Chapter 23
***MALCOLM***
Malcolm slowly became aware of Rose’s voice over the noise in his head, the red fog blinding his vision began to recede, and he looked down to find himself about to kill Chet.
Using the sound of her talking to him, he fought to rein in the dragon, shutting down his magic bit by bit until he finally felt it slipping away, and he was free.
Putting his hands on his knees, he bent over, trying to catch his breath as the rage slowly died away and his mind began to function again.
Rose was in his arms only moments later, covering his face with kisses. “You’re back, I thought I was going to lose you,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I knew you wouldn’t want to kill him even though he deserves it.”
“I’m okay, I just need a second more,” he said, sucking in a few more deep breaths. “Then we’ll have to do something with him. We heal fast; that won’t stop him for long.”
She looked over to see Chet rolling around on the ground in his human form and yelling about the pain, but beyond him, she saw three riders heading for them. “I think we’ve got help coming,” she said, pointing them out. “He isn’t our problem anymore.”
“I would have killed him,” Malcolm said, shaking his head. “I’ve never felt that way before. He was trying to get to you, and I just lost it.”
“But you didn’t,” she said, looking up at him. “You stopped yourself in time.”
“Thanks to you,” he said, crushing her to him. “You got through to the dragon, you got him to back down. He wasn’t even listening to me.”
She smiled up at him. “He and I understand each other,” she said, then stretched up on her toes and kissed him.
“I love you, Rose,” he said. “I love you more than anything in the world, and that’s never going to change.”
“I love you too, Malcolm, you and that dragon of yours,” she said, smiling up at him. “Now let’s go home, we have a life to plan.”
“No, way, I’m not making any plans again,” he said, shaking his head. “Something always goes wrong. Let’s just take it one day at a time and see what happens.”
She laughed, “That’s a deal. Besides, as long as we’re together, we can handle anything that comes our way.”