Guardian Dragons of Prospect Falls: (A Paranormal Shifter Romance)

by Serena Meadows

  When her breasts were finally fully exposed, her chest was rising and falling, her breath coming in short gasps. “That’s better,” he said, running one finger around each nipple. “What was your question?”

  Molly stared up at him, licked her lips, and said, “I don’t remember.”

  “Hmmm, that’s okay. You’ll remember later if it’s important,” he said, then took one hard nipple into his mouth.

  More than an hour later, they were still lying in bed, and he knew that they needed to get up, but he was reluctant to break the spell they were under. But the rumbling of their stomachs signaled the end to what had been the most important night of his life, and as much as he didn’t want to let her, Molly got out of bed to make them breakfast.

  “You just lay here and let me take care of you for a change,” she said, sliding out of bed and putting on his robe.

  As soon as she was gone, he went to the bathroom, closed the door, and unwound the bandages from his arms, pleased to see that only a few red scars where the festering wounds had been. He took his time getting dressed, but the smell of coffee soon came wafting into the room, and he followed it to the kitchen.

  “That coffee smells good,” he said, pouring himself a cup.

  Molly was dressed and looked almost as good as the pancakes steaming on the griddle. “Breakfast is almost ready,” she said, flipping the first one. “Bring a plate over here; the bacon is in the oven and there are eggs on the stove.”

  His stomach rumbling loudly, he filled his plate, then waited for Molly before digging in. “I worked up quite an appetite last night,” he said, around a mouth full of food.

  Molly nearly choked on her coffee. “Adam, you’re terrible,” she said, but she was grinning.

  “And you love it,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

  They finished their breakfast in silence, then Molly got up and refilled their coffee. “So, what’s on the agenda today?” she asked, sitting down next to him again.

  “I think it’s time we went back to the farm,” he said. “I know we planned to stay another day, but after last night, I’d feel better if we went home.”

  Molly nodded, but he could see how disappointed she was. “I guess you’re right. But if you killed the bear, won’t we be safe?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t want to risk it,” he said, getting up and taking their plates. “I’ll clean up if you want to go pack.”

  “Okay, I won’t be long,” she said, bringing him her plate. “Then I’ll help pack up some of this food, unless we’re leaving it.”

  “No, I suppose we’d better take it,” he said, wishing they could come back. “It will just spoil if we leave it here.”

  When they were packed up and ready to go, Adam pulled Molly onto the porch and down onto a bench. “I just want to take a moment and look at the lake,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  Hands joined, they sat in the sun for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of being together, but then Molly looked down at his arm. He felt her eyes on the red scars, then saw her eyes move to her arms, and the pink marks that matched his own. He held his breath, hoping that she wasn’t seeing what he was, but then she looked up at him, her face a mask of confusion.

  “Our scars look the same,” she said, then was silent for a long time. “I thought you said this happened when you pulled me out of the car.”

  “It did...I mean, I thought it did...” he stammered, but he knew she didn’t believe him.

  She got up and walked away a few steps, then turned and faced him. “You’re lying to me,” she said. “I don’t know how I know that, but I do.”

  Adam wanted to curse or shout with joy, he wasn’t sure which, but instead remained silent as he frantically searched his mind for something he could tell her that wasn’t a lie. “It did happen in the car accident,” he insisted.

  “But not the way you said it did,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

  He knew he was in trouble, knew that there was no lying to her any longer, but he had to get her away from the cabin and back to the farm. “Look, I’ll explain everything on the way back to the farm, okay?”

  She studied him for a second, then stomped over to the truck and got in, slamming the door harder than she needed to. “Let’s get going then,” she shouted out of the open window.

  ***Molly***

  Molly was so mad and confused; she wanted to stick her head out the window and scream, but held it back. Just when she thought things were calming down, Adam had swept her feet out from under her, and she knew that from there on out, it was only going to get worse.

  Where the feeling in her gut came from, she wasn’t sure, but standing on the porch just now, it had blossomed until she knew deep down that it was true. What she didn’t know was what he was lying to her about, but she had a sick feeling in her stomach that she didn’t want to know.

  Adam got into the truck, started it up without a word, and pulled away from the cabin. She wasn’t ready to hear what he had to say, would probably never be ready, she thought, knowing that her life was about to be turned upside down again, so she stared out the window, happy to let the silence in the cab continue. But as the miles passed, the tension between them became too much and she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.

  Without looking at him, she asked, “Did I really crash my car that night?”

  He sighed. “Yes, you did,” he said.

  She tested that out as a lie and found it was the truth. “What happened?” she asked. “Where was I going?”

  Adam sighed again, and she knew that she’d asked a question he didn’t want to answer. “You were headed for Prospect Falls,” he said.

  “And?” she asked, finally turning to look at him. “Adam, I don’t understand why this is such a big deal. Was I leaving you or something?”

