Page 34 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ronen

“Here’s good,” Mason stopped the truck in the middle of his land, far enough in the pasture we couldn’t see the house or outbuildings. Of course, it was pitch black outside too, but we’d driven a bit before he had stopped.

Excitement strummed through my veins, and I hopped down, not waiting for Mason to come around and help me.

I was about to see a dragon! A real-life dragon!

My mate was a dragon!

Holy fuck! I was as excited as a three-year-old on Christmas morning!

“Just remember he won’t hurt you,” Mason said, pulling his shirt over his head.

Any other time I would have admired the beauty of his muscles on display, but now I was just impatient for him to get his clothes off.

“I know he won’t. ”

I wasn’t scared of Mason’s beast.

Finally, after what seemed to take forever, Mason was naked. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, and I watched in fascination as his change took over.

Bones and muscles rearranged themselves, skin became colorful scales. Legs and arms became clawed talons, until a beast at least eighteen feet high stared down at me with slitted, amber eyes.

He snorted, little puffs of smoke wafting toward the sky, and pawed at the earth beneath his claws. Large wings spread out, the span three times wider than the truck, and I ducked as one nearly hit me.

Mason’s dragon was stunning!

His scales were a mixture of reds and purples, blending together perfectly. His large, oblong head swung towards me, and I stood stock still as he got within an inch of me.

His nostril flared, scenting me, and then he relaxed his posture, flicking the end of his long tail at me, where it wrapped around his body.

Reaching out a shaking hand, I ran my palm down his side, his scales warm where I touched.

“Amazing,” I whispered, in awe of what I was looking at. What I was touching. He truly was exactly as I had seen in my dreams. Exactly as Charlie had inked him into my skin.

I couldn’t wait for the day I could have her finish the tattoo, filling in the eyes with hues of amber.

The dragon stood, stretched its long body, then took two running steps, and he was up in the night sky. Soaring above my head, blending into the darkness until I could barely make out the dark shape of him .

Stripping off my clothes, I called my honey badger to the surface, shifting quickly. Mason flew a few more minutes before landing near me. His dragon stomped a foot, snorting puffs of smoke.

My honey badger took the opportunity to scurry up his tail, his nails digging into the scales, until we were seated firmly on his back.

We wanted to fly!

The dragon turned its long neck, his head swiveling around, looking my badger in the eye. My badger chattered, then snarled, showing his sharp teeth. The dragon yelled, hot breath moving the fur of my badger’s face, but he stood his ground.

Mason shifted, and my badger tumbled down, scrambling for purchase against Mason’s skin, before landing nimble on the ground.

“Fucking hell!” he yelled, jumping back. “That hurts!”

Shifting back to my human skin, I faced him, both of us naked, hands on my hips. “We want to fly!”

I resisted the urge to stamp my foot, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

“I knew what you wanted, and it’s not happening,” Mason started pulling on his clothes with jerky movements.

“Why not?” I pouted.

He gave me a look that said he thought I was nuts.

“Why not? How about because you’re pregnant. I don’t have anything to strap you onto me, to keep you from falling.”

Shaking my hands at him, fingers extended like claws, I reminded him, “I have sharp claws to hang on.”

“Don’t remind me,” he rubbed at his thigh. “You nearly tore me open. And not good enough. If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself. ”

Oh. Well. When he put it like that…all my anger left in rush.

“Will you one day? When I’m not pregnant?” I started pulling on my own clothes. Mason was absolutely right, I shouldn’t have even engaged the idea without thinking about our baby. I’d just been so excited to see a real life dragon, the thought of flying on him had taken over my common sense.

Mason wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close, the took my face in both his hands and cradling it softly.

“Let me see if Connor has any ideas on something that would work. He sometimes makes custom saddles and stuff. We might be able to come up with something. But,” he tapped the end of my nose with his finger, “not until after the baby is born. And only if we find something that is safe.”

“Thank you,” Standing on my tip toes, I gave him a quick kiss. “Your dragon is beautiful.”

Mason shook his head ruefully as we walked over to his truck. “You’re going to be the death of me, my little daredevil. Flying on my dragon. I should have guessed that was going to be a thing.”