He sighed, and then his phone started to ring again, and he looked down to see Amelia’s name. He smiled.

  “Hey there, babe,” he said warmly as he answered. “How is girls’ night?”

  He could hear the sound of music in the background, but it was as if Amelia were slightly removed from it, like she was in the bathroom or out on the street taking a breather.

  “Hey, babe,” she said. “It’s going good, Jane is a really nice girl. I can see myself making a great friend in her.”

  Dash smiled, he liked hearing that. He knew it must be so hard for Amelia moving to a new place and trying to start all over again. To know that she had a friend she could turn to would make all the difference and hopefully, lead on to her getting to know more people around town.

  “She sounds it,” he said. “It’s really good of her to take you under her wing and show you around.”

  “I agree,” Amelia answered. “We just seemed to click, it’s been a while since I’ve had so much fun with a friend. How is your night? How is Nora?”

  Dash smiled, it felt good to have someone who cared about them. Sure, he had his brothers in arms, and his parents, but when it came to that extra level of love, the deepest kind there was, it felt so different to have Amelia there and for her to be asking.

  “She’s good, babe,” he said. “She’s fast asleep and has been for a few hours now, like we expected, she was exhausted.”

  “Bless her,” Amelia said warmly.

  “So, where are you? Which famous Misty Vale haunt did Jane take you to?” Dash asked. “It sounds like there’s a good atmosphere?”

  “We’re in a bar called Archer’s,” Amelia replied. “Some sports bar in the middle of Main Street, it’s really good! We’ve just been chatting to the owner.”

  Dash couldn’t help but scowl. Archer Savage was a complete pain in his ass, and one of the bear clan. He felt himself bristle. After the conversation he had just had with Striker, he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going to happen if they started to get on the wrong side of each other again.

  “Archer Savage?” he asked, with clear disdain in his voice. Even if it was unintended.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Amelia said innocently. “Jane said he was the name above the door.”

  Dash gritted his teeth and paused, but it was clear that Amelia had noticed, and she’d had a drink and was feeling even more feisty than she normally was.

  “You know, I can’t help but get the feeling you’re being pissy with me because I’ve come out tonight,” she said.

  “I’m not being pissy,” he replied, rubbing his temples. The anger about Archer rising even more to the surface.

  “Yes, you are,” she said. “And I want you to know that I won’t tolerate it.”

  Dash felt as if he had been slapped and he sat back in his chair. His mom and his ex-girlfriend had always been women who needed pleasing, and he felt as if he had spent the past week doing nothing but pleasing Amelia; now she was out on the town and not giving a shit. And with none other than Archer fucking Savage.

  “Jesus, Amelia,” he said with a low breath.

  “Well?” she barked down the phone.

  This was making his blood boil even more and he could feel the red mist descending.

  “Anyway, I’m going to go,” she said. “Screw this.”

  And then, the line went dead.

  Dash gritted his teeth again and hurled the phone across the room where it cracked against the wall and the screen shattered. He had never felt rage like it, but he knew it was coming from a place of love. He rose to his feet, knocked back the rest of the whiskey and made his way out of the office and down into the hall.

  Maybe he wasn’t cut out for another serious relationship. He had gotten so swept up in how he was feeling, in how Amelia had spoken to his soul, that he had completely forgotten how damaged he had become from the events of his past.

  As he stormed into his bedroom, all he could smell was Amelia. She seemed to be everywhere, and he closed the door and sighed.

  How had he managed to let his emotions get the better of him and fuck it all up so royally?

  He went over to the French doors and sat down on the chair and looked out over the starry night above the mountains and the pine forest. He felt his dragon raging away beneath his skin, but he would not succumb to it tonight. He needed to relax and stay calm and he needed to get his head straight.

  Because, he had the terrible feeling, he may have just driven Amelia away for good.

  Chapter 15

  Amelia woke up early the following morning, with not so much as a booze hangover, but a hangover from her fight with Dash.

  Her and Jane had had such a good evening. They had sat in Archer’s for a couple of hours, before moving on to another bar that was a bit more sophisticated and less raw around the edges. It had big leather chairs, dark lighting, a cocktail menu, and ambient house music playing over the speakers. Amelia had sunk down into the chairs with an espresso martini and wished she could have enjoyed it the way she wanted to, but she had just been consumed by thoughts of Dash.

  The fight on the phone had rattled her, and it had come almost out of nowhere. But she had to admit, she had been worrying about it all night before she had called him, and she had wondered whether he was actually mad at her or not. When she had heard the still frosty tone in his voice when they had been speaking, she had just lost it. And now she felt like a fool.

  She rolled over and buried her head in the pillows. Her duvet was so warm and toasty, and she didn’t feel as if she ever wanted to get up, but her cellphone was on the other side of the room and she wanted to see if she had any calls or messages from Dash.

  She quickly jumped up and ran across to swipe the phone from the desk and climbed back into bed before it even felt as if her feet had truly touched the ground.

