Page 34 of Joven's Bride
Carly made a plaintive sound and stroked its little head.
“Don’t worry, ma’am. We will mend his little wing and take him where his herd can find him. The raptors are notorious for stealing dragon young.”
“But we were just starting to bond…”
“We can’t have that,” Honric said. “He’s small and very cute right now, but soon he will grow to a hundred kilograms. Then he will be dangerous. These dragons are not pets.”
“Will they take him back?”
“Usually. If they don’t, he will be raised with a few other orphans we’ve found or have been rescued. When they are old enough to fend for themselves, we will release them back into the mountain forest.”
Joven leaned over her and picked up the dragon carefully. Honric had brought a small carrying cage which he held open for Joven to slip the animal inside.
“Thank you for rescuing the little guy. No doubt, he would either have died, or the raptor would have retaken him.” He closed the cage and said, “I’ll see myself out.”
“How’s the shoulder?” Joven asked when they were alone again.
“Sore, I think I broke something. It hurt like hell when I landed.
“Your clavicle. The nanites should have it repaired by morning. I’m afraid your tunic is ruined, though.”
“That must be why I can’t move my arm. Oh, my God, that freaking raptor was as big as an ostrich!”
Joven’s mouth compressed into a grim line. “It could have hurt you badly, trying to get its prey away from you. But I was bigger.”
“I wasn’t putting the crying baby together with cawing raptor overhead… I should have remembered that one carried off a baby dragon from the meadow.”
“Next time come get me or someone to help you. I don’t know what an ostrich is, but I’ve been here long enough to learn those raptors are dangerous. They’ve been known to fight adult dragons when trying to get one of the babies for a meal.”
“I won’t make that mistake again.”
Joven sat down on the bed beside her, picked up her hand on her uninjured side, and pressed the back to his lips. “Meomee, I have never been that scared in my whole life!”
“I love you, too,meomee.”
