Chapter Seven

 

The dragon had landed a damned mile away from the house, and now Vyr was having to tromp all the way home, bare-ass naked and freezing cold. His dragon didn’t much like the cold. It made him slower, and the Changes didn’t last as long, but from the look of the sun setting on the horizon, he’d been away for several hours.

Rubbing his arms to put some warmth back into them, he stepped into the clearing and sighed in relief at seeing the mansion. From here, he could see a fire in the hearth through the sprawling front windows, but that wasn’t the sight that settled his dragon. It was Riyah, sitting on the front porch swing, bundled in a blanket, cupping a metal thermos in her hands. She wore a red beanie that matched her rosy cheeks and made her dark freckles stand out even more than usual. Her dark hair was in waves down her shoulders, and when she saw him, her full lips curved up in an uncertain smile. She waved at him.

He was exhausted down to his bones, frozen straight through, every muscle sore from the Change, and his skin felt raw and burned, but he still had some work to do.

When he made his way to the porch, she was holding out her arms with the corners of the blanket hooked in her hands.

He slipped right into her hug and allowed her to wrap the warm fabric around his shoulders. She was so warm and smelled like herbs. “Have you been mixing something up?” he asked. He’d built her a greenhouse where she could grow and dry plants to make the old salves she remembered from her mother.

“Something to heal our skin faster. That was a rough Change.”

Vyr eased back and tugged at the V-neck of her sweater. Her skin was pink, and she winced when he touched her. “I’ve never dragged you through one before. Never kept you in my mind when it happened. I couldn’t—”

“You couldn’t help it.” She leaned up and kissed him so sweetly he tugged her closer. “You did good. I watched the news but didn’t see any footage of you burning any towns.”

“I didn’t burn anything. Didn’t feel like it. I just wanted to be in the sky for a while. Riyah?”

Yes? she asked in his mind.

He smiled and hugged her tenderly so he wouldn’t hurt her skin. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I saw how it was for you, in your mind. You lost your parents, and you were hurt for a long time over it, but I saw it. I felt it. You’ve never felt more abandoned than you did these last six months. And it was me, the one who loves you the most, who made you feel alone. None of it was your fault, you know?

It was.

No. His denial was so stern she couldn’t argue if she tried. You grew our babies so well. You took care of them in every way you could. Their little dragons were just too strong. Too impatient. It isn’t anyone’s fault. Not yours and not theirs.

And not yours.

Vyr sighed and eased back, just far enough to cup her cheeks and look her into her eyes. “That part I’m going to try and accept because blaming myself for what happened isn’t helping anything.”

“Just love them, Vyr. Love them for those beautiful moments you felt them moving in my belly. That’s all the time we were allowed to have with them.” Riyah’s breath hitched, and she ducked her gaze, lowered her chin to her chest. And when he eased her face back up, her eyes were rimmed with tears. She tried to smile anyway, tough mate. Beautiful badass.

“I’ll do better. And I’ll go with you to visit them now. I’ll sit with you on that bench and talk to them with you. I saw it in your head. All the times you told them about the things you love most about their father. About me. Even when I didn’t deserve for you to say anything nice. I’ll replant your orchard, not just for you, but for them, too. And I’ll apologize to Grim. I’ll hate every second of it, but if you think that’ll help Torren and Nox, then I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

“Grim made this Christmas wish to be a better Alpha, and it replays over and over in my head. He’s broken, but he still has the drive to take care of his people. This year was the hardest on me, but maybe I could make a wish for next year. Maybe I can wish to be a better Alpha, too.”

Riyah parted her pretty lips to say something, but her face was confiscated by a frown and the words stayed lodged in her throat as she stared at something behind him.

When he turned, Nox was headed this way, humming a song around a beef jerky stick, dragging what looked like a horse saddle with an extremely long cinch strap trailing behind him through the snow.

He looked up at Vyr and stopped in his tracks, his eyes round. Just buckled his legs and skidded to a stop. “Uuuuh, you’re back early.”

“What the fuck is that?” Vyr asked.

“What’s what?” Nox answered innocently.

Vyr counted to three in his head so he wouldn’t cuss ob-Nox-ious out. “The saddle you are holding in front of you.”

Nox looked down like he’d never seen before in his life the thing he clenched in his hands. “Oh. This thing. Weeeeell…it’s a saddle.”

“For?”

“For our flight.”

Vyr pursed his lips. Maybe he should just burn him and eat him. Just a little burning and eating. Just a little.

“Is that a dragon saddle?” Riyah asked, pointing to the cinch that was trailing in the snow yards behind Nox.

