Page 1 of Purple Protector (Eiloren Clan #3)

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A ARON WOULDN’T SAY that the best thing that had happened to him was his best friend breaking her leg, but it was a close thing.

“I promise I’ll be fine,” he told Lucy as she fretted on the other side of the phone. He hoped he wasn’t lying to her.

“Are you sure? Because no one’s asking you to do this.”

Aaron stopped packing and frowned at the wall. “Really? Because I thought for sure that I heard you asking me to do this.”

There was a pause before Lucy answered. “Yeah, all right. I’m asking you to do this. It’s an opportunity that no one else has. I’d love to go, but with my leg, I’m pretty sure that I’d actually die.”

“They have healers and doctors, too.”

“My doctor threatened to tie me down if I went. Besides, you know how you’ll get there, right?”

Aaron swallowed. “On dragon back.”

He wasn’t sure if he was excited or terrified of that part.

Part of him couldn’t wait to see what it was like to fly on a dragon, but another part could only imagine himself splattered on the ground.

What would happen if he slid off? He’d have to hold on, but the dragon who would carry them wasn’t like a horse.

He or she would be a person, and it was hard to imagine holding onto them.

It felt intimate, and Aaron wasn’t entirely comfortable with that.

“You’ll be fine,” Lucy reassured him.

“You don’t know that, although I guess that if I die, it’ll be doing something I enjoy.”

“Maybe you won’t enjoy flying.”

“I do not need you to scare me, Lucy.”

“I’m not trying to scare you. It’ll be great. You’ll see.”

Aaron wasn’t so sure about that anymore, but he didn’t have a choice.

When Lucy had called him in tears because she’d broken her leg, his first thought had been to go to the hospital. That wasn’t why she’d been calling him, though. No, she’d called because she had a unique opportunity that she had to pass on because of her leg.

Lucy was supposed to visit a dragon clan palace. She had interviews planned with the king and his consort. She would stay with the clan for a bit and write about what it was like. She also had interviews planned with several humans who lived there already.

No one else would do it. Lucy had snagged the only opportunity, and she hadn’t wanted to waste it when she’d gotten hurt.

That was where Aaron came in. He knew that the only reason he was going was because Lucy had vouched for him.

She was a serious journalist, but he had a blog and wrote puff pieces for a magazine.

They weren’t in the same realm of existence professionally, and he wouldn’t be packing if it wasn’t for her.

“I’m still not sure I’m the best person to do this,” he said. It wasn’t the first time he tried to change her mind, but no matter how many times he pointed out that she could find someone better suited to the job, she hadn’t changed her mind.

“You’ll do fine.”

“I’m not you. I don’t do this kind of serious research and everything.”

“You always complain that you want to do more. This is your chance to do it, so you’re not going to bail on me.”

She was right. He wouldn’t bail on her, even though he was convinced he wasn’t good enough for any of this. She’d asked him as a personal favor, and he’d said yes. He would keep that promise.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to go. He’d wanted to since the news had come out that dragons could shift into a form that was close to a human’s.

He wanted to talk to dragons. He wanted to find out about their lives and the war they’d been waging against each other.

He already had dozens of questions written down, although he wasn’t sure which would make it into his interviews.

“You’ll call me as soon as you land?” Lucy asked.

“I promise.”

*

A ARON DID PLAN TO CALL Lucy as soon as he landed. His legs still felt like jelly, and he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he wasn’t going to throw up in the closest vase, but he’d promised her he would, so he took out his phone and stepped away from the massive blue dragon who’d given him a ride.

“Everything okay?” a dragon in their human form asked.

Aaron blinked at the bright red color of their skin. It took him a moment to make his mouth work, but the dragon didn’t seem offended. They watched him with a smile curling their lips, clearly amused.

Aaron cleared his throat. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“It looks like you have a phone call to make. You can wait for the person who will take you to your room in the hallway.”

Aaron thanked them with a smile and quickly headed in the direction they’d indicated. He was typing in Lucy’s number before he cleared the landing pad. He already had so much to tell her, and he hadn’t even stepped foot inside the palace yet.

He hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder with the hand holding his phone, clutched his second bag in his free hand, and raised the phone to his ear. He turned the corner into the hallway as he did all of that and slammed against a wall.

Well, it wasn’t a wall. Walls didn’t have hands, but this person did because they reached out to steady Aaron. He dropped his bag and his phone, and his backpack slid down his shoulder.

“Everything all right?” a deep voice rumbled.

Aaron looked up—and up—at the dragon. This wasn’t the first dragon he’d met since he’d arrived on dragon-back, but it was the first dragon who left him speechless.

The dragon was dark purple all over, including their hair and eyes. It was startling, but also beautiful. Aaron had to resist the urge to reach out and touch the dragon’s skin. His fingers itched for it, but he didn’t want to create a diplomatic incident before he even started working.

“You’re tall,” he blurted out.

He groaned. There went the diplomatic incident.

But instead of getting angry or wary, the dragon laughed. “Next to a human, I sure am.”

He still hadn’t let go of Aaron’s arms. Aaron looked down, wondering what the dragon’s hands would look like on his body. It was easy to imagine it, and he felt his cheeks flush.

He took a step back and promptly tripped over the things he’d forgotten he dropped. The dragon had to reach for him a second time, and Aaron wondered if he could run back to the landing pad and beg the dragon who’d flown them here to fly him back. Why did he have to be so embarrassing?

“Are you sure you’re all right?” the dragon asked.

Aaron hadn’t noticed there was a second dragon standing there. The only reason he noticed was that the second dragon leaned forward to pick up Aaron’s phone.

Aaron had wanted to make a good first impression.

He’d already failed.

* * * *

T HE HUMAN WAS CUTE . He had brown hair and eyes, a pair of glasses that sat crooked on his nose, and red cheeks that Birch wanted to poke at.

The only reason he didn’t was that he’d never spoken to this human—Aaron, from the file Birch had read—before and that he was pretty sure the man was the journalist Killian had told him and Marlin about.

He was why they were here. He and Marlin’s job was to protect the king and his family, and they’d agreed that part of that was to talk to the newcomer. Birch still wasn’t sure it was a good idea to welcome unknown humans into their clan, but Killian felt that the clan had to be closer to humans.

He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The Ogorth clan queen agreed, but then, the Ogorth clan had taken in more humans than any other clan in the area. Apparently, it was the Eiloren clan’s turn.

Marlin had already bent down to pick up the things Aaron had dropped. Birch stayed where he was and continued watching the man. There had been a last-second change, and instead of the lady who was supposed to interview Killian and Hedley, this cute guy was here.

“I’m really sorry,” Aaron said.

Birch smiled at him. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m Birch.”

The man blinked. “Aaron.”