Chapter 1 #2
“I did not. She’s the one who ran off. If she wanted to talk it out, she could’ve come back.
When she didn’t, I decided that was that.
” Pushing the hurt back into the box he’d shoved it into that night and snapping the metaphysical lock shut, Cyrus rolled back his shoulders and stood tall.
“And I hadn’t heard hide nor tail of her until you said her name a couple of hours ago. ”
Scratching at his beard with his right hand, Luke pointed with the other. “Now, let me get this right. Y’all were havin’ a fine time, and all hell broke loose without the slightest provocation from you?”
“That about sums it up.”
“And when she called you a stubborn Neanderthal, you told her she was gonna get herself killed if she kept helping people.”
“Yup.”
“But isn’t that what you do?”
“What? Not run after a woman who just called me a Neanderthal?”
“No, dude,” the Black Bear scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What I meant was that you’re a Dragon.”
“Wow, nothing gets past you.”
“Alright, smartass, just let me finish.”
Giving the Black Bear a single nod, he motioned with his hand for him to continue and added, “Yeah, you’re right. I am a smartass. Nessy called me that more than once, too.”
“She sounds like an intelligent woman.” Once again, Luke’s self-assurance danced all over Cyrus’ rattled nerves.
“And that is not the Bear’s fault,” Domnahall, Dom to those who truly knew him, the Dragon King with whom Cyrus shared his soul, chastised. “He’s getting to the heart of the matter, and you don’t like it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear ya’.”
“Good.”
“But I don’t like it.”
“Something's never change.”
Tuning out the Dragon King and paying attention to Luke, Cyrus was just in time to hear his new friend say, “What I meant was, as a Dragon Guardsman, don’t you help anyone who needs it? Isn’t that kinda y’all’s gig?”
Dropping the hand, the Black Bear patted at the air filling the space between them. “And before you blast me with Dragon Fire or turn all scaly and take off, what I mean is…”
“What you mean is that since I’m a Dragon Guardsman, one of the Universe’s Chosen Warriors, I was quite literally put on this earth to protect anyone and everyone from anything and everything?”
“Well, yeah.” Nodding, Luke added, “Am I wrong?”
“No,” Cyrus deadpanned. “And you know you’re not.” Running the fingers of his right hand through his hair, he sighed, “And just so we’re clear, I know my purpose, and I am quite happy being exactly who I am, but that woman…”
“Whoa!” The word flew from the Black Bear’s mouth almost as quickly as he closed the distance between them. “That woman, as you call her, is your Fated Mate, isn’t she?”
“Now, I didn’t…”
“You didn’t have to.” Smiling wider than if he had a handful of those wonderful cinnamon rolls Bonnie Sampson made especially for him before she headed back to Texas, Luke chuckled, “It’s written all over your face.” Inhaling deeply, he sniffed the air. “And you got the smell, my friend.”
“The smell?” Cyrus grunted, making a show of wrinkling his nose. Lifting his right arm, he sniffed his armpit, then snapped his eyes back to the Black Bear’s. “I do not smell. I took a shower and used deodorant just like my momma taught me.”
“Cyrus,” Dom warned. “Don’t mess with that lad. He’s a good guy, and he’s just trying…”
“My patience,” the Guardsman mentally grunted.
“No,” the Dragon King huffed. “He’s trying to be a good friend, and you’re being an arsehole.” Dom’s voice dropped at least an octave, and his brogue got thicker. “Just tell the man what’s really happening, and…”
“No,” the Guardsman spat the single syllable before completely tuning out the Dragon King.
“Not like that,” the Black Bear laughed out loud. Smacking the palm of his hand on the top of his thigh, he went on, “You know what I mean, Eejit.” Still chuckling, he added, “You crack me up, Cy. You really do. You know what I mean, the Mating scent.”
“No,” Cyrus snapped, “I most assuredly do not know what you mean. What the hell is the Mating…?”
“Stop,” Dom growled. “Stop deflecting. Stop messing with a truly good person who is trying to be your friend. Just tell the Bear…”
“No. It’s none of his business.”
“It’s none of his business?” the Dragon King seethed. “He is trudging up this frozen mountain with the wind howling and the temperature threatening to go subzero at any moment, and it’s none of his business?”
“That’s what I said,” Cyrus shot back. “Besides, I didn’t ask him to come. Actually, if I remember correctly, I distinctly told him not to come.”
“You know what?” The Dragon King snapped.
“No, what?
“Vanessa was right. You are a stubborn Neanderthal.”
Not dignifying the Dragon King’s accusation with a response, Cyrus once again tuned into what Luke was saying.
Waving his hand between them, Luke huffed in mock irritation. “Chill out, Dude. It’s nothing bad.” Tilting his head to the side, he furrowed his brow and continued, “Are you sure you’re not just messin’ with me? Just havin’ a little fun with the guy from the country.”
“No, I am not messin’ with you.” Taking a step forward, Cyrus worked hard to appear earnest when all he wanted to do was laugh out loud. “I have no clue what in all that’s holy you’re talking about.”
