by Rinelle Grey
Then he saw the wheels at the bottom. It must move. Though it looked far too heavy to move, and there were no horses nearby to attach to it, as he’d heard humans did.
Rylee stared at him in confusion, then gave a grin. “Oh, this is a car. I guess you haven’t seen one? Get in, and I’ll show you.”
He stared at her for a few moments, but for some reason, he trusted her. Maybe because she’d come to find him against her own doubts. So he sat on the seat inside, and watched her as she sat next to him.
She did something on the other side of the protrusion in front of her, and a loud rumbling sound started. In fact, the whole structure vibrated. Then, with a jerk, it started to move.
Calrian watched in fascination as they rumbled down a path worn in the dirt, then stopped before they turned onto another path. This one was black, and looked like it was made of some sort of rock. It was too smooth to be natural.
“Which way?” Rylee asked, glancing over at him.
That was the question, wasn’t it? Everything looked so different down here on the ground. Calrian looked around, trying to get his bearings.
The great mountain rose up behind him. Ultrima’s lair. A shiver ran through him. He knew his enemy still lived, or at least his clan, since there had been one of them sleeping outside his Mesmer chamber.
Luckily, his own lair was in the opposite direction. Calrian pointed straight ahead. “That way.”
Rylee pursed her lips, then turned left, pulling onto the black road. Unfortunately, it didn’t go in the direction Calrian had pointed. In fact, it went a little further away.
Calrian frowned. “This is not the right direction.”
She turned to him with a smile. “There’s a crossroads a couple of kilometres up here, we can go north then. But a car drives better on the road. Not like a dragon, who can fly.” She gave him a lopsided grin at her last sentence, and Calrian couldn’t help grinning back.
For some reason, her acceptance of who he was, of the truth of his story, made him feel a little more confident.
She was right. As soon as they hit the black rock stuff, they sped up. Before very long at all, they were going as fast as he could fly.
Then she was slowing down again. They turned right, and this time, sped north. They went that way for quite a while, but before they were near the lair, they turned again, this time left, still away from the lair.
Calrian bit back his comments this time. She knew where she was going, right?
They drove in silence for a while, and Calrian wondered what she was thinking. Would she be glad to get rid of him? He wouldn’t blame her, he’d been nothing but trouble since he arrived. First bonding her without asking, then collapsing so she had to come and rescue him, then needing her to drive him around.
No, he wouldn’t blame her. He would be sorry to see her go though. Despite her disbelief, or perhaps because of it, he admired her determination. When she hadn’t believed his story, she’d stuck to her beliefs, and been willing to throw him out to protect her young. That had to have taken guts, because even in his human form, he was easily stronger than her.
But her disbelief hadn’t stopped her from coming to his aid. She’d been weak and hurting herself, and instead of blaming him, she’d helped him.
She was an amazing human. He knew some dragons who wouldn’t equal her.
He would be sad to say goodbye to her.
Chapter 11
“So, where exactly is this… lair… of yours?” Rylee glanced over at Calrian. He’d been pretty quiet the whole trip, and she hoped he was okay. Hoped he wasn’t going to get all weak and sick on her again. That hadn’t been pleasant.
“Do you know of a large rock that looks like a wave?” he said, his expression a little concerned.
Luckily, she knew exactly what he meant. “Sure, it’s a bit of a tourist attraction. People come from miles away to take photos of it.”
If the dragon lair was near there, how had they managed to stay hidden all this time. Perhaps they only came out at night. Calrian didn’t seem to be nocturnal though. He’d slept at night, just as she had, and been awake as the sun came up.
She took the next turn and followed the road out, pulling up in front of the wave rock where there was a gap in the trees. Then turned the engine off. “We’re here.”
A pretty pointless statement, since he could obviously see that.
Calrian stared up at the rock, at a point high up on the cliff, his eyes distant.
His normal, gorgeous, blue eyes, had changed. The pupil had elongated, and narrowed into a slit reminiscent of a cat’s eye. Rylee couldn’t help herself, she gaped. It was the first irrefutable proof she’d had that he was more than he seemed.
That reality sent a shiver down her spine, and made her a little sad that she hadn’t believed him right from the start.
