Chapter 18 18
Kaelen's POV:
I got to the trail fifteen minutes early because sitting at home waiting was making me crazy. Marlen had given me this look when I left, the one that said she knew exactly where I was going and thought it was a terrible idea, but she didn't say anything. Lucian just yelled "have fun with your girlfriend" from their room and I didn't bother correcting him.
The afternoon was cool, clouds covering most of the sky, and I paced near the trailhead checking my phone every thirty seconds like that would make time move faster.
Then I saw her car pull into the small dirt parking area and my heart kicked up about ten notches.
She got out and started walking toward me and I just... stopped. Completely froze.
Her hair was down.
I'd only ever seen it in a ponytail or bun, pulled back practical and out of the way. But today it hung loose past her shoulders, catching the wind, this light brown color that had gold in it when the sun hit right. She wore jeans and a dark green hoodie and Converse that were falling apart at the seams, and she looked so good it actually hurt.
Get it together, I told myself. You're not some teenager seeing a pretty girl for the first time.
Except around her I kind of felt like I was.
"Hey," she said when she reached me, tucking hair behind her ear in this gesture that made my chest tight.
"Hey. You found it okay?"
"I've been here before. With you. Remember?"
Right. Obviously.
"Sorry, I'm a little—" I didn't finish the sentence.
"Me too," she said, and smiled.
We started walking, falling into step beside each other. The trail wound into the trees and the temperature dropped a few degrees in the shade. I could hear birds somewhere overhead and the crunch of leaves under our feet and my own heartbeat way too loud in my ears.
"So," Annabeth said after a minute. "How's your day been?"
"Good. Fine. Boring mostly. Yours?"
"Same. Chemistry exam got pushed to Monday so that's nice."
"That's good."
God, we sounded like strangers. Like two people who hadn't spent hours texting last night, who hadn't shared actual personal things about their dead or missing parents.
The silence stretched and I tried to think of something to say that wasn't stupid.
"Your hair looks nice," came out of my mouth. "Down, I mean. It's... nice."
Smooth, Kaelen. Real smooth.
But she smiled. "Thanks. I usually keep it up because it's easier but I forgot a hair tie this morning."
"Well. It's nice."
"You said that."
"Right."
We kept walking and the tension just kept building, this heavy thing between us that made normal conversation feel impossible. Every time our hands got close to each other I felt that magnetic pull, and I had to consciously keep distance so I wouldn't just grab her hand like some lovesick idiot.
We reached the wooden bench where we'd sat before and both stopped at the same time.
Annabeth turned to face me and her expression was different now, more serious, determined.
"Kaelen," she said. "What is it that you're not telling me?"
My instinct was to deflect, to make a joke or change the subject or lie. But I was so tired. Tired of hiding, tired of pretending, tired of being careful every second of every day.
"A lot of things," I said honestly.
"Like what?"
"Like..." I ran a hand through my hair. "Like things that once you know them, you can't unknow. Things that would change how you see the world, how you see me."
"Try me."
"Annabeth, I'm serious. This isn't some small secret. This is dangerous."
"Dangerous how?" She stepped closer. "Dangerous for you or dangerous for me?"
"Both."
She held my gaze and I could see her thinking, processing, that analytical brain working through probabilities. Any rational person would walk away. Would decide the risk wasn't worth it, especially for someone they barely knew.
But instead she took another step toward me.
"I don't care," she said.
"You should."
"Well I don't." Another step. We were maybe a foot apart now. "I'm already in this, Kaelen. Whatever this is. I'm already having the fever and the dreams and the eyes that do that thing, and I know you understand what's happening to me even if you won't say it. So stop trying to protect me from information I need."
"What if the information puts you in more danger?"
"More than I'm already in?" Her voice got sharper. "Someone broke into your house. You've been running from something for five years. My father was something not human and that means I probably am too. I think I'm already pretty deep in danger, don't you?"
She was right. Of course she was right.
I reached up and touched her cheek, my thumb tracing along her cheekbone like I'd done in the library. Her skin was burning up, way hotter than it should be, and I felt my own heat rising to meet it.
"Annabeth," I said, but I didn't know how to finish the sentence.
"Stop protecting me from yourself," she whispered, too close to my lips.
And then she kissed me and the whole fucking universe turned upside down for a second.
It was soft at first, tentative, like she wasn't sure I'd kiss her back. But I did, immediately, my other hand coming up to cup her face and pull her closer. Her hands grabbed the front of my shirt and suddenly soft became urgent, became desperate, became something that made my control slip.
I felt my fangs trying to extend and had to fight them back. Felt the heat in my chest, my dragon nature rising, responding to hers. Her mouth was so warm, her lips soft, and when I deepened the kiss she made this small sound that went straight through me.
My hands found her waist, pulling her flush against me. Hers moved up to my hair, fingers tangling in it, and we were pressed together so tight there was no space left between us. The kiss was everything I'd been trying not to think about for days, everything I'd been trying to resist.
When we finally broke apart we were both breathing hard, our foreheads pressed together.
"Your eyes," she whispered.
I opened them. Hers were inches from mine and they were red, bright red, that crimson glow that marked red dragon lineage.
"Yours too," I said.
She pulled back just enough to look at me properly and I knew mine had shifted to gold. Could feel it, that burn in my irises that came when my dragon was close to the surface.
"What does it mean?" she asked. "When our eyes do that?"
"It means..." I took a breath. "It means we can't pretend anymore. Can't pretend you're human or that I don't know exactly what you are."
"And what am I?"
"You're a dragon, Annabeth. A red dragon hybrid. And I'm a golden dragon shifter. And when we're this close..." I touched her face again. "When we're this close, our natures recognize each other."
She stared at me for a long moment. I waited for her to freak out, to pull away, to tell me I was insane.
Instead she said: "Okay."
"Okay?"
"I mean, it makes sense. Explains a lot actually." She laughed, but it came out shaky. "Dragons. We're dragons. That's... wow."
"You're taking this really well."
"Am I? Because inside I'm kind of screaming." But she was still holding onto me, still close. "But also it feels right, you know? Like something I already knew but didn't have words for."
I pulled her into a hug because I couldn't help it, needed to feel her close, and she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her face into my chest.
We stood there on the trail holding each other while the reality of what we were settled between us, undeniable now, impossible to ignore.
Everything had changed.
And there was no going back.