Making her way back to the front of the beast, she likened his scales to hand blown glass, but the longer she touched them, the more she could feel their incredible strength. Placing one hand next to the other, she massaged under his jaw, feeling how much softer and thinner the scales were there.
Charlie walked all the way around his head, making her way to his hindquarter and back paw. She laughed aloud when faced with the huge appendage, before teasing, “I could fit between your toes.”
“Just be careful of the nails, mo ghra’.”
As she rounded his rear end and came to his tail, she was reminded that these creatures had been created to defend. At the end of his really long tail was a huge triangular shaped spade with what she could only think to call tail-spikes covering the entire surface. One swipe and Charlie was sure anything and everything in its path would be completely destroyed.
She walked back to his head, kissed what she guessed was his cheek, and stepped back. Magic filled the air and once again, Aaron stood before her. She noticed a brand, the shape of a flame with fairy wings on either side, at the exact spot where his neck touched his shoulder. Reaching out, she touched the mark and then looked up. Grinning he said, “Yours matches.”
Her fingers flew to her neck as she remembered the stinging sensation during their kiss. “Well, at least we’re a pair.”
“That we are,” he agreed, grabbing first his clothes and then her hand before moving her under a large oak tree where a small blanket was expertly placed with an oblong silver box laying in the center.
Throwing his clothes on the blanket, he pointed to the box and said, “For you, mo chroi.”
“Dammit, Aaron, I didn’t get you anything,” she scolded with her hands on her hips.
“Oh yes, you did. You gave me…you.”
Faster than she could track, Aaron moved to the blanket, picked up the box, and returned to standing before her with her present in hand. Charlie opened the box to find a gorgeous charm bracelet. As she picked it up, she heard the tinkle of little bells and realized that each glittering silver charm was a bell, and in between the bells were teardrops of Alexandrite that exactly matched her ring.
“The bells are made from my dragon’s scales that I have shed since meeting you.”
His smile grew as he fastened the bracelet around her wrist. She couldn’t help but give it a little shake, just to hear the tiny bells ring. Before she was able to utter a word, his lips were on hers. Aaron kissed her long and deep, making sure there were no doubts about to whom she belonged.
Pulling back to catch her breath, Charlie asked, “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
Taking her left hand in his, he raised it to his lips, slowly turning it over until she could feel his breath on her pulse. He held her gaze with his own and laid his lips against her wrist. After several long seconds, she heard his voice in her mind. “Every time a dragon kisses his mate, a bell rings. And I plan to make these little guys sing. ”
Hugging him as tight as she could and willing herself not to cry and mess up her makeup, Charlie spoke through their bond, “Thank you so very much for everything. I love you to the moon and back.”
“To the moon and back, huh? I might just take you up on that.”
EPILOGUE
He could hear them coming. Smell the musk of wet cat. Hear their footsteps sloshing through the puddles he knew were from last night’s thunderstorms. There was no way the misdirects and traps he’d worked so hard to set could’ve withstood the torrential downpour. He would have no choice….he would have to fight.
His leg was infected; there was no doubt about it. He was suffering with the first fever of his life, complete with hallucinations. At first, he’d been sure he was dead and by some miracle, in the Heavens with his mother. He could hear her sweet voice and feel her hands upon his face. It had been a dream come true.
Andrew had tried to apologize. Tried to explain how he’d only played the hand Fate had dealt him, but she would hear none of it. As fair and unbiased as she’d always been, Margarite O’Brien had told him he would need to beg forgiveness from his brothers and their brethren. She’d told him that they owed him a debt as well, but that he’d gone too far and only his brother’s forgiveness, combined with favor from the great Universe and Fate, could absolve him of the atrocities he’d committed against his own kin.
He’d known she was right but had still sought to plead his case. Somewhere in the middle of his defense, the mother whose death he still grieved morphed into a beautiful young woman with deep brown eyes and hair the color of melted chocolate. Her voice had called to not only him, but also his dragon. For the first time since reemergence, the beast was behaving as Andrew remembered. Gone was the inner turmoil and fighting to return to the clan. It was as if just the vision of the girl was enough to bring his dragon to heel.
