The Water Dragon Read online

  “They had a castle?” Emily twisted her fingers together.

  “Yes. Did he tell you that one of his great great nephews was Robert the Bruce?” Damek leaned over and pressed a kiss to May’s forehead. “Of course Robert was more human than dragon. Which would explain his desire for power, I suppose.”

  “Good Lord! Not only is the man a dragon, but he’s related to royalty as well?”

  “What are you worried about, Em?” Summer asked. “Look at my sister April. She’s basically married to the dragon king and May is married to the dragon elder.” Summer sighed. “I knew Daisy’s wish for a normal life would never come true for any of us.”

  Adrian shot her a wounded glance and Summer immediately felt bad.

  “Did you really want normal, Summer?”

  Summer felt bad for saying that. She looked at the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and shook her head. She had never wanted normal. Ever since April found Drake, she had wanted to find a dragon of her own. She wanted what her sisters had. More than anything.

  “Attention, passengers. Please fasten your seatbelts for take-off.” The pilot’s announcement saved her from having to answer right away, thank goodness. It would give her the opportunity to think about what she wanted to say first.

  The only problem with that was she didn’t know what to say. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings. Should she tell him that the last couple of days were the most exciting, the most exhilarating of her life? Did she tell him that she had never dreamt of normal, but envisioned a very unconventional and exciting life with a dragon? Or should she just tell him that she wanted to take this new life one day at a time and get to know him before she jumped into a lifelong commitment?

  She knew what she wanted to say, but was it the smart thing to say? Summer turned to look at her sister and smiled as she watched May and Damek share a few kisses. That was all the answer she needed. Summer sat staring at her sister as May laughed at something Damek said and realized she wanted that for herself.

  She wouldn’t necessarily get that with a human male. Not forever, at any rate. Plus, Adrian could promise her that—and while a human male would mean it in the now, there was no mystical force to hold him to her forever. More than anything, Summer needed forever.

  After a mentally exhausting eight-hour flight, they landed at Heathrow airport in London. Summer stayed in her seat as they taxied to a stop and looked out over the tarmac, wondering at the circumstances that brought her to this point.

  If April hadn’t met Drake behind her shop, and Damek hadn’t seen May in a car headed for a strip bar, Summer could very well still be in her little cottage wishing for a man and a family of her own. Meanwhile, her biological clock ticked steadily away. Instead of being alone, as she had been, she was now sitting here with a man who could promise her forever and mean it. The center of her chest ached when she looked at Adrian. Every minute they spent together brought them closer. Every time he met her gaze, her heart nearly stopped. He was hers. All she had to do was hold on to him and never let him go.

  “There should be a car waiting for us. I had Waverly call ahead and talk to my man here in Great Britain,” Damek said, interrupting her thoughts.

  May leaned over. “My baby thinks of everything.” She snaked her arm around her husband’s waist. Summer almost teased her older sister over her choice of husband, but chose to leave her alone, instead. So what if May had always claimed that she wouldn’t look twice at a muscle-bound man, like her husband, Damek? It wasn’t as though a person could help who they fell in love with or whom the fates chose to make their mate.

  The way Summer understood it, May tried to keep herself from falling in love with the large dragon male—especially after he kidnapped her, carried her to this very plane and took her to Alaska. If she knew one thing about May, it was that she had feared large men. She never said why, but Summer had always assumed it had to do with something that happened before the Flowers family adopted her.

  Of course, Summer could only be glad that Damek had kidnapped her sister. It wasn’t as though he intended to harm her. In fact, he’d had saving her life on his mind when he did it. Plus, it was while on that very trip that they found Damek’s brother Adrian, who just happened to be Summer’s mate.

  Her face burned when she glanced at Adrian through the corner of her eye and he winked at her when their gazes met. She couldn’t help but look at him. What red-blooded female wouldn’t stare at those blond good looks?

  If what she felt for Adrian when she looked at him with his high cheekbones and straight nose was anything like May felt, she could see why her sister had so thoroughly changed her mind about Damek.

  Standing, Summer followed the others from the plane, watching as Adrian carried Emily’s things. She knew she could do much worse. Adrian was kind, generous to a fault and took his responsibilities seriously. So what if he had the tendency to be a male chauvinist pig on occasion? Weren’t his redeeming qualities enough to make up for that?

  Closing her eyes, Summer pictured him a few years from now after he’d been in the modern world a while. Sun kissed his blond hair, giving it a golden glow. Water glistened behind him as blue waves struck the shore and he smiled at something she said before handing her a cold drink. Maybe the years would soften his demeanor. She looked at his brother. After all, hadn’t Damek been just like him at one time?

  Yes, but Damek has had a few thousand years to sand down his rough edges. Taking a deep breath, Summer started down the boarding ladder. How could she blame him for being a product of his time any more than she would want him to blame her for being a product of hers? Summer found she couldn’t.

  She would have to have patience. She would just have to wear down his rough edges like water over a mountain. If water could soften stone, she could soften the water dragon.

