“All right. By the way, have you seen Graeme?” asked Lily. “He’s missed out on all of this. It’s more his domain than either of ours, this whole fighting shifters thing. He’s the warrior.”
“I asked him to wait at the house and to watch for intruders, which must have irked him,” said Merriman. “He’s no doubt chomping at the bit to get out here, so we should join him. And you will have to move on very soon, away from the Old House, I’m afraid. I cannot re-cast the spell, at least not yet. For now, it seems that Conor here has recovered from his ordeal, so there is no reason not to travel. And if you remain here you’ll bring their whole army down on this small town.”
“Fair enough,” said Conor. “I do feel remarkably well, considering that I just turned into something fluffy and went on a rampage.”
When they arrived at the house they found Graeme sitting in the kitchen, tapping his fingers on the table in a rapid, violent pattern. No one had to guess that something was gnawing at his insides.
“Where have you been? What’s going on?” he asked when he saw Conor dressed in the strange coat.
“A little altercation,” Conor began. “Our friends came back, it seems. I needed to shift in order to take them out.”
“Why didn’t you come fetch me?” Graeme appeared agitated, angry even—an expression that neither Lily nor Conor had seen since they’d first met.
“There was no time,” said Conor. “And I handled it. Everything’s fine.”
“You’ve never shifted. You had no way of knowing if you’d turn into a chipmunk or a bloody squid. That was an idiotic move.”
As Conor took a step towards his companion, a low growl emerging from his throat, Merriman thrust an arm in front of him.
“Stop it,” he said. “I see that the dragon does have his moments, and that Mr. Dunbar really is fully a shifter now. Lord Ramsey, settle down. As your companion said, all is well and fine, and you need not concern yourself with any of this.”
“I beg to differ,” said Graeme. “I am a dragon lord, and it is my sworn duty to protect my mate. I will not be usurped in this way.”
Conor remained in place, his jaw locked in silence. Had he spoken, he knew, he would end up regretting the words. Instead he turned and left the room.
Lily’s eyes locked on Graeme, her mind seeking answers. What was wrong with him? This was the man who only hours before had been enjoying a playful afternoon with his new “brother.” Was this Graeme an intruder as well?
But all she found as she searched his mind was the man she knew and adored. His gentleness had been temporarily replaced by a primitive rage which was already beginning to fade, his dragon turning back to the lair deep within his human shell.
This was going to be more difficult than she’d hoped, now that Conor was coming into his own. So power had become an issue. Bloody men.
But perfection had always been a fleeting notion, after all. Balancing the moods of two such men was never going to be an easy task.
“I’m going to get some fresh air,” Graeme said quietly, his voice remorseful and softening quickly.
“Don’t take long and don’t go far,” ordered Merriman. “They are out there, somewhere, and my spell is quickly fading.”
“I will go where I want and take as long as I please.” With that last shot of stubbornness, Graeme shut the kitchen door behind him and wandered into the back garden.
Merriman turned to Lily. “He’ll be all right,” he said, seeing her furrowed brow. “It’s inevitable that he’ll have these moments; it’s in his blood, just as it’s in yours somewhere. It is what makes him strong. And, unfortunately, weak.”
“I’ll go speak to him. He’s reminding me of some dire wolves I know, and I’ve watched my mother deal with them more than once.”
“Your mother the dragon. Funny that she should be the calming influence.”
“Well, to be honest, I often thought she instilled a pretty profound fear in them. Dire wolves know better than to mess with fire-breathers. Hopefully I can live up to her reputation.”
“All right, go speak with him, and be gentle. But please, Lilliana, be quick as well. You and the men will need to leave here tomorrow morning at the latest. I can’t stress enough the importance of your imminent departure.”
“All right, Merriman.” As Lily got to the back door she turned and asked, “So where are we going?”
“To the home of Mr. Dunbar’s and Lord Ramsey’s ancestors. To Scotland.”
When the young woman had closed the door behind her, the old man turned to Barbabas, who’d been perched atop the refrigerator, observant as always.
“It’s time that we found out exactly who Conor Dunbar is, my old friend. Are you ready for a voyage?”
To Be Continued.
