by Rinelle Grey
Rylee pushed away the fact that he’d be leaving tomorrow. She tried not to think about the danger he could be flying into or to dwell on the fact that this might be the last time she’d make love with her mate, but no matter how hard she tried, that possibility remained in the back of her mind, making every kiss and every touch bittersweet.
As Calrian’s kisses slid down her neck and across her shoulders, Rylee tried to memorise the spark of fire that melted her heart when his lips touched her bare skin. She tried to commit to memory every angle of his body and the perfect rounded curve of his butt.
She closed her eyes and focused on what it felt like to be holding a dragon in her arms. Her dragon. Her mate. She never wanted to forget any part of him or how he made her feel.
Calrian had always been special. From the first moment she’d seen him she’d known that, and not just because he’d looked like one of those Greek gods. Despite being attracted to his good looks immediately, it had been the kindness and sweetness in his heart that had drawn her in and made her fall desperately in love with him.
Before Calrian, she hadn’t realised being loved could be so wonderful. Her father and Eric had claimed to love her, but nothing they’d ever done had made Rylee feel special or cared for. She’d thought the fact that she didn’t appreciate them meant there was something wrong with her.
But Calrian had shown her it was no effort at all to appreciate real love.
She couldn’t even begin to count the hundreds of little ways he demonstrated his devotion every day, from making sure there was always fresh orange juice and milk in the fridge to taking on the harder jobs around the resort to spare her.
Then there was the way he made love to her as he did now. Calrian was never focused on his own pleasure. He seemed to delight in generating that feeling in her. Rylee would have thought he was just trying to do the right thing except she could feel his own desire grow with every moan she gave.
And she knew how much of a turn on it could be to pleasure someone else because she felt the same thing every time her own touch caused a reaction in him.
Rylee couldn’t regret a single moment she’d spent with Calrian, no matter what happened tomorrow. She tried not to worry that even in a best-case scenario, he’d return with a ready made family, even if it wasn’t his entire clan.
And if enough of his brothers were awake, they’d want to wake the rest. And it seemed unlikely all five of his siblings would want to move to Dragon Island. Meaning Calrian would be torn between his family and her. Again.
She pushed that thought away before it could grab hold. Now wasn’t the moment for doubts or worries. Calrian was here, his lips trailing across her chest, his touch sending waves of pleasure crashing over her, and every distracting thought only meant she missed a moment with him.
So Rylee blocked out all the negative, fearful thoughts, and focused on loving her dragon.
Calrian was certainly focusing on her. His hands slid around her waist, pulling her closer, and as if he realised her focus had returned, his kisses deepened, awakening a need in Rylee she knew only he could satisfy.
A need she knew he would satisfy. She groaned in anticipation.
Rylee pulled off her clothes, tossing them aside with abandon. Calrian divested himself of his own with the same urgency, and then she pulled him back towards the bed, her lips not leaving his.
She knew she should take her time and savour every moment of his closeness, but her body craved immediate satisfaction. She wanted to feel him inside her, to cherish the connection between them that had been formed through the dragon mating magic.
The connection that would remain, no matter how far apart they were.
That, at least, she would have for the rest of her life, no matter where he was.
That was the only thing that could block out the fear and sadness she felt at him leaving. Rylee pulled him towards her, spreading her legs and urging him to come closer, to merge with her.
But despite giving a groan of helplessness, Calrian seemed determined to take his time. He licked and kissed every inch of her body as though he, too, was trying to memorise every part of her. Except, agonisingly, he stayed away from the ones she wanted him to touch the most. Rylee moaned and arched towards him. “I need you, Calrian,” she gasped.
He groaned in response. “I will always need you, Rylee, my beautiful mate.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she desperately wished it were true.
But there, in the safety and closeness of Calrian’s arms, she admitted to herself her real fear—that he had only mated with her because there were no dragons available. That she had been the second choice, a consolation prize.
She kept reminding herself that his brothers and sisters would be in the same boat. Verrian already had a human mate. Taurian might too based on what Ultrima had said to Verrian. Even if his family were awake, this would be the new norm for them. She’d fit right in.
Except she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
The thought of leaving Dragon Island and returning to the small insular country town of Mungaloo, living in the lair instead of her beautiful home, and only being a small part of Calrian’s life, not his whole world…
She felt selfish for even wanting to keep him to herself, but she couldn’t help it. She loved their life just the way it was. The thought of it changing terrified her.
What if Calrian changed when he was with his family? What if they wanted him to do things she didn’t want to do, such as using Mora’s life dragon powers to help their war? Which would Calrian choose, her or his family?
She wanted to believe Calrian would always be the same dragon she’d mated and that he’d respect her choices just as much as he always had. And a part of her believed he would. But another part of her couldn’t silence the doubts.
And if she couldn’t be part of his family, then what would happen?
The mating bond was permanent, but if he regretted it, then it would become a painful reminder, not the beautiful connection it had been for the last twenty-six years.
