Dragon Rebellion (Ice Dragons Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  “Me.”

  She dropped the gold and ran to open the door. Standing there in the dim hallway was a familiar pair of blue eyes and a jawline she’d recognize anywhere with its determined set.

  “My, you are a sight for sore eyes,” she said softly before launching herself at him.

  His hands snatched her from midair. Warm soft lips locked over hers, sparking a melting effect through the rest of her body as she turned to a puddle of goo in his hands, finally understanding what the term swooning truly meant.

  Eventually he set her down.

  “So is this a booty call or something more?” he asked.

  She punched him, not worried about doing any damage. “Where did you learn that term?”

  “Obsidian.”

  “That man is a bad influence,” she admonished. “But no, you’re here for something else.”

  And quite possibly that, if things go the way I hope.

  “I see.”

  She grinned and walked back into her apartment, no longer bothering to try and contain how he made her feel, or how giddy simply being in his presence had her. That was what love was about, wasn’t it? Letting all the barriers fall away, opening yourself up to someone else fully, completely, without reservation? It wasn’t easy, and in fact was probably the most terrifying thing she could do, throwing gold bars at a fire-breathing dragon aside. But for him, she was going to do it.

  “How did you get here so fast?” she asked. “I figured you would be out at your cave.”

  “I was. I came under the city.”

  “You came…what?” She took a particularly gemstone-heavy gold ring and tossed it up into the air, the meaty weight of it slapping it back into her palm.

  “I can move through the earth, remember?”

  “Yes. I recall seeing a little example or two of that.”

  “Well, I moved under the city. Fast. Came up in the backyard of the building.” He looked away. “And I may have run up the stairs, one step per landing.”

  “Just trying to get here as fast as you can, hmm?”

  Rhys turned to face her. “I’m not embarrassed to admit that the thing I wanted most was to see my mate, to talk to her again. To have you call me and say you needed me was…well, I’m not sure I can describe the feeling.” He chuckled. “I’m sure Obsidian is just sitting in my cave still wondering what happened. I just sort of melted into the ground mid-sentence.”

  She shared in his laughter, but sobered quickly. “Look, Rhys, I…” She fell silent as one long, lean finger rested against her lips.

  “You don’t need to say anything,” he assured her. “I understand.”

  “No.” She moved his finger aside but held onto it, enjoying the strength she absorbed from it. “I do need to say something. I need to tell you that I’m sorry.”

  He looked uneasy. “Aimee, it’s okay. We all do rash things sometimes.”

  “I know. But I am sorry for it, Rhys. I screwed up with you, and treated you horrifically unfairly. I promise I won’t do that again.”

  Her dragon shrugged it off. “Your entire life changed. Your world, even, everything you thought you knew as truth. It only made sense that you would react that way, when something finally fell into place the way you thought it should. We dragons have been given a bad reputation in your history, perhaps rightfully so,” he admitted. “So you maintained some skepticism about me, which was only natural. When something came along that allowed your brain to fit me into the framework you thought I should fit as a dragon, you accepted that, because it felt more true, more in line with everything you had known.”

  She stared at him. “I think that’s more than I’ve ever heard you say at one time before.”

  Rhys grimaced. “I prefer to let you do the talking.”

  “Well, you’d better get used to that then. Because if you’ll have me, I’d like to stick around on this crazy ride.”

  “You would stay with me?”

  She met his eyes, unflinching. “I would.”

  The tension that melted off of Rhys as she spoke was palpable. His shoulders straightened and he stood a little taller, even as the smile on his face stretched his cheeks beyond what could have been comfortable.

  “I owe you an apology as well,” he said, switching the subject back abruptly. “I should have told you earlier, made you aware of what I can do. That way you could have made an informed decision before we slept together.”

  Aimee nodded. “Yes, you should have. I also freaked out, because I’ve never gone to bed with someone I’ve been interested in so quickly. I usually prefer the slower, longer burn first, to ensure I’m not making a mistake. With you I just couldn’t resist.” She felt her cheeks pinken at admitting that. “So when I found out what you could do, I just naturally assumed it was you making me want it, not something within me. Which, I’ve learned since, was totally wrong.”

  They embraced, and she rested her head on his thick chest, hands feeling down his rigid back and then sliding over his taut ass.

  “But I was wondering something,” she whispered, bouncing up on her toes so that she could catch his earlobe with her mouth, giving it a gentle bite and suck.

  “What’s that?”

  “Can you use it on me? I’m kind of curious.”

  He pulled back. “Are you certain?”

  “Rhys, if you didn’t think we weren’t heading to the bedroom after this conversation, then you’re not nearly as smart as I figured you for.”

  “Well okay, but one warning.”

  “What’s that?” she asked as his long arms pulled her back in close.

  “We might not make it to the bedroom.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Rhys

  He groaned as something started buzzing.

  “I shall burn this castle down if you don’t shut off that infernal racket at once,” he muttered.

  “Hey, listen here, fire-breath, and in the mornings don’t take that as a compliment,” she added as he started to smile. “I need to go to work.”

