by Riley Storm
It was such a little slice of normal to counter everything that had happened to her the day before, that Emma found herself sinking into it with practiced ease, grateful for something to distract her brain, even for a moment.
“You and Asher then,” Clarice said, handing over a mug of steaming hot coffee.
Emma sipped at it and nearly swooned. “What about us?” she said, thanking the other woman with a look.
“Well, it must be getting serious for him to bring you here.” Clarice drank her own mug.
In the other room, Logan continued to roar and the boys continued to squeal. Every so often there was a thud that drew Emma’s attention, but Clarice seemed not to notice. It must be normal dragon roughhousing.
“Serious? I, I don’t know,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought of it like that.”
“I don’t want to be forceful,” Clarice said with a soft smile. “I did just meet you after all, and it would be wonderful to have another face around here that can relate to life without dragons in it, but perhaps you should think about it, Emma. Think about what he risked to show you who he was, to bring you here, around his family.”
Emma was silent, drinking the coffee, taking in the other woman’s words. It was a lot.
“This secret of Asher’s, his abilities, what he is, it’s not like he was hiding the fact he’s a prince, or a former government super-spy. It’s bigger than that,” Emma said. “It’s…earth-shattering, if it were to get out.”
Clarice nodded.
“And he trusted me enough to show it to me.” She hesitated. “Well, mostly. I still haven’t seen his full form. Only that hybrid thing.”
“You haven’t?” Clarice asked, eyes wide. “Oh goodness, it’s so beautiful. So majestic and graceful, you can’t help but watch them in action.”
Emma smiled, hearing her love for Logan in every word. Clarice wasn’t talking about dragons in general, despite her words, she was talking about her dragon.
Will I ever feel that way about my dragon?
It was the first time she’d ever thought of Asher as hers. Not someone else’s, but hers, and hers alone. Emma’s. Which meant she was his.
Just how serious were things between the two of them? Maybe it was time they talked about that.
“Maybe it is getting serious,” she said quietly, her eyes looking at something only she could see while she talked. “I don’t know. I’m going to have to talk with him.”
Clarice smiled at her secretively. “Okay.”
There was a much louder bang, this time from the opposite direction. Emma noticed Clarice straighten in shock.
“Logan?” she called nervously while Emma waited.
The other dragon shifter appeared in an instant, heading for the front door, where the sound had come from.
Emma crept behind, something pulling her to see what it was.
“Oh shit,” Logan cursed, moving forward faster now.
A bloodstained figure stood in the doorway, red scales dripping with blood, several of them hanging loose. One wing was tucked to his side, the other ripped and half-torn from his body.
“Asher?” she gasped. “Is that Asher?”
“Emma,” the figure whispered, confirming her fears.
“I’m here,” she said, rushing to his side, no longer bothered by the scales, or the wings, or the horns. None of it. She knew that underneath it all was Asher. The man she cared for. “What happened?”
“That bastard surprised me on the way home,” he snarled weakly, leaning heavily on Logan, covering both of them in blood. “I’m going to kill him. I will.”
Then his eyes rolled up into his head and Logan barely caught him before he hit the floor. As he passed out, the scales faded, the wings shrinking quickly until they disappeared.
Leaving nothing but Logan, naked and covered in wounds and still dripping blood.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Logan
When he came to, the first face he saw was hers.
She was there, hovering over him, concern filling those big, brown orbs, blotting out the flecks of amber that were visible when she smiled, or when the sun bounced off her eyes.
Asher vowed that instant, even through the fugue of his fatigue and injury, that he would one day see that look on her face again. He would do whatever it took, fight whoever, to see her smile and her eyes grow bright. He would tear the mountain down and rebuild it, sacrifice all his wealth, for this one person, if it would bring joy to her face.
This, he realized instantly, was his real treasure. The only one he would ever want, for the rest of his life.
All of that and more came to him in that hazy moment between sleep and wakefulness.
“I love you,” he said, the first words coming out of his mouth.
Emma’s lips parted in surprise. “Um. Hi?” she said awkwardly. “You’re awake I see.”
“I am,” he said, then winced as his pain receptors started to work again. “Ow. Yes, I’m definitely awake. Everything hurts.”
“I’m not surprised. You were beat up pretty good,” she said.
Asher tried to stir but she took a hand and pressed it to his chest. He could have fought her off—maybe—but the fact she was even able to slow him told Asher just how weak he was. Maybe lying down for a while longer was in order.
“Good,” Emma said, stroking part of his head where it didn’t hurt. “That’s a good start. Doing as you’re told.”
He glared at her, but she just smiled it off, which warmed his heart.
“Now perhaps we should address what you said when you woke up?” she suggested, bringing them full circle back to his opening line.
“Did I slur it?” Asher asked. “Could you not understand it?”
Emma shook her head. “Oh no, I understood it perfectly fine. It was just one hell of a greeting, and I needed to ensure that your blood-deprived brain knew what you were saying. Which meant getting you awake first.