  She pressed the screen to light it up, but there was nothing there. No calls, no messages, no emails… nothing. She refreshed her emails just to be sure, in the back of her mind she had half been expecting some kind of lengthy apology sent to her in the middle of the night. But he hadn’t gotten in touch.

  Her stomach dropped and she buried her head in her hands.

  “Oh man I’ve really messed this up,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.

  “The most amazing man you’ve ever met, and you start to worry because his tone is a little different…” she looked across the room and stared into space.

  Had she been justified in challenging him? Or had she gone overboard?

  The lines felt so blurred for her after her relationship with Toby. She never would have dared challenge him, and she knew how controlling he was… she had just feared that if Dash wasn’t pleased about her going out with Jane, then it would spiral. But was he even upset with her about that? She felt herself pout and grow a little irritated.

  She thought and thought, but she couldn’t get any sense to come into her mind. They had both been on the phone call, and she was just starting to get herself back.

  She wasn’t going to bend.

  She put on her brave face, pulled back the covers and went toward the shower.

  Miserable or not, she had a life to live. And she was going to have to get on with it before she let herself slip into her old ways.

  By the time Monday morning had come around, Amelia felt more miserable than ever. Her phone had stayed silent except for some messages from Jane, and she had spent the later part of the weekend pacing around the B&B. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but being left to flounder by Dash hadn’t been it. And now she was mad. Truly mad.

  She had another day off after being so hectic and she wasn’t sure back at the Livingstone house with Nora until the following day. It meant she had a whole other day with her thoughts, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it. She picked up her coat, slipped it on over her shoulders and headed out to see Jane. Surely, her new best friend could give her some advice.

  When she reached the salon she gave a quick recap of what had gone down, from the original phone call when she had told him she was going out with Jane, to later that night when she had nipped outside at Archer’s to call him again.

  “He sounds like a jerk,” Jane said with her arms crossed over her chest and her head shaking from side to side. “How did the argument even escalate?”

  “I don’t know,” Amelia said with her head in her hands. “I called him and I think I was already on edge because of how I was feeling about how he had been earlier, and then suddenly he went quiet on the phone again and I thought he was unhappy because I was out and not sat at home like some good little woman and I snapped.”

  Jane pouted and sighed. Her arms still firmly fixed across her chest.

  “Did he say anything like that though?” she asked, tentatively. “Or did you just assume he was feeling that way.”

  Amelia tried to remember the conversation in full, but the lines were blurred. All she knew was that she hadn’t spoken to him now since the Friday night and her heart was in tatters. She would never admit it to him or to Jane how bad it felt, but she was in turmoil. She had never felt so miserable, they had broken up over something so stupid.

  “You told me your ex-boyfriend was controlling and your mom always put the pressure on you to be perfect,” Jane said slowly, as if she were testing the water. “Do you think maybe you jumped to conclusions and assumed the worst? I mean, I don’t know Dash Livingstone, but I do know he is never seen with women. You must be pretty special to him for him to open up to you. He’s a strong character around town and everyone looks up to him, but he seems to have his head screwed on. Do you really think he’d get mad over you going for a drink?”

  Amelia shrugged.

  “Toby, my ex, would have.”

  “Dash Livingstone is not Toby your ex,” Jane said. “Dash Livingstone is a powerhouse, a Rockstar, a man who can have anything or anyone he wants…”

  Amelia felt herself curl inwards.

  “I don’t know what happened exactly,” Jane said as she reached out and touched Amelia gently on the arm. “But I thought at first, he sounded like a jerk, but when I thought about it and what you said, maybe it was just crossed wires. He didn’t specifically say he wasn’t happy about it, you just assumed he wasn’t.”

  Amelia nodded.

  “And you’ve just said you would kind of expect him to be because your ex was. I think by the sounds of it, you just need to talk and clear the air.”

  Amelia felt her guard go up again. She was not going to be approaching him. She hadn’t heard from him for three days and she was getting more worked up by the minute.

  “I think I just had to accept I’m not cut out for relationships,” Amelia said. “I’m too damaged.”

  “You can be fixed,” Jane said warmly. “And it seems to me like Dash was doing a pretty good job of that before this misunderstanding.”

  Jane was wise and she had calmed her down, Amelia had to admit that a lot of this made sense and she had to think on it. It was so hard for her to see either way, but she didn’t know how he was truly feeling at this moment either.

  She hugged Jane and thanked her, and then she made her way toward the door of the salon. It was time to go and collect Nora. It was time to be brave.

  Chapter 16

  When Dash’s last meeting of the day had ended, he sat at the conference table in the golf resort and looked out over the green. It may have been a slightly different view in that part of the meeting, but he couldn’t help but think about the afternoon he had spent there with Amelia. Sitting in the club room and telling her about his little hometown, while also introducing him to his family.

  It had been one of the happiest afternoons of his life. It had felt special to be showing her to them, for them to understand what it meant for her to be there and what had happened between them. And now he felt empty. As if she had left a hole and he was longing for it to be filled.

