Page 65 of Bearly Yours
I toed my mostly melted shoes off and climbed gently onto the bed beside Roarke. He lifted an arm and I snuggled carefully against his side. I could see he was getting drowsy because of the medicine Dice had given him.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the Vampire King and my alpha. “And please tell Virion thank you as well. His High Elven blade was amazing.”
“I will. Can you please have Roarke call me when he wakes up?” King Draven asked.
“I can hear you,” Roarke grumbled, his eyes still closed.
Draven laughed. “Just checking your hearing, old buzzard.” He gave me a swift hug and left, probably heading home to assure Consort Mia that he was fine, and that we’d all survived. I was surprised that Mesmer hadn’t come, but when I thought about it for a minute, I was sure King Draven had asked the gargoyle to stay with Mia, just in case.
“My dragon felt your alpha power,” Roarke said to Riggs. “Why are you here, alpha of this small Clan?” The unspoken message being that he had enough power to be the alpha of a much larger Clan.
Alpha Riggs hugged me and gently squeezed Roarke’s shoulder. “Because here is home,” he said simply, then left, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“Sleep with me, little warrior,” Roarke sighed. “I can’t keep awake any longer.”
I snorted. “I’m no warrior. I was terrified. Literally shaking in my tennies, terrified. I thought I was either going to pass out or throw up.”
“And yet you did neither,” he said softly. “Instead, you stabbed his third heart. Do you know what a dragon’s third heart is said to represent?”
“No.”
“A dragon’s first heart is honor, their second integrity, and their third is love. And,mo chroì, his third heart was dead long ago. His third heart had become corrupted. You did the world a favor when you stabbed it.”
I sniffed tears back and snuggled closer to him. I didn’t want to let him go after the awfulness of the day. I just wanted to hold onto him forever. “I’m sorry you were hurt, and I’m so sorry you’re in pain right now.”
He groaned and opened his eyes. “No crying; you’ll kill my third heart.” I giggled. “Lean over me and kiss me, please?” he begged. “I can’t move.”
I did just that, kissing him softly, then we snuggled together and fell asleep.
Chapter 19
Emrie
Six Months Later
Iwent hunting for my mate and found him by the new sheep pen. Since I’d teased him about sheep being one of his hoards that night outside his restaurant months ago, we’d added sheep to our little hobby farm, and to date, neither he nor his dragon had eaten any.
In all honesty, I think the little baby lambs had grabbed hold of his third heart and hadn’t released it, because he loved on those lambs nearly as much as his horses, and that was saying something.
I found him by the sheep pen, checking over a baby lamb that had gotten tangled in the fence. “Did she get scratched up?”
He raised his head and smiled at me. “No. She looks good.” He held the lamb up to his face and kissed her little nose. “Be careful, little one.” Then he released her back to her mama.
He washed up at the water pump we had in the back of our property, then cuddled me close, nipping my neck. I shivered at the touch of his lips. “The Clan are coming soon for movieday,” I reminded him. It was Thursday, and since Roarke and I split our time between here and my house on Clan property, Roarke’s movie days here had been commandeered by the Clan. “We’re watching that new romcom that came out last week on streaming.”
He chuckled. “You’re the only person I know that has so many men wrapped around your little pinky finger that they’re willing to watch the latest romcom with you.”
I made a face. “They come for your food.”
He entangled our hands and started back to the house. “Agree to disagree.” When we got to the mudroom, he helped me to get my muddy boots off, then hung my sweater up on one of the hooks along the wall.
“Is Dice almost here?”
He and his dragon wereveryimpatient for Dice’s visit. We all were. He dropped to his knees right there on the hard floor and kissed my stomach tenderly. “You okay in there,a leanbh?”
“She’s fine,” I assured him, stroking his hair. I looked down at my stomach, and like she always did for her daddy, she moved in reaction to his voice. I could already tell she would be a daddy’s girl. I was guessing, but I felt sure she was a girl.
“And Dice is nearly here. She buzzed the gate only a moment ago.”
