by Amelia Jade
“Will heal. In a day it’ll just look really pink, then bruised, then as good as new in a few days. Not the first time my brain’s thought it would be a good idea to get in the way of something like that.”
Kim shook her head at his indifference to the injuries he’d taken the past two days. “Just what was that anyway? What did he do to you? And you…Pyne, you shot lightning at him! How is that possible?”
Her mind strayed back to something Morgan had said just before the fight erupted, but she shook her head. No way, that wasn’t possible. Absolutely not. He can heal really quickly though, and that should be impossible. You saw that with his stomach. Firsthand evidence. Could it be? Could he somehow be a…a...Even her brain refused to use the word.
“Say it,” Pyne said, sitting up. “I can see it on your face. You want to ask.”
“Dragon?” she whispered.
He nodded.
“But you’re you. You’re a, a human!” She poked his skin to prove a point. “See, human.”
Pyne shook his head. “It’s true. You need to know that. Everything Morgan said, it’s all true.” His eyes bore into hers as he spoke. “All.”
She shivered. Morgan had said more than just the part about dragons. “Even the bit about you having found that one soul your…dragon,” she stumbled over the word, “can’t live without?”
“Even that.”
She wiped her face, clearing it of rain for a few moments. “Which means that—”
“I love you, Kim Phrasier. I. Love. You.” He sagged as he said it. “Gods, I’ve wanted to say that for so long. It felt so good!”
She wrapped him up in a hug, careful to ensure her face was on his left side, where she could kiss him freely and repeatedly. “I love you too, Pyne. It’s crazy! I’ve only been around you for such a short time.”
“But you’ve known me for ten years,” he countered.
Kim laughed. “You just wish I was dreaming about you for the first six!”
“No, that would have been creepy. Almost stalkerish,” he shot back, getting up somewhat unsteadily, but refusing her offer of help. “I’m okay. Just exhausted. I’ve never used so much energy like that before.”
“That was insane. You just turned into a…a man, but you were made of lightning!” She giggled, feeling overwhelmed with emotions. “It was pretty freaking cool.”
“Cool?” He took her arm and pulled her over away from any window, at the side of the building where hopefully nobody could see them. “I’ll show you cool.”
She waited for him to kiss her, but he put her up against the building instead. “Stay there,” he said, and then jogged away from her. “Ready?”
“I…” Kim wished he would come back, but…OH! Was he going to show her the dragon? “Yes!” she shouted. “So ready.”
Then just like that, a giant blue dragon occupied the space where Pyne had been.
“WHAT?!” she shrieked as the massive snout on the long agile neck came over to look at her. “THAT’S SO FREAKING COOL!”
She ran toward him, to the dragon. That was him, right? He was still it? It was still him? Skidding to a halt, she looked up at the snout, yellow eyes gleaming brightly in the dark. Was that humor she saw in them? Or had she seen one too many fantasy movies? It wasn’t human. She couldn’t prescribe human reactions to it.
“Is it…is it okay if I touch?” she asked.
“Of course.” The voice that came from the mouth was Pyne, but it was deeper. More melodious, and just screamed non-human and powerful. Just like she hoped. Scampering around like an excited schoolchild, Kim reached out and at last placed her hand on one of his scales.
“It feels so warm. I didn’t expect it to be hot,” she observed. “So that’s you up there? Pyne?”
“I don’t become someone else,” the snout said. No, Pyne said. He was speaking, not someone else.
Then just like that, while she watched, the dragon shrank, wings retreating into its back until a moment later Pyne was standing in front of her, arms spread wide. “Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think?” she yelped. “I think you’ve got some explaining to do, mister.”
He laughed. Above them a helicopter made its way through the storm, lights blinking. Pyne peered up at it, then nodded. He lifted a hand and blue light glowed from the end. Waving it back and forth like a flare he got the pilot’s attention until the craft landed nearby.
“Come on,” he said. “Rokk sent this for us. Let’s go back to the base, get cleaned up and dried off, and I’ll tell you absolutely everything.” He paused as a soldier pulled the door open for them. “No more lies, Kim. No more lies. I love you, and that’s the truth.”
She grinned, and followed him into the helicopter, and the next stage of her life. It was crazy. They were nuts! Nobody could fall in love in such a short period of time. But she had. They had. It worked, because they wanted it to work. Fate had brought her here, and that was that. Now it was taking her into the helicopter, if she chose, and into Pyne’s world of dragons and mates.
There was no hesitation as she climbed in.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kim
She stirred. Something warm and thick draped over her, holding her tight. Kim smiled to herself and pulled Pyne’s arm in a little closer, using his hand as a pillow. Nothing was going to disturb them this morning.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
“I’m not getting that and neither are you,” she ordered as Pyne started to shift his weight.
