Page 95 of To Spark a Dragon's Love
A Bad Idea
I had one of the songs Willow always sang stuck on loop in my head. Annoying as it was, it drowned out the grumbling of my dragon.
You’re weak,he said.
He was right, but the thought of no more blow jobs had me following behind Willow like a lamb to the slaughter. I’d go. I’d even keep up.
But I wasn’t going to like this.
“It’ll be okay,”Lucan hiked through the snow behind me, sensing my worry. For all his bravado, I noticed he kept Riley close to his side.
“We won’t let her get hurt,”Kieran reassured us as he carried the tail of our party.
Ember was also conveniently within his reach.
And I didn’t know what part of me giving to Earth during the past few hundred years had made them believe that this wasn’t going to hurt, but no one was listening to me anymore.
Willow was the one leading us to her own doom and I was powerless, following her snowshoe trail. She looked more alive than I’d seen her in weeks as she crunched through the snow.The tips of her ears and nose were pink. Her eyes burned with purpose as she trudged ahead.
I knew what she was feeling. That fire burned deep within, drawing you to where you were supposed to be. It wasn’t in me anymore, but I sensed the power of it through our bond.
Earth called to my mate.
And this was a bad fucking idea.
I debated on ending the charade early, picking my mate up and throwing her over my shoulder as I flew back to the safety of the lodge. Harper was there with Grace and Amanda. Willow decided it was too dangerous for our girl to come. So why she thought any of this was a good idea was beyond me.
But I knew from Willow’s single-minded focus that she’d just try to come out here again.
I needed to be there in case anything happened. If Earth tried to use Willow’s human body to absorb Her excess energy, then I could at least step in to take the blow. They didn’t expect that, though.
No, this was just some expedition tosee.
They didn’t need to see. I could tell them everything I knew. It wasn’t pretty. I wanted Willow nowhere near it.
My breath came faster as I clutched my fists at my side. I needed to get control of myself.
“We really do think she’ll be okay.”Kieran fell into step beside me.
“You can’t know that,” I growled at my old friend.
Willow marched in front of us. The sunlight played peek-a-boo through the branches overhead, casting a golden glow around her hair as she crested the ridge. She looked back at me with a soft smile as snow shimmered in the background.
I was going to die if I lost her.
Earth didn’t care.
She’d take her from me.
Kieran coughed to clear his throat. “I felt like you when I first let myself love Ember. That I couldn’t live with such a precious piece of my heart outside my scales.”
The raw honesty in his admission reminded me of times past and the deep conversations we used to have. An old part of me awakened at the thought, wanting to see if it were possible to have that again, and knowing I’d need to be the one to cross the bridge.
We walked in silence for a few heated breaths. Sulfuric smoke fogged around our faces before I asked, “What changed?”
“Nothing.” Kieran smiled wistfully as he put his hands in his pockets. “Except me. I had to realize human skin isn’t so thin after all.”
Hers isn’t,my dragon grumbled.But yours still is.
