Their eyes were bright with curiosity, desperate to see whom Cain could have possibly mated with. Cain wanted to push Nora behind himself, keep her hidden from their eyes, but they needed to see her just as clearly as he did. She was sweet and innocent, deserving of life and peace, two things he desperately wanted to give her.
“Nora, I presume?” Marshal said, the corners of his lips tilting menacingly.
“Yes,” she said, her voice trembling.
“Can you tell us what’s going on?” Dominick leaned forward, placing his chin in his hands.
Cain moved to stand behind a chair, allowing Nora the distance to speak for herself. They both remained standing, to nervous to sit and become trapped at a table.
“A few weeks ago I started receiving threats to the school and to my life. I took them to the principal, but he said that it was just a prank.” She twisted her hands together, unsure of what else she needed to say.
“Why didn’t you report it?” Andi encouraged her with a smile.
“I don’t know. I guess I hoped it had all been a prank.”
“And then?” Andi’s smile persisted, and Cain wanted to slap it off his face.
“And then I got more, and this morning I was given a box by a student, who said a lady asked her to give it to me, and inside was a dead bird.” Nora rushed through the last of it not wanting to remember it. Cain gripped the back of the chair as he remembered how her face had turned white that morning.
“And you have no idea who could be targeting you?” Sam asked, sliding his bifocals up his nose.
Nora shook her head. “No.”
The four men looked at each other, using the dragon mind speak to discuss the situation. Cain tried to listen, but they blocked any signals he used to reach out to them. Instead he looked at Nora, and felt the few feet separating them widen.
“Cain?” Dominick called his name. “You say you’re mates, but there is quite a bit of distance between the two of you.”
He hoped the distance would help, but now he wondered if it would count against them. “Yes, I don’t want her to be uncomfortable.”
“If she were to be uncomfortable close to you then perhaps she isn’t your mate,” Marshal said.
Cain was ready to snap at Marshal and explain how their situations were different, but before he could even bare his teeth, Nora had her arms wrapped around his, and barked at the men herself. She said, “He is my mate. I am his.”
She turned and hit Cain in the chest. “And you do not get to decide what makes me uncomfortable.” Tears started spilling over the corners of her eyes and as salt water cleanses a wound they found their way to her kissable lips.
“I was so sick all day today thinking of the possibility of what could happen if you weren’t around, and for the duration of the work day, you weren’t.” She continued on, her chest now heaving for air. “Then, you didn’t come close to me when you picked me up, and you’re saying it’s because I could be uncomfortable?”
“I’m sorry,” Cain whispered, pressing his mouth into the top of her head.
“I’m uncomfortable, not touching you.” She was now hugged close to his chest. “I’m scared.”
Cain looked up, his dragon struggling to fight for this woman again, ready to assert full dominance over the others in the room. But, this only worked is everyone worked together and was in full agreement. If they said they would not take on this problem, because Cain was too emotionally involved, then he would have to obey.
“Please,” Cain said, feeling everything inside of him break. He didn’t know what he would do if they said no.
Dominick rubbed his hands up and down his face. “Nora, can you please leave for a moments?”
She looked at Cain, and he tried to convey every ounce of confidence he could muster to her, as he searched her eyes for equal hope. He kissed the top of her forehead. “It’ll be okay.”
Once she was gone, Cain looked back at the others already feeling defeated. Andi was the one who folded his arms and said, “We would love to, but you’re too emotionally involved.”
“We’re going to risk a school of children over an emotional involvement?” Cain tried for one last plea. When none of them said anything, he bowed his head and said, “Okay.”
Marshall said, “I’m sorry Cain.” He was; Cain could hear it in his voice.
“What we will do,” Sam began, “Is we will take it on as our job to protect the local school and this town, if another letter or threat arrives such as the one from today.”
Dominick finished speaking and said, “It could be nothing, or it could be much worse, so we’ll wait it out.”
“That could be too late,” Cain said.
“It could be, but it’s the best we can offer,” Dominick said.
“Leave through the back,” Cain dismissed them. He needed to see Nora.
She was sitting on the couch, chewing her nails. Her hair was mussed up all around her face, and her skin was as pale as a ghost, again. He walked over and knelt in front of her, and began to kiss her knuckles.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. He repeated himself over and over again, kissing her knuckles, and tasting his own tears in each kiss. He couldn’t protect her, and he felt so worthless and pointless.
Her hands were on his head, and she was kissing his temple. “No, you tried.”
“What mate am I, if I can’t protect you?” There was his greatest fear, out in the open.
“You’re the best one a girl could ask for,” she attempted to reassure him. “Then again, I’ve only just met you,” she laughed.
“But,” she looked down and pulled her hands away from him. “Why did they question if I was your mate? Why didn’t they trust you?”
“Because to really know, we have to be connected in every way possible.” The intensity that had settled itself as grief and defeat stoked itself up again. There was a fire in his gut that wouldn’t be tampered easily.
He wanted her in every way possible, but he would not push her into anything she could not handle. She had already been through so much in a day. He didn’t want to put her through anything else, no matter how much he wanted it.
A warm blush flushed up her cheeks as she heard what he said. “Oh,” was all she said.
“We don’t... not yet.”
She pointed up and said, “What about Ashton?”
“What about him?”
Her blush deepened. “Cain, your feelings are not only yours. I feel them as equally and as passionately.”
Nora barely had time to finish, before he pushed up and met her lips, roughly pushing her back onto the couch. This was something he wanted since the moment she had woken his dragon up. His hands moved to the hem of her shirt and began pushing it up.
She reciprocated the kiss with as much force. Her hands were at the nape of his neck, pulling the small hairs and tangling her fingers in his hair. She arched her back, pushing herself into his hands.
The taste of her was dark coffee and sweet sugar. He was completely intoxicated by her, he was nearly primal and almost bit her neck when she pushed against his shoulder. But his dragon didn’t have complete control of him.
“Ashton,” she said.