Page 28 of Emerald Waves
“Am I allowed to venture outside of the house?”
“Emerson,” he stopped so abruptly I ran into him. “Sorry, should’ve warned you. This is your home now, you’re not trapped. These lands are protected and just like in town, you’ll feel the wards when you pass through them. My only suggestion is don’t wander through the tunnels without me, or you will get lost.”
“That’s what happened to Alex, right?”
“Yes, and how he got hurt. I can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt again.” Caro sweetly pressed his lips to mine. “You can always sit out on the balcony too. I’m sure you’re picking all the best spots to read right now?”
My cheeks heated. “Something like that.”
“Do you have a driver’s license? We have plenty of cars if you need to go into town and I’m not available. I’ll show you which ones are ours and where the key box is.”
Goddess, I had so much to learn. Long gone were the days were the security system let me in and out when I needed something. Now I had to worry about wrong turns and getting lost. Maybe I was better off in the horde.
“If you ever get lost, call out to me and I’ll find you.”
“Whoa.” At the top of the hill it looked out over a vast area that resembled a battlefield.
“That’s Ionus favorite place, the practice pitch. Well, it used to be. Thankfully now he has a house full of babies to keep him busy. Bright and early every morning for centuries we sparred at the crack of dawn for hours on end.”
“Is that where we’re going?” Fighting wasn’t in my blood. “I’m not in the mood to have my ass handed to me.
Caro laughed. “We’ll tackle self-defense another day. Today my goal is to lure your dragon out.”
My dragon perked up at that.
“Ah, might not take as much coaxing as I thought.”
Would it really happen? Could I actually shift? Giddiness bubbled inside me and my dragon did figure eights.
“He’s going crazy.”
We’ve waited far too long, human. You got your forever now let me have mine.
Mate, our dragons are meant to fly high above the earth together. Don’t hold back.
I-I, I’m scared. What if I screw something up? What if it hurts.
The first shift will be uncomfortable but after that it will become second nature.
“I’ll shift first and maybe that will draw your dragon out. Take your glasses off, you likely won’t need them any longer.”
Huh, hadn’t considered that. It was a normal process to put them on the second I woke. Heck, I’d fallen asleep in them countless times. How amazing it will be to no longer wear them.
In mere seconds, standing before me in all his glory, was my gorgeous mate’s dragon. Those familiar emerald eyes staring back at me. His razor-sharp talons glinted in the sunlight, nearly metallic, though I knew better. Metal had nothing on them. They were sharper than any man-made blade.
He was magnificent and he was all mine.
“Can I touch you?”
Aye, nothing would please me more.
All these years spent with dragons and never once had I been this close to one. I’d fully anticipated his scales to be tough, hard like armor. Every book I’d read portrayed them as exactly that, but they weren’t. Vibrant shades that rivaled that of the most luscious forests known to man. Every shade from the lightest to the deepest evergreen, the richest sage and everything in-between. When the sunlight hit it just right the shimmery scales mirrored warm aquamarine.
“I could literally pet you for hours.” His dragon purred with every glide of my hands.
I’d like that. Now, it’s your turn. I can’t wait to see your dragon.
A harrowing fear ran through me at the thought of failure. What if I let Caro down?
