Page 70 of Bite Me

She'd always inherently known that she retreated to the warm scents of the kitchen because those few short years before her mother had died had been… peaceful.

Everything since, not so much.

Portia had always been the only other one who got it. The one she'd had a real connection with because of their shared heritage. Sure, there are a few other humans in covens, but not many. They'd shared many things growing up, including mealtime. Nobody else relished a cheeseburger like Portia did.

Now, they shared something else in common.

How had it all gone so wrong for both of them?

“She's much better suited to be a dragon's mate than I am. Look how she put everything on the line for her mate. I barely even know Ky, and I’ve been too wrapped up in my own baloney to try to have feelings for him.”

“I always did think you two were like peas in a pod. Both trying to push that human side of you away. Dumb bunnies.”

“What were we supposed to do? We're half demon, we grew up in and live in a house full of demons, our father is a demon and you're the one always pushing sex and blood on us.”

Leon sighed and scrubbed his face as if he were tired. Leon didn't get tired. “It's not like I raised a half human child destined to be the mate of a Dragon before, is it?”

Well crap. She hadn’t meant to make him feel bad. What did Leon know about love? Sex, yeah. But real love, like what she had squirreled away in her heart for Ky, he would understand it even less than heated chocolate chip cookies.

“Your mom probably wouldn't have approved of the way I raised you either. I'm not sure sometimes she hasn't come back to haunt me. But I did my best to keep you safe all these years, waiting on that stupid Dragon to come find you.”

Was that a hint of regret in Leon's voice? Another feeling he didn't ever have.

“Why did you seduce my mother?” And more importantly, why hadn't she died like most other incubus victims? Leon had the ability to control his blood lust because he didn’t have those same emotions, so he could let his victims live if he wanted to. But it was rare that he did because of the aftermath. What does one do with a person who thought they were going on a date, or a one-night stand, and ended up becoming a one-on-one blood donor?

It was a lot easier to dispose of a body than avoid an investigation.

“Oh, ho, ho. I'm pretty sure your mother was the one doing the seducing.”

That was interesting. Jada kept her mouth shut, hoping Leon would just tell the story.

“That woman had a natural allure. It was magical, it was pure sensuality. She had those lush hips and —”

“Whoa. Stop right there. I know you well enough to understand where this is going. I do not want to hear about your sex life with my mother.”

Leon chuckled and stuck his finger into the cookie dough. He frowned at it, poking at the dough a few more times testing its consistency. Then he pulled his finger out, sniffed, and licked it. He made that not–bad face. “Hmm.”

This day was turning out to be even weirder than she thought it already was.

“Anyway, I almost gave it all up for her.”

Really fucking weird. What was he saying? Give all what up?

“Yeah, you're not the only one who looked at me that way when I decided to stay with her. In the end, she was the one who talked me out of it.”

Jada opened and closed her mouth several times, not sure what words to say.

Leon stuck his finger in the cookie dough again and tried a chocolate chip this time. He made a face at her and spit it out. After he wiped his mouth, he said something Jada was sure would stick with her for the rest of her life.

“I'm going to tell you the same thing Lily told me.” He clapped both hands on Jada's shoulders and smiled down at her. Leon didn't smile that often. “You have to be who you were meant to be. I'm not talking about what destiny says or fate. But who you know you are inside. We all wear a façade of what we think the world wants to see from us, but the more you hide what you truly are, the more miserable you will be. I won't hold you back, because you'll be miserable if you stay. I know you think this is what you want, and it might be for a little while. But your heart lies elsewhere. We both know that. You have to go. I'll always be here, we'll always be here.”

A sensation like Jada had never felt before, and almost couldn't describe settled in her chest. It was like when the sun went down over the ocean and threw a million sparkles out over the water. Like the smell of fresh baked apple pie. Like curling up with a kitten on your lap and a book you've been longing to read.

Jada let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She'd fought against the pull of her heart toward Ky from the get-go. Even when he had been gentle and soft with her, she didn't know how to act, how to be. She had continually second-guessed her every move, every look, every word. None of it had ever felt right, but not because of Ky, because of her.

A tiny fraction of her debilitating self-doubt washed away in Leon's story, his advice. Her mother's advice.

It wasn't all gone by any means. But Leon and Ky had pried open a door for her to step through on the path toward being and accepting herself.

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