“Stop this now,” Dom warned. “Don’t make me embarrass you. You know…”
“Just let me have a little fun, will ya’?”
Ignoring the Dragon King’s growing irritation, he added, stressing every word and opening his eyes as wide as they would go. “Really, what is the Mating Scent? Tell me. I gotta know if I stink.”
“Okay, dude. First of all, you need to calm down.”
“I’m calm.”
“Okay. Sure, and I’m Smokey the Bear.”
“Well, if the fur fits.”
“Shut your mouth.” The index finger of Luke’s right hand stopped a few millimeters from the tip of Cyrus’s nose as he ground out through gritted teeth. “I am a Black Bear, thank you very much. Old Smokey is a Grizzly.”
“And the difference is? Isn’t a bear a bear?”
“Oh, my Great Goddess,” Luke scoffed. “I am a Black Bear with black fur, and he is a Grizzly with brown fur. Black bears climb. Grizzly Bears dig. We… Oh, forget it.” Rolling his eyes, he batted at the air, then looked Cyrus right in the eye and added with a growl, “How about this, how would you like it if I called you a Wyvern?”
“I might punch you in the gut.”
“Then you know how I feel.”
“Point taken.”
“Good.” In the blink of an eye, the Black Bear was back to his jovial self.
All six-foot-eight inches of brawny muscle that Cyrus figured might just rival his own if it came right down to it was as relaxed as it had been two minutes before, and the guy was smiling yet another knowing smile. “Now, back to what I was saying.”
“About the whole smell thing?”
“Yeah, that.” Luke nodded as he leaned his backside against what was left of the trunk of a spruce tree and pulled two sticks of beef jerky out of the inside pocket of his jacket.
Taking the offering, Cyrus listened intently as the Black Bear went on while wondering how long he could let the gag continue without totally pissing off his new friend.
“About two more seconds, if I know Bears,” the Dragon King snarled. “Which I do.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” The Guardsman offhandedly replied. “Luke’s a good guy. He’ll be fine.”
“I can’t believe nobody ever told you that when you meet your One True Fated Mate, you will give off a scent,” Luke continued to explain.
“No, I can honestly say that that bit of information never came to light.”
“Well, for us Black Bears, and I assume for y’all Dragons as well, it is a sign to all other women that you have met the woman made for you by the Universe, and they need not bother trying to woo you.”
“Woo me, huh?” Cyrus chuckled. Unwrapping his beef jerky, he asked, “And you’re saying that my scent only changed when you mentioned Vanessa’s name?”
“Yeah, but…” Stopping with the end of the stick of jerky at his lips, Luke narrowed his eyes and mumbled, “Come to think of it, what I smelled was spicier, kinda like the peppers Amethyst puts in her chili.” Waving the beef jerky around like a wand, he wondered, “Were you worried? That’s danged sure what it smelled like. You were worried, weren’t ya’?”
“Tell him the truth, Lad,” Dom growled. “Or I will.”
“To tell you the truth, Luke, I…”
“Put me down, you mangy fuckin’ mutt!” Vanessa's furious roar cut through the howling wind right before the coppery scent of her blood damn near smacked Cyrus in the face.
Turning so quickly not only the landscape around him, but also the mammoth Black Bear Shifter was little more than a blur, the Guardsman took off running at top speed. “You got her location?” He shot from his mind to King Domnhall’s.
“I do,” the Dragon answered. “But she’s on the move at a high rate of speed.”
“Then you better…”
“Already on it.”
Feeling the pure white Magic of the Seamrag Chapaill Dragons, Domnhall had been the Ruler of for centuries, Cyrus let the King guide his feet and gave over to the breakneck speed they were traveling.
Following the glittering bond he shared with Vanessa, his heart skipped a beat as the brilliant glow that had shone from the moment they met slowly dimmed with every step he took on the frozen ground.
“What the fuck? How is that…?”
“Possible?” Dom finished his thought before answering, “Feels like Voodoo.”
“Voodoo? Here? In Appal…?”
“STOP!” Luke roared a split second before he came to a screeching halt right in front of Cyrus.
“Get the hell…”
But that was as far as the Guardsman got before a great bolt of lightning hit the ground not six feet from the toe of his boot.
Pushing against Luke’s hands, where they held onto his shoulders, Cyrus was just about to take off again when a chasm nearly half a mile wide and at least that deep swallowed up the part of the mountain they needed to travel to get to Dead Man’s Cave.
Before he could ask how the Black Bear knew what was about to happen, a victorious howl of a Rogue Red Wolf, who Cyrus was sure was dead and gone, echoed from the very tip of Mt. Serenity. Faking to the left, he spun to the right and made it exactly one step forward before Luke blocked the path.
Glaring, a look the Guardsman hadn’t thought possible for the well-natured Black Bear, Luke growled, “You have to the count of three to tell me what the fuck is going on before I toss you over my shoulder and take you back to face Tamsyn. You’re hidin’ somethin’, and you’re gonna tell me right now. ”