Chapter 13
Beck
After a super busy Friday, I fall onto my couch, checking my phone’s battery for the umpteenth time before glancing at the clock too. I rub at the scales on my chest, right above the spot where my dragon sits, waiting patiently to hear Eleanor’s voice soon.
This week has been like no other for many reasons.
Eleanor being the main one, but a close second is the improvement in my relationship with my dragon.
I’ve gone for a swim every morning, easily shifting into my dragon form and allowing him to guide me where he wants us to go.
Not constantly suppressing him turns out to be very good for both of us, especially when it comes to the affection we both share for Eleanor.
Another highlight has been that my friends had made time to come and visit me at my mill.
It started with them asking about how the date went, but each felt compelled to give me advice on what they think I should do next.
I appreciate their input, but their ideas are all so different that it makes my head spin.
Not all of us have the confidence of Bodin to throw a woman over his shoulder and fuck her on a table in the garden.
Or have a picnic in a pretty location, like Ren suggested, only to turn that too into some kind of foreplay.
Though, I certainly won’t mind having more opportunities to touch Eleanor, to kiss her, taste her.
I want to find out what sounds she makes when she’s at the height of pleasure.
I want to watch her face when she surrenders, knowing it’s me who’s got her safe in his arms. But not yet.
Above all, I don’t want to rush things with Eleanor.
I’ve waited twenty-two years to see her again and I will not risk fucking things up… again.
Surprisingly, Arran had the best advice of all: Find out what Eleanor likes, and do more of that.
I know she likes books, bread, wine, Starry Hill, and phone calls with me. I aim to give her all of that, and more, whenever she’s ready.
So far, I’ve rescheduled my supply runs and consulted Viggo to do ferry runs this Saturday so I can be free to attend Eleanor’s book club. Every spare second I’ve had this week was used to finish reading the book she picked, clean my house, and practice a new recipe to bake for her.
Glancing down at my phone, my whole body ignites as Eleanor’s name flashes on the screen. “Hello.”
A second of heavy silence passes before Eleanor breathes out a shaky, “Hi, Beck.”
Instantly, I’m on my feet, my dragon also on high alert. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Eleanor replies, but the lie is obvious. “I mean, nothing major is technically wrong. I just had a really shitty day, but I’m glad to hear your voice now.”
My free hand shoots into my hair and tugs on the strands. “Where are you?”
“I don’t want to tell you,” Eleanor says. It’s like I can hear a wince in her voice, but it’s hard to pinpoint the emotion exactly. I need to see her to know she’s okay.
“Why not?” I ask, staring out the window as if the ocean is going to give me some kind of answer.
Eleanor hesitates a beat. “Because you’ll think I’m weird.”
“Please tell me you’re safe.” My dragon paces up and down, my scales fluttering wildly all over my body as worry roils through us.
“I’m safe, I promise,” Eleanor says quickly. “I just… I wanted to see the ocean today. I hoped some of that calm it brings you would rub off on me, so I drove to the harbor.”
“Cape Easton harbor?”
“Yes.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Wait there.”
Faster than I’ve ever run before, I sprint out of the house and toward my boat. I yank on the rope, quickly undo it from the cleats, and toss it into the water before stripping my clothes off and throwing them into the boat.
Then, I jump.
When it comes to Eleanor, my dragon and I are very much on the same page, so he doesn’t need any further prodding to take over my body, shifting midair into our monstrous form so we can get to her as fast as possible.
Horns erupt from my head and my giant maw closes around the rope before I break the surface, pulling the boat behind me as I swim for Cape Easton. My long serpentine body undulates through the water, and I call on the ocean to speed me along, letting the current take me toward my girl.
My dragon and I are united, breathing as one, our thoughts and purpose aligned to protect one of our own. Even if we’re technically only meant to protect Starry Hill, for us, Eleanor is part of that, and where she is, we’ll go.
I duck below the surface, swimming faster and faster, not caring who can see me or who I can frighten as I focus on my sole priority—getting Eleanor safely in my arms.
It doesn’t take long until Cape Easton comes into view and I slow only long enough to plot the shortest course through the different boats returning to the harbor.
When I get into shallow water, I shift back into my human form, jump into the boat, dry myself with my water magic, and pull on my clothes. I’m already scanning the car park in the distance for Eleanor’s car while I loosely secure the boat.
Relief floods me as I spot Eleanor with her phone in her hand, staring at the device while absent-mindedly biting on a nail. Then, I’m sprinting toward her.
She must see me coming out of the corner of her eye, because her head turns toward me when I’m still a couple of yards away. The emotion on Eleanor’s face flits between surprise, relief, and disbelief, but then she’s opening her car door and walking straight into my waiting arms.
“You’re here,” Eleanor says, the words muffled against my chest.
“Of course.” I refuse to entertain any other option than being there for her whenever she needs me.
