Page 36 of The Alliance

Rhod’s hands gently stroked my cheek.

“Thank you.”

I nuzzled him, trying to let him know that I appreciated his gratitude, but it wasn’t necessary. Rhod was everything to me. He deserved to be taken care of, and it was my pleasure to do it.

“For all of this,” he said. His hand gestured at the ocean before us and the starry sky above, the blanket and my body. I wasn’t responsible for creating such beauty, but I liked seeing it with my mate.

He burrowed further into my side and I managed to curl around him more, covering him and protecting him without putting my heavy weight on him. We stayed like that for a long time and Rhod looked out at the ocean and I looked at his handsome face until his eyes closed and his breathing became deep and even.

I never felt so satisfied as when my mate was peacefully asleep in my embrace. I watched him for a while longer before closing my own eyes.

Chapter 13

Rhod

Iwoke to the sound of voices nearby. At first, I was confused and my muddled head couldn’t make out where we were. I was held down by something heavy, and it took me a moment to realise that it was Glenwise’s large dragon form.

The voices got louder as they got nearer.

“This way. We’re nearly there.”

“You’re going to love it.”

“Come on.”

I recognised two of the voices. Seren and Morgan. The other voice was deeper, one of the Hoskins clan.

Suddenly realising what that meant, I scrambled up. They were coming here, to the beach.

Glenwise and I had stayed all night. He’d brought me here last night, when everyone else was busy and we’d be guaranteed to be alone. It had been so beautiful, so perfect. He’d held me and made love to me on the sand, and then wrapped me up in his strong form. I’d felt perfectly content and safe.

Now, though, the voices were near and our little cocoon was about to be disturbed.

I sprayed sand everywhere as I scrabbled around for my clothes. The beach was surrounded by tall cliffs, which meant it was only accessed by the Hoskins clan and their guests, using the steps that were cut into the rocks.

At least, I assumed the people were using the steps instead of flying down in their dragon form, if I could hear them talking.

We were just out of sight of the steps, which meant I couldn’t see how many of them there were. I found my shirt but couldn’t find my pants, and I really, really didn’t want to be caught naked on the Hoskins’ beach by a group of however-many there were.

Just before they stepped into view, Glenwise stepped in front of me. He was still in his dragonform and his large body completely concealed me from view. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it for me because he knew I’d want to be dressed, or for himself because he didn’t like other people seeing me naked. Either way, I was glad of the reprieve.

The group reached the bottom of the steps, which brought them into Glenwise’s view.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here.” I recognised Morgan’s voice again

There was a low growl. An unfamiliar growl. One of the Hoskins clan.

Seren spoke clearly and loudly. “Have you been here all night, Glenwise?”

He couldn’t expect Glenwise to answer, not in dragon form, so I wondered why he asked. Then the growling stopped and I realised he might just have been announcing to the Hoskins dragons who it was, since they wouldn’t have seen any of the Somervilles in our dragon form and weren’t to know which silver dragon was standing before them.

I found my pants and pulled them on, followed by my shirt and trousers. My heart was beating faster than usual, still not sure how many of them there were or what they were doing here.

When I heard Alfie’s voice, my dragon calmed. Our elder was here. We were safe.

“Morgan’s showing me the beach. Are we disturbing you?”

Glenwise couldn’t answer, of course, but he gave a low rumble of reply. It was permission to come nearer, which meant Glenwise wasn’t afraid of whoever was with Alfie.

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