Her Dragon's Keeper Read online

  “If he’s so set on the old ways, then maybe he needs a push to put him back in his place,” Bogdan said.

  Cursing, Blake picked up his guitar. “It is hard for some to accept change. Give him time.”

  He dreamt of Emily for more nights in the past two years than he ever imagined missing someone. Not even the decades of grief after losing Melsunia compared to the emptiness she’d left inside him after their brief time.

  The dragon inside him roared at her insult even as Blake’s urge to love her still soothed his bruised ego. Had that been what she thought? They couldn’t spend this life together because she was human? Damn the keepers! Damn their ancestors for their fouled-up ideas.

  He switched on his electric guitar, ready to strike the first cord when Sigurd shouted, “Garth!”

  “Now if Edmund would show the hell up.” Bogdan moved to slip behind his keyboard.

  “I wouldn’t count on it.” Garth opened the door. “But he sent us a replacement.”

  “Love has no fury, then one of a woman scorned.” Blake turned his back on the new comer, cracked the volume up loud, flooding the basement studio of the manor with music.

  Chapter Six

  “Fire and thunder.” Scents of pineapple and baking bread led Emily to the kitchen. Cursed dragon!

  She could understand Aunt Margaret’s need to flee. Jacques would come back for her. It was the waiting part that bothered her.

  Two days, three tops. Which meant, Jacques could come back for her as early as tonight? If Blake hadn’t lied to her, she’d been here for three days. Jacques could have come back and didn’t find her. She had to find a way out of the manor and to the dock.

  Most likely, he’d taken Margaret and gone to find Emily’s father at the Harghita hatchery.

  “Are you hungry?”

  Emily gulped guiltily. How long had she stood there watching her? Emily should have escaped through the door while she had the chance, but her stomach protested.

  “Famished,” Emily reached up and fingered the pendant around her neck, something she did when feeling nervous.

  Naomi moved around the kitchen island, opening the refrigerator. “That’s a lovely locket you have. Is it a family heirloom?”

  Emily’s hand tightened around the pendant. “Yes. It was my mother’s.”

  Naomi pulled all the fixings for a salad out and placed it on the island before her. “I thought I recognized it. I’ve seen the design before, a very long time ago.”

  There was no reason for her to trust this elder woman. Her calming voice and pleasant smile may lure her into friendship, but Emily couldn’t afford friends. She gave herself a mental shake. Others may be fooled to trust, but not Emily. She trusted no one, but Jacques.

  Emily watched as Naomi prepared two salads and put them in large bowls.

  “If I’m not mistaken, it is the symbol of the dragon riders, is it not?” Naomi turned her back from Emily, washing lettuce in the sink.

  Emily bit her lip, trying to decide how to answer the older woman. She envied her long hair, cascading down her back to touch the elder woman’s waist. She dressed in the old style, a long flower printed skirt and a white blouse.

  Emily gazed down at her wrapped bed sheet. As if Naomi could see from the back of her head, she said. “I’m to take you into the village shops today to buy you new clothes.”

  Emily ran her hand down over her new rounded figure. Against her ribs she felt a bump. She inhaled and Naomi turned with a strainer of washed lettuce.

  “Are you okay?”

  Emily nodded, “It took me by surprise.”

  “It must be strange for you.”

  “I’m pregnant, but I’m not,” Emily admitted.

  Naomi worked tearing up the lettuce in the bowls. “I’ve never seen an egg attach itself wanting to be born like this before. You must have dragon’s blood since you come from a line of dragon riders.”

  “Me? I don’t think so.”

  Naomi frowned at the doubt in her eyes. “I don’t blame you for not trusting me. But believe the fiu you’re carrying. It wouldn’t have attached itself to you if you didn’t.”

  Emily sensed Naomi was wiser than most, sensible, and cared for her. Why anyone would care about a stranger, she didn’t know. But something deep inside her, whispered to trust her anyway.

  “Blake is waiting out in the garden. If you want to head out, I’ll bring your lunch.”