The painful memory of watching from my window as Eleanor waited for me, all alone in her backyard so many years ago, still haunts me.
The day before I decided to court Eleanor, I vowed to myself that I won’t be the reason for her tears ever again, and I aim to keep that promise until my dying breath.
“Are you okay?” I ask, tilting her head back to really study her face.
“I am now,” Eleanor breathes out, lifting onto her toes and pulling me down toward her.
The kiss is sweet, soft, a gentle brushing of lips with only the slightest hint of our tongues meeting, and it speaks of the comfort of being reunited, saying so much more than I could put in words at the minute.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the fact that I get to kiss Eleanor, a dream my teenage self didn’t even have the courage to wish for.
Leaning back with her arms still wrapped around my waist, Eleanor asks, “How did you get here so fast?”
“I swam. In my dragon form,” I admit, my eyes flitting over her face to gauge her reaction.
“I’d like to see him one day,” Eleanor says, one finger tracing over the scales still visible in the V-neck of my shirt.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I bet he’s cute,” Eleanor says, the most adorable smile pulling at the corner of her mouth that I can’t help but trace with my thumb.
Hearing those words, my dragon basically flutters his eyelashes, imploring me to show her soon.
“I don’t know about cute, but he’ll be happy you thought that,” I say, trying to communicate on my dragon’s behalf.
Eleanor reaches up to cup my face. “Thank you for coming. I would’ve been okay, but I feel much better now that I’ve seen you.”
Folding my fingers around hers, I lean down and whisper, “Come back to Starry Hill with me.”
“I can’t,” Eleanor whispers back with a slight shake of her head.
“Why not?”
“I came here straight from work,” Eleanor says, gesturing to her formal office wear, as if that makes sense as an excuse.
“Besides, if I go with you now then you’d have to bring me back later tonight and pick me up again tomorrow morning only to bring me back again in the evening. I refuse to be a burden for you.”
“You couldn’t be a burden if you tried,” I say, cupping her face between both my hands. “But I mean, come stay the night with me. Nothing has to happen. It’s just, I can’t stand the thought of you being alone when you’re upset.”
“Should I go back home first and pack a—”
“No,” I interrupt quickly before she starts to overthink things. If clothing is Eleanor’s only reason to consider saying no, I’ll find her ten other garments to wear. “We’ll figure everything out. I promise.”
Eleanor takes a second to respond, her eyes flicking between mine as a decision wars within her, then finally, a smile creeps across her face. Nodding, she breathes out, “Okay. Take me to Starry Hill.”
Warmth floods my veins from head to toe before settling in my heart, expanding the organ at least five times its size before Eleanor came back into my life.
Excitement and relief, nervousness and lust drum against each other, as Eleanor grabs her tote bag, locks her car, and walks with me hand in hand toward the dock.
Our steps are light, quick, bordering on giddy as we keep glancing at each other, smiling like two creatures setting off on an adventure.
As we near the boat, I note Eleanor’s heart beating erratically, the same way it usually does before we set sail, and I glance over at her. “I don’t know how to phrase this politely, but I can sense your nerves. Is it because of me, my boat, the ocean, or something else?”
“Full honest answer?”
“Please.”
Eleanor sucks her lip into her mouth as she gathers her thoughts, then slowly explains, “You sometimes make me nervous, but in a good way. The thing is…” She lifts her thumb to her mouth as if to chew on it again, but decides against it at the last second, then continues haltingly, “It’s not that your boat is bad or anything, it's just that it’s a tiny vessel on a very large ocean.
And well, I’m not particularly comfortable in the ocean.
I usually like to remain on the shore and admire it from afar, somewhere I can adequately respect its vastness and the many, many unknown creatures it hides beneath the surface. ”
“But you’re on top of the ocean. And with me,” I argue, not really understanding her reasoning.
Stopping in front of my boat, Eleanor shrugs shyly as she stares at her feet. “Logically, I know nothing will attack me, and I know I probably won’t fall out of the boat and be drowned by something, but the ocean is just so big and there are so many things we don’t know about it.”
I move closer to Eleanor and tilt her chin up. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
A little scared of what I’m about to confess, but needing her to understand who I really am, I square my shoulders and say, “I’m the scariest thing in the ocean. As long as you’re with me, nothing will dare to come close to us. I’ll always keep you safe. I promise.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“That does make me feel better,” Eleanor admits, trailing a finger up my chest until she can cup the back of my neck. She draws me down to her, then whispers against my lips, “My own protective dragon. I like the sound of that.”
“Good,” I whisper back before claiming her mouth with a fierce kiss, the tension of the last hour bleeding out of me with every second our lips are locked, and redirecting everything else to my hardening cocks.
I told Eleanor nothing has to happen tonight, and I truly meant it. But if she keeps kissing me like this while smelling so enticing, I might beg her to bury my face in her sweet, sweet cunt.