“I knew what I was saying,” he told her. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it earlier, but I do now, Emma, and I’m not going to hold back any longer. I hope you feel the same, but there is no way I can risk not getting the chance to tell you how I feel. I want you to know.”
“So, you were lucid. Not some sort of dream-Asher speaking?” she confirmed.
“It was me. One hundred percent Asher Aterna. Standing here—err, lying here, I guess—telling you that I love you, Emma Starling. Thoroughly. Unconditionally. Completely. It took me far too long to come to that understanding, but I have,” he said, finishing barely above a whisper.
“I had to make sure, you realize,” she said, a playful smile sliding into place as she looked down at him. “Couldn’t risk that you were just delirious at the loss of blood and the sight of my face when you first woke up.”
Asher snorted, then winced. Laughing hurt.
“Sorry,” she said. “You’re healing nicely but it’s going to be a bit before you’re declared fit and ready to go. That’s what happens when you forget how to fly and bank into the side of a mountain and then bury yourself under a landslide,” she said, completely serious.
Now he frowned at her. “What? That’s not what happened at all. What are you talking about?”
Emma almost remained stone-faced. Almost. But her right eye twitched, giving her away. Asher raised his eyebrows, indicating he knew, and she caved with a sputter and a laugh.
“Sorry,” she said lightly. “I figured you would appreciate that explanation better.”
“No, not really,” he said. “That makes me look stupid!”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Men. Okay, we’ll just go with the one where you knew someone was out to get you, and in the most vulnerable place possible you let down your guard for no apparent reason and get your ass handed to you. Sound better?”
Asher worked his mouth. “Which mountain did I fly into?”
She smiled. “That’s my man.” Leaning over him she pressed her lips to his, letting them linger.
“By the way, I love you too, Asher Aterna.”
Giddy energy flooded his system, and Asher nearly leapt to his feet. He felt like he could take on a dozen Dorans just then. Bring ‘em on; he would take them all on! He was invincible!
“It kind of snuck up on me,” Emma was saying, bringing him back to reality. “I didn’t think I cared that deeply for you. Oh sure, I was feeling something, I won’t deny that,” she said distantly, clearly replaying her own thoughts on how she’d arrived at that conclusion. “But I didn’t think it was this strong. Until I started thinking about it some more. About how I felt around you. How I looked at you. The idea of not having you around, which I probably worried about a bit too much while you were unconscious from your wounds.”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to take on a mountain.”
“Don’t you ever, scare me like that, ever again,” Emma said suddenly, with a savage intensity that would have had Asher recoiling if he wasn’t already lying flat on his back.
Her eyes blazed, copper hair waving with a flaming, fiery glow to it that reflected her mood back down at him.
“I’m sorry, my love,” he said quietly. “I won’t let it happen again.”
“You had better not,” she said, squeezing his one hand. She was gripping a bone that had only just begun to heal, but Asher didn’t stop her. He didn’t want to. The pain reminded him that he was very mortal, and that he needed to be aware of that when he went back for Doran.
And I will be going back. He’s going to pay for what he’s done.
“Because if you do something that stupid again, I’m going to have to sue your ass,” she said. “And that’s going to be a pain, because I’m going to have to find a new lawyer, and write up a new lawsuit, etc.”
He frowned. “You already have one pending…”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I’m going to continue suing a man that I love? A man who has offered to fix my grandfather’s house so that it’s as good as new, as the day he l-lived in it?”
The hitch was so tiny, so small, that he nearly missed it.
“What happened?” he said.
This time, it was his fingers clamping down on hers, holding her tight so she couldn’t pull away. There was more to this story than she’d let on, and Asher was determined to find it all out. Everything.
“My grandfather was there when I was young,” she said quietly.
“You told me that, yes.”
“My family lived up in Kennewick Falls,” she said, naming the closest city, north of Five Peaks. “With my dad gone so much, and my mom working all the time, my grandfather did a lot of the raising. My parents were good people, mind you, they were just working hard to provide. They loved me too, but I had an exceptionally close relationship with my grandfather.”
Asher gave her hand a squeeze. This couldn’t be easy for her to talk about, he was sure.
“Even through high school, we were always close. When I got my license, I’d drive out here to spend weekends with him when I was free and could swing Mom’s car from her.” She smiled, but her face was sad. “Then I left for college.”
Asher knew immediately that this was the problem. Emma had told him that her grandfather had died while she was in college.
“I got the phone call in my fourth year,” she said quietly. “He wasn’t doing so well.”
There was a long silence.
“It’s okay,” Asher said, reaching up to stroke her face, brushing away tears from her eyes.
“No, it’s not,” she said through them. “It’s not, Asher, can’t you see? I should have been here. I should have come back, to see him. But I thought I had time. I had an exam in two days, and I thought I could take it, then come home, and see him before he passed. But I was wrong. I was wrong, Asher! I wasn’t here.” She was sobbing now.
Grimacing hard against the pain, Asher forced himself to sit up, ignoring the screams of his body as he put stresses on it that it wasn’t quite ready for.
