Page 19 of Her Scot of Bygones
So I did without hesitation, trusting him completely. I trusted him more than I had ever trusted anyone, including my sisters. In fact, when he helped me down a steep rock with a sheer drop that led to an uneven tunnel path, sidled by another drop straight down into a cave full of churning ocean water, I knew without a doubt he would never let me fall.
“And I would not,” he assured, catching my thought. He pointed out a crude railing embedded in the wall and met my eyes, his gaze just as serious as his voice again. “As I told your sister, I will protect you with my life, so dinnae fear what lies ahead because I willnae let harm come to you.”
That same familiar, sensual warmth rolled through me as his eyes lingered on mine before he urged me to hold the railing and follow in his footsteps.
“’Twill not be an overly long journey to the forest below,” he said as my dragon sight kicked in, which was a good thing. Moonlight sliced down through cracks here and there, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“’Tis good you dinnae fear heights,” he commented, clearly catching it in my thoughts. “Otherwise, this might have gone poorly.”
“No, that would be Ellie.” I wondered how all this would go for her. “She’s deathly afraid of heights.”
“Och,” he muttered. “’Tis unfortunate for a dragon. What of Willow?”
“Complete opposite.” I tried to focus on the smell of the chilly sea salt and brine gusting across my face rather than his delicious, masculine scent, but it was impossible and made focusing difficult. “The higher the better for her, and a good thing given she’s a pilot.”
“Now that makes more sense for a dragon,” he replied. “Though I imagine her inner beast hates every minute of it.”
“Why?” I would have thought the opposite. “I’d think her dragon would love being up in the clouds.”
“Without spreading its wings?” he said, a frown evident in his voice as we made our way down a path that grew slicker by the moment. “I imagine it would feel trapped and out of control. ‘Tis hard to think of a worse fate.”
I never looked at it like that, but until a week ago, I didn’t believe my father when he’d claimed he was half dragon and so were we, so I hadn’t had an awful lot of time to mull it over. Now I was, and I couldn’t help but frown as well.
“What would that do to a person?” I wondered. “To their human side anyway.”
“’Tis hard to know, but I suspect it would cause a lot of inner turmoil.”
“Like anger,” I assumed, thinking about Willow’s temper.
When I felt him hesitate to answer because he didn’t want to worry me, I prompted him to go on. “It’s okay. Please. I want to know.” Not just that, but I knew Willow would be traveling back in time as well. “What else could it do to our human half without us realizing?”
“Honestly? I think it would lend fear to her inner beast, because it may feel so out of control,” he replied. “If she had embraced her dragon, I doubt that fear would be there because it trusted her human half to control the plane, but without that crucial connection, ‘twould be like clipping a dragon’s wings, shoving it in a metal cylinder and whipping it across the sky.” He shook his head. “I cannae imagine a worse sensation. ‘Twould undoubtedly turn me against my human half.”
“Interesting,” I murmured, looking at Willow in a whole new light. Did she feel her dragon’s distress when she flew? If so, why keep flying? I became so consumed with worry I missed astep and nearly slipped, but Lucas’s hand covered mine on the railing, and I calmed instantly, feeling safe in a way I never had before.
“’Tis alright, lass,” he said softly, his voice steady and dependable. “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and know I’m here for you.” His voice roughened with emotion. “I willalwaysbe here for you.”
I knew he meant it, too. Better still, he meant it whether he would have to let me go or not, and that meant so much more than he realized. More than I realized, for that matter. To the point, I told him I was okay and to keep going.
Then I told him so much more than I had intended to.
CHAPTER TWELVE
–Lucas–
TRUTH BE TOLD, I was surprised when Hazel brought out a side of me I didn’t realize existed. Yet when I felt her worry about her sister, Willow, I discovered a calming, dependable side of myself that surfaced whenever Hazel needed it.
Even better, it coaxed Hazel to open up about herself as we headed down the cliff tunnel to the forest below. Things I hadn’t sensed in her mind, but I suspected her inner dragon wanted me to know anyway.
Or perhaps, wanted her to know I wasn’t like her father.
Orher mother.
“When he left, she didn’t take it very well,” she went on after revealing her father had walked out on them when she was young. “Neither did I, for that matter. Even though I was little, I loved him.”
While I wanted to stop and pull her into my arms to comfort her because of the emotion in her voice, I knew better. She wanted to discuss this on her own terms, so to speak, because these were things she rarely shared. Things she usually kept tucked away inside, but felt comfortable enough sharing with me, where she typically refrained with her sisters.
“Though I told my sisters otherwise, because what he did to uswashorrible,” she went on, “I still loved my father dearly despite the heartache he put me and my mom through. I couldn’t say why, either, just that when he was there, he was good to us. Truly loved us and even though I wondered how Icould be so certain of that, now, given he might be protecting us from this pact, I can’t help but wonder.”
