“And smelled another man on the woman who is yours.” She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. “I can relate.”
“You can?” Kelos asked in surprise.
“Yeah. I don’t think I’d like it if you came home with lipstick on your cheek. Even if the lipstick was the evidence of nothing more than a kiss between friends.” She turned away from him and continued toward the house. “But I’d trust you just like you trust me.”
“I do trust you,” he said hurriedly. “It was a knee-jerk reaction.”
“Then we’re all good.” She went inside his house and poured two cups of coffee into the mugs she’d already set out. “I was waiting for you to get home.”
Amber offered him one of the mugs and he took it. “Thanks.”
“I also baked cookies.” Amber picked up a plate of cookies as evidence. “Shall we go and sit outside?”
“Sure.” He looked up at the ceiling. Kelos could sense the others were in bed asleep. “Are they all okay?”
“Yes, just tired. Margie figured it would be good for them to take a nap and try to catch up on some sleep.” She gave a lopsided smile. “I was standing guard.”
He smiled. She wasn’t joking. When she’d come out to meet him, she’d been afraid that he was an intruder, a threat to her brother’s family. “I’m here now if you want to go and rest.”
“I don’t think I could sleep. I want to spend some time alone with you.” She inclined her head toward the back yard. “Shall we?”
“Sure.” He followed her outside and they sat down in the two wooden chairs he used to rest the lumber he had to cut on.
“I love it here.” Amber sat down and inhaled deeply. “I can see why you chose to live here.”
He gave a brief chuckle. “My friends would tell you I chose the house because it was cheap.”
“And would they be right?” Amber’s eyes danced as she took a bite of her cookie.
“They might be partly right.” He glanced over his shoulder at the ramshackle house, with its peeling paint that flaked off the door and its faded timber. “But I also saw the beauty hidden beneath it. The house is old but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a new lease of life.”
“It reminded you of you.” She sipped her coffee and squinted against the sun as it broke out from behind a cloud. Amber was more beautiful than any view he’d ever seen and warmed his soul more than the sunniest of days.
“It reminded me of me,” he acknowledged. Not that he would have shared that morsel of information with anyone other than his mate. “Once I decided to set down roots and make a home here in Bear Creek, I wanted to try to…” He placed his hand on his heart. “I wanted to open myself up to the human side of me. It’s a part of me that I’d closed off.”
“Why?” Amber asked. “What changed?”
“Mac and his family. Seeing them meet their mates. Seeing them happy. And the prospect of sharing in just a sliver of their new lives once they found their mates.” His eyes misted with tears which he dashed away. “Seeing Martha’s baby growing inside her. Hearing its heartbeat grow stronger.” He swallowed hard. “Not exactly what you’d expect a fire-breathing dragon to say.”
“No, it’s what I’d expect a person who has been lonely for some time…a man who sees what is missing from his life and wants to change that would say.” She slid out of her chair, placed her coffee cup on the ground before she came to him, slipping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. “It’s what makes me know that you are the man for me. Even if there was no bond between us, I still think I’d fall for you and fall for you hard.”
“Thank you.” His brow creased. “Wow, after all the many long years I’ve waited to hear those words from my mate, all I have to say is thank you.”
Amber laughed and looked up at him, her eyes fixed on his. “You’re a simple man. I like that.”
He caressed her cheek, his fingers lingering on her skin as he fought to control his need to pick her up and carry her to his bed. Claiming his mate was a primal urge, one he needed to keep under control. But when she was so close, it was hard to resist his instincts.
“Shall we go for a walk?” Kelos asked suddenly.
“Sure.” She slipped out of his lap and scooted backward to retrieve her coffee cup. Tilting her head back, she drank the contents, her throat exposed to him. Kelos pursed his lips, he could almost feel her soft skin as he kissed her neck. He blinked and drank his coffee so fast he nearly choked. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” He nodded firmly.
“It’s all new, isn’t it?” she asked as if she could read his mind.
“It is.” He stood up and adjusted his jeans which clung to his groin.
“Is this the first time you’ve been… I want to say in love, but I think that’s a bit premature.” She took the plate of cookies and her coffee cup into the kitchen and he followed like a little lost lamb.
“It’s not premature,” he admitted. “Not for a shifter.”
She swung around to face him after placing the cookies in a Tupperware container and sealing the lid. “You love me?”
“I think so.” His confusion was real. “I have never been in love before, so I have nothing to compare it to.”
Her expression faltered and pity registered on her face. “Never been in love?”
“No. I’ve always known the women I’ve been with were not my mate, so I have never allowed myself to love anyone. It always seemed as if it would be a betrayal.” He was nothing if not honest. Particularly with his mate.
“Wow.” She puffed the air out of her cheeks. “I’m honored that I am your first love.”
Amber moved closer to him and he reached out for her, needing to touch her and pull her into his arms. “You were worth the wait.”
She slid her hands around his neck and tilted her head back to look at him. “I promise to keep your heart safe, Kelos. I will never hurt you.”
