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Miranda and I hung out in the conference room as Cosmo went through the flash drive for Piper. He didn’t say much at first, but there would be an occasional harumph or grunting noise. Half an hour passed, and I was just about to suggest that Miranda and I go get lunch when a woman in a sundress walked in. She smiled and waved at us, then walked over to Cosmo and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
She was discreet, but it was obvious to me that this was his wife.
Even though they hadn’t started making out there right in front of us, they might as well have because the way he looked at her said it all.
He was crazy about her, and she obviously felt the same way about Cosmo.
Miranda and I looked away, trying to look anywhere but at the happy couple, but the scent of their arousal filled the room until I couldn’t take it anymore and I finally snapped.
“For fuck’s sake, dragon. Just go make love to her. Come back when you’re done. Trust me: we’ll wait.”
Cosmo’s wife looked up and her eyes widened in embarrassment. Cosmo just growled at us.
“Did he just growl?” Miranda whispered.
“I believe he did.”
“Salem, I think we should go.”
“We’re going to wait outside,” I told Cosmo, who was still being silent while shooting me a death glare. “We’ll be back in 20.”
Another glare.
“Fine. An hour.”
I took Miranda’s hand and led her back down the hall, through the lobby, and outside into the mid-morning sunshine.
She took a deep breath and looked around. She really did love this place, didn’t she? There really was something to be said about that.
Rawr County was so damn pretty. It was nestled in the foothills, so some of the towns were actually in the mountains, while the rest were just scattered close by. I loved the fact that there were so many trees even within the city we were walking around in. I liked being this close to nature. It made me feel safe and comfortable and at ease.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she told me. “Let’s go into the woods.”
“The woods?”
“The woods,” she agreed.
It took all of five minutes for us to reach “the woods,” as she put it, and I couldn’t help but smile. It must have been so nice for Miranda to live in this area. It would be so easy to go exploring and get lost here. Sometimes there was nothing as wonderful as just losing yourself in nature.
And in the case of me and Miranda, there were plenty of places for us to talk to each other here in private.
Only, it quickly became obvious that she didn’t want to talk.
As soon as we were hidden within the trees, she started stripping down. I grinned, ready for this. A little bit of morning sex was just what I needed to calm me down. I was still worried that Cosmo wasn’t going to be able to help or that the information Miranda had brought him wouldn’t be enough to actually make a difference but making love to my mate was going to help.
At the very least, it would calm us both down and put us in a positive state of mind where we could focus a little better and have a little more time to just be.
I reached for Miranda, ready to pull her into my arms in a passionate kiss, but before I could touch her, she changed.
The shift, for many of us, was a process. Sometimes it took a little bit of effort and a little bit of thinking, but for others, shifting was instantaneous.
That’s how it was for Miranda.
My mate didn’t hesitate as she changed her form from beautiful goddess to lovely polar bear.
She just changed, and then...
And then she was a polar bear.
I looked at her for a moment. She cocked her head, obviously trying to figure out why I hadn’t changed into my dragon form.
“I actually thought we were coming here to have sex,” I told her, deciding that bluntness and honesty was the most important thing I could offer at this particular moment in time.
She stared at me. She couldn’t speak in her polar bear form, but it didn’t matter. Her expression said it all.
She thought I was an idiot, but she probably also thought I was a little bit funny.
Those were two observations I could live with.
Stripping off my own clothes, I glanced around the area we were in. I wasn’t the world’s biggest dragon, but I wasn’t tiny, either. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to accidentally knock any trees down or damage any plants before I shifted.
Once I was sure that I had enough room, I closed my eyes and changed. The feeling of my bones growing, changing, and elongating never stopped being interesting to me. It wasn’t like these were things just anyone got to feel, so I always tried to appreciate the way my body felt as I shifted.
Once my skin was gone and had been replaced with scales, I sat down and looked at my polar bear.
What was my sweet girl thinking?
I had a feeling she wanted to shift so that she could go running through the forests.
Unfortunately for both of us, I couldn’t do that. I was far too big to fit between most of the trees, but I could fly just over the tops of them and stay close to the forest. I could watch over her from the sky.
It was the middle of the day, and I wasn’t so sure that Rawr County was ready for an actual dragon, though, so instead of chasing after Miranda, I laid down in the center of the clearing, and I looked at her.
Go, I thought at her. I knew she couldn’t read my mind, but I hoped she’d understand the gesture.
I was going to stay here and wait for her.
I was going to guard her clothes and her belongings, and I was going to let her run wild and free for a little while.
She needed this, I knew, and I needed her to know that I was always going to protect her.
I’d failed her many times before, but today wasn’t going to be one of those times. Today was going to be a time when I stayed, when I waited around, when I did whatever it took to keep my girl safe and happy and alive.
Today I was going to guard her.
She walked over to me slowly, and then she stood up on her hind legs. She looked cute as hell when she did this and not at all intimidating. Oh, I was sure that if I’d been a human, a polar bear on their haunches would scare the shit out of me, but I wasn’t a human, and I was a dragon.
A monster.
And I was in love with the sweetest damn bear on Earth.
She placed a paw on my shoulder, looked into my eyes, and then let out the loudest roar I’d ever heard her make.
Then Miranda turned, and she ran off into the woods.
And I was alone.