of him. “Son of a bitch. That’s seriously fucked up.”
“A lot of species have dark pasts or horrible customs they have to live with. You’ve seen that firsthand,” she replied quietly. “But that leads to what happened to me and the other women at my house. There was an evil male dragon. Fernandez. He was kidnapping females and then auctioning them off to the highest bidder. The purer the bloodline, the more they went for. All of us were taken by his men and held captive while he found buyers for us. Luckily, the Enforcers found out what was going on and rescued us. It took them awhile to catch up with Fernandez after that, but they finally did. He and all his guards are dead now.”
“Jesus, Olivia,” he whispered, his arm tightening around her. “No wonder you have shadows in your eyes. So, once you guys were free, you decided to stay together, and you moved here?”
“Yeah. We stayed together at the Enforcers’ clubhouse until Fernandez was dead. And after that, none of us really had lives waiting for us. And we didn’t feel safe going back to what was left, either. We were found once. We could be again. I went back to get clothes, pictures, and my dad’s truck, but that was it. I didn’t even stick around to sell the house. It’s just sitting empty. Fiona couldn’t bring herself to go back at all, so I picked up her things, as well. Montana appealed to us because it’s a large state with a small population. And when we found a little town with the name of New Leaf, it felt perfect. We were all trying to turn over a new leaf.”
“I’m happier than I can say that you guys chose New Leaf, but damn Liv, I wish the reasons why never happened.”
“Hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again. One of the dragons he kidnapped, Kennedy, is a scientist. He planned to keep her for himself, but he also had her working on serums that would make it easier for dragons to reproduce. His plan was to sire an entire army of dragons so he could take over the world, so thank God that didn’t happen. But after she was rescued and Fernandez was dead, Kennedy completed her work. Female dragons won’t have such a hard time re
producing now, and males can sire them on their own, with the help of her serums.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair, and she couldn’t fight back the shiver that action produced. “That’s great. Hopefully that means you won’t have to worry about the males kidnapping you anymore.”
She nodded, leaning into him. “Yeah. That’s part of why we decided we’re not hiding anymore. From anyone, even the hunters. The hunters caused the dragons to scatter and isolate themselves, for fear that they’d slaughter all of us at one time if we were grouped together. But we think there’s safety in numbers, and we shouldn’t have to live in fear anymore. So, no more hiding. From hunters, males, or even the shifter world in general.”
“So, it’s like the return of the dragons.”
She smiled as she glanced up at him. “That’s exactly how Paisley said it.”
Telling her story had been painful, but it was cathartic, too. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and Cody’s presence was a balm to her wounded soul.
She wouldn’t say she was suddenly healed, but she thought talking about it with him had definitely helped. She felt more like herself, more centered and at peace than she had in a long time.
He gave her that half smile she loved so much, and then his gaze dipped to her lips. She knew that he wanted, and it didn’t scare her at all. She wanted it, too. Her breath caught as she automatically licked them, making the fire in his brown eyes burn brighter. Ever so slowly, he leaned down closer, and she held her breath in anticipation.
The moment his soft lips touched hers, her body exploded with sensation. Tingling from the roots of her hair down to her toes, she followed his lead as he gently kissed her. The world faded away as they kissed, nothing else existing in that moment except for her and the man making her feel things she’d never felt before.
And then an image of her sister’s face flashed through her mind, and she tore away from him, her chest heaving as she held her hands up. “Wait.”
Brow furrowing, he ran his hand through his mussed hair. “Was that too much? It was, wasn’t it? Too soon after everything you’ve gone through. And hell, you learned some things about me that probably scared you. I’m so sorry, Olivia—”
Quickly pressing her finger against his lips, she shook her head as she halted his words. “No, that’s not it. It’s not too soon, I’m not scared of you at all, and I enjoyed the hell out of that kiss.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Fiona…” she started before trailing off. She wasn’t sure how to explain the reasons for her hesitation.
Frown deepening, he looked at her with confusion. “Your sister?”
“Yeah.” Sighing, she tilted her head back and looked at the sky as she thought. “We’ve always had a tumultuous relationship. She loves me, I have no doubts about that, but… I’m a few years older. I was friends with the popular kids in school, got asked out a lot, all of that. Fiona never had that. She had a small group of friends, and the popular kids barely noticed her. Everyone always compared her to me, and for some reason, she always came out on the losing end. I don’t know why. She’s smart and beautiful.
“I think she resented me for that. I think she thought I felt the same way—like she was less than me. And it didn’t help that I was always so close to Dad. She wanted that too, but… Well, Dad and I worked on cars together, along with other mechanical type objects. That’s why we were together so much. Fiona never had any interest in that stuff, so she never joined us. But I think it made her feel like once again, someone was choosing me over her.”