It would only serve to remind her that he’d never truly been hers. She’d just borrowed him for a while.
Rylee’s eyes filled with tears, and she knew she would never regret an instant of their time together, no matter what happened. She would treasure it always just as she’d treasure this moment.
Calrian kissed her and, as though he knew the direction her thoughts had taken, his fingers slipped between her thighs, caressing her wet folds. All her fears and worries fled instantly to be replaced by a need and desire so intense it left room for nothing else.
Rylee clung to Calrian as though she never intended to let go, gasping in pleasure as he slid into her. Her doubts, her fears, none of those mattered anymore.
This was real. This was right. This was everything that mattered in life.
Calrian was here, and he was hers. The unwavering connection between them brought her a measure of peace, and then even that faded away under the wave of pleasure that rocked through her body, making the whole world explode into stars.
Even after Calrian pulled back, kissing her slowly and tenderly, the calm remained. The fears weren’t gone, but they were pushed back far enough that Rylee was only peripherally aware of them.
In these moments, she never doubted. She knew Calrian loved her. She trusted that he found her as attractive as she found him.
She could trust that he would be by her side for the rest of her life.
Chapter 64
Calrian was glad Rylee was calm as they waited at the airport for his flight to be called. Their mating last night seemed to have silenced her doubts.
It was Calrian who was a mess.
There’d been no more news of his brother or Ultrima so he could only assume the Trima dragon was still in police custody and his brother was still alive and safe somewhere. But that didn’t help any of the doubts assailing him.
The fact that he was leaving Rylee only made things worse.
She’d told him many times that he’d changed her life, and he always downplayed his part in that. He’d just been a decent dragon and not an asshole like the other men in her life.
He’d always felt she’d given him far more than he’d ever given her.
The reality was she was his rock, his safety net, and his lifeline. She was the one who’d picked him up when he’d lost all hope. She’d given him something to live for when he’d thought everything was over.
No matter how afraid he was for the future of his people, when he looked into her eyes he knew everything would be okay.
So why was he leaving her? Why hadn’t he pushed harder for her to come with him?
How could he manage this without her?
For a moment, the doubts overwhelmed him. In the last twenty-six years he had never been out of dragon speech distance from Rylee. And now he’d be over a thousand kilometres away. He wouldn’t be able to ask her opinion on things or just tell her he loved her whenever the thought arose, which was often.
He might have panicked, except throughout it all, he could feel her comforting presence in the back of his mind through the mating bond. No matter how far away he was, that connection would always be there.
And he did have other ways to contact her. His hand reached into his pocket for the phone she’d given him that morning. Human technology could cross far greater distances than dragon magic. She wouldn’t truly be out of reach. It would just take him a moment longer to contact her.
And even though Rylee would be far away, he wouldn’t be alone. On his other side sat his daughter. Rylee had still insisted she go, even with the Trima life dragon presence. Mora would help him through this ordeal, help him find his family, and help him protect them.
Born out of his and Rylee’s love, Mora would be the one to change the tide of disaster his family had survived. She and her brothers would help him rebuild Rian clan into the proud clan it had once been.
He’d never been more sure of that than he was at this moment.
By the time his flight was called, his anxiety had calmed, and he was able to stand up and hug his mate goodbye with only a few tears.
“I’ll be back soon,” he promised.
Rylee nodded. “I’ll be right here.” There were tears in her eyes, but her back was straight and her shoulders strong.
Beside her, Hayrian nodded. “I’ll take care of Mum,” he promised. “And the resort. We’ll all be waiting for you.”
That truth was the only thing that allowed Calrian to walk through the boarding gates with Mora and get onto the plane. But as the human flying machine rose into the air and he could see the blue sea dotted with islands on the horizon, the calm of his home centred him, and he was able to focus ahead, on what he needed to do to find his brother.
Would things be any different this time? Would he be able to wake his family and bring them home to Dragon Island with him?
And if he did, what would happen then?
Those questions occupied Calrian almost all of the way to the city and most of the drive out to Mungaloo in a rental car. It was nearly lunch time by the time they arrived in the sleepy little outback town.
Although it wasn’t so sleepy today. At least half a dozen police cars were parked at various points in town, and the police officers outnumbered the townsfolk walking the wide streets. Even those not in uniform wore suits, proclaiming clearly they weren’t residents here.
“Drive past the police station. Down that way,” Calrian said, indicating with a nod of his head.
Was Ultrima still in custody? The police didn’t seem unduly agitated, so he assumed the lightning dragon hadn’t escaped or fried the entire town.
Sure enough, there were even more police cars at the station. Clearly something big was going on down there.
The sight gave Calrian hope. Ultrima’s captivity gave him the chance he’d been waiting for all these years. A chance to wake his family.
Their way wasn’t completely clear of course. They still had to watch out for the Trima clan dragons. They were supposed to be confined to their lair, but he wasn’t going to count on that. Assuming anything around the Trima clan was a recipe for death.
