Chosen by Sin (20 page)

Dex felt another surge of discomfort, irritation, pain. Whatever it
was, it swirled through him like a slow winding tornado picking up speed. He
wanted to punch Cy in the face, if only to stop him from talking. Dex couldn’t
deny it—he barely knew Jes and he was angry as hell with her, but a part
of him suddenly ached for her, too. Not wanting to examine why, he sneered,
“Did she try to have a baby with you, too?”

The question seemed to rankle Cy like nothing else up to now had. “I’m
only sixteen years old and Jes views me as a dear little brother. But we aren’t
connected by blood, and when you leave, I’ll have an even better chance of
reminding her of that.”

The male’s statement of intent rubbed Dex raw, but he was too busy
reacting to Cy’s stated age to immediately respond. “Sixteen? You’re
bullshitting me.” Cy looked like a fully matured, well-experienced male who was
at least thirty. Then again, Dex looked about the same age but was over eighty.

“No,” Cy said simply. “I’m not.”

“In what world are you sixteen years old?”

“In the Draci world.”

“Draci?”

“I’m a dragon-shifter.”

A dragon. In a strange way, it made sense. “You burned me. After you
shifted. But you didn’t look like any images of dragons I’ve ever seen.” No,
Dex recalled, Cy had looked like himself, only he’d transformed into a marble
statue just before he’d exploded in flames.

“That’s because I can shift into three forms. You saw form number one.”

A dragon-shifter with multiple forms. Of course. Why not? Dex was a
were. He served on a team with a ghost, a psychic, a vampire, and a feline
mage. Why shouldn’t dragons be a represented Otherborn, too?

Dex shook his head and raked his hands through his hair, thankful that
at least his head had stopped throbbing even if his mind was still spinning.
His gaze dropped briefly to Cy’s kilt. It was different from the one he’d worn
yesterday, but it was still a kilt. “So I guess that’s why you need to get in
and out of clothes so easily. Because you’re naked after you shift?” Before Cy
could answer, Dex said, “Let me guess. In another form, you have a tail and can
breathe fire?”

“Pretty much. You got a problem with that?”

Dex actually laughed. “Problem? No. You forget I have a tail when I
shift, too.”

“Ah, that’s right. I’d like to see that someday.”

“I bet you would.” He bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile.

Cy narrowed his eyes. “Meaning?”

“Meaning, when I shift, it hurts like hell, and I assume you’d enjoy
seeing that.”

“Damn straight. But luckily shifting doesn’t hurt me. Which I suppose
is a tradeoff of sorts. For you, it hurts when you shift, but you get to live
hundreds of years. Me…”

“You?” Dex prompted. “It doesn’t hurt when you shift, so you…”

“Let’s just say my time on earth is more limited than yours. Which is
why I don’t fuck around when it comes to going after what makes me happy.”

“Let me guess again. Jes makes you happy?”

“Yes. But to be fair, an average life span of thirty years is also one
of the reasons she’s not interested in me, so you can take your own pleasure in
that.”

Draci only lived an average of thirty years. Cy didn’t seem all that broken
up about it. Dex supposed to him, a life lived was a life lived, no matter how
short. Didn’t butterflies live between a few weeks and a few months? Yet Dex
had never felt particularly sorry for the beautiful creatures. And speaking of
beautiful creatures…“If you want Jes for yourself,” he asked, “why bring me
here in the first place? Why not just get rid of your competition?”

The right side of Cy’s mouth tipped up in a hint of a smile. “One of my
poisonous throwing stars should have been more than enough to do the job.”

“So how come I’m not dead?”

“I don’t know. But maybe one day I’ll get the chance to find out.”

Yeah, and if it was up to him, one day would come sooner than later. So
fine. He couldn’t put if off any longer.

Slowly, steadily, Dex pushed himself to standing, thankful that someone
had dressed him in a loose pair of sweats rather than one of those ridiculous
hospital gowns that would have left his ass exposed. Still, he wasn’t quite
steady on his feet, which Cy would plainly be able to see, but no way was he
going to sit and let Cy tower over him while they talked. “So why are you here,
Cy? You planning on trying to kill me again?”

The other male’s silence was telling.

Dex took a step toward him.

