Chapter 9

Never in his life had Austin seen a prettier dragon. She was tiny, maybe half his size, but beautiful in her delicate frame. Two curved horns protruded from her scalp, following the contour of her head and then spiking up at the ends. Pale blue, almost opalescent scales shone like millions of tiny sparkles in the waning sun. When he beat his wings and pulled up, giving her more space, the pink hues staining across the late-day sky altered her appearance so drastically he did a double take. The silver-blue sparkles reflected the colors above her. Stunning.

Her dragon roared, its joy evident in the feminine sound. Tulia took to the air in a graceful sweep, coming straight for him. He could evade her, but shifted, the scent of her coming heat intensified, rolling off her in decadent waves that he could no more ignore than keep himself from breathing. Even if he wanted to, his dragon wasn’t going anywhere. He’d never force anything on her, for sure, but if she wanted to come at him in the way a dragon mate did in flight, he wasn’t going to push her away, either.

Her sleek frame brushed along his bulkier one, making the man in him moan and the dragon shiver with awareness. Her cool scales caressed his body, and it was all he could do not to roar right along with her. His beast wanted to give in to her demands and take up the chase. Her dragon all but begged for him to do it with her soft touch, but Tulia wasn’t ready for that. She hadn’t yet come to terms with them being mates, but her dragon didn’t hold the same reservations as she flew in a wide arch, then came back, brushing along his other side.

A soft sound rumbled from his chest, and Tulia answered with one of her own. As much as he hated to do it, he had to put a stop to the frisky play.

More than anything, he wanted what she offered, but now wasn’t the time. Her parents’ safety was at stake. He wouldn’t start their life together by failing to keep the ones she loved from being hurt. The sooner they found her parents, the better. He’d set out to convince her that he was worth the risk once they were all secure in Glen Farley. Once both she and her dragon agreed, nothing would stop him from claiming her.

When she came around for a third time, he dashed off, beating his wings slowly as to not push her too hard after the ordeal she’d gone through with the hemlock, but he needn’t have worried. Tulia zipped past him in a sparkling blur, soaring higher into the sky.

***

The longer they flew, rather than diminish, the need to rub up against Austin grew. It hadn’t taken Tulia long to realize what her she-dragon had been up to, but she’d been helpless to stop her. Little hussy, she chastised again, but the dragon just purred. Who knew how long she would have kept it up had Austin not flown out of her reach when she’d come in for a third pass? The only thing keeping her from doing it again now was the fact that they had to set out for Colorado. Her parents needed her—needed them.

The sun dipped closer to the horizon, lengthening shadows, casting the entire sky in pinks, purples, and reds. Beautiful. Flying at dawn or at dusk had always been her favorite. There was a calm acceptance there. A day about to begin, bringing new adventures and learning, or at dusk, an end and time of reflection. At least, that’s how it had been when she’d been a child.

From the time she’d been little, her parents had taught her to only shift when necessary and only in front of those she trusted. For a good part of her life, that trust had extended to her entire clan. Up until a few years ago, there was no corruption in Eldurcrest. Most of them knew she was a water dragon—rare, like her mother. Even in the dragon world, there were few of them left, so they had taken her flying at dusk when most humans retreated to their homes and other dragons didn’t dare fly in rival clan territory.

For a while, after she’d helped Charlotte escape, she’d hoped that Reyn and his men had forgotten about her—or at least what she was—but that hadn’t been the case. She’d overheard some of the men talking a couple of days before her father had surprised her and told her they were leaving. It was amazing what a person could learn and how well they could blend in when being underestimated by everyone around them. Just because she had a book open in front of her didn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention. No, she was fully aware when one of his goons had boasted that Reyn had planned to keep her for himself, but once Charlotte had fled, he’d had no choice but to sell her to the Black Wings.

Tulia shuddered at the devastating memory before shoving it aside. She had a chance at a new life. If Austin was as honorable as he seemed to be, maybe even happiness. Focusing on the assholes in her past, other than to get herself and her parents away from them, didn’t figure into her future.

In the distance, a large body of water shimmered in the waning light. Her dragon put on a burst of speed, heading straight for it. It had been too long since she’d had water sluicing over her scales. Austin kept pace, relaxed, yet always watchful. When she got closer, she didn’t think twice, nosediving straight into the lake.

With the sun setting over the horizon, light hardly filtered past the first couple of feet of water, but it didn’t matter. Her dragon didn’t need the sun to see underwater. To her left, the remnants of a fishing boat sat crooked on the sandy bottom. Any other time, she would have loved to explore it, maybe see what else was in the lake, but not tonight. They couldn’t afford to linger, but she could take a moment to find them food.

Swimming as fast as her body would allow—which rivaled any speedboat—she basked in the freedom flooding her, cherishing it as she located a large school of fish. She filled her belly in no time, then chased down the biggest one she could find before breaking the surface.

A short distance away, Austin swooped low before beating his wings fast and hard, taking him higher. Even from this distance, she could read the tension in his body. His frantic, jerky movements took him higher into the sky, where he roared. She heard the fury in the animal’s bellow, but also the fear—the panic. Heart thudding, she realized what he undoubtedly thought. He had no way of knowing that unlike land-dwelling dragons, she could withstand being submerged for more than a few moments.

If she really was his mate, and her dragon’s response told her that she was, she’d just unwittingly given him the scare of a lifetime. Most dragons couldn’t tolerate water submersion for more than a few seconds, and the bigger the dragon, the more difficult it was.