The buzz of mindspeak woke the traitor from his delusion. The Dragon Guard was approaching. They’d been searching the mountain for nearly an hour. He knew he was truly trapped, but he would not cower in the corner like a mouse. No, he was Andrew O’Brien of the mighty Silver Dragons, son of Michael O’Brien II and most of all, the Special One. His last day on earth would not be spent sniveling and begging for his life. He would fight.
Andrew positioned himself in the longest and most desolate of all the caverns in the cave he presently called home. Its odd shape had afforded him the opportunity to set two traps. There was no doubt in his mind that the werepanthers would sense at least one of them and alert the others, but the time it would take them to dismantle it would give him time to stand and prepare.
His leg throbbed from just the thought of moving it. The stench of infection filled the small space he’d wedged himself into to await their attack. Andrew figured it was better to die in battle than to wither away from a slow agonizing descent into insanity.
He mourned that he’d not completed his mission. The dragons would live on. The Dragon Guard would live on. He had never gotten to the use the one spell he was sure would exterminate them all. His brothers, the rotten cowards, would live on. He knew they had made excuses, especially Aidan, for his capture and torture. Hell, the bastard had even tried to apologize to him. Wanted forgiveness for the hell Andrew had been forced to endure because of his cowardice. Even his pretty little mate had tried to plead the bastard’s case.
Pain shot through his entire body. He shook with chills. Cold sweat soaked his filthy clothes. He prayed to the Heavens and to Hell that someone…anyone but his brothers, would end his pain. There’d been another time he’d prayed the same words and just like today, he’d been ignored.
Footsteps echoed through the cavern. He could sense his brothers. His dragon chuffed with the need to reunite with its clan mates. Andrew ignored the beast, knowing it was only a matter of minutes before he would die and the dragon’s soul would be released into the Heavens to find another worthy Guardsman waiting to be born. It was he, the man, which would die the forever death. His brothers would strike true. He had no doubt they each carried silver blades to ensure his death. It would be a welcome reprieve from all his years of suffering.
A rock skittered past the opening of his hidey-hole. Knowing they would be able to pinpoint his location, but wanting the end to come, Andrew reached out with his enhanced senses. The panthers were leading the charge with Aidan, Aaron, and Rian right behind them. They’d taken no chances. Max Prentisse and his Pride, The Blue Thunder Clan, and if he wasn’t mistaken, even Kyra, were all in attendance.
His chuckled to himself, thinking how infamous he’d become. The Golden Fire Force lead by Rayne MacLendon was known worldwide as the best and most fierce Force of all dragon kin. That the great Commander had called in reinforcements spoke highly of Andrew’s threat to them all. It was a shame he hadn’t been able to make them pay for what they’d done to him, but Fate would not be denied. Those spineless bastards would get what they had coming to them. He knew somehow they would pay, not by his hand, but they would pay.
When he heard the rattle of the trap he’d set, Andrew pulled himself from his hiding place, picked up his katana and stood at the ready. Pushing back the pain and delirium, he remembered the lessons his father and brothers had taught him. He would give his attackers a fight worthy of the O’Brien name, even if he were sure he’d been disowned.
Shadows shown long around the corner. The Guardsmen had taken over the lead from the panthers. He could still sense the panthers but knew they would stay behind to catch him if by some chance he eluded the dragons. There was no doubt he would die today, all that was left to be seen was how many of them he would take with him.
The sounds of boots striking rock reached his ears just as Aaron came into view. He could sense the others stationed throughout the cave…all but Aidan. Somehow, his older brother, the one he truly wanted to face, had disappeared from detection. He shook his head. With his waning strength, he was only able to focus on the threat before him.
Standing at the ready, he taunted, “They only sent you? Am I so underestimated?”
“Drop the act, asshole. I know you can tell there are others.”