  Her mind made up, Summer relaxed. Now that she knew what she wanted, it was time to plan. She didn’t want a huge wedding. She never cared about things like that. She had her sister here as a witness and her best friend. She glanced at him again. Once they got to Scotland, she would suggest that she and Adrian tie the knot. Why wait and give him the chance to change his mind? She smiled softly. Strike while the iron is hot, like her father had always said.

  After all, what could be more romantic than a wedding-slash-handfasting atop some craggy Scottish mountain? If they got lucky, they might even find some old castle ruins where they could pledge themselves to each other while they were about it as well.

  Whatever happened between Adrian and herself, Summer knew it would be nothing less than an adventure.

  Chapter Twelve

  Holy hell! I don’t remember it taking so long to get to Inverness from London. Adrian glared out through the window at the darkness. “How long have we been traveling in this irritating conveyance? I don’t recall it ever taking this long to get to Glasgow.”

  Glasgow was the first stop on this leg of their journey. After eight hours in the plane and approximately six and a half hours in the car, he was about to go mad. He needed to stretch his legs and he wanted to be alone with his mate. He was tired of sharing her, damn it all.

  “It’s most likely because you always shifted and flew. Besides, it wasn’t London and Glasgow the last time you made the trip. As I recall there weren’t enough humans about to name the place, the last time you were around.”

  “Perhaps not, but I utilized the internet on your plane and got an aerial view from one of those GPS websites you’re always looking at. I might not recognize names, but I recognized the rivers and most of the landscape between the two.” Adrian snorted. Did Damek think him an imbecile?

  After staring through his window for a few minutes, Damek turned to him. “We should arrive in Glasgow in a few minutes.” He checked his watch. “I would guess about thirty. We’ll get dinner and some rooms for the night after we arrive. We’ll spend the night and head out first thing in the morning. The last leg of this trip is the most
beautiful and I want May to see it.”

  Adrian didn’t remember anything being beautiful about the trip, but then he had been flying and, for the most part, he’d been looking for his next meal. There was really nothing beautiful about hairy cows unless they were skinned and roasted.

  He glanced at his mate who, as usual, seemed preoccupied with whatever it was that Emily taught her. He had to admit that the exercise made her appear more domesticated than she had seemed at Drake Delfavaro’s home.

  Frowning at the thought, he wondered what it was about him that had made her so angry. Was it the fact that he expected her to act like a female when most of the women he’d come into contact with were so independent, needing no males in their lives, or was it something else?

  Crossing his arms, Adrian reached up to rub his finger over the bridge of his nose. It was likely that she just didn’t like the way he looked. If so, that could pose a problem. Character faults they could get around. However, if she wasn’t attracted to him physically, she might not wish to mate with him.

  Whatever the reason for her actions, he needed to find out what she was about before she could get away. Come hell or high water—and he had been in both and survived—Adrian planned to make Summer Flowers his mate.

  The car rolled to a stop a few minutes later and interrupted his thoughts. Looking through his window, he saw what looked like a modern hotel. Damek opened the door and climbed from the car. Just watching his brother stretch his legs made Adrian’s legs ache with the need to do the same.

  Not waiting for an invitation, he followed his brother from the vehicle and turned to help the women as they emerged one by one.

  Summer was the last. He almost groaned when she stumbled and bumped into him. How would he manage to keep his hands to himself while she was around if she didn’t stop inadvertently pressing her body against his?

  Looking down into her innocent expression, he wanted to pull her tight against him and kiss her senseless. How could he when she stood there, giving him such an innocent smile?

  Taking a deep breath, Adrian steeled himself against his emotions, set her from him and moved to help the driver retrieve the luggage from the trunk.

  “What now?” May asked as she threaded her fingers through Damek’s free hand.

  “We go claim our rooms.” Damek smiled down at her. “We have three. You and I will share one, Emily and Summer will share one and Adrian and Broadbent will share the third room.”

  What! His brother did not just say he was sharing a room with the driver.

  “Excuse me, Damek. Can I have a word with you?”

  Damek pulled free of his mate’s grasp and turned to look at Adrian, a knowing expression on his face. “What did you need?” he asked after the others got a few feet ahead of them.

  “I am not sharing a room with the driver,” Adrian whispered, clenching his teeth. He was proud of himself for not allowing his temper to get the best of him. It had been difficult to get used to staying in the human form all of the time. Doing so had been at a great cost. He didn’t have centuries to get used to it the way the other dragons had and staying human drained the energy of one who wasn’t used to it.

  “You have no choice but to share with the driver. We were lucky to get the three rooms we got.” Damek stared at Adrian for a moment and shook his head. “I’m ashamed of you, brother. I thought I told you that all are equal in this time.”

  “I don’t want to share a room with the driver because I want to share a room with my mate, you ass. It has nothing to do with staying in the same room as the help.”

  “Oh.” His brother smiled. “That’s different, but it doesn’t make a difference, if you get my drift.”

  “I don’t. Explain.”

