Page 67 of To Spark a Dragon's Love
“You have a tire swing?”
“That’s so cool.”
“Can you spin it around real fast?”
“Come on.” Harper didn’t spare me another glance as she took off running.
I resisted the urge to call after her and tell her to play safe. I wanted to. But I didn’t.
Mandy laughed as she stood beside me. “You know, that used to be my tire swing.”
“Yours?” My jaw dropped. “How?”
“Oh yeah,” Mandy said smugly. “My great-grandmama and then my grandma—rest their souls—worked up here with Guardian Malachy when he first came to our woods. It’s in our family to serve him. I grew up playing in these trees.”
“So you know about the…” I glanced at Grace, not sure what all the supernatural rules were, and she nodded, “…dragon shifter business.”
“Of course.” Mandy smiled. “We bear shifters might not live as long as dragons, but we’ve got just as long a history and memory.”
“Bear shifters?” I looked her over with fresh eyes.Yep. That makes sense.“Are they?” I turned toward the direction of the boys.
“Don’t worry, they’ll take care of your girl.” Mandy slapped me on the shoulder. I would’ve gone flying if my feet weren’t planted firmly on the ground. “Now let’s go have some warm coffee and you can tell me all the guardian drama while the kids are entertained. Word is that you’re making him stronger again…”
24
Malachy
Another Hit
Get to her.
I stumbled down the hall, hating how big my home was. The fire burning in my chest and the painful tightening of my burnt scales hurt worse when I knew salvation was coming. One kiss from my beautiful mate would ease the pain. I felt like an addict, shaking as I crawled my way toward her scent.
“She’s already in your bedroom, waiting,” Lucan grumbled as he tried to help me along.
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped at my brother. The response was instinctual—half brought on by pain—and fueled by the possessive nature of my dragon.
I didn’t know when it’d started, but his obsession with tearing me down had quieted, replaced with an incessant demand to be by Willow’s side.
She was a reprieve in more ways than one.
And despite how much it hurt to breathe with the grinding of my bones as hellfire burned through my veins, I still had a bit of a smile knowing Willow waited for me.
Another few steps.
“It is my business when you’re two steps from death every night now and she’s the only thing keeping you together,” Lucan growled.
I ignored him.
He’d always been a little dramatic.
Besides, he didn’t know what I was capable of. I’d shielded my little brother from the worst of my suffering. If he’d known I’d started living in the cave not because of my self-depreciating loneliness but because I physically couldn’t fly the extra twenty miles through the forest then he never would’ve left me alone. But I hadn’t told him then and I wouldn’t tell him now.
Especially not when I needed the energy to make it another step.
“Are you listening to me?” Lucan’s voice felt distant. Underwater. “You can’t go on like this. It’s not the natural order of things. Earth is taking too much. There’s no balance of power.”
“Are you calling me weak, brother?” Smoke billowed from my nostrils as I huffed and leaned my weight against the wall.
