Page 69 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

Elanya

“You should have just let me take the box,” he said.

“Damon.” My voice was a whisper, but there wasn’t an ounce of softness to it. “Look at me.”

He steeled himself and met my gaze.

“Explain.”

The simple word came out like a gunshot, louder and harsher than I’d planned. I was rapidly losing control of my emotions as things began to slot into place. Clues I should have noticed sooner.

My hairbrush being out of place in the bathroom the morning after he left. The sudden disappearance of Damon after a night of intense connection. The wild desire to do everything for me and the baby once I showed up in the Isles.

“You stole my hair,” I whispered. “You left it at his place. When you killed the man. You framed me. Didn’t you?”

To his credit, he didn’t flinch or cringe. He was like a boulder in a hurricane as I flung accusations at him one after another. Strong, solid, unmoving.

“Yes,” he said, admitting it. “I did.”

Closing my eyes, I started to count to ten, forcing deep breaths in and out of my lungs.

“Elanya, I—”

“Shut up,” I snapped, not opening my eyes. “Just shut up.”

His jaw closed with an audible clack as he did as he was told. I finished my breathing and counting.

“You have one chance,” I said, my eyes flicking open, grabbing and holding him. “One explanation. Tell me the truth. All of it. Now. Why did you frame me?”

Damon nodded. “Very well. Some background to help you understand why I—”

“No. Why did you frame me?” I said icily, cutting him off once again.

He rolled his eyes. “Because you were there,” he said. “Is that what you wanted to hear, Elanya? I didn’t pick you for any particular reason. I was walking by the bar with the intention of heading north to the clubs to find someone more … unsuspecting. But my dragon stopped me. It forced me in there. It wanted you. Had to have you. I didn’t know why at the time, but you showed interest. That was that.”

My stomach recoiled and flipped over, as if I’d just taken a vicious blow. “So, you ruined my life … just because?”

“I needed a target,” he said. “Someone to pin the murder on.”

“Why?”

“So the humans wouldn’t know it was us,” he explained, then stopped. “Do you want the background now or not?”

“Fine.”

“The man who I killed was a vice president of Rutt-Tayo Labs. He had the clearance necessary for me to gather the information we were looking for. To stop the war.”

“What information could you have possibly needed? You were winning. It was just a matter of time.”

Damon threw up his hands. “Not all of us enjoyed the killing, Elanya. Stop filing us all under human-hating bigots in your head! Besides, we started the war for a reason. This was our chance to end it.”

“Explain. And make it good,” I hissed. “Because you ruined my life. You’re the reason I’m here in the first place! This is all your fault! My job. My life as whole. I can’t go back. They’ll arrest me and toss me in jail again! All because of you!”

I didn’t even mention the baby. Though, in a corner of my brain, I knew I had to take partial responsibility there. I could have insisted on a condom. I hadn’t. Interestingly, I wasn’t upset about the baby. Just about the rest of my life. The part he’d taken from me. Our child was something he’d given me. Not that I was about to tell him that in the moment.

He sighed. “Rutt-Tayo were the ones who kidnapped Vicek. We’d learned that much. Charles had access to the data files. The ones that would tell us where Vicek was located.”

“Great. What the hell does that have to do with me?”

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