Page 71 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Closing my eyes, I called forth my dragon. In the blink of an eye, I hovered above her on all fours protectively.

“Please work,” I said, reaching up with one paw to hook a claw between two scales. Without waiting or bracing myself, I ripped it free, already shifting back into human form.

Sam lay still. Too still.

“This will hurt. I’m sorry,” I said, using one hand to rip her shirt wide and expose her back to me.

Then I pressed the scale to her flesh.

Binding us together.

Without her permission.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Samantha

I became aware of the change before I even opened my eyes.

Something was different.

“Sam?” a voice called, sounding distant and hollow. “Sam, it’s me. Cade. Can you hear me? Sam?”

Feeling returned to my extremities and made its way up my torso, and I inhaled a breath, lungs suddenly screaming with the need to be filled.

“Good, that’s good,” the voice urged. “Breathe slow. Take it easy. Don’t try to move yet.”

I recognized the voice now, my brain slowly working.

“Cade?”

A feeling of warmth flowed through me. Relief. It was relief.

“Yes, Sam, it’s me. I’m here.”

Blinking rapidly, I focused my eyes on the hovering shape now visible. In time, it resolved itself into a pinched, nervous Cade. The metallic copper of his irises darted left and right as he looked me over.

The warm feeling continued to tickle the back of my mind, easing off even as Cade’s face relaxed, the worst of his worry fading.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said.

“Are you telling me that or trying to convince yourself?” I asked.

Laughter rippled through my mind a moment before it spread across his face.

“A little of both, I guess,” he said. “I … I feared I’d lost you.”

“Not yet,” I said, taking another slow, deep breath.

“How do you feel?” he asked, the worry on his face strong enough to work its way into my own mind.

How close to dying had I been?

“Strangely, I don’t feel too bad,” I admitted. “What happened? I was running, like you said. Then … then something hit me, I think. I don’t remember anything after that.”

A whisper of something cold stole through me as Cade glanced away.

“You were struck,” he said. “By a blast of lightning from one of the dragons who attacked. It hit you in your back. Hurt you badly.”

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