Light His Fire: Paranormal BBW Dragon Shifter Mail-Order Bride Romance (10 page)

As much as Pearl was completely annoyed with herself and Ares