Page 40 of To Spark a Dragon's Love
My stomach bottomed out, waiting for the inevitable call that would render me useless to anyone but Her. For the first time, I dug in my talons, wondering how best to fight against the compulsion.
Just as soon as the quake started, it stopped.
The front door to the cabin swung open.
Despite the rage I felt pulsing through our bond, Willow was calm and collected when she marched down the porch steps.
Her silky, blonde hair shone in the moonlight as it flowed behind her and she took a steadying breath before looking at me with those intense eyes that seemed to expose the depths of my soul.
The tears shimmering within them called to the protective nature of my beast, threatening to bring me to my knees in apology or tear apart the world to make them stop.
I hadn’t realized anything other than Earth could have such power over me.
“Why did they take her?” Willow asked, trusting I had the answers.
“To hurt me.” I felt my throat close up. “To prove that I’m weak. That I’m no longer fit to be guardian. To end me.”
I ignored Kieran’s burning gaze and the thousand questions swimming through his brain; didn’t look at my brother or pay attention to his pity.
I only had eyes for my mate, waiting for her to judge and condemn me as was her right.
“When you find him, will you kill him?”
There was only one answer she wanted to hear so I gave her the truth of it.
“Yes.”
“Good.” She nodded. A lone tear slipped down her cheek. “Bring my baby back to me.”
My dragon burst from my skin and roared his fury to the night as he took to the skies at Willow’s command.
15
Willow
Hollow Ache
I sat on the front porch rocking chair, staring at the pre-dawn gray yard while my breath fogged around my face. It’d only been a few hours since they’d left—since someone had taken Harper—and I was going insane.
Every time I thought of her waking up in some strange dragon’s claws, screaming for me from that high up in the air, whatever I hadn’t yet thrown up tried to wrench itself from my stomach.
And the worst part was feeling this powerless.
I couldn’t call the cops. Couldn’t track her down on foot. The world was falling apart. There were literal monsters who kidnapped children from their beds and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Breathing hard, I pulled my knees to my chest. Being outside was my normal go-to when things got too heavy, but even that couldn’t soothe me now.
I’m the worst mother.
I’d been making out with Malachy like some horny teenager when I knew he didn’t even want to be with me while my daughter had been stolen from her bed.
I should’ve gone with him. But I wasn’t stupid and I knew I’d only slow him down. She needed me, though. I could feel it. My daughter needed me and I was here and she was somewhere scared and alone.
“Stop beating yourself up.” Ember came outside and wrapped a blanket over my shoulders as I continued to rock in the porch chair. Riley stood beside her. The two of them were worried sick.
I huffed a bitter laugh. “I can’t beat myself up enough. If I hadn’t been—”
“If you hadn’t been what, Willow?” Riley cut me off. “If you hadn’t been sacrificing yourself like a martyr and entering a mating bond you didn’t want just to help save the world from the apocalypse, then you would’ve been here to fight off a dragon by yourself?”
