Page 11 of The Sapphire Dragon's Missing Mate

To my surprise, it looked like it was a relief for him, like he’d rather I not own this place. I’d ask him about it later. But, for now, the phone was still buzzing. I grabbed and unlocked it. Over a dozen notifications, which were over a dozen more than I wanted there to be.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t the residents looking for repairs or information. It was random messages from local agencies, mostly talking about not traveling and another storm band coming through tonight. Pretty much, it was all the typical things that came with this kind of weather.

I could have ignored it after all. Nothing on my phone needed my immediate attention. But ignoring them meant potentially ignoring a guest, and I wasn’t willing to do that. If something were to happen to one of the cabins and they needed assistance for safety, I had to be aware. Telling them I met my mate, so sorry they had their roof cave in, was hardly the responsible way to run this place.

“Nothing urgent.” I climbed back on the bed. “I promise you I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“No, you weren’t, but also, it would’ve been okay if you had. By my count, there are a dozen cabins here, that’s a lot of people that might need you. I’m guessing you need to work now?”

“I don’t want to leave you though.” Needy and whininess level achieved. Ugg. I needed to figure out how to handle these big emotions because this wasn’t the way.

“I don’t want you to either, but, whatever it is, we’ll both do it. That way, we can be together, and you can meet your responsibilities.” He climbed off the bed and pulled on his boxer briefs. “And whatever it is, it’s gonna start with a sandwich.”

“Did you just say you’re gonna make me a sandwich?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes. “Cliché, I know. But, yeah. Unless you want to make me one.”

I laughed. “That’s even more cliche, but I can do that. Or,” I countered, “we could make them together.”

I had a can of chicken in the cupboard. It was hardly what I would call delicious fare, but we mixed it with some mayonnaise and mustard and ate it with the last of the English muffins, and they were good enough to make the most basic sandwich feel fancy.

If the day had gone differently…less work, more alone time, I’d have cooked him a nice meal. But that would require many things, including a trip to the store and, according to all the reports I saw, that wasn’t going to happen. It would have to wait.

But one good thing was that no decisions needed to be made about him leaving today because the storm wasn’t going to allow it. With another band coming in, staying put was the safest option. It gave us time to figure everything else out.

When there was yet another crack of lightning and another shake of the house, followed by the unmistakable sound of a tree branch falling to the ground and hitting another roof, I couldn’t be upset by it. As we ate our mediocre sandwiches in the tiny little cabin that I didn’t even own, in the middle of vacation rentals, life could be a whole lot worse than this. A whole lot worse.

Chapter Ten

Arvin

I woke in the morning to the sound of silence. It was such a relief. While I was grateful for the storm because it brought me my dragon, I was equally grateful for it to be gone. I got up, trying not to wake Stone, and went to make some breakfast. We still didn’t have full power, but that was okay. That was going to be rectified soon enough.

Yesterday had been remarkably fun. My mate and I walked around the property to see how bad the damage was and take care of any immediate safety issues. There was a lot of work that was going to need doing when the storms were completely through, but it would be a fool’s errand to tackle them before the weather had completely cleared.

At one point, Stone brought out his dragon to help move a tree that had fallen and was wedged against a cabin. His dragon was gorgeous and matched the color of his eyes. I wasn’t sure if that was a dragon thing or not. I’d not known any other than him, but it was stunning and suited him. Now, when I looked into his eyes, I could see his beast, and I loved it.

There was a crap ton or five to do. But the second swath of the storm came in and put an early end to our day. I didn’t mind. I couldn’t think of anything better than being “trapped” with my mate in the cabin. We talked some more about dragony things and mates, but also about my dream walking. We also discussed really important topics such as hobbies and favorite movies. It was the perfect way to pass a rainy afternoon. And we found an even better way to spend our night.

But, now it was time for me to get back to work. I was going to be busy until the sun set. And even with that, I definitely wasn’t going to get it all done. As long as I made a dent and the property was safe, I’d be happy with that. What I wasn’t going to be happy with was being away from my mate all day. It had been one thing to ask him to go for a walk with me so I could assess the damage. It would be quite another to ask him to act like an employee.

I talked to my boss via text. He was pissed that the drive was partially washed away, as if I could do anything about that. He mumbled a few times about selling the “headache” and being done with it. It wasn’t the first time he mentioned it and wouldn’t be the last. He was all about the profit, and he saw things like this as personal attacks on his goals. It was weird.

Before I started cooking breakfast, I checked my phone once again for news. I visited all the local groups and news sites as well as checking out social media. The pictures of the surrounding communities were awful. We’d really lucked out here, protected on our mountain…my boss’s mountain. The mountain.

Many roads were still blocked in multiple places, power lines were down closer to town, which would get first priority over our lack of utilities, and a lot of the dirt roads were completely washed away. It was far worse than the original reports I got yesterday.

Unlike my mate, I needed cars and roads to get places. Most of the people who were here also needed them. The authorities announcing they had closed the road to all unessential traffic meant that no one with the exception of my mate, was able to go anywhere—at least without leaving their vehicles behind. We were all stuck.

I crossed my fingers and toes that I had all the supplies I needed for today’s work. I had a sneaking suspicion that everything was exponentially worse than it was during my walk with Stone yesterday. Last’s night’s visit from Mother Nature had been especially windy, and the rain pelted down so loudly a couple of times I thought it was hailing. There was bound to be more damage.

I cooked the eggs, the smell of the buttery goodness wafting through the small cabin. Either I was too loud or the food smelling too delicious because my mate came over to me just as they were finished. Stone wrapped his arms around me from behind and nestled into where my neck and shoulder met. I must have woken up my mate.

“Good morning,” he murmured, pressing his lips to the spot right below my ear. “I missed you.”

“I’ve been up ten minutes max.” I turned off the flames and rotated in his arms so I could hug him and hold him close. “But I missed you too.”

“What’s going on today? What are your plans?” he asked, holding me in his arms.

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