My head’s a mess. And I’m not sure where to go from here.
The hospital is chaotic with activity, so I get why people come to pray to their gods here. This space is serene, in a forced kind of way. That sentiment doesn’t work on me though. And I’m not under the delusion that a supreme being would listen to anything I have to say. I just had to get out of her room, so I ducked in here. Maybe in the silence of this quiet room, I can get my thoughts together.
But as the minutes tick by, my mind only becomes a more jumbled mess. My heart thuds louder, accusatory in my chest, reminding me that I’m the reason my sister is dead. There’s no getting around that fact. It was her and me, and I couldn’t protect her.
Now it’s just me.
I push back the emotion that hits me like a tidal wave. Because if I don’t, the force will pull me under. I don’t know where to go from here. So I succumb, kneel, and beg for a sign—any indication—of how I can begin to piece myself back together again. I’ve always been driven, determined, tenacious and above all else, responsible to a fault. But they count for shit now, when I’m floundering, grappling for anything firm to hang onto.
I stab my fingers through my hair and heave a giant breath, letting the anger fuel me. This emotion is at least a familiar one. We’re more like companions. This is what I need to get off the floor.
I rise then pivot when I feel her eyes on me. At least my self-preservation instincts are still intact. The door whispers shut behind her, and I’m awe struck by the princess standing in front of me. Her gaze widens in shock as she backs up a step. Yeah, I must look intimidating. As ludicrous as it seems right in the midst of all this, I’ve got to know her name.
“Who are you?”
“Sorry to intrude. I was just leaving.”
Something inside me reaches out and holds on tight to the goodness and light I sense inside her. The complete antithesis of me. “Who are you?” I ask again.
“Leslie. My name’s Leslie.”
Leslie…
Did some force up there hear me? I doubt that with every cynical bone in my body. In the state I’m in, it’s much more likely that I’ve imagined her. So that’s the truth I settle on, as I go with this fantasy my mind’s conjured up. Because it’s a helluva lot better than the alternative. “My name’s Tyler.”
Her gaze swings to me and everything stills.
Leslie
It never fails…
Tyler makes my stomach tumble and twist, every time I see him. Which is quite often now that Blake, my brother and alpha, has granted him a spot on his elite team.
Two years have passed since we first met, when I found him on his knees in the hospital, grieving. The memory of that day has been engraved upon my heart ever since. Something significant happened to us back then. Yet I have no idea how to name it.
By anyone’s measure, the man is an impressive human. Tall, with a strong, broad back, an endless array of muscles that bunch and flex with his every movement, and he’s got enough dark hair to bury my fingers in. It’s alarming that his piercing blue eyes seem to have the ability to see right through me.
Don’t even get me started on my dragon’s opinion… The beast whimpers in his presence.
Tyler has an intensity about him though. A commanding presence I want to curl up and bask within. I’m finding it harder and harder to resist his aura of discipline and barely held in check control. I’m not even trying to read him telepathically, but it’s like we’re already connected somehow. But that’s impossible. Because he’s human, and since he wasn’t born on Rayner, he’s not telepathic.
The emotions spilling from him are easy to sense. Darkness and pain consume his thoughts and his heart. His tormented soul has reached out to mine, and I’m not sure how to keep the force of it at bay. Worse, I’m not sure I want to.
On more than one occasion, he’s caught me staring at him, but what he doesn’t know is how often my thoughts turn to him. After tonight he might though. Tyler plays a mean game of pool. I found this out when I placed a bet on the outcome of our game then lost to him.
I’m making good on our bet. Next week is our first date. At his place. In a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Did I mention he has horses?
I can’t wait.
My dragon is obsessed.
But my brothers just might kill Tyler when they find out.
****
The free prequel to the Rugged Peaks series, A New Beginning, is available here
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