Page 9 of Guardian's Dilemma

“Are you using it now?”

“Yes.”

I smirked. “It’s not working very well, is it?”

He tilted his head again, and I got the impression of a baffled child. “No, it’s not.”

I was getting unnerved by this. We were done with talking.

With a shout, I flung an arrow of magic at the dragon. I needed to wound it quickly or it would be able to shift and overpower me. Quick attacks worked best. Dragons healed so fast that we had to wound them quickly, deeply and often. Killing a dragon was about speed more than anything else.

My spell struck it but only in the arm. It had thrown itself to the side at the last moment.

I flung another spell but this one didn’t manage to strike home at all. Damn. This monster was efficient.

We stayed at a distance for a minute, me firing spells one after the other, trying to wound quickly, and the dragon dodging and darting around, sometimes shimmering into the shadows for just a fraction of a second so that I had to blink to be able to see it again.

To my surprise, I caught a glimpse of its face and it was smiling. A cold, deadly smile that promised me death if I couldn’t protect myself from those sharp teeth and the merciless claws.

The smile threw me off centre. I don’t know why. I’d trained my whole life to fight dragons but the sight of this dragon was disturbing me. I threw my spells but my aim was off. It was only a fraction, but it was enough. The most my missiles did was graze against the dragon’s sides.

I gasped when it shot forward.

One second, it was standing against the wall, grinning and dodging my spells, and the next it had darted towards me, fast as a bullet, and I didn’t even have time to raise my sword. I should have swung it round and cut through it in an instant so that, even if it was too late for me, I’d take the dragon out with me as I died.

But I didn’t die.

The dragon was practically on top of me, grinning into my face, and then its whole expression changed. Its bright blue eyes went wide and the pink lips parted. I was furious with myself that I’d even noticed that, but I had. Those lips moved and my eyes darted down to them. It was a cunning dragon trick to distract me, and it had almost worked.

Too late, I yanked my sword round, feeling off balance, but the dragon wasn’t there. I spun, searching round for it, and my eyes scanned the shadows in the corners again.

It was backing away from me, looking horrified. I was sure its pale face was even paler than before, and it was panting. Surely it wasn’t tired out after that little fight? We’d barely even started yet. There wasn’t a scratch on either of us – the graze I’d given it on its arm was long since healed.

It stood and panted and I waited. Probably, I should have pressed my advantage and gone after it, but there was something not right about this whole thing. The dragon wasn’t doing what I expected it to do, and that made me wary. It could be luring me into a trap. I waited and watched, my gaze fixed on the dragon’s blue eyes and the way its slender chest rose and fell, giving me tantalising glimpses of the pale skin of his chest.

Damn, this dragon was tricky. It would be better to kill it quickly and forget all about it.

I waited for it to make its next move, readying my spell.

Chapter 5: Glimmer

Ibreathed in again, not sure whether I wanted to smell it again or not. My whole body was desperate for that scent but the sharp, analytical part of my mind was screaming that it was a bad idea, that the best thing would be if that scent vanished and the last ten seconds were just a weird, vivid dream.

I breathed in.

Nope, that scent was still there.

The most incredible scent in the world.

I breathed in again, drawing it into my lungs, inhaling it as though I’d been drowning and this was my first gasp of pure, fresh air in years.

Mate.

The scent of my mate hit the back of my nose and I wanted to gulp it into my mouth. I wanted the taste of him on my tongue and the scent of him all over my body.

That sharp part of my brain screamed again. This could not be happening to me. My mate couldn’t be aridire. It was impossible. It had to be a trick.

I attacked again, darting forward from the shadows. The fact that he kept his eyes on me the whole time should have told me everything I needed to know – nobody ever saw me on the edges of the world when I didn’t want them to – but my brain was sparking out and my body was confused by the rush of adrenaline. The thrill of a fight and the ecstasy of scenting my mate.

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