Page 27 of Fire Dragon
Her biggest problem was that the more she was around him, the more she wanted the man. It wasn’t just that he was physically gorgeous, because he was. It was the way he treated everyone he worked with that tended to get to her. He was kind, just and never raised his voice unless an element of danger was involved.
She liked him way too much.
She worked hard, though, to keep a damper on all that desire. She wanted him to know that above all she was a professional and wouldn’t let anything get in the way of doing her job.
When the pass grew close, her mind fell quiet. She turned her attention to the deep blue sky and the exquisite, snowy peaks. They were so beautiful and almost close enough to touch. Far above the treeline, they ruled the skies.
When she shivered, she didn’t have to ask. Liam just turned up the heat along his neck and she was soon toasty as anything.
Thank you.
It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?
She sighed.More beautiful than I ever imagined. And peaceful. These mountains look like nothing could ever affect them, ever bring them down.It wasn’t reality of course, but the elements like wind, storms and the melting of snow as the seasons passed would gradually, over a long stretch of time, bring even the tallest mountain down to rubble.
The pass itself was a full two miles long. From the maps she’d studied, she knew it led to a lower part of the range, also snow-capped, that extended another fifty miles south to the next valley-river system. The Hom Frieze Range ran east and west and covered three-thousand miles of central Arranfar terrain.
After an hour or so, when Liam left the mountains behind, valleys, rivers and thousands of small homesteads dotted the land once more. Hundreds of towns traversed the region and were serviced by east-west caravans.
Another hundred miles saw the valleys give way to a wide beige desert with nothing but small shrubs and the occasional tall cactus to look at.
This is the less-interesting part of the journey, I’m afraid. We’ve got two-hundred miles of barren wilderness to cover.
I think it’s beautiful in its way.
The desert was broken up by dozens of smaller mountain ranges as well as the occasional sand dune region.
She saw camels and donkeys below though rarely far from scattered clumps of trees that would indicate an oasis and a watering hole.
You’ve grown quiet.
I’m mesmerized. Do you mind if I attach to your energy so I can stretch out on you neck and head? Just say no if you don’t like the idea or if you think it would disturb the flow of the caravan.
It won’t make a difference at all. Please yourself. I can take it.She could feel his body shake which meant he was laughing at her. She probably weighed the size of pea against his massive size.
As long as this won’t affect the rest of the dragons.
He snorted again, more puffs of steam that vanished quickly in the dry desert air.About as much as a raindrop on the windshield of bulletproof glass.
This time she laughed.Good. Got it.
She and Liam had been practicing this strange aspect of their symbiotic battling relationship, as she mentally aligned herself with his energy. It took her half-a-second to make the shift and complete the attachment. When she did, she simply levitated up the rest of his long, black neck, then stretched out to lay her body on the scales at the top of his head between the silver horns.
As she watched the beauty of the desert, beneath the earth-like sun, she sighed repeatedly.
She didn’t realize she had hold of one of the horns on the right side of his head until his telepathic voice whispered,You should stop doing that.
Doing what?
My fore-horn.
She glanced at it and realized she’d been fondling and stroking the entire length of the silver, sleek horn.Oh, God, I’m so sorry. Was I hurting you?
His telepathic voice went deeper.That wasn’t the problem.
Her cheeks grew fiery hot and she was glad he couldn’t see her embarrassment. She’d been stroking one of his horns.Apologies.
His body bounced a few more times and again, she knew he was laughing at her. Not a bad thing.