  “No, you weren’t leaving me,” he said, his eyes glued to the road.

  “Then what was I doing?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” he said.

  She could only stare at him, the sinking feeling in her stomach back. “I think I’m missing something,” she said.

  He finally looked over at her. “Promise me you won’t hate me when I tell you this,” he said.

  The sinking feeling got worse. “Just tell me, Adam,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  He took a deep breath, then said, “Until the night you crashed your car, we had never met.”

  Molly sat stunned, his words bouncing around in her head. “What?” she finally asked, sure she’d misheard him.

  “You have to understand I was desperate, and there you were. I felt things I’d never felt before, and I was so sure it was the only way to keep you,” he stammered. “I’m sorry, Molly, I never should have lied about us being married.”

  As his words slowly sank in, her mind began to spin, all the inconsistencies she’d noticed suddenly staring her in the face. “How many other lies have you told me?” she asked. “Are there people looking for me? Do I have a family?”

  Adam shook his head. “I didn’t lie about your past,” he said.

  She barked out a harsh laugh. “Except the part about us being married for three years,” she spat out. Then sure she was going to throw up, she reached for the door handle. “Stop the truck. I need some fresh air.”

  “Molly, I can’t stop here. It’s not safe,” he said, scanning the trees.

  “I suppose a bear is going to come out of the woods and attack me,” she said. “Please let me out before I throw up in your truck.”

  Adam pulled the truck over to the side of the road, but she was already out the door before it came to a full stop and heading for the bushes. She made it before the contents of her stomach came bursting out, and stood bent over, retching for several minutes, Adam holding her hair back. When the spasms stopped, she stood up, light-headed, and leaned against him, wishing she could just run away.

  The feeling of comfort being in his arms always gave he
r, began to calm her, but she pushed him away. “How could you lie to me about something like that?” she demanded. “I trusted you, Adam, and now I don’t know what to believe.”

  “I’m sorry, Molly,” he said, “I was going to tell you when we got back to the farm.”

  “Do you really think that makes any difference?” she demanded. “You still lied to me, Adam.”

  She saw the defeat in his face. “No, I suppose it doesn’t,” he finally said. “I just didn’t think...never mind, I guess I don’t have a good excuse for what I did.”

  Molly studied him for a minute. “Then why did you do it?” she finally asked, then wished she hadn’t when desire flashed in his eyes.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I felt something the first time I saw you,” he said. “I don’t know if you’d call it love at first sight, but don’t you see, Molly, I lied to you because I wanted to keep you with me until you fell in love with me,” he said, his words pouring out so fast she could barely understand him.

  She sighed, wishing a part of her wasn’t thrilled by his words. “Did you really think that was going to work? Were you hoping that my memory would never come back? What were you going to tell people?”

  He opened his mouth to answer, but she held her hand up in the air. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” she said, heading for the truck. “Let’s just go.”

  They silently got back in the truck and started down the road, the air between them full of tension. Molly was even more confused than she’d been before, and the loss of her memory even more painful since she found herself doubting everything Adam had told her. Staring out the window, she tried to put everything together, and for the first time in days, tried to find the memories that eluded her.

  This time, she found the swirling fog and flashing images had stilled, and soon her life began coming back to her. First, it was just a few glimpses, but as they bumped down the dirt road, a more complete picture began to form. As the sorrows of her life swam through her mind; she remembered the loneliness and despair that had driven her from the city in pursuit of a new life.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ***Adam***

  Adam kept his eyes on the road, but he wasn’t really paying attention; he was thinking of all the other ways he could have handled the situation and wishing he’d listened to his friends. When his tire hit a rock and sent the truck nearly sliding into the ditch, it surprised him as much as Molly, and they both let out a little cry of alarm. The truck came slowly to a stop, but he just sat there his heart pounding, and cursing himself for not paying attention.

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he said, putting the truck in park.

  Molly looked over at him but didn’t say anything, then turned and looked back out the window. He couldn’t tell if she was that mad at him, or in a bit of shock, so he put the truck back in gear, and started back down the road. They hadn’t gone a half a mile before he felt the truck beginning to shimmy and knew that he was going to have to stop again.

  When he got out and saw the two flat tires, he was tempted to shout and curse, but instead took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Opening the back door, he slid the satellite phone out from under his seat, only to find that the battery was dead. Taking another deep breath, he put the phone back and softly shut the door, a sense of panic welling up inside him.

  They were miles from the farm, and he couldn’t be sure that there weren’t any more demons roaming around the woods. Everything he’d seen pointed to there being more, so he quickly rejected sitting in the truck and waiting for someone to realize they hadn’t made it home. Opening the back door again, he grabbed his backpack, dug around for a pen and piece of paper, then quickly wrote a note.

  Molly was still staring out the window, but when he put the note on the dashboard, she turned and looked at him. “What’s wrong with the truck?” she asked.