Preview of Book Four: Loyalty
“Is there something you’d like to talk about, Graeme?”
The man stood as still as stone as he looked out over the green, rolling fields behind the Old House, his expression grim. His hands were tucked into his pockets as though to prevent them moving about and flinging stray posts, tree branches or other objects through the air in a sort of telekinetic hissy fit.
He turned to Lily, his light eyes devoid of any expression that she could read as she delved uninvited into his mind.
Hurt.
That was all she could see; no words. No jealousy. Just a sort of slow burn of pain.
“I’m sorry,” she said when he refrained from answering. “I really am. I’d gotten caught up in the idea that we were safe and I shouldn’t have gone off on my own so frequently. And Conor…”
“You called to him, didn’t you? When you needed help.”
“I called to him because I knew there was a chance that he might hear. Not out of any sort of theory that he was better than you.”
“I know.” Graeme’s voice again transmitted remorse. “Forgive me. It is hard for someone like me to sit back while my mate is threatened. Bloody hell—it’s hard for someone like me to sit back, period. If there’s blood to be shed, I want to be the one doing it. But I know, too, that there is a reason you have two mates.”
Lily’s lips twitched. “Bloodshed, huh? Kind of an animal, aren’t you?”
“A beast,” he said, grabbing her by the waist, his tone altered. “An insatiable, lustful beast who salivates for flesh.”
“We’re not talking about killing anymore, are we?”
“No.”
He leaned down and kissed her as her hands swept around his neck, pulling herself up onto her toes. She loved his height; the power and strength that he exuded.
But even more than that, she loved her own strength.
“I didn’t need him, you know,” she said as she eased back down to earth. “I didn’t need help.”
“I’m sure you didn’t, Firebird. You are something else.”
“But I am glad—and you should be—to know that he has come into his own, and that he’s regained his strength.”
“I am, I am. And then some. Listen, I’m going to go talk to him, which probably makes me seem like some over-sensitive man of the modern era, but quite honestly I can deal with that. There’s something to be said for communication.”
“Speaking of which, are you noticing any mind-reading abilities of your own?”
Graeme locked his eyes on her and narrowed them, pretending to look over her form.
“No, but I can see that you’re not wearing panties.”
She slapped his upper arm.
“Ouch!” he yelped. “Don’t hurt me. I’m sensitive.”
“Piss off,” she laughed.
“All right. And the answer is ‘sort of.’ I make out bits and bobs of conversation. But nothing like what you speak of. It seems that mind-reading is not to be my forte. I’m more the sort who flings cows through the air at enemies.”
“Well, your other forte is very impressive,” said Lily. “And by that I mean your cock.”
“Appalling woman,” he moan
ed as he turned and re-entered through the house’s back door.
Lily turned to look towards the damp back fields. The air was significantly warmer than it had been hours earlier when the house had remained under Merriman’s spell, signalling a return to the present.
In the distance she took in the woods, calm and quiet now, and hopefully not crawling with enemies.
“Thank God for silence. And now to prepare myself for Scotland,” she muttered. Some relief would be welcome. If they could make it to morning without another incident…
She turned back to the house, not noticing the solitary flyer who circled high in the distance before departing, heading back the way it had come.
Also by Carina Wilder
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Seeking Her Mates Book One:
Torn
Book Two of Seeking her Mates: Escape
All of Carina’s individual books are available FREE on Kindle Unlimited for a limited time!
Before Seeking her Mates came the Sought by the Alphas serial, which tells the story of Lily’s mother, Gwynne and her mates:
The five-book boxed set is available here: Sought by the Alphas Boxed Set
Individual books:
Encounters
Rituals
Trial by Fire
Kinship
Dragon Queen
The first four books in the Wolf Rock Shifters Series (these are complete stories and can be read out of order):
Winning the Alpha
Bearing Up In Wolf Rock
The Right to a Bear's Arms
To Lie With Lions
The Billionaires and Curves Serial:
Billionaires and Curves (Taken With You) Trilogy
Taken With You
Crazy About You
The Way to You
Dragon Flight: A Dragon Shifter Menage Serial (Seeking Her Mates Book 3) Page 9
