Dragon Mate

*Explicit Content* It was all too much to take in at once. Too much too soon. Ailia stood in the doorway of her bedroom in the home she had shared with that man for years. She watched as he thrust himself into the blond underneath him over and over again. She heard as she moaned his name like she'd done it a dozen times before. She watched as what was left of the hope she had spilled from him into the woman who made what was once Ailia's home an alien space. An unwelcome visitor in her bed shattering the life Ailia had thought she had. As Tom finished and rolled off the girl, they both caught the site of Ailia standing frozen in the doorway stupidly staring, unsure of herself. "What the f*ck!" he screamed, jumping from the bed. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to still be working!" "They sent me home early because I wasn't feeling well." Ailia found her voice at last. She knew what she needed to do. "I came home to take a nap but I see that the bed is occupied. I'll grab my things and get out of your hair." With that, Ailia started toward the large walk-in closet, grabbed her suitcase, and began to pack a week's worth of clothes. "Wait, what are you doing?" Tom stood in the doorway still naked, barely blocking the girl from view as she wrapped herself hurriedly in the blankets and fumbled for her discarded clothes. "I'm leaving, Tom. I've had enough." Ailia's voice sounded strong. She was glad of that. The last thing she wanted to do in that moment was cry in front of this man who had been her husband in name but not feeling for years. It had been a happy marriage for the first few years together, but after the miscarriage, things had begun to change. Resentment built between them. They grew apart, and the other women had found their way in. Ailia had known Tom had been sleeping around at least a year really. She didn't want to see it but there it was. The undeniable truth that Ailia had wanted to hide from. Almost 12 months ago, Ailia had begun to find small bits of evidence around the house of unwelcome visitors Tom had snuck in. First it was a stray hair. Then it was a hair clip that she hadn't ever remembered owning. Next was the discarded underwear, two sizes too small for Ailia to even think they could be hers. She had explained it all away as Tom grew bolder, or more stupid, and the girls just kept coming in. Ailia had begun to broach the topic many times, but every time she started, she found some reason not to say it. To not ask the question burning in her brain. Ailia didn't want to know. But now she did. There was no more running from the truth. "Stop. You can't leave. You don't have anywhere to go." Tom spoke to Ailia calmly as she continued to stuff her belongings into the suitcase. "You're right. I don't have anywhere to go. But anywhere is better than here, Tom. You will not stop me from leaving." Ailia finished packing, zipped the suitcase and looked up at the man before her feeling nothing. "I refuse to pretend that I love you, and trick myself into thinking you love me any longer." And with that Ailia grabbed her suitcase and pushed pass him into the room where the blonde had managed to pull on her pants and hurry into her lacy, light-blue bra. "Good luck." Was all Alia said to the girl leaving that room behind and stepping out into the unknown. Later, Ailia would say that walking out was the best choice she'd ever made in that life. She would look back on the experiences that led her to him with fondness. But at the moment, all Ailia felt was empty as she sat in the bar drinking, piecing together what she was going to do next, *His POV* She was beautiful sitting there in that dimly lit bar drinking. He could see she'd been crying. Her eyes were a little puffy and red-rimmed. She looked, hunched over around her drink, like all the weight of the world had come crashing down on her all at once. But even in her weakness she was beautiful. And she was HIS. She didn't know it yet. But he knew. And as he watched her he couldn't help but feel the little jolts of excitement running through him. He had finally found her. He had finally found the woman that would be his mate and rule along side him. He had been told his whole life he had a mate and that he'd know when he saw her. But being told had not prepared him for the jolt that had run through him the moment she had stepped in the door. How was he going to approach her? How was he going to give her the choice that would change her life forever? He didn't know. But it didn't seem to matter. At that moment, all that mattered was that she was there in front of him, finally.