The Dragon's Secret Mate

JUNE.

“Where are we going?”

The question is withering on my lips, but I decide to give it another go. I’ve been asking that since my dad asked me to pack an overnight bag and come with him, but we’re on the highway now and he still hasn’t given me an answer.

He’s just there, focused behind the wheel, his hazel eyes pointed into the distance like a pair of lasers. People say we have the same eyes. Same color, same shape. But I don’t think I have that intensity.

The intensity that’s starting to scare me.

“Are we going on a vacation?” I keep going, drowning out the voices from the radio. “Are you going to take me to the river where we used to go when Mom was still here?”

“Stop mentioning your mom,” he mutters. The only words he spoke to me all afternoon.

I was excited when he told me to pack. My dad is rarely around. I basically raised myself since I was ten when my mom apparently decided enough was enough and left without any word. He still hasn’t told me why, even after seven years. He just started disappearing for months on end after that, leaving me alone, sometimes with the old granny who lived next door.

“Where are we going?” I repeat, clutching my bag to my chest. It’s getting dark out now, and I’m getting worried. “Where are you taking me?”

“June.” Dad doesn’t even look at me. “Can’t you just wait until we get there?”

“No, I can’t,” I say defiantly. “I’m jumping out of this car if you don’t tell me.”

There it is. The magic words. Dad swerves into the side of the highway and pulls over, the tires of the car screeching. His knuckles are white against the steering wheel and his eyes are as sharp as ever. With a deep breath, he slowly faces me.

“I’m taking you to your Aunt Janet and your Uncle Brian. I packed the rest of your things. They’re in the trunk.”

Time stops. My world seems to stop revolving. I stare at Dad, my jaw on the floor, desperately needing his words to be false. I try to say something but a huge lump just formed in my throat. There’s this familiar pressure building behind my eyes and I know that if I open my mouth, I’m going to cry.

Dad looks away. “I’m sorry, June. But I need to work, and it’s not going to last for just a couple of months this time. It’s going to be for the whole year, maybe even more. Your Uncle Brian told me he would be happy to take you in, and his wife agrees. You remember your cousin Tiffany, right? She’s also seventeen, and about to enter her senior year. Like you. It’s the perfect fit.”

“The perfect fit,” I manage to echo. “You leaving me at your brother’s house like shit you don’t need anymore is a perfect fit? I barely know them, Dad. We haven’t seen them since Mom left!”

“They’re still family.” He rubs a hand over his face. “They were the only ones who were willing to take you.”

The pain that appears in my chest is so huge that I’m surprised I didn’t blow up on the spot. I just want to curl up into a ball and cry. But a big part of me wants to kneel and beg my dad not to let me go. Not when Mom also gave up on me without an explanation.

I’ve always longed for us to be close. After all, we only had each other. I thought he would dedicate his time to make me feel loved since I can’t have that anymore from the person who’s supposed to give it unconditionally, but he just drifted farther and farther apart.

I thought he would make amends today. I thought he would take me somewhere nice and we could bond.

But no. He’s just breaking the news of him leaving me.

This time, I’m sure he won’t come back.

“Why do you always leave?” I ask, my voice surprisingly calm. “You don’t tell me what you do. I don’t know what your job is. Do you have another family? Is that why Mom left?”

Dad’s face scrunches up with hurt. “June… no. It’s for work. I can’t tell you anything about it right now, but when you’re older—”

“I’m not a child. You could have waited until I turned eighteen. I would have left on my own.”

“You need someone to look after you, and Brian’s family is perfect for that,” he continues. “They said they would take care of everything. They would take care of you.”

“Because you can’t do it anymore, right?” I mutter, now numb. “Because you were never really capable of doing it? Now I know why Mom left.”

“June,” he calls out, his voice thick with pain.

But I don’t want to hear it. He wants me out? Then I’m out.

I open the car door, slinging my bag on my back. The highway is not horribly busy, so I break into a run, sprinting across the lanes and jumping over the low wall that separates it from the forest on the other side. I can hear Dad calling for me, but I shut him out.

