Page 35 of A Secret Crush Valentine's

“That’s a good thing, right?” But something about the way he said it made her suspect otherwise.

He met her gaze, and she found her suspicions confirmed in those green eyes.

“That person was Grim Jim,” he said.

Julia’s breath caught in her throat. She stared at him, waiting for him to burst into laughter or yell, “Gotcha!” or something. But Damon was dead serious. That made it even worse because if he was being honest, then he’d just told her that—

“Grim Jim was who helped you?” She remembered what she’d heard about the man. He was the leader of the Collectors, the dragon who collected treasures, including living beings. “I don’t understand.”

She had an idea where Damon’s confession was heading, but she held out hope that she was wrong, so she waited.

Suddenly, Damon looked like he’d aged 10 years. “He taught me to fight, to hunt. Half the things I know about staying alive on Frost Mountain, I owe to Grim Jim and his people. But there was a price.”

She gulped. “Wh-what price?”

He looked away from her. “He made me work for him. To help him… add to his treasures.”

That was all she needed to hear. With a gasp, she scrambled away from him, eyes wide.

“Red—”

“You’re a… a Collector,” she said, scrambling to her feet and giving him a wide berth. “You’re one of them.”

She didn’t want to believe it, but he’d just admitted it. It was all starting to make sense: the unanswered questions, his furtive behavior… and what about the day he’d found her? He’d swooped out of the sky as a dragon and roared at her like he’d been trying to make her his next meal.

The realization hit her all at once. He hadn’t been about to eat her; he’d been trying to capture her. And that was what those other Collectors had been hoping to do when they’d attacked. It wasn’t an object or revenge they were after; it was her.

“I can explain,” Damon said, getting up.

“Oh, you’d better.” She laughed bitterly. “This is why you wanted to take me to Caprichor. That’s where Grim Jim is, isn’t it? This whole time, you’ve been leading me like a lamb to slaughter.”

“Look, I—”

“I trusted you!” she shrieked. Her voice echoed through the cave, ringing in her ears. “I trusted you, Damon, and you… you lied to me. You made me think you cared about me, that you liked me, that you were going to take us to safety, but it was all a lie.”

“No, it wasn’t. You’ve got it wrong.”

She scoffed, her voice dangerously on the verge of tears. “Oh, have I?”

“Caprichorissafe,” Damon insisted. “I wasn’t taking us there to give you up. You’re right: I was supposed to capture you. I wanted to leave the Collectors. I hate everything they stand for. I was done. But Grim Jim wasn’t going to let me go that easily. He told me I had to do something for him if I wanted my freedom.

“He asked me to get the snow leopard shifter that had just arrived on Frost Mountain. I spent weeks searching until I found the shifter, and then it turned out to be you. I just… I couldn’t doit. I couldn’t take you to him, not when I’d just found you again. So I decided I’d take you to Caprichor and hide you from him for as long as I could.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Yes! I mean, I know you probably don’t trust me after—”

“Probably?” she snorted. “I thought you were a good person. I thought the accident that brought me to this mountain wasn’t such a terrible thing because I got to see you again. I guess I was wrong on both counts.”

With that, she turned and flounced toward the cave’s entrance.

“Julia, wait!”

She ignored him. Right now, she wanted to put as much distance between them as possible. Fearing he might chase her, she shifted, dropping on all fours as a snow leopard—Grim Jim’s prize—and sprinted out of the cave into the night, sending up flecks of snow in her wake. The wind rushed in her ears as she picked up speed, and she had no idea where she was headed, only that she needed to get as far away from Damon as she could.

He's a Collector.

The thought replayed itself in her mind as she ran. Over and over.

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