Chapter 25 25
Annabeth's POV:
I changed my outfit four times before giving up and putting on the same jeans I'd worn to class. This was stupid. It was just a walk, just a conversation, just Kaelen explaining the thing he'd been avoiding for days. No big deal.
Except my hands were shaking when I tried to tie my sneakers and I had to start over twice.
The spot near the science building was empty when I got there, which gave me about three minutes to spiral. What if he changed his mind? What if the explanation was something horrible, something that meant we couldn't... I don't know. Be whatever we were becoming?
"Hey."
I jumped so hard I almost tripped over my own feet. Kaelen was right there, like he'd materialized out of thin air, and he was smiling at me with that half-smile that made my stomach do the flippy thing.
"Jesus, don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Appear out of nowhere like some kind of... I don't know, ninja or something."
"Dragon, actually. But close enough."
I punched his arm, not hard, and he caught my hand before I could pull it back. His fingers were warm around mine and I felt that thing again, that pull, like gravity but sideways.
"You ready?" he asked.
"For what exactly?"
"The talk. The one I promised."
Right. That talk. The one about bonds and dreams and whatever else he'd been holding back.
"Yeah," I said, even though I wasn't sure I was ready at all. "Let's walk."
We took the trail into the woods, the same one we'd used for training. The afternoon light came through the trees in patches and somewhere above us a bird was making this repetitive sound that got on my nerves after about thirty seconds. Kaelen didn't let go of my hand, which was nice but also made it hard to think straight.
"So," I said when the silence got too heavy. "The bond thing."
"The bond thing," he repeated. "Right. Okay." He ran his free hand through his hair, which he did when he was nervous, I'd noticed. "Where do I even start?"
"The beginning would be good."
"Smart ass."
"You like it."
He laughed, but it came out tight. "I do. That's kind of the problem."
We walked a little further until we reached the bench, the same one from before, and sat down. Our knees touched and neither of us moved away.
"When two dragons are meant to be together," Kaelen started, then stopped. "God, that sounds so cheesy. Like some Twilight bullshit."
"I've read Twilight. Multiple times. No judgment."
"Of course you have." He took a breath. "Okay, so. Dragons have this thing called a soul bond. It's like... when you meet the person you're supposed to be with, your soul recognizes theirs. Instantly. It's not a choice, it just happens."
"Like love at first sight?"
"More intense than that. It's physical too. Your body reacts, your eyes change, you feel this pull toward them that's almost impossible to resist." He looked at me. "That's what happened the first night. When you touched me, when you helped me up off the ground, I felt it. My eyes almost shifted right there in the middle of the street."
I remembered that moment. The strange heat, the way the air felt different. I'd told myself it was adrenaline.
"So we're... what? Soulmates?"
"In dragon terms, yeah. Destined mates."
"That's..." I didn't know how to finish that sentence. Terrifying? Amazing? Completely insane?
"There's more," he said, and his voice got quieter. "The bond exists between us already, but it's not complete. The dreams we've been having, flying together, that's a sign of the connection. But it's still... partial, I guess."
"What makes it complete?"
He didn't answer right away. His jaw tightened and he looked away, staring at some point in the trees like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.
"Kaelen."
"If we sleep together," he said finally. "If we have sex, the bond completes. Permanently."
Oh.
OH.
"Permanently meaning..."
"Meaning forever. You'd feel what I feel, I'd know when you're in danger, we'd be connected in a way that can't be undone. Ever." He turned back to me and his eyes were that blue-green I loved but there was something else in them now, something scared. "I need you to understand what you'd be agreeing to before we cross that line. I mean... if we... if we ever do it..."
My brain was doing that thing where it tried to process too much information at once and just kind of... froze. Permanent. Forever. Connected in a way that can't be undone.
"So if we..." I swallowed. "If we did that, and then something happened to you, I'd feel it?"
"Yes."
"And if something happened to me?"
"I'd know. Immediately. I'd feel it like it was happening to me."
"That's..." I pulled my hand away from his because I needed to think and I couldn't do that while touching him. "That's a lot."
"I know."
"Like, a LOT a lot."
"I know, Annabeth."
I stood up and walked a few steps away, my arms wrapped around myself even though I wasn't cold. My head was spinning. Soul bonds. Destined mates. Permanent connections that couldn't be broken. This was... this was real. All of it was real and happening to me and I didn't know what to do with any of it.
"Is that what you meant when you said you needed me to be sure?" I asked without turning around.
"Yeah. Because once it's done, there's no going back. And I don't want you to feel trapped with me if... I don't know, if things change. If you change your mind about us."
