Page 46 of Bearly Yours
I chuckled. “Let me know what day they pick. I’ll have to shut down for the evening and have the chefs prep triple the amount of food they usually do for a full dining room.”
Riggs’ eyes brightened in silent laughter, and he nodded, taking another sip.
But after another few minutes, Riggs’ question about Emrie was itching at me, like a scratch that I couldn’t quite get to. Maybe she was just sleeping in today? Shehadbeen more tired than usual lately. The worry and stress, and also not sleeping as well because she was on the ground floor of the lodge, were all getting to her.
“I think I’ll go check on Emrie,” I said, putting my empty cup in the sink.
Riggs did the same. “Mind if I come with?”
I thought it was an odd request, but nodded anyway. By the time I made my way to her bedroom door, my senses were crawling and prickling, and my dragon was rumbling deep inside my chest.
“You okay there?” Riggs asked.
I shrugged, trying to work out the tenseness in my shoulders. “My dragon’s on edge. Not sure why. I think he’s picking up something my regular senses aren’t.”
“My bear is picking it up too. Sorry, normally I wouldn’t intrude on Emrie, but, if you wouldn’t mind?” He indicated the door with a head tilt.
I nodded and knocked on her door. “Emrie,mo chroì, are you awake?” I used my extra dragon senses to listen through her door, but all I could hear was light, steady breathing. The only other sound I could hear was the light crackling of a fire burning in the fireplace.
“Emrie?” Icalled, knocking harder.
Riggs’ eyes looked troubled. “I think we’d better go in.”
“Let me go in first, just in case...” All I needed was for Emrie to be sleeping in the buff and me allowing her alpha to walk in and see her. She’d never forgive me.
“Of course.” He gestured me in, and I opened the door carefully. Maybe she was sick? That thought had me moving across her room swiftly as I knelt beside her bed.
“Emrie,” I pushed the honey blonde locks away from her eyes, and tapped her cheeks lightly. “Mo chroì, are you okay?” After tapping for a few seconds, and then progressing to shaking her shoulders lightly and she still wasn’t waking up, I started to panic.
“Riggs, she’s not waking up!”
He was beside me in an instant. “Emrie!” he called, and he infused so much alpha power in that one word that the hair all over my body stood up like it was saluting a superior officer, and my body felt electrically charged as though my dragon was flying through a lighting storm. Dancing dragons this alpha was powerful!
But Emrie remained still, clutching a small pillow to her chest as though she were holding something precious. Her skin was clammy and cold, yet she was dewy with sweat.
I clutched her hand in mine, a strong foreboding overcoming me. “Wake up, love. I let Riggs into your room. Don’t you want to say something snarky to me?”
Nothing. No movement except for the rapid movements behind her eyes. It looked as though she were dreaming, orhaving some kind of nightmare. She was mumbling occasionally in her sleep. I had to tune into my dragon hearing to hear what she was saying. When I did, I glared at the alpha near me. “Is there a reason my mate is going on and on about you liking bubble baths?”
Riggs grimaced. “My Clan knows I love my baths. And mate, I think we’ve got bigger problems right now.”
I grumbled but turned back to my Emrie on the bed. When she shivered and her skin went colder, I toed off my shoes and climbed into the bed with her. Sitting against her plush, cushiony backboard, I gathered her to my chest, and tried to share my warmth with her. And as a dragon, I could certainly bring the heat.
“I’ll call the apothecarist,” Riggs said, stepping out of the room and pulling out his phone.
I could hear his conversation with Dice on the phone. Her sleepy voice, and her consent to come by the Clan lodge as soon as she could get dressed.
Emrie shivered in my arms, and my dragon ratcheted up the furnace in our body, sharing our heat gratefully for our mate. “Ahh, love. What have you gotten yourself into this time.”
It was like she was in a coma.
I was trying hard not to bawl like awain.
Riggs came back in and put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “She’s on her way. I need to go down to assure she’s let onto the Clan property without any problems.”
I nodded, clutching Emrie to my chest. “Quickly,” I choked.
He nodded and swiftly left. I could hear the front door open and close, and the sound of something with a lot of horsepower start up and rev to life. The vehicle quickly faded into the distance, and the last of my distractions was gone.
