by Rinelle Grey
He really was upset with her, and she didn’t know how to fix it.
Chapter 9
Chase stared up at the roof. Sleep had been slow coming to him, and fitful when it had come. He normally woke up early anyway, to get his chores out of the way before it became too hot, but today it wasn’t even light.
Yet he knew he wasn’t going to go back to sleep.
He was surprised he’d managed to get to sleep in the first place.
He’d thought his life became confusing enough when Lisa told him about the dragons. When he’d volunteered to wake one of their princesses.
That was nothing compared to how the way he felt about Wayrian was complicating his life.
The existence of dragons and waking a princess were interesting, a little exciting, and maybe even a little nerve wracking.
The way he felt about Wayrian was terrifying.
The fact that he had been almost tempted to give it a chance and see if he could, just maybe love her, scared him. He’d resolved never to let himself get close to anyone, never to risk being hurt again. Until her. As soon as she’d blurted out her crazy story about a dream and fated mates, he’d been ready to throw all caution to the wind without a second thought.
It was lucky her grandfather had interrupted and given him time to clear his head.
It was lucky she wasn’t available anyway.
He shouldn’t be surprised that she was going to mate with a prince. Her grandfather was one of the elders, and she’d almost mated with Taurian. Of course she was destined to be a dragon princess.
And he had no hope of competing with these dragon princes.
Wayrian might say she didn’t want to mate with a prince, but he didn’t believe that. Sure, he might look like a better proposition when he was right here, but if one of those sexy dragons was right in front of her, complete with approval from her grandfather and clan?
There was no way she’d choose him. He wouldn’t even blame her.
And it didn’t bother him. He was quite happy with his life here on the station.
Or he had been until these damn dragons came along. Why had Lisa drawn him into this mess? Why had he let himself become obsessed?
Because his life was boring?
No, not boring. Predictable. Safe. And he liked it that way.
Wayrian liked predictable and safe too. He could tell that about her. They could, perhaps, have been happy here together.
Chase sighed. This was getting nowhere.
He rolled over and sat up, his neck aching from sleeping in an uncomfortable position on the couch. If he was going to be awake anyway, he might as well get something done. He could see the hint of sunrise. By the time he ate, it would be light out.
If he wasn’t here when Wayrian and her grandfather woke up, that would probably be for the best. The less he saw of them the better.
He didn’t want to take the time to cook, so he grabbed a bowl full of cereal. He was just pouring the milk on, when something made him look up.
She stood there in the doorway, staring at him, and just her appearance set his heart racing and his blood pounding.
Of course she was awake.
“What are you doing up?” he demanded, his voice a little harsher than he’d planned.
The shrinking in her eyes made his stomach clench. Just because being around her constantly reminded him that he couldn’t have her didn’t mean he had to snap at her. He was better than that.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Her voice was quiet. She hesitated, then took a step into the room. “Can I talk to you?”
“I have work to do.”
He wanted to be gracious. To politely say he wasn’t interested, and be able to move on. But somehow, it kept coming out wrong.
“It won’t take long.” Her voice was quiet, but persistent. “Just let me explain, then you can go do your work, and I won’t bother you again if that’s what you want. Please?”
No matter how much he wanted to protect himself, he couldn’t ignore the plea in her voice.
“Go ahead.”
She took another step forwards. “You don’t know what it’s like,” she said, her voice a little desperate. “My parents died when I was a teenager, and my grandfather looked after me.”
Chase tried to harden his heart against her story, but a little bit of sympathy crept in despite his effort. He knew what it was like to lose a parent. He couldn’t imagine losing two.
“It’s bad enough that he’s my grandfather, but he’s an elder too. It’s not that easy to say no to him.”
That was the part Chase found hard to understand. He’d pushed the boundaries as a teenager, more than once. Eventually, his father had conceded that he was old enough to make his own decisions. That was how it worked.
“You’re going to have to one day, you know?” Chase said quietly.
Wayrian swallowed. “I guess so. But so far I’ve never really had any reason to,” she said. “You see…” She paused, then took a deep breath. “When he wanted me to mate with Prince Taurian, well, it wasn’t like there was anyone else I wanted to mate. And it was important to the clan. I had no reason to disagree.”
Chase suspected she didn’t really understand the point he was making, but he was distracted enough to change topics. “And now you do?”
She stared at him like a deer frozen in the headlights. She licked her lips, then nodded. “I don’t want to mate with a prince. None… none of them interest me.”
Chase put his breakfast down and took a step towards her. “Why is that?”
Her breathing deepened. Her lips parted and her cheeks flushed. She looked down, and when she spoke her voice was so low that he had to strain to hear it.
“Because I think… there’s a possibility that… I might have found my fated mate.”
Chase caught his breath.
Why did those words affect him so much? He didn’t believe in her dream, or in fated mates.
But his heart constricted at the thought none the less.
His own voice was breathless when he asked, “And who might that be?”
Her eyes flew to his face, wide and nebulous. “You.”
