Page 35 of Dallas

“If Mother is so lacking in understanding that she would not accept fate bringing you and Dallas together, how would she accept my drinking his blood to heal some broken bones?” She snickered. “Come, now.”

“I would make certain to tell her the pain you were in.”

Her smile was sad. “I believe you would, too. I love you very much, you know.”

“I love you. What brought that on?”

“I thought of you just before we hit the tree. I saw it coming. I knew what was about to happen, and that I might not survive. And I thought, when was the last time I told Hecate that I love her?”

“I know you do.”

“That isn’t the same. I could tell myself you knew, but it wasn’t the same. I wanted to say it. To be sure you knew. To tell you how much you mean to me. How I’ve always looked up to you and been glad you’re my sister.”

I leaned in, touching my forehead to hers. “I love you, sister. I’m sorry I left you in pain for so long, when it could have been over so much more quickly.”

“I understand why you did it. I truly do, and I cannot say I would’ve done differently in your place. I hold nothing against you.”

I shook my head in wonder at her. “If only I could be as good as you.”

“You are good. Though I suspect I’ve spent enough time in the minds of others to know their motives. I pity most people. They make life much more difficult for themselves than it needs to be.” She fixed me with a knowing look.

“I suppose that was directed at me.”

“If the shoe fits…”

Footsteps outside the cave made us both bolt upright. My heart was in my throat until a familiar figure appeared. A shirtless, mud-covered figure.

“Dallas?” I scrambled up and out. He was a mess from head to foot, though his jeans were strangely mudless compared to the rest of him. “What happened to you?”

“I cleared the road,” he explained with barely a glance my way. Instead, he turned his attention to Callie. “Awake, I see.”

“Pain-free, thanks to you.” She flexed her legs. “Everything in working order.”

“That’s a good thing, since we’re going to finish our journey up the mountain now.”

“What?” I gasped, struggling to keep up. “What do you mean, you cleared the road? All by yourself? In so short a time?”

“Dragons have been known to do a great many things in a very short time,” he explained with a shrug before crouching to enter the cave. “Come. We can’t waste much more time. Put out the fire, gather the bags. I suppose we can leave them locked in the SUV for now, until someone drives down for them.”

“Wait, wait!” I held up my hands, my voice echoing in the trees and causing birds to take flight. “What in the world is happening? Explain yourself, please. I won’t go anywhere with you unless you explain yourself.”

He growled, then threw aside the suitcase he’d just closed. “What more do I have to say? I cleared the road. I made it to the top of the mountain. Rather than go inside, I came back down to fetch the pair of you. Now. We should go before the clouds break, for the sunshine will reveal me to those below.”

His meaning began to break through my muddled mind. “You worked as your dragon? You were a dragon while you cleared the road?”

“What other choice was there? I can move a tree, but not that many trees, that quickly. It was a chore, but I got it done.” He ran a hand over his bare chest, down his rippling abdomen, everything coated in drying mud. “Hence the mess I made of myself.”

I wished the sight of him wasn’t so appealing, mud or no mud. I swallowed over the lump in my throat and wished my mouth wouldn’t go dry as it hid.

“Dallas.” Callie took a few tentative steps toward him. “That was a great risk.”

“Aye, well, it had to be done. Just as it has to be done again, if the pair of you are ever going to make it up the mountain. Some of the earth is quite loose—I fear there could be a landslide. We need to go before that happens and leaves us trapped.”

“How do you plan on getting up the mountain, then?” I dared ask, though I thought I knew the answer. I needed to hear him say it.

His big, green eyes blinked hard, as though he could not believe my stupidity. “I’m going to carry you both on my back, hence there being another reason we ought to hurry. I would like to avoid being spotted by humans on the ground if at all possible. Let’s go.”

Before I could say another word in protest or question him further, he picked up the pair of suitcases and marched them through the woods to where the SUV waited.

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