Page 47 of Consorting with Dragons

He had also told me I could never leave him. It still didn’t mean I had forgiven him for a damn thing though, and I was still mad as hell at the way he’d spoken to me earlier that morning. I was brooding about that as we flew through the warm air that day, when Talon suddenly spoke up in my head. “Are we looking for a new lake, Rylie? There are some nice ones ahead, I think. I can see them in the distance. Ones we’ve never been to.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“We passed the one we usually go to a while ago and you never told me to stop. Are we going to a new one?”

“Oh dear, I guess we must be. I was preoccupied and didn’t notice it. Do you want to go back or just go on to the next lake?”

“We can keep going,” his little voice chirped at me. “It’s a nice day to fly.”

I didn’t want to go too far, though, because all I needed to do was to get lost out here in these mountains. I’d never hear the end of that. I began to pay closer attention to what I was doing. Before long, we passed over a slightly smaller lake, probably five or six miles beyond where we usually swam. There weren’t many convenient rocks to lie on like at our old lake, but the shore was well defined, and it even had a bit of a “beachy” area. He landed and I unstrapped myself from the harness and jumped down, moving over to some patchy land near the southern side, while Talon dipped and swam and paddled about, eating his fill of fish. I could see that the water was really clear and because it wasn’t too deep, it was lovely and warmed a little by the sun. I took off my clothes, all except for my breka and waded in the water a bit while Talon swam.

He splashed me playfully and I splashed him back, and I even rode his back in the water a little while as he went out to a deeper part of the lake. He dove down into its depths until the water turned colder and colder. After a while, I needed a breath, so I pulled on his neck to get him to come up. I climbedoff him then and swam over to sit on the beach. It was much warmer there in the sun and I found myself dozing a little. All the adrenalin from the fight I’d had with Quinn earlier had sneaked up on me. I fell asleep and only realized how much time had passed when Talon came out of the water and shook himself beside me. I realized then that the sun was sinking lower in the sky, and that we’d better make our way home before it got any later. I could already hear Talon’s stomach rumbling with hunger even though he’d eaten a lot of the little fish in the lake.

I got dressed quickly, and he extended his leg so I could climb up on his back. He flew up into the sky and turned away from the sun and flew in the direction of home.

Chapter Fourteen

Quinn

I’d been back at the camp for only one night when I got the call about Rylan. It came across my communicator not long after I’d eaten my first meal and was on my second cup of strong Lycan tea. I hated the stuff, but it helped keep me awake to do the paperwork I needed to finish. I was trying to feel less guilty about how I’d treated my new mate before I left. I hadn’t called him yet, because I was still angry, and now I felt foolish about that. After all, I’d accused him of being immature and yet here I was, acting the same way. When I got notice of the call, I thought it must be him and wondered why he hadn’t called me directly.

When I answered, I saw my mistake. The call was from the home number and not Rylan’s communicator. The cook’s name was Madal and she’d been my cook for years, and my family’s before that. I had absolutely no idea why she would be calling me, but my mind went instantly to Rylan and something being wrong. I got a bad feeling and had to take a deep breath.

“What’s wrong, Madal?” I barked into the communicator as soon as I heard her voice. She obviously wasn’t putting the communicator she was using up to her mouth, so I had to strain to hear her.

“Madal, what’s the matter? Is it Rylan?”

“Sir, he left here last evening with his dragon and when I got here this morning I saw he hadn’t returned. I knew you’d want to know.”

“Of course I do. Where was he headed?” I was trying to keep calm, but I was already on my feet and pacing up and down inmy tent. There was no way I could stand still, because the first thought that came to my mind was that he’d left me. I’d been way too hard on him, and he’d gone back home. I realized almost immediately that the thought was foolish. He couldn’t have taken his dragon with him if he was going home. How would that work? I took a deep breath and willed myself to calm down.

I needed to talk to him. Surely, he knew I had no real regrets about marrying him. I was obsessed with him far too much, that was all, and I was very afraid that he knew it and tried to control me with that obsession. I’d said things I hadn’t meant—not really. I was trying to look out for him, but all he did was fight me. He was at once the major source of all the annoyance, distress, and inconvenience in my life, the damn bane of my existence, and the fact that he was also the object of all my desires was just plain irritating. I feared he was well aware of that fact, though, and he used it to his advantage.

“Did he say where he was going when he left?”

“The men in the stables said that he and his dragon were talking about going swimming in the lake they like to go to. The one just south of here. They said that your mate went back in the house and came back out wearing his coat you gave him to keep off the rain. That was not too long after you left to go back to camp.”

“Has someone been to the lake to check on them?”

“Not yesterday, they didn’t, sir. The men went home at the usual time. When the night guards got here, they were a little late, but all looked quiet, so they didn’t check on him. When I discovered he’d never come home, I sent the men out looking. But there was no sign of them there at that lake this morning. Or anywhere along the way.”

“Tell them to keep looking, Madal. Call in help if they need to. I’m on my way.”

It would take me a little over two hours to fly home and then if he still wasn’t at home…I wasn’t sure what to do next. I simply had to find him.

I was hoping that Rylan would be home when I arrived, but when I saw he wasn’t, I went back out to the enclosure and began to berate the men standing around out there.

“If you haven’t found him yet, then why the fuck are you even here?” I shouted at them.

“Sir, we just came back to check and see if he was home. We’re going out again.”

“Damn right you are! Those are communicators in your pocket, so use them! Communicate with each other to make sure you’re covering all the lakes and ponds! Look in the forest too, in case they decided to land on a trail or even a cliffside with an overlook. One of them could be injured, or they could be lost. Call me immediately if you locate any sign of them.”

“Yes, sir, right away!”

They scrambled to climb back in their hovercrafts and be on their way before I pulled out my disruptor and started shooting every last one of them. It was what I felt like doing. I’d already warned them not to let Rylan go flying without a guard with him. It had begun to drizzle rain, so I pulled out my rain gear along with my heavier cape from my packs while Sulamon ate his dinner and drank water to refresh himself. I paced up and down impatiently as I waited for my dragon to rest a few minutes before we left again. I didn’t want to push him too hard, but I was worried, and the later it got, and the more I worried I was, and the more my feelings turned to anger. Not against Sulamon, but against Rylan. I told myself he was willful and spoiled and used to having his own way. He might even have done this on purpose, and if I found out he had, I’d put a stop to it.

It occurred to me that he might have gotten in touch with some of his relatives and told them to come for him to take himback home. They had met him somewhere, so he could leave me. I almost called his omak, but I managed to calm down enough to realize that kind of thinking was alarmist and crazy. It was far more likely that he’d gone too far afield, and he’s simply gotten lost. He might have lost his communicator too, and that’s why he hadn’t called for help. I told myself a lot of things, but none of them were helpful or comforting in the least. As soon as Sulamon was ready, I climbed up into my harness, and we soared up into the sky. I told him we were looking for Rylan and Talon and to keep an eye out for them, but of course, he made no reply. I couldn’t tell if he’d heard me or understood me at all.

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