His dragon puffed smoke out of his nostrils. I suppose she is, his dragon conceded.
Sometimes protecting people is not about who can take down an opponent by force. Kelos watched his mate as her jaw tightened and her eyes misted with tears. Amber knew her brother’s family was in danger, a danger that would not go away overnight. Fabian’s decision to help send a bad person to jail had come with a life sentence all of its own.
She will do whatever it takes to make them safe. To make things right for them. There was a warning in his dragon’s voice.
And we will do whatever it takes to keep our mate safe. Kelos had a sneaking idea that might be harder than he’d ever imagined.
Chapter Twelve – Amber
“This house of yours.” Amber tilted her head back from where she sat on the lawn next to Kelos and scanned the house. “What’s next?”
“Next?” Kelos asked. “You mean for repairs?”
“Yeah. While we’re here, why don’t we help you?” Amber asked. “We could earn our keep.”
Kelos chuckled. “Okay.”
“Wait, did you mean all of us?” Margie asked, as Amber, Kelos, and Shawn stood up.
“I have an hour or so to spare and since Jane and your kids are getting on so well, Margie, why don’t you do something to take your mind off everything.” Shawn gave her a lopsided smile. “If it helps, I’ll say doctor’s orders.”
Margie pressed her lips into a thin line. “It doesn’t help.”
“Well, sometimes medicine is tough to swallow.” Amber reached out a hand to Margie. “Come on. I think it’ll do you good.”
“But the children…” Margie began.
“They are not going anywhere,” Amber told her. “They’re in the back yard and Kelos and Shawn will know if they leave, and they will know if anyone else arrives.”
“No one sneaks up on a shifter,” Shawn confirmed.
Margie sighed and took a last look at her children. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”
“Well, that depends on what you can do,” Kelos replied cagily.
“I’m good at organization.” Margie looked hopeful but Kelos had other ideas.
“Haven’t you ever gotten your hands dirty?” the dragon shifter asked. “Or chipped a nail while hitting something with a hammer?”
“No.” Margie curled her fingers, hiding her nails in the palm of her hand. “And I feel confident that if I got through life without hitting anything with a hammer, I would not feel as though I’ve missed out.”
“There is nothing like wielding a hammer to work through life’s stresses and strains,” Shawn encouraged. “All you have to do is think of the one thing that you would like to pound into the ground and hit it.”
“Please, don’t tell my children that.” Margie grinned despite herself as she followed Kelos around the far side of the house.
“This is where I keep all my tools, don’t worry, it’s locked so the children can’t come in here and help themselves to anything dangerous.” He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the doors of an old barn that had a new lock on the door. As the doors swung wide open, he stood back, a small smile of satisfaction on his face.
“I might be having second thoughts about you, Kelos,” Amber murmured as the dragon shifter took a couple of steps forward and yanked a red toolbox off a shelf. “I think you have a secret mistress.”
“Tools.” Shawn grabbed a tool belt and handed it to Margie. “What man doesn’t love tools?”
“My man.” Margie held her arms out of the way while Shawn buckled the tool belt around her waist.
“Ahh, I bet he’d change his mind if he had one of these.” Amber picked up a large drill. “Think of the damage and destruction Fabian could do with a drill this size!”
Margie giggled. “Please, don’t ever tell Fabian I have taken his name in vain, but if he ever got his hands on a drill like that, he’d probably make the house fall down.”
“I think we need to meet Fabian and teach him how to handle his tools.” Shawn arched an eyebrow and grabbed a saw. Flexing it in his hands, he said, “Okay, Kelos. Show us what you need us to do.”
Kelos shook his head, looking a little worried as he led them to his stack of lumber which was piled neatly around the side of the shed. “This is for the porch. I haven’t had time to get to it yet but since there are so many of us here, maybe this would be a good time.”
Shawn nodded and helped Kelos pull the tarp off the lumber which had been keeping it dry. “Okay. You measure, I’ll cut, and the ladies can hammer them into place.”
