"Is this—"
"That's poisonous," I snapped, huffing as I straightened up from my work to glare at Torion.
His hand hovered just inches away from the flower.
"Did you already touch it?" I asked, scowling at the alpha who stood there, sheepish as a boy.
He nodded slowly, lips twitching, the sun dappling through the trees to gild his hair and shoulders. He looked like a forgotten idol here in the woods, divine and charmed. Golden light clung to him, dazzling me. My temper rose as I resisted the pull to move closer, touch, taste him.
"Go wash your hands in the river then," I said, trying to soften my voice and absolutely failing as I added with a mutter, "again."
"I'm of better use out of your hair, aren't I?" Torion asked, laughing.
I bit my lip to keep from answering. Torion couldn't tell the difference between a dandelion leaf and a thistle.
His boots crunched carelessly over the ground, and I stiffened, tense and trying not to frown as he approached. With arms wide to keep his hands away, he leaned in and kissed my cheek, leaving a warm sparkling spot on my skin.
"Come find me when you're ready," he said.
I sighed as he retreated, leaving me to my work. I straightened from my crouch, letting out a small groan and resting my shoulder against a sturdy tree trunk. Gathering herbs was always harder work on the body than I recalled, but I'd never come to the work already sore. Sore in the hips fromstretching myself over Torion's lap, my stomach muscles tired from clenching as I churned myself against my alpha.
I was getting old.
"Brigid?"
I shook the thoughts away and turned towards Torion's voice, just barely able to make out the deep shadow of his wings through the trees.
"Can I go for a swim?"
My lips twitched, and I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not your keeper, alpha!" I called back, having to fully fight my smile as Torion laughed.Damned cheerful man.
"Thoughtful," I muttered, as if the compliment were a curse. I knelt down once more to pick more of the delicate pink mushrooms that could be steeped for a strong tonic.
Heat rose to my cheeks as I recalled the slow morning in bed, the unhurried time Torion had spent with his mouth studying every inch of me. "Talented," I added on a breathless pant.
There was a bright whoop in the distance, a sudden splash, and then a howl of surprise as Torion met the sharply cold water of the river.
"Absurd," I added, smiling.
Then I scowled and focused on my work.
We'd flown to the cottageafterTorion had left me so deliriously satisfied in bed, I'd barely been able to contemplate moving. Which is likely why I hadn't protested when he'd gathered me up in his arms at the front doors of the keep, in front of all the staff and the passing dragonkin. I'd assumed we'd fly with him as a dragon, but instead, he'd held me and chatted with me, remaining closer to the ground, acting as if carrying me in his arms for at least half an hour hadn't cost his strength in the least.
"Infuriating," I caught myself saying before snapping my lips shut.
I lost track of time, filling two baskets to carry by hand and a third I would strap to my back. The light had changed and my stomach was growling by the time I turned and headed for the sound of water.
Torion was stretched out on the large boulder by the river's edge, naked, sunlight glittering on his skin, catching the faintly hidden emerald scales, turning him into that jeweled divinity again, like one of the old dragons come back to the earth.
I shivered, hidden in the shadow of the small woods, but he turned his head, eyes opening unerringly on me, and a smile stretched his wide lips, wicked and knowing.
A part of me crossed into the sunlight, climbed the boulder, and sat astride his lap. A part of me let him peel my dress over my head so I would be equally bare, equally alight in the gaze of the sun. A part of me took him inside of me then, joined as we were meant to be joined, a union of flesh and breath and our eyes feasting on one another.
But that part of me was my imagination. I cleared my throat, dropped my gaze, and spoke only loud enough for him to hear.
"I just need to get these inside and do what I can to preserve them."