In a few minutes, he’d be gone, returning to his own family, his clan as he’d called them. And she’d never see him again. She was a little sad, and not just because she hadn’t had a chance to indulge in this delicious desire that hadn’t left her for an instant since they’d touched.
Calrian was different to any man she’d ever met before. She couldn’t deny that some of that was due to the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous. But it was more than that.
He was also kind, understanding, and respectful.
He seemed to genuinely care about what she wanted, even though he barely knew her. He could have easily justified pressuring her to sleep with him, given his desperate need. But he hadn’t. He’d done the opposite, and walked out of her house without a protest when she’d told him to leave, despite what it had nearly meant for him.
He was someone special.
Calrian turned towards, her and she braced herself for his goodbye.
But his expression was worried. “They’re not there.”
Rylee glanced around, even though she already knew that she wasn’t going to see any dragons. “Well, people, humans that is, visit this site frequently. I assume they’re hiding.”
Calrian shook his head. “No, the lair is empty. I spoke to anyone who could hear me with dragon speech, and no one answered.”
Rylee frowned. She hadn’t heard him say anything. His mouth hadn’t even moved. “Dragon speech?”
He nodded. “Yes, dragons can communicate with each other, with anyone really, in their minds. I think you would call it… telepathy?”
She started at him, gaping. “You can… talk telepathically?”
Calrian nodded. He stared at her for a moment, and then she heard his voice, but not with her ears. He spoke directly into her mind, his voice gentle and deep. “I could not use my dragon speech until I had regained enough energy. I still can’t transform into a dragon, to fly up and inspect the lair myself, but after being close overnight, I can now use dragon speech, which requires very little magical energy.”
Rylee was aware that her mouth was hanging open and her eyes wide. But she couldn’t help herself.
If only he had been able to do that right from the beginning, then she would never have doubted him. She may have still struggled to believe, but who could doubt that someone speaking directly into your mind wasn’t completely normal?
“I… can I reply that way?”
Calrian shook his head. “Only dragons can use dragon speech,” he said, speaking out loud again. “I can speak to you, but you can’t reply.”
Rylee was a little disappointed, but not surprised. She glanced up at the cliff, then back at Calrian. “So, what are you going to do now?”
His expression grew worried again, and he also glanced at the cliff. “I would like to fly up and check the lair, see if there are any clues as to what happened, or where my clan went. But I can’t do that until I regain my full energy.” He looked back at her. “I’m afraid my plan to get out of your hair has failed.” He sounded apologetic. Troubled.
As though he was worried she would be upset.
But Rylee couldn’t help feeling se
lfishly glad. Not that he couldn’t find his family, she could understand his distress at that. But she was glad that he wasn’t going to disappear immediately. She put her hand on his arm, the flash of desire that coursed through her sending a shiver of anticipation through her. “You can stay with me for as long as you need.”
She didn’t want this to end. She wanted to know more about these dragons that had apparently been hiding out in Australia for goodness knew how long.
She wanted to spend more time with Calrian, even though she knew she shouldn’t.
If she’d thought Eric was hard to escape, then she suspected this dragon would be even harder. Worse, she wouldn’t even want to.
But she couldn’t make herself pull away.
The End
Want to know what happens next? Part 2 of Dragon Shores is coming soon. In the meantime, check out Dragon Tides, a spinoff series about Prince Calrian's children!
Zara has been away from Dragon Island Hideaway resort for four years, studying. Now she's back, and on a mission.
Dragon shifter Damrian has missed his best friend Zara, but now she's back, do they have a chance at something more than friendship?
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About the Author
If you read a Rinelle Grey story, you can trust in a happy ending. Love will always triumph, even if it seems impossible… Rinelle Grey writes feel-good romance usually in science fiction or fantasy settings. Her heroines are independent and headstrong, and her stories are hard to put down.
She grew up in a remote area of Australia, without power, hot water, or a phone, but now lives with all of those and her (happily ever after) husband, daughter, chooks, ducks and veggie garden.
She also writes fantasy under the name Rin Grey.
She loves to receive e-mails at [email protected], or follow her on facebook or twitter.
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