  She had been so mad at him on the phone, and he knew now maybe he had been a good reason for that, but it hadn’t been what he had intended. He wanted to make Amelia happy, and he had been foolish letting old hurts get into his head, while also reacting to the fact she was out there with Archer Savage, a goddam bear, and enemy of his family. But Amelia didn’t know any of that. She was yet to be filled in properly. She only knew bits here and there, and she hadn’t even seen Dash in his dragon form. He forgot how much she had had to absorb and take in since she had arrived in Misty Vale, and he had to be more understanding.

  When Striker and Zane had asked him earlier how Amelia was and he had gone quiet, they had given each other a concerned look.

  “She is something special,” Zane had said. “Don’t let the past ruin right now.”

  And he was right.

  Dash had broken his phone after their conversation, and he had stewed all day Saturday and Sunday before only just getting a replacement that morning, and now so much time had passed he was feeling regretful. When he had seen that she hadn’t been in touch with him, he knew that he had fucked up and he had to put it right.

  Amelia was his woman, the one he was supposed to be with no matter what.

  He rose to his feet and grabbed his papers and files before he stormed out of the board room and headed out of the golf club and to where the valet had parked his car near the front entrance. It was time for him to go and see his girls and explain himself once and for all.

  As he turned into his street and saw the lights on inside the house, the chandelier twinkling brightly in the open glass pane that ran down the center of the building, he felt a rush of hope. He was hopeful that he wouldn’t be too late, he was hopeful that the big bunch of red roses he had waiting on the seat next to him would show Amelia he had known how wrong he had been. But as he turned off the engine, he looked across at them and found himself scowling. He didn’t want to give her those. They were beautiful, but they were just flowers. He wanted to give her more than that.

  When he opened the door and stepped inside, he felt the intensity of the silence and he knew that Nora already had to be in bed. His eyes scanned to the clock in the hallway and he saw that it was after seven, Amelia must have put her to bed early if she was super tired. He took a deep breath and walked slowly down the hall at the side of the house and into the kitchen and living area. The first thing he saw was Amelia, the way she was leaning over the island and her hair was falling down around her shoulders as she flipped through a magazine and looked so perfect it almost made his heart ache. To be close to her again, to feel her presence and to long for her made him want to kick himself all over. He really had been a fool, and now he had to try and explain himself.

  She looked up slowly and their eyes met, and he could see the sadness behind them. He must have caused her a lot of pain over the past few days, and he would never forgive himself for it.

  “Amelia,” he said slowly as he stepped further into the room with his arms held out in surrender. “It is so good to see you.”

  She cocked her hair to the side, her expression not changing. She wasn’t impressed with him and he knew it. When she still didn’t speak, he rubbed his hand down his face and across his beard, the rough hairs scratching at his palm.

  “Okay,” he said honestly. “I know I’ve fucked up. And I’m sorry.”

  She still didn’t change her expression. She really was steely, as if she had so much strength in her and was determined that she wouldn’t bend. It was scaring him a little. In all his days he had never had a woman who challenged him so much, who stood up for herself and didn’t just want him for his lifestyle and was willing to just let things slide to get their own way. Amelia was so different. It was no wonder his soul longed for hers, that his dragon craved her and imprinted on her the second their eyes met. He knew he couldn’t live without her, and he had to show her.

  “My past hasn’t been easy,” he said, knowing the only way was to lay it all out there. “Growing up in this town has been hard. Sure, Misty Vale may look as if it’s perfect, but as you’ve heard from me and maybe even others around here, there is so much going on beneath the surface. To be born into a dragon shifter clan is pressure enough as it is. To also be a founding family of a town such as this, where there is so much history, so much mystery and paranormal activity, it hasn’t been an easy ride. If you throw in what I’ve coped with in my life with Nora and my businesses and everything in between, I’ve had lot thrown at me. But nothing has ever phased me as much as you.”

  She uncrossed her arms, her resolve seeming to relax slightly.

  “The other night, when you said you were heading out, I hold my hands up and admit I was a little bit worried because of what has happened to me in the past. But I didn’t want to put that on you. It is my issue and I’ve worked through it in my head and I’m fine. I would never want to hold you back in life and I want you to know that. When you called and said you were in Archer’s, I may have bristled slightly but only because of my past with the bears, of how things are with them even right now. There’s a lot of bad feeling there, a lot of tension, which appears to be suddenly getting worse. But my anger wasn’t with you, it was just with Archer. But I guess you know me so well, you must have picked up on it straight away and I’m sorry.”

  “It was very evident,” she said, her shoulder sagging slightly as if she were relieved to hear all of this. “And even though I’m still mad, I want you to know that I know I overreacted. In the past I’ve had shitty relationships and I’ve been controlled and lost all sense of myself. When I heard your tone change and I felt like you were being cold and distant, it felt like I was being punished and my walls went straight back up again.”