Page 9

Graeme, still in dragon form, watched his mate, who was still sleeping. He had stopped breathing fire onto her an hour or so before, because she no longer seemed to need it. He’d kept his post though, just in case, but now the clock on the dresser said it was just after 8:00 a.m. and Heather would be waking soon. Graeme decided to check on the weather. He transformed smoothly into a man and went to the fireplace to open a decorative metal door the size of a file folder. It was an exit chute he’d installed himself that ran along the length of the chimney. He transformed into a dragon the size of a hummingbird, and flew inside, straight up and out the top.

He flew high up, growing in size, until he breached the crown of trees around his place, now the size of a Clydesdale, which made it easier to handle the falling snow that splattered against him, sizzling into steam. He cloaked himself with dragen magic, essentially making himself invisible to all but the strongest augurs and, of course, anyone with a touch of the divine.

He leveled off and surveyed Trevor’s property. He could see nothing but snow at first so he rode the air currents, sensing the ground below. Slowly, his senses adjusted. He could see both ultraviolet light and infrared heat signatures when needed. Below, he sensed Trevor’s house, with the residents moving around inside and more people in the driveway, plus the other residents in their cabins directly behind the house, and the horse in the barn. Graeme and Heather’s cottage was set off in the forest a bit, away from the others, and he circled it one more time before he left the property. All was in order, so he headed north, scouting to see what had made the loud noise before the power went out.

Snow continued to fall heavily through the overcast sky, but the wind had stopped. Below, nothing moved, not one car on any road. He flew high enough to see most of Serenity, and it was clear no people were out and no traffic was moving.

A whimper cut through his mind, and then his name.

Graeme .

It was Heather, and she was hurting.

Coming, he said.

Graeme aimed up, flipped in the air, and flew home as fast as he could, getting back to the property in under a minute. When he saw his cabin in the forest, he folded his wings and hurtled down through the trees, shrinking as he went, until he was tiny again. He landed in a snowdrift with just a soft floomp . He transformed into a man, still wearing only silk boxers, and burst heat around him, melting the snow into steam, then ran to his front door and inside the house.

He found Heather in the bathroom, naked, dry-heaving into the toilet.

“Leannan , ” he said softly, calling her sweetheart in Gaelic. This had only happened a few times during her pregnancy thus far. He went to her, wrapped a robe around her, then gently pulled her hair away from her face. She looked at him weakly and tried to smile. He helped her to the sink, where she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth half-heartedly, then they went back to the bed. Graeme went to the kitchen, got crackers and water, and took them to Heather.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, but she didn’t look better. She was breathing heavily and wiping her face with her hands. She put the crackers and water on the nightstand and said, “I can’t tell if I’m hot or cold.” She stood and took the robe off, then put it back on. She rubbed her pretty, rounded belly, then paced a little.

Graeme put on his slippers, then took her hand. “We’ll go outside,” he suggested. “It’s cool out there.”

Heather followed him willingly, put on her flip-flops at the front door, and cinched her robe tighter around her. Outside, the ground he’d melted the snow from was already white with a thin layer of fresh snow. Heather took small steps, and Graeme slowed his stride to her pace. She had her eyes on the ground and was scowling slightly, her blonde hair hanging free, snowflakes falling on her and instantly melting. She seemed perturbed.

“I’m not cold,” she said. “Not hot either… I’m…”

“Nauseous?” Graeme suggested.

“No. I’m…” She wasn’t watching where she was going and a branch of a small tree they were passing hit her in the head. She swore, then grabbed the tree by the trunk. It burst into flame.

“Oh,” Graeme said. “Yer angry.”

“What? No I’m not,” she snapped, her eyes on the fire, which strengthened under her gaze and reached high into the sky, until the tree had burned to ash. Water from snow on the trees above them pelted them like a rainstorm. What was left of the tree collapsed to the ground and Heather turned and found a bigger tree. She put her hands on its trunk, her expression irritated. The thing started on fire from the inside out, and within a few seconds, the entire tree was blazing.

“Are ye certain?” Graeme said, chuckling softly.

Heather spun to face him, a clearly peeved look on her face. She grabbed his wrist and fire blazed around the both of them.

Graeme laughed out loud. “Would ye burn me, too, leannan?”

Her expression softened. “Graeme, no, I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s...”

He held her upper arms and pulled her to him, then kissed her softly on her lips. “Burn me up, my bond mate, we burn together.”

She softened in his arms and their kiss deepened as fire blazed around them both. They kissed passionately, absorbing the flames around them in a way that united them beyond sex, beyond bonding, beyond anything he’d ever known before. Graeme sensed his young in Heather’s belly, delighting in the flames, and dancing in them.

Graeme broke the kiss and touched foreheads with his beloved, bonnie Heather. Her fire began to recede and then they stood, unburning, and the steam dissipated, until snow fell again.

