Page 22 of Fated to the Dragon King (Alpha Dragons’ Fated #4)

Hayley

The cold sea water drenched me as I lay wedged between two boulders. I don’t know how far I fell, but the landing was hard. I gasped for breath in between each crashing wave and had no idea how badly I was hurt. Hurt or not, if I didn’t get up and away from the surf, I’d drown.

Another wave, larger than the ones before, half lifted me before dropping me back down into the cleft.

I struggled to sit up, but could get no purchase with my hands.

As my legs were trapped, they did me no good.

Breathing hard, I grunted as I pushed away from the rocks with all my strength, and managed only to raise my torso.

Panting, I lay back down and held my breath as yet another wave threatened to kill me.

Wait for the next big one.

Okay. I held my breath during each episode of the sea washing over my head, my body, spluttering and gasping when it passed. Though I didn’t feel much pain, I lost the necessary strength to struggle against each wave that swamped me with choking sea water. Surely the next big one will happen soon.

It came.

It lifted me high enough that I kicked free of the boulders, and managed to stand where I once lay wedged.

The wave tried to drag me into the sea when it swept back out.

Yet being on my legs, however shaky they were, permitted me to brace myself against a rock and hold on.

Once it released me from its grip, the lesser waves weren’t as difficult to fight against.

As slippery as they were, the rocks weren’t easy to traverse.

I stumbled on, grabbing hold of jagged rocks to maintain my balance.

A crab, waving its pinchers at me in a threatening motion, scuttled off the boulder next to me and dropped into the surf.

Perhaps I was too big to fight. I worked my way forward, cold, shaking, and beginning to ache all over, searching for a beach.

Or at least a level place to stand and rest.

I found no such place.

I kept going. Heavy waves continued to crash over me, forcing me to lose my precious balance, exhausting me.

Stopping meant potentially drowning. Not daring to stop, not even daring to look up in search of a pair of dragons searching for me.

Fiona and Damon must know I’d escaped. Surely, they’ve guessed exactly how I’d managed it.

They will no doubt be flying along the jagged coast, watching the waves, hoping to spot me. Or my dead body.

“I ain’t dead yet, you pikers.”

Grim, I struggled on, slipping, sliding, catching my ankles between rocks until they were scraped and raw. My head pounded from where I hit it in my initial fall. My back burned with living fire from the struggle to climb over and around the wet boulders.

Pausing to catch my breath, I looked out to sea. I guessed I headed south, but that knowledge did me little good. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. Leaning against a rock, I panted while trying to ease my back. The sea continually beat at my strength, my will power.

Soon, I might not have either left.

Aha! Amid the cliff I traipsed under, I saw a deep hollow. Not quite a cave, but it was out of the water and mostly level. A good place to rest for a while, I thought, working my way toward it. To reach it, I needed to clamber up and over the rocks that separated me from the cave.

Once inside, I sat with my legs dangling over the edge, shivering. The hollow was occupied by crabs waving their claws at me, but their threats failed to intimidate me very much. I breathed in and out, my eyes closed, thankful for the chance to sit for a while.

A shadow passed between me and the sunlight.

A dragon!

My eyes shot open as panic filled my mouth, forcing my heart to thud hollowly in my chest. Damon or Fiona. Or both now hunted me, searching the shoreline for a glimpse of me. Or my corpse. I looked up as high as I could, trying to see above the cliff’s uppermost edge.

I saw nothing.

No dragon soared over the ocean.

Lifting my legs, I wrapped my arms around my knees, shaking harder than ever. Any dragon flying over the sea could spot me easily. I was also quite trapped. I could return below and begin my struggle along the shore, but again, I’d be seen in no time at all.

The dragon swooped low over the rocky shore, banking seaward with wings wide. It hadn’t seen me.

I stared hard as it soared over the waves, turning northward, flying low. What color was it? Fiona was gold, Damon’s hide was black. Alaric’s hide was also black, not that he knew where I was. So, who was this dragon flying in obvious search for something.

Or someone.

It flew closer. The dragon’s hide was a beautiful mixture of silver and gray, long, lithe and flew more gracefully than any swan.

“Hayley!”

I started.

“Hayley!”

The dragon’s voice sounded familiar. As it banked again, flying low over the boulders and rocks along the cliff, it caught sight of me. Flames burst from opened jaws as it suddenly laughed, its wings beating up and down to keep it at a near hover.

“Hayley! You’re alive! Thanks be to Lanokota.”

Shock almost tumbled me off my small ledge. “Willow? Oh, my God, it is you?”

Willow laughed again. “We’ve been searching for you for hours. Look, I can’t reach you while you’re in there. Can you come down? Over there to that big rock on your left.”

“You bet I can.”

