Page 20 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
She gaped at him for a beat or two, then turned on her heeled boots and slammed the door on her way out.
Well. That went well.
Alaric sighed again, and this time, it sounded world-weary.
Alaric was obviously handsome. He was built like a tank, and while his features weren’t perfectly symmetrical, they had that rugged appeal that many women found irresistible. I understood why Alissa would be after him. Even in the few days I’d known him, I had also seen his goodness and gentleness. So, I knew Alaric was a good catch. But after witnessing this uncomfortablenight play out, I wondered how many times this exact scene had played out in his lifetime?
Ten?
A hundred?
A thousand?
No wonder he was weary. I was weary just thinking about it.
Alaric looked down at me, and his eyes warmed with humor when he saw the butter gumming up my feathers. I probably smelled like an Italian restaurant. I didn’t know, because I currently couldn’t smell myself. My nose had already stopped working in protest.
“Alright, you little troublemaker, let’s get you a bath.”
All I could think wasoooh, a bath!
Alaric smiled and strode into the master bathroom off his bedroom, starting the water. When he judged it the right temperature, he stopped the flow with the built-in plug and added some gentle liquid soap as the bath filled a little. When there was maybe three inches of soapy water, he turned off the spigot, and I hopped in gleefully.
A bath!
I hadn’t felt clean in days and days!
He chuckled at my obvious enthusiasm, then leaned against the bathroom counter, his expression drifting far away. It was sweet that he stayed. I knew it was only to protect me.
I wondered if this deeply built in need to protectwas a dragon shifter thing, or maybe just a shifter thing? I shook my head when I puzzled for a moment. Nope, I didn’t feel any more need to protect than before. Maybe, it was an alpha thing.
Was that the reason I’d been called to him? I mean, hecouldprobably protect me from anything the world could throw at me, and he’d been kind enough to bring Shay in to examine the magic on me, which helped me to understand a lot of what was happening. Those facts were hard to refute.
In fact, he might have been theexactright person to ask for help. After all, how many people knew a powerful warlock? I’d bet, not many.
Turning into a raven had been scary and confusing, but here, I didn’t feel any of that. I felt supported and safe.
I bathed for probably twenty minutes before I finally felt clean. If I were human Everly, I would have been all pruney.
Alaric toweled me off gently, then set me down while he cleaned up the bathroom. I’d splashed quite a bit in my enthusiasm.
We went back to the kitchen where he set another plate of food onto the table for me. “I’m sure you’re still hungry.”
I was, but I wanted something sweet. I didn’t know how to communicate that to him, though. I hopped across the table and flew to the top of thefridge. Bending over, nearly bent in half, I used my beak to try to nudge the freezer open.
Alaric came to my rescue and opened it. “You want something in here?”
Using him as a springboard, I flapped down to his shoulder, then landed on the ice-encrusted innards, using my beak to sort through what was inside. I found what I wanted in the back and pecked at it.
“You want ice cream?”
Yes! Give me the good stuff!
“Can ravens evenhaveice cream?” Alaric asked with a frown. He pulled out his phone, no doubt googling if I could safely eat it.
No, don’t google. Trust the bird!
He made a face at his phone, and my stomach dropped.