  Aimee started to slide out of bed, but his fingers hooked around her waist and pulled her swiftly back down on top of him.

  “I don’t have time for this,” she protested, trying to wiggle out of his grip.

  “You don’t need to work,” he announced. “I have enough wealth for all of us. We can do whatever we want.”

  Her face closed down immediately, in a way that he’d learned to recognize as meaning he’d screwed up.

  “Uh, was it something I said?”

  “You know I don’t go to work because of the money. It was never about the money. I would have gone elsewhere to do something else if I wanted money. I work because I want to help people, Rhys. Because I’m good at my job. Damn good, and when someone’s life is on the line, I don’t want someone less skilled to be the one going into danger. Someone could die from that. There’s no way I could live with that on my hands.”

  He sank back into the bed before using an elbow to prop up a hand and resting his head on it. “You are one remarkable human being, Aimee Florette,” he said, letting go of her with his other hand.”

  “And you are one lazy dragon who wants nothing more than sex,” she told him, leaning in to kiss his forehead even as she pushed her other hand under the covers.

  He flinched in surprise, then glared. “Now that’s just mean.” In response he let his powers of lust flare up.

  Aimee’s pupils dilated instantly, her mouth dropped open a little wider and she began to breathe heavier. Her nakedness was evident, and he saw her nipples harden into points.

  “Stop that!” she said with a visible amount of effort, pulling her hand away from his hardness.

  He let it go, but not without a very unashamed grin directed her way.

  “Seriously though, you need to go do something,” she told him. “You do nothing but lounge around my apartment all day.”

  “Not true. I just do that while you’re here. When you’re at work, I actually leave
the premises, as shocking as that may be.”

  “It’s very.”

  He rolled his eyes, making a “ha-ha” face at her.

  “Well, what do you do while you’re gone?”

  Rhys finally had the opening he wanted. Two weeks he’d lived with her in this squalor as they confirmed that this was what the both of them wanted, and needed. Everything lined up perfectly. She had little faults, but he was already coming to love them, and she’d told him the same about his idiosyncrasies. Everything just…fit.

  But he wasn’t lying; he’d been busy while she was gone.

  “Preparing us.”

  “For…?” Aimee was instantly on guard and suspicious.

  He reached down to his side of the bed, into his backpack. He’d begun to carry it a week or so before, using it to hide everything he’d had to carry. Aimee hadn’t really cared, not realizing how abnormal it was for a dragon to have one. “The move.” He pulled out a tablet and flipped the cover up to bring it awake.

  “I’m sorry, the what?”

  He snorted, not bothering to hold it in. “Like I was going to let you live like this with me forever. Here, take a look.” He opened the page the designer had given him, so that she could scroll through everything.

  “Rhys,” she breathed as picture after picture scrolled past. “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely. My mate is not going to live in this tiny thing. Absolutely not.”

  “But that…that’s a…a…”

  “Castle?” he supplied.

  “Yes! A castle. It’s frigging huge! It has a moat, for goodness’ sake!”

  “It’s a river that’s being partially diverted to flow around our property,” he corrected her, knowing it was really the same thing.

  He was old-school. He liked his moats.

  “Is it just the two of us?” she asked. “We don’t have enough stuff for that.”

  Rhys reached out and took her hand. “Which is why we’re going on the shopping spree to end all shopping sprees,” he informed her with complete seriousness.

  “Oh wow. Okay!” She’d finally reached the page that detailed the walk-in closet. “Come to mama,” she whispered, awed.

  He grinned even wider, the look of happiness on his mate’s face worth every ounce of gold the palatial grounds and building was costing him. There was nothing in this world he wouldn’t give to her, and now he had a place that he could feel safe leaving her in.

  If Aimee was determined to work, he knew that she would be going into dangerous situations, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. It irked him not to be able to protect her, but he was aware that she was the type that needed to be trusted, and so he gave her that.

  But when she was at home, that was his domain, and he was going to make her as safe as possible.

  “But I’m still going in to work today,” she announced. “But after my shift, we’re going to go take a look at this. I’m assuming it’s not done?”

  “No. They just broke ground last week. It’s going to be some months yet, my love. Especially now, with it being winter, there isn’t much they can do. I, ah, cheated, and warmed the ground so they could dig, but still.”

  She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “That’s okay. The sooner we can get in, the sooner we can leave here!’

  He nodded, and they kissed.

  Three days. Three painfully, excruciatingly long days until he could have his mate by his side again.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rhyolite

  He picked her up from the hangar.

  “What the hell is this?” she asked, walking toward him, admiring the sleek lines of the luxury sedan.

  “A luxury sedan,” he announced, stating the obvious just to irk her.

  “Yes, but how did you get it here?”

  “I drove?”

  “Another one of your skills you’re learning while I’m at work?” she asked.

  He noted the nervous hesitation as she slid into the passenger side. “Yes. Though it’s okay, I didn’t just start this two days ago. I’ve been working on it for a while now.”

  “I see. Well, good thing it’s high-end. Hopefully it won’t break down like half the junk I have to work with.”

