Sephie began to shake again.“I probably shouldn’t have told you any of that.”She turned to give another anxious glance in the direction of the inn.
“Explain, please.”
“He told me to just deliver the letter, wait for you to give me an answer, and then return immediately to the inn.”
“Which you’ve partly done.”
“It’s the part I haven’t yet done that will probably result in him making even more threats.”She shuddered.“I can’t believe this is happening.He seemed so normal when he arrived last night.Boringly so.He chatted pleasantly enough as I took him upstairs and showed him to his room— What is it?”she prompted urgently when Ranulf’s chest vibrated again, this time with what sounded like a growl.
His nostrils flared.“You were alone in a bedroom with him?”
She frowned her confusion with the anger she could hear in his voice.“Only long enough to show him the adjoining bathroom and hand over the key card.”
“Too long,” Ranulf grated, his arms tightening about her waist.“He deserves to die for that alone.”
“Die…?But—” Sephie once again looked up at him in alarm.She gave a gasp when she saw the now undeniable silver flames swirling in the depths of those dark green eyes.She had never seen anything like it before.“Who are you…?”
“Ranulf Drake.”
“I already know yourname,” she dismissed impatiently.“I want to knowwhatyou are?”
* * *
Ranulf couldn’t help but admire the astuteness of his mate’s question.
A question he knew had an answer he probably shouldn’t share with his fated mate just yet.
It seemed to him that Sephie had enough anxiety in her life right now, with Edgar Wallis currently staying at her family’s inn and making threats to her parents if she didn’t comply with his instructions.
Ranulf was furious with himself for not picking up the man’s scent when he walked to the village shop earlier.But the heavy snowfall overnight would have covered any of Wallis’s tracks from the previous night, along with his scent.
A scent that was completely overshadowed by Sephie’s aroma of strawberries anyway.
Ranulf wished he could explain all that to Sephie, but it was the wrong time to do so when her parents were in danger.She was also different from Belle and Zoey.Belle, because she was studying mythology at university, including dragons.Zoey, because Wallis was her guardian, and she was well aware of his obsession with what she had once believed were mythical creatures.
She knew differently now!
Sephie had probably never even thought about the existence of dragons, beyond what was written about them in fairy tales, let alone that she might be the fated mate of one.
Ranulf’s mate, to be exact.
Holding her in his arms, feeling the warmth of her body pressed against him, and breathing in her unique perfume, filled Ranulf with inexplicable pleasure along with deep anxiety.
The pleasure of finally being able to touch and hold her was immense.
The anxiety because he could no longer deny that he wouldn’t want to live if he didn’t have this woman by his side.
But explaining dragon shifters to her right now, when she already had so much to distress her, wasn’t an option.“We can talk about that when we have more time.”
“No—”
“Sephie, right now, we need to concentrate on rescuing your parents,” he insisted.“Where is Wallis holding them captive?”
“As I said, he put Mum in the cellar and Dad is tied to a chair in the bar.They’re both still wearing only their nightclothes, so they’re probably cold,” she added with a worried frown.
“He took them in the night?”
“Dad told me he entered their bedroom early this morning, when they were both still asleep.He was pointing a gun at them to ensure they did what he said.Dad seems okay for the moment, but it’s bloody cold down in the cellar, let me tell you.”She shivered.“I didn’t know any of this until I came down for breakfast and discovered my Dad tied up and this man you call Edgar Wallis taking great delight in pointing a gun at me,” she recalled with a shudder.
