Chapter 7 #2
Mary smiled and patted her hand. “You’ll do, Emily Davies. You’ll do.” She moved her gaze to her sons and signed as she spoke. “Just go ahead and switch, Cam, and don’t let Tor rile you.”
Tor looked smug, but the two exchanged places. As Cam sat down, his thigh brushed Emily’s, sending a tingle of heat up her body.
However, she determinedly kept her gaze anywhere but at Cam. Yes, he was attractive. Most dragon-shifters were. But she had bigger things to focus on while on Seahaven, and she needed to remember that.
Angus grunted, and Emily blinked, almost forgetting that Cam’s father was there. The older dragonman signed and said, “Let’s eat and give Emily a chance to ask some questions. Since she’s been going nonstop since arriving, she probably has a list of them.”
Mary nodded. “Aye, that’s a brilliant idea, love. Tor, pass the potatoes, and Cam, serve Emily some chicken.”
Once everyone had plates full of potatoes, chicken, rolls, and green beans, Cam picked up his fork with his left hand, and she did the same with her right, and they bumped elbows.
For a beat, she froze, her elbow touching his, and then she quickly moved her arm away.
“Now I understand why you were seated across from me. A righty and a lefty eating next to each other can be tricky.”
He switched hands. “I can eat with either one.”
As he switched the fork, she wondered if he’d done that on purpose, to touch her again.
But she quickly pushed it aside as Mary and Angus encouraged her to ask them anything. And so they told her about the nearby villages. Tor recommended some hidden nearby gems to visit, and she even got to ask if she could watch the young dragons practice flying over the sea.
By the time they all finished dessert—some chocolate cake—she was so full she thought she might burst.
Not to mention sleepy. Her schedule hadn’t been exactly calm since arriving.
Mary’s voice garnered her attention. “Cam, take Emily home and tuck her into bed. I fear Seahaven is overworking her.”
She resisted yawning again, tempted to just lay her head on her arms and take a nap.
Normally, she’d protest about being tucked into bed since she was a grown woman. However, the memory of Cam carrying her the night before rushed back, and she rather wanted to feel his arms around her again.
Stop it. You’ve known him for a few days. The sooner you stop reacting or wanting his touch, the better.
Cam spoke up. “I’m running flying drills over the water tomorrow for some of the students. So if you want to watch, then going to bed soon might be best. That way you can work early in the morning and then take a break in the afternoon.”
She was torn because all she wanted to do was craft and test her serums with the new ingredients.
And yet, she’d never seen dragons flying over the sea before. Stonefire was inland, and Lochguard was next to a lake. Skyhunter probably did it sometimes, down south, but she hadn’t spent much time there.
Mary spoke and signed again. “It’s okay to take a wee break from time to time, Emily. If you work too much and force yourself, then you often become less productive in the long run.” She switched her gaze to Cam. “My son never listens, but maybe you can set the example and he’ll follow.”
The last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of some sort of long-running mother-son squabble. “Er, I don’t know.”
Tor jumped in. “It’s the older students he’s teaching, so I’ll be there, too. That way I can show off my dragon to you. He’s a rather impressive green, like a dark emerald.”
Cam narrowed his eyes at his brother, but said nothing, even as his pupils flashed rapidly.
Was she now getting between the brothers? Seeing as she’d never really had a “normal” family, she had no idea.
And yet, as Tor smiled at her, with a little bit of pleading in his eyes, she found she couldn’t resist. After all, she’d always wanted a little brother just like him. “Oh, all right, I’ll come watch. But not for too long. I have a lot of work to do.”
Tor winked. “I’ll go first, and then you can leave anytime afterward.”
As he shared a glance with Cam, Emily sensed there was more to the lesson tomorrow than basic flying drills.
However, she was merely the guest and had no right to demand more information. “That’s fine, then. I’ll get the details from Cam.”
Tor nodded. “Brilliant. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
Cam stood abruptly and then stared at her until Emily slowly rose to her feet.
She was careful not to touch him as she moved away from the table and walked over to Mary.
Before she could realize what was happening, the dragonwoman engulfed her in a hug.
“Thank you for coming to dinner, lass. I’ll check in on you in the next day or two, and we can chat about the mate club meetings.
The scones and cakes alone are worth going for. ”
She awkwardly patted Mary’s back. “Er, okay.”
After releasing her, Mary stepped aside. “Now give me a hug, Cameron. Then you can take Emily home and look after her.”
Not wanting to hear Cam’s reply, Emily said goodbye in BSL before racing out of the room to wait by the door.
Once Emily left the room, Cam signed to his mother, “Stop meddling.”
She lifted her eyebrows and signed back. “What meddling? She’s your charge whilst on Seahaven, aye? So it’s your job to take care of her.”
“That’s not what you were implying.”
She shrugged. “It’s not my fault that you took it that way.”
After narrowing his eyes, he faced Tor and continued, “You’re doing it too.”
“I want to show her my dragon, that’s all. And since you’ll show us the maneuvers first, that means she’ll see your dragon form first. I thought you might like that.”
Most of the time, Cam loved his family. But right now, he was tempted to fly away and live in the wild for a while, just to get some peace.
His dragon spoke up. I’m glad Tor asked because Emily should see us in our dragon form. She should also give us ear scratches. It’s been far too long since we had any.
Not you and ear scratches again.
His beast huffed. It feels good. Not as much as sex, but given how you avoid that, I will take the next best thing. You better ask her to scratch our ears, or else.
Or what?
I will meddle more and find a way to get closer to her. I like Emily, true mate pull or not. And she’s lonely.
Aye, I can tell she is. But that’s not part of our job description. Besides, Mum will introduce her to everyone else.
His dragon sniffed. We’ll talk again after tomorrow.
Then his beast curled up and fell asleep.
Someone touched his arm, and he found his father standing next to him.
Angus Alexander wasn’t a verbose male, so when he spoke his sons listened. His dad said, “She gave up everything to study and help dragon-shifters, lad. Remember that the next time you think she’s like that witch from a decade ago.”
With that, his father took his mum’s hand and tugged her out of the room, leaving Cam alone with Tor. His brother signed, “Take her home, Cam. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After clasping his brother’s shoulder and squeezing it, he left and found Emily staring at a wall full of family pictures. He approached, and she murmured, “You have so much history here.”