Page 5 of The Dragon's Distraction

“I swear it.”

“Why are you doing this? I see no collar around your neck. You could go anywhere you wanted. Get anything you wanted.”

He grumbled as though trying to fight me for a moment, before giving in to me.

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do to protect your mate?”

I pulled my will back in. He visibly relaxed.

“No. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

“Then we are both bound to this.”

“You’ve searched all available futures?”

He nodded.

“All the other options lead to chaos and death. Which I really don’t mind,” he said flippantly. “It’s quite boring in here, and I don’t care that much about any of you. But my mate would be sad if her friends died. Broken. So, I do what I must.”

I curled back up, turned my head away, and ignored him. If I had to die to save my mate, then of course I would. Shadow demons were sneaky and selfish, but I’d felt no falsehoods from him. Secrets, yes. But we were all entitled to our secrets.

When I turned back, he was gone. My mind turned to my mate. I’d wanted so badly to claim her. To feel her around me. To hear her moan my name. But was it fair to claim her if I was then going to die? To solidify our bond into a permanent binding of souls, just to have it be ripped away from her. I couldn’t bear the thought of her spending her life unable to move on. Feeling my loss that deeply.

When the guards called me in the evening for the private yoga practice she had promised me, the excitement at seeing her was mixed with deep sorrow. I could give her pleasure if she wished for it. But I would not fully take her. Not until we had both survived this mess. Protecting her meant denying myself the experience of being with my mate fully, not just dying for her. It was like a physical pain that threatened to break me. But I’d bear that torment. For her.

Chapter 5

Lyla

I was shaking with excitement. And nerves. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But as soon as he was escorted into the cleared-out therapy room, my whole body tingled with excitement. I’d spent some time with Heather today trying to support her after a tough session, but all that worry washed away the moment I saw him.

“Falkon!”

“Sunbeam!”

I paused, thrown off guard.

“Sunbeam?”

“You are the brightest, warmest sunbeam. I feel full of energy and life when I’m with you.”

I blushed. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. For possibly the first time in my life, I felt a bit awkward. I hadn’t even kissed this dragon or been on a date, but he was my mate for life. I didn’t know how to approach that. He moved closer. He towered over me and bent his long neck down to be closer to my height. I stood on my tiptoes and placed a kiss on his cheek. He smiled a big, toothy grin at me, fangs gleaming. I wondered how they would feel biting into me, before blushing again. These weren’t the sort of thoughts that I normally had, but he had ignited something inside of me. And I understood what he was saying. Now we were together again I was energised.

“You turn a lovely shade of pink when you are embarrassed.”

“I’m not sure what happens next. What we are meant to do. It feels like we jumped 5 stages of the courtship process. But dating seems silly, knowing what we know.”

“Dating and courtship are never silly. Every woman deserves that, whether the outcome is clear or not.”

A sort of giddiness washing over me. I hadn’t had a date in years and certainly not with someone that I had such powerful feelings for. I hadn’t stopped to consider it, but there was already love between us. Which seemed ridiculous, but completely right. We were completely right.

“Well, let us call this our first date, then.”

“A yoga date?”

“If you like.”

I ran to one of the cabinets and pulled out a bottle of water and two glasses. I poured us each a glass.

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