Page 11 of The Dragon's Stone Hearted Mate
“Probably,” I shrugged. “Maybe later. I don’t feel like this is the best time to let him out.”
“Is your dragon hungry?” Cutter asked but didn’t give me time to answer the question. “There’s lots of food here. I have some in my pack too. When my lion gets hungry, he’s not the nicest. I once spent a week in jail because I bit a bear shifter in support group. I don’t know why he covered himself in coconut oil if he didn’t want me to bite him? I could’ve tossed him in a frying pan and cooked him he used so much of it.”
“Uh…. Don’t eat anyone here,” I said because what the hell else could I say?
“I don’t let myself get that hungry anymore,” Cutter shook his head. “I’m still not sure why they decided to let me out? The guy walked right into the cell, looked around, and then left the door open when he walked out. So, I followed him. He didn’t have much to say about it, but he didn’t try to stop me when I left.”
“Can I ask you a weird question?”
“Sorry, I’m not ready for sex,” he shook his head. “I’ve never been with anyone except my mate and I’m not ready to change that.”
“That wasn’t my question,” I said, almost blushing at his assumption.
“Guess that’s how Chole felt at our last session,”my dragon snickered.
“Oh, sorry. This is gonna sound vain but everyone hits on me. All the alphas anyway,” Cutter blushed.
“If anyone gives you a problem let me know,” I said.
“Thanks, but I can eat their faces myself,” he shrugged. “Once you lose your mate, you can do anything. It’s all easy. What did you want to ask me?”
“Why did you say that the statue was trying to see me?” I asked him, hoping it didn’t sound as crazy to Cutter as it did to me.
“Because he was. I could sense it. If I believed gorgons were like they were in the stupid version of their stories, I’d say they got him but he’s alive. So, it wasn’t them. Besides, rhodonite doesn’t do bad things. It’s not the sort of stone to do that.”
“Are you saying he’s a person?” I arched a brow as we started another loop.
“I don’t know what he is, but he was trying to get a better look at you,” Cutter shrugged.
***
That night after dinner, Sherry herded all the campers into the center of the camp. We sat around on logs and introduced ourselves and said who we lost. The majority of my fellow campers lost a mate like Cutter and Sherry. Some lost a parent or a grandparent. One zebra shifter lost a friend in a kayaking accident. I was the only one who lost a sibling.
“I bet we’re the only one who lost a sibling to an assassination because he was an asshat too,”my dragon chimed into my thoughts as Sherry rambled on about the camp rules. Mostly they were about respecting each other and the property. Grief made plenty of people smash things up, but I was past that stage. Besides, why should I make the world more unfair for everyone else?
As the sun sank, I watched out of the corners of my eyes for Cutter’s recurrent ghostly attackers. There were a million theories as to why some people became ghosts and some didn’t. There were arguments about what the difference between a ghost and a spirit were. None of them made sense to me.
“Just be glad Torvan isn’t a ghost,”my dragon chuckled.“He’d probably be trying to kill us from beyond the grave.”
He probably would too.
After our support group meeting, I walked back to the cabin with Cutter still keeping my eye open for ghosts.
“They’re not going to get you,” he said, playfully bumping into me with his shoulder. “They’re after me.”
“Were you some badass in the war?” I asked and I hated myself for it as soon as the last word left my mouth.
“No. There are no badasses in war. There are those who live and those who don’t,” he shrugged. “Anything I did, I did to be one who lived.”
“Makes sense. I’m sorry I asked that,” I frowned at myself as the sky swallowed the last bit of light from the setting sun.
“It’s okay. Grief makes you ask weird questions. Was your brother a badass?” Cutter asked.
“Nope. He was good at being an ass,” I laughed, and he did too.
It wasn’t late enough to go to bed but back inside Cabin Three, Cutter changed into his pajamas and crawled all the way under the blanket until not a single hair nor toe stuck out from under it. He really was hiding from the ghosts. I waited until he started to snore before I slipped my shoes back on and shouldered my bag. He seemed to be a good guy and I genuinely hoped that he found what he needed at Camp Air. Maybe he could get his head on straight and find love again.
“Do you have a crush on him?”my dragon teased from inside his inner sanctum.
