Page 21 of The Sapphire Dragon Prince
“You’re still not going into heat,” he said.
I shook my head, tears forming in my eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I whispered. “I want you. Every part of my body, heart, and soul wants you. So why am I not going into heat?”
Azurus let out a heavy sigh and pulled me into a tight hug. “I don’t know, my love,” he said. “That’s what this entire quest isabout, isn’t it? It’s about finding ways to break through whatever has you in its grip so that we can get on with our lives.”
“But what if we never do?” I asked in a whisper. “What if I’m like this forever?”
“You won’t be,” Azurus insisted, brushing a hand over my head. “I promise, you won’t be. Whatever happens, we’ll still be together.”
I smiled sadly, praying he was right. I didn’t think a powerful dragon like Azurus would still want a broken omega who couldn’t be fixed, though.
“Come,” Azurus said, moving me so that he could stand up. “It’s been a long and tiring day. Let’s set up the tent I brought and get some sleep.”
“Alright,” I agreed, rubbing my arms and feeling useless once I was on my feet. I wasn’t sure what I could offer someone like Azurus the way I was now.
I was so stuck in my own, low feelings that I didn’t notice the way Azurus had started to frown again once he untied the condensed tent from his pack. He shook out the rolled fabric and set it and the folding tent posts that came with it to the side, then just stood over them, hand raised, looking at them.
I blinked, waiting for something to happen. I wasn’t entirely certain what he was trying to do. It was almost as if he expected the tent to erect itself.
No, it was as if he was trying to erect it with magic…and nothing was happening.
“Are you certain everything is alright?” I asked him in a cautious voice. I didn’t know anything about dragon magic. I assumed it was always there. Was it possible that magic got tired at the end of a strenuous day of work, the same way that bodies did, and wasn’t as easy to use?
“Everything is fine,” Azurus said, reflecting his earlier, tense answer, complete with false smile as he lowered his hand.
“Is…is something not working?” I asked awkwardly, uncertain how to put my suspicion into words.
Instead of answering me, Azurus bent to scoop up the tent materials and set them to the side. “What do you say to sleeping under the stars tonight?” he asked, forced enthusiasm in his voice.
My suspicions grew to the point where they on their own caused me more anxiety. Something was definitely wrong with Azurus’s magic.
At the same time, as he pulled out the bedroll we’d packed, the idea of sleeping in my mate’s arms under the beautiful, starry sky that spread above us was a fantastic one.
“I’d love to sleep under the stars with you,” I said, letting out a breath and the tension I’d been holding with it. “In fact, nothing sounds better than that.”
Azurus smiled with genuine feeling as well. I could practically see the relief wash through him and the affection that swooped in to replace it.
“A night of rest under the stars is exactly what we need,” he said.
It truly was. Azurus spread out our bedroll, we took a few moments to eat a bit of the food we’d brought with us, then we took off our shoes and climbed into the bedroll together. It was so far from what my mate probably expected of sleeping with me. I had no heat to offer him, no passion to satisfy him with. Azurus didn’t seem to mind, though. I loved how patient my alpha was, how generous and understanding.
I just loved him. I could feel that love growing with each moment we spent together. Heat or no heat, we truly were fated mates. I could feel the bond that would be between us hovering just out of reach, but for the first time, I started to believe that we wouldn’t need to have wild, passionate sex first in order for it toform. It would be there to join us one way or another, I just had to have faith and be patient.
It was easy to be patient when I lay in my alpha’s arms. Even though Azurus and I started out our snuggly time in bed together with light, unimportant conversation, I drifted off before I knew it. There was something so comforting about Azurus’s large body cradling my much smaller one. For the first time in ages, I slept soundly and peacefully, without a single nightmare.
That might have been why I was so startled to awake to the sound of a loud, though distant, cock crowing.
“Hmm?” I mumbled, rubbing my face against Azurus’s chest as sleep left me feeling jittery and ready to flee.
The cock crowed again, and it was joined by another, then another.
“Three roosters?” Azurus asked, sounding as if he’d been awake longer than me, but letting me continue to sleep on him.
The roosters cried out once more.
“I guess it’s morning,” I said as we both sat up.
The implication of hearing three cocks crowing wasn’t lost on either of us. Sleep left me entirely as Azurus and I locked eyes and smiled.
