Page 30 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

A different light was visible in his eyes now, a red-orange glow that fought back the blue until it was bright enough to cast its shadows across his entire face. The hunger deep within …

My mouth dropped open, suddenly dry and parched. I licked my lips, my breathing a little shallower.

One of us swayed closer to the other. Was it me? Was it Cade? I didn’t know, but the distance between us shrank. I rose on my tiptoes as he dipped toward me, one hand coming up to hold the small of my back. There was no running now. No backing out. He was going to—

“There you go!” Caliphon grunted as he stepped out from the machinery, clapping his hands together, eyes still ablaze with energy. “All charged up for you. A real pleasure working on a place as large as this. Most folks don’t let me near theirs anymore.”

I pulled away from Cade as he was forced to turn and acknowledge the elder dragon.

“Well, I needed the best,” he said. “So, I got the best.”

The smile on Caliphon’s face could have blinded me.

“Now,” Caliphon asked, the energy fading, his shoulders slumping. “Where am I, and how do I get home?”

His moment was over as assuredly as mine was.

But unlike the ancient dragon, I wasn’t going to forget. How could I when my body still vibrated with nervous energy?

Chapter Sixteen

Samantha

“Well, that was eventful,” I laughed as we touched back down after escorting Caliphon back home.

“Indeed,” Cade muttered, shaking his head, a motion that translated from dragon to human as he shifted. “The old rascal.”

I snickered, remembering the look on Cade’s face as we’d parted with the old electro-dragon, as they were termed, only for Caliphon to grab my hand and start walking away, chattering to me as if I were his mate.

Cade had managed to extricate me, but not before Caliphon had tossed me a wink, showing he was faking the entire thing just to get under Cade’s scales.

“Well, now, he’s gone,” I said. “And we have electricity.”

“We do.”

“Does that mean we have water?” I asked hopefully. “I would all but kill for a shower at this point.”

“We’ll have to go take a look at the water pump,” Cade said, leading me around the back of the house. “Once that’s fixed up, you’ll basically be staying at the Ritz.”

I eyed the shabby exterior of the house as we rounded the back. “If you say so.”

He chuckled.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he headed straight for a line of bushes.

“The river,” he said. “It’s back this way. There’s a path, too. It just doesn’t look like it.”

“If you say so,” I repeated in the same tone.

“Trust me. It’s here. Just overgrown like everything else. My cousins and I used to race along here back in the day to get to the river and the swimming hole.”

I perked up at the warmth in his voice as he talked about the past. He had the fondest memories of the place. I enjoyed hearing him recant them, mostly because he was a different person when he reminisced. Happier. Until his mind caught up with him, as it was doing now, and reminded him none of it was around any longer.

“I’ll come out here, clear all the growth,” he said, ducking under some branches, holding others out of the way to allow me to pass. “Some work with the axe and shears, and this will clear right back up. You’ll see.”

“Of course,” I agreed.

“It’s worth it. The swimming hole, as we called it, is just beautiful. Perfect on a sunny day like today, in fact.”

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