Chapter 3
She is our mate! Ours! This beautiful woman is our mate!
The dragon’s mighty roar was still reverberating through Caleb’s head as he forced himself to let the woman he’d just caught go, despite his dragon and all the instincts he possessed screaming at him to pick her up and never let her go again.
He gazed down at her. Her hazel eyes were flecked with green, and her long dark hair, pin-straight, was pulled back into a sensible ponytail – but the plain style just emphasized her fine features. She had a strong chin, high cheekbones, and freckles dotted their way adorably over the ridge of her nose. She was utterly beautiful, and she was his mate.
He’d felt the power of the mated bond wash over him from the second he’d touched her. He genuinely had only intended to stop her from falling – his quick dragon instincts and speed had kicked in before he could think, and the next thing he knew his dragon was bellowing at him that this was his mate, that they’d found her at last, and he needed to toss her over his shoulder and fly her back to his lair immediately.
We don’t have a lair, we have a condo,Caleb told it desperately, trying to assert some normalcy into the situation. Not for one second had he ever expected this. He’d kind of assumed that his bad luck curse would prevent him from ever finding his mate – which was just one more reason he’d been desperate to break it. In his wildest dreams he hadn’t thought she’d simply come tumbling right into his arms – quite literally, as it turned out.
“Um? Hello? I said you can put me down now.”
It came to Caleb suddenly that his mate had been speaking to him, and he hadn’t been paying attention. He hadn’t been able to hear anything over the sudden rush of blood in his ears, and his dragon’s various roarings and thunderings.
“Oh – right. I’m sorry. Here you go.”
With some reluctance on his dragon’s part, Caleb forced himself to unwind his arms from around the woman’s shoulders. She blinked at him, her cheeks flushed – but whether that was because she too could sense their bond or whether it was because she was angry, Caleb couldn’t tell.
She’s not a shifter,he realized after a moment – she felt fully human to him. So she probably didn’t know anything about dragons or mated bonds or anything like that. So I guess she’s just mad then.
And, Caleb had to admit, that was probably fair enough. He had ignored the warning signs on the gate. But even if these trails were dangerous to humans, he as a dragon probably wouldn’t have had much trouble with them. But still, he’d known he was doing the wrong thing – he’d just thought he wouldn’t get caught, and the desire to get started on his hunt for whatever this golden artifact was had overridden his good sense.
Better start by apologizing, then.
He’d gotten off on the wrong foot with his mate, and they’d barely even said a word to each other!
Yes, bow down and make it clear just how remorseful you are for your transgressions!his dragon insisted – something that Caleb was determined to ignore. He wanted his mate to know he was sorry, not think he was some kind of weirdo.
“I’m sorry,” he said, hoping his voice sounded normal, as he fought off the dragon’s urge to make a grand gesture of prostrating himself. “I know these paths are –”
“You’re damn right they are!” the woman burst out. “You knew that already though, of course – just like you people are the reason they’re half-trampled in the first place!”
Caleb blinked. You people…?
Had someone else already come through here, maybe searching for the artifact? His dragon’s desire to hoard things told him that could be the only possible explanation, but Caleb wasn’t so sure.
“I’m sorry – I really don’t know what you mean,” he said truthfully. “I just… uh, I just had a hike planned, and I didn’t realize the tracks would be closed. Since I only have a small amount of time, I didn’t want to turn back.”
The lie by omission sent a searing lance of guilt through Caleb’s chest. He supposed that was part and parcel of the mated bond, though – lying to your mate was out of the question, even a little lie like this. But he couldn’t tell her the real reason he was here right now – she really would think he was a complete weirdo.
As it was, she was already eyeing him somewhat suspiciously.
“You’re just a hiker? You’re not here trying to sneakily survey the land?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“Um. No. I can honestly say I’m not here to do anything like that.” Caleb held up his hands. “And truly, I’m sorry. I know it was irresponsible of me. It’s just such a beautiful place, I couldn’t resist.”
Thatat least he didn’t have to lie about. The forest here truly was beautiful – the deep green cedars and the fall leaves of the smaller trees, the bright, clear blue sky, the mountains rising in the distance. Caleb had been a city dragon all his life, but he was starting to see why so many dragons still chose to stay in their ancestral homes in the mountains, refusing to join the modern world. The natural beauty of places like this simply couldn’t be denied.
I’d love to shift and unfurl my wings in a place like this,Caleb thought. He’d been tempted to do something like that this morning, even though he knew it wasn’t really possible so close to a human town. One hiker he hadn’t noticed, and bam – he’d be all over every conspiracy theory website in the country. Which wasn’t a huge problem, as such, since most humans would just assume it was a hoax. But it was so embarrassing – having to go back home and look like the latest idiot who hadn’t been careful enough while shifting. It had happened to his cousin Roland once, and he hadn’t lived it down for years.
Interestingly enough, as he spoke of the beauty of the place, Caleb noticed the woman’s face softening. He could tell by her uniform that she was a park ranger, so he supposed it made sense that she’d love this place – and he really couldn’t fault her for yelling at him, she’d only been doing her job.
“It is beautiful,” she said, her voice softer, before she bit her lip, residual suspicion crossing her face. “And… you’re really not from Tongle & Heit Developments?”
“Huh. No, I can definitely say I’m not,” Caleb said, shaking his head. Hearing those names was something he definitely hadn’t expected. Tongle & Heit were one of the largest dragon-owned corporations in the world, created when two already powerful dragon clans had merged. They were known to be rapacious and ruthless – but then, that was simply their dragon natures. Getting between a dragon and something it wanted for its hoard was always a bad idea, and not all dragons had seen a reason to temper those instincts, even if they otherwise had joined the modern world of humans.
But why on earth have Tongle & Heit Developments been sniffing around here, of all places?Caleb wondered.