But Cy sighed and rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not here to kill you. Now
sit down before you fall down.” He dropped himself into the same chair he’d
occupied earlier and then looked at Dex.

Dex waited several beats before sitting back down himself.

Cy leaned forward while clasping his hands between his knees. “Look,
I’m not going to lie. I didn’t want to bring you back here, but I didn’t shoot
you deliberately; it really was an accident. That said, I was perfectly willing
to take advantage of a little bad aim, only you didn’t cooperate. Maybe it has something
to do with why Jes thinks you can save the baby. Either way, I’m not going to
kill you in cold blood, especially now that Jes needs you. The only reason I’m
here now is because she asked me to see you.”

“And you always do as Jes asks?”

Again, Cy’s mouth tipped into that one-sided smile. “Always.”

Cy’s smile hinted at an intimacy with Jes that made Dex want to choke
him again. Easy, he thought. First Raul, now Cy. He had to stop thinking of Jes
as his. She wasn’t his. The baby wasn’t his. This monstrosity of a castle
wasn’t his. And he wasn’t staying. “So does Jes think you can keep me here?”

“Not at all. She made it quite clear you’re free to leave whenever you
want. But she did say you were probably bored and she asked me to entertain
you.”

Cy gave an exaggerated wince, but Dex didn’t smile. So he was free to
leave whenever he wanted, huh? While Dex was glad he wasn’t going to have to
battle his way out of Jes’s castle when he was feeling as weak as a newborn
colt, he wasn’t exactly pleased with what Cy had said, either. “I don’t need a
damn babysitter,” Dex groused.

“No. But I’ve thought a lot about it, and you deserve to know about
Jes. And if you’re willing to listen, I’m willing to talk.”

The guy was just full of surprises, wasn’t he? “Why would you want to
help me understand her? You’ve already admitted you’d like nothing more than to
get me out of the picture.”

“I want you to understand her because I care about Jes and I’d rather
know that when you hurt her—and you will hurt her—that you’ll be
doing it deliberately, with full knowledge of all the facts, rather than
hurting her inadvertently because you’re bumbling around in the dark and don’t
know any better. Also, I have no doubt you’re going to leave, whether it’s
before the baby’s born or after. But in the meantime, Jes is pregnant. She’s
vulnerable and fragile. If she’s going to keep this baby, I want to give her
every shot she has. And if that means trying to reason with you or even having
to play nice, then I’ll do it.”

Damn dragon was making it really difficult for Dex to stay pissed off
at him. He appeared to be a good guy. A good friend to Jes, even if he did want
to be more.

And the thing was, Cy had already made Dex understand Jes better. Now
that he’d had the shit kicked out of him and had spent hours lying in a damn
bed, Dex was finding it easier to think of Jes, even a pregnant Jes, without
getting quite so angry. First, just knowing that she’d suffered because of her
desire to have children made him less prone to view her as a cold-hearted
calculating bitch. Second, if she really was pregnant, that meant she’d told
him the truth despite knowing he wouldn’t like it. In Dex’s book, honesty was a
major factor in her favor.

“Tell me, Hunt. You close to your family?”

Cy’s abrupt question made Dex instantly suspicious, but his response
was as natural as the rising sun. “I don’t have family.”

Cy smiled, which made Dex’s hackles rise even more.

“What’s funny about that?”

“Nothing, except it proves just how much you and Jes have in common.
Jes is an orphan, too.”

Dex gestured around him. “Yeah, well, it hasn’t seemed to impact her
too badly.”

Cy’s expression swiftly became serious. “That’s where you’re wrong.
Jes’s life hasn’t been easy. She lost her parents when she was young and my
people adopted her. Can you imagine how that must have been for her? To lose
her parents, then adjust to a new family only to have to stand by and watch
them die, one by one, over and over again? Because every few years, that’s what
happens to Jes. She loses someone she loves, and even if she did believe in an
afterlife, which I’m not sure she does, she can’t even comfort herself with
notions of post-death reunions. Not when she’s immortal. That’s why having a
baby is so important to her. She’s desperate to love someone who won’t leave
her.”