  Emily went through the back door of the kitchen out onto a stone patio. From there she could see the sea, calm like a mirror reflecting the brilliant blue of the sky.

  Blake lounged at a table sipping a glass of water. He held up several papers reading them. As Emily moved closer she saw they were music sheets.

  Outside with the warm air and sunlight kissing her shoulders, she sighed. Of all the prisons, a girl could get confined to, this one rated like a five-star hotel. She could envision herself on a grand vacation if not for her prison’s warden.

  His hair glinted in the sunlight. His short-sleeved button-down shirt was open revealing his well sculpted abs. And when his golden-brown eyes captured her own, they seemed to delve deeply into her soul. The eyes of an all-knowing dragon.

  “May I?” she asked, the fiu inside her pushing against her heart.

  “Of course.” A crease touched the dragon’s brow, as he reached to pull a chair out for her. As she sat, he brushed a stray lock of hair back from her face. She flinched, expecting his fingers to be cool, but they felt warm and callused upon her cheek.

  “I’m glad you decided to keep the bed sheet on,” he said with a soft chuckle. “I’m hoping you’ll wear it for our ceremony.”

  Emily diverted her gaze the tall pitcher of water, her thirst great. “And when will that be?” she asked, licking her lips.

  He took the pitcher of water, pouring her a glass of water. “Sigurd went for Father Armand. He should arrive around supper.”

  Sigurd, Bogdan, and Edmund, she remembered them all from the days she’d stole away on their tour bus. She took a deep gulp of water. Maybe she hadn’t heard him right. After she finished her glass of water, he refilled it again.

  Emily sloshed water over her hand it shook so badly. Supper? Did he really expect her to marry him so soon?

  “Easy there, my love,” he took the glass before she spilled it whole. “There is no sense in drenching yourself for me at this very moment.”

  It took all Emily had inside her not to toss her glass of water in his face. “So, you’ll wine and dine me this evening and make me your wife in the morning, is that it?”

  “The ceremony will take place at sunset.”

  All dragons had a thing with either sunrise or sunset.

  Then the same paralyzing fear that compressed her heart the day she rolled out of his bed and out of his life seized her. Two years ago, before her mother’s death, before she’d known he was a dragon, and before she’d became a keeper, she would have jumped at the chance to become his wife—his mate—for the rest of her life.

  “It is only a formality.” His eyes slid down her body, lingering below where the fiu rested against her legs then traveled back up to her face. Everywhere his attention lingered made her ache to feel his arms enclosed around her.

  Then he gazed past her to the older woman bringing out their salads. “It looks like Naomi has brought lunch.”

  By the hungry look in his eyes, it would take more than a mere salad to sate his dragon appetite.

  Chapter Seven

  He awaited her outside near the garden terrace. He’d listened to Father Armand’s lecture all through supper on Emily’s behalf for waiting this long to wed when she obviously carried his fiu. If Father Armand’s eyes were as sharp as his tongue, he could have seen Emily and understood her true predicament.

  Just as well. He really didn’t need to hear any more reasons from Olaus to suggest his reasoning and judgment as the pendragon of Giresun Manor had been tainted by lust over a human. Both Father Armand and Olaus
warned him of impending fire and doom this union would cause. How soon the elders of their herds forgot the ceremonies and bonds made between dragons and the humans, especially their riders.

  Blake caught her scent the moment she stepped onto the cobblestones of the garden terrace.

  Not until he turned around did his chest take a tight hold around his heart. He waited, waited for her to run from him again. She had been gone long before Blake returned to the tour bus in the wee hours of the morning. He’d searched the local bars, thinking she’d gone there in search of him. But she hadn’t. Nor did he find her at their flat in Rainsburg. Like his dragon brothers, he craved to shift, to soar in his true form. Leaving her after their first time together haunted him for months afterward. When she saw his dragon eyes, he didn’t think she’d believe him. Never did he imagine she’d disappear.

  Watching her walk towards him on Sigurd’s arm, knowing it had been the egg, not him she’d been seeking, twisted his gut. He’d known others would come looking for it. He’d assumed Melsunia’s family would have kept it in their possession longer. Nearly a century had passed before Garth and Naomi had appeared in Rainsburg, calling him back to the manor.