I turned around. He was still sitting on the bench, watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read. He looked younger somehow, vulnerable in a way I wasn't used to seeing.
"What if I don't change my mind?"
"Then we deal with whatever comes. Together."
Together. That word should have made me feel better but instead it just added to the pressure building in my chest. Together meant forever. Together meant feeling his pain and him feeling mine. Together meant something so much bigger than dating or being boyfriend and girlfriend or any of the normal relationship stuff I'd imagined.
"I need..." I started, then stopped. "Can I have some time? To think about all of this?"
Something flickered across his face, maybe disappointment, maybe understanding. Probably both.
"Of course. Take all the time you need."
"It's not that I don't want... I mean, I do want. You. This. Whatever this is." God, I was making a mess of this. "I just need to process, you know? It's a lot of information and my brain is doing that thing where it just stops working."
"I get it." He stood up and came closer, but not too close, giving me space. "I shouldn't have dumped all of this on you at once. I just... I didn't know how to explain it in pieces."
"No, I'm glad you told me. I needed to know." I looked at him, at those eyes that had haunted my dreams for weeks now. "I'm not running away, Kaelen. I just need a minute. Or like, a day. Maybe two."
"Take as long as you need. I'm not going anywhere."
We walked back to campus in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Just heavy, full of things neither of us knew how to say. When we reached my car he kissed my forehead, soft and quick, and then stepped back.
"Text me when you're ready to talk," he said.
"I will."
I watched him walk away and then sat in my car for maybe ten minutes, staring at nothing, my mind going in circles.
Dragons were real.
Soul bonds were real.
I was a dragon, or half of one anyway, and I had a destined mate who wanted to spend forever connected to me in a way that couldn't be undone.
Mara would lose her absolute shit if she knew.
That thought hit me out of nowhere and I actually laughed, this weird high-pitched sound that didn't sound like me at all. Mara and her conspiracy theories, her cousin's stories about guys with glowing eyes, all those conversations where I'd rolled my eyes and told her magic wasn't real.
She'd been right. About all of it. Well, not specifically about vampires or whatever, but about the supernatural existing. About there being more to the world than science could explain.
I wanted to call her so badly my fingers actually hovered over her contact. I wanted to tell her everything, about Kaelen and the Order and my father and the fire I could feel building inside me every day. I wanted to hear her scream "I TOLD YOU SO" at the top of her lungs and then demand every single detail.
But I couldn't.
If I told her, I'd be putting her in danger. The Order was real, they hunted dragons, and anyone who knew about us became a potential target. Or worse, a potential source of information if they got caught.
I couldn't do that to Mara. Even if keeping this secret felt like swallowing glass.
I drove home on autopilot, barely noticing the streets or the other cars or anything really. My aunt was in the kitchen when I got there, making dinner, and she took one look at my face and set down the spatula.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I just... learned some stuff. About the bond thing. Between dragons." I dropped my bag on the table and slumped into a chair. "It's permanent, Aunt Sarah. It seems that dragons have a destined mate, and if they and their mate... you know. The connection becomes permanent. Forever. You know what I mean, right?"
She was quiet for a moment, then she sat down across from me. I was relieved to be able to talk to her about that freely, but it felt so goddam awkward at the same time.
"Yes. Your mother knew that too," she said softly. "When she chose to be with your father. She was not a dragon, but they had a very similar connection."
"Did she regret it?"
"Never. Not for a single second." She reached over and squeezed my hand. "But that was her choice, Annabeth. And this is yours. No one can make it for you once that moment and that person comes into your life."
That person was already in my life, that was exactly the problem. But I wasn’t ready to tell her that, not yet, even if I knew she imagined at least a bit of it.
"What if I make the wrong choice? I mean, when the time comes."
"What would the wrong choice be? Being with someone who clearly cares about you? Or walking away because you're scared?"
"I don't know. Both? Neither?" I put my head down on the table, my forehead against the cool wood. "This is so messed up."
"Welcome to being a dragon." I could hear the smile in her voice. "I bet it doesn't get less complicated, but you’ll get better at handling it. I hope."
"That's not comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
I stayed like that for a while, face down on the kitchen table, listening to my aunt move around making dinner. My phone buzzed once, a text from Kaelen: "Whatever you decide, I'm okay with it. No pressure."
I didn't respond. Not because I was angry or upset, but because I didn't have words yet for what I was feeling.
I seriously needed time to process everything and make the right choice. But I couldn’t make Kaelen wait for me forever.