Page 45 of Taught By the Dragon
He even tightened his hold a little more, laid his cheek atop her head, and tried not to think about how he wanted to ensure Percy was never alone again.
* * *
At some point,Percy realized she was being held. But when that finally registered through her meltdown, she didn’t panic. No, because the male scent filling her nose was familiar.
She was in Bronx’s arms.
And maybe because she was emotionally exhausted or because she was so lonely after her dragon’s appearance and disappearance, but for whatever reason, she wanted to be held, to feel the warmth of another person, and to know someone else was there.
She listened to his heart under her ear; the steady rhythm was soothing. When he held her even tighter and put his head atop hers, she sighed. Percy had never been hugged in her life before. And the reality was so much better than any of her dreams.
Later, much later, once she’d calmed down and her turbulent emotions had mostly receded, she would realize how letting Bronx hold her was a fucking mistake. If she started relying on anyone emotionally, she would be in big trouble. She’d done that with her dragon all those years ago, and look at what had happened today, when her beast ran away again.
She needed to pull back. She really did. But despite her determination to be strong and independent, she didn’t budge. It was too bloody nice to be held, to pretend she was normal and not an emotional wreck with a bloody awful past.
For a few seconds, she could pretend to be someone else besides Persephone Smith.
Closing her eyes, she hugged Bronx tighter and reveled in his familiar scent, his warm body against hers, and the solidness of his muscles, as if they signaled he could shoulder anything.
Bloody hell, he already had, given what she’d heard about his late mate and then later losing part of his leg.
But the moment ended when Bronx asked, “Can I do anything to help, Percy?”
The words snapped her back to reality, to all those memories she’d tried to push away of people manipulating or taking advantage of her, and she slowly pulled away from Bronx. Only when she sat two feet away from him, staring straight ahead, did she answer, “No, nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
He reached out a hand as if to touch her. For a split second, she wanted to grab his hand and go back to leaning against him.
But she quickly pushed it aside and inched farther away from him. Wiping her cheeks, she focused on the one thing that she still needed to do, despite the setback: coax her dragon out.
She’d been weak to cry about one botched encounter. Maybe now she would have a clear head, wouldn’t have all these pent-up emotions to muddle things, and could accomplish her goal.
Despite today, her beast was still her main focus—her only focus. She’d shift into a dragon and finally fly, obtaining her freedom, even if it killed her. And forming no attachments meant she could leave whenever she wanted, with no complications.
That meant she needed to anger Bronx again. Then he would go back to his teacher role and put that distance between them. “I said I didn’t fucking need anything.” Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to meet his gaze. For a beat, the concern there was like ambrosia to her soul. But only for a beat. “Get the fuck out of my room, Bronx. You said Stonefire was different, and yet you entered my room without permission. Now that I know it’s just like my old prison, I’ll have to be more careful.”
His pupils flashed to slits and back as he frowned. She expected him to growl, shout that he wasn’t like those fuckers, or try to make more promises he’d break.
But after a beat, he stood and walked to the door. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have entered. But if this happens again, I will call Dr. Sid or Dr. McFarland. Because you might not care about yourself or your health, but I won’t let you make yourself sick if I can help it.”
With that, he exited the room, slamming the door on his way out, and the room fell silent again.
She stared at the door, wondering if maybe she should’ve done something differently, such as not trying to piss him off on purpose. His checking on her was nothing like the guards who’d come to rape her or the doctors who’d come to pump her full of new drugs. Their motivations had been selfish.
Bronx had only thought of her well-being.
But as the purple light in her head flickered, she knew she’d done the right thing. She couldn’t afford distractions or attachments. And if she had to be an arsehole to keep it that way, she’d bloody well do it.
ChapterNineteen
Over the next week, Percy only emerged from her room to either conduct her lessons or to eat her meals in the back garden. Bronx was as cool to her as she was to him. Percy was certain Violet noticed, but the female’s behavior was the same gentle, funny, and enthusiastic one as before.
The only time Violet pushed her was when Percy declined watching TV together in the evenings. And yet, Percy had let herself get distracted with the outrageous storylines, using it as a chance to get to know Violet, which was another thing she needed to stop wasting time on.
So Percy spent the evenings alone in her room. Every time she wanted to catch up on what was happening on the TV—especially to see if the idiot character had been killed off like she deserved—she focused on the purple light in her head instead.
While it’d never morphed into a dragon form again, the light had flickered, changed shape a few times, and showed her that not all was lost.
