“I don’t want to scare you, my beloved, but I did promise to tell you the truth and I must also ask you to trust me to keep you safe. We need to get dressed and meet my brethren. We’ll all return to the clan and make plans to take care of the other hunters in the area.”
She just sat there staring at him, again more emotions than he could decipher making their way across her incredibly expressive face. He’d done the best he could to read her but now he had to depend on her to tell him what she was thinking. Her breathing was slow and deep. He was thankful she was calm, not freaking out, but she wasn’t speaking and that was making him crazy. He’d never longed to hear anything as much as he longed to hear her voice.
Kyndel took a measured breath, “So the dragon tattoo on your back, is he your dragon?”
“Yes and no. The tattoo across my back is the physical representation of the dragon within.” Once again she’d completely taken him off guard. Out of all he’d just told her that was the first question she had for him? His mate was an incredible riddle he would enjoy spending the rest of his life solving. A challenge he couldn’t wait to begin as a mated couple.
“So I did hear noises in the park last night, it wasn’t my imagination?” He heard relief in her question and he sought to give her the confirmation she looked for.
“No, it wasn’t your imagination.”
“These hunters want to kill you and your kind?” This time she sounded almost fierce, like she thought to protect him. He couldn’t have been prouder.
Rayne nodded, “Yes, sweetheart, they do and now you too. You are mine now and after our mating ceremony you’ll also be our kind. They’ll use whatever means necessary to take you from me and I will NOT let that happen.”
“And you and your brethren, I think you called them, you think you can keep us all safe?” He wasn’t sure but it seemed like she was messing with him just a bit.
“Yes, I know we can.”
Again he watched her strength and determination wash away any other doubts she might have had. “Then I guess we better get dressed and get a move on. But you have to promise to answer the rest of my questions when we’re safe.” She paused for just a second, “I’m not so sure I believe all this talk of mates and destiny but if those hunters hurt you that badly, I don’t want to run into them.” She stood wrapping the afghan around her and knotting it in the front, “Don’t you dare think for one moment that self preservation is going to keep me from getting answers to all my questions. I’m going with you but that doesn’t mean I buy everything you just said and I have about a hundred more questions.”
She turned to leave the room and looked back at him over her shoulder, “And no planning any mating ceremonies just yet, bub.” And with that she moved towards the hallway swaying her hips and tempting him until he had to close his eyes to regain his control.
“Yes, mo chroi, I’ll answer any and all of your questions as soon as I know you’re safe and the hunters are no longer a threat,” he called after her, chuckling at her unbreakable will.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She had absolutely no idea why she believed a word out of Rayne’s mouth or why, for that matter, she trusted him at all but the little voice in her head that never steered her wrong said he was telling the truth. At least he confirmed she had heard something in that blasted park last night. She knew with all certainty that he would give his life to protect hers, not that she would let him do that but that did not negate what she felt. He may be some big bad Commander of the Dragon Guard but she was Kyndel Masterson and the Mastersons were a tough bunch through and through even though she was all that was left. Her people knew how to fight when it was necessary and they won, especially when someone they cared about was in danger.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Did she care about him? There was no denying they had shared something extraordinary. Something she had never experienced before. Somehow in the last twelve hours he had wormed his way into her heart. She would just have to help him get rid of those crazy hunter guys and then figure out the rest. What would granny say if she could see her now? She would tell her to get off her butt and get rid of the trouble and that was exactly what she planned to do.
CHAPTER SIX
She knew in retrospect she really should have asked more questions. Hell, maybe she should have gotten off the crazy train and headed back to her old life but for some ungodly reason that was just not a choice she was willing to make. Kyndel was blaming her lack of questions, coupled with the fact that she had basically blindly followed a man she had met less than twenty-four hours ago, on the endorphins created by a whole bunch of the best orgasms she had ever had in her life. An incredible amount of serotonin was the only plausible explanation she could come up with. Kyndel Masterson was not a woman that followed anyone on blind faith. That kind of shit got a person betrayed, hurt or worse -dead! She had learned all about that earlier in her life and she had promised herself never to do it again. With the exception of Grace, she never let anyone get close to her without the third, fourth and fifth degree. She always spent many hours deciding if someone was worth her time and after they had passed all of her tests, only then did she let them into her world. Even then they just got to put their foot in the door. It took years for Kyndel to trust and here she was leaving her home with a man that professed to be a dragon shifter, who the hell does that shit? And if that wasn’t enough, he looked her right in the eye and told her they were mates. Mates? He’d actually said that they were destined to be together.