Immediately, Dillon’s beast rose with a ferocious snarl, one that found its way out of him and into the truck’s interior.
“You can’t keep me away from her,” he growled.
Gavin sighed and ran his hand across his face. “That’s what I was worried about. You’ve known this human all of two days. Look at you. You’re ready to lay down your life for her. Don’t you see how ludicrous that is?”
Dillon kicked open his door. Vicious words reached his tongue. He would have kept them back in any other circumstance, but Gavin needed a bit of bitter medicine.
“Maybe you’ve never been in love in your whole life, then.”
Dillon stalked away, not bothering to wait for Gavin’s reaction. Once more, Dillon felt hollowed out. He couldn’t carry this clan on his back. He was not Atlas, capable of lifting worlds. He was just a dragon man trying to do his best.
When would his best be enough?
He kicked opened the front door, still fuming. A yellow shape darted toward him. Before he could move, Isabella had her arms wrapped around his middle. Her cheek pressed against his chest. He wondered if she could hear the thunder of his heart.
“I was so worried!” she said. She pulled back enough to look up at him. Her soft eyes were wide and rimmed with unshed tears. “Just let me talk to Tommy. I think I can get him to dismiss the charges.”
Dillon hated the idea of her ever going to talk to that man again. He and his ilk clearly had no empathy for women. Though she was perfectly civil and reasonable, Tommy would spitefully hold everything against her and turn her own mind against her. Dillon would break the man’s kneecaps if he ever insinuated that she was being passed around again.
“Don’t worry about it,” Evangeline said as she entered the room. “We can ask Nel to make him forget about the fight. I’m sure she’d love to mess with Tommy again.”
Gavin entered behind Dillon. “Speaking of your witch friend. I don’t think she can do her job properly.”
Evangeline widened her stance and put her hands on her hips. “It’s because of you that I’m not letting anyone near her. Do you hear the way you’re talking?”
Gavin groaned. An argument would ensue soon. As if she felt the coming storm, Isabella tugged Dillon’s hand and led him away from the entryway. Isabella spared one last glance back when Evangeline’s voice roared down the hall.
“I don’t know how she talks back to him like that. Your friend is terrifying.”
“He would never harm Casey’s mate,” Dillon assured her. “Besides, I think their arguments help him blow off steam.”
“So, Evangeline is helping him? That’s kind of her. She always finds interesting ways to help those around her. Leave it to her to figure that out.”
Dillon didn’t think Evangeline knew what she was doing. He was pretty sure she just wanted to shake Gavin up every now and then. Gavin needed to be challenged. He would learn how to be a better leader after being forced to see from all sides of the clan.
***
Isabella watched Dillon pull out his phone. He seemed to drift away from her. She’d wanted to be alone with him, though she refused to admit to herself that she wanted to be alone with him because she was attracted to him. It was still far too early for her to move on. She wasn’t looking for a rebound. When she started dating again, she would have to be serious about it.
She wasn’t alone in this world anymore.
But Dillon’s distance hurt.
“Oh! I didn’t make dinner for you! I promised you a home-cooked meal, and I totally forgot. You’re probably mad. I can get that started for you if you’re hungry.”
Her heart stammered, hammering out an erratic beat until Dillon looked up from his phone. He raised a brow and turned his phone around so she could see the screen. A little car chugged across a familiar map.
“Food is already on the way,” he said.
Her lips parted, surprise washing over her. Guilt followed soon after. “You didn’t have to do that. I made a promise. I should keep it.”
Besides, her stomach clenched with a hunger so deep she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to fill it. If she made Dillon dinner, then she could make herself a little something, too. It wasn’t like he would order food for her, too. She’d done nothing to deserve it.
Fifteen minutes later, Dillon came to find her. He hefted a plastic bag laden with take-out containers.
“Come with me,” he asked, holding a hand out to her.
She glanced at the giant bag of food. At first, it seemed like a lot for one person. Then she remembered that Dillon was no normal man. He was a dragon man. He probably needed all those extra calories so he could turn into a dragon.
Her stomach let out a ferocious growl. “Do you mind waiting for me while I make myself something to eat? I promise I won’t take long. I’ll throw together a sandwich real quick and…”
“I didn’t get all this food for myself.”
She paused. Evangeline had told her that these guys were nicer than the men they’d been with, but Isabella never thought they would try to feed her. She’d assumed that her role here was to feed everyone else. That was the only reason they’d allowed her to stay.
So, why would Dillon want to feed her?
She took his outstretched hand and followed him outside. They walked in silence for a long while, following a trail that wound through the woods. The smell of earth and pine comforted her and washed away any leftover confusion.
All that mattered was her hand in Dillon’s. His warmth travelled up her arm and wrapped around her heart until she couldn’t stop smiling. Whenever Dillon glanced over at her, he smiled, too.
At the top of a hill was a small grove on the edge of a cliff. A picnic table stood in the center so that anyone who sat down could look out over the mountain and the town in the valley below.
The sight stole her breath and beckoned her closer. Dillon hovered behind her, like he was afraid she would throw herself off the cliff. It wasn’t even that far of a fall. The cabin roof sat only ten feet beneath the ledge. She wanted to tell him to back off but didn’t know how.
Room to breathe was all she wanted to ask for. She told herself that this was different. Tommy hovered over her to make sure she could never do anything for herself. Dillon wasn’t trying to do that. At least, she didn’t think Dillon would do something like that.
She wasn’t made of glass, though. Her small frame and high-pitched voice made her look frail, but if she could be broken, then she would have shattered long ago.
When he didn’t step away from her, she swallowed her sigh and went to the table. Dillon set the bag of food down and started to unload it, carefully opening every container and pushing them toward her. When he pressed a plastic fork into her hand, she pursed her lips.
“I know I’ve made some awful decisions that make me look like I can’t take care of myself, but I know how to eat,” she said, keeping her voice low and meek even though she felt a restlessness thrashing in her chest.
Dillon froze. He blinked. “You don’t want to eat my food because I paid for it. I put that fork in your hand, so you have no excuse.”
Her cheeks heated. Now she felt like an ass. Dillon’s hovering had brought out her bitterness, and he didn’t deserve to be treated like that.