“And I will never hurt you.” He gave her a quizzical smile. “Not that I could. A shifter can never intentionally hurt their mate.”
“Good to know,” she murmured as she stood on tiptoes and kissed his lips.
Kelos slipped his hand into the small of her back and supported her as she pressed closer to him. Their lips moved, tongues entwined as their kiss deepened. Sensations flooded his body, new sensations, a mixture of need and longing that he’d never experienced before.
And we thought we’d experienced all that life had to give, his dragon chuckled.
That wasn’t true. They always knew they had never experienced true love or the companionship of a mate or the cry of their own child.
“Let’s go for that walk.” Amber lowered herself to the floor and took his hand, leading him out of the kitchen and into the light.
“This way.” He led her across the lawn toward the right-hand corner of the back yard where an overgrown gate stood partially open. He’d been meaning to fix it but there were plenty of other jobs that had taken priority. Grabbing hold of it with two hands, he lifted it, making a gap big enough for them to both fit through.
“This place really was neglected.” Amber shielded her eyes from the sun as she turned around and looked at the cabin.
“It was. It’s going to take a while to fix it up. But I always did like a challenge.” He reached for her hand. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”
“Is there?” she asked suggestively.
Kelos shook his head. “I am not the most magnificent thing on this mountain.”
She let out a belly laugh as she followed him along the overgrown trail. “You aren’t the most modest either.”
“I’m a dragon shifter. What do you expect?” Kelos asked as they climbed higher along the trail.
“I don’t really know what I expect.” She hummed thoughtfully. “Can you breathe fire?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever eaten anyone alive?”
“No.” He wrinkled his nose.
�
��Can you fly?”
“Of course.” He stopped walking and pointed to the mountain peaks way in the distance. “One night I’ll fly you to the highest peak.”
“I can ride on your back?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes.” He chuckled as he resumed their journey. “Did you think I was a small dragon?”
“I have no idea. You are my first.” She clung to his hand as they traversed a part of the trail which had been swept away in a storm. After he fixed the house, he would need to come and fix the trail so that their children could come and explore the mountains safely.
He swallowed down that thought, he was rushing ahead. What if Amber didn’t want a family? Although, she spoke with affection when she talked about her niece and nephew.
“I am your first dragon,” he whispered. “But you are my only love.”
“That’s some pressure,” she murmured as she placed butterfly kisses along his jawline.
“No pressure. Except that you never leave.”
“That, I think I can do.” She broke away from him and pulled him onwards up the trail. “Of course, part of that is the house and part of it is you.”
“Are you teasing me?” He’d always struggled with human humor.
“No. I mean it.” She stopped as the trail grew steep once more. Kelos squeezed past her and then helped her conquer the next section. “I love it here. I love everything about Bear Creek and the house and you.”
“There’s a but coming…”
“The only but is that I can’t fully commit to this,” she waved her hand around, “or us, until Margie and the children are safe.”
“Then it is my sworn duty to make them safe.”
Chapter Ten – Amber
“How much further?” Amber looked back along the trail. “I’m worried, we left Margie and the kids asleep alone.”
“I can sense them,” Kelos assured her.
“Even from this distance?” Amber asked incredulously.
“Yes.” He stopped and put his hands on his hips. Looking back down the mountain, he stared into the distance, his eyes a little out of focus. “They are still in the house. And there is no one else around.” He scanned the area, but Amber suspected he was not using his sight to figure out if there was anyone close by.
“How does that work?” She turned her back on the cabin and continued along the trail, intrigued as to what Kelos planned to show her.
Kelos shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s just a part of me.”
“Do all shifters have the same kind of senses?” Amber wiped her forehead. She was sweaty and her legs ached, but she wasn’t about to turn back now.
“Yes. Although I don’t know if all shifters have the same extra senses. Bears and wolves might have different senses. And dragons…well, dragons are probably the best out of all shifters.” He grinned as he looked down at her. “We’re nearly there.”
“Good, because I did not come prepared for a hike in the mountains.” Her feet ached, she wore flat pumps that did nothing to cushion her soles from the sharp stones that jutted up along the trail. “And I need a drink.”
“Not much farther,” he assured her.
“I trust you, Kelos. You said you will never hurt me.” She gasped as she reached the summit of a steep slope.
“And I will never lie to you. We are nearly there.” He pulled her after him when she wanted to stop and catch her breath. “Can you hear it?”
“Hear what?” She turned her head from side to side but all she could hear was the wind skimming the tips of the short mountain grass that grew on the level plateau they had reached and the occasional cry of an eagle in the distance.
“This way.” He led her across the plateau heading for a clump of short stubby trees that gathered at the base of a steep cliff.
“Wow.” She saw the waterfall before she heard it. “That is amazing.”
The water cascaded down the steep cliff like a curtain, sparkling and glimmering as the sun caught the droplets that hung in the air. Kelos followed a trail through the short springy grass which led to a low gap in the trees. They had to duck down to get under the trees, Kelos practically had to crawl on his hands and knees to get under one of the lower branches that had broken away from the main trunk.
