“You’re going to fix her truck,” Jess said.
“Stop following me!” he barked out, rounding on her.
“I want to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Well too bad!”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he demanded.
Jess stopped advancing and flinched like he’d slapped her with his words. “I was the one who was going to claim you and protect you, without a single feeling between us. I was sticking up for you and Kade when I left Sister’s Edge. I was the one defending you still to Connor and your brother, and I had it handled. They were about to leave. Who the fuck were you to make me do anything without my knowledge? Who the fuck were you to control my dragon, and who the fuck do you think you are now demanding that I talk to you?”
Her glowing eyes sparked with intensity, and then she dropped her eyes to the ground.
Tawk lowered his voice. “I don’t have friends, but if I did, you would be one. You and Kade.”
“You said we are a symbiotic relationship,” she said softly. “You need me to feed you power, and I need you for protection. That’s what that was. Connor was here to hunt me, and you protected me.”
“You forced protection. You aren’t supposed to use spellcasting on your own people, Jess. Your lack of remorse is something I don’t understand. My dragon isn’t some trained monkey for you to use however you please. He is me. He is mine. If I’m going to take blood onto my hands for something I believe in, or for someone who needs protection, that should be my choice. Not yours.”
“But…I needed protection.”
“No, you don’t, Jess. No, you don’t. I saw what you’re capable of. You’ve been growing into something big. You were the one who ate Connor’s fucking hand, and you were the bringer of chaos that night. You don’t need to force my dragon to murder for you. You can handle revenge yourself.”
“But…you came here and said you wanted to protect me and mine. I don’t understand what you want from me.”
“To be a decent fucking person, Jess. Whatever is happening. Whatever power you’re bloating yourself on, it’s messing with who you are. Did you tell Kade what happened?”
She stared at the ground.
“No? Why not?”
She shook her head, denying him an answer.
“Because you know he would be disappointed.”
A tear fell to the concrete, and he backed away a few feet, not liking how her crying made him feel.
“It felt good,” she said in a small voice.
“Not to me,” he said softly. “Tammy could’ve been hurt. If I had to wake up to that…” He swallowed hard, not wantingto even imagine it. “You have enough monsters in Cold Foot. Connor is angry and conniving, but he isn’t a threat. Samuel has about one percent of your power, and Misty just doesn’t know where to land after everything.
“They won’t come back. I could see the resolve in their minds.” She looked up at him. “We did that together. We both fed on power. We are both stronger now.”
He shook his head, so disappointed that she didn’t understand. So disappointed that she wasn’t hearing him. “You will become something that will hurt the Cold Foot Crew if you don’t get right with your power now.” He switched the box to his other side. “I’ve seen the bad witches can do, Jess, and I’ve seen the good they can do too. You’re going the wrong way.”
As he walked away, he could only hope that his words would sit in her mind and reach her. As for him, he couldn’t stay here and be a weapon for a witch with a moral-compass problem. Not when she could take the dragon.
His chest hurt as he climbed into his truck, and he looked at Jess again. She’d sank down onto the curb and was staring vacantly at the road, lost in thought.
He’d meant it. He didn’t do friends, and didn’t attach to people in that traditional sense, but Jess and Kade felt close to that. Now, there was this cloudy, awful feeling in his gut that he’d come here hoping to find a safe place to land near them, near people who were familiar, and it hadn’t panned out.
He felt betrayed, and he’d never felt that in all his life. He felt used. If Tammy hadn’t been there to stop Jess’s control, he would have Connor’s death on his soul.
But worse than that…much worse…was coming to terms with the fact that after he fixed Tammy’s truck, he really would have to leave for the betterment of all of Wreck’s Mountains, Tammy most of all.
His instincts told him to protect her, but here, the one he needed to protect her from the most was him.