“Rhen’s gold is calling me,” Graeme said. “Our goddess wants her gold brought to Serenity and I have to find a suitable spot to hide it. Would ye care to accompany me on a search this day?”

“Meaning flying?”

“Aye, the snowfall is perfect cover—it mixes well with dragen magic.”

Heather’s eyes lit up and she broke into a smile, all signs of irritation falling away. She grabbed him and hugged him. “Yes, yes, yes! But what if I puke over the side?”

“Ach, a little puke’ll nae bother me.”

“What about dinner tonight with Trevor and Ella?”

“Everything is closed, even the roads, it seems. We can be back by dinnertime, though.”

They headed back to their cabin, hand in hand.

“What should I wear?” Heather asked as they got close.

“Comfortable clothes. We might go to Scotland.”

Heather squeezed his hand and picked up speed, her voice excited. “Overnight?”

He shook his head no. “I havnae planned a trip, only received communication from Rhen this morning.”

As she stepped on the front porch, Heather looked at him quizzically, then said, “Ok, I’ll get dressed.”

“And get some food if ye want some.”

Graeme wanted none. He would eat after the day’s flying was done.

They dressed quickly, Heather in pink and gray camouflage cargo pants with a stretchy belly panel, a black t-shirt, and black boots with a low heel, while Graeme wore a dark-blue tactical uniform with combat boots.

Graeme finished dressing first and left the bedroom to secretly get his Valentine’s Day gift for Heather—tickets to a reptile exhibit in Chicago next month. He’d also arranged to have some of her glass-blown reptile art pieces on display at the exhibit, but she wouldn’t know that till the day they went.

“I’ll be waiting outside,” he called.

“Okay, I’m almost ready.”

Graeme went outside and transformed into a horse-sized dragon. He called Trevor in ruhi.

Trevor, a word?

After a moment, Trevor responded. Yeah, Graeme, what’s up?

My mate and I are leaving the property today, maybe the country, on an assignment from Rhen. We’ll be back by dinnertime.

Got it. Do you need a few males to go with you?

Not today, Lieutenant. The snow makes me strong. My mate makes me strong. My mate is strong and full of Grádóiteán this day.

Grah doi what?

Love of burning. We fear no one today—the world best fear us.

Got it. Be safe.

You as well.

After a few moments, Heather came out the door, with her blonde hair braided in one plait down her back. She smiled when she saw him as a dragon.

Yer hair.

She touched the braid.

“You like it?”

Aye, he rumbled. Love it.

She smiled at him and held his spiky face in her soft hands. She kissed him on the forehead, then walked around him, running her hand down his neck. He shivered with the pleasure of her touch, and dipped his head to nip her on the butt as she went by.

“Hey!” she said, laughing, pushing at his snout. “What about my pendant?” she asked, her voice growing serious.

The angel father of the One True Mates had left a powerful pendant with the mother of each of them.

Bring it if you want, Graeme said in ruhi, remembering the last time she’d needed it, it had come to her by magic.

“I don’t think I want it,” she said.

Up you go, then.

Graeme folded his legs and dropped to his belly. Heather climbed on top of his back, straddling him like a horse, then leaned forward, gripping him with her thighs, legs hanging down between spikes and wingmounts.

Graeme stood. We’re going straight up. Remember your training?

“Aye,” Heather said, imitating his brogue.

Graeme shivered, rattling Heather in her seat and making her laugh. Because of the trees, he had to take off vertically. They didn’t fly as much as either of them would like, but they practiced this takeoff often, so Heather always knew what her growing belly felt like on his back.

Graeme slowly rose on his back legs until he was nearly upright. Snow continued to fall heavily all around, steaming into mist, and creating a little cloud of steam around them already. He paid close attention to Heather’s grip and balance as he moved. He shivered again, harder this time, and when she stayed solid in her seat, he spoke in her mind.

Hup. Hie. Ha. Go!

On hup, he bent his back legs, on hie , he opened his strong wings wide, on ha , he beat the air once. Heather leaned forward, gripping him tight with knees and arms, and on go, he jumped into flight.

“Whoo!” Heather shouted as they left the ground.

Graeme cleared the trees, disguised them with magic, and then leveled off immediately, loving the weight of his mate on his back, but not wanting to go too high until he knew how she was doing.

All good?

“Great!” she shouted into the slipstream.

He chuckled to himself, loving that she felt better. It was going to be a good day.

He banked and flew east, reaching the catamount statue quickly, but only giving it a passing glance. He’d been there enough times to know it was not a suitable place for Rhen’s gold. They would check the bear statue and the wolf statue, but Graeme thought neither would prove to be an adequate location to hide this treasure.

What he wanted was a deep cave or, better yet, a waterfall.