The huge shifter stilled. “My curiosity is going to drive me crazy,” he said, his lips mere inches from her ears.
“Every time we’ve tried to have a comfortable morning in bed, doing nothing, just relaxing with one another, that damn phone has ruined it for us,” she said. “I’m not about to let it happen again. Okay? So ignore it.”
Pyne lay back, pulling her around until she was curled up in his arms, her head resting on his chest. “The idea of a worry-free morning with you lying right there does sound appealing.”
They lay like that for several minutes, Kim tracing patterns on his chest, Pyne playing lazily with her hair, doing little more than staring at one another, appreciating the beauty of such intimate moments. They helped build and shape a relationship. Simply existing in someone else’s presence, without the need to do or say anything could be more powerful than the deepest conversation.
It meant relaxing. Truly relaxing. Feeling safe and secure, that no matter what happened, they were never going to think less of you. You could truly be yourself, not the person that gets put on every morning to appear before society. Kim relished that, and wanted to bask in it a little more. It was for that sole purpose that her phone lay on the table, message unread.
She liked who she was around Pyne. A lot.
Kissing his chest, she asked him the question that had been on her mind a lot, but that neither of them had broached. It was only the second day after the battle, and Pyne had spent the first one recovering, alternating between sleeping and eating horrendous amounts of food. Last night he’d asked her to come stay with him, pronouncing himself fit enough to curl up with her in bed.
“What do we do next?”
Pyne nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking about that. About the best way to tell you.”
She lifted her head. “To tell me what, Pyne?”
“That I already started making arrangements.”
She frowned. “What sort of arrangements? That sounds very cryptic.”
He gave her a look that must have been intended to be reassuring, but did not come out as such. “About your return, of course.”
“You decided what that was going to be?”
“Sort of? I…I did what I had to, to fix it. To make it all go away.”
She snorted. Loudly. “So in other words you used your dragon super-clearance to get the whole thing buried.”
“It’s more tha
n that, Kim. It’s not just clearance. It’s power. The government rules at our whim. The military is funded by us. We ensure our nation’s neutrality, as we have for many long years. The entire banking system is run by dragons. We built it up into what it is today. That gives us power. If I have to use a bit of that to make a false news story go away so that my mate is treated the way she should be treated, then I’m damn well going to use it and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”
By the time he finished he was speaking loudly, and she felt his heart speed up.
“Okay,” she said sweetly.
Pyne frowned down at her from his position higher up on the bed. “What?”
“I said, okay.”
“I heard what you said. What I’m trying to figure out is what you meant.”
Kim howled with laughter.
Pyne blinked. “Was it something I said?”
She laughed even harder, forced to roll off of him as she curled up into a ball, trying to speak, but every time she did her words just disintegrated into sputters.
Eventually she gained control, breathing hard and wiping several tears from her eyes. “Oh, Pyne. I love you so much.”
“I love you too. But what was so funny?”
“Just you. Such a stereotypical male response. Trying to read more into a one-word answer. It was absolutely hilarious, and couldn’t be more incorrect. I meant it when I said okay.”
“You did?”
“Yes. If this means that much to you, and is something you feel strongly about, I’m not going to fight you on it. Especially when I’m going to benefit from it.”
“Oh.” He worked his jaw back and forth. “Okay.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, sticking out her tongue at the joke as they both chuckled.
“It means that if you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“Good. Now tell me what the plan is.”
“It’s not final yet. It takes time for things to trickle down, right? I’m working with higher levels of government right now to clear it up, but it could take a bit. Bureaucracy.” He rolled his eyes. “First though, we’re going to send you home, private jet and all, with Morgan’s remains to be turned over to the government.”
The way he ended the sentence and took in a breath had her bracing. “And the bad news?”
“The bad news is, while that’s processed and orders are written up to make it show you were operating under command from higher-up, you may spend a few days in the brig.”
She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “Jail.”
“Not interrogation. I’ve sent ahead word to ensure you’re simply detained while everything is sorted. So proper orders can be signed, statements given to the media, elected politicians, things like that.”
“I see.”
“It won’t go on your record. Nothing will. In the end you’ll be hailed as a hero for capturing him, and completing a case you started a decade earlier. Medals, receptions, all that sort of stuff.” He grinned at her. “Oh, all the bright lights, speeches, toasts. You’ll have to wear that fancy dress uniform too! And pose for pictures.”
“I hate that stuff,” she informed him, eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at him. He was enjoying this too much.
“Great, it’s agreed on then.”
“Pyne…”
“Yes, dear?” He started stroking her hair again.
“You know you’re coming with me, right?”
She was greeted by silence.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Pyne
“I still can’t believe you managed to weasel out of this,” she complained as he escorted her up the stairs to the sleek black and white private jet that sat on the runway at Fort Banner. “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”
“You’re cute when you’re mad at me,” he teased, kissing her on the cheek.
