“I understand that, Aaron. What I don’t understand is why that person has to be you.”
“Because there is no one else willing to do it, Kate. It’s that simple.”
“It’s frightening.”
Aaron looked at her softly and smiled. He could understand her trepidation about what he intended to do. Kate was no fool. She knew that taking on Aiden wasn’t something you walked away from. You either won the battle, or you lost everything. Aaron was willing to die if it came to that, but he wasn’t willing to live like he had been forced to live for the past six months.
“Nothing frightens me as much as watching my mother, my siblings, and my cousins living in shitty little shacks and doing odd jobs to keep food on the table. We have perfectly good homes and jobs to go back to, and that is exactly what we are going to do.”
“Well, I’ve known you long enough to know there’s no changing your mind. You were a stubborn boy, and you are an even more stubborn man.”
“That I am. That I am,” he said with a somber smile.
Chapter 3
“I don’t know what to say to change your mind,” Kate told him.
“There is nothing you can say. I know you don’t want me to do this, but I have to,” he replied.
“I don’t think you do have to do it. I think you want to do it.”
“Perhaps a bit of both. I do want to see justice for my father – for my family – but I also don’t want anyone else to suffer as we have.”
“It’s not like there’s anything I can do to change your mind,” she said woefully.
“No. There isn’t, but I want you to understand. I want you to believe in what I’m doing as much as I do.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she replied.
“Kate, finding you again was one of the best days of my life. You were the only thing that made being on the run even close to tolerable.”
“I was happy to see you again, too, Aaron.”
“If I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t bother to try to explain myself.”
“I know you wouldn’t.”
“I’m going to be leaving to return to the Mourne Mountains. I won’t go back to the village, not yet anyway, but I will be nearby – close enough to make a plan and get on with it.”
“When do you plan on doing that?”
“First thing in the morning,” he replied, watching as her face fell.
“That’s too soon,” she said, the words seeming to stick in her throat.
“It’s not soon enough. Every minute, every second, that we do nothing gives him more power over those around him. If I am going to end this, I’m not going to hesitate. I’ll be leaving before sunrise.”
“You’re flying?”
“Yes. I’m a dragon. We fly. I’m done denying my own existence for the sake of those who don’t want to understand us or those who mean to harm us.”
“Where will you go?”
“Just outside of Newry. There’s an old cottage there that belongs to our family. It’s been abandoned for ages. I can hole up there while I make arrangements.”
“I don’t like this, Aaron. I don’t like it at all.”
“It has to be done. I wish things were different, but this is it. It is what it is.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. It’s not as if I have any say in it, anyway.”
Aaron studied her face. It was filled with some emotion he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She was obviously distressed. He had to admit he felt distraught himself, but there was no doubt in his mind that he was doing exactly what needed to be done. Still, not everything here had been bad, and that had been thanks to Kate.
“Kate, listen. I don’t know what’s going to happen with all of this, but I want you to know that I’ve come to realize you mean much more to me than just as a friend. Under different circumstances, I would have tried to pursue things between us, but I don’t feel like I have anything to give you.”
“I never needed you to give me anything,” she replied.
“I know you didn’t, but I wanted to. I still want to. Except now, there’s this. I have to take care of this so that we can have a chance to live normal lives, all of us.”
“What are you saying, Aaron?”
“I’m saying that I have feelings for you. Feelings I want desperately to pursue when this is over.”
“I have feelings for you, too, Aaron, but I’m not going to allow myself to get too close when you have a death wish of some sort.”
“I don’t have a death wish. I have a desire to make things better.”
“Aren’t they the same thing in this circumstance?”
“Not if I win,” Aaron said with an awkward smile.
“He’s a monster, Aaron. At the very least, you could suffer serious injury.”
“Have a bit of faith, Kate. I can take him down. I know I can. I just have to go about it the right way.”
“Please don’t go back there, Aaron. I’m begging you. Perhaps you can get the better of him, but I don’t want you to risk it. I rather stay here and be poor and sell my Mum’s baked goods at the market to make ends meet. We can learn to be happy here.”
“Perhaps you can, but I can’t. I can’t ever be happy here knowing I’m in hiding, and I won’t watch my mother wither away in a place she can’t call home.”
“Then, I guess that’s all there is to be said.”
“No, not all. Wait for me here, Kate. Let me sort this out, and I will come back for you. I will come back for everyone. We can be together in a way we’ve both held back from.”
“I want that, Aaron. If you really care for me, you will let this thing go and find a way to exist here – for all of us to exist here. We can make this our home.”
“We can try all we want, but it will never be our home. We have a home, and I’m going to make sure that anyone who wants to go back there can do just that, without fear of harm.”
“I don’t want you to go, Aaron. Please.”
