Page 35 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
He chuckled. “It does, indeed. Being a shifter always means intense feelings. It’s both a boon and a drawback of being a shifter. It takes many years to master those feelings. Shifter teenagerhood is not pretty.”
I laughed. I didn’t imagine it was. Being a teenager was hard enough withoneperson’s thoughts andfeelings. Add in another and it sounded like a recipe for disaster.
“Come, cuddle up with me.”
I shyly scooted closer to him and leaned against his foreleg again. He thrummed in happiness, and I realized that I’d been able to decipher the meaning behind his thrums all along. I didn’t know how I knew what they meant, I just knew. Maybe it was part of the mate sense of knowing? Whatever it was, I was grateful for it. Elandor seemed to speak just as much with his thrums as he did with his words and body language. It was like a whole new language that I suddenly understood. Not enough to thrum back to him, but enough to know the meaning and intent of his vocalizations.
Elandor wrapped his neck and head around me. His scales were warm, yet pliable. I didn’t understand how they could also be tough, but I sensed they were. You could probably shoot a missile at him and he’d be okay.
He rested his head on the ground, leaving me safely cocooned within the circle of his body, and we both eventually drifted to sleep.
Chapter 11
Everly
Later that day, the spell wore down and I changed back into my human form. It was a relief to stretch my human muscles and walk around the villa for a while, taking in the surroundings.
When I’d come out of my dreamstate yesterday, I’d found myself on the couch in the living room I shared with Alaric. He’d been pacing restlessly, lookingveryfreaked out. I’d apologized for yanking Elandor away from him—I still felt bad about that—and explained what Elandor had told me about the dreamstate, and my power over it. That I was one of the masters of that place, which I was still trying to come to terms with. It felt like someone had plunked me down in the middle of a fairytale and told me that this was my life now.
He’d hugged me in relief, then left shortly after, late for a meeting with King Draven as well as some of theEnclave. When he left, he had still looked like someone had whapped him over the head with a heavy object.
I went through the areas that seemed safe for general guests, staying away from anything that looked remotely like it might lead to other people’s living spaces—like the bedrooms in the east wing—then made my way down the stairs and into the billiard room. As I passed the library, a woman with long, honey blond hair was leaving. She had a tool belt strapped around her waist.
“Oh,” she said, startled, her light brown eyes wide. “Hello. I don’t think I know you.” She was beautiful, and if I wasn’t mistaken, pregnant.
I gave her my hand. “Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Everly. I’m here with Alaric?” It came out sounding like a question because I didn’t know if anyone here knew yet who Alaric was. I guessed some of them did, because, well, we werehereafter all.
Her eyes got even wider and she leaned in closer. “You mean the shifter who’s going to be crowned the next shifter king?” she asked in a whisper.
I gulped. Yep. That was him. I could only nod.
She looked up and down the hallway as if afraid to either see Alaric turn the corner, or someone else about to come yell at her for daring to speak about the new Prime. “I haven’t met him, but Roarke, my mate, says he’s a really good guy.” She shrugged with a little smile on her face. “That’s good enough for me. He’s beenaround long enough that he’s got really good instincts about people.”
Roarke? As in another dragon shifter? The other one that they’d been considering? From what I remembered they had said he wasn’t powerful enough.
“I’m sorry for being nosy,” she said, adjusting her tool belt so it faced the right way. “I’m Emrie, by the way. It’s really nice to meet you, Everly.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I managed.
She pursed her lips. “I think... would you and Alaric be willing to have dinner with my Clan, Roarke, and I?” She laughed. “We’re kind of a crazy bunch. I might have to ask Alpha Riggs, though.” She took out her phone and frowned at it, rolling her eyes as she read a text.
“I can’t really speak for Alaric,” I said, “because I don’t know what his schedule is, but I’ll see if I can snag him for a dinner this week. Dinner sounds fun.”
Also, I thought it might be good to get the perspective of someone who was mated to a dragon shifter. Maybe she wouldn’t mind talking with me about her experience with it.
“For sure,” she said, still fiddling with her phone, then it dinged and her expression brightened. “Alpha Riggs is fine with it, and my mate says it’s fine as well.” She put away her phone. “Now, what do you like to eat? I know the guys are carnivores, but I’m holding out hope that we can have something other than steak or hamburgers.” She made a face and put her hand on herpregnant belly, as if the thought of a steady diet of meat was distressing to her unborn child. Or maybe just her stomach. “Not that we can’t have those if you want!”
I laughed. She was a little adorable. I loved how plain spoken she was, but it was paired with, what felt like, a humble, sweet personality. I got the feeling she was normally a little shy, but was really trying to befriend me. I felt warmed by her thoughtfulness.
“I’m hungry all the time lately,” I assured her. “I think I’d be okay with anything, really.” I didn’t want to be rude and order what I was really craving, because whatever they made would be fine with me. I sincerely wasn’t all that picky.
But... I had really been craving spaghetti and garlic bread lately.
She wagged a finger at me, her eyes alight with mischief. “None of that. I can tell you’re dreaming of something special. I’ll ask Roarke to make it if one of my brothers doesn’t know how. He’s amazing and can make literally anything.”
I smiled sheepishly. Caught. “Umm, spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread?”
“Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!” She yanked her phone out of her back pocket again and texted that to herself. “What works best for the drink?” She put a finger to her bottom lip. “Have you ever had horchata? It’s this rice milk drink with cinnamon and sugar, but Roarke puts a little nutmeg and vanilla in it, and I swear it’s to die for.”
