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CHAPTER EIGHT

Hunter was unable to prevent the pained roar from leaving the huge barrel chest of his dragon. Or keep from throwing back his dragon head as he continued to roar.

His fury caused the sky to darken before streaks of lightning reverberated across that wide expanse to fork down into the now roughly churning sea. A fierce wind howled around the two of them.

What had Zoey said ?

She had suggested— Put forward the idea— No, she had said outright that “perhaps they never would be” mates.

Hunter’s dragon couldn’t accept that.

Hunter didn’t like it either.

Zoey was his one true mate. His only one. Without her, he would?—

“Hunter, what did I say?” Zoey shouted to be heard above the howling of the wind as she stepped forward to wrap her arms about one of his dragon’s front legs. “Speak to me, dammit,” she demanded. “Tell me what I did wrong?”

The way she had stepped forward to grasp hold of his dragon said she was completely fearless, even when confronted once again with his towering, and this time furious, dragon.

It was because of this evidence of Zoey’s courage that Hunter knew he could never tell her what would happen to him if she refused their mating. He would not, could not, use any coercion to force her to become his mate. Even if her not doing so would be the end of him.

Because once a dragon shifter met his one true mate, fell in love with her, if she then refused to mate with him, his life, as both dragon and human, would slowly drain of all color, until one day it was completely black and white.

Without the grounding of their mate and their mental and physical connection, Hunter would eventually go completely insane and have to be put down by his brothers.

Zoey had already spent the last twelve years of her life, since her parents died, not having the freedom to make any choices of her own. Perhaps when it came to her university course, because Hunter couldn’t see a man like Edgar Wallis approving of an art course.

But even then, Wallis had probably only allowed it because it had suited him for his ward to live in London rather than having the inconvenience of her presence in Cornwall when she left her boarding school when she was eighteen.

Hunter had no doubt that, where possible, Wallis had engineered Zoey’s life so that it was always of the least inconvenience to himself.

In those circumstances, it would be unfair of Hunter to ask Zoey to sacrifice the rest of her life, to mate with him, because of the repercussions to him if she didn’t.

And because he had already fallen in love with her courage and beauty, although he doubted she would believe that when they had only met a matter of hours ago. Hunter and his dragon knew she was his mate, and they had both fallen in love with her.

As a human, Zoey, if she ever did fall in love with him, was going to need more time.

Do not do this to yourself, brother, Ranulf warned through their mental link.

I have to , Hunter answered him, knowing his brother would have picked up on his mental and emotional anguish. Otherwise, I will be no better than Wallis.

The mental link the two of you have says the mating has already begun , Ranulf protested.

If that truly is the case, then I have to stop it from going any further until, or if, Zoey feels the same way, he said grimly.

You—

No! Hunter ended the mental link with his brother.

Hunter? Zoey’s voice sounded uncertain through their own newly formed mental link. Who were you talking to?

MINE! his dragon roared.

Is that— Is that your dragon again? Zoey sounded wondrous.

YOU ARE MINE, MATE , Hunter’s dragon roared furiously. MINE!

Well, using your manners might go a long way to achieving that goal , Zoey chided before adding, and in my world, it’s usually polite to ask, not tell.

Hunter could not only feel the rage rising inside his dragon, but he could see and hear it in the increased fierceness of the forks of lightning hitting the surface of the churning sea and the howling of the strong wind that was whipping up the sand in swirls and almost knocking Zoey off her feet.

Hunter could not allow any harm to come to Zoey.

Stop this , he instructed his dragon. Immediately.

The wind and lightning instantly stopped. The sea no longer churned. The sand no longer whipped painfully about their faces. The sky cleared, leaving only wispy clouds. Now there was only a gentle crash of the waves against the shore to be heard.

Hunter shifted back to his human form before taking Zoey into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he groaned. “So sorry. That should not have happened.”

Zoey put her arms about his waist, her head resting against his chest. “Why did it?”

He drew in a ragged breath. “My dragon is impatient and did not like the uncertainty you voiced about our mating.” Which was true, even if it wasn’t the entire reason for the shift into dragon and the raging outburst of emotion. “As you say, he needs to learn some manners,” he teased.

Zoey lifted her head to look at Hunter, not reassured by his words in the slightest. She sensed there was more he wasn’t telling her, and that whatever that something was, it was important. To both of them.

The rigid set of Hunter’s jaw told her he wasn’t going to share that with her. Not yet, at least. If they became mates, she was going to have to insist there were no secrets between them.

Was she seriously thinking of accepting Hunter as a dragon-shifter mate?

The fact that it was even a possibility was still incredulous to her.

And yet…

There was no denying that, despite everything Hunter had told her, all he had done to prove what he said, she still felt safe with him.

Protected in a way she could never remember feeling in the years since her parents died.

She knew instinctively that Hunter would guard her with his life.

That he and his dragon would protect her with their life.

She also couldn’t deny her physical response to Hunter.

A reaction that was more heated, more urgent, and seemed to increase every minute she was with him, than she had ever experienced before.

Nor did she believe she would ever feel that urgency again except in Hunter’s arms. The depth of their connection felt unique to them.

Despite all that, Zoey hadn’t forgotten Hunter’s reason for coming to Cornwall in the first place. If he was correct about Edgar’s intentions, then they needed to stop him from harming anyone else.

She pulled back slightly. “We need to go back to Tregarthen House.”

Hunter looked taken aback. “Why?”

“So that we can get a proper look at the notebook Edgar is coveting. To see if it really is Sister Agnes’s journal.” The thought that Edgar might somehow be involved in Ben’s death caused an aversion inside Zoey to ever again call him by the familiar title of uncle.

Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “When did this mission become a ‘we’ situation rather than an ‘I’ one?”

Zoey grinned at him. “The moment you told me I’m your mate and showed me your dragon to prove who and what you are.”

Hunter’s nostrils flared, and for a moment, Zoey thought he might even breathe smoke through them.

Her thoughts immediately turned to wondering if he could do that. How cool would that?—

Concentrate on the situation at hand , her conscience rebuked.

After all, there would be plenty of time when this was all over for her to learn exactly what her warrior dragon mate was capable of.

Even thinking of Hunter that way caused a quiver of anticipation to thrill down Zoey’s spine.

“Do not fear, Zoey, we will protect you with our lives in both our forms,” Hunter reassured, obviously having misunderstood the reason for that trembling.

A blush warmed Zoey’s cheeks. Not because she wanted anything to happen to Hunter or his dragon, ever, but because the thought of being so wanted and protected filled her with joy and happiness.

“Then, for now, I think you should protect me by coming back to Tregarthen House with me,” she encouraged huskily.

Hunter tilted his head in a questioning gesture very reminiscent of his dragon. “What reason will we give for me having accompanied you back to Wallis’s house after you supposedly drove me to the nearest garage earlier?”

She thought for a moment before answering. “I’ll say that it’s going to take the garage until the end of the day to fix your nonexistent car and that I invited you back to lunch and to spend the rest of the day with me at Tregarthen House before I drive you back to the garage this evening.”

A frown creased Hunter’s brow. “Wallis will believe that?”

“If he is who you say he is and he’s done what you said he did, does it matter what he believes?” she dismissed in a hard voice. “The important thing is for you to have access to the notebook Edgar has been studying so intently. What?” Zoey prompted when she saw Hunter’s doubtful expression.

Hunter knew that merely taking back Sister Agnes’s journal wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, be an end to this situation.

In the more recent past, he or one of his brothers had always wiped the memory of or eliminated anyone who knew of the existence of the dragon shifters and intended to use that information for their own gain.

Until a few centuries ago, it had not been necessary, because anyone claiming to have seen a dragon would have been branded a witch and treated as such.

If he and Zoey didn’t mate, then much as it would pain Hunter to do so, he would have to wipe away any memories Zoey had of ever having met him. He would never forget her, but he could save her the heartache of remembering him and the abyss his absence had left in her life.

But if what he believed about Wallis proved to be true and the other man had murdered Ben McGregor in cold blood, then Wallis couldn’t simply have his memories of dragons removed. He would need to be eliminated.

“What do you think happens once I have the journal in my possession and prove that Wallis is responsible for Ben McGregor being murdered?” Hunter hedged.

She shrugged. “You kill him, of course. What?” she prompted again as Hunter staggered back a couple of steps.

“I had not expected my mate to be quite so bloodthirsty,” he mused.

“I’m certainly not naive enough to think you intend to have Edgar arrested and charged with murdering Ben,” she scorned.

“Especially when the reason for that death includes Edgar’s search for proof of the existence of dragons.

” She shook her head. “The police would never believe such an accusation, and there is no proof that the two of them ever met, let alone that Edgar is responsible for what your brother ensured would appear to be Ben’s accidental death. ”

“None,” Hunter confirmed.

She nodded. “You also said you’re over twelve hundred years old, and as far as I’m aware, no one in all that time has ever conclusively proven that dragons exist. Ergo, you must have removed the people who did know before they could proclaim it to the rest of the world.”

“Or they had their memories of seeing them wiped.”

Zoey eyed him curiously. “Is that something else you and your brothers can do?”

“Yes.”

“Will you do that to Edgar?”

His jaw tightened. “Not if he really is guilty of murdering Ben McGregor. The police might not be able to arrest and charge him, but we can’t allow him to get away with killing someone in such a cold and cruel way.”

Zoey nodded. “So, he’ll be one of the ones to be eliminated, then?”

Hunter chuckled softly. “You don’t seem concerned by that possibility?”

She moved her shoulders in a shrug. “Murder is murder, and the penalty for that, in any culture, should be death.”

“O-kay,” Hunter murmured slowly at the cool certainty in her tone.

Her expression darkened. “Ben was only twenty years old, and even if he did steal that journal from Belle, he didn’t deserve to die in that horrible way.” She gave a shudder. “I don’t even want to imagine how terrified he must have felt as he hurtled through the air toward that mountain.”

Hunter stepped forward to once again take Zoey into his arms. Primarily to offer her comfort, but also because he couldn’t seem to stop himself from wanting to touch her. The purr of his dragon told Hunter it felt exactly the same desire to hold and touch her.

Hunter’s chest ached at the thought of her refusing their mating.

She pulled back slightly. “This memory-wiping thing…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t even think about using it on me. For any reason. Ever,” she warned fiercely. “Do you understand?” she demanded, her eyes glittering like twin emeralds.

Hunter understood. He just wasn’t sure he could keep such a promise if he made it. What he’d really hoped was that Zoey would never ask him this question. He should have known she was far too intelligent and forthright not to.

“Hunter?”

He drew in a ragged breath before answering. “I…will discuss it with you first if it ever becomes necessary.”

Her eyes narrowed. “In what circumstances would it ever become necessary?”

“We will only know that when those circumstances arise,” he avoided.

“Hunter—”

“Zoey,” he bit her name out between a jaw and teeth that had started to shift into those of his dragon.

“We’ll discuss it first, yes?” she pressed urgently.

“Yes.” Much as it might cause him pain, Hunter knew that he would keep his promise.