Shut up, he snarled at his brain. We have more important things to do.
“Hey,” he whispered to his mate. “Hey, it’s okay. Your grandfather sounds like he would have been the type of man to favor you putting your studies first. He would have been proud of you getting a college education.”
“He paid for three years of it,” Emma said. “My parents didn’t have the money, and there was no way I could have gone without him. But I couldn’t come back in time to tell him how much that meant. How thankful I was. I didn’t come back to say goodbye.”
There it was.
“Your grandfather was a smart man, Emma,” he said gravely. “He knew full well what position you were in. I wager that if you’d shown up, he would probably have berated you for putting your studies aside for him. Am I right?”
Emma shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah. He would have.” She smiled. “He really was a good man. Son of one of the original gold miners in town, way back in the day. A sixteen-year-old kid, he came out here you know.” She bit her lip. “I had his old ceramic gold tester in my purse you know. When I came to your vault. I was going to use it to make sure you weren’t giving me fakes.”
Asher sighed. That was both a painful question of his integrity, but also utterly adorable, showing how much she idolized her grandfather.
“I’m going to rebuild that house,” he vowed. “Exactly the way it was. You won’t ever be able to tell what happened, I swear to you. No matter the cost.”
Emma hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered.
For a moment, everything was perfect. There wasn’t a single thing wrong with the world. Asher wished he could freeze that instant in time for all eternity.
But he couldn’t.
Until Doran was dealt with, there would be no idyllic peace, no happily ever after. He and his mate would always be in danger, unable to do anything without looking over their shoulders to ensure they were safe.
Something must have given his thoughts away, because Emma pulled back from the hug, giving him a look.
“I see that look in your eyes,” she said quietly. “Whatever you’re going to do, I want in.”
Asher shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“It wasn’t a question,” Emma said, her eyes going cold. “This is my fight too, Asher. I am going to help. It can be in a tiny way, but I am going to help. So, don’t fight it.”
He almost did, but her face hardened, warning him against it. This was something she was going to fight him over. So, he simply decided not to fight her on it.
“We’re going to get this sonofabitch,” he growled. “Together.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Emma
Someone remind me again why I fought so hard to be involved?
White-knuckled with fear, Emma drove down the slopes of the mountains.
The past three days had been quite possibly the best days of her life. Certainly, the best days of her adult life. She’d spent them with Asher and his brothers. Logan and Clarice as well as their children. She’d met some of the other dragons, including one whom she’d quickly become friends with in a way she’d never expected to be possible with a male.
Yet somehow, Pace and she had gotten along fantastically. He was almost more bookish, somewhat nerdy compared to his fellow dragons, and she had instantly found herself feeling a certain kinship with him.
It was the start of a new life for her, and one she couldn’t wait to continue, to find out where it would lead. Her mind was continually reminded of the sight of Clarice and her three children—they had a younger daughter, Amelia, whom she had met as well. It was a wonderful family.
A little pang of something pulsed just below her stomach for a few seconds, then faded. Those dreams, those desires, they would have to wait. That was all in the past, for the meantime.
Right now, she was heading back toward Five Peaks, driving her little car, with no windshield, and trying not to crash. She’d borrowed a pair of sunglasses to
help shield her from the wind, but there was still plenty of air whipping around the corners, pulling tears from her eyes and drying them as they tried to streak down her cheeks.
“This is a terrible plan,” she said aloud.
There was no answer, not that she expected one. “I can’t believe I actually agreed to do this. I must be either an idiot, or so madly in love that I’m willing to pull a Romeo and Juliet. He’s so lucky he’s hotter than hell.”
Up ahead, she spied a bit of a pothole. Instead of going around, she went right over it, grinning maniacally to herself as the car bounced and jounced wildly. She was going to take whatever bit of fun she could now, before things got serious. She was halfway down the mountain now, and out of sight of both Five Peaks and the Aterna clan house. If it was going to happen, it would—
Giant claws crashed through her rear windows and she jerked her head into the center of the car as another pair clamped onto the driver and passenger side. Screaming she watched as the car was lifted from the road, the thunderous beating of wings all the sign she needed to know what was happening.
Doran had found her.
The car was carried off the road and up into the mountain, where she was dropped to the ground from five feet up. The impact jolted her hard enough that she was surprised the airbags didn’t deploy.
“Ow,” she moaned, knowing she was going to feel that the next day.
Her poor car was perched on a rock, its front wheels not touching the ground. Emma was going nowhere. She got out of the car, still having to scoot across to the passenger side to do so.
By the time she emerged, Doran had landed, and was shifting back into his human form. Emma looked away hurriedly, not wanting to see him naked. Despite the fact that he was as in shape as every other dragon shifter she’d met, he was a disgusting man, and she didn’t care to see his junk.
Why can’t they find super-stretchy pants that don’t shred every time they change into their true form, she moaned silently to herself, moving around to the driver’s side, keeping one hand inside.
