Page 67 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

I inhaled. Exhaled. Repeated it again. And again.

“Because,” I said heavily. “I’m not rich.”

Samantha’s face conveyed her confusion. “Huh? What are you talking about, Cade? Explain.”

I did.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Samantha

“I told you I lost all my fortune when the war broke out.”

“Yes,” I said. “You did. It made sense. You had to leave. Lots of it was on the East Coast, which is now under dragon control.”

“Exactly.” He shook his head. “But the day the war broke out, I signed a massive new deal. One that would have seen major expansion to the West Coast and across the country. Enough to go international soon after. It was that big.”

“Congrats?” What the hell else did he expect me to say to that?

“That deal,” he said heavily, running his non-fire-holding hand over the rocky wall, tracing lines of gold ore. “It was financed. Backed by a lot of dragon gold. Gold that was sold and converted into cash.”

My stomach sank.

“And you lost all that cash when the war started,” I said.

He nodded. “Yeah. Every single bit of it. The others weren’t too happy about it. At all.”

“Now, you owe them a lot of money.”

“Yes.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t cause the war.”

“No,” he admitted. “I didn’t. But they don’t care. They want to be paid back. And until they are …”

“How much do you owe them?” I asked.

He named a figure.

I gaped. “What the fuck, Cade? How could you … how did … I just … but you …”

Cade got to his feet, the copper in his eyes glittering harshly in the firelight held in one hand. “I didn’t do it. It was you and your damn government that did this. Just like humans. You just had to have another war, so you started one with us.”

I worked my jaw, still stunned at how much money he owed to these people and then shocked at his next accusation.

“Us?” I yelped. “You’re the ones who attacked us, Cade. You struck first!”

He snorted. “Enough. We’re not going down this line of conversation. We attacked first, yes, because you kidnapped one of our people. An intelligent species who could speak to you with ease, and you pretended he was a lab rat, only fit for experimentation. You held him against his will for no reason other than he was different. Those are facts. Moving on.”

I bared my teeth, wanting to argue, but I couldn’t. He was right.

“Exactly.” He shook his head. “Listen, Sam. I owe them a lot of money. This could pay for it, get rid of them. It’s theirs. It’s the best option. Better than—”

“Better than what?” I pushed when he abruptly stopped talking.

“Nothing,” he said gruffly. “This will be the way.”

There was more he wasn’t telling me. A secret he was keeping. Another one. I bit back a sigh as the walls between us reappeared. Walls I’d thought gone for good. They tumbled down just an hour ago on the rooftop. Or so I’d thought. Now, I was learning he was hiding more. Always more.

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