Page 27 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
“Everly? What are you doing? I almost hurt you.”
My dragon started laughing.She didn’t mean to dive-bomb us. She said she was following us discreetly when that last gust of wind blew her at us. Her inner grumblings are amusing.
It was very helpful that he could hear her and tell me what was goingon, because with Everly in raven form, I was very much in the dark. I’d thought the other day that she was going to both cry and peck my eyes out when I put the ice cream back in the freezer, but I couldn’t take the chance that she would get sick.
And last night, I’d noticed that immediately after changing back to her human form, she’d been in pain and hadn’t felt well. I knew Shay was right, that her shifter DNA would eventually take over and heal her, but it was awful to watch your mate hurt, and be unable to do anything.
But I could take care of her, and I vowed to do just that. Many women didn’t want to be taken care of, to be spoiled or cherished, but I had a feeling those things would make my mate feel loved and valued. I intended to do them for the rest of her life, whether she accepted me or not.
I had enough money that I could make it happen, even if she didn’t want me there to see to it in person.
I yearned for her, but I didn’t love her yet—and I was glad of that. I wanted to fall in love with her slowly, to savor every conversation, every touch, every glance, every milestone. I wanted to absorb her like the first rays of the rising sun absorbed thestillness of the earth. I wanted to tremble at her touch, revel in her voice, fall in love with her laughter. I wanted it all—and I wanted to do it all at a glacier pace. I’d waited. Forever, I’d waited. And now that she was here, something I’d prayed and yearned for for over a millennium, I wanted to savorevery single moment.
Many shifters didn’t care; they just wanted their other halves. But love or not, able to spend our days together or not, Everly was important enough to me that I would move heaven and earth to see to her care and happiness.
I hoped, for my sake and the sake of my dragon, that Everly chose to stay and build a life with us. That she chose us. But I’d let time sort that out. I wasn’t the type to force anything… unless the situation demanded force over finesse, as some situations did.
I had a feeling I’d soon face some of those situations, given what I knew the Everlight Enclave would ask of me.
My uncle had been king before he died alongside his mate just last year. They had succumbed together to a dragonborn illness. My parents had been gone for years, and there was no other family to take the throne. More than that, there was no one stronger than me and my dragon among shifters. It was shifter law that the strongest should lead, be they alpha or king.
I looked down at Everly. She was squawking at me, and I’d been lost in thought and not listening, whichseemed to make her even madder. “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I was lost in thought. Now, why are you here and not resting at my house? Don’t think I didn’t notice your rough health yesterday.”
The sun was just coming up over the mountains, painting the valley and Port Noble below in the colors of a postcard. I loved Alaska, and Alaska in the spring was especially beautiful.
My dragon started laughing at whatever Everly was telling him.
She said that you’re a jerk who left her alone after spouting all kinds of nonsense about being mates. If this is you being her mate, she’s going to dropkick you the next time she’s human. I don’t think she likes being left alone, Alaric.
I sighed and held her up to my face. “I’m sorry. I just thought you had a rough shift yesterday, and then back again, and that always takes a lot physically out of shifters. Also, you weren’t feeling well. I was trying to give you extra time to rest. I wasn’t trying to sneak away without you.”
She accepts your apology.
I snorted. “Okay, I’m going to put you in my shirt to keep you dry and out of the wind. Is that okay?”
Her eyes bulged and my dragon started cackling in my mind.She said yes, but only because of the wind. She doesn’t want to be near your man chest. She’s afraid your muscles will squeeze the life from her.
“I have an undershirt,” I grumbled, as I tried not to imagine a human Everly touching my chest. This woman was going to be the death of me. My dragon snorted at the direction of my thoughts as I carefully put my mate inside my shirt and re-buttoned it up around her trembling form. Her black feathers stuck out between a few of the gaps between buttons, and I gently tried to maneuver them back in without pulling any of her feathers out.
I winced when Everly tried to get comfortable. “Try to stay dry, okay?” I was concerned about her in this weather. The gusts were nearly forty miles an hour, and with her smaller body, she wouldn’t have as much heat as a dragon.
She shuddered from the cold, then snuggled against me.
Relieved she was out of the wind, I restarted the snowmobile, skidding out as we made our way down the mountain again. Snow flurries were still dumping snow, so I was driving through several inches of it, but my snowmobile was built for deep snow. It had longer tracks and deeper lugs on the paddles.
We got going again, and were flying down the mountain at a speed most would probably consider unsafe, when my dragon started grumbling.
She is fragile. Slow down.
I slowed immediately. He was right, of course. She was more fragile than we were, but I also knew it wasbecause he was being protective. Dragons were known to be overly protective of their mates, and the humans who shared their bond were the same. We were both designed that way by our Maker.
Over the years, I’d met many dragons. Sadly, most were gone now, but they’d all shared the same traits: strength, power, intelligence, and fierce protectiveness.
I’d heard of one last year, I think, who had gone after a young woman, but her dragon-shifter mate had protected her. That a dragon had attacked the woman meant his three hearts had become corrupted. Corruption wasn’t the norm for dragons, and was very rare. The norm was the dragon who’d protected her.
We made good time down the mountain. Everly poked her head out from the top of my shirt, eyes bright with curiosity as she looked around. I was eternally grateful that the soulmate bond had called her to me. But it still stung that she’d been so close, and neither my dragon nor I had sensed her. With our strength, we should have felt her from clear across the country.
We’ve been sick, Alaric. Be grateful for what is, and let go of what was. We’re getting better—and we’ll never let her go again.
