by Amelia Jade
All of it was being done under the watchful supervision of his mate, who was truly coming into her own. Somehow the crucible of being drawn into a situation between the shifters had driven away any of her fears about failing. Cheryl was a force to be reckoned with now, and all the men loved her.
He loved her.
Rowe sighed, the sound touched with a bit of wistfulness as he exited the barn and headed back toward the ranch house. He couldn’t see her, but her scent was on the air, and he followed it with ease.
Love. He’d told her how he felt, before the confrontation with the wolves went down. Just in case things had gone south, he’d wanted her to know how he truly felt. No surprises, nothing left unspoken. It had felt good, but he’d yet to be lucky enough to hear her say the words to him.
“Cheryl?” he called, closing the front door behind him.
“Boo!” She leapt out from around the corner.
Rowe jumped. He’d been so wrapped up in thoughts of love and their relationship that he hadn’t even heard her move.
“I got you!” she crowed victoriously. “Finally, after all this time, I got you!” She danced around, arms pumping, head nodding, doing her version of a victory dance. The sway of her strawberry blonde hair was mesmerizing.
Shit.
Her trying to get the jump on him had become a game between them. Cheryl would try and sneak up on him, and Rowe would call her out before she could scare him. Every time. He’d honestly thought she was starting to tire of the game, but it seemed she’d just been lulling him into a false sense of complacency.
“You realize what this means now?”
She stopped her dance, head turning slowly to look up at him. “What?” she asked cautiously.
“Now it’s my turn.” He grinned maniacally.
“Oh no…” she backed away, waving her arms in front of her. “That is not how it works. I’m still trying to even things up from before.”
Rowe slipped out of his boots and advanced on her, hands in front, fingers curled. “I’m gonna get you,” he whispered.
“Not fair!” she shrieked, taking off at a run as he went after her, laughing in a fake bass tone.
They ran around the house. For a thick woman she was surprisingly nimble, and managed to evade his efforts to capture her not once, but twice. It was the height difference. He had to reach down for her, and she ducked even lower, thwarting him.
Rowe finally caught her on the stairs, taking them three at a time to close the gap.
“Stooopppp!” she shouted through the laughter as his fingers ran swiftly up her sides and into her armpits. “No. Please. No! I give. I give! Mercy!”
He continued for another few seconds. “Who’s the greatest of them all?”
“You are! Now please stop!”
Sagging down next to her, he stopped tickling his mate, opting instead to hold her tight to him. Almost immediately Cheryl snuggled in against his body. Neither of them cared they were on the stairs. All that mattered was being close to one another.
There was no doubt in his mind that Cheryl cared about him a great deal. The signs of that were everywhere and he believed them. It still didn’t stop him from craving to hear one particular phrase more than anything else. He’d not put any pressure on her, even doing his best to refrain using the word “love” when he told her he cared, though it hurt him a little to do so.
“Rowe, I have a question for you.”
“You’re my mate. You can ask me anything.”
She smiled. “A dragon’s mate. I never would have predicted being that a decade ago. None of my classmates certainly did. I was voted most likely to graduate college a year early.”
He grinned. “So they appreciated the smarts I see in you.”
“Stoppp. That’s not my question.”
“It’s not a question at all,” he observed, earning him a pout. “Go on.”
“Thank you.” She fidgeted for a second. “I was thinking. Things are going well now.”
“They are,” he agreed, wondering what all the buildup was about.
“Well, it got me to thinking about what happens next.” She glanced up at his big round eyes, searching. “And I realized I didn’t have an answer, Rowe. I don’t know what to do after this.”
“That decision is yours, and yours alone. Just know that I will be there with you, no matter what you choose. You have my support.”
“Thank you.” She snuggled in tighter to him. “I was wondering though. Could I maybe stay here? With you and the others?” She started to blush. “I kind of like it here. It’s peaceful, in a way.”
He grinned. “Absolutely. You are more than welcome to stay. Maybe in the future if one of the nearby properties goes up for sale we could buy that. Start a mini dragon-farming community out here.”
They laughed.
“You’re so good to me, Rowe. I don’t feel like I deserve it.”
“Well, you are wrong on that front. You deserve everything I can give you, and then some.”
Cheryl reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling it over her like a blanket so she could cuddle up to it for a moment. Then she sat up, grabbed his hand, and pulled him after her into the bedroom.
