But I'm just a freak

Chapter Eight

DRAYCE POV

That night my dream was different. I still saw those mesmerising eyes, but this time I also saw more of her face.

The mystery woman had a cute little nose and full rosy lips. I saw a small glimpse of dirty blonde hair. She was beautiful and if what Nithe said was to be believed, then that must mean we were getting closer to her.

Once again, I woke with a raging boner and, once again, I had to take matters into my own hands, quite literally. I don’t think I’ve ever been so sexually frustrated. Ever since I learnt about my fated, I haven’t been able to even look at another woman like that.

Once I had taken care of business, I got dressed and ready for day two of this frustrating journey. Today, like yesterday, we were going to two stores, the first was a five-hour drive and the second was only an hour from there.

I was just looking through the information about the two stores when Nithe knocked on my door. I let him in, and he presented me with a large coffee.

“Here, don’t say I never get you anything.” He said in a cheeky tone.

“Ah, thanks, where did you get it from?” I asked as I sipped the warm beverage.

“There is a café around the corner. I woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep and since I couldn’t let Draco out, I needed to do something, so I went for a walk.” He said with a shrug.

“Alright then. Maybe I should have joined you, this whole fated thing has me so on edge and incredibly frustrated…” I stopped myself.

I was supposed to be trying to be more sensitive about all this. He just nodded and sipped his coffee.

“Did you wanna wait and grab some breakfast here or hit the road and grab something along the way?” I asked, changing the subject.

“We may as well make a start on the drive,” he said thoughtfully. So, we packed up our rooms and checked out early.

Nithe offered to drive the first part, and although I didn’t usually let anyone else drive my car, I felt like he needed to distract himself, so I agreed.

We drove for about two hours before we stopped for something to eat. Out of what had become a habit, I scented the air and studied every face in the area as we entered the café. Nothing.

I groaned in frustration and ordered some food before taking a seat at a table away from most other people.

“Have your dreams changed?” Nithe asked once we were settled in our seats.

I felt bad talking about my fated now that I knew what he had been through, and I had already mentioned it earlier. He looked at me and my internal battle must have shown on my face.

“It’s OK Dray, I’m excited for you, you don’t have to hide s**t from me.” I nodded slowly and proceeded to tell him about the new developments in my dream.

Our number was called, and I went to collect our order. The rest of breakfast was spent in awkward silence. As we were making our way back to the car, Nithe mumbled under his breath.

“I wish I’d never told you, now things are always going to be weird.”

We climbed into the car, this time with me in the driver’s seat, and we got back on the road. After about twenty minutes, I decided I needed to say something.

“I’m sorry if things are weird, I am just trying to be sensitive to your feelings…”

“Drayce, I don’t want you to treat me any differently. I know you think you are sparing my feelings, but it makes me feel worse because my best friend doesn’t feel comfortable talking about his fated for fear he might upset me. What happened was years ago. Yes, it still hurts, but I’ve learnt to live with it.” he blurted out.

I was shocked, I didn’t realise that by not telling him about my fated, I made him feel like a shitty friend.

“I’m sorry Nithe, I didn’t realise I was making things worse,” I said sincerely.

We fell back into an uncomfortable silence. I could see now why dragons preferred to be on their own unless they had their fated. Emotions and feelings are complicated.

After driving another two hours, we stopped again for a quick bathroom break. Nithe decided he wanted to drive the last hour.

Not long after we started this last hour of the trip, Nithe finally spoke again.

“Can we just go back to the way things were? It was less complicated.”

I stared out the front window as I thought about my answer. I realised this was important to him, so I had to try.

“Yep sure, I’ll do my best.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

We spent the rest of the drive discussing the franchisees we were meeting today and things felt a lot more relaxed.

The first store was run by an older human couple. They seemed to be struggling a bit and I was able to offer them some ideas on how to inject new life into their store and gain new customers.

