Page 77 of Guardian's Dilemma

“Me? Would I?”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me heavily. “I hate that you got hurt.”

I licked his neck.

“I’m serious, Glimmer. You need to be more careful.”

“Hey, I was hurt by a dragon elder. That basically doesn’t count. Nobody can fight them.”

“Will any of them come after you?”

I pulled back enough to look my mate in the eyes, to reassure him. “No. Lord Somerville banished me. He won’t think about me at all now.”

“What was that dragon doing chasing you, then?”

“He was meant to chase me out of the territory but he got too excited.”

I heard the disdain in Kingsley’s voice as he said, “He flew straight back to the territory.”

I grunted. We both knew what that meant: if Kingsley really was aridire, Conley would just have given away the position of our territory.

Kingsley asked, “Did you tell any of them about me?”

“Of course not.”

“Don’t sound so defensive, I was just asking because it changes how they’ll react. If they don’t know we’ve already met, they’ll assume we’re fighting right now.”

I knew what he meant, too. They’d assume we were fighting to the death. And, if I knew Conley, he’d make sure Lord Somerville knew that he’d escaped from aridire. I didn’t even know if Lord Somerville would wonder about me, whether I’d survived or not. He certainly wouldn’tcareabout me, only about whether theridirewas still out there and a potential threat to his clan.

It was harder than I’d thought it would be to say, but I needed to tell Kingsley. “Conley’s the Guardian now.”

Kingsley sighed and pulled me into him. His body pressed against my own naked one, and I felt his warmth and his heartbeat strong against my chest.

“No, he’s not.” His hand stroked down my back, just like it often did. My mate might not admit it, but he liked to touch my skin. He would put his hand on me and just rest it there, touching me. I’d never drawn attention to it in case he stopped, but I got a thrill whenever he did it.

“Lord Somerville made him the Guardian.”

“That doesn’t matter.You’re the Guardian, Glimmer. He just gave away your territory’s location and ran away from oneridire. You’d never have done that.”

My dragon purred inside me and flexed at my mate’s praise. Smug dragon.

“No, I wouldn’t have. Besides, two dragons would stand a better chance of defeating you. He should have stayed and we could have fought you together.”

“You do remember that I’m your mate and you’re not meant to fight me at all, right?”

He sounded amused.

I yanked my head back from where it had been resting on his shoulder, looking up into his eyes.

“You just admitted that we’re mates.”

“Yes.”

“You believe me?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I mean, why now?”

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