But holoscribe. I had to ask, “Just in case what?”
He didn’t say anything for so long, I thought he might not answer. But then he replied, “Just in case we get to keep you.”
His faintly glowing eyes raised to meet mine, and for just a moment, the careful, hard blankness he’d worn like armor sinceI’d walked into his private space slipped. The look he gave me… I wouldn’t call it tender. But it was soft-adjacent.
Like maybe he, too, was deeply aware of the elephant in the cavern that we had yet to talk about.
I didn’t believe in fated mates. Not really. I didn’t want to be here in the Pleistocene age stuck with him for the rest of my life.
But that never-before feeling tugged at my lower belly. Again.
“Actually, I’d been meaning to start taking better care of myself.” A strange compulsion came over me to agree to his offer. “Maybe getting one of those community gym memberships you can pay for with volunteer shifts. But then I got laid off from my job as a holoscribe.”
His eyes flared wide. “You are a holoscribe?”
“Yes.” I was a little taken aback by his response. “You know what a holoscribe is? And why do you look so surprised?”
“It is pleasant for us.” His mouth hitched into something resembling a smile. “To think of you in this endeavor. It suits you.”
“It does?”
I had thought I’d follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a teacher. But by the time I started commuting to Edinburgh for sixth form, the thought of staying in Faoiltiarn forever with my grief-stricken mother had become suffocating. Then I found an unexpected opportunity to study Holo Creation at the University of Missouri-Columbia.”
I preened a little. Even though this guy had come extremely close to cutting my throat open last night.
Still, I pushed a curl that had gotten loose from my messy bun behind my ear. “Thank you, Aengus.”
“You will call us Diarmuid.”
“Now you want to be called Diarmuid?” I scrunched my forehead.What is happening?
“In this room, while we are training, you will call us Diarmuid,” he commanded.
The almost-smile abruptly disappeared. “And now you will drop to the floor and show us the state of your physical conditioning by demonstrating how many push-ups you can do.”
Oooh-kay.My split-personality theory was beginning to seem not so far out there.
And the dragon’s third personality was a 100% emoji drill sergeant.
The answer to that push-up question was zero. Unless you count a strained upward dog before collapsing.
“In tomorrow’s training, we will begin increasing your strength,” the Diarmuid personality proclaimed.
He helped me up off the ground. When his giant hand closed around mine, something warm and electric moved up my arm and landed squarely in my chest.
When I craned my head to thank him for the help to my feet, the two words died in my throat. His gaze burned into mine, ravenous. Like he hadn’t eaten in a very long time.
Just in case we get to keep you…
That would not be happening. I would figure out a way to get out that door, no matter what it took.
Yet, there was that tug in my tummy. Tightening the knot.
“You will show us your sparring skills.” His eyes snapped away, and he dropped my hand. “Have you any experience?”
“I’ve taken a self-defense course, yes. Sort of.” I tipped my head side to side with a hedging grimace. “It was for a story for my college’s holonewssite. All the other participants were humans, though. So I really had to hold back so I didn’t hurt anyone with my wolf strength.”
“You will not be required to hold back with us. In fact…”
