Page 12 of Bound to the Dragon

She yanked her feet back up, and I happily pulled her higher in my arms while striding away from the deceptively peaceful clearing. “It slumbers in there, and the greedy and the power hungry seek to control it, so they can control the world. We can’tlet that happen.” I’d reached the edge of the woods, the cliff from which we could look down onto the farmhouse that Zachary and I had built and maintained for the last hundred years. Ever since the werewolves made a deal with Zach to live here, the town thriving under Mayor Liz, the werewolf alpha.

“And that vampire woman working for Sunworld. Is one such threat? That’s what you think, isn’t it? Was she the one who trapped you and cursed my father?” Rosy asked. I let her down from my arms so we could stand side by side on the cliff, far enough away from the Galamut’s prison that she should no longer sense it. We were standing close to where I’d been trapped myself, just a few hundred feet away from the Galamut. As I’d lain there, I’d heard its whispers, seeping through the ground toward me, urging me to do unspeakable things.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Twenty-six years ago, we were surprised by a group of creatures. All kinds, banding together to battle the two of us. The curse that kept me trapped, and that snapped the bond between Zachary and I, that had to be the work of a witch. I have no special recollection of a vampire…”

That past battle filled my memory; I’d played it out in my mind over and over, trying to figure out what had happened, how I’d become trapped the way I had. I thought that Zachary had escaped. I recalled that it was him that had brought on the rock slide. I’d been badly injured from the fight, sleeping like the dead for years as my body sought to repair the worst of my injuries without any sustenance to draw from.

I had not been alone in that prison, but I was the only one that had survived it. That is why I believed at first that it was Zachary’s work. But he didn’t free me, and his bond was broken,something that could only happen if one of us was dead. Dead or so changed that I would no longer recognize him.

To my mate I said, “Zachary had just come home from a trip. Happier than I’d ever seen him, talking of Azara, who had claimed his heart. Talking of the child they had conceived and how eager he was to bring her here to share his life with his new family.” She went even more quiet and pensive as I told her this, but I sensed that it was soothing a pain deep inside of her.

“Azara, that’s my mom’s name. So he really loved her, huh?” Her hazel eyes, which had turned greener over the past few days, turned crafty now. I held my breath, eagerly waiting to see what she’d say. “Were they mates? That’s what you called me, isn’t it?”

Ah, my clever little mate had caught that slip of the tongue. I hadn’t meant to explain the bond between us yet, not when she had so much else to process. If I were more of a gentleman and less of a beast, I would have given her more space physically too. But I couldn’t wait to ignite the passion that simmered between us. I couldn’t stay away.

“Soulmates,” I said quietly, “We are. They were not. But that didn’t matter. Zachary had never loved a woman as much as he’d loved Azara. Soulmates are rare, almost impossible to find. An occurrence I’m told happens less and less as each year passes.” I tilted my head away, gazing out over the recovering farmhouse and the fields beyond. They were still overgrown, tangled with brush and young trees, but I had no doubt that next year, corn and wheat would grow proudly once more.

Rosy was watching the same thing I was, but from the corner of my eye, I could tell her body language indicated she wasrelaxing. “Huh, so you and I, we’re just meant to be. That’s it?” She gestured around her, “I’m meant to protect the world from this monster escaping, and I’m meant to be yours?”

My heart started racing at hearing the words so boldly proclaimed, said as if she wasn’t objecting, rather stating facts. “Yes,” I said, my mouth dry as ashes. I hadn’t felt nervous in so long that the feeling was foreign, but there it was. This tiny half-nymph, half-human, held my heart in the palms of her hands. If she were to reject me, it would crush me far more than that miserable pile of rocks ever had.

“Okay,” she said, her shoulders rolling in a shrug. “I guess we’ll figure it out together? Though it is a little weird to be seeing a guy who’s old enough to be my dad.” That was not rejection, not an outright celebration of our bond either, but I’d take it. She wasn’t opposed, she just needed time, and a thousand year old dragon knew how to be patient, sometimes.

I grinned, hoping to lighten the mood, “Old enough to be your father, probably two-hundred times over. But age doesn’t matter when you live in the supernatural world, not in the same way it does for humans. You are twenty-six, you are mature. That is all.”

