Saving Her Dragon (The Dragons’ Fate #2)

1. Almost Home

Almost Home

“Wow…” he sighed.

“Yeah,” she smiled with a slow nod of her head. “That Texas sun doesn't just shine, does it?”

“Nope,” Grey chuckled. “It claims the whole damn sky.”

And it did… But the Guardsman had to wonder…

Was it the way the dew glittered and shone like diamonds on the endless stretches of green pasture? Or the way the white-fenced borders of the Heatherton Homestead gleamed so white and so bright that it looked like they were made of ivory?

Grin widening, he pointed out the windshield, “Look over there, Star.”

“Oh, wow,” she breathed. “The petals on all those flowers look like they’re reaching for the sun. It’s just so Magical.”

“And alive,” Grey added.

It was everything he’d ever been told about South Texas… And so much more. Hell, even the bees and dragonflies danced in the morning breeze as the melody of morning birds filled the air.

“It just looks so peaceful,” Star mused. “It looks like a good place to recuperate, doesn’t it?”

Reaching across the console, Grey wrapped his hand around his Mate’s and lifted it to his lips. Placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles, he nodded. “Sure does. It’s just as beautiful as Carrick said it was.”

“It seems like the Elder is slowing down… Taking time to smell the roses, so to speak,” Darwin, the Dragon King with whom he shared his soul, chuckled mischievously. “It must be love.”

“Well, the Universe doesn’t make mistakes,” Star answered aloud.

Snickering at the banter between his Dragon King and his Mate, Grey Acheson looked from one side of the long, winding driveway to the other. Shaking his head, he sighed happily, “This just screams peace and serenity, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does.” Star squeezed his hand. “The war for Garrett and his Dragon King is finally over, and I can just feel it in my bones. This is the right place for him to heal and get to know his Mate.” Giving his hand a loving squeeze, she beamed, “Can you believe it? You’re about to have your brother back. ”

Gripping the steering wheel of the SUV with his free hand, another, much bigger grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. Could it be? Was it really over? It damned sure felt like it, and Grey could not have been happier.

Even better, he wasn't nervous to see Garrett.

Not even a little bit. He was filled with pure, unfiltered excitement.

He was about to see his little brother; the man the entire Dragon Guard had spent so much time mourning, believing him lost to them, and then so long praying he would wake from that nasty coma.

“Well, the prayers sure worked, but of course, Garrett is an Acheson, so he couldn’t do anything the easy way.

” The bounce of her shoulders betrayed her just-barely contained laughter.

“Instead of just staying where he was, resting and getting better, your little brother got up and walked right out of the Clinic without being seen.” Shaking her head, the laughter coming to an end, she added, “As if that wasn’t enough, the poor guy ran right into another of Leviathan’s traps and ended up getting tortured all over again. ”

“When you’re right, Mo ghràdh, you’re… Hey!” Grey yelled, pretending to be irritated. “Were you reading my mind?”

“Oh, darlin’…” Batting her eyes, Star leaned over the console and cuddled up next to him as best she could. Giving him a quick peck on the cheek, she winked. “I am always readin’ your mind, just like you are always readin’ mine.”

“Ha!” Grey barked with laughter. “Guess ya’ got me there.”

“I wonder if Garrett remembers how or why he woke up from that horrible sorcerous coma,” Star asked. After she shifted back into her seat, Grey could feel her studying the side of his face. “Did he or Sydney say anything about that?”

“They did not.”

“Did Syd say anything about where she’s been for the last thirteen years?”

“She did not,” Grey repeated. “But she might not be able to tell us everything.” A quick slide of his eyes, a shrug, and he went on, “After all, she left with the First Elder, and that usually means ‘above my pay grade’.”

“Yeah, right,” Star playfully scoffed. “Like anything is ‘above your pay grade’.” With a playful pat on his shoulder, she kept right on going, “You know what I really wanna know?”

“Yep, but you’re gonna tell me anyway,” Grey snickered.

“You know me so well,” Star proudly confirmed with a nod. “What I wanna know is how she was born of two humans but is the Special One and also shares her soul with one of the original Dragon Queens. You think she can tell me that?”

Shrugging, Grey gave her a quick look and smile and said, “I have no clue.”

“Well, I’m gonna ask.”

“I think you said something about that a time or two.” Unable to hide his laughter, Grey pretended to cough into his hand.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Star rolled her eyes then chuckled. “You know how I get when a question pops into my head.”