Returning to the sea wasn’t easy, but I made the trek to the slippery rock and managed to climb up it. Willow, unable to hover for long, circled over my head while I worked to reach it, then poised over me with her front talons extended.

“Don’t be scared,” she said, closing those wicked swords around my body. “I won’t let you fall.”

After having faced flight while clutched in a dragon’s hand before, escaped down a rocky cliff and nearly drowned, flying again didn’t scare me at all. Willow winged her way up and over the cliff, banking northward.

“You came nearly a mile and a half from where you went down the cliff,” she said. “That’s why it took so long for us to find you.”

“Us?”

“Alaric and I, sweetie. Who else?”

“How’d you know where I was?”

The wind created by her flight chilled my wet body.

I shivered, glad to see the estate’s house hove into view.

Willow roared, flaming, a noise loud enough to all but pop my ear drums. Within seconds, Alaric swept up from the cliff beyond the house, his jaws wide as he, too, sent a burst of fire into the sky.

“Hayley, are you all right? Are you hurt? How’d you get down, shit, you’re shaking all over. Willow, let’s get her into the house and into a hot bath.”

As Willow set me gently in the walled courtyard, Alaric’s enormous dragon form dropped lightly to the cobbles beside us.

That’s when I saw the deep cuts and gashes, crusted with dried blood, all over his body.

He fought with another dragon. Was it Damon?

If Alaric and Willow were here, then where were Damon and Fiona?

I wasn’t given the chance to ask, however. Willow, her dragon’s face as expressive as her human one, smiled down at me. Her eyes were lost, grieving, and tears sparkled deep within them. She lifted her talon to touch me lightly on my cheek.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.”

Her wings wide, shading me, Willow jumped into the air. Dust and dirt swirled around me, stinging, as she circled higher and higher to gain altitude. Then she banked over the house and was gone.

“D-Damon’s d-dead,” I stammered, my teeth chattering. “I-isn’t he?”

Alaric looked down from his great height, his face filled with sorrow. “I killed him. Willow needs time to grieve his loss.”

“F-Fiona?”

“Not here.” Alaric shifted into his human body and took me into his arms. Holding me tight against his chest, he murmured in my ear, “We tricked her into leaving, but she hasn’t come back. She may have guessed we’d take Damon down.”

He started to guide me toward the mansion’s front entrance, but I balked. “No. Home.”

Alaric cupped my chin, smiling. “You’re right. Fiona may come back. I’ll just grab a blanket to wrap around you.”

He limped away, and I once again saw how badly he was hurt. Fortunately dragons healed overnight. I, however, desperately needed some aspirin and that hot bath. My ankles and legs were scraped raw, and my head still pounded.

Coming back, Alaric wrapped me in a fleecy blanket, then held my hand as we walked to his truck.

“We need to talk,” he commented as he helped me into the passenger seat.

Oh, great. Now comes the divorce. This isn’t a good time, dude. Not at all.

Still, I said nothing, and neither did he until after we reached his house.

***

The long hot soak in the tub did wonders for my various aches.

After toweling me off, Alaric spread a soothing ointment over my scrapes and swollen ankles, then taped gauze over them.

I dressed myself in one of his shirts, it came down to my thighs, and a pair of his boxer shorts.

I then sat on his plushy sofa while he did something in the kitchen.

“Mulled wine,” he said, returning with two glasses. “It should warm you.”

“I know it will.”

He’d made it from red wine and cinnamon, and tasted heavenly.

I sat back, my pains receding, and finally relaxed.

Whatever he had to say to me, I thought I could handle it now.

He’ll ask for his divorce, perhaps offer me another huge chunk of change, and inform me I’d lost my job.

Well, okay. I certainly can find another job.

He sat beside me, his clothes torn and stained with dried blood. Alaric made no indication that he was in pain at all. I supposed he was, but in his dragon way he elected to ignore the torment.

Alaric half turned to look me in the face. Here it comes.

“I’ve never been good at expressing my feelings,” he said, staring down at his glass. “In fact, I’m damn terrible at it.”

“It’s okay,” I murmured, and took another sip before the wine got cold. “I know you want your divorce. I know you’re headed back home. It’s okay. You wanted us to part with a hug and a smile, so that’s what we’ll do.”

“You’re not making this easy,” Alaric grumbled. “Just the opposite.”

“Look, we don’t need to talk about it. We can go our separate ways.”

“When you were missing,” he said slowly, “I nearly lost my mind. I was so scared. Searching for you, knowing you may have fallen to your death and been washed out to see, well, all I saw was darkness.”

“I’m not getting you.”

“Hayley.” He glowered, his brows narrowed over his nose. “I’m trying to tell you how I feel. I love you.”

I froze. No, I didn’t hear him right. “You –”

“I love you. Had you died, I’d have died. I can’t live without you.”