Page 3 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
It was something I’d thought lost forever. Until the human in the helicopter.
“My love,” I whispered softly. “I’m sorry. I have betrayed you.”
Saying the words, ones I’d longed to say ever since the encounter, should have freed me, helped assuage the guilt coursing through my veins. But it didn’t.
“I don’t know what happened,” I said, continuing to speak quietly lest anyone hear me. “There was a … a moment. The world disappeared around me, and I was locked with her. A human! I know it should be impossible, but …”
My eyes closed, I traveled back to the exact moment it had happened. When my dragon had climbed down from the rooftop, ready to incinerate the helicopter and its contents. The air had rushed through my nostrils, deep into my chest, where the fires of my beast were awoken. Ready to rush out and bathe the metal war machine in flames.
As I’d prepared to attack, my gaze had been drawn to the cockpit, attracted by movement as the wounded pilot reached for the controls. I’d taken a moment to admire the warrior’s bravery in their last moments, a fighter until the end. It was then I’d decided to look them in the face and respect that courage. They’d known the fight was over, but they weren’t giving up.
My first shock had been discovering it was a woman. Female dragons fought alongside males indiscriminately, but humans were still incredibly sexist on that front. I’d paused, and at that moment, our eyes had locked.
The deep, dark depths of her brown orbs had sucked me in without resistance, catching me wildly off-guard. After all, a connection with a human? A joke.
But the joke had become serious as I saw deep into her soul, into the eternity of life that was every beat of her heart and flicker of nerves.
I broke off the memory with a gasp, breathing hard, shocked by how vivid the recollection had abruptly become. It was like she was there in front of me again.
My dragon thrashed angrily. It wanted the human woman. Wanted to lay her out before us with her clothes removed and her legs spread. The only thing it could think about was claiming her body as our own. Blood stirred between my legs, but I shut it down.
Now was not the time and mostdefinitelynot the place for the thoughts that had plagued my dreams.
Now was the time for apology and atonement.
“I don’t understand,” I said, allowing my head to fall back against the stone base, looking skyward in frustration. “Why me? Why am I still here? We were bonded. I should have gone with you!”
The angry cry echoed out over the mountaintop meadow. I didn’t care. Everyone thought the same. I should’ve died when Noa did. Bonded mates were completely and totally linked.
Except for me. I’d somehow lived through her death. Not only that but I was also getting shaken up by a human woman!
“Ridiculous,” I snarled, getting to my feet, eternally glad the war was coming to a close, that the sovereign had offered the humans ceasefire terms. I could soon return to the isles permanently.
Instead of the fighting, all I had to look forward to was the looks from my fellows, who all wondered why I was still alive.
Maybe the fighting wasn’t so bad after all …
That was a lie, and I knew it the instant I thought it. The war wasn’t fighting. It was just killing. My hands were covered in blood, and like many others, I wasn’t proud of it.
“Callum.”
I spun at the unexpected sound, my eyes taking in the uniformed figure of one of the palace guards.
“Dyson,” I said, politely acknowledging one of my peers, looking resplendent in his scale armor in the open air. “What can I do for you?”
The other dragon glanced past me. Likely trying to see who I’d been talking to. He probably didn’t recognize the particular location. After all, why should anyone? It had been two years since Noa’s death. There was no need for him to remember.
“The sovereign had expectations that you would report in upon your return,” Dyson said, disdain hovering at the edges of his words. He tossed his perfectly blond hair over his shoulder. Blue eyes stared down his well-defined nose.
“And I intend to,” I said.
“The orders were as soon as possible,” Dyson pointed out.
“Exactly,” I fired back. “And as soon as it is possible, Iwill.”
Dyson liked to think he was my superior because he had been inducted into the palace guards a full two weeks before me. That might have mattered in the first few months. Ten years later, it didn’t mean a damn thing. Not to me. He still took it seriously.
“I’ve been sent up here to get you. You were noted flying overhead but did not land.”
