Page 126 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

“We are much alike,” I whispered.

Doc chuckled. “Oh dear boy, you have no idea how alike and how very different the species of women are from men. You are in for a treat of your entire lifetime;andthe greatest mystery of the universe, which will drive you to insanity.”

“Heard you, you blasted piney wyvern!”

Doc grinned. “See?” he mouthed.

“Heard that too!”

Doc’s face grew red as he sputtered. “There was nothing to hear, woman!”

“Wasn’t there? After fifty-five years, I know how your brain works!” Mrs. Vika stepped from the house, a rolling pin in her hands and an apron powdered with flour on her generously round figure. Her face softened when she took me in. “I heard just a bit, deary. You having relational problems?”

“Our boy here found his mate. She kicked him out to get himself help to heal before she would take the lad back.”

She winced. “Ouch. Sounds to me you’ve got you a right dragon of a girly.” I barely hold in a snicker. She had no idea how true that was. “But you, you are taking it to heart, hmm? Good kid. Want me to speak with her?”

I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Vika, but I would prefer to deal with this as I can myself.”

“I respect that, deary. I right respect that. How’s she holding up?”

Alia’s pale face from the last time I saw her passed through my mind. I shook my head. “Not good. She does not like to ask for help.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” Mrs. Vika said. “And how many times have I gotta tell you it’s not Mrs. nothin’!”

I grinned at her, feeling as if I were once more a boy with my father introducing me to his oldest friend and his mate. Soon as I called her Mrs. Vika, she had shaken her rolling pin at me and said to simply call her Vika.

It had been a battle ever since.

“Of course, Mrs. Vika.”

“Why you cheeky little?—”

“Vika, dear, we are here to help the lad, not kill him.”

“I wasn’t gonna kill ’em,” she replied. "Just rough ’em up a bit."

“Thank you,” I said to Doc.

Doc shook his head as Mrs. Vika’s eyes flashed.

“The girl is the one who stayed with the fever a while back,” Doc said, leaning back in his chair and smoking his pipe as I ducked the rolling pin. I gave him a nod of gratitude for changing the subject.

“Oh, that cute little thing? She was a Red, wasn’t she?” Mrs. Vika said, getting a swat on my arm before I was able to dodge. If the assassins knew how fast this lady was with her rolling pin, they would conscript her services.

Thankfully, no one ever knew I had had my butt handed to me on a silver platter many a time by a woman old enough to be my grandmother.

“She was. Smart little thing. Knew remedies like the back of her hand. Caring, too. Saved the behind of little Sheng-Li here before he cared for her and saved her in return. She was spicy and suspicious, but sweet.”

I dodged a flying roller pin. It sailed over my head into the trees. I trotted over to pick it up and handed it back to Mrs. Vika with a bow. She huffed, blowing a strand of gray hair from her eyes. Then she smiled and opened her arms.

My lips twitched. I stepped into her warm embrace, and I would be a dragon’s egg if it did not feel like coming home.

“You’re gonna be alright, deary. Life has struggles, but it has its good times, too. Ain’t no person ever chased a dragon who wasn’t burned by the breath. The open skies are worth a few burns, aye?”

My body melted. Muscles which had long been clenched slowly released.

She held me as she once held a child who had lost his father and just killed a man. I had still had blood on my hands and face when she took me in her arms and nearly strangled me as I stoodstill as a rock, unable to cry. She had cried enough for us both as she rocked me.

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