Sapphire Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 2) by Terry Bolryder Page B

been hurt the moment he’d left, because she’d been looking forward to somebody holding her for the first time in a long time.
    And he’d gotten what he’d wanted and just left.
    “You didn’t look mad when I said I needed to go,” he said, frowning. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
    “I didn’t want you to stay if you didn’t want to,” she said.
    “Then I don’t see what the problem is.”
    She curled her hands into fists again. A wave of pain went through her. “I don’t have time for this. I need my meds. And you need to go home and think about how to be more professional.”
    He narrowed his eyes as he put away the cleaning supplies, shaking his head. “I just don’t get what you want from me.”
    She gritted her teeth together, feeling like she shouldn’t have to explain. Did she really seem like the type of girl that would do that with a guy she didn’t care about? Someone she just wanted to kick out after?
    But for him, it must have been casual. Disposable. She’d been dumb for thinking this was a fairy tale and not another guy using her.
    Ugh, she hated she’d been dumb enough to get swept off her feet.
    “If you didn’t want me to go, you should have said so,” he said, walking past her, a look of frustration on his face.
    “If you didn’t want to stay, why would I make you?” she retorted, turning her back as he exited.
    She heard his footsteps pause at the door and glared over at him.
    “Can we talk later?” he asked, hesitant. Damn, he was so handsome he took her breath away. And he really didn’t seem to know what was going on. But did that make it okay to just toy with her feelings?
    She tapped her foot a few times. “Not tonight, okay? I need some rest.” She put a hand on her back. “And some meds.”
    He opened his mouth as if to offer something but then shut it. Which was good. She didn’t want him trying to do anything nice right now.
    “You aren’t really going to call that guy, are you?” he asked.
    She sighed. “Thanks to you, I have to.”
    “What do you mean thanks to me?”
    “Look. You may be from another planet, but I live on this one. And we need money. Donations. And not to be sued. And when someone physically hurts another person, there are consequences.”
    “Well, if you had listened to me, I wouldn’t have had to throw him out.”
    “And violence is always the answer for you, is that it?” she asked.
    His eyes went deadly cold, and he turned away from her, silent.
    “Look, this is just… We’re both tired. Clearly, we both need space. And you don’t need to worry about my work. I’ll handle it, as I always have.”
    He said nothing, just walked out the door and let it shut behind him with a loud, resounding clang.
    She sat on a bench and looked over at Bastien. “Dammit, what should I do?”
    Bastien didn’t say anything. Just curled in a little ball and looked over at the door like he missed Luc.
    She did, too.

    * * *
    L uc paced the living room , anger unfurling in him as he stomped angrily over the now frozen carpet.
    “Can you stop that?” Erin asked, leaning back in her chair and watching with mild annoyance. “Zach, make him stop.”
    Zach was perched next to her and shook his head. “I don’t know if I can. Sapphire is strong.”
    “Ha!” Luc let out a bitter bark. “Strong. Strong is useless with women.”
    “What happened?” Erin said. “If you just calm down and tell us, maybe we can help.”
    “There are evil people all over this fucking planet; that’s the problem,” Luc said. “And my human won’t listen to me and gets mad at me when I protect her. That’s the other problem.” He pulled at his hair. “I mean, how am I supposed to do this if she won’t even listen?”
    “Hallie has always seemed like a reasonable woman to me,” Erin said thoughtfully. “So I don’t know what you mean.”
    “There was a guy at the shelter today. A complete creep. Coming on to her, touching her.” He ran his hand