Even though he knew what her answer was going to be, her quiet, certain word still rocked him to the core. She seemed so certain, unwavering in her belief. No matter how much he tried to tell himself that it was rubbish, that none of it was true, he couldn’t convince himself to listen.
He wanted it to be true.
He wanted her to convince him. “What makes you think that?”
He could feel her trembling, and he couldn’t help himself. He reached out and pulled her close.
That seemed to unleash a dam. “Because when I’m with you, I feel like I’m complete. Like nothing frightens me anymore. Since I’m scared of everything, that’s huge.”
For some reason, her admission surprised him. He’d noticed that she was frequently nervous, but he’d never actually seen that stop her from doing something anyway.
Then again, he’d been present every time she’d faced something intimidating. If he had that effect on her…
She looked up at him, and he wanted to kiss all her fears away.
His own, too.
But he wasn’t quite ready for that. Not yet. He knew that once he did, there’d be no going back.
These dragons had put him under a powerful spell. From the moment he’d first seen one flying in the air, he’d wanted to be part of their world. Wayrian was no different. Whenever he was near her, he couldn’t think clearly.
He needed some space. If he still felt this way after a little distance, then maybe…
He didn’t even want to think about what he might do. There’d be time to worry about that later.
Clearing his throat, he released her, and took a step back. “I need to do some chores this morning.”
Wayrian nodded. “Can I come with you?”
That wasn’t quite what he’d planned, and it wasn’t going to give him any distance
.
But somehow, he couldn’t make himself say no.
So long as he could stop himself from pulling her into his arms and kissing her senseless, then he should be able to think clearly.
Shouldn’t he?
Of course he could. He was a grown man, and perfectly capable of controlling his desires.
“Righty-o, we’d better get moving,” he said briskly. “The cows will be wondering where their hay is.”
Wayrian followed him out the door, and headed for the quad.
Chase couldn’t face that today. He wasn’t going to find distance sitting with her arms around him.
Luckily, he didn’t need to. He headed for the ute, and Wayrian followed. Since her grandfather wasn’t there to take the third seat, Wayrian sat near the door. Chase both thanked and cursed the distance.
He pulled to a stop near the barn, and loaded up the tray with bales of hay.
Wayrian watched him lift the first bale, then as he grabbed a second one, she grabbed one too.
Chase lifted his bale onto the back of the ute, then stared at her. What was she doing?
It was only after she’d landed her bale next to his that Wayrian stopped and turned to him to ask, “Oh, sorry, did you only want two?”
Chase shook his head. “No, we need about a dozen, but you don’t have to help. I didn’t expect you to.”
It hadn’t even occurred to him that she would.
“I’m not going to just sit and watch you when I can help,” she said. “That is, unless I’m doing it wrong.”
“No, you’re doing fine. Great in fact.” Chase stared at her again, trying to take it in.
Wayrian was a dragon shifter. An exotic, special, wonderful woman.
He didn’t expect her to do mundane work like loading hay. Hard work even.
But she hadn’t even hesitated.
Somehow, he suspected this wasn’t the distance he was looking for.
It was something better.
It was nice to work alongside her. Chase had worked many times with his dad, and sometimes with hired help, when they could afford it, but this was different. He didn’t just appreciate the help, he enjoyed her company. The two made for a nice combination.
Once he had enough hay, he waved to the front of the ute, and Wayrian climbed in beside him. They bounced off across the paddocks, still in silence. But it wasn’t an uncomfortable one.
Just the opposite.
They pulled up in the shade of some trees, not far from where the herd of cows were. The cows lifted their heads as the ute drove across the dry grass, then once they realised what it was, they started running towards them.
Chase stopped the ute, and the cows crowded around them, reaching onto the back of the ute to start eating the hay before they’d even unloaded.
Chase gave a laugh. “Not patient, are they?”
“How are we supposed to get out?” Wayrian looked doubtfully at her door, and the large cow on the other side, pressing up against it.
Giving her a grin, Chase rolled down his window, and pulled himself up and out of it. From there, he clambered onto the back of the ute.
“Get out of the way,” he admonished to the cows, who blatantly ignored him.
Chase picked up a bale of hay, and tossed it out of the back of the ute. A few of the cows followed it, but not all of them.
Chase wasn’t surprised when Wayrian followed his example, climbing out the window and into the back of the ute. But he was pleased.
He gave her a smile and reached for the next hay bale.
He heard his dad’s bike before he saw it, and paused throwing bales to wave. His dad pulled up alongside the ute. “Morning. I see you have some help today.” His dad was smiling, obviously in a good mood this morning.
Chase smiled at Wayrian. “Yep, and good at it she is too.”
“Almost as if she belonged here.”
His dad’s casual words hit him like a sledgehammer.
Wayrian did naturally fit in here. She wasn’t pretending, she just fitted in.
Far too well.
But he didn’t want to give his dad any ideas. Not of something he was far from sure of himself. “Did you need a hand with anything?
His dad didn’t answer, so Chase turned to see him staring at Wayrian.
