Page 44 of Daughter of Garnet

There is a whisper of real hurt on his face before he shakes his head and spits on the ground at my feet. "I warned you, bunny. I told you that if you lied to me, I'd turn you away."

In the evening light, his dark hair casts shadows over his face, highlighting a violent beauty that I haven't gotten the chance to appreciate. He turns his back to me, and the muscles on his back flex as his shoulders fall.

"I really, really wish you wouldn't have lied to me."

Then he's gone, and he takes a part of me with him.

CHAPTER 22

Zoe

I should be studying, but every time I try to focus on the text, my mind wanders and my skin itches. A dragon lives inside me, and I know nothing about what that means.

It took me a while to recover from the rejection and get dressed last night in the woods. I'm choosing to ignore that Dominic and I are scent matches. That can wait until I know more about my beast.

There has to be something in the library that talks about dragons that isn't aimed at children, but I am still not great at figuring out where things are. I've spent more time in the library since I got here than I have in my entire life, but that doesn't mean I know how they keep the stacks organized. If I can't find something soon, I'm going to have to ask Cliff. I need to know what this means for me and any records of past dragons, so I have an idea of what to expect.

I can't be the only one to ever exist. I won't accept that lonely fate.

I gather an armful of potentially relevant titles and shove them in my bag to bring back to my room. It's time for dinner, and if I don't show up, Warren will come looking for me. I don't want to be alone with him, not after yesterday.

Why did things have to change between us? If it continues like this, there will be nothing left of our friendship, and despite everything, I'm not ready to give up on that. Our lives have been intertwined since we were born. How would my family react if I came home and told them we'd had a falling out? Would they understand if I told them everything, or would they try to force a reconciliation?

It's better for both of us if we find a way to move past this.

The dining hall is crowded, and the only reason I find Viv is that she stands up, cups her hands around her mouth, and shouts my name. I make my way to her, if only to get the eyes of people who heard her off of me. I hate being the center of attention.

Viv has commandeered the far corner of one of the long tables, with Cliff across from her and her brother, Ray, beside her. I take the only empty seat by Cliff and bump my shoulder against his.

"Hey."

His smile is warm as he returns the gesture. "Hey, yourself. Where's Warren?"

I shrug and take a bite of my wrap. "No idea. I thought he'd be here."

"Oh, who cares, he's a grown man." Viv points her knife at me and narrows her eyes. "What I want to talk about is why we haven't hung out at night in weeks."

My cheeks flush, and I buy myself some time to think by drinking some water. It's not that I'm avoiding Viv on purpose; I'm just avoiding parties, and she loves to go to them.

Since the bonfire where Ray pinned me to the tree and gave me the kiss of my life, I have been worried she'll want me to come out with her, so I make myself unavailable in the evenings. The first few times I blew her off, she seemed fine with it, but I'm not surprised she's frustrated with me now.

"I'm behind on my studies, so I've been spending a lot of time in the library." It isn't a lie. Cliff has seen me there plenty. Sometimes he even joins me for a bit.

She rolls her dark eyes at me and props her elbows up on the table. "Zoe. You need to do something fun. Blow off some steam. Right, Ray?"

The Alpha looks at me for the first time since I've sat down, and I expect to see bored indifference at best, but there is something else in his eyes that I can't read.

"Everyone needs to let loose sometimes."

His deep voice sends shivers down my spine, and I have to fight not to crawl across the table into his lap.

What is wrong with me? This man has made no secret of his disdain for me. Why do I want to throw myself at him? I used to have more self-respect than that.

I deflect their attention. "How come you guys don't badger Cliff to go out?"

Cliff tilts his head to the side as he regards me. "Because I already do. Not often, but I show up."

"I thought you'd be on my side! You join me in the library often enough."