Page 24

Aurora

I dove for cover as something swooped through the air overhead.

There’s no way I’m making it to the coast.

Crawling as silently as possible behind a rock, I drew my knees to my chest, not wanting any part of me to be visible to whatever had made the noise.

It was the wyvern. You know it was. There’s nothing else around.

I shook my head. It couldn’t be the wyvern. It couldn’t. Because if it were already coming after me, then that meant Damian was—

A tremor in the ground announced the beast was near. I could sense the vibrations of every step. I had to grab at my left hand to stop it from shaking, only to notice my right was also trembling.

Staying still was madness. The wyvern would find me and kill me. If I kept running, however, I could perhaps dodge it and stay out of its way long enough to reach the coast. More than likely, it would catch me and eat me, but there was a chance .

Get up. Get up. You can’t sit still. Get up and run!

Before I could think about it further, I lit out of my hiding spot behind the rock and raced for the coast, not waiting the wyvern to find me. I didn’t see it in the darkness, but I wasn’t about to slow down and play Marco Polo either. If it wanted me, it had to come and get me!

Something moved in the darkness.

I screamed and tried to duck as it came closer.

Strong hands wrapped themselves around me, lifting me from the ground. Shrieking at the top of my lungs, I struggled like a hooked fish, kicking as hard as I could.

There was a grunt, and then I was being lowered.

“Aurora!” a hearty bass voice shouted. “Aurora, snap out of it. It’s me! It’s Damian. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to protect you.”

I pushed away from him as my feet hit the ground, keeping some distance between us as my brain sought to reestablish control of my nervous center.

“Damian?” I yelped, unable to stop my voice from rising in pitch.

“Yes. It’s me.” He snapped his fingers and flames danced across his hand, providing some light. Cupping his other hand around the flames, he squeezed and then softly tossed a ball of flames into the air between us to hover over our heads.

I stared numbly for what had to be a full minute before it clicked.

“You’re back!” I shouted, looking around. “That was you? Your dragon? Is the wyvern …?”

“Yes, yes, and yes,” he said, smiling. “My dragon is back. That was me. The wyvern is dealt with. Our guard friend is alive.”

“That’s amazing!” I shouted. “How did you do that? How did you bring it back?”

His face grew still once more. Not upset, but solemn in its focus. On me.

“The wyvern tried to go after you.” He growled. “I couldn’t allow that to happen and live with myself.”

“Why not? I’m just a human,” I said, watching his face in the firelight, trying to discern what was going on in him.

“Just a human?” he whispered, shaking his head. “No, Aurora. You are far more than that.”

“I am?” the tightness in my throat made my voice hoarse.

“Yes.” That same growl.

I almost didn’t ask the question. Almost. But I had to know. Thirty years from now, I would have hated myself if I didn’t ask. “What am I?”

Damian was there. One moment, we were a dozen feet apart. The next, he was there . His lips crushed into mine, hungry and demanding as he entered my personal space and put his hands on my body.

He was alive.

I was alive.

We were kissing.

He was alive. I was alive. We were kissing!

My body was responding on its own, acting without the approval of my addled brain. Wrapping my hands around Damian’s neck, I let him kiss me deeper and harder. Blood pounded in my ears as it flooded my head. Much of it, however, went elsewhere.

Where had this come from? Had it been there all along, buried beneath it all? I didn’t know. The adrenaline high from near-death experience was blasting aside all my reservations, leaving me open to whatever I desired.

What did I desire?

At that moment, the answer was right in front of me. It was a tall dragon-man who’d shown me nothing but respect and trust from the very get-go. A gray-eyed man with a good heart and soul.

And a blisteringly hot body that was now pressing its rock-hard muscles against me, begging me to touch them, to run my fingers across every inch. Heat like a metal furnace blasted out from my crotch, broadcasting my desires freely.

“You’re not hurt at all?” I whispered, head arched back to expose my throat as Damian kissed down my jaw, his lips finding that sensitive spot halfway to my collarbone and gently latching on.

“No,” he said, speaking above the hiss of delight that his actions produced from me. “What about you?”

“I’m fine,” I promised, tugging his shirt up and over his head. “It didn’t touch me.”

“No, it didn’t,” Damian agreed. “But I’m going to.”

Oh. Fuck.

I flung myself back into his arms, propelled by the utter confidence of his statement. The intensity of his desire was a powerful attractant. Again, we kissed, fast and fierce, each seeking out the reassurance of the other. Hands began to move lower. Exploring. Touching, caressing. There was no denying there would be nothing but each other and our bodies under the dark sky and the light of his fire.

Until, somewhere in the distance, someone began calling for help. The sound interrupted our passionate embrace as both Damian and I looked for the source.

“Our border guard is awake,” he said without a hint of frustration. “Come, we must get to him.”

He took my hand and set off toward the fire and stand of trees. Just like that, Damian was gone, and the magistrate was back in the same old way. I looked down at our intertwined hands.

Well, maybe not the same old way.