She stood very close to the edge of the ute, and was standing staring down Ted, their big Braford bull.
The bull was new. He’d only been on the station for a few weeks, but he wasn’t known for his good temper. His name, short for ‘Bastard’, was an indicator of that. And the fact that he had his head down, and one foot pawed the ground, wasn’t a good sign. He didn’t have horns, but he didn’t seem to know it, and despite their lack, Chase didn’t think Wayrian would come off too well if the bull charged.
Being on the back of the ute may protect her a little, but only so much.
She looked so small, standing in front of the huge bull, and Chase’s instinct was to jump in and rescue her. He judged the distance, wondering if he could make it before the bull charged.
His dad took a couple of steps forward.
Chase stopped him with a shake of his head.
The bull wasn’t advancing, and Wayrian’s eyes didn’t leave his. She was successfully keeping the giant beast at bay, and Chase suspected if he interrupted her, caused her eyes to leave the bull’s, then the creature would charge.
Besides, he knew Wayrian wasn’t as small and delicate as she looked.
Even though she’d said she preferred to hunt smaller game, Chase was pretty sure the bull wouldn’t even consider charging her if she were in her dragon form. No matter how bad tempered he was, or how much he wanted to protect the herd of cows in the shade of the trees fifty metres away, he wouldn’t go up against a dragon.
Wayrian reached her hand out towards the bull’s nose.
Ted snorted. His back leg twitched.
“There, big boy,” Wayrian said quietly.
Ted began to back up. He didn’t take his eyes off Wayrian, he kept staring at her the whole time he was walking backwards, then when he was a few metres back, he turned and stared for a long moment, before bending to eat at some of the hay, his eyes still half on Wayrian.
“Well I’ll be…” Chase’s dad said under his breath.
Chase couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride for Wayrian. He’d thought she was a bit of a coward when she’d cowered on the floor of the ute in the battle with Ultrima. Not that he blamed her for being afraid, he had been himself, but he’d thought she would get in the way rather than helping.
But facing up to the bull had taken guts. No matter how much bigger she was in dragon form, she was in human form right now. And she hadn’t so much as flinched.
“Guess the old bull has more sense than to mess with… a dragon.” The tinge of disbelief in his dad’s words was tempered with a little bit of awe. Did he sound a little impressed?
“Guess not,” Chase agreed. He turned away from his dad, towards Wayrian. “Are you okay?” he asked her quietly.
She looked at him as though he were asking a strange question, her head tilted on the side for a minute, then the glanced back at Ted, then back at him. “Yes, it was my fault. I got a little too close to the edge, and he thought I was going after his cows.”
Her words were matter of fact. She’d guessed Ted’s reasoning pretty quickly, understanding more about how the cattle behaved than most people would.
Chase glanced over at his father, and could see a twinkle of respect in his eyes.
That look made him far happier than it should have.
“Is there anything else you need help with, Dad?” he asked
Silly question. There were always a thousand and one jobs on the to do list. But to Chase’s surprise, his dad shook his head. “Nothing I can’t handle. You look after those guests of yours.”
Chase had to look at him twice, to figure out if there was something he was missing. Surely his dad’s reply was sarcastic, or biting?
But no, his dad was smiling at Wayrian, who was smiling hesitantly back.
This was either very good, or very bad.
He wasn’t sure which.
Chapter 10
They worked together for the next hour or so, returning for more hay, and taking it to more cows, in different paddocks. Then they checked all the water troughs. Chase explained how they were filled by bore water pumped from beneath the ground.
Wayrian found it fascinating, how the humans used technology to get water where there appeared to be none. Even the feel of it was faint, probably because it was so far below the surface. But somehow, even though they had no water powers, the humans had known it was there, and figured out how to get it.
Taurian had a point. There was a lot these humans had to offer them. A lot of skills they could use and learn from.
As the ute bumped over the rough terrain to the last water trough, it occurred to her that the more dragons who were mated with humans, the closer the two races would come. That meant that mating with humans was a good thing, didn’t it? Not just for her, and not just because of the goddess’s edict, but for all of the dragons.
She froze when she realised what she was doing.
She was trying to convince herself that her grandfather was wrong.
That mating with a dragon, even a prince, was the wrong decision. And not just because of the goddess’s challenge.
No, she wasn’t trying to convince herself her grandfather was wrong. He was wrong.
What Taurian had done, by mating with Karla instead of her, had not only saved his clan from Ultrima in that first battle, it had also forged a strong alliance that might be their one hope of defeating Ultrima for good.
Even once Ultrima was defeated, that alliance would stand them in good stead. It could help them get more food and water, and keep them safe against many different threats.
The same could be true for her mating.
They pulled to a stop in front of the long concrete water trough, and both of them got out. Chase checked the pump, which was working perfectly, and both of them stopped in the shade of the large eucalyptus tree.
Wayrian thought this was the perfect moment to say something profound. Something that reflected what she had been thinking on the drive, but before she could, something else filled her mind.