He couldn't put it off any longer, no matter how badly he wanted to. He lowered Emmy to the ground before he pushed away from her by a few feet. He flapped his wings slowly and hovered in place for a few short moments before touching down on the ground himself.
What happened next made him question his sanity. A volley of laughter filled the air around him. He had to turn to look directly at Emmy. Surely, the noise couldn't have been coming from her. Could it have been?
One glance in her direction proved that she was the one who was indeed laughing. Shifting back to his human form, he didn't know what to make of her amusement. It was the oddest damn thing. Had he broken her? Not only her mind but her spirit as well? Was that why she was resorting to laughter in such a perilous time? They had literally almost died in a plane crash. She had just found out that he was a freaking dragon, like an actual damn dragon. And she was laughing. Kingston wasn't a rocket scientist or anything, but he was pretty certain her laughter wasn't a good thing.
“Emmy, babe. Are you okay? Talk to me. Say something, please,” he begged, slowly walking toward her with his hands by his side. He wanted to show her, more than anything, that he wasn't a threat. That she was safe around him. That he would never, ever hurt her.
Her laughter continued, tears streaming down her face, gasps of air whooshing into her lungs. Sweet Jesus, Kingston was beside himself. He had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do in this situation. Her reaction definitely wasn't one he had expected or anticipated.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That was incredible!” she squeaked out in between laughs.
He squinted his eyes and looked at her again. As if squinting his eyes would actually make him hear her better. When she continued to laugh, he looked at her as if she had grown a second head or turned into a dragon herself.
“Emmy, babe, are you okay?” he asked again.
“Are you kidding? I'm fucking fabulous. That was incredible. I can't wait to do it again!” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Did you hit your head jumping out of the plane, or did I accidentally smack your head off of a low-hanging branch when we were flying?” His woman had truly lost her mind as far as he was concerned.
“Not at all! That was by far the best thing ever. I wasn't joking when I said I wanted to do it again. Well, maybe not the whole plane crash part, but hell, yes to the flying part.”
“You can't be serious! Aren't you terrified that I turned into a big, scaly dragon? Doesn't that frighten you at all? Don't I frighten you?” he asked.
“Not really, no. I mean, I probably should be afraid, but I'm not. While you are the first dragon I’ve met, you certainly aren't the first shifter I’ve known. One of my very best friends, Gerri, is a wolf shifter. Besides, you've saved my life three times in the last three days. Why should I be afraid of you? If you wanted to hurt me, you would have never saved me, to begin with,” she said.
“You said you have a friend named Gerri?” he asked with a healthy dose of skepticism. She couldn't possibly be talking about Gerri Wilder, could she? That would be far too much of a coincidence for his liking.
“I do. I've known her for years,” Emmy confirmed.
“Gerri Wilder?” he asked.
“The one and only,” she said with a smile.
“Did she send you here? To find me?” He couldn't help but ask. The question flew from his mouth before he had a chance to stop it. She had already told him that this trip was supposed to be her honeymoon trip, that she had canceled the wedding because her ex had cheated on her with her best friend. God, he really hoped she wasn't lying to him about everything.
“I'm about to start laughing again. I already told you why I'm here. Gerri didn't send me anywhere, nor did she send me to find you. However, she did encourage me to go on this trip because I had already paid for it, and she knew it was my dream vacation. Honeymoon or not. She knows me well enough to know that I would have regretted not only wasting twenty thousand dollars but also the adventure of a lifetime. She never once mentioned you or any other guy for that matter. How do you know Gerri?” she asked.
“She's the one who set up my brother with Malia. And she called me the day you arrived to tell me that my mate was on the island.”
“What!” Emmy gasped. “She didn’t mean me, did she?”
“What do you think?“ Kingston asked.
“No!”
Now, she finally had the sense to look just as shocked as he felt.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
“You did the right thing by coming to me, uncle,” Archer said as he paced back and forth across the clearing. “I heard the summons from Kingston, but I chose to ignore him. I will not go back to a time when we are ruled by an asinine king. I don't give a fuck if he found his mate or not.”
Agazon had been furious since the moment Kingston had summoned the Dragos. Most of the clan was ecstatic that Kingston had found his mate, his queen, their queen. But not Agazon. He knew without a doubt that Archer would be on his side. Neither of them had ever gotten along with Kingston, and they sure as hell had no intention of being ruled by him. Even if he had found his queen and would ascend to the throne. That little shit would not be their king.
“We must find a way to stop this, uncle.” Archer turned on his heel to face Agazon.
“You think I don’t fucking know that. I have a plan, nephew. One that I’ve already set into motion. Kingston will have a few hard decisions to make today. He will either let his little queen die or risk exposing what he is to her prematurely and lose her anyway.”
Agazon smiled at Archer, clearly proud of his plan. He had a few people who would do anything for him, and that included keeping an eye on their big brother. So, when he learned about Kingston’s plan to take the plane out for the day, he had a chance to make sure everything would go to hell. It was his way of trying to stop the covenant by fair means or foul. It didn't matter one way or the other to him. As long as his nephew didn't ascend to the throne. That was all he cared about.