There’s still the remaining sunlight to guide me. I can make it far enough from him.

Anger is the only thing holding me together, but the farther I go, the weaker it gets. The realization is starting to descend on me. I’m unwanted. I was never worth an explanation. Not from my mom, not from my dad….

In a desperate attempt to keep my rage intact, I try to break into a run again. But my boot lands on something hard and slippery.

I stumble, wheeling around to look at what I just stepped on. It’s something long and coiled, glittering under the light of the setting sun. A necklace.

The chain is made of pure gold, thin and cold to the touch but also sturdy-looking. I do tiny sculptures as a hobby, and I can say that the craftsmanship on this is insanely intricate. It’s like a thin snake, the gold arranged in small connected scales. Maybe even a tiny dragon.

However, the pendant is what makes me forget everything. It’s a small sheet of what looks like glass or diamond, shaped like a teardrop and bent on certain angles that make it look like a huge fallen scale. I set it down on my hand, and for some reason, it’s hot, as though it’s been clasped in someone’s hand for a long time.

I twirl the chain around my hand. It’s so mesmerizingly beautiful, almost ethereal. My hand is tingling just from holding it, and I want to hold it up against the light, just to see what color the pendant would shift to.

I turn around, about to raise it against the last light of the sun, but that’s when I hear a low growl in the distance.

A hot gust of air blows from behind me, followed by another, deeper growl. I turn around, and a scream builds up in my throat.

Staring at me from the top branches of the trees, looming in the dark, is a pair of golden eyes, full of nothing but monstrous rage.

JUNE.

I thought I knew fear very well. Living in constant uncertainty would definitely teach that to you. But nothing compares to the sheer panic that shoots up my heart when I look back at the gleaming eyes in the dark.

It was huge. The size of two footballs, almost glowing because of that bright yellow color. The pupils are merely slits, surrounded by spikes of amber. It’s the eyes of some kind of animal, I think to myself. But what kind of forest animal would be so tall that it almost reaches the treetops? What kind of animal would be able to make that soft growling sound that it’s emanating, the kind of deep hum that reaches your bones?

I try to take a step back, but my body seems to be refusing to cooperate. Instead, every instinct inside me is actually pushing me to come closer, as though the beast has its own center of gravity and I’m just getting sucked into it.

Slowly, I raise my hand. The necklace dangles over my fingers, catching every twinkle of light. I’m trapped in a daze and for some reason, I thought it would take the necklace. Like it should have it instead of me….

“JUNE!”

The sound of my name pierces through the spell like an arrow through amber. But when I blink and open my eyes, the creature isn’t there anymore. The only thing left is the necklace looped around my hand. I can hear footsteps behind me now. I can hear the cars again.

Was that thing even real?

I shake my head to get rid of the haze and now I feel so normal that I don’t know if it was ever there in the first place. I shove the necklace into my pocket and turn around, nearly running into Dad who’s rushing toward me.

“June, what the hell?” he splutters, hugging me fiercely. “Why did you do that? Something could have happened to you!”

A snark reply is on the tip of my tongue, but when I look up at him, I just feel nothing but emptiness. I look up again and there’s no trace of those eyes. Maybe I did just imagine things. Maybe I got too distressed and my brain decided to run away with it.

Now the reality is weighing heavily on me. Dad still has his hands on me, but I just move away from his touch. “Let’s get going now. The sooner it’s over, the better.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Dad says as I start to walk back to the highway. “We don’t have to fight like this.”

I sigh. “We’re not fighting. I’m just doing what you wanted.”

* * *

After an hour of driving, we arrive at my aunt and uncle’s house. If you can call this monstrosity a house.

It’s a mega-structure, basically. Four floors of glass and brick and grandeur. There are four cars in the driveway, all shiny with prominent brand names. The hill is tapered into a pretty garden with lights lining the trees, with pretty flowers neatly arranged in rows. There’s even a fountain in front of the house with statues of chubby little angels splashing water at each other.

I only see this kind of wealth on TV, so seeing it in person is pretty surreal.