  They could enforce their ancient laws and beliefs on him all they wanted, but he wasn’t giving up the one person who could hatch Melsunia’s egg.

  His dragon heated inside him, memories reared to the forefront of his thoughts. Emily wearing his shirts. Emily curled around him. Emily wrapped in his bed sheet.

  No matter how certain he’d been that she’d try to run and escape their ceremony, his chest relaxed as Sigurd took her hand and placed it in Blake’s.

  She’d changed back into the short little blue lace number she’d worn the evening of the party. He could think of nothing better than taking her in one swoop back to his own lair in the mountains and helping her forget her boy-toy fury she’d first arrived with.

  “It’s sunset.” She smiled like she knew something he didn’t.

  “And?”

  “Don’t you dragons like to take flight around now?”

  “Only when we’re not mating.”

  Her face flushed and she scowled at him.

  Father Armand cleared his throat, “Let us begin. We have gathered here on this eve to celebrate the union of Blake and Emily. If there is anyone who would speak against this union, speak now.”

  Slowly, Emily turned her head. Blake leaned close to her, knowing Father Armand wouldn’t hear his low murmur in her ear. “No one here would dare.”

  Naomi stood with Garth’s protective arm around her. Olaus glared, his narrowed eyes pinned on Blake, but the old dragon knew better than to speak against the leader of their clan. As the pendragon, Blake led the Giresun clan.

  When it came time for the rings, Bogdan placed one in Blake’s hand. “May your union complete you and the God of all smile upon you.”

  Her hand trembled as he slid the ring on her left finger. He turned her hand over, kissing the inside of her wrist. She hissed, feeling the sting of fire between his lips as he branded her with his dragon’s mark. He licked it to seal the wound.

  “And what am I to do to you?” She snatched her hand away.

  “You must give him something from your heart,” Father Armand said.

  Sigurd stepped up. “Here you go.”

  Emily looked down at the ring in Sigurd’s hand. “I thought it had to come from the heart?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but you’re not a dragon.” Sigurd grabbed her hand and Emily flinched. Sigurd flinched, too. “Sorry ‘bout that. Here.” He lifted Emily’s wrist to his lips and blew. “Better?”

  Her brow furrowed then she gave him a faint smile. “Much. Thank you.”

  Father Armand cleared his throat.

  “Oh right. The ring. Take it.” Sigurd offered it to her again.

  Emily shook her head. “I won’t need it.”

  Blake cocked his head to the side. He watched her reach around her neck and pull the pendant out from between her breast. A slow, intentional, smile spread across her lips. Behind him Olaus made a move to grab Emily. Garth and Bogdan restrained the old dragon.

  She took the pendant and held it out. According to the ancient rules of her people a union between a dragon rider’s descendant and a dragon had become forbidden. By giving her pendant to him, she gave him a part of her—the forbidden part— to lie against his heart. “You honor me.”

  Olaus jerked his arms away from Bogdan and Garth. “There will be no mercy on your judgment for this day.”

  Garth seized the old man. “I think you need to go hibernate for a bit.”

  Emily’s smile turned upside down. Blake kept hold of her hand, squeezing it to reassure her. Panic widened her eyes and he couldn’t let her bolt.

  “Maybe this time he won’t come flying out on the wrong side,” Sigurd muttered. Bogdan gave Sigurd a shoulder bump and the younger dragon fell silent.

  Naomi turned and followed Garth, and when Olauf had turned out of sight. Blake turned his gaze on Father Armand. “Please continue.”

  Father Armand nodded and Emily repeated after him. “No longer two, but one. One heart, one soul, one life together. Take this part of me as a symbol of my promise to always be true to you, always be there for you through the best and the worst of times, and always accept your family as mine. As I have given you this piece of my heart to hold, so give you my life to keep.”