Dex got what Cy was telling him. And if Dex was the key to keeping
Jes’s baby alive, could he really jeopardize her chance at motherhood, let
alone be the cause of extinguishing a budding life? But neither could he put
his life on hold and just chain himself to her side. Even if it was just for a
few weeks, that time was enough to make a difference. To his team. His plans
for his grandfather. Wasn’t it? “She can never be sure of a love that won’t
leave her,” Dex pointed out. “Even immortals can die given the right
circumstances. Death comes for all of us at some point.”

“Yeah, but usually other people’s odds aren’t quite as bad as hers.” Cy
stood and clapped his hands. “Okay, so I’ve said my piece. Mostly. I just have
one more thing to say.”

Dex arched a brow.

“I told you Jes wants someone who’s not going to leave her. That’s not
me, but it’s not you either, Hunt. Maybe someday she’ll find someone who can
give her that, but until then, all she has is this baby. If you care for her at
all, you’ll give her the chance to have it.”

“I’m not going to rip the baby out of her.”

“No, but you’ve already upset her more than you can imagine. That can’t
be good for the baby and it can’t be good for her. So don’t wait. Either decide
you can support her or leave now.”

“You’d like that and believe me, I’d be happy, in this one case, to
help you out. But I really don’t understand you. You act like you care about
her, but aren’t you jealous? Of her? Hell, of me? We live so much longer than
you.”

Instead of blowing Dex’s question off or making some flippant response,
Cy seemed to give it careful consideration. When he answered, he spoke slowly.
Thoughtfully. “I’m not sure if you’ll believe this or not, but here’s the
thing. In the grand scheme of things, my life on this earth will be relatively
short. I know that. But I also know my time is precious. And I will be happy,
no matter what it takes. You and Jes? You’re two of the saddest people I know.
I wouldn’t trade places with you even if I could.”

***

After talking to Cy, Dex took several moments to inventory what he was
feeling. Yes, he was still pissed at Jes, or more specifically at the idea of
her being pregnant, but he was also beginning to come to terms with it and
accept it wasn’t her fault. Condom or not, he’d stuck his dick in her several
times. He’d even done it again yesterday despite knowing full well he wasn’t
wearing protection. But regardless, if she was pregnant with his child, he had
to take his share of responsibility for that. It didn’t mean he was any happier
about having a child with her, but she’d only asked him to stay until the baby
was born; she’d made it clear she didn’t want them to be one big happy family.

He should be jumping for joy, right?

Because that meant she could have the baby and it wouldn’t affect him
directly. Not if she was the one who kept it and cared for it. But hell, he
didn’t even know her well enough to trust in her ability to be a good mother.

It didn’t matter that he didn’t want the baby—if Jes gave birth
to his child, Dex needed to know the child would be well taken care of. No
child deserved to suffer, not even his.

Fortunately, there was no reason to think Jes would hurt their child.
In fact, if Cy could be believed, she’d likely cherish the kid within an inch
of its life. So he wasn’t going to add yet another worry to the heaping pile he
was accumulating.

Right now, he was going to call Mahone and let him know about his
meeting with the shape-shifters.

Although it took longer than he’d have liked, Dex finally managed to
get dressed and retrieved his things from the bedside cabinet. He punched
Mahone’s number into his cell phone, cursing when he didn’t get a signal.

Impossible. She had to have cell service here.

Moving slowly but ever more steadily, Dex stepped out of his room and
into a hall with several closed doors. He opened one and found another recovery
room, the bed made up but empty. Door number two yielded the same results. The
next door he opened led him outside and he immediately recognized the outer
doors to Jes’s surgical room nearby.

The sun had set but the grounds were once again lit up with bright
lights. There were several structures on the perimeter of the property,
including a small shed a few hundred feet away, likely a woodshed given the
split logs piled next to it. He heard voices in the distance and followed them.
When he turned the corner of the castle, however, he froze.         

A kid who looked to be about seven years old was making a rather
pathetic attempt at what he could only assume were cartwheels. The kid—he
couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl given the baggy jeans, sweatshirt, and
knit cap—wasn’t very graceful but was certainly persistent. As Dex
watched, the kid bounced and kicked on all fours like a drunken toad at least
ten times before giving up.

When the kid picked up a stick and began using it like a fencing sword,
Dex assumed it was a boy. Unbidden, he remembered himself as a child, wielding
a wooden sword and running up a hill. Shortly after that, moments before his
grandfather had sent him away, he’d hugged his mother for the last time.