Chapter 4 #3
She glanced at Cam, his pupils flashing again, and just the thought of having to return to Cardiff and live among the humans again made her heart heavy.
She loved being near dragon-shifters. Not just to study them, but she’d always wanted to help them, both with science and improving their relations with humans, too.
And to do that, there was only one path forward.
So she faced Antony and said, “I don’t really have a choice, so yes, I’ll stay here and pretend to be interested in Cam as a mate. However, once I finish my research here, we need to talk about my future again.”
“Done.” He stood, waited for Iris, and then added, “Now that you’ve agreed to stay, the sooner we talk to our operatives in the area and set things in motion, the better. We’ll be in touch again soon.”
Before she could ask anything else, the pair left.
Euan sighed. “Sometimes I like the male, and other times, his dramatics annoy me.”
Cam offered his hand to help her up. Emily took it, and once she was on her feet again, he said, “I’ll tell my parents and brother what’s going on whilst you pack up. I’ll make dinner and then we can talk and set the rules.”
“You can cook?”
“My mum says everyone should know how to cook.”
“Er, I’m not great at it, to be honest. Mainly because sometimes I eat supper at 7 p.m. and other times, it’s 1 a.m. Schedules are hard for me to follow. Once I find a new avenue or formula or idea, I often lose track of time.”
“Aye, so you said. But in the army I learned to sleep whenever I could, and even if I’m woken up, I can fall right back asleep within a minute or two.”
She sighed. “I wish I could do that. However, half the time my brain doesn’t want to stop.”
Emily wondered why she’d shared that tidbit. It wasn’t as if he truly cared about how hard it was for her to fall asleep.
And yet, his pupils flashed rapidly. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what his dragon was saying when Euan spoke up.
“Aye, well, before the pair of you leave and start making plans, just remember that this ruse is between me, you two, and Cam’s immediate family.
We can’t tell anyone else, just in case they mention something to a human in the area who might be working with the dragon hunters. ”
It dawned on Emily what that truly meant. “I can’t tell my friends back on Stonefire.”
“I’m afraid not, lass. If you want to tell them about living with Cam and how you’re thinking about becoming his mate, you have to live as if that’s the truth. But that might be harder to do than just not sharing about living with Cam for now.”
Which meant that she, the woman who’d pined for years for the wrong dragonman and had very little experience with dating, would have to muddle along on her own.
But it wasn’t as if they were really going to be mates. She’d just have to write longer journal entries to air out her frustrations instead of venting to another person.
Cam touched her arm, and she jumped. He said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just still taking everything in.”
“I know. But I just wanted to say you can always talk to my mum, if you really need to, about all of this. Aye, I’m her son, but she’ll want to help you in any way that she can.”
Probably because Mary wanted Cam mated and hoped that this would turn out like some book or movie, with a big happy ending.
She nearly snorted. As if that would happen to her.
Euan spoke again, bringing her back to the present. “Once you two leave, I’ll spread the word about how Emily came to Seahaven knowing she needed to try to find a mate. And after this morning, she decided to give Cam a try.”
Emily asked, “But will they believe it?”
Euan shrugged. “Eventually. But leave the clan to me and focus on sorting things out between yourselves. I want Emily moved into Cam’s place before nightfall, aye?
” He paused, and they both murmured yes before he added, “We’ll chat again soon, Emily.
Although if you ever have a problem, no matter how small, come see me.
You’re our guest, and I won’t tolerate anyone being rude to you. ”
Cam grunted. “I won’t allow that.”
Emily’s head started to pound again, and she was desperate to be alone to process everything. So she merely said, “Fine. Now, I need to put a few things away at the surgery and then I’ll gather my belongings from my old lodgings. I’ll see you in a few hours, Cam.”
With that, she exited the room and rubbed her temples. She wished she could talk with Sid—Stonefire’s head doctor—about all of this. The dragonwoman always had good advice, and Emily trusted her completely.
However, she’d been told not to share their ruse, so she wouldn’t.
Focus on what you can do in the present and take it as it comes. Especially since tomorrow you get to start collecting samples.
But first, she had to deal with tonight.
Pushing aside how Cam might already be regretting his agreement, Emily escaped to the sanctuary of her work and office for a few hours, losing herself in the familiar formulas and equations and research notes that made sense to her.