Aunt Janet and Uncle Brian are waiting at the door, waving at us like two characters straight out of a fifties poster. Tiffany ruins the picture by looking like an Instagram model wedged between her parents, with her long bleached hair and her blue eyes. She’s wearing denim shorts and a crocheted tube top, and her crinkled nose tells me she would rather do something else than be here.

Suddenly I feel self-conscious. I’m wearing my comfiest cargo pants and bomber jacket, and my mousy brown hair still bears the marks of my DIY blue highlights. My hazel eyes are also streaked with black eyeliner.

It’s all so clear: I don’t belong here.

“Welcome!” Aunt Janet calls out, beckoning us to come in.

“Good evening,” Dad says formally, and I can tell everyone is waiting for me to speak but my tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth. He takes out my bags from the back of his car, and Uncle Brian takes them. “I’m sorry for coming here at a time like this.”

“It’s all good, brother,” Uncle Brian says as we all head into the house. “I would invite you to have dinner, but Janet and I have a client to meet tonight. But you can stay here for a night and leave tomorrow.”

I look at Dad, and he shakes his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I need to leave as soon as possible.”

I expected it, but it still breaks my heart. I can feel him getting close to me as we all stand in the foyer, but I just remain still. I don’t want to look at his face.

The silence is nearly unbearable, but Dad soon breaks it by saying, “Well, I need to get going now.”

“Take care and don’t hesitate to contact us,” Uncle Brian says, but Dad just leaves.

I don’t watch him get through the door. I hear his car starting and pulling out of the driveway until everything is silent again.

Now I’m alone with my relatives. Aunt Janet is watching me with sympathy, but she immediately shifts her face and smiles. “You’re going to love it here! Tiffany is going to take you to your room.”

“Do I have to?” Tiffany complains. “It’s the first door to the left upstairs. She can find her own way.”

“Tiffany!” Uncle Brian hisses, but when he notices that I’m watching, he breaks into a smile. “Um, you can do it, right, June?”

“Of course,” I mutter, taking my bags from him. “Thank you for letting me stay.”

I don’t think they heard me, because now they’re starting to argue in hissy whispers as though I’m not there to hear it all.

“I am not going to treat her like a sister!” Tiffany even says in full volume.

I awkwardly take my bags upstairs, struggling a little. By the time I reach the first door to the left on the second floor, I can still hear them arguing. And this time, they don’t bother lowering their voices.

“We’re not saying you should be best friends immediately,” Aunt Janet is screeching. “We just want you to be there for her when she starts school!”

“Not when she looks like that!” Tiffany yells back. “What would my classmates say about me when I bring her around me all the time?”

“Tiff,” Uncle Brian starts, “they would not care. No one would care.”

“You don’t know that! She looks like a sewer rat!”

Well, ouch. Not that she doesn’t have a point, though.

I sigh, tuning them out and just looking around the room. It’s bigger than probably half the entire house I used to live in, and it’s definitely really nice. The bed is huge and the windows are tall. There’s a desk in the corner with a computer set up. There’s also a built-in wardrobe for all my things.

I start to empty out my bags, trying hard not to cry. As good as everything is, I still can’t help but miss my old life. It doesn’t help that I still don’t know where Dad is going, and why he keeps choosing that unknown job over me—

“June.”

The sound of my name startles me. I realize that it’s Tiffany’s voice, and it’s coming from the door she already pried open.

“Hi, Tiffany,” I say kindly. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

She just scowls. “Mom and Dad are gone, and I’m going to have some friends over.”

A ray of positivity shines over me. Maybe her parents did her in and now she’s going to try to incorporate me into her social life. I’m not exactly dying to meet more rich kids, but if I’m going to school with her, then I better practice.

“That’s amazing!” I beam. “Well, I bet it would be—”

“You’re going to stay here, and you’re not going to make a single sound. Understand?”

My smile freezes on my face. I open my mouth to say that it’s okay, but before I can get a word out, Tiffany closes the door right in my face. I stagger back, a strangled whimper stuck in my throat.

And with that, the lock clicks from outside the door, barricading me in.