Page 12 of The Sapphire Dragon's Missing Mate

“Today is going to be awful.” I sighed. “There’s going to be a lot of cleanup here. I normally don’t mind, but you’re here. I don’t want to leave you. I need to get my work done. Other people are counting on me. This isn’t some paperwork I can blow off.” I was for sure trying to convince myself more than Stone.

“I’d love to help you. I’m not great with fixing things, but I’m strong. And if we need to move things like trees, my dragon’s right here for you.” He winked at me, probably remembering the way I ogled his naked body right before and after he shifted. It wasn’t like I was rude about it—Stone was just—Stone. Looking away wasn’t an option. “I can hand things to you like a boss.”

“Are you sure?” I loved the idea, but in no way, shape, or form did I want my mate to feel obligated. He didn’t work here. I did. If anything, he’d already helped far more than he should’ve.

“Yeah. I’d love it,” he said.

We had our breakfast and then went to look at all that needed to be done. Just as I suspected, it was a lot more than the last time. Even with the two of us, it was going to be more than a day’s worth of work. Possibly even a week.

A couple of the guests offered to help, and, while it was probably out of compliance with insurance regulations or whatever, I gratefully accepted their offers. I planned to give them part of their rental back. My boss wouldn’t like it, but oh well. It wasn’t as if he was willing to send a crew.

It was nice, almost feeling like I was in a pack like this. That was another thing I never had as a child, but thought it would’ve been nice. Maybe I was projecting my expectations of what a pack might feel like, but we all worked together like a family, and that felt very pack-ish to me.

We got a lot done and worked late into the evening before exhaustion took over. I cooked out on the fire pit and had brought out all the fixings for s’mores. Unlike what my boss wanted, I brought them all out—every last package of chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers I had. Hard work deserves a sweet little reward.

The guests, Stone, and I ate until our bellies were full and our hands were sticky. It was wonderful, but not as wonderful as when we shut the cabin door after the fire was out. It was just the two of us again. We chatted, explored each other’s bodies again, and fell asleep in each other’s arms. It was the perfect end to the day.

Until the middle of the night when my mate woke up with a start, sitting up and pulling away from my arms.

“Are you okay?” I asked, even though it was clear that he wasn’t. He was sweating, breathing fast and hard. His heart was beating so loudly that even I could hear it with my human ears. He was the opposite of okay.

I wrapped my arms around him. “What’s going on? Talk to me.” This wasn’t a dream I was part of, and not knowing what it was made it exponentially more difficult to figure out how best to help him.

“I need paper, please,” he finally said.

“Okay.” I jumped out of bed and went to find a little pad and a pencil from a junk drawer and brought it to him.

He started sketching. “I dreamed about my brothers. I saw them. I never could do that before. Do you think that’s because of you?”

“I don’t know.” I wished my grandmother was still around. She’d understand this all. “But whatever the case is, we have a direction now, don’t we?” Or at least something to look for. His artwork was pretty clear. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to google.

“Yeah. But you have your job and everything.”

“We’ll figure that out. Family comes first. Always.”

“Not always.” Stone pulled me into a hug. “But from now on. Definitely from now on.”

Chapter Eleven

Stone

Between the storms and cleanup, the days were getting away from me, and my dragon grew more insistent that we head out to find my brothers. He hadn’t been big on giving me too many details about them, just a steady demand that we join them. Immediately. And while we’d flown here almost entirely under his direction, I’d begun to wonder if it had been to find my brothers or if he’d wanted to find our mate first. If so, he’d done me a great favor because there was no better mate anywhere than the one Fate had granted me.

But a few days had passed, and the dragon had seemed content to stay here, for now. The storms had rolled through and on out, and I’d enjoyed helping my mate clear up the mess left behind. As we went from cabin to cabin, I offered my assistance but was not nearly as helpful as I wished I could be. Watching his skill at so many tasks made me admire him even more.

And he was willing to go with me on my quest. There was some chance it would cost him his job and while I could take care of us, I didn’t like him risking what he saw as his security here. My mate was not the type to let me support him, at least not for now, but I hoped it would be all right.

The one thing I had was the location I’d sketched and a hope my dragon knew what he was up to. Arvin was my family just as much as my brothers. And while my dragon was constantly encouraging me to find them, my mate’s presence made me feel more confident. I didn’t know my brothers. They were strangers to me.

I was sitting in the chair by the bedroom window, looking out at the innocent blue sky that bore no resemblance to the storm clouds that had settled over this area for so long, when Arvin came in. “Stone, I’m looking forward to the trip.”

“Great. Are you sure you want to?” That came out wrong.

“Unless you’d rather I didn’t.” He sounded terse, and he was right to feel that way.

“Arvin, sweetheart, you’re my mate, and I am only really happy when I’m with you. I think that’s true of most shifters.”

“And this human.” He came over and sat on my lap. “Seems like the chair will hold us both.”

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