Her face paled to a ghostly shade of white. I shifted in a blink to gather her chin-length curly hair in one hand before all the meat hurled into the frozen grass edging the side of the road. I rubbed her back, murmuring nonsense sounds as she wiped her lips,chest heaving. Cold, clear water cleansed her mouth. The meat stick slid into my pack before she chucked it into the night.
“You’re okay. You’re okay. Feel better?” I let go of her hair with great reluctance and shifted with less reluctance. The cold made my fur coat necessary.
“She kick you out too?” Fallon asked, wiping her face on her sleeve.
I placed myself against the wind so she had a bit of shelter.Well, I didn’t turn someone into a bowl of soup. So… no.
“Fuck. That really happened, didn’t it? You shouldn’t have come. What if I turn you into a pupsicle?”
I almost asked if she would lick me, but her pain was tangible enough to taste on my tongue. I knew when to joke and when to listen. Tears still glistened at the edge of her eyes. The strangled grip on her cloak couldn’t hide her shaking. My Honey stood in tatters.
It will be okay, Fallon. I’m here now.
“I work so hard.”
Fallon, you’re the best cook I’ve ever seen. You just don’t have all your magic down yet.I rubbed my soft fur against her and she clutched me like a lifeline. I tried not to think of it like a blessing and focus.
“Really? You think I’m good?”
She looked so vulnerable, her hands shaking in my pelt from more than cold. The Fallon I knew put her head down and worked through anything. To see herat such loose ends made me want to put a smile on her face again.
I turned with a hop, lowering to my elbows to play with her.I mean, soup was a rather modest choice if you were going to announce your awesome power.
Fallon shoved me forward, smiling. “You’re just saying that because you would have eaten him in half a second. Then I would have been triple-banished. Executed even. Not that losing everything is much better. How will Evie ever forgive me when I don’t know what I did wrong?”
That’s just nonsense. You have your passion and talent. You have me! Evie didn’t mean forever… probably. She just has to be careful with the baby.
Fallon’s eyes widened. “She didn’t even tell me.”
I forgot that non-shifters couldn’t detect the dragon’s change in scent.
She has to be scared. Imagine trying to push out Ward’s mountain-sized baby.
Hope surged as we both laughed, despite the dark night and bitter wind. If I could make her laugh, we could conquer anything.
See, it was just hormones. She’ll come around.
I beamed at her with a lupine smile, tongue lolling out. She smiled back.
“I really do need to figure out what I’m doing with this power, though.”
You really need a soft bed and a hot bath.
Teeth in her cloak, I acted like I was going to tear it apart, giving her mock growls until she laughed. I let her push me away and then darted in again to snatch a mouthful of her dress and do the same. This was the best game. Her hands on me, my nose full of her apples and cinnamon, but most of all, that only I got to see the playful Fallon. One that didn’t constantly need to be busy to feel alive.
I’m just glad I caught up with you.The reprimand sat on my tongue. Leaving in the dark, unsupplied and underdressed, was dumb, but she needed my support, not my protective streak.I know where we can get some help.
I said it with confidence, but I actually wasn’t sure what kind of reception awaited me. It was just that Fallon and my friends knew me as one thing: the funny, fun guy always willing to lighten the mood, make a joke and help. That was the person Fallon liked. I didn’t want to mess that up. It was a bold choice, but no choice at all when I looked at the wreckage of my mate.
“Somewhere warmer than this?” Fallon hugged herself.
Get on, Honey. It might be a little cooler there, but I’ll keep you warm.
Fallon hesitated. It had taken me a long time to convince her the nickname wasn’t because she was sweet. I told her all about honeybees, with their mighty stingers, self-sacrifice, industriousness, and hard work. How their venom was more deadly than a cobra’s, and they wouldsee themselves off rather than dying where they would contaminate their food stores. I kept the fact that I was determined to lick that delicious golden treat from every inch of her gorgeous body firmly to myself. Whatever was preventing Fallon from seeing me as her mate, I now had a chance to change her mind. My silent ‘thank you’ to Evie reached across the miles.
“I can walk,” she said, trudging forward with tenacious determination.
I know you can. Get on my back.I sidled next to her, rubbing along her legs like I longed to do across her whole body. Our freedom was filling my head with giddy ideas.