“It’s also ‘cause I’m going to miss you,” she said in a completely different voice.
“I’m going to miss you too.” He shifted back and forth uneasily as he walked the aisle until she found a seat she liked. Slipping into the seat next to her, he caught her eye. “I was thinking about that.”
It wasn’t a topic they’d broached just yet. Not with each other. Things had been so crazy, it just hadn’t come up. Now though, he needed to ask. Why am I nervous? She’s my mate. She understands what that means, that we’re connected on a level she’ll never have with a human.
That fact still amazed him. Somehow her coma had altered Kim. She claimed to be the same person, and while that might be true, Pyne had come to wonder that perhaps his sacrifice had also altered the way his dragon viewed her. After all, it wasn’t like him to shell out so much money for someone who would have gotten care for free from the government anyway. Yet he had, which was suspect.
He might never know, and the important part of that was, he didn’t care. He had Kim now. She was his through and through, and that was all that mattered. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Thick hips, big brain, and wonderful to the core. He’d never been happier.
“And what thinking did you come up with this time?” she teased. “Because I haven’t even done a single meeting or reception yet, and I’m already tired of them.”
He laughed, knowing full well she would be just fine with that side of things. Kim was naturally a talker.
“I…You know I have to stay here, right?”
“Yes. The Outsiders. Your commitment to defending humanity.” The words sounded silly, but Kim spoke them with the gravity they deserved.
He’d shown her the damage the assault had caused on the base the night of her arrival, along with footage of everything else, to properly express to her why he had to stay. She’d understood as soon as she’d gotten over her shock. He was proud of her ability to adapt and realize that the world was a lot more complicated than it seemed on the surface.
“Well, if you want…” He hesitated. Come on, Pyne, get it together! “If you want I could arrange it so that you could come back here,” he spat out in a rush, nervous despite himself.
What if she didn’t want to leave her home and come stay with him? After all, she’d be putting herself in immense danger this way. The first place the Outsiders would attack would be Fort Banner, and if she wasn’t fast enough she might find herself killed.
Pyne didn’t want to have her in any such danger, but he knew the instant he even mentioned that she would skewer him for accusing her of not being able to help. She was stubborn like that. So if he couldn’t convince her to stay away, maybe he could keep her close enough that he could protect her if shit ever did truly hit the fan.
“You could get me a visa that easily?” she asked, sounding surprised.
“Of course. That’s nothing. It’s more about you.”
“About me?”
He nodded. “Yes. It would mean giving up your career. Coming here, without knowing anyone besides me. Maybe the base would hire you on as a contractor somehow, maybe not, I don’t know. Plus there’s the danger of the Outsiders as well…what?”
By that point Kim was giving him a sly look. She knew something that he didn’t.
“My enlistment comes to an end in six months,” she informed him. “At which time I’m sure plenty of officials would like to see me disappear based on everything that just happened.
They both looked away. Pyne had received several reports that a few politicians had raised quite the kerfuffle at home in regard to her apparent “traitorous nature” as the news channels had called it. All without a shred of evidence of course, but since when had that stopped politicians from believing something?
“I see.” He waited for her to give him her official answer.
Kim stared directly at him, but didn’t speak. Pyne grew antsy, and almost asked her what her answer was, but she spoke just before.
“So if you think you can get everything arranged in the next six months, I’d love to come back and live with you.”
/>
“Really?” Giddiness flooded his system, making him sound much younger than he wanted.
“Really.”
“I really am the luckiest guy in the world.”
He pulled her onto his lap to kiss her properly, staying like that until the copilot came back to see if everything was okay.
“We’re ready to go, sir. Are you going to be joining us now?”
“No,” he said, slowly lowering Kim back into her own chair. “Unfortunately not. I must remain here. You get ready though. I’ll make my exit.”
The copilot nodded and departed, leaving them alone once again.
“Six months,” he whispered. “It will feel like a lifetime.”
“Perhaps,” she agreed, taking his hand and kissing it. When she looked up he was grinning from ear to ear.
“But maybe you should have made a move a decade ago instead.”
********
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This concludes Dragon Soul, Cobalt Dragons Book 3.
The Quicksilver Dragons are up next!
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Want More of These Characters?
Hey!
Thanks for digging in to my back matter for more books to read. I’ve written a number of series now, in three main worlds. All worlds have an easy and convenient to read introduction, with a number of stories in it that will drag you right into the world.
The Outsiders
Ancient Dragons have been awakened to fight a monstrous enemy from out of this world. But they have one condition first: They must be allowed to find their mates.
Dragon Temptation (Crimson Dragons Book 1)
Cadia
In this world shifters and humans live apart. Will imaginary barriers prevent real love? Not sure where to start? Try reading:
