“Anyway, thanks. I guess I’ll be on my way, then.”
A little shudder went through him, and he didn’t know what to label it. Panic? His mind was still foggy from the adrenaline of remembering the wave that had ended everything. At least temporarily.
There was something odd going on here, but he couldn’t make sense of it.
He just knew he didn’t want her to get in that car and drive away. He didn’t want to be alone on this road again.
And why wasn’t she more grateful for his help?
“What’s your name?” he asked.
She grimaced. “I appreciate your help, but I didn’t come here to be hit on. I’m just trying to make my way home.”
So she didn’t want anything to do with him. Disappointment sank like a rock in his stomach. She gave him an apologetic look, and he noticed she had a little grease stain on her cheek.
“I’m sorry if that came off rude,” she said. “But you know. You’re a stranger and it’s late at night, and for all I know, you could be planning to follow me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know you at all.”
Nor did it seem she wanted to.
He took a step forward, watching her eyes, which were blue. They widened slightly, and he saw her bite her lip as she looked him over.
Well, she wasn’t totally unaware of him. That was comforting somehow.
But she didn’t like that he’d changed her tire, and she seemed to want the whole experience to just be over.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve gotta go. Maybe if we’d met in another place, rather than the middle of the night at the side of the road… but I’ve seen too many horror movies. I need to go now.”
Horror movies? What did she mean?
She gave him a little wave and hurried back to the car. She jumped in the driver’s side, slammed the door, and started the car in a hurry.
Then she was pulling away, and Magnus could feel the panic in him escalating, his heartbeat sounding in his ears.
Was it just the memory coming back?
She was driving away in the distance, her taillights slowly disappearing around the corner, when he heard a small, urgent voice break through the static in his mind.
Mate, it said insistently. Mate.
Shit.
He ran back to his car to start it and remembered her saying not to follow her. But he couldn’t help it. He pulled onto the freeway, desperately racing after her.
He’d been waiting and waiting all his life to find his mate, and being awakened in this world had given him another chance. It would be just like him to squander it by not listening to his dragon.
Dammit, Magnus.
He drove and drove but didn’t see any lights. Had she taken an exit? Had she been driving extra fast to get away so he couldn’t follow her? He pulled to the side of the road again and put his hands through his hair, trying to figure out what to do. He got out of his car, slammed the door, and paced in the cold night, trying to see if he could scent her.
But no, her scent had been faint, and now there was no hope of finding her. He had no name. He hadn’t paid attention to the plates on her car.
He was an idiot.
Once again, a fatal error had cost him everything.
2
“Magnus, I have to say you’re not looking like yourself lately,” Titus said, sitting in a chair next to the bed where Magnus was lying.
Magnus pulled the covers over his head, knowing he was being juvenile, but not wanting to hear anything from Titus.
“You know I’m right,” Titus said in that calm, stupidly condescending, big-brother voice. In truth, though, they were crew mates and grew up together. Titus had no right to criticize him, and Magnus let out a small snort at the audacity of it.
“I’m fine,” he said, not coming out.
“You’re sleeping during the day, you always look disheveled, and you just creep about this place, looking depressed. So what the fuck is going on?”
Magnus threw the blanket off and sat up. “You know damn well what’s going on. I let my mate slip out of my fingers, and even though I go out driving every fucking night, I can’t find her. What am I supposed to do? Go on with life as if nothing happened? She’s out there right now.”
Titus sighed, leaning forward and rubbing his huge hands together. “How can you be sure? Don’t you think you would have known in time not to let her run out on you?”
“I just know,” Magnus said. “It hit me like a wrench to the head, just a little too late.”
“Then hopefully fate will bring her back to you,” Titus said easily. “But in the meantime, you’re creeping everyone out.”
Magnus ignored him with a huff.
“Does Aegis know you’re sneaking out at night? That’s not safe.”
Magnus shrugged. “What’s going to get me? Another dragon?”
“Maybe,” Titus said. “They’re out there.”
Magnus snorted. “Please, Titus. You don’t have to worry about me. Just have fun with the whole Rent-A-Dragon thing and find your own mate out there.”
“You know we haven’t had a customer in weeks,” Titus muttered. “Not since Liam found his mate. Not that you give a shit lately.”
“You’re right,” Magnus said. “I don’t give a shit. I haven’t given a shit since my stupidity landed us on the ocean floor.”
“It wasn’t you,” Titus said quietly. “You know that.”
“Do I?” Magnus said, getting up and pacing. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I met my mate. I lost her. Nothing is meant to work out for me, and—”
“I’m doing this for your own good,” Titus said firmly. “As your brother.” Then, before Magnus could catch on or stop him, Titus grabbed him by the collar, dragged him across the room, and punched him across the face, sending him flying through his bedroom door and into the hallway and foyer.
When Magnus stopped skidding, he stood, touching his jaw gingerly, and shook his head at the instant anger he felt. “What the fuck do you mean brothers? We’re not brothers. We’re not even a crew anymore. We’re just a bunch of shipwrecked losers that happened to be found at the bottom of the sea.”
“Take that back,” Titus grated out, stepping out into the foyer with him, huge hands clenched into fists, wheat-blond braid swinging behind him, icy eyes burning.
“No,” Magnus said, stepping up to Titus and getting in his face. “I’m tired of this. You’re so preachy, buying into this whole thing about finding mates. Maybe fate doesn’t want us to find them. Maybe that’s why she sank us. Maybe that’s why my mate drove away before I could stop her.”
Titus raised his fist, but Magnus blocked it and struck back instead, catching Titus in the eye, forcing him to stagger back. Titus scowled.
“Whatever is bothering you, this isn’t the way to solve it.”