“That is all,” she sassed beneath her breath. She rolled her eyes too, but I pretended I hadn’t seen it. She could sass all she wanted, but when I turned her into my arms and tilted her mouth to mine, she met my kiss eagerly.

Chapter 16

Rosemary

I was standing on the porch, wearing paint-splattered coveralls, as I ran my roller up and down the wall. This seemed like an endless task when we’d gotten started a few hours ago, but Char worked like a fiend. I’d done made a dozen square feet, but he’d already reached the corner. Bare-chested, he made quite the picture, dotted with little speckles of paint and sweat gleaming on his tawny skin.

This task hadn’t seemed like much fun, but I was rapidly changing my mind. It was almost too bad that he worked so freaking fast that he’d nearly finished the entire front of the house already. I hadn’t even realized that he’d sanded the outside of the house, and burned paint off in some kind of dragon fashion until he walked me around the house before we got started. He’d prepped everything, working quietly while I’d been sleeping at night.

“I can’t believe how much better this place looks already,” I announced as I stepped back to get a look at our handiwork. We still needed to do the upper floor, but the fresh coat of white paint was giving the entire building a facelift. No longer did this feel like living in a firetrap. It really was starting to feel like home.

Chardum dropped his roller into the tray at his feet to step back and stand next to me. I liked how that felt, the warmth from his shoulder radiating down against my skin. How companionable it was to have him with me, to restore this house with him, instead of all alone.

The sound of a car, the deep, smooth purr of a luxury vehicle, broke the mood. Oh shit, I knew exactly who that was, and I rushed to put my paintbrush away. “That’s not a good sign, Char,” I said. “I think it’s that lady, the vampire.” I leaped from the porch, but he grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

“If it is that vampire, she won’t be alone this time. Be careful,” he warned. His fingers glowed hotly against my skin. His presence seemed to wrap around me even though we stood several feet apart, my arm stretching back toward him. When he let me go, it didn’t feel like anything changed. I still felt him so close he had to be touching me, yet he wasn’t. That was the bond he talked about, a bond I was starting to believe was very real.

I was in the middle of the front yard when the expensive black Lexus turned into the drive, dust flinging into the air in an enormous cloud behind it. I braced my hands on my hips and waited, but I made sure they knew they weren’t getting closer. Chardum stood behind me and to my left, to all appearances, just casually waiting, but I knew better. I could see fire simmering in his eyes, and feel a tension in the air, ready to explode.

The car came to a stop a couple of feet away from me, the dark-tinted windows hiding whoever was inside. It seemed like time stretched out; I was holding my breath, waiting for the first door to open. When it did, it wasn’t the leg of a woman that slid from the driver’s side door. A tall man rose from the car, wearing a pin-striped suit that barely covered his huge, bulky frame.

On the other side, the already familiar figure of Sunworld’s representative stepped out. Her pale hair was in her fancy chignon, her expression filled with distaste. She wasn’t in highheels this time, I noticed. She was even wearing a pair of designer jeans over her flat-soled leather shoes.

“Miss Foster,” the man said, tugging on the lapels of his suit jacket to straighten the thing. He made me think of those old-timey mobsters; all he was missing was a fedora to complete the look. I wondered if he was a vampire as well and caught myself staring at his mouth to figure it out. Not that I’d ever noticed so much as a hint of a fang on Elie.

Our visitors both seemed a little more reserved than I expected them to be, and Chardum’s presence was definitely the cause. They hadn’t expected to discover another man here, and they kept glancing over my shoulder at him. “Who are you?” I said, drawing the man’s attention back to me. “And why are you on my land?”

I should probably get one of those no-trespassing signs and put it up at the beginning of the drive to make sure they were properly informed. Heck, I probably really should get that shotgun I had imagined myself with before. This was my land now. I felt that in my bones, I’d settled, connected. It was mine and they couldn’t have it, prison or no prison at the top of the cliff.

The man’s lips pinched tightly together, but he stepped away from the car to approach me. His arms crossed over his massive chest, his eyes glaring into mine. He got so close that our toes were almost touching.

“You declined our offer. You need to reconsider. This is your last chance to sign over the land,” he said darkly. The vampire woman had moved to flank him, and now I discovered that twomore men had stepped out of the back of the car. If not for Char standing so close to my side, I would have felt extremely crowded and intimidated.

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