Page 46 of Guardian's Dilemma

“Of course you don’t trust them – you’re a fucking dragon, Glimmer, and they’re fucking dragon-hunters. Get a grip.”

“You misunderstand. It’s not that I don’t trust them withme, it’s that I don’t trust them withyou. If one of your coven had told you last week that not all dragons were evil and they had souls and fated mates and you should work together, what would have done?”

Damn. He had me.

“I’d have thought they were a dragon-sympathiser.”

“And you’d have…?”

“Locked them up.”

Glimmer nodded. “I need to know you’re safe. Let me keep my eyes on you. It calms me.”

God, I didn’t know what I was thinking but I let him.

We walked forward together and then there was no going back.

Chapter 18: Kingsley

Walking into the training ground with a dragon on my heels was probably the most bizarre thing I’d ever done. I could see Glimmer right there and couldn’t quite convince myself that nobody else would be struck by the handsome man behind me.

As I walked past the firstridire, he raised his hand in silent greeting as he passed me but otherwise didn’t do anything. He didn’t react to Glimmer at all.

I wanted to say something to him but I didn’t dare. If we were going to get as far as Douglas’ office, I needed to be as unsuspicious as possible and talking to myself did not help with that goal. So I walked as slowly as I dared while Glimmer slipped around the edge of the open courtyard. He’d told me his power lay in the edges of the world but I still didn’t understand it. I just had to trust him.

When I got to the door, I opened it wide and stepped through. Just before it closed, Glimmer slithered through the gap. I’d told him I couldn’t stand there holding doors open but I could open them wider than I otherwise would.

We walked and I heard my own footsteps on the hard tiled floor but couldn’t hear Glimmer at all. He’d already taken off his shoes in preparation. He’d said it was to make sure he was silent, but we both knew it was also in case he wanted to shift.

When I reached Douglas’ office, I knocked.

From inside, his voice called, “Come in.”

This was it. Douglas had more experience with dragons than anyone else in the compound, which meant that, if anyone would be able to see Glimmer, it would be him.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Stepping inside, I made sure I opened the door wide and stood there for a moment while Glimmer slipped into the room behind me. Douglas didn’t look at him.

“Ah, Kingsley, you’re back. I’m so glad. I was worried about you. Come in, come in.”

I let the door shut behind us and walked further into the room. Douglas had stood and walked around his desk. I didn’t like him getting that close to Glimmer, who was standing behind me to my right, leaning against the wall.

I thought Douglas might embrace me, relieved that I had made it out of a dragon’s territory, but he stopped. His eyes narrowed.

“Where’s your armour?”

I’d put my suit back on once I got back to my car, partly because my borrowed clothes were tight and difficult to move in, and partly because I had been hoping to conceal the fact that I wasn’t wearing my armour.

I should have known better.

Douglas always could see things others couldn’t.

There was nothing for it but to tell him.

“I took it off.”

The surprise on Douglas’s face was justified, in my opinion. I’d been known to wear the armour around the training grounds when otherridirewould only put it on when they went out on a job, but I’d wanted to get used to the feel of it and the weight, so that I could learn to move around in it like it was a second skin.

---