He hesitated, mainly because he wanted to shower first. But she stopped in the middle of the room and faced him.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a few days, and I couldn’t think of the best way to do so, so I’m just going to do it.” She inhaled sharply. “I love you, Rowe.”
“I love you too, Cheryl.” He lifted her into an embrace, holding her around his waist, covering her lips with his.
There was only one more thing that needed to be said, and he delayed that as long as possible, but once her hands started to roam his body, he had to pause.
“Cheryl, Cheryl,” he said, setting her down and lifting her hands from his body.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” She groaned. “Do dragons have a rule you can’t fuck for some period of time after you both say I love you?”
He laughed heartily. “Absolutely not. We’re far more practical than that. No, it’s simply that I need to shower first.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you kind of do. Sorry.”
“Well now I’m not self-conscious at all.”
His mate giggled. “Come on,” she said, stripping her own clothes with efficient practicality. “Let’s go.”
“You smell fine.”
“I know. But I’m going to wash you down. I’m feeling romantic.”
A sponge bath? Sweet!
“After you, my love,” he said, gesturing to the huge shower.
“You just want to look at my butt,” she teased.
“Damn straight.”
He smacked it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cheryl
“Mom, Dad. This is Rowe.”
Her mate, her love, and now her fiancé turned away from the conversation he was having with Palin as she approached, one parent on either side of her.
“Hello,” he replied gravely, speaking in his deep “dragon voice” as she called it. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Cheryl had told me so many wonderful things about you.”
Flatterer. Her fingers on her left hand twitched, circling her engagement ring around nervously. They were holding a reception at the ranch house for friends and family of both of them to celebrate their engagement human-style.
Rowe had balked at first, insisting that he didn’t want to do it, but she’d been forceful. This was a human custom. He’d told her he had no friends besides Palin and Torran, but glancing around the room she saw that wasn’t true. There were a few other clusters of men that looked like dragons, if her newly developing “shifter radar” as she jokingly called it was working.
Where they’d come from was beyond her, but they all seemed to get along well, and best of all, they’d brought their mates with them. The last thing she needed was any of her friends trying to take one of them to the back room to get busy. Several of her friend
s were wild enough to do that. Together.
“Mr. Rowe,” her father said as he shook his hand.
“Just Rowe, please. My father is Mr. Rowe.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as her parents didn’t laugh at the joke. Cheryl cringed internally and tried to convey her apologies to her love. Despite everything Rowe had done for her, her parents were still not happy with the way everything had happened. They had spoken harshly about needing to vet any man she married, to ensure he would treat her right.
“How was the trip here?” Rowe asked, filling the silence.
“Long.”
“Father,” she snapped, losing her cool already. “Rowe is trying to be polite to you, and you’re being an asshole. Give him a chance before you judge him unworthy of whatever it is you feel you’re entitled to do.”
“Cheryl!” her mother admonished.
“No. You’re even worse, because you don’t stop him in public, and you enable him in private. I invited the two of you here because you’re my parents, and because I want you to be in my life. This is Rowe, and he is part of my life. He doesn’t yell at me, or make me feel like I’ve failed him. He compliments me every day, telling me how smart and beautiful I am. He’s a shoulder I need when I have to cry, and a guard if I’m ever in danger.”
Rowe’s growl emphasized that point, and suddenly he wasn’t just a tall man, but a hulking presence that threatened violence to anyone who came near her. Cheryl hadn’t yet figured out how he did that. All he would say was “Dragon stuff.”
“He urges me to achieve my dreams, whatever they may be. He makes me laugh, and he keeps me warm when I’m cold. Which is all the time.” She bit her lip, then continued. “Although it’s none of your business, he’s always very successful in life and will be able to provide for me. And on top of all that, he loves me, which is the most important thing. So act nice, or get out,” she finished with a snarl.
Her parents were both just staring at her in astonishment. Never before had she spoken to them like this. It was rare that she’d even raised her voice. But weeks of dread at this coming moment had just boiled over without warning when her dad started his usual mood.
“So, what will it be?” she asked.
“You feel that strongly about him?” Her father glanced back and forth between the two of them.
“I agreed to marry him,” she said, as if that should be enough. “But yes, Father, I do. He treats me unlike anyone else I’ve ever met. There’s a connection we feel. I know this is incredibly quickly to get engaged, but I would like you to trust me when I tell you that it’s going to work out.”
“Very well.” Her father turned to Rowe. “Thank you for making my daughter happy. That is all I have ever wanted to see from her.” There was a pause, where her mother elbowed him in the side. “Ah. Right. Um, welcome to the family, I suppose.”
