Tangled Innocence (2 page)

If she ever wanted to kiss him, though, she might need to
stand on a chair to accomplish it.

She blinked away those thoughts, knowing it was a lost
cause.

There would be no kissing when it came to the dragon. He
couldn’t even stand to look at her for too long.

Her eyes went to the tribal dragon-like tattoos running down
his arms and the small black hoops in his ears and brow. When he spoke, she
could sometimes catch a glimpse of the tongue ring he wore, but he’d never flat
out shown it to anyone. Becca thought that Dante might have a few more
piercings…lower on his body, but Nadie and the rest of them had never been
brave enough to ask.

“Nadie, are you okay?” The deep voice broke her out of her
thoughts and sent decadent shivers down her spine.

Nadie look up at Dante and swallowed hard. “I’m fine,” she
croaked out.

He tilted his head, his penetrating gaze not leaving hers.
She needed to stop looking at him because once she left the bar she wouldn’t be
coming back. Yes, she’d come to that conclusion. She couldn’t force herself to
live in the shadow of what she’d once been and think she wasn’t good enough for
him anymore. It would make it only that much harder to leave him if she didn’t
stop staring at him.

“If you’re sure,” he said, his voice telling her he didn’t
believe her.

Well, it was his fault anyway she was feeling like this.
He’d ignored her for years, so apparently she wasn’t good enough to be his true
half. The thought that she wasn’t good enough in his eyes burned, but she’d get
over it. She had to. Leaving might kill her, but she’d walk out of the bar with
her head held high.

She might be rejected, but she wouldn’t be kicked while she
was down.

“I’m sure. Thank you for asking.” She held back a wince. No
matter how hard she tried to act cool and unmoved, those stupid manners her
parents had droned into her never quite went away.

Dante frowned at her, his eyebrow ring moving delicately as
he did so. She didn’t like to see him frown, even though she’d noticed him
doing it more than usual since the lightning strike.

Not that she’d been watching him or anything.

Much.

Wow, she needed to stop this. Before she knew it, she’d be
following him home, climbing through his bedroom window, and watching him
sleep.

Stalker much?

She looked up at the man she’d been trying to forget and
gave him a small smile. Damn her, she just couldn’t stop doing that. His eyes
brightened—or maybe that’s just what she hoped had happened—and he smiled back.

“Okay then. Well, ladies, you all are closing down the house
tonight as the rest of my customers have decided to call it in early. And since
I’m closing at ten anyway. Do you want another round, or are you done for the
evening?”

The others talked, mumbling their words to each other, but
Nadie couldn’t keep her eyes from Dante. Something was up with him, but she
couldn’t put her finger on it. The strain in the corner of his eyes and the
firm set of his mouth that he thought he hid so well didn’t escape her notice.
Before the lightning strike, she might have gotten the courage to ask him as
he’d always been a friend and had never made her feel insignificant. Now
though? Now she was afraid, too afraid to do anything about it.

And
that
made her
feel insignificant.

Something she’d have to change by leaving and never coming
back.

She was better than this, better than the empty shell she
was becoming.

However, right then, with the slight tension she saw
creeping over Dante’s shoulders, it wasn’t about her but about the dragon who
seemed to literally be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She
didn’t know how to help, or even if she could.

Another flash of weakness—the one that came with meeting her
true half but not completing the bond—wrenched at her, and she gasped. Her
friends turned toward her, but before she could lie and say she was okay,
something odd happened.

It was as if someone siphoned the pain from her, inch by
inch, and suddenly, she was fine. Well, not fine, but at least better than she’d
been. It made no sense. It shouldn’t have been happening like that. Oh, she’d
thought it had happened once or twice before, but never to this degree. The
pain slid away, and Nadie swallowed hard, able to breathe again.

Dante let out a grunt beside her, and she blinked up at him
through clear eyes.

“Dante? You’re pale. What’s wrong?” she asked as she stood
up, worried. She put her hand on his upper arm then froze at her action.

He looked down at her hand then wiped the sweat that hadn’t
been there before from his brow. “Just a little dizzy, my sprite. I’ll be
fine.” He placed his hand over hers, squeezing, and gave a strained smile.
“Thank you.”

She swallowed hard at his touch and smiled back.

He slowly slid his hand away and she moved back as well.