He looked behind him and said, “So, what of it? Maybe I spent three weeks making a custom dragon saddle. I think I should be the first one to ride the Red Dragon because I’m his best friend—”

“Torren is my best friend—”

“Torren barely likes you right now and, besides, I can watch your back and like…throw water balloons at people who try to take video of you, and steer you, and keep you from setting everything on fire.” The words tumbled over each other as he blurted them out without taking a single breath.

Apparently Nox had been thinking about this a lot.

Vyr stood frozen for a four-count and then said, “I simply can’t.” He strode inside and let the swinging door close loudly behind him.

“So, is that a no to flying together to Grim’s Mountains?” Nox called.

“We’re taking a plane!” Vyr yelled.

“I never get to do anything fun!” Nox screamed. And then there was a huge thud as the saddle hit the side of the house.

He would’ve ignored the sound of giggling coming from the front porch, but those sounds belonged to Riyah. Vyr stilled by the hearth at the tinkling sound. It was music to a heart that hadn’t heard any in a long time. God, Riyah was the least fragile person he’d ever met.

She walked through the door, a laugh still curving her lips, shaking her head as she dragged the blanket in. And when she looked up to see Vyr, the corners of her eyes crinkled with her smile.

There was his Riyah.

“Come here,” he murmured.

She wasn’t slow about it. She was playful, like the old them. She bolted to him and jumped, landing in his arms, the thermos in her hand sloshing as she threw her arms around his neck. “Take me on a date in Tillamook,” she said lightly. “I hear they have a cheese factory that does tours, and they sell ice cream there and everything. I love cheese and ice cream.”

Vyr chuckled, kissed her, and then sucked on her bottom lip before he sat on the couch, taking her with him.

“If it’s going to be just me and you, no kiddos of our own, I want you to date the shit out of me and keep me nice and distracted.”

“Mmmm,” he said as she wiggled her pelvis against his erection. “Distracted how?”

“With naked parties.”

“Naked parties, cheese, and ice cream. I think I can manage that.” Anything to make you happy.

She smiled as he put the last words into her mind. And anything to make you happy, too. I love you, Vyr Daye.

I love you always, Riyah Daye.

She nodded once. “Then it’s settled. Date night. I want to go to dinner somewhere new. In Grim’s Mountains.” She nuzzled her cheek against his and admitted softly, “I think it’ll be good for us to get away from here for a little while together.”

“Agreed,” Nox muttered.

Vyr looked over Riyah’s shoulder and glared at Nox, who had somehow snuck in here, still eating his beef jerky stick as he leaned on the counter in the kitchen.

“You aren’t coming on date night.”

“That’s what she said,” Nox uttered with a snort.

Vyr considered throwing Riyah’s thermos at his face.

Riyah laughed and hugged the metal canister to her chest, then shook her head slightly. He’d forgotten she was still in his head. He was going to have to get used to it all over again, but that was okay. He didn’t want the wall between them ever again. Good or bad thoughts, he wanted to share everything with his mate.

She made him feel better. And not just like healing-from-a-cold feel better or recovering-from-a-bad-Change feel better. She made his soul feel like it could be okay again. He’d gone dark inside, but she was still here, still light, still sharing that good magic, that love, with him. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t worthy of it. All that mattered was that this woman loved him unconditionally and was still here, fighting right alongside him.

If she could find the grit to smile and laugh after everything she’d been through, then he had no right to keep spiraling.

For the first time in a long time, he was looking forward to traveling because, this time, it wasn’t something his dragon was forcing him to do. It was a trip with his Crew and a night out with his mate, a chance to make her feel loved, like she made him feel.

He was one lucky sonofabitch to have somehow gained the loyalty of this Crew. And even luckier still to have earned the love of the woman smiling at him like he hung the moon.

Once upon a time, in the shifter prison where they’d met, Riyah had told him, “I’ll be your star. I believe in you. I’ll wait with you while better things are coming.” And she hadn’t quit on him. Not once, not even for a moment. Her loyal heart had chosen him, and that was that. And somewhere along the way, he’d become her star, too.

The thing about being someone’s star, though…that star owed a debt. If someone believed in it that much, the least it could do was keep shining.

So here was his moment, on the day he’d visited his little dragons’ graves for the first time, on the day his Crew had come to stop him from burning the orchard, on the day he’d accepted that his mate wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how far he fell or how unrecognizable he became on his insides… This was the moment he found his grit like Riyah had done. No matter the effort it took, he was going to turn this around and bring the Red Dragon back under control.

No. More. Mountain ranges.

The world deserved for him to stop claiming them.

And his people deserved to have him home.