Kelos glanced sideways at Margie and Amber. “Is that okay with you?”
Amber grinned and grabbed a hammer from his toolbox. “I have hammered more nails than you’ve had hot dinners.”
“I doubt that,” Kelos answered as he carried a piece of lumber over to the porch and measured it. “Margie, do you want to start ripping the old boards up?”
“I suppose.” She arched her eyebrows at Amber and took the hammer out of the tool belt. Holding it in her right hand, she advanced on the porch. “I hope the house doesn’t come down, too.”
“It’ll be fine,” Kelos assured her but when he locked eyes with Amber, there was a hint of fear there.
Raising the hammer over her shoulder, Margie brought it down hard and whacked the board so hard it shattered. A look of pure satisfaction spread over her face. “You’re right. This is good therapy.”
Soon the sound of hammering and sawing filled the quiet of the mountainside as the old porch was pulled apart to be replaced by new solid wood that would still be standing when Amber and Kelos were gray and old.
“Having fun?” Amber asked as Margie stood up straight, her hand on the small of her back.
“I am.” Margie nodded and glanced at Kelos. “So, you have a thing for him?”
“Kelos?” Amber nudged her sister-in-law. “I do.”
“It’s serious?” Margie asked in surprise.
Amber wrinkled her nose. “Is it that obvious?”
“I have seen you with other guys before…” Margie hesitated before she said, “Fabian used to worry that you would never find the right man and settle down. That you never took relationships seriously because you thought that it would mean the end of your freedom.”
“Really?” Amber asked in surprise. “I had no idea I was the topic of conversation for you guys.”
“Only because we were worried about you. You are so good with the kids, but you never seemed interested in settling down and starting your own family.” Margie studied Amber closely. “Why?”
Amber paused, hammer raised as she exhaled deeply, she let it drop but there was no force behind it. It was as if her strength had suddenly gone. “Because I watched my mom make sacrifices for us. For her family. I know she loved us more than anything in the world, but it was as if she’d traded who she was in exchange for a husband and kids.”
Margie reeled back. “I had no idea. Fabian never said.”
“I don’t think Fabian really saw it in the same way.” Amber rocked back on her haunches. “It wasn’t until Fabian was at college that I saw it. I visited home for a couple of weeks. Dad was at work and it was the first time my mom and I really talked. She was so interested in where I’d been and what I’d seen. Then she got out this box.”
Margie’s brow knitted together. “What was in it?”
“Her life. Her life before she married my dad.” Amber flexed her fingers around the hammer. “It was as if she was a different person than the one I knew as my mom.”
“And that’s when you decided that you wanted to stay the way you were and not compromise?” Margie asked.
Amber’s eyes pricked with tears. “I suppose it was.” She wiped her hand over her eyes. “It was so long ago. I don’t really think of it anymore.” But that was the moment when Amber had decided that she didn’t want a husband and kids. She wanted her freedom more than love and marriage.
“Fabian said your dad was
a traditional man who liked his wife to stay home and play house…” Margie paused. “Huh.”
“What?” Amber asked as she went back to hammering the nail into the sawed lumber.
“I’m your mother.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “Your brother married his mother.”
Amber burst out laughing. “No.” She waved her finger at Margie. “You are not my mother, believe me.”
“Are you sure?” Margie asked as Kelos carried more boards toward them.
Amber was momentarily distracted by the man who was her mate. The man who wanted her to marry him and raise a family with him. Was she ready to give up her freedom now? For love?
Yes.
Her view of her mother shifted dramatically. For love, she would make sacrifices.
Just as Margie had made sacrifices when Fabian had agreed to testify. No matter how much she complained, Margie had never told Fabian to drop his testimony. Amber was certain if Margie asked that was exactly what Fabian would do.
He would also sacrifice a part of himself for love. For his wife and his children.
“No, you are not my mother. You are you, Margie. And Fabian loves you and the kids so much.” She placed the hammer on the board and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her sister-in-law. “You deserve each other, and you deserve to be happy.”
“And so do you, Amber,” Margie whispered in her ear. “You don’t have to give up who you are for love. Sure, you have to make tweaks. But you are still you.”
“Thanks, Margie.” Amber let go of her sister-in-law and wiped her eyes. “Let’s get this finished and then we can go eat. I expect the kids are starving.”
“The kids.” Margie looked up suddenly as if the word had triggered her paranoia.
“They’re still in the back yard,” Kelos told Margie before his eyes slid over to Amber. If she wasn’t mistaken, Kelos had heard every word of her conversation with Margie. Of course, he would with his enhanced senses. He wouldn’t even have needed to try.
But she didn’t mind. Not one bit.
“I should go and check on them.” Margie straightened up and surveyed her work before she twirled the hammer in her hand and slipped it into her tool belt. “That was kind of fun.”
“And have you worked through your anxiety and stress?” Amber asked as she inserted the next piece of cut wood into place.
“You know, I think I have.” Margie stretched her arms over her head and rolled her shoulders. “Although something tells me I’m going to ache in the morning.”
“But you’ll also get a good night’s sleep.” Shawn came across to join them. “I have to go.”
“Maybe we should pack away the tools,” Kelos suggested, although his expression as he eyed the half-finished porch said that he’d like to carry on and get it finished. Amber would have offered for them to carry on together, but her hands and her shoulders ached.
“We can finish it tomorrow after you come home from work,” Amber suggested.
“Yeah.” He nodded wistfully. “Tomorrow.”
“I can come along after work. I’ll also give Joey a call. He’ll come and help out. Especially if you throw in a couple of beers and some homecooked food.”
“Oh, I’ll cook,” Margie offered. “If I give you a list of groceries, you could go get them tomorrow, can’t you, Amber?”
“Sure.” She nodded. “I’ll drive into town in the morning and then help with any preparations before Kelos gets home. Then we can all work on the porch.”
With a sense of accomplishment, she helped Kelos collect the tools and carry them to his impressive shed, while Margie and Shawn went around the house to find the kids.
“Did you enjoy the work?” Kelos asked as he placed his toolbox in its place and hung up the tool belt Margie had worn.
“Are you kidding me? This is what I live for. I love being able to step back and look at what I’ve accomplished.” Amber grinned. “You don’t believe me.”
“I do.” He matched her grin. “See, we’re a perfect match.”
“We are.” She nodded and sighed. “Probably more than you think.”
“Oh?” Kelos asked as he hung the saw on its hook.
“Yeah. You know, with Shawn saying about you buying this place because it was cheap… I like to live frugally, too.” She cocked her head to one side as he dropped the hammer, which nearly landed on his foot. Only his quick reactions took his toes out of harm’s way. “Sorry.”
“Shawn really was teasing me.” Kelos leaned down and picked up the hammer, giving Amber a chance to ogle his long lean thighs and his toned butt. “I could have bought a more expensive house.”
“It’s okay. I like that you are frugal.” She took a couple of steps backward as he placed the hammer in the toolbox and shut the lid. “I’d rather live that way than in debt.”
He arched one eyebrow. “It’s not that I don’t have money. I just don’t like parting with it.”
“Good. I like that. I’m not frivolous either.” Amber got the impression she’d hit a nerve and would be much better not talking.
“In that, we are the same. I am definitely not frivolous.” He followed her out of the shed and shut the doors behind them. He didn’t speak while he shot the bolt home and locked the shed securely. “After dinner, if you are not too tired from working on the porch, would you come with me into the mountains?”
Amber looked at the high peaks, her legs ached just thinking about walking back up the trail. “I’ll wear my shoes out hiking up and down that mountain. But sure, if that’s what you want.”
Kelos came toward her, his arm snaking around her waist as he lowered his head and whispered against her ear, “I wasn’t expecting you to walk. I thought this time we could fly.”
“Fly.” She jerked her head backward and looked up at his face. “Are you teasing me now?”
“Nope, my dragon wants to meet you and there is something we really need to show you.” He grinned as her cheeks flushed pink with excitement. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes. A million times yes.” She nodded like a fool. Who would say no to a ride on the back of a dragon?
Chapter Thirteen – Kelos
“What do I do?” Amber asked nervously. After dinner, Margie had taken the kids upstairs to get them ready for bed and Amber and Kelos had said they were going for a walk to look at the stars. Kelos had promised to keep a look out for anyone approaching the house, although it all seemed quiet along the mountain roads.
“When I shift…” He watched her for any indication she might turn around and run as soon as she was confronted with a dragon.
“When you change into a dragon.” She inhaled deeply and then let the breath out slowly.
“Yes, when I change into my dragon, I’ll lower myself toward the ground and you need to climb onto my foreleg and then onto my back.” He nodded, hoping her response would be positive when he asked, “Can you do that?”
“Yeah.” She nodded in time with him. “Absolutely. Nothing to it.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he promised for the third time.
“I know you won’t hurt me but it’s not you who breathes fire, is it?” she asked lightly but he could see fear flash across her eyes.
“No, it’s not. But since you are our mate, you’ll be just fine.” He took her hand and led her through the broken gate at the end of the back yard. They walked a little way along the trail before he stopped, turned left and ducked under an old oak tree. Ten feet beyond the ancient oak there was a clearing that was large enough for a fully grown dragon to land.
“This is it?” Amber asked nervously.
“This is it.” Kelos let go of her hand and turned to face her. “Please, don’t run.”
“I won’t.” She shook her head. “I promise.”
He smiled, his top lip stuck to his upper teeth as nerves made his mouth dry. “Mates can’t lie to each other.”
“I thought that was just for shifters,” she replied lightly. “I didn’t know it applied to me, t
oo.”
He grinned. “I just made a new rule.”
“I am not good at following rules.” Amber clasped her hands in front of her and nodded. “Do it now before I change my mind.” She puffed the air out of her lungs.
He nodded and took a couple of quick steps away from her but didn’t drop his gaze. “It’s still me. We’re one and the same.”
“Except you walk on two legs and the other part of you flies on two wings.” She shivered and he caught her scent on the breeze as her hair ruffled around her shoulders.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he focused, trying to control his own nerves. He had so much to lose if this went badly.
If this goes badly, we have everything to lose, his dragon told him. But we won’t lose her. Nothing can go wrong.
Famous last words, Kelos said. We have had plenty of things go wrong that should never have gone wrong.
Stop babbling and let her see me, his dragon said bluntly.
Letting go of his breath, Kelos also let go of his hold on the world. As he faded away, he fixed his eyes on his mate, hoping she would still be there when he came back. For a split second there was nothing. Then the world came into focus once more. Only this time he could see his mate through the eyes of his dragon.
“Wow.” She staggered back, putting her hand out to stop her from falling. The old oak tree was there to support her as she stared at him on shaky legs.
I think it’s going well, his dragon said. But since we have never shown ourselves to our mate before, I have no idea.
Now who is babbling? Kelos told his dragon with a nervous laugh. Lower yourself down. Amber knows what to do.
His dragon bent his legs and lowered himself down to the ground. Turning his head, he nudged his nose toward his foreleg, then he turned to look at Amber. She didn’t move, her hands covered her mouth as if she were covering a scream.
Amber stared at him, her eyes wide as she fought with the idea that dragons were real. Kelos had seen this reaction before. Even when he was free to roam the skies, before men invented planes or their looking glasses that could magnify distant objects, he’d seldom shared the truth of what he was with people.
Kelos: Spring (Shifter Seasons Book 4) Page 10