He’d called her
my
sprite
. Well, that was different. Darn it, she had no idea what was going
on with this man, but it was something. Something he was hiding. She needed to
gain the courage to ask him. It didn’t matter that she was leaving for good. He
was her friend, and it looked as though he needed one right then.

But if past experiences were anything, she knew
she
couldn’t be the friend he needed.

Not anymore, not with the fact he’d ignored what she was to
him for so long.

“If everyone is fine then, I’m off to go to Shade and
Kelly,” Lily said, and then she said her goodbyes. Faith got up and walked to
Dante, whispering something in his ear, but Nadie wasn’t sure what it was. Soon
the rest of the women left, either not noticing the tension or ignoring it
altogether. That was exactly what she needed right then, and she was grateful
that her friends seemed to know it.

She followed her friends out the door, letting herself take
one last look over her shoulder at the man she wanted but could never have and
then went to her car. The others left the parking lot as she got in and tried
to start her car.

Try being the operative word.

The car made this annoying chugging sound then ticked before
refusing to turn over. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel then cursed when
she hurt herself.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Everyone had left her
probably thinking she’d be right behind them, and honestly, she didn’t want to
call them back just to leave her car there. She searched for her cell phone and
cursed. Damn it. Where had it gone? Nothing was working right. She fought back
tears of frustration, annoyed with herself more than anything.
 
They’d all gotten in their cars together,
not knowing hers wouldn’t start. It wasn’t her friends’ fault she was stranded,
but she still felt alone.

She’d have to go back into the bar and call a tow truck or
something. Maybe she’d left her phone at the table. This was not the night of
eating chocolate while having a good cry she’d had in mind.

The knock on her half-open window startled her, and the
scream that ripped from her throat at seeing the man outside would have made
any horror movie heroine proud.

The blond man, his hair falling to his shoulders, held up
his hands, his green eyes wide. “I’m sorry, honey. Didn’t mean to scare the crap
out of you. I was just going to see if you needed help with your car.”

The man had to be taller and wider than even Dante, and that
didn’t make her feel any less freaked out. The barrier of the car door would be
nothing to a man like that, and all she could think about, despite his soft
words, was an image of him ripping the door off, throwing her over his
shoulder, and taking her away.

Damn it. Why didn’t she have a weapon of some kind in her
car?

And why didn’t she know how to use said weapon?

“I’m a friend of Dante’s. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
Hands held out in a surrender position, he slowly backed up. “Why don’t I get
Dante and get you some help? Okay? I’m Jace by the way.”

She blinked up at the man named Jace, unsure of what to do.
He might have said he was a friend of Dante, but considering the bar’s name was
in his line of sight, that could have been a wild guess and a pretty damn good
lie.

Nope, she wasn’t getting out. She’d just call the bar from
her car and have Dante—or the cops—come to her. She reached in her purse and
cursed because she’d forgotten she didn’t have her phone to begin with. As she
had just started to really panic, she let out a breath when she saw Dante
himself walking toward them.

“Nadie? Jace? What’s going on?” He didn’t sound alarmed,
more like curious.

“Nadie?” Jace rasped. This time there was something like awe
in his tone, and she had no idea what he meant.

Had Dante told him about her? No, that would be stupid.
There was no reason for Dante to do so. She was nothing to the dragon.

Dante walked up to Jace, cupped his cheek, and then gave a
nod. Nadie felt as if she’d been slapped—she hadn’t known Dante had someone…let
alone a man. No wonder Dante didn’t want her. He already had his mate. Oh
Jesus. Fate really was that cruel to her.

Yet something important clicked inside her at the same time
at the intimate sight.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her throat dry.

Dante moved, pushing Jace a step back then stood by her car
door. “Come on into the bar, Nadie. We have a lot to talk about.”

She shook her head. “Tell me here. What’s going on?” There
was something off about this, something she didn’t understand. It wasn’t fear
running through her right then—no, it was something much warmer, something
filled with undeniable promise. She needed to put a stop to it before it went
anywhere…especially since it seemed Dante and Jace were an item—or something
much more.

And once again, Nadie had been left on the outside looking
in.

“Nadie, please,” Dante begged. “Come inside. For me?”

At that last word, she nodded. She’d never seen her dragon
beg, and she didn’t want to see it again. He wasn’t the type to do so, and that
meant something far greater than she could imagine was going on here.

“Fine, but you need to tell me what’s going on when we get
in there.”

Dante nodded. “Yes, I’ll tell you everything. Finally.”

She got out of the car and swallowed hard. She looked at
Jace and blinked. The feeling of being by his side was strangely just as
intimate and heated as being by Dante’s. That didn’t make any sense, and yet
she wasn’t sure she wanted it to. For some reason she wanted to move closer to
them both, hold them and never let them go. The warmth in her belly wasn’t a
mere attraction, no, it was something far greater.

Something tugged at her heart, her breath, her…everything.

She had a feeling she’d just taken a step toward a future
she hadn’t thought possible, but this time, she wasn’t turning back.

Dante Bell had to take a deep breath and get a grip, or he’d
lose it. As it was, he could practically feel his talons scraping his
fingertips, so he fisted his hands and fought for the control he’d had for
thousands of years. It wouldn’t be good to go dragon in the middle of his bar
in front of the woman—and man—he was trying to soothe.

Not good at all.

He’d let Nadie walk out to the parking lot herself, despite
the fact he’d told Faith he’d go out with her to make sure she was okay,
because he’d known Jace was out there getting off his bike. The man had texted
and let Dante know he was there, and Dante had wanted Jace to meet Nadie, or at
least see her and keep her safe. Dante had told Jace who Nadie was, what she
looked like. Even if it took a moment for the bear to understand, deep down,
Jace would have felt that pull, would have known that Nadie was important to
them. He hadn’t known her car would break down, and he’d end up in his bar
alone with them.

Not that it was a bad thing.

Oh, not at all.

He stepped into his bar, Nadie and Jace right behind him,
and inhaled. He loved his bar. He’d built it from the ground up and had changed
it over the years to make it blend in with society. With his magic, the humans
had never caught on that he never aged and was still the same
black-and-blue-haired man he’d been for decades. He’d only added his
adornments—the piercings and the like—in the past ten years or so when they
came back in style, and he quite liked them.

He knew Nadie liked them too.

Not that he’d done anything about it.

Not that he
could
have done anything about it.

He’d watched Nadie from the first time she’d walked into the
bar and had never stopped. Just seeing those wide eyes and plump lips had sent
his dragon into overdrive. He’d known from the start who she was, what she
could be, and would be with him and Jace, and subsequently had known that he
could do nothing about it until the time was right.

Considering his age, he hated not being able to do as he
wanted. Those actions had left both of them in pain, and now Dante was ready to
face the brunt of her anger at what he was about to tell her. He would deserve
it, as would Jace, but damn, he was so fucking happy they were both here.

This moment, this time, was theirs, and it had been an eon
in coming.

Dante, Jace, and Nadie didn’t speak when the three of them
were finally in the bar, and now he found himself at a loss for words. No
matter how many times he’d envisioned this in his head, he still hadn’t quite
found the way to get it all out there.

He’d fight the world for the two in front of him, and yet he
couldn’t stop fighting himself.

How could he say what he’d been feeling for years, decades
in Jace’s case, and not sound like an idiot? It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t
deserve any anger directed his way, but getting started was another matter.

“Dante, why don’t we sit down? You’re looking a little pale
under all those piercings.” Jace laughed, but Dante and Nadie didn’t join in.
The tension in the room was too thick at the moment to even think about doing
something as simple as laughing.

He cleared his throat, knowing they probably needed a drink
to get through this. Yes, he could get the three of them drinks. That would
help keep his hands busy and might help Nadie calm down so she wouldn’t beat or
kill him right away.

Not that he’d blame her if she tried.

“Um, I’m going to get us drinks.” He sounded as scattered as
he felt. He
never
sounded scattered.
“Take a seat. Oh, and I only have one piercing on my face,” he said absently,
and Jace let out a small laugh, the tension in the room lowering just a little
bit.

Thank the gods for his bear.

He risked a glance at Nadie. Hopefully Jace would soon be
their
bear.

“I don’t know if I need a drink, Dante,” Nadie said, her
voice soft and just as sexy as it had ever been. “I’ve already had one with the
girls.”

“You might need another now, my sprite.” Damn it. He’d
called her the pet name he’d always had for her in his mind twice now without
thinking, and both times her eyes had widened. He’d been so careful keeping his
endearments to himself, but he couldn’t anymore apparently.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to for much longer.

Nadie tilted her head and frowned. “You’re scaring me.
Actually you both are, and I don’t even know Jace or why he’s here. Not scared
in that I’m worried for my safety because, for some reason, I feel like neither
of you would hurt me physically, but scared in another sense. Why won’t you
just tell me?”

He went back behind the bar, ignoring the thick envelope
with his name written in calligraphy on the front. He had other things to worry
about now rather than the summons that seemed to have come out of nowhere. That
would still be there later, and he’d deal with it then. Right now, he had a
bear and the woman that could be theirs in his bar.

He got the drinks with a deftness only years of bartending
could bring, set down the beers and her lemon drop, wiped his hands so they
wouldn’t be too cold, and cupped her face. Her eyes widened again, and she
froze.

“I will tell you everything. I will, my sprite.”

He watched her throat work as she swallowed, felt the pulse
at her neck flutter and the heat of her skin against his fingers as she
flushed. Gods, he wanted this woman for his own. He kept his eyes on hers but
thought of Jace. Yes, he wanted this woman for them both.

“Why do you keep calling me your sprite?”

His thumb traced her cheekbone, the soft skin smooth and
inviting. His dragon practically rumbled at this closeness—the kind he’d been
avoiding for as long as he’d known her because, once he touched her, he
wouldn’t want to let her go.

There was only so much control a dragon could possess.

“That’s what you are,” he whispered. “Mine.” She narrowed
her eyes before pulling away. He let her, knowing that, with his strength, he
could have held her forever, but that was another matter altogether.

“No, no. I’m not. I’m not yours, and I haven’t been anywhere
near that label. Ever.” She ran a hand through her hair then took a gulp of her
lemon drop. Her face scrunched as she swallowed the sour and sweet, but he
didn’t go to her, just stayed away as he had all this time.

“Why don’t we just sit down and talk this over?” Jace said
as he stood between the two, worry lining his face.

“Why don’t we just talk about what Dante wanted to talk
about, huh? And why I should be in here with the two of you when I don’t even
know you, and when Dante hasn’t even given me any indication he’s ever wanted
to be alone with me. No, he’s always been part of the crew but with a clear
line drawn.”

She faced him then, the pain on her face lancing through him
like a hot blade. “I don’t even know what’s going on right now.”

“Then sit down and let me get it out,” he said, wincing at
his lack of tact. He’d had thousands of years to learn how to speak to women,
and apparently he’d thrown it all out the window with the one woman and man who
mattered.

“Good one,” Jace mumbled then turned to Nadie, effectively
cutting Dante off.

He needed to breathe, to understand what the hell was going
on with him. Gods, he’d been walking on eggshells and killing himself over what
was happening for far too long, yet he had no idea how to use a little finesse
to say what needed to be said, needed to be done.

This wasn’t like him, and he didn’t want to become whoever
this man was.

“I’m Jace Goodwin, Nadie.”

Her eyes sharpened, and she snapped her fingers. “I know
that name. You’re the man who helped Hunter and Becca.”

Dante let out a sigh. Yes, this would be a good place to
start. Get her to know who Jace was then slide into the fact that she was the
key to their future and happiness.

Yes, no pressure at all.

He ran a hand over his face then clicked his tongue ring
against his teeth. He had to calm down. It wasn’t every day he had a chance to
reveal she was not only mate to one but two people.

Jace sat down at the table next to Nadie, and Dante pulled a
chair so they sat in a triangle, able to see each other fully. “Yes, I’m the
one who helped Hunter and Becca with their Pack. Though, in reality, they did
most of the work themselves. I was just there in case they needed me.”

“That’s not exactly how Becca put it.” Nadie shook her head.
“She said you were a mediator or something?”

Jace grinned, and Dante relaxed. The bear’s smile always
soothed the beast within, and Dante knew, at least in their case, it had more
to do with who the man was than his position as a Mediator of the realms.

“I’m a Mediator. Capital M if you care about those sorts of
things. My role is to go to warring, or about-to-war, Packs, dens, and other
realms, and try to find a way to peace. If that doesn’t happen, then it’s my
job to take out those who break their oaths or find new treaties and other ways
of keeping the realms safe.”

Nadie tilted her head, her gaze never leaving Jace. Dante
could tell she felt the pull toward the other man, the same pull he himself
felt for Jace and Nadie, the type of pull he knew she felt for him.

“Becca said you’re a…bear, right?”

Jace grinned even harder, and Dante had to grin, too. Jace
was always in a good mood and tried to make others feel the same unless
something or someone he loved was threatened, then Jace was the bear inside him
in all ways that mattered.

You didn’t fuck with Jace Goodwin.

“Yes, a grizzly as a matter of fact. Not as big as the
dragon over there, but one of the larger paranormals.”

Nadie’s gaze shifted between the two of them, and she
frowned. “It’s good to meet you, but I’m still confused as to why Dante wanted
me to meet you and talk with both of you.”

Dante swallowed hard. “I think you know, Nadie. At least
some of it.”

She shook her head. “No, you need to say it because whatever
is going on in my head makes no sense and is so far out of the realm of what
has ever happened to me that I’m not even going to say it.”

Dante had a feeling whatever she was thinking was perfectly
on the right track, or at least he hoped so, but he let her keep those thoughts
to herself.

For now.

“When the lightning hit,” he began and hoped he was going in
the best direction, “you and the others started your transformations.”

Nadie nodded as her eyes slid to Jace.

“He knows about what happened, Nadie. There aren’t many
secrets between me and Jace.”

Her eyes widened, and she let out an “oh.”

Jace’s gaze met his, and Dante let out a breath. “I’m
getting ahead of myself here.”

“And yet you’re not getting anywhere,” Nadie mumbled, and
Dante choked off a laugh. He loved it when Nadie spoke her mind and actually
used the attitude she was born with rather than the quiet one she tried to pull
off.

It hadn’t helped that he’d had to put distance between them
after the lightning struck. It had taken all of his control not to claim her as
his right then.

If he had, though, it would have been for naught.

If he had, he’d have left Jace behind, not completing the
mating in truth and only hurting the three of them more.

Only Nadie hadn’t known that.

“No, I guess I’m not. Well, shit, okay. So when the lightning
hit, you were able to start to feel what it was like to be a paranormal.”

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I still have no idea
what I would turn into if I...uh”—she blushed—“completed the mating with my
true half.”

He nodded, knowing this was where it got tricky. “You’ve
been feeling a pull though. Right? And even a little weak.” The last part was a
partial lie. He knew she’d been feeling a hell of a lot more than
weak
when it came to their proximity to
one another.

He’d stayed away from her for a reason, and yet no matter
what he’d done, it hadn’t been enough.

She narrowed her eyes, and the dragon within him rumbled,
ready to take the brunt of what would come next.

“You’re my true half, my mate, Nadie.”

Her face didn’t change. She didn’t even bat an eyelash. He
watched the rise and fall of her chest but didn’t breathe with her.

“Nadie? Are you okay?” Jace asked.

She blinked at him then stood, forcing Jace and Dante to
stand with her. The two of them towered over her small stature, yet she didn’t
look scared.

No, she looked fucking pissed.

“You’ve
got
to be
kidding me. You just now tell me I’m your mate, and yet you’ve known for how
long? No, don’t bother. I’ve known since the lightning hit my body who you
were. I knew then that we could have something more, something worth the pain,
weakness, and unknown. I could have loved you more than anything and anyone in
the world. Can’t you understand that? It might have taken Lily and Shade’s
courtship for everyone to make complete sense of all this, but I knew that you
were meant to be something to me. Or at least that’s what I thought. You would
have known from the start, Dante. You would have known since I walked in here
with the others and had to wear that damn hand stamp because I wasn’t even old
enough to drink. Yet you’ve done nothing. Even when you must have figured out
that I knew we’d be something together, you didn’t step up.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but her look forced him to
stop.

“Shut it. I want my say. I had to stand by and watch three
of my friends fall in love with mates who fought for them. Yeah, Ambrose took
his sweet time, but that’s because he didn’t think he was good enough for her.
Don’t lie to me and tell me you’re thinking the same thing because we both know
that’s not true. You’re the one who stood on Jamie’s side when Ambrose needed
to grovel, so that couldn’t be it.