Page 78 of Never Feed a Dragon

“Hey. You have a minute? Away from Jasper?”

“Mmhm. Just give me a second to go in the other room.”

She whispered an apology to him, and I heard a door shut, then another open. That one closed too, and then she finally let out a breath. She’d probably sat down.

“Okay, we have privacy. What’s up?”

“Me and Eli finally had the conversation.”

“Oh.” Her voice was hesitant. “What did he say?”

“He knew I was his since the first day we met. Everything he did was an attempt to trigger heat. The flirting. The fighting. The food-stealing.”

“Even the sex?”

I considered it. “Maybe not that,” I finally said. “He wasn’t the one who propositioned me, and he said the same thing Jasper told you, about not letting me leave with another guy. That was probably my fault.”

“Well, that’s good at least.”

“Yeah.” I let out a long breath. “I don’t know what to think. Or what to do about it. I’m hurt, but… I kind of get it. You know if I want something, I do whatever I have to in order to make it happen.”

“You do,” she agreed.

“If I was in his shoes, I probably would’ve done more, and sooner,” I added. “I don’t think he was over-the-top about it. He didn’t intrude on my privacy or try to force me into it. And he wasn’t lying about being okay with the roommate thing. He says he’ll take whatever I give him.”

“Well, I like that.”

“Me too.”

“So I don’t really have an issue with what he did. I would’ve rather he told me, but I understand why he didn’t.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “But where do you go from here?”

“That’s what I’m struggling with. I don’t know what to do. Now that I know he wants to be a lot more than roommates, I’ll feel guilty if I insist on keeping it friendly.”

“I don’t think it would be ridiculous for you to do that,” Randa countered. “He wants you, but you’re not there yet. You can give it time. And if you don’t ever want more than friendship, that’s your decision to make. He was the one who sprung the mate bond on you. Just because he wants you doesn’t mean you have to want him.”

“That’s true.” I paused.

Because it was true.

But… I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

Not really.

“But?” she prodded.

“But I might want him too,” I finally whispered.

“Well, that complicates things. Or simplifies them, depending.”

“Depending on what?”

“How sure you are. And how much you’re willing to risk.”

My stomach clenched. “Right.”

“Gavin really hurt you,” she said.

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