Page 9 of Lachlan

“Belle Brown,” she returned as economically.

Belle. His dragon savored the name.

Beautiful Belle.

Delectable Belle.

Delicious—

Enough, Lachlan instructed his dragon harshly. Hunter might have speculated about Belle living up to her name, but Lachlan could nowseehow beautiful, delectable, and delicious Belle was. Every inch of his body was thrumming in acknowledgment of that fact.

He had never physically reacted to a female as strongly as this before, the blood having rushed so instantly to his cock from the rest of his body that he was feeling slightly lightheaded. Or perhaps that was just from the euphoria of realizing he was in the presence of his true mate.

We have a true mate, his dragon preened.

It seemed they did.

A human true mate.

A human female who had probably never thought of the existence of dragons, let alone ever considered she might be the true mate of one.

Which meant it was going to take some delicate explaining.

And would require a patience Lachlan wasn’t sure he possessed.

Then he would have to make himself possess it!

Now that he had met her, breathed in her scent, Belle was everything to him. The sun, the moon, the stars, the very galaxy itself. Nothing and no one else would ever come close to knowing the love and devotion he would feel for her.

“Let me show you the opening into the mountain, Belle,” he encouraged lightly, continuing to hold her hand prisoner in the warmth of his, binding her to his side as he walked to the back of the cave. “See?” He indicated where the rock of the cave wall slightly overlapped, revealing an opening behind it that was just large enough and high enough for Lachlan to get through.

Deliberately so.

As snow dragons, the brothers could bend the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire to their will.

Which was how, once he’d walked through the passages and caverns through the mountain, to the back of the cave his senses told him Belle had taken shelter in, Lachlan had been able to form that opening with just the sweep of his hand.

An opening that, as Belle had claimed, hadn’t been there before he’d walked through it a few minutes ago.

CHAPTER FOUR

Belle could have sworn there hadn’t been an opening…

Well, there was one there now, so it must have been there before too. Openings in solid rock didn’t just suddenly appear. They took years to form.

She’d been exhausted by the time she found the cave the day before, she reasoned, and her fingers had already been numb from the extreme cold, despite her wearing gloves. She must have somehow missed this opening.

Not that she would have attempted to go through it once the light on her cell phone died. For all she knew, there could be a sheer drop on the other side.

Obviously, there wasn’t, or Lachlan wouldn’t have been able to step into the cave and find her, but she’d had no way of knowing that last night.

Which reminded her… “I hope I haven’t inconvenienced too many people by them having to go out looking for me in this foul weather.”

“There’s only me,” Lachlan told her. “And inconvenienced is the last thing I’m feeling,” he assured gruffly.

Belle tried once again to pull her hand from inside his much larger one, but failed to release herself when his fingers tightened about hers. Not enough to hurt, just enough to prevent her from pulling free.

The first touch of Lachlan’s hand had made her feel as if she’d received an electric shock. One that sent heat roiling through her whole body.

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