“The waterfall is at its best right now as the winter snows melt on the higher peaks.” He stood tall as they reached the other side of the small copse of trees and followed the edge of the tree line.
“Oh, my…” She had no words for the sight that met them. The water fell from hundreds of feet above, a never-ending cascade that dropped into the pool beneath it. The edges of the pool were made of hard rock that had been slowly eroded over time to form a bowl shape.
“Do you like it?” Kelos asked.
“I love it.” She went closer, standing near the edge and leaning forward so that the spray from the water hitting the pool covered and cooled her face.
“I thought you might.” He grinned as he stuck his face into the water vapor and then stuck out his tongue.
Amber did the same, the water condensing on her tongue to quench her thirst. When she finally pulled back, her face was soaked, and her hair hung around her face in damp tendrils. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked as he moved closer to her and threaded his arm around her waist. “For sharing this with me?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“I should be thanking you. This is one of my favorite places but it’s…more when you share it with another person.” He looked down at her. “There is so much I want to share with you. So many things I’ve seen, so many places I have visited. Remote places where only a dragon can fly.”
“When this is over, we’ll go,” she promised. “There are places I’d like to show you, too.” She bumped her hip into his. “We’re alike, you and I.”
“Fate usually does well at matching mates.” Kelos dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “And I think we are no exception.”
“I just need to make sure everything is good with my brother and his family first. You do understand that, don’t you?” she asked.
“I understand. Family comes first. It always should.” He stepped closer to the edge of the pool and stared down into it. “When the weather is warm, we could come and swim here.”
“I’d like that.” She stared at the white frothy water for some time before she jerked her head up. It was as if she’d fallen under the spell of the water. But she couldn’t let her guard down. “We should go back.”
Kelos nodded. “They are all okay. Even when I am here with you and you consume my senses, I have not forgotten to keep an eye on them.”
“Thanks, Kelos.” She placed her hand on his chest and warmth immediately swept away the chill that had enveloped her as the cold mountain water condensed on her clothes and skin. “For everything.”
“My pleasure.” He inhaled deeply and straightened up. “Come on, it’ll be easier going down.”
“It would be easier if I could fly on your back.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “But I’m guessing that is not something you do often or there would be photos of you alongside the yeti and the Loch Ness monster.”
“I often fly over the mountains.” He looked up at the vertical cliff before them. “But only at night when no one can see me.”
“It wasn’t always like that, though.” She turned away from the waterfall and he followed her back along the trail. “Once upon a time, you must have flown as free as a bird.”
“A long, long time ago.” He fell silent and they ducked back under the trees and emerged out into the sunlight before he spoke again. “Sometimes I miss those days, but the world is full of new wonders.”
“And me.” She grinned. “I figured I needed to up my self-importance game to compete with you.”
“I appreciate your effort.” He bowed his head and she laughed, feeling lighter than she had in days.
“Are they still safe?” Amber asked with a twinge of guilt. It seemed wrong
that she should be enjoying herself with Kelos when her sister-in-law was back at the cabin surrounded by uncertainty.
“They are.” He lifted his head and stared into the distance.
“What’s wrong?” Panic constricted her throat and she forced herself to breathe or they would never get down the mountain. Unless Kelos carried her, and she had no doubt his strong arms would be capable of carrying her all the way back home.
“There’s a car approaching.” His jaw tightened and Amber rushed forward, they needed to get back.
“Why don’t you go on ahead? You’ll get there much faster than me.” She slipped down a steep part of the trail, catching hold of a tree root to stop herself from landing on her butt.
“No, we have time.” He frowned as if focusing all his senses at some far-off point in the distance.
“I’d rather you went on ahead,” she told him firmly. “I’ll be fine. Honestly.”
“I’ll help you down the next section and then if the car continues toward the house, then I’ll go on in front.” He hooked his hand under her elbow, and they moved faster along the trail. “There’s no need to panic yet. The car might be heading for one of the other properties along the road.”
“Could be.” She wasn’t reassured but if Kelos wasn’t panicking yet, then neither should she. Amber was certain Kelos would never let anything happen to her brother’s family. He’d promised to protect them, and he wasn’t the kind of man to break a promise, especially to his mate.
“I don’t think they will find you here,” Kelos told her as they hurried down the trail. “Unless they followed you, and I didn’t sense anyone else around when we drove here last night.”
“I’m being paranoid, I know. I’m just scared for Fabian and his family.” Her heart hammered in her chest as she pushed herself to walk faster as she tried to match Kelos’s pace.
“Are you close to your brother?” Kelos glanced over his shoulder and then slowed down.
“I can keep up,” she insisted.
“There’s no point in you killing yourself trying to get back to the cabin. We have time.” He looked back toward the road, his face hidden from her.
Kelos: Spring (Shifter Seasons Book 4) Page 8