Chapter Seventeen
Last night, being wrappedup in Logan’s embrace had burned off Iz’s worries, the way sunrise sometimes burned away a fog. She had felt safe in his arms.
More than that, she’d feltstrongin his arms.
Joining forces had let them escape the cave, after all. They were mates. Their togetherness was a kind of magic, one that made them capable of so much more than they ever could be alone.
Except ... now she was alone again.
It didn’t matter how mind-blowing the sex had been or how close she had felt to Logan during it. All she was left with was her own reflection in the bathroom mirror.
As soon as the residual closeness from their lovemaking had died away, and as soon as he was well-rested and clear-headed again, he had started moving away from her. He’d moved to the chair instead of staying in bed with her. He’d looked away from her body, like he didn’t want to remember what they’d done. And now he didn’t want anyone else to find out, either.
She knew it was possible she was being completely unreasonable. She wouldn’t have wanted to explain her suddenly acquired sex life to Theo either, not without a little chance to gear herself up to it. There was every chance that Logan was just being polite.
But even if that was all it was, it still made her feel breakable. Like a porcelain doll rather than the bold, honorable person she wanted to be.
She was supposed to be a dragon, not a maiden fair or a damsel in distress. She didn’t want to be someone Logan had to rescue. She wanted to be hispartner. That was what he deserved—someone as capable and accomplished as he was. That was what he needed.
She had failed as a marshal, and now she was failing as a mate. The combination of those two ideas made her feel like she was running out of air.
She didn’t want last night to just be about him comforting her after a nightmare. She didn’t want thebest sex of her life, her first time with her mateto come down to him feeling sorry for her.
But maybe the ship had sailed on that, and all she could do was look ahead. Try to be strong enough to convince him that taking a chance on her would be worth it.
She hadn’t expected getting out of Sebastian’s cave would make things even harder.
She raked her hands through her hair and tried to get a hold of herself.
If she was going to face today, she was going to do it with her armor intact and her scales polished. Metaphorically speaking.
Her mother hadn’t taught her an incredibly long, demanding beauty routine for nothing, and she was sure Cousin Theo had included everything she needed for it, along with all her best clothes. He was reliable that way.
She unzipped the suitcase and smiled at the immediate proof that she was right. Theo had packedeverything.
A second later, a trace of wistfulness set in. She recognized these makeup brushes and little bottles of lotion and facial cleanser, of course, they were hers ... but they were also the ones she’d had with her the night she had gone missing. Theo must have been the one to clean out her vacant room so the motel could rent it out again. The thought of him slowly gathering up her strewn-about belongings and picking up her toiletries off the counter gave her an unexpected pang. She had thought about her family and team a lot while she’d been in Sebastian’s custody, of course, but she’d mostly just been missing them. Now, for the first time, she could feel the weight of how worried they must have been.
She couldn’t wait to hug Theo and her mother.
And your father?
She doubted he even knew she’d gone missing in the first place. As far as Iz knew, he and her mom hadn’t stayed in touch, and he’d never shown any curiosity about the daughter who had set him up. He was busy building hisnewfamily and pushingtheminto serving as living demonstrations of his draconian prowess.