Aaron stepped towards her. It ripped out his heart to know he was causing her such pain, but he felt strongly that what he was doing was right, no matter what the personal cost. Cupping her chin in his right hand, he pulled her face upward to look at her. She was beautiful, something he had noticed from the moment he first laid eyes on her again after so many years of being apart.
“Kate, you have no idea how sad I was when you and your mother left the village. I didn’t know where you had gone. One day, you and I were playing barefoot in the stream behind my house and the next, you were gone. My mother told me that you had moved away, and I wondered why you didn’t say goodbye. I was so hurt by that.”
“I wasn’t allowed to say goodbye,” she said, a little breathlessly.
“I know you weren’t. I mean, I know that now. I didn’t then though. The day we arrived here and I saw you, I knew the truth, and I remembered something, a feeling I had long ago.”
“What feeling was that?”
“Affection. Devotion. Even when we were just children, I knew you were the one I wanted to be with. I waited for you to come home, but you never did. I was so happy to find you here. I realized just how much I’d missed you.”
“Why are you just now telling me this? Why would you wait until you are about to leave – perhaps die – to tell me you had wanted to be with me? That’s not fair, Aaron,” she replied, pulling away from him.
“I’m sorry. I know my timing is horrible. I’ve been too upset about things in my life – the circumstances brought about by my father and then his death. I know I should just keep it to myself at this point, but I couldn’t bear to think that you might never know how I feel.”
Kate looked up at him, tears falling down her face. It broke his heart to see how much he was hurting her. Perhaps he should have kept his thoughts and feelings to himself. What made him think he had any right to tell her how he felt the night before he was leaving? Who was he to ask her to wait for him? Whatever the answer, it was too late now. P
ulling her close to him, he brushed away her tears and kissed her softly on the cheek.
Her eyes met his, and he felt himself melt inside. Unable to hold back any longer, he kissed her softly on the lips. His simple peck quickly became more involved as they found themselves entangled in a heated kiss. Their tongues urgently searched for one another as they forgot about everything but each other.
“No. Stop!” Kate suddenly said as she broke free of him. “If you’re going to go, then just go. Don’t start something with me that you can’t finish. It’s not fair!”
“Kate…” he began, but she was already shaking her head at him and crying again.
“Get out, Aaron. Just go do what it is you feel you have to do,” she said, turning away from him.
He started to reach for her again. Her sobs filled the room around them, and it was more than he could bear, but he knew she was right. He was being selfish in attempting to have one night with her when he might not be around for any more than that. Instead, he turned and walked out the door.
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Chapter 1
“Connor, this is Emily. She just moved here from Dublin.”
Connor looked from his older brother, Owen, to the petite young woman standing beside him. She was stunning. Not only did she have the most gorgeous flaming red hair he had ever seen, but she possessed deep blue eyes, a rarity for gingers in their home of Carlingford, Ireland. Not only was she beautiful, she was also naturally athletic-looking. She looked like she could take anyone in a sprint, despite her diminutive stature.
“Pleased to meet you, Emily,” Connor replied.
“Likewise,” she told him, her eyes never leaving his.
For a moment, it was as if no one else existed but the two of them. Was there something happening between them, or was it just his imagination? More importantly, was she a shifter? These were both questions to which he suddenly found himself desperately wanting answers. Fortunately, his brother was going to help him with the answer to at least one of them.
“Emily is a dragon shifter too. I’ve got to head up to the city center to pick up some supplies, but I thought maybe you could show her around the place, perhaps take her out for a flight around the Mournes to show her the safe zones.”
“Sure, no problem. I’d be happy to do that.”
“Good deal. Thanks, brother,” Owen told him with a knowing smile before turning to walk away.
“So, how long have you been in Carlingford?” Connor asked, turning back toward Emily.
“I just moved my stuff here today. My mother recently passed away after a long illness. I came here to stay with my aunt and, you know, to be with people like me.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your mother. Loss is hard. Owen and I lost our father when we were young. Have you already met Aiden?”
“The dragon leader of your clan? Yes. We met earlier today. He seemed a little creepy. Is it okay to say that?”
“Yes. You can say that.” Connor laughed. “He does come across as creepy quite often.”
“Glad I’m not the only one that thinks so. I’ll be keeping a healthy distance from him, I think.”
“Probably not a bad idea. Anyway, let me show you around a bit. Everyone on this side of the mountain is part of our clan. Most of the other side is, too, but there are a few non-shifter friendlies over there as well. Bottom line is that you are safe spreading your wings anywhere on the ground here, but limit your flights toward the east, over the water. Try to stay over Carlingford Lough and only go out during twilight or dusk when you aren’t as noticeable from a distance.”
