Page 18 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Cade began to descend. Redirecting my attention below, I waited, eager to get a glimpse of this family estate. I could only imagine it. A country house, I assumed, given the sparsely populated nature of that particular isle as far as I could see. Perhaps with lawns of green rippling over gentle hills, with fountains and children running around, chased by nannies. Did dragons have nannies? And what about his family. Who was I going to meet? His parents? Aunts and uncles? Grandparents, perhaps? A distant but kind relative?

I had so many questions.

They all died as the house itself came into view.

Now I see why he didn’t want to talk about it.

The house might have been a beautiful country manor once upon a time. But now it was boarded shut, with vines and other overgrowth working to swallow it up. Land that had very obviously been cleared once was now being rapidly encroached on by all sorts of wild bushes, shrubs, trees and more. Fallen trunks of trees were left to lie where they were. Dirt was everywhere, piled high in corners and nooks, staining everything a dark brown.

Whatever it might have been once, now it was simply an abandoned building that time had passed by.

In the distance, thunder rumbled as the storm we’d been outrunning closed in fast, swallowing up the Dragon Isles in its embrace.

Cade touched down gently on what remained of a circular area out in front of the main doors. Given dragons had no need for driveways, I had to assume it was a landing pad—or had been.

“I don’t get it,” I said, climbing down the outstretched wing, which he held rocksteady for me as I fumbled my way through the still unfamiliar motions.

“Get what?”

“This place looks like it was beautiful,” I said. “Why doesn’t your family come here anymore? Where are they? Why did they let it go like this? Just look at that landscape.”

I swung an arm, encompassing the view from the front doors of the house. Now that we were on the ground, I could see the land gently sloped away from the house, allowing anyone to stand there and see for miles as the grasses slowly disappeared into forest. In the distance, the blue of the ocean was visible, capping off the stunning panorama.

“Because they don’t, okay?” Cade growled sharply enough my mouth clacked shut, cutting off further questions.

I looked at him, catching just a momentary glance of an emotion that was very much not anger before he got it under control. Not that it mattered. The pain had been evident in his voice as well. Whatever it was, I’d touched a vulnerable spot.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked as he shifted back to his human form, trying to change the subject.

“I guess we go inside,” he said as the first raindrops splattered on us.

“Lead the way,” I said, glad the rain was at least warm and not a cold, driving storm. It was almost refreshing in its heat. Very atypical for an Atlantic Ocean squall.

Cade bulled his way through the vegetation leading to the front doors. A chain hung over the entryway, blocking further passage. I was fairly certain Cade didn’t have the key. But then, it didn’t matter. He grasped the chain in both hands and flexed. His biceps strained, and he grunted as the steel resisted.

But then, with me gaping in astonishment, the link in the middle slowly parted until it gave way, and the chain fell apart in two pieces. I knew they were strong, but that casual demonstration was something else.

Especially seeing how it affected him. The bunching of his muscles, the way they’d drawn the skin taut across them, was … impressive.

Shaking my head to clear the intrusive thoughts that weren’t welcome right then, I followed Cade into the house. Or tried to.

He stopped short, his hand on the door handle. I wasn’t ready for that, so I walked right into his back, bouncing off him with my nose.

“Ow.”

But Cade didn’t respond. He was frozen in the spot, staring at his hand as it grasped the handle. Unable to turn it.

“Hey,” I said, gripping his shoulder and pulling him slightly at the waist. “Do you want me to go first?”

Whatever memories he had tied up in the place, they were all coming back to him.

“No,” he said, shaking off his immobility and pushing the door open. It creaked wildly but swung inward, nonetheless. “No, I’ll go first.”

“Okay, but please do. The rain is getting stronger.”

As if it heard me, the skies flashed with lightning, and a wall of water rushed at the house. Cade pushed inside, and I followed hurriedly, closing the door behind me just before the downpour reached the house. The stained-glass windows set into the thick doors echoed with the hammer of huge droplets, and the sound echoed through the rest of the house as the roof was pounded with a deluge.

“Look at this,” I said, my head tilting back as I looked up, up, up at the grand foyer entryway. It reached all the way to the top of the third story, where it ended in a giant dome. The underside of the dome was painted, but there wasn’t enough light inside. Between the storm, the shuttered windows, and the overgrowth, it was hard to see.

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