Page 9 of The Alliance

“I hurt Anthony, though! You should be really mad.”

Edith actually gave a tiny little smile at that. “I’m not happy that you hurt him, of course. If you had broken his bone, things might have been different. As it is, Anthony has more than enough protections on him to stop a little smack like that from doing much damage. He will probably have a bruise for a few days.”

“I reallyam so sorry.”

“I know. That is one of the reasons I’m not angry. Idohold you responsible for your actions, Alfie, but in this instance, I will say that this is not entirely your fault. You are new to shifting, newly mated and new to your position as elder. That is a lot of change to happen all at once and you are not yet used to your dragon’s instincts, nor aware of how much strength you actually have. I should have realised that and arranged this meeting differently. I will take some portion of responsibility for that. I thought that having met Lew and Dane already would reassure your dragon much more than it did.”

“I do like Lew and Dane,” I assured her, as though that was even in question.

“I’m glad.”

“I like Anthony, too. Well, I don’t actually. I don’t know him at all. I’m sure he’s really nice and I’m sorry I broke him.”

“Anthony is one of nature’s innocents and I’m sure you’ll come to like him a great deal. However, he is an intelligent man and he should have realised that touching a newly-mated dragon elder’s mate was not a very good idea. I’m certain he didn’t mean any disrespect, but he does let his curiosityget the better of him sometimes. Since Blaze had consented to let him touch, he forgot the danger of a dragon right beside him.”

“What did he want to touch Blaze for?”

I was embarrassed to admit now that I didn’t actually know that. I hadn’t heard what they’d said, only saw someone getting nearer and nearer to my mate.

Edith didn’t seem to find it odd that I didn’t know. Or, if she did, she hid it well.

“He’s never met a fire spirit before.”

“Oh?” I made that sound like a question because I wasn’t sure she’d actually given me an answer, even though she made it sound like she had. To my surprise, she answered again. I’d never had someone actually do that before, except Blaze. He always answered my questions. Most other people just told me what they wanted to tell me and ignored the rest.

“Like I said, Anthony is curious. He will want to speak to Blaze before you leave. I think he’ll have learned not to touch now, though.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled again.

“This means the responsibility for this incident is shared between me, Anthony and you, Alfie. Iunderstand your dragon instincts are overwhelming but you must learn to control them.”

“How do you control a massive dragon, though? Sometimes it overwhelms me and I worry it’s going to burst out. It did that before, you know. Just took over me and burst out. And sometimes it rumbles round my head like this.” I circled my head round and round to show what it felt like, as though my head was empty and the sound was echoing off the inside of my skull. Unfortunately, when I stopped to see her response, I’d made myself dizzy and went cross-eyed trying to focus on her.

“You must learn to communicate with your dragon. I understand you were cut off from it for a long time, and you’ll have to listen to its instincts. They areyourinstincts, too.”

I admitted then something that had been worrying me. I lowered my voice, afraid that one of my clan might hear. “I don’t think my dragon is a very good elder. It only comes out sometimes and that’s in a big rush of power when it wants to shift. The rest of the time, it’s just me. My father almost always had his dragon in his eyes.”

Edith’s lip curled into a sneer. “Do not try to be like your father, Alfie. He was not a good elder.”

“I don’t think—”

“You are already a better elder than he was. You have created alliances where he failed, have you not?”

“Well, yes, I suppose, but I think really Morgan made that alliance when he mated Lew.”

“Your dragon is protective and strong. You must learn to balance your need to protect with your need to lead. Listen to your dragon’s instincts and use them but don’t let them rule you.”

“I want to do that, but I don’t know how. Do you feel that way?”

It was a very personal question, of course, but she’d been incredibly forthcoming with answers and I wanted to take advantage of that while I could. I didn’t know when she’d stop wanting to answer.

Edith looked at me long and hard, as though deciding what to tell me. Her eyes were black and sharp but there was no dragon in them. After a while, I thought I saw a glimmer of it, a hint of power in her eyes that reassured me she was strong enough to protect my clan.

“Do you not think that every dragon here feels protective of their mate? Do you think that mydragon was happy to leave my human mate vulnerable amongst so many people I do not know well enough to trust?”

I hadn’t considered that. We were in her territory, after all. I shook my head. “What did you do to make your dragon okay with it?”

“I have learned to protect him in my own way. Nobody will be able to hurt him. If they try, I’ll know. In this room, we are far enough from everyone that nobody will overhear us when we talk and we can be private. However, we’ll hear a shout or cry for help. The corridor to the lounge is straight and I can be there in seconds, if I need to. Not only that, but I have left my mate with my clan beside him, and I trust my clan. Did you notice that Darren has stayed beside him the entire time?”

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