“It will be so nice to be able to fly every day if I want,” she said. “I was so limited in Dublin. Even though it is on the coast, there was way too much going on at the port with coming and going ships. I could only fly in complete darkness in the wee hours.”
“I understand completely. You will find that we are much more accepted here by the people who live nearby, but not so much outside the mountain.”
“I’ll try to keep a low profile.”
“Good. Anyway, come on and we’ll meet some folks while we wait for the sun to drop a bit.”
After quick introductions around town, Connor and Emily headed up the mountain, walking until they reached the peak. The sun was going down as they stood there, overlooking the sea below them. Something about being here with her felt magical. How could she have such an effect on him so quickly? He told himself to shake it off, to snap out of it.
“Ready?” Connor asked.
“Beyond ready,” Emily said, stepping away from him, toward the edge of the overhang on which they stood.
He watched as she morphed from her already beautiful form into the most gorgeous blue and silver dragon he had ever laid eyes on. Her blue eyes glimmered a metallic shade as they peered through the silver stripe that crossed her brow and spanned down her neck, flowing toward the tips of her wings as they began to spread. She turned and took flight out over the water.
Connor jumped from the cliff behind her, enjoying the free fall in his human form for a moment before he morphed midair into a bright red and orange dragon. His wings spanned twice the distance of hers as he tried to catch up. She was so much smaller, and yet incredibly fast. He felt something stir within him as she seemed to slow, waiting for him to catch up. He dove below her as they continued their flight, with her soaring only slightly above him as they made their way further out to sea.
They landed on a small island far away from prying eyes and shifted back to human form. Lying beneath the star-laden sky above them, they talked well into the night.
“It is so beautiful here, especially at night,” Emily said breathlessly.
“It is. I’ve always found it magical to fly over the waters at night, to look up at the stars that we can’t fly quite high enough to reach.”
“I know. Normal human people always mourn that they can’t fly. We can fly but still mourn our limitations. I guess everyone has their limitations, in some way.”
“That’s very observant and very true,” Connor said. “I sometimes wonder if there is anyone out there who is truly content with what they have, with who they are.”
“I think a good many people are as close as they can be. We accept our limitations and get on with life.”
“I suppose we do, but I think we all have regrets.”
“Perhaps,” she said. “What are your regrets? If there was one thing you could change, what would it be?”
“I would have saved my father.”
“I never knew my father. I would have saved my mother if I had been able to. I’m sure your brother would have saved your father, too, if he had been able to.”
“Possibly, but the choice would be harder for him,” he said. “He lost someone, a woman he loved. He has been different since then. We were young when our father died. It was painful, but you don’t understand as much as you do later. He was eighteen when he lost Margaret. He’s never quite recovered from it.”
“That explains his demeanor. He strikes me as a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
“That he is,” Connor said softly, turning to pull her closer to him against the chill of the night as they continued to talk.
As morning neared, they found themselves in one another’s arms, lost to a passionate kiss. Connor had never felt anything like what he was experiencing with Emily. It was something that he knew he could never let go.
“We need to get back home,” he told her.
“I suppose we do.” She smiled, pulling away from him and standing up
.
“I don’t want to go,” he said.
“Me neither,” she replied, adding, “Catch me if you can!” before morphing and sailing back out over the sea toward home.
Connor quickly followed her, once again marveling at how fast she was even as he struggled to keep up with her speed. He might be bigger, but he would never take her in a race. It was something he was willing to accept. Then again, he had the feeling that there was very little he couldn’t accept about her.
Chapter 2
In the months that passed after that first night, Connor and Emily had become inseparable. He was completely mesmerized by her beauty and sense of adventure. There was not one doubt in his mind that they were meant for one another. His six-two frame towered over her tiny five-three. His brown eyes and brown hair seemed bland compared to the vivid colors of her flame-colored hair and sky-blue eyes. He knew women found him attractive, but now, she was the only one he wanted to notice him.
“Brother, snap out of it,” Owen said from where he sat at a table nearby.
“Sorry. I was thinking about Emily,” Connor said bashfully.
“When are you not?” Owen laughed.
“That’s an excellent point.” Connor laughed too.
“I swear you’ve become like a giddy schoolgirl since she showed up here.”
“You introduced me to her. Don’t think I didn’t see the smirk on your face when you brought her over.”
“I have no idea what you mean, brother. I was just trying to shirk having to show the new girl around.”
“Right,” Connor replied, eyeing his brother for a moment.
A melancholy swept over him as he thought about Owen’s life and the sadness that seemed to engulf him all the time. It had been a long time since Connor’s brother had been interested in a woman, so it was probably true that he had not been interested in showing Emily around, but he also must have been able to see her for what she was: beautiful. That was the reason he had brought her to Connor rather than someone else in their village.
Saved by Alpha Bear (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Shadow Claw Book 1) Page 39