Chapter 15
Elana
The sheets were tangled around my legs as I woke from my dream. My pulse still thrummed between my thighs, the ghost of dream—Emmett’s hands lingering on my skin.
Damn it.
I rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. The dream had been so vivid I’d thought it was real. I’d loved every moment, Emmett’s mouth on mine, his hands mapping my body. The way his voice had dropped to that rough, possessive growl when he—
I groaned, pressing my palms to my eyes.
It wasn’t fair. I’d spent years keeping men at arm’s length, especially the powerful ones, and now my subconscious was betraying me with a dragon!
I remembered the way he’d kissed me at the lake like he’d been starving. The way his hands had gripped my waist, pulling me flush against him. The way his breath had hitched when I’d—
Stop.
I’d started getting these dreams of Emmett two nights ago, which meant this was the third night in a row of absolutely filthy dreams of my dragon host. Which was not acceptable.
I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The dream had felt so real. And now I was wide awake and aching. And against my better judgment, a part of me wanted it to happen for real.
And that was a problem.
“Stop it,” I muttered to the ceiling.
I dragged myself out of bed. A cold shower helped. Barely. By the time I pulled on my robe and padded down the hall, I’d convinced myself that I’d finally beat the lust and I was over it.
The playroom was empty.
There was no rambunctious dragonlet or judgmental Luella in sight.
I turned to leave, only to bump right into Emmett. He stood in the hallway, Melly cradled against his chest, her tiny claws tangled in his shirt, her golden eyes bright with mischief.
But my eyes were on Emmett.
The way his sleeves were rolled up to show his forearms shouldn’t have been erotic. But there was something about the white fabric folded just past his elbows, revealing forearms corded with muscle and dusted with dark hair that just did it for me. Muscles flexed as he shifted Melly in his arms.
The scent of his soap clung to him, mixing with the warm, musky scent of his skin, the perfect mix of smoke and cedar.
His hair was still damp, the bronze strands curling at the nape of his neck, the ends brushing his collarbone.
A single strand dangled across the sharp line of his jaw before catching in the stubble there.
I imagined how it would feel against my lips, how the rough scrape of his beard would contrast with the heat of his mouth.
I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze away before I did something stupid like throw myself on him right here in front of the playroom. But the damage was done. My pulse was a drumbeat between my thighs, my body humming with desire. A rush of heat flooded my body, sudden and overwhelming.
I swallowed hard.
So much for being over it.
His eyes lit up when he saw me. Then he sniffed, loudly, and his smirk turned predatory.
Oh, hell.
I knew that look. He could scent me, and he knew exactly what I was thinking of.
Heat flooded my face, my body betraying me with a fresh wave of arousal. I focused on Melly instead.
“Morning, your highness.”
Melly stretched her arms toward me. Carry me.
I scooped her up out of Emmett’s arms, ignoring the way his gaze burned into me.
Melly’s scales were warm against my skin as I carried her into the playroom, hyper-aware of Emmett following close behind. The scent of him filled the space between us, making me think of that dream again.
Once inside, I set Melly down. She immediately waddled toward her toys.
I’d been here for over a week now, and Emmett and I had gotten into a routine that was altogether way too familiar and domestic. We’d visited Solstice two more times with Melly, including for the story time, which she loved despite being too young to pay attention.
I was so distracted by the virile dragon man next to me that I almost didn’t see it happen.
As Melly reached for her favorite rattle—because of course her favorite toy is the one that made the most noise—her claws shimmered and changed, shifting into tiny, perfect human hands.
I’ll never get over how strange chubby baby hands looked on a dragon’s body.
But the realization that I was witnessing something huge let me overlook it for the moment.
I gasped. “Emmett, look!”
He was beside me in an instant. “She did it,” he whispered, the aww in his voice clear.
Melly, oblivious to our shock, shook the rattle with her new hands, giggling like it was the best thing ever. Then she grabbed another toy, her fingers curling around it with surprising precision.
This was big! This was proof. It meant Melly had a human form waiting beneath those scales, a whole other self she could grow into.
Emmett’s fingers brushed mine, his voice rough. “You did this.”
“No. We did this. You’ve been trying to help her for months. I just gave her better reasons.”
Melly let out a huff, dropping the rattle and reaching for the stuffed dragon. Her human hands gripped it tightly, her tiny fingers exploring the fabric with curiosity. The wings made a crinkling sound.
Emmett’s hand found my waist, his touch sending a shiver down my spine. “We make a good team.”
I turned to face him, my heart pounding as his gaze dropped to my lips. “Yeah. We do.”
We stood there for a long moment, and the joy of witnessing our first big breakthrough turned slowly and insidiously into something else altogether. My brain, traitorous thing that it was, decided to remind me of the dream that had welcomed me into the day.
A low sound came from Emmett’s chest, like a sustained growl that he was trying to hold back.
And, despite Melly being right there, completely oblivious to what was happening, he cupped my cheek—
The sound of something crashing to the ground shattered the moment.
We jerked apart just in time to see Melly perched on top of the shelf like she’d scaled Everest. She let out another triumphant chirp, her wings flapping uselessly as she teetered on the edge.
She was knocking over everything in her way like a cat on a mission, her eyes focused on the package of Goldfish crackers.
Melly’s depth perception, like her impulse control, was still very much a work in progress.
She launched herself toward it with the boundless confidence of a child who had never once considered that gravity might possibly apply to her.
She missed. Her wings snapped open, but they were too small; she only managed to shove herself off the shelf.
She let out a shriek as she plummeted headfirst toward the floor.
Without thinking, I flung out my hand.
A rush of power surged through me, something I hadn’t quite felt in years. The cushion on the window seat ripped free of its spot, flying across the room like it had been shot from a cannon. It landed with a soft whump directly beneath Melly.
She hit it, bounced once, and then waddled away without so much as a backward glance.
I stared at my own hands. They were shaking. They were glowing too, faintly at the fingertips, the light already fading.
“I just used magic,” I said, very stupidly.
“You did.” Emmett blinked at me, clearly not following.
“I can’t control my magic.”
He frowned. “But you had a spell on you that hid your magic, didn’t you cast that?”
“No, my son did that to protect me.” I looked down at my hands and then over at the mirror attached to the wall. Sure enough, my aura was back, glowing around me. “I can try to recast it, but I can never tell if I’m going to succeed or set my clothes on fire.”
“I can have my wizard…”
“No.” I fell short of admitting that his wizard was the reason why Seth had been worried. “I’m fine.”
A knock at the door saved me from the explanation.
I opened it to find a goblin woman who must be Nak’s wife.
Her skin was a rich tan, kissed with the faintest hint of green.
Black tattoos—clan marks, if my memory served me right—traced up one of her arms. A practical braid kept her dark hair in check, though a few rebellious strands had already escaped.
She wore an apron over her dress, the pockets bulging with tools and bottles and… a half-eaten sandwich? Her grin was quick, her eyes sharp with amusement.
“You must be Elana. I’m glad to finally meet you.”
“Dizzi will be helping out instead of Luella for the next little while,” Emmett said. “Luella’s in the city caring for her mother.”
“Did something happen?”
“A car accident. But she’s alive, got away with just a mild concussion.”
“I’m sorry to hear. Is Leroy with her?” I asked.
“Yes. I insisted I’ll survive without him for a few days.”
That meant I had a few days to figure out how to hide my magic again.
“Now that I’m here, why don’t you two go grab breakfast?” Dizzi suggested, urging us out the door. “I’ll watch her until you get back.”
Emmett held out an arm, and this time I took it without even realizing it, and we headed down to breakfast just like we’d done every day this week.