“I thought you had to go?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Harley is over at the salon. She’ll drive home.”
I was in no position to judge. I knew he didn’t drink often, anyway.
“What are you going to do about Bethany?” Jury asked. He pulled the pizza box over and grabbed a slice, then held out the carton so I could grab one. I chewed a bite thoughtfully before answering.
“I have no idea.”
Jury scoffed. “You took a long time for that bullshit answer.”
“I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “I barely know her, or even anything about her. I only know what you’ve told me, which is that she’s Abby’s friend and has a kid.”
My mom was a single parent. She’d married a real asshole, too, which made both of us miserable. The only good thing that came of their marriage was my little sister, Hailey. “I’m in no position to be a stepdad. Besides, what would my mom say if she found out?”
Stefan shrugged. “You’re twenty-two.”
“Exactly,” I said flatly. “I’m twenty-two. I’m not even out of school yet. And she has a kid.”
“Age is relative.” Jury nodded as if he was some sort of sage imparter of wisdom. “It’s about maturity, not years.”
“Well, shit. I’m not mature enough to be a dad. Come on.” I gestured to my bare apartment. “I haven’t even decorated.”
If I didn’t stay in Black Claw, and I bonded with Bethany, she’d have to go with me wherever I went. She had a life here. No way she’d move away. The options were bonding with her then leaving her or giving up my dream. Neither option was something I was willing to consider.
“Man, take your time,” Stefan said. “You know where Bethany is when you’re ready. If you’re fated mates, it’ll keep. The bond isn’t going anywhere. If you can stand to be apart, then do what you need to do to grow up, then seek her out.”
He had a point. Dragons enjoyed very long lives. That meant that even if I took a few years to get my head on straight and finish school, Bethany and I would still have decades upon decades together. “What if she finds someone else?” I asked.
He shrugged. “That is a risk, sure. But she doesn’t date much. According to Harley and Abby, that date you interrupted was the first she’d been on since before her daughter was born.”
It wasn’t right for me to be happy to hear that, but I was anyway. Even after nothing more than a few short interactions with Bethany, the thought of her on a date with another man caused Artemis to tense up inside me.
She will not find another man appealing now that she’s met us.
“Artemis says now that she’s met us, no other men will do,” I said. “Is that true?”
All three of them looked pensive. I knew they were consulting with their dragons. Stefan was the first to nod. “Eros agrees.”
“So does Nyx,” Jury said.
“And Valor.” Rico grunted. “Interesting. I never knew that. He says it’s possible but unlikely that she could move on.”
“Look what happened with my mom and dad,” I pointed out.
Jury shook his head. “Yeah, but that was before Maverick had shifted the first time. I don’t think the bond works before the first shift.”
It does not work before the first shift.
“Artemis says you’re right.”
Jury nodded smugly. “See? Stefan’s right. Take your time and do what you need to do.”
We need our mate.
I sighed and ignored him. Even though it’d been several years since I first shifted and met Artemis, it was still really weird to have a voice in my head. It had taken me months to be able to jack off again, and Artemis had basically had to talk me into it.
I knew I should’ve been grateful at how my life had changed over the years. And I was grateful. I had a great life, away from my stepdad, I met and built a relationship with my real dad. Things were amazing here in Black Claw, they really were. But that didn’t mean they weren’t also suffocating.
But sometimes the whole dragon thing was too much. It was overwhelming at best. Some days I felt like I was going to drown in duty.
The rest of the night passed much the same way, going round and round about Bethany. Eventually, Harley called, and we walked Stefan across the street and down the block to the salon, then Rico crashed on my couch.
Jury went back to the house he rented with Abby. They were shacked up like a couple of newlyweds as soon as they decided to move in together.
The next morning, I got up and got ready for work, leaving Rico sawing logs on my couch. He really needed to figure his shit out, too. He was supposed to be in line for alpha, after our uncle Perry. At this rate, Rico would end up dead before he led Grandfather’s territory.
I walked to the station, which was part of the allure of the townhouse. It was one street back from Main, so I walked everywhere. Almost like the benefits of living in the city, even though we were in the smallest town ever.
My dad pulled in as I turned into the parking lot and I met him at his cruiser. He got out of the car with a look on his face that made me groan. “What?” I said and turned away from him.
“Nothing.”
Yeah, right. There was enough innuendo dripping from his voice to make my skin crawl.
“You got something to say?” I shot over my shoulder.
“Of course not,” he replied. Dad put one hand on my shoulder. “Do you have something you’d like to tell me?”
I met his gaze to find his eyebrows lifted high enough to wrinkle his forehead. “I don’t know, Dad, why don’t you tell me when you turned into a gossiping old biddy?”
His face crumpled in mock pain and he clutched his chest. “Direct hit.”
I rolled my eyes and went inside. Dad slung
