Chapter 26 26
Kaelen's POV:
Two days. Forty-eight hours. Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty minutes since I'd told Annabeth about the soul bond and she'd looked at me like I'd just explained that gravity worked backwards on Tuesdays.
My phone sat on the nightstand exactly where I'd put it three hours ago when I gave up pretending I could sleep, and the screen stayed dark, no notifications, no text from her saying she'd figured it out or that she wanted to talk or even that she never wanted to see me again.
I rolled over for maybe the hundredth time and stared at the ceiling, counting the cracks in the plaster because my brain needed something to do besides replay every second of that conversation. The way her face had gone pale when I said "permanent." The way she'd pulled her hand away from mine. The way she'd said she needed time and I'd said "take as long as you need. I'm not going anywhere" like I was some understanding saint instead of someone dying inside.
My phone buzzed and I grabbed it so fast I almost threw it across the room.
Lucian: "dude stop it ur gonna make a hole in the bed"
Shit. I hadn't realized I was making enough noise for him to hear through the wall. I texted back: "Go to sleep."
"u first"
I didn't respond. Just set the phone down and forced myself to stay still for about thirty seconds before my leg started bouncing and I gave up entirely.
The guilt hit me then, the way it always did around two AM when my defenses were down and I couldn't lie to myself anymore. The Order symbol in our door, the black car near our house, the fear my sibling were feeling...
I was supposed to protect them. And I was doing a great job of that, wasn't I? Lying to them about threats, getting involved with a girl who was exactly the kind of complication we couldn't afford, obsessing over text messages while danger probably circled closer every day.
But telling them the truth would terrify them. Marlen would want to run immediately, Lucian would want to fight, and neither option was good when I didn't even know who'd left that symbol or why. Maybe it was a warning. Maybe it was a threat. Maybe it was the Order saying "we know where you are" or maybe it was something else entirely. Because, if it was really the Order, why hadn’t them come for us yet?
I grabbed my phone again. Still nothing from Annabeth.
Fuck it. I needed to move.
I pulled on jeans and a hoodie, the same dark clothes I always wore for these late night patrols. The house was silent when I slipped out the back door, locking it behind me and pocketing the key. The air was cold enough that I could see my breath, not that I felt it, dragon metabolism keeping me warm even in just a hoodie.
I stood on the porch for a minute and let my senses expand.
Nothing immediate.
I started walking. The grass was wet and soaked through my sneakers within about two minutes, but I kept going because I needed this, needed to know I was doing something even if that something was just walking in circles like an idiot.
My thoughts kept circling back to Annabeth. What was she thinking right now? Had she decided I was crazy, that soul bonds were too much, that she'd rather just go back to being a normal college student who didn't have to deal with dragon bullshit? Or was she still processing, still trying to figure out what she wanted?
I wanted her to want me. That was the truth I couldn't say out loud. I wanted her to choose this, choose us, choose the bond and everything that came with it. But I also wanted her to be sure, because living with regret for five hundred years, the average age of dragons, sounded like actual hell.
I reached the street and stopped.
The black car was back. Something in my chest ignited, rage so hot and sudden it made my vision edge with gold. I was done with this. Done being watched, done being hunted, done waiting for danger to come to us while I stood around pretending everything was fine.
If this was the Order, if they'd found us again, then I needed to know now.
I moved before I could talk myself out of it, using the dragon speed I usually kept locked down tight in public. I crossed the street in three seconds, using parked cars and shadows for cover even though whoever was in that sedan had probably already seen me leave the house.
My hands were shaking, claws trying to extend, and I shoved them into my pockets and kept my face down until I was right next to the driver's side window.
Then I looked up and knocked on the glass, hard enough that it should've cracked.
The window rolled down.
A dragon.
The man inside was big, intimidating in that way that pure dragons always were, something about the way they carried themselves that screamed predator even in human form. Dark hair with silver at the temples, sharp features, and strong jaw. And eyes that caught the streetlight wrong, that reflected red instead of the normal colors human eyes should show.
Red like Annabeth's eyes when her dragon nature surfaced.
Red like the rarest, most dangerous lineage.
My brain made the connection before he said a word.
"You're Annabeth's father," I said. It wasn't a question.
He studied me for a long moment, those red eyes evaluating, measuring, deciding if I was a threat or just a stupid kid who didn't know what he was getting into. Finally he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"And you're the golden dragon who's been sniffing around my daughter," he said. His voice was deeper than I expected, rough around the edges. "Get in. We need to talk."
Fucking shit.