Chapter 7
Waking up at six-thirty, Serenity decided that she wasn’t going to lie around in bed all day but get up and get going.
Today, she was going to spend some time with Sherman and his cousins.
They were all coming over later to help them move some of the furniture that she’d bought at the auction and then stay for dinner.
Going down to the kitchen, she’d forgotten that it was under construction and tried to stay out of their way.
She only wanted to get some juice from the refrigerator, and they allowed her to do that.
She found Sherman in the new dining room when she went in there to drink it.
“You’re up early. I didn’t expect you to come down until much later.” She said that she’d been lazing about enough. “I don’t know that you’ve been lazing about at all, but just catching up on your sleep. You’ve had a rough few days.”
“I’m going to go in later today. I’ve decided that I can’t spend all day there, and like myself very much.
I want to lash out at her, but I can’t do that.
I did for a while yesterday, but today I’m going to be nice.
As nice as I can be anyway.” She leaned down to kiss him on the mouth and was surprised when he pulled her closer for a longer, hungrier kiss. “That was nice.”
“Thanks, love. I’ve been wanting to do that for days.” She sat down in the chair next to his and played with the drip marks on her glass. “You all right? You seem sort of down today. I’m sorry if I went too far with the kiss.”
“It wasn’t that. I enjoyed that too.” She smiled up at him and shoved her now-empty glass away.
“I’ve been thinking about sex with you. I don’t know that I’m ready right today, but I’m beginning to know that I want to make love with you.
Is that something you can get on board with? I mean, you can say no. I’ve had—”
“Yes, I can get on board with that when you’re ready.
I’d love to claim you as mine.” She was embarrassed now and looked out the window instead of at him.
“I’ve been thinking about a couple of things that we might be able to do that would get us to know one another better.
How about after you visit Beth tomorrow night, you and I go out to dinner?
We can see a movie too if it’s not too late.
Remember the thing I told you about with the family?
We’ll meet them at Ace’s home and have a good night. ”
“I’d love that. Yes, that would be great. I don’t know how much company I’ll be tonight, but I’m going to enjoy myself watching you fly.” She smiled at him again. “I’m sorry that I’ve been so distracted lately. I have a great deal going on.”
“I know that. You do. And as soon as we can, we’ll move on with our lives and try to get some normalization going so that you’re not so stressed all the time.” She nodded, tears filling her eyes. “What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?”
“No. It’s just that I’ve been thinking about you a great deal, and I’m sorry that I’ve been spending hardly any time with you.
I want to spend all my time with you and things…
Beth keeps getting in the way. She’s so mean to me.
” That had her bursting into tears, and he pulled her into his lap while he held her.
“No matter what I say to her, all she can come back with is the fact that she wants to murder me. I don’t even think she knows why now.
Or at least remembers it. She never mentions money.
She only knows that I’ve wronged her in some way and that by killing me will make it right. ”
“I’ve noticed that she’s never mentioned Helen either.
Do you think that she remembers her at all?
The mind is a strange thing, I know. Especially the human mind.
But she seems to be focused on making you pay for whatever injustice she feels like you’ve done to her.
” He held her until she cried herself out.
“I have you, babe. I won’t allow her to hurt you physically anymore.
I don’t know what to do about her mentally abusing you, but I can be there when you need me. ”
“I know that. I have no idea why I know that, but you’ve been my rock since we got her to the hospital the first time.
Now she’s going to be there for a while longer, and it hurts me that I can’t make her feel better.
Or at least feel like she doesn’t have to hurt me.
What did I ever do to her that makes her want to kill me?
” He held her while she cried more. It seemed like all she ever did was cry anymore.
“I need to invest in tissues. I have used a ton of them over the last two and a half weeks.”
He held her while she quieted down. When he moved his arm to adjust her, he realized that she’d cried herself to sleep.
Holding her tightly in his arms, he thought about all the time that they’d been spending together, yet not really.
