His wings ceased beating. He couldn’t breathe. There was only that sudden, absolutely overwhelming need to go back, to return—to find his mate.
I can’t, he thought in shock as his entire body shuddered in the air. I can’t, the attack on Sky Home...
But the invisible hand didn’t release its hold on him. It hurt now to move forward, away from his home. It felt like there was a hook piercing his heart, pulling him backwards towards his mate.
He ceased struggling against the sensation. Through the sudden pain and shock, now a new feeling began to trickle in.
Panic.
He knew the emotion well. A wave of fear threatened to crash over him, flooding all of his senses.
But it wasn’t Gregory who was afraid.
With another roar, the powerful body of the dragon turned right there in the air, lightning crackling all along the glistening silver scales. Once more the storm began to rage, angry currents of air carrying him rapidly through the sky.
Gregory was no longer moving forward. The storm dragon was now swiftly making his way back to where he’d come from, heading back home carried by an ever increasing storm cloud. Gregory couldn’t think, he could only beat his wings and move as fast as he could, flying faster than he’d ever flown before.
Because the panic wasn’t his own. He could feel it clearly now, even through the distance: a trickle of emotion reaching him through the mate bond that had begun to form.
It was his mate’s fear he was feeling. And that was a call he couldn’t leave unanswered.
He needed to protect his mate, regardless of his vows to the council. Naomi was the only thing that counted now.
Chapter Thirteen: Naomi
Ginny arrived right on time—still as mysteriously silent as before, but with a warm smile that made Naomi feel completely at ease as she followed her on one of the twisting gravel paths that led through the mansion’s garden.
She’d explored the garden before with Gregory—or at least she’d thought that they’d explored it. Ginny quickly proved her wrong. Within minutes, they were lost in a maze of flowerbeds she hadn’t seen before.
“This is amazing,” Naomi breathed as she turned around.
There were colors all around her. It was as if she was afloat in an ocean of blossoms: red, pink, orange, yellow and a thousand hues in between. Naomi didn’t know much about roses, except that they were beautiful, and that the store-bought ones her ex always brought along when he was sorry had never smelled much like anything.
But these roses weren’t just beautiful. The air was filled with their scent. It was nearly overpowering—but it wasn’t cloying, like a visit to the perfume counter.
The scent was all around her, but it was light like the wind, riding on the breeze that made the flowers gently shift like a candy-striped ocean. It filled her senses with color and beauty, and as Naomi took a deep breath, she felt a strange, intimate connection to this place.
These flowers had grown in the garden for years. Perhaps these rose bushes had even seen Gregory grow up. Their roots went deep into the earth—and the earth in turn recognized Gregory, her mate, as its protector.
It felt like family, like home. This was the sort of place where people lived who loved their home. This was the sort of place where you could raise children and watch them play outside in the grass until the sun went down.
Gently, Ginny touched her shoulder and nodded towards the path of white gravel.
“There’s more to see?” Naomi asked curiously.
Just how big is this garden?
They walked until they’d left the maze of roses behind. Next, they came to a small meadow lined by hedges. Trees in flower spread their branches over their head, so that they walked in light and shadows dappled gold and a silvery green. The air was sweet here as well. Naomi didn’t recognize all of the trees—but she knew the gorgeous, heavy clumps of blue flowers spreading above a bench, which was sitting in an alcove formed by a trimmed hedge.
“Wisteria!” she exclaimed and reached out to touch the flowers.
Ginny nodded, looking pleased.
“This is incredible. Who cares for all these flowers?” Naomi asked.
Ginny’s smile widened. “Gardeners,” she murmured. “It’s a good job. Dragons pay well.”
“All of them?” Naomi asked, thinking with a shudder of the terrible fire dragon.