  Rhys’s sense of safety flared as he pulled away from her work, heading up into the hills near his mountain to the property he’d bought for them.

  “You work with bad equipment?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, we’re government-funded, and not at the top of the priority list either.”

  All of a sudden something clicked in his head.

  “I’ve got it!”

  “What? Got what?” She reached out to steady herself.

  “I’m not that bad of a driver,” he said, his lips compressing into a flat line.

  “Sorry, just startled me.”

  He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. Though he was driving, he was still rather nervous about impressing her while doing so. Focusing was the key. But the idea that had been niggling at the back of his head had finally blossomed into something he could latch on to.

  “So, what is it?”

  “I know what I’m going to do.”

  “Huh?”

  “In Drake’s Crossing. You’ve been telling me to get a job, to find a hobby, something, right?”

  “Oh heavens, yes please! For a dragon you go stir-crazy so easily.”

  “I’m going to fund a rescue company. Like yours, but with the best equipment.”

  She stared at him. He could see the look of horror in the corner of her eyes.

  “What? What’s so wrong with that idea?”

  “It’s a horrible waste of money! You’ll go bankrupt in no time.”

  He laughed. “I doubt that. Besides, you’re going to help me find a way to make money from it.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. How would you do it?”

  She frowned, lost in thought now that he’d dumped a challenge in her lap.

  “What about classes?”

  He shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand.

  “Like, safety classes. We can teach them for skiers and such. First aid, mountain awareness. It might not be much, but it could be enough. At least to help offset some of the losses.”

  Rhys laughed again. “Aimee, if I need to, I control the earth, remember? I can bring more gold to the surface any time we need it.” He wrinkled his nose in disdain. “It’s cheating, I prefer to acquire it other ways, but I’ve got more than I know what to do with. I’m not sure you realize just how much I had stored away.”

  “I did the math one day,” she admitted. “You’ll be set for a long, long time.”

  “So you’ll help me do it?”

  “Only if you hire my entire team and keep it intact,” she negotiated. “I’m not quitting.”

  “Okay. But we’re done with this three days on-off,” he stated. “I’ll hire more people so you can work regular shifts.”

  “Done.”

  He grinned. Rhys’s Rescue and Air Transport was born, and now he had his first employees.

  A big thank you was owed to Obsidian, for introducing him to the term “entrepreneur.” He couldn’t wait to get started!

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Aimee

  “I love you.”

  She rolled over, putting her phone down and gazed into the eyes of a wonderful man, partner, and lover. And dragon, of course.

  “I love you, too.”

  Fingers pushed the unruly strands of golden-blonde hair from her face with a tender gentleness someone of his size shouldn’t possess. Even now, two months into their relationship, she still marveled at the way he could become a pillar of steel in public before turning into a fluffy puppy dog when they were alone.

  She would never tell him this, but Aimee absolutely loved both sides of her fire-breathing man. Never had she felt so safe and secure, feminine, and yet completely and thoroughly trusted to do whatever she felt like. Rhys
struck the perfect balance between protector, guardian, lover, and partner in crime. All the years of loneliness and heartbreak had been worth it to wait for him.

  “Do you want children?”

  She gaped at him. Where had that come from? Sure, the idea of kids appealed to her, but she was already thirty-three going on thirty-four. Her career didn’t show any signs of slowing down. In fact, now that Rhys’s Rescue and Air Transport had supplanted the federal government as the official provider of services to the Drake’s Crossing area, she’d been busier than ever. Bringing a kid into this was…not feasible.

  “The idea is appealing,” she admitted. “But I like where I’m at, Rhys. And I fear that by the time I get to the point where a child, or children, is feasible, that I’ll be too old. We humans age a lot faster than you. I can’t afford to wait decades.” She felt a tear glisten in her eye and looked away. “I’m sorry.”

  “My love,” he whispered, wiping away her tear. “Never apologize.”

  She looked up at him, wondering how she’d gotten so lucky to find someone who cared for her so much he’d give up something that obviously mattered to him so much, just for the chance to be with her.

  “Besides,” he said, the tone of his voice narrowing her eyes.

  “You have something up your sleeve.”

  “Maybe.”

  Loquacious as ever, she rolled her eyes and pushed him. The result was she moved two inches back across the bed. It was like trying to move a steel wall. Impossible. Her hands squeezed around his biceps though, enjoying the bulge and curve of his muscles.

  “Spit it out then, silly dragon man.”

  “Have you not wondered yet about what would happen as we got older?”

  “Um, truthfully?”

  He nodded.

  “No. I kinda forgot,” she said, embarrassed. “But now that you mention it, yeah. I’m not sure I can handle becoming old and feeble while you’re still…well, this. There’s no way you’ll stay with me once these hang down to the top of my ribcage.” She pointed at her small breasts. The two of them laughed, despite the accuracy of her comment. There wasn’t much there to sag.

  “Well,” he swallowed nervously.

  Aimee sat up abruptly at that. Whatever it was, this was a big deal to him. She thought about encouraging him to speak, but this time she held back. Slow, gentle. A caress, not punch, was what was necessary now. Rarely had she ever seen her mate like this.