Page 80 of Never Feed a Dragon

“Right,” I admitted.

“So start considering that. Comparison is usually the thief of joy, but in this case, it can give you pretty good insight.”

She had a point.

A fairly good one.

“Alright. I’m going to hang up so I can think in peace,” I said. “Thank you. I love you.”

“Love you too! Good luck!” She hung up the phone, and I let out a long breath. My music started blaring through the speakers again, but I turned it down.

She was right.

I needed to think.

I made a U-turn and headed back, peeking at Eli in his truck through my rearview mirror every now and then as I tried to mentally work through everything.

He looked… relaxed.

That alone was a big difference from Gavin.

Everything I’d done had stressed Gavin out. He was constantly giving me advice and suggestions on how to look better. Do better. Be better. I thought it had been out of love…

But I’d never heard August tell Elodie her sleeves were too tight, or that she needed to add sit-ups to her workout routine.

I’d never heard Jasper tell Randa that she needed to curl her hair to look better, or stop wearing it up so no one could see her ears.

I’d never heard my dad criticize my mom’s cooking the way Gavin had criticized mine.

I sure as hell hadn’t heard Eli do that. The bastard complimented me too often for me to think he was judging me at all. He’d challenged my spaghetti-making abilities, but only because he didn’t like spaghetti sauce from a jar.

That alone was a big difference.

A big improvement.

Throughout the rest of the drive, I wracked my brain for the differences.

There were a lot of them. An endless number, really.

And every one was a good thing.

…Except the part where he didn’t tell me he was trying to start the bond. That wasn’t great.

But I did understand why he had.

I had seen us as enemies, so I would’ve run the other way, fast.

And I would’ve been absolutely devastated if we’d tried to ignite a bond and failed.

By the time I got back to the cabin, I was absolutely sure of one thing:

A mate bond with Eli wouldn’t be anything like my relationship with Gavin.

It wasn’t a huge revelation. It didn’t change everything.

But it was still significant to me.

Eli gave me a few minutes alone in the cabin before he joined me.

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