Just because he was with her when she was with her sister, it didn’t mean that he was getting any quality time with her.
As soon as she looked up at him, he fell more in love with her.
“I love you.” He kissed her in a way of an answer, and she smiled more. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t with me all the time. But I do know that I have to get away from the hospital for a few hours, even if I just stay here where all the construction is going on.”
“That can be arranged. We could go over to Ace’s home, and I could shift for you.
He has that high fence put in so that no one can see him when he shifts.
” She nodded and asked him when they could leave.
“I have to make sure he’s home. Not that he’d care, but I don’t want to be my dragon, and he has someone showing up to talk to. ”
“Yes, that would be bad.” She giggled, and it caught him off guard.
She’d had no reason to laugh of late and thought it felt good that she could laugh today.
She was going to do it more often if he could make her.
“All right. I’m going to change, and then I’m going to go with you.
We’ll have a good morning of it and then take your brother out to lunch.
I have to go to the hospital later, but I feel like I’ll be more prepared when I go there after today. ”
“More than likely, yes.” She stood up, and before she could pull away, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
It wasn’t a light kiss but something akin to a craving.
When he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, she asked him if he was all right.
“I don’t know. All I’ve thought about is having you in my bed and making love to you.
I want to claim you as my own so that everyone knows that I have the best mate in the world of dragons. ”
“That’s so sweet.” She wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled at him. “You make me feel so special, Sherman. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. I know that it would be worse than it is now. Let’s get going.”
It only took them about half an hour to make their way over to Ace’s home. He wasn’t home, but at a breakfast thing, but he’d be home later. He was going to fly with the others tonight, but for now, he was going to show his dragon to her. She’d been asking about it for days.
After he shifted in the grass, she made sure not to get too close to him.
He had warned her that his tail at times had a mind of its own and could hurt her.
She kept an eye on it the entire time she was walking around him, and when she got to his head again, a massive thing, she sat down on the grass in front of him.
“I don’t know why, but I thought you’d be a pretty blue. But you’re a fiery red, aren’t you?” He lay his head down beside her, and she loved that he was careful. “The spikes on your head are bigger than I am. I bet that’s so that you could fight if you had to.”
“Yes. I’m a battle dragon. Unlike my brother, who is blue by the way, he’s a dragon that can fight, but he’s more of a ground sort of fighter.” She reached up and touched one of the spikes on his forehead. “Careful now. You’ll cut yourself badly if you’re not careful.”
“I did cut myself, but it’s only a small scratch. It’s my fault.” She licked the blood clean of her finger and felt something roll over her. “I think I got a bit of magic from the cut. Is that possible?”
“With humans, it’s hard to say what you’re going to get from me.
” He moved his clawed hand toward her and, using his great teeth, he bit down on one of his fingers.
“Here is my blood. I don’t know what it will do to you, but I do know that it will make you stronger.
Just lick it clean, and we’ll see what kind of magic you can get from me. ”
She did just as he asked and had to lie down; it was so powerful.
Serenity didn’t move for a while but did tell Sherman that she was all right.
Just a little dizzy. He licked the wound on his hand closed and put his claws underneath him so that she couldn’t get hurt again. She was all for that, she told him.
“I feel better. Just a little bit dizzy.” He said that his blood was powerful, especially as a dragon. “I would guess. I mean, I know that as a dragon you’re not that much older than me, maybe thirty years, but you’ve been a dragon all your life.”
“I haven’t. I mean, I’ve been a dragon, but I’ve only been able to shift into a dragon since about six months ago.
Both Ace and I were born without the ability to shift into dragons.
Something about our parents not being full-blooded.
” He settled himself more, and she felt the ground move beneath her.
“The lady Earth decided that she was going to give us a great gift for helping her with the faeries. The gift was for all of the Savage family to be able to shift and their mates as well. You should see the other women shift and try to fly. They’re getting better at it, but they’re having the best time. It was a great gift to us all.”