  “Two flat tires,” he said. “It must have happened when we almost went into the ditch back there. We’re going to have to walk from here and hope that someone finds us before it gets dark.”

  Molly looked at him suspiciously, the got out of the truck and looked at the tires. He came around the back of the truck and waited, watching her as a series of emotions played across her face. “What happens when it gets dark?” she asked, looking around at the dense forest.

  “I know a cave where we can spend the night if no one has found us by then,” he said. “We’ll be safe there until morning, and I’m leaving a note to let them know where to find us, so it might not even be for an entire night.”

  “We could just wait here with the truck,” she said, clearly still suspicious. “Isn’t that what you're supposed to do when you’re lost?”

  “Well, first, we’re not lost; I know where we are,” he said. “And second, if we do end up out here all night, it’s going to get very cold.”

  She considered his words for a second, then nodded her head. “Okay, but this better not be some kind of a trick to keep me from going home.”

  Her words stung a little, but he couldn’t deny that he deserved them. “I promise you, I would never strand us in the middle of the woods to keep you with me,” he said.

  When he handed her the backpack he’d put together before they left the farm, she grunted a little. “What’s in here, bricks?” she asked.

  “I’ll take it if it’s too heavy,” he offered, but she shot him a dirty look.

  “I can manage just fine all by myself,” she said, adjusting it on her back.

  Adam watched her walk down the road, head held high, and knew that he might have ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him and that the only way out of this mess was going to be total honesty. But as strong as she was, he wasn’t sure Molly could handle the truth about what he was and the responsibility he had to keep the demons from wreaking havoc on Earth.

  He couldn’t quite see how that discussion would go, and understood now that he might have mated with the right woman, but could have to spend his life without her. A painful stab of loss nearly stopped him, but he pushed it away and put one foot in front of the other, determined not to give up without a fight. Molly wasn’t gone yet, which meant that he still had time to convince her that she belonged with him, and he wasn’t going to waste one minute of the time he had left.

  Done giving her space, he jogged a little, caught up with her, and fell in step next to her. She looked over at him, a scowl on her face, and said, “I’m still not ready to talk to you,” she said. “But you should know that my memory is coming back.”

  ***Molly***

  Molly knew that it was petty and small to hurt Adam, and the little burst of joy when she saw the look on his face after her announcement only made her feel a little guilty. But he’d lied to her more times than she could count, and the biggest lie of them all left her feeling slightly violated and used. Marching down the road next to him, she forced herself to believe that he was only getting what he deserved, pushing away the little voice that urged her to forgive him.

  Of all the things swirling around in her mind, the question she’d asked him earlier still bothered her. He’d sounded so desperate, and she couldn’t understand why; he was a very good-looking man with a nice home, and from what she’d seen, he was kind and caring; some woman should have snatched him up a long time ago. To think that he’d have to basically kidnap a woman to make her fall in love with him seemed like a stretch.

  Letting her mind wander away from that question for a moment, she thought back to all the lies he’d told her, starting with the first one, and realized that there weren’t that many. Looking over at him, she played their conversations over and over in her mind and saw that when she’d pushed him to lie, he’d changed the subject or flat out refused to answer.

  It made what he’d done take on a different light, and she now understood why he’d refused to talk about how they’d met and fallen in love the first time, his insistence that she fall in love with him again. Looking over at him,
she felt her heart beginning to soften, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something, that something very important wasn’t clear to her yet.

  “It’s starting to get dark,” Adam said, breaking the silence between them and pulling her out of her thoughts.

  “And colder,” she said, looking at the shadow-filled woods around them.

  “There should be a jacket in your backpack,” he said, stopping and pulling his off. “I was hoping that someone would come along by now, but it looks like we’d better head for the cave.”

  Molly couldn’t hide her disappointment at the thought of spending a night in a cave, but looking around her again, she realized it would be much better than staying on the road. “Is it far?” she asked, pulling off her backpack and unzipping it.

  “No, just a couple of miles,” he said. “We should make it before full dark if we hurry.”

  She sighed, put on the jacket she found, then shrugged back into the backpack. “Okay, then we’d better get moving.”

  Adam led her to the trail, then sent her up first, letting her set the pace, but it wasn’t long before he said, “I think we need to go a bit faster. I can take your backpack if that will make it easier.”

  Molly stopped and looked back at him just as she caught the smell of rotten eggs. “Do you smell that?” she asked, remembering the night before. “Is that what bears smell like?”

  He looked at her, opened his mouth, then closed it again, but didn’t answer her question. “Let’s hurry,” he said instead.

  She wanted to question him, but the look on his face told her that now wasn’t the time, so she turned and started back up the trail, pushing herself to her limits. By the time they emerged from the woods, it was nearly dark, but she could see the outline of the cave in the huge rocks where the trail ended. Relief washed over her, and she quickly slung the backpack off and set it on the ground, her chest heaving with the effort of the last few miles.