Page 38 of Dallas

My heart all but burst from my chest when I heard her say it—still, “You gave a good impression of detesting me for quite some time.”

“Because I liked you so much. Goodness, I sound like a child, don’t I?” Her laughter was sweet, like music to my ears. “But I did, and I didn’t want to. Witches and dragons do not mix. It was wrong. So I made it a point to make you miserable. No one would guess how drawn I was to you if I made you miserable, right?”

She laughed again when I grimaced. “I know. A terrible plan.”

“But it worked, as I never guessed your true feelings—hence your shield,” I added, wanting to slap my forehead. Now it made complete sense, the way she’d hidden herself from me.

“It might be a minor miracle that we made it this far at all,” she marveled.

I hooked an arm about her waist and drew her close, reveling in her softness and warmth and the way she smiled up at me. “I could learn to believe in miracles.”

“So could I,” she whispered just before I caught her mouth with my own and indulged in a long, sweet kiss as the mountain winds whirled around us and the world below began to dig its way out from the storm.

We had survived the storm together and came out on the other side as one.

Epilogue

Iwoke up with the sound of his breathing in my ears. Slow, steady, deep, with just the hint of a snore. I smiled, my eyes still closed.

I could learn to love snoring.

What time was it? How long had we been asleep? I had no way of knowing. But sleep had been what we’d both needed most after showering and eating.

And speaking with my mother, using the same video chat program Dallas and Owen used back home. We’d been alone that we might speak privately.

I’d confessed everything. Callie’s injury, her means of recovery.

The fact that I had somehow, some way, fallen in love with Dallas. “I’m sorry,” I’d choked out as emotion tightened my throat.

She’d remained silent for a long, heavy moment in which I’d imagined the worst. She would disown me, tell me not to return, curse me for defiling myself and my sister and our coven. She would blame me for allowing Callie’s injury.

I’d even been prepared to offer to stay away, if it made her happy.

“I’ve made a great many mistakes in my life,” she’d announced, speaking slowly and softly. “Mistakes which I believed were in the name of right. I cannot go back and erase them, but I can avoid making them again. That much I can do.”

I’d barely refrained from pinching myself to prove this wasn’t a dream. “Do you mean…”

“I mean I hold nothing against you,” she had smiled. “If you’re happy, so am I. I cannot lose two precious daughters. One was enough. I won’t lose you now, or Calliope.”

I stretched as gently as possible, trying to make sure I didn’t wake Dallas and his soft snores. It was a blessing indeed, having fallen asleep in his arms, curled up with my back to his front, the two of us falling into a profound slumber within moments of lying down. Being able to sleep, knowing my sister was well and we were safe.

And he loved me, and I loved him. How improbable. Life still possessed the power to surprise me, even after living for so long.

Not nearly as long as the dragon behind me, who murmured drowsily as he stirred to wakefulness. “What time is it?” he asked in a sleepy voice.

I smiled, now opening my eyes to the dark bedroom and the king-sized bed we shared. I could barely make out the shape of the pillow beneath my head. “I have no idea.”

“What day is it?”

“I don’t know that, either.” I snuggled against him, warm and content. “It’s almost a treat, is it not? Time might just as well have stood still, or a year might have passed. It matters nothing to us, right here and now. We are all that matters.”

“That’s the way it will always be, lass. I promise you that.” His lips brushed the side of my neck, bringing to life new awareness and a delightful buzzing sensation which started in my core and worked its way outward. My very toes tingled as I rolled onto my back with his arm still slung over me.

We’d been too exhausted to see to anything more than a few embraces before falling asleep, and the knowledge of what was to come—what had to come if we were to truly mate—made my heart race with excitement and nervousness all at once.

“You have nothing to fear from me,” he whispered, sensing my apprehensiveness, gently kissing me until my back arched of its own accord that our bodies might touch again and again. “I would never hurt you. I want nothing but to love you, and to claim you like the dragon needs.”

A delicious thrill ran through me at his words, at the thought of being taken by the dragon. Of being loved by him. I allowed myself to touch him, to indulge in his strength and heat and the chiseled muscles which defined his body. They flexed beneath my hands as he moved over me, and it wasn’t long before passion swept away rational thought entirely.

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