Cheryl’s mouth dropped open as her father stepped forward and embraced Rowe.
“He does care about you,” her mother whispered into her ear. “Believe it or not, he’s wanted to say that line for quite a while now.”
She thought she was going to cry. She’d feared they were going to make her choose between Rowe and them. Instead, they were finally, for once, acting like the parents she’d always wanted them to be!
Maybe she should have lost her temper on them years ago.
Cheryl pushed that thought from her head and smiled as conversation broke out between the four of them. Real, honest, unforced conversation.
Her hand reached down and fiddled with the ring and its beautiful band of green, made from a dragon scale according to Rowe. It was unusual, but stunning nonetheless.
Her mate must have noticed, because his big hand found hers, linking fingers and giving her a reassuring squeeze.
Everything was going to be okay.
Epilogue
Rowe
“What is your conclusion then?”
He looked up around him. The Council of Elders was seated in full, all ten members, one from each of the races of dragons.
Crimson, Onyx, Ice, Emerald, Azure, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Brass, and Copper. The eldest of each race, it was this group that would decide the future of dragon kind.
And they would do so based on Rowe’s opinion. No pressure.
“I believe that based upon my interactions with the other dragons and the humans, that the threat they claim to face is…” he paused, partially for breath, partially for dramatic effect, and partially because he was scared out of his mind to commit to this course.
“Yes, go on,” Darrnom, the gold dragon and eldest of all dragons urged.
“This is real,” he said at last. “The Outsiders are real. The world is in grave danger, and though human technology is coming along swiftly, they will need time before they can develop enough of it. In the meantime, mated dragons are the only answer to the threat of the Outsiders.” He looked around at the other members, one by one. “We cannot stay hidden like this forever. If the Outsiders come, they will find us, and if they aren’t contained, their numbers will be too great. We should combine our forces with those the human military already has, including their awakened dragons.”
“You realize you are putting our entire species at risk.” That was Camareene, the azure dragon.
“We are already at risk, ma’am,” he said respectfully. “This is the right thing to do. We need to get involved. They have nine dragons. Twelve, since my patrol will be staying to fight with them regardless of what the council decides. Twelve dragons, against a horde of hundreds. We will do what we can, for as long as we can, but it won’t be enough.”
The elders fell silent, contemplating his words.
A dragon with scales of brilliant silver spoke next. “You feel strongly enough about this that you wish to stay? You, Rowe, who argued the loudest against being sent in the first place?”
He looked down, ashamed now of the things he had once said.
“It may be because I am younger. But in all truthfulness, I have found a certain enjoyment from living among humans that I never found here in the enclave. I don’t say that to mean I dislike being here, but simply that each has its merits. The humans are a race with good and evil, just like we are.”
The council shifted uneasily at the mention of the other dragons. Their evil cousins had resurfaced a few decades before, and were rumored to be causing trouble, though he had yet to hear anything about it. The shadow dragons and their allies were not his problem, he’d been told.
“You speak passionately about the humans.” The crimson representative glared at him balefully. He was stringently against getting involved, and had even argued against sending Rowe’s mission in the first place.
He was also an asshole.
“I found my mate among them. My true mate,” he said forcefully, so that they would know what he meant. “Both the other members of my patrol did as well.”
That wasn’t news, but hearing it spoken aloud still had an impactful effect.
“Please wait while we discuss this,” Darrnom asked, gesturing with a wave of his wingtip.
Rowe nodded and launched himself into the air a good distance away, while the dragons talked quietly among themselves. He settled in, knowing this could take a long time, curling up around himself, preparing to sleep. Hopefully they could figure this out inside a week.
“Rowe.”
He jerked. It had been barely twenty minutes. They must need more information.
Lifting off, he glided back over to their platform inside the mountain stronghold that was the enclave’s home. “Yes?”
Darrnom lifted his head above the others. Crimson, azure and brass dragons stared at the eldest dragon with malevolent hatred.
“We have spoken, and took a vote.”
He blinked. Holy shit, they were taking this seriously if they were moving that fast. Breath caught in his throat as he waited for the announcement.
“You spoke passionately, and you spoke intelligently.
Your opinions are well formed, and your analysis excellent. You should be proud of yourself, Rowe. Although we are not in complete agreement, the matter has been decided. The humans shall have the full weight of our forces when the time comes.”
YES!
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This concludes Dragon Craving, Emerald Dragons Book 3.
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