  Damek just stared at him for a moment before he reached up and felt the top of Adrian’s head. “No, I don’t feel a cut where someone’s let your brains out.” He shook his head. “You must share a room with Broadbent because there are two single females and two single males on this trip and only three rooms.” He enunciated the words carefully as though Adrian were stupid. “Do you expect Emily to share a room with Broadbent?”

  “No. I do not.” Adrian shook his head with a sigh. “I merely want to spend some time getting to know my mate.” Or, to be more accurate, he wanted his mate to get to know him.

  “You have been getting to know her. You’ve spent more time with Summer than I did with May before I claimed her. It’s our nature to claim our women fast. We spend years, sometimes eons awaiting them. What makes you think any of us take the time to get to know them first? You’re lucky. You can’t rush your mate. That’s probably a good thing.”

  Adrian wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. One thing was certain. It was a frustrating thing. With a sigh, Adrian joined the others and picked up the women’s things. If circumstances were going to force him to wait, he would do his best to be a gentleman about it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Summer sat between Adrian and Emily. She purposely pulled Adrian next to her when he climbed into the limo this morning. Leaning against him, she held his hand, resting her head on his shoulder, and she stayed that way for the last several hours. She could tell by his expression the night before that he wasn’t happy to not have his own room. She could just imagine what he’d hoped to do there.

  With a small smile, Summer reached over and lightly rested her hand on Adrian’s leg. His sharp breath told her that while he attempted to appear unaffected, her hand on his leg did indeed cause him some kind of feeling. She hoped it was a good one.

  “How much longer before we reach the castle you were talking about?” Emily asked. She wrung her hands almost constantly, now. The older woman refused to believe that Declan would still be unmated. Her main reason for even coming to Scotland was not to claim an errant dragon male, but to tell the man goodbye. She needed closure.

  What Summer hoped Emily found was a mate who would reverse the aging process so that she wouldn’t have to watch her best friend in the world die. Again, she leaned against Adrian. He squeezed her gently and kissed her temple. This was what she had waited for. This was what she had hoped to find in a dragon mate.

  “If I remember correctly, we’re almost there,” Damek said as he, too, peered out through the tinted glass. “I’m not positive because everything looks different now.”

  “Things change throughout the years. Some of the landmarks you remember could be gone.” May leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek, then rub his arm. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll find it.”

  Damek leaned over and kissed the top of May’s head with a chuckle. “It’s not missing landmarks that make it difficult to tell, love. I’m used to seeing it from the air. Things look different through my dragon’s eyes, especially when I’m flying over them.”

  “Oh!” May’s cheeks turned pink. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She leaned over and whispered something in her husband’s ear.

  “Definitely,” he replied. “If we find ourselves free one evening when the moon is behind the clouds.”

  Summer could only guess that May had asked him to take her flying. She peered at Adrian through the corner of her eye, wondering if he would do the same for her.

  Leaning close, Adrian whispered. “She asked him to take her flying.” He threaded his fingers through Summer’s, brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Would you care to go flying with me someday?”

  Pressing her mouth to his ear, she whispered, “More than anything.”

  Adrian smiled and gave her fingers a squeeze.

  “I think the castle is just over that hill.” Damek pointed in front of them to the left. “Turn here please, Broadbent. I think we have arrived.”

  The driver turned to the left, driving over the hill. They saw the castle just as they topped the ridge.

  Emily gasped. “It’s so large.”

  “It’s also a bit worse for wear,” May added with a frown. “I doubt anyone lives here.”

&nbs
p; “Declan wouldn’t need servants or comfortable accommodations if he’s put his dragon into hibernation,” Damek said as the car rolled to a smooth stop and he opened his door. “The hard part is going to be finding out where he keeps his lair.”

  Emily eased out the door and stood looking at the castle. Closing her eyes, she stayed in one place, humming for a bit before she looked to the left of the castle toward the mountainous terrain behind it.

  Without a word, she started walking toward the tall cliff behind the castle. About halfway between the worn structure and the mountain she stopped and looked down. At her feet was a giant seal with strange lettering on it.

  Kneeling down, Emily reverently pulled the weeds and heather that had overgrown it away and looked down at the strangely beautiful script. “I wish I knew what it says.” She looked up at them with tears in her eyes. “He’s in there, isn’t he?”

  Adrian bent down, resting his hands on his knees. “Here lies the Red Dragon, red for the rubies he guards and for the passion he holds for his one true mate.”

  Emily began to sob. Summer didn’t know what to say, what to do. Had Emily’s dragon mate ended his life because she refused him? If so, how would her friend live with herself knowing that?

  “Open only if you wish to experience the wrath of Declan Brus. Here he shall remain forever.”

  “Okay. I could be wrong, but doesn’t that sound like he’s still alive in there?” May asked as she stared down at what appeared to be a grave.

  “It sounds that way to me.” Summer walked around the large cover stone, wondering how the thing opened. “So how do we open it?”

  “I don’t know. It is likely that there is something in the castle, but until we can legally get inside, we won’t know anything.” Adrian straightened and looked toward the large structure. “Do you think there is a caretaker here?”