Chapter Eight
Emily covered her mouth and pretended to yawn as Naomi ran back through the garden towards them. “Olaus attacked Garth! He’s taken flight!”
Blake growled. His eyes turned golden.
“I got this. Stick with your mate,” Bogdan said.
Emily tried not to smile. She would have to thank Olaus for the distraction later. She glimpsed uncertainty in his eyes. Torn between running after Bogdan to help or staying with her, she faked another yawn on his behalf.
Naomi panted to catch her breath.
“You’re tired.” He bent his head down, touching her forehead with his. She reached up and touched his arm. “You should go. Garth may be hurt and someone has to find Olaus.”
“Naomi can see to Garth, she’s his mate.”
Emily felt the muscles beneath his suit jacket strain against the fabric. “And Bogdan might need your help. I might be carrying around a little extra weight around here, but I can still find my way back in the house. Besides, Sigurd and Father Armand are inside.”
Blake’s jaw clenched. With a hefty sigh he kissed her forehead, her nose, and then her lips. She spied the pendant around his neck. Olaus had been right. Maybe not his clan, but Emily’s family wouldn’t accept such a union as this. They forbid it for a reason. She reached up touching the pendent, gold like his eyes, with the etching of the sun and a dragon inside. She was a Keeper. Her job was to protect and nurture the sun dragons and their blood line. A debt the dragons of old intended to collect from the families of their human riders until the end of time.
Still visually struggling, she gave him a little push. “Go. You don’t like to nap, remember?”
That slow sexy smile of his returned. “The best part of napping is what comes first.”
“Blake?” Naomi clutched her side, her eyes glowing amber she looked back over her shoulder. “Go see to Garth. I’m right behind you.”
Leaning in, he breathed deep, letting her scent imprint in his memory. Emily tensed, leaning away from him. She didn’t want him getting this close to her, not when she didn’t plan on staying. With one last kiss, he turned and took off after Naomi.
She held her breath, counting down from ten. Out of sight, she turned and dashed, as fast as any woman with an extra forty pounds strapped to her could, toward the ferry dock. She didn’t have much time. If she had any chance it had to be now. Her heart thumped faster and the hatchling nestled in the egg against her shifted to press close to it. She shouldn’t have accepted this assignment. Of course, she’d brought Jacques along. Aunt Margaret had insisted they always work together.
But you made a binding promise.
There wasn’t enough time to argue with the voice of reason in her head. This had nothing to do with her being afraid of staying with him, bedding with him again, would make it that much harder for both of them when the time came. She refused to love him. She couldn’t.
But she did.
Always had.
Her knees trembled as she stood at the end of the ferry dock. God, why was this so hard?
A fierce mix of longing and desire flooded her veins and his fiu heated against the spot resting below her heart. Like before, she had no choice. Completing her assignment, returning to the hatchery, that was her option.
Behind her, the sun dipped below the land and a dark blanket spread out over the water. In the distance, a sliver of a moon struggled behind a cloud.
She took a deep breath and sang allowing the wind to carry her voice. With time against her, she made up her own words, “Come for me, my dragon. I am here. Come for me, my dragon. Let us fly as one. Come for me, my dragon, the heavens call us near. Carry me between your wings…”
In the distance, she heard a dragon’s cry.
She raised her arms, waving for him to spot her. “Come on Jacques, where are you?” she listened to the waters slosh against the dock in reply.
She didn’t know how long before Blake would return. It could be any one of them answering her with that cry. She couldn’t tell at this distance and hoped upon all hope it was Jacques answering her summons.
“Come for me, my dragon…”
A large creature swooped down. Emily’s heart skipped a beat. Jacques! She nearly wept at the sight of his stealth-like black body veering towards her. She backed up waiting for him to land, but he didn’t slow down. “Stop!” She turned, running down the dock as fast as the egg would allow her. Two scale covered arms plucked her from the ground.