They were very appreciative and I was happy that when we left, they were equipped with the knowledge to be able to improve their store. Sadly my fated was not in this town either.

We had lunch in town before making our way to our second store for the day. This store was run by a very arrogant young human-werewolf hybrid. His store was in shambles, but he had no interest in hearing how he could improve it.

We ended up only staying for about half an hour before leaving. I could not stand arrogant, egotistical people.

When I stepped out of the store, I felt a shiver run up my spine and I had the feeling that I was being watched. Irad was pacing around my mind in agitation.

“Do you feel that?” I asked Nithe. He looked at me concerned and shook his head.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Not sure, but I feel like I’m being watched and Irad is on full alert.”

We both casually looked around but neither of us saw anything suspicious. I shook the feeling off and headed to the car. Once we were inside the car, I breathed out a frustrated breath.

“I could just be being paranoid but judging by Irad’s reaction, I definitely believe I was being watched. Since it is still early, how about we move on toward our next stop for tomorrow and find a motel when we get there? It’s only another four hours. We would be there no later than eight.” He studied my face and finally nodded.

“Sure let’s go.” He said, and we took off toward the next town on our trip.

As we were driving, my phone began to ring. I had it hooked up through the car speakers so I answered it.

“Hello, Drayce speaking.”

“Good Afternoon, young Drayce, its Elder pendragon, have I caught you at a bad time?”

“Oh Elder Pendragon, no not really a bad time, but just so you are aware, I have you on speaker in my car as my assistant CEO Nithe and I are on a business trip.”

“Ah, young Nithe Mircea, hello.” Elder Pendragon said. This guy knew everything.

“Good afternoon, Elder Pendragon,” Nithe said politely.

“Now, Drayce, I have some information for you. Are you happy for me to continue with Nithe present?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” I said to him. I could not believe he had some information already and I hoped it wasn’t bad news.

“Very well, So I have asked among my fellow elders and also consulted many of our history books and there have been a few rare cases where a dragon has been given a second chance fated. In all the situations, we found it was dragons whose fated had passed away very early in their relationship.” The elder relayed.

I quickly pulled the car over. I really needed to be able to concentrate.

“So it is possible then?” I clarified as I looked at Nithe. His face was expressionless.

“Yes it would appear so, I don’t mean to pry, but would I be right in assuming that you, Nithe, have lost your fated?” Nithe blinked a few times and swallowed hard. He eventually croaked out a simple “Yes.”

“I’m so terribly sorry for your loss, young man. You need to know that, from all accounts on record, things are a little different when finding a second chance, fated.

Because both you and your dragon have suffered a loss, the signs will be different for a second chance. There will likely not be dreams, your dragon may still become agitated but not know why and once you have found him or her, the only definitive way to know is from touch.

You may be attracted to their appearance and scent, but it won’t give you the same response as a usual fated encounter until you have accepted your second chance and they have accepted you. Also, your fated will not dream about you either, as in most cases you will also be his or her second chance fated as well.”

I looked at Nithe and he still had an unreadable expression on his face.

“Thank you for the information, Elder Pendragon, is there anything else we should know before we let you go?” I asked.

“No, that is all we found. I wish you all the very best, Nithe, and will pray to the gods you do in fact find a second chance.” He said.

“Ah, thanks,” Nithe said quietly.

“Thank you very much for your time and for getting back to me so quickly, Elder Pendragon,” I said.

“Your very welcome Drayce. Goodbye for now” he replied, and ended the call.

“Nithe…?” I asked, looking at his face intently.

“Can we just get going, Dray? I need some time to process it,” he said quietly.

“Yeah sure, OK,” I said and got the car back on the road. The rest of the trip was quiet and when we found a motel, Nithe just locked himself in his room.

I took a shower, drank a couple of the tiny bottles of booze the motel had on offer, checked through my emails and finally decided I might as well get some sleep.

I could only hope that Nithe was able to get some sleep and was feeling better in the morning.