Christopher nodded slowly.
“I don’t think that was brave. I just did what I had to in order to survive.”
“Not everyone could have done that.”
“People don’t know what they’re capable of until they’re in a situation where they have to fight to survive,” Zoa said, looking over at Christopher. “It doesn’t mean that I was brave. It just means I didn’t want to die.”
“Sometimes wanting to live is the bravest thing you can do.”
She thought about what Christopher said for a moment. Was he right? Maybe he was right. She didn’t want to argue with him, nor did she want the conversation to get too deep. Maybe she’d try to change the subject a little bit. After all, they had all day, or at least, however long it took Declan to accomplish his task. She didn’t want the conversation to get too deep too fast.
“So,” she finally said. “Declan says you have a crazy ex-girlfriend.”
Christopher laughed.
“Doesn’t everyone have a crazy ex?”
“Not everyone.”
Zoa didn’t. Zoa didn’t have much of anything. She didn’t have a wild past. She didn’t have a slew of ex-boyfriends who cared about where she was now. She’d lived her life very safely, very carefully. That hadn’t really worked out too well for her.
It didn’t matter that she’d always been cautious. She’d been abducted anyway, and she’d been hurt. Zoa was the kind of person who had always tried to play by the rules. Apparently, that hadn’t really worked out too well for her.
“Hey,” Christopher said, looking at her carefully all of a sudden. “What are you thinking about?”
“Stupid stuff. I’m always thinking about stupid stuff,” Zoa whispered.
“You know, there’s something you might not realize about dragons.”
“What’s that?”
“We don’t like it when the women we love talk bad about themselves.”
“I’m not the woman you love.”
“No, but my brother likes you an awful lot, and he’s going to hear about this.” Christopher chuckled, shaking his head. “He’s going to want to spank you.”
Zoa’s jaw dropped. Was Christopher being serious? It kind of sounded like he was planning to nark on her. Christopher was a little snitch. What gave him the right to go running to Declan to tell him that she’d talked poorly about herself? Nothing. He didn’t have that right.
Only, if Christopher was going to snitch, then maybe it meant that Declan actually cared about her. Christopher said that dragons don’t like when the women they love talk badly about themselves. Did Declan love her? It was a bit soon for that, she thought. Then again, Declan was literally on his way to kill the shifter who had hurt her. It seemed like she had a lot to learn about dragons.
“I won’t speak negatively about myself again,” she told Christopher. Hopefully that would be enough to sate this dragon man. He didn’t need to tell Declan what had happened, and Declan didn’t need to give her a spanking. What was that all about?
“Good,” Christopher nodded. That was that, then. Declan didn’t need to know. Only, Christopher didn’t look like that was that. He looked like he was still planning to tell on her. Zoa needed to clarify what was happening, and quickly.
“You don’t have to tell Declan what I said.”
“I’m going to tell him, sugar.”
“Hmm,” Zoa crossed her arms over her chest. How could she convince him not to? This wasn’t going her way at all. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Christopher only laughed and shook his head.
“It’s necessary.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re his mate.”