Page 10 of Guardian's Dilemma

He was just a second too slow to raise his sword. Which was lucky, because if he’d managed to get it into position, I’d have impaled myself on it. I had to wonder how many dragons had brought about their own death by being too bold and doing exactly what I’d just done.

I felt a growl work its way up my throat against my will. I didn’t want to think about other dragons doing this. Fighting my mate. I didn’t want them to harm him.

No, I mean I didn’t want him to harm the dragons.

No, I mean I didn’t want anyone else’s nose pressed close to his skin like this.

I inhaled and that growl rumbled out of me.

I barely darted away from him in time. He brought his sword round and would have sliced me clean through the chest if I’d stayed where I was.

Ok, so my mate was going to kill me. That wasn’t good.

God, he smelled so perfect. I wanted to stand pressed against him with my nose against his skin and just breathe in and in. My mate. I couldn’t take it in.

“What—?”

He sounded baffled. That was probably understandable. He was aridire. He’d broken into our territory and come down to our vaults to kill me. He’d expected a bloody battle, a vicious, snarling dragon who was terrified of what theridirewould do to my family if he managed to kill me.

And I hadn’t managed to fight him yet.

My body just wouldn’t do it. Even the reasonable, rational part of my brain hadn’t overridden my body’s urge to sheath my claws.

I probably didn’t need to think about that breath I’d taken against the musky skin of his neck. All being well, we’d never mention that again.

He was looking at me with open surprise. I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge some of the desire that was starting to build in me.

“What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

I couldn’t call my mate ‘thatridire’ forever, could I?

He snorted, and I decided that perhaps he needed me to display a bit of trust to him before he would do the same. I gave him my name.

“I’m Glimmer.”

I didn’t mention my surname, just in case he didn’t know already. If he’d stumbled upon our territory through chance, then I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to do any research and find out about us: the Somervilles were an old family, powerful, rich,uasal… if theridireknew who we were, they could better prepare for their attack and I wasn’t about to give them an advantage in harming my clan.

I would trust him with my name, but I couldn’t trust him with my family’s name. Not yet.

“You what?”

He was still standing a few feet away from me, his sword ready in his hand and the other hand closed into a fist, as though he were holding something in it. Probably a spell he was going to release at me. I prepared to dive to the side again, just in case.

“My name,” I clarified. “My name is Glimmer.”

He snorted again. “I don’t need to know your name in order to kill you.”

I shimmered into the shadow instinctively. He was aridire, after all, and he didn’t sound like he was making an idle threat.

Of course, it didn’t make a difference. He could still see me. His eyes stayed fixed on me the whole time. That had never happened before.

I moved, stalking round the edges of the room, trying to lose his gaze. I couldn’t. He watched me the entire time, turning so his body always faced me, never giving me the opportunity to catch him unaware.

My brain couldn’t understand it. Since I’d first learned to tap into the shimmery feeling inside me that my dragon hoarded like Lord Somerville hoarded gold, I’d been able to slip away into the shadows whenever I wanted.

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