everything.” I collapsed onto their couch, clutched a pillow to my belly. “I’ll just disappear. Tove has everything set up. I could fade away. If he comes…if they come, they could kill you.” I gulped in air as my heart ripped into three equal pieces. “I can’t do that. You can’t ask me to sacrifice you to save me.” I shook my head again.
Tag maneuvered between my knees and loomed over me. His hands against the back of the couch. “Look at me, sweetcheeks.”
Gathering up as much courage as I could muster, I lifted my gaze to his. I shook my head again. “Nothing you say will make me change my mind.”
He smiled. “I know we’ve only known each other since Friday night. It’s now Monday. Not a lot of time. Not a lot of opportunity to show you what we’re really made of. But know this: that sacrifice will never have to be made. And its reverse is also true. You can’t ask us to sacrifice you. No one will be sacrificing anything.”
I closed my eyes. He still didn’t understand. I doubt any of them would. How could they? They barely believed in magic. In things unseen. Sure, they had family stories of dragons, but those were just make-believe. Stories for children from parents at nighttime.
Tove cleared his throat. “No matter what happens from here on out, we still need to get you some clothes, Hols. While I truly love seeing you in mine, if you want to leave this apartment, you need actual girl clothes. We could go shopping.” He smiled at me when I stared at him. “No, I’m not crazy—which I can see by your facial expression you think I am. But let’s shelve this for later. When we have all of us together, we can come up with a plan that works for everyone.”
He looked down at his phone. Frowned. “I’ve got to go. Jameson screwed up one of the servers.” He grabbed his messenger bag, slung it over his head and tore out of the room like his butt was on fire.
I looked back up at Grumpy. “Well. Are we going to go shopping?” Maybe I could lose him? Just run away and not look back. It would kill something inside me to do it, but to save him—save all three of them—I would run across the world.
He pushed up from the back of the couch. “Sure, sweetcheeks. Let’s go shopping.”
Chapter 33 – Tagan
I slid a tracker into the hem of the shirt. I could figure out what she was going to try to do. But soon, she would learn that I didn’t break my promises. Nor did I let people take what was mine. Not without severe consequences.
Walking back out into the living room, Sweetcheeks was drumming her fingers on the granite countertop in the kitchen. She nibbled and twisted on her lower lip. As I watched, she winced and dabbed at her lip with her fingers.
Rolling her eyes, she stuck the tip of her finger in her mouth. Mumbled around the digit. When she pulled it from her mouth, she gave it a smirk.
She was amazing.
She was mine.
“Here. You might want to wear these.” I handed her a pair of joggers, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Late September wasn’t freezing, but it could get a little nippy. I dropped a pair of socks and slide sandals at her feet.
She literally cringed. “Do I have to?” She nudged one of the sandals with her big toe.
I snickered. “Yeah, sweetcheeks. You do. They won’t let you shop if you don’t have shoes on.”
She heaved a sigh and sat on one of the kitchen stools. She slid the socks on, wiggled her toes. As she fit her feet into the slides, she looked up with a pout on her face. “This world is stupid.”
I laughed. “Just wait until you see what a bra is.”
She groaned as she dropped her head to my chest. “I changed my mind. I could live up here all the time. Never have to go outside. I could learn to like it.”
I kissed her hair. “Nope. Come on, brave warrior, we’ve got sales ladies to intimidate.”
She perked up a bit at that.
**
“Hollyn, you good?” I called from the entrance to the fitting room hallway.
“She’s almost ready, Mr. Ladon,” the personal shopper said. “We’ve had some difficulty with length on many of the items. Some will need to be tailored for a better fit.”
“Fine. Give us the name of a good one