  She reached up and Blake bent forward to make it easier for her to slip the delicate chain of her pendant over his head. Unbuttoning the first two buttons of his crisp white shirt, she pushed the cloth aside to allow the pendant to rest against his skin. Then she surprised him, rising on her toes she pressed a kiss to the pendant, cool against his flesh. Shocked and delighted by her gesture, he cupped her face in his hands tilting up her chin to meet his lips in a whisper soft kiss.

  When she tried to pull back he held her in place. His tongue traced the entrance of her mouth until she opened to him.

  Behind her a loud wail made her jump. Blake’s arms wrapped around her. He looked over her shoulder as Bogdan pulled out a handkerchief and slapped it to Sigurd’s chest. Sigurd blew his nose, an awful disgusting noise making Emily wince.

  Then Father Armand tossed his Bible up in the air. “Go forth and be fruitful as I no doubt you will since you’ve already kissed the bride!”

  Bogdan and Blake chuckled as the old bold priest marched away in the opposite direction of the house.

  “I’ll get him!” Sigurd took off after Father Armand.

  Blake pulled her close, careful of the egg between them. “And now I’ve got you.”

  Chapter Eight

  Emily covered her mouth and pretended to yawn as Naomi ran back through the garden towards them. “Olaus attacked Garth! He’s taken flight!”

  Blake growled. His eyes turned golden.

  “I got this. Stick with your mate,” Bogdan said.

  Emily tried not to smile. She would have to thank Olaus for the distraction later. She glimpsed uncertainty in his eyes. Torn between running after Bogdan to help or staying with her, she faked another yawn on his behalf.

  Naomi panted to catch her breath.

  “You’re tired.” He bent his head down, touching her forehead with his. She reached up and touched his arm. “You should go. Garth may be hurt and someone has to find Olaus.”

  “Naomi can see to Garth, she’s his mate.”

  Emily felt the muscles beneath his suit jacket strain against the fabric. “And Bogdan might need your help. I might be carrying around a little extra weight around here, but I can still find my way back in the house. Besides, Sigurd and Father Armand are inside.”

  Blake’s jaw clenched. With a hefty sigh he kissed her forehead, her nose, and then her lips. She spied the pendant around his neck. Olaus had been right. Maybe not his clan, but Emily’s family wouldn’t accept such a union as this. They forbid it for a reason. She reached up touching the pendent, gold like his eyes, with the
etching of the sun and a dragon inside. She was a Keeper. Her job was to protect and nurture the sun dragons and their blood line. A debt the dragons of old intended to collect from the families of their human riders until the end of time.

  Still visually struggling, she gave him a little push. “Go. You don’t like to nap, remember?”

  That slow sexy smile of his returned. “The best part of napping is what comes first.”

  “Blake?” Naomi clutched her side, her eyes glowing amber she looked back over her shoulder. “Go see to Garth. I’m right behind you.”

  Leaning in, he breathed deep, letting her scent imprint in his memory. Emily tensed, leaning away from him. She didn’t want him getting this close to her, not when she didn’t plan on staying. With one last kiss, he turned and took off after Naomi.

  She held her breath, counting down from ten. Out of sight, she turned and dashed, as fast as any woman with an extra forty pounds strapped to her could, toward the ferry dock. She didn’t have much time. If she had any chance it had to be now. Her heart thumped faster and the hatchling nestled in the egg against her shifted to press close to it. She shouldn’t have accepted this assignment. Of course, she’d brought Jacques along. Aunt Margaret had insisted they always work together.

  But you made a binding promise.

  There wasn’t enough time to argue with the voice of reason in her head. This had nothing to do with her being afraid of staying with him, bedding with him again, would make it that much harder for both of them when the time came. She refused to love him. She couldn’t.

  But she did.

  Always had.

  Her knees trembled as she stood at the end of the ferry dock. God, why was this so hard?

  A fierce mix of longing and desire flooded her veins and his fiu heated against the spot resting below her heart. Like before, she had no choice. Completing her assignment, returning to the hatchery, that was her option.

  Behind her, the sun dipped below the land and a dark blanket spread out over the water. In the distance, a sliver of a moon struggled behind a cloud.