And Calrian had no intention of dying. He had a mate to return home to and a daughter to protect.
Before he even began to consider waking the rest of his family, he needed to find Verrian. Now just where would his brother be?
There was only one answer. Verrian’s mate was being held captive at the Trima lair. If Rylee were there, Calrian would be nearby, no matter how many promises he’d made to his enemy.
So he instructed Mora to drive in that direction, calling out to Verrian in dragon speech on the way, narrowing his call so only his brother would be able to hear it.
He wasn’t surprised when he received no answer.
They saw the police barricade long before the Trima lair was anything more than a distant mountain in the distance. There were at least a dozen cars pulled over to stare at the mountain, obviously not being allowed past. Calrian directed Mora to pull over behind them, not wanting to approach the police and risk them asking for ID. They wouldn’t let them pass anyway, not unless he told them he was a dragon, which he had no intention of doing.
Instead he stared up at Ultrima’s mountain and called out to his brother again. “Verrian?”
There was still no answer.
If his brother was at the mountain, they should have been close enough for him to hear.
Calrian tried not to feel discouraged. Instead he focused on what he should do next. But he couldn’t help wishing that Rylee was here. She’d know what he could do.
Because Calrian was all out of ideas.
Chapter 65
Rylee added another booking form to the top of the pile. She’d made it most of the way through her inbox since getting back from dropping Calrian off at the airport. Anything to keep busy. Anything to stop her from wondering what he was doing and if he was okay.
She was tempted to pull out her phone and use the tracking app to see where he was, but that wouldn’t tell her what she really wanted to know—what he was doing.
He’d be fine. He had Mora with him, and he’d promised to keep her safe.
No matter what risks Calrian was prepared to take himself, he wouldn’t put their daughter in harm’s way. Now Rylee was glad she’d let Mora go with him. It brought her an unexpected measure of comfort.
And right now, she’d take any scrap she could get.
“And in a few minutes we’ll be panning across to the new dragon lair,” a voice announced on the TV.
Rylee’s head snapped up. A new lair? What were they talking about?
She’d kept the television on in the background with the volume low, just to keep an eye on what was happening, but until now it had just been either the same footage shown over and over again or empty shots of Trima lair. Nothing had happened there with their leader in custody.
“We’re crossing live to a second dragon lair where the government officials are meeting with the dragon leaders to discuss their demands,” the reporter said.
Rylee’s heart thumped in her chest. She picked up the phone, her fingers trembling as she dialled Calrian’s number. He wouldn’t want to miss this.
Her mate answered after only a few rings, and as soon as he saw her face, he smiled. “Hey,” he said softly.
He appeared completely unharmed, and she could tell from the background that he was sitting in the car somewhere. That was a relief Rylee wished she had more time to focus on.
Instead she said, “You should check the news. I think you’ll want to see this.”
Calrian’s expression became worried, and he stared at the phone in his hand for a few minutes before turning to Mora. “Can you check?”
A few moments later, Rylee heard, “Now streaming live from a dragon lair in the Australian outback.” The words repeated what she could hear on her own screen, delayed by a few seconds over the phone.
> Calrian stared off to one side, and Rylee divided her attention between her own screen and Calrian’s face, as an image flashed up on the television.
She recognised the place immediately, Rian lair, where she and Calrian had stayed for a few days when her father had kicked her out all those years ago.
It had been empty then, but it clearly wasn’t now.
As Rylee watched, blue, gold, and purple dragons flew down from the entrance to land in the clearing in front of the cameras. It was an amazing sight, and Rylee would be gasping in disbelief if she hadn’t already seen dragons in flight many times before.
She’d never seen these dragons though. The blue dragon was far paler than Calrian and his sons, more the blue of the sky than the blue of the ocean. The purple dragon she’d seen before, in the newspaper photo. The gold one was new. Probably Taurian.
Rylee turned to look at Calrian, noting the tears in his eyes. He glanced back at her. “My brothers and sisters,” he told her.
The purple dragon would be Verrian, the brother Calrian was looking for, and the gold must be Taurian. The pale blue dragon she wasn’t so sure of, but it was probably Lyrian. But that was only one sister, not plural.
That was when Rylee realised there was a woman in human form astride the blue dragon. Her silver hair instantly proclaimed her a lightning dragon, but not Trima clan. This had to be Calrian’s eldest sister, Sarian.
The one Ultrima was obsessed with.
A feeling of dread settled in Rylee’s stomach, and she suspected it wasn’t going away for a long time. There was no chance Ultrima was going to leave them alone now.
What had Calrian flown into?
The dragons landed, and the blue one transformed back into human form behind Taurian and Verrian’s protective wings. Unlike the more serious, reserved Sarian, Lyrian had bouncing blue curls and wore a pink t-shirt and denim overalls. Rylee couldn’t help liking her immediately. She’d fit right in at the resort.