“You just have to find the answer?”

“Yep! I just have to find the answer.”

Laughing right along with his Mate, Grey still couldn’t believe all his blessings.

His Mate was nothing short of miraculous.

He was about to see Garrett for the first time in what seemed like forever.

He was going to introduce Star to his brother and get to meet the one and only Sydney Kavanaugh, the woman the Universe made for his brother.

Glancing out at the sprawling property, the Guardsman let out a soft chuckle. “Ya’ know what?”

“No, tell me.”

“I’ve imagined this reunion a thousand different ways.” Scratching the stubble that was always on his jawline no matter how many times a day he shaved, Grey’s smile widened. “And most of them involved dark alleyways, hidden sanctuaries, or dramatic midnight rescues.”

“Oh, you thought you were gonna be the new James Bond?” Star laughed out loud. “I get to tell everyone that I am married to Double-0-7?”

“No, you gorgeous goofball,” Grey snickered. “I just meant that after I got over being scared shitless when Garrett walked out of the Clinic, and no one could find him, I was sure he was on a mission.”

“Oh, I get it.” Star nodded. “You thought you would be two Guardsmen on the same mission but coming at it from opposite directions?”

“That about sums it up.” Smiling wider still, he added, “Of all the ways I thought I would find my brother, none of them, absolutely not a single one, included getting GPS directions to the home of Carrick and his Mate, in Texas of all things.”

Grey felt Star shift in her seat and let go when she gently slid her hand from his.

But when she pretended to play with something on her phone, he knew something was up.

On more than one occasion, he had listened to his lovely She-Wolf go into explicit detail about the overuse of cell phones, iPads, and the like.

She thought people were too dependent on them and wasted too much time indoors on devices rather than being out and enjoying the world.

“And don’t forget the time she came home from shopping madder than a wet hen,” Darwin chimed in, using their unique and private link to be sure Star couldn’t hear them.

It wasn’t that they were keeping secrets.

It was more that the Dragon King was attempting to counsel the Guardsman.

No, he had never had a Mate before either, but he had been around more than his share of Mated couples and had seen first-hand how to maneuver tricky marital situations in the best possible way.

“Oh, yeah,” Grey mentally breathed. “Our Star was seriously pissed off at the woman in front of her in the checkout line. She came busting into the house, talking as soon as she opened the door, telling us how this utterly rude lady took twice as long as necessary to load her groceries onto the checkout stand because she was on the phone.”

“Not to mention, the woman was talking loud enough for everyone to hear about her date from the night before.”

“In explicit detail.” The Guardsman and the Dragon King chuckled. Then Grey went on, “It must have been seriously racy because our girl wouldn’t tell us everything that was said.”

“Very true.”

“But that’s neither here nor there. The fact that Star is scrolling through an app tells me that something big is up, and she’s trying to figure out how to talk to me about it.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”

“I don’t get it,” Grey huffed. “It is so unlike her not to just come out with whatever she wants to say.”

“Yes, that is true.”

“And I know she can feel the joy about to bubble out of me.”

“She can,” the Dragon King reassured. “And she is incredibly happy for you– for both of you.” Clearing his throat, something that said his answer was going to be long and a bit of a production, Darwin kept going, “But Star carries her own history. You know better than I that she sees peace as a fragile thing. Something she has to protect, while waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“You are so right,” Grey jumped in when Darwin paused. “She really is a ‘see it to believe it’ kind of girl.”

“Absolutely,” the Dragon King agreed. “And even then, she is always looking over her shoulder. Look at her.”

Grey did just that, and sure enough, Star was no longer looking at her phone. Rather, she was scanning the horizon as if looking for impending trouble.

Flashing her hazel eyes his way, she teased, a smile breaking through her reserve.

"You do know that you're radiating enough positive energy to power a small city, right?

" When he nodded, she added with a snicker, "Try to breathe, Grey. I don’t want your brother mad at me because you passed out before we even got to the front door. "

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I can't help it," Grey admitted, glancing over at her. "I just keep thinking about how much I have to catch him up on. All those years, then to find him in an old pumphouse at the back of your Pack’s land, only to lose him again.”

“And it doesn’t help that all you knew before today was the brutal baseline: Garrett had been rescued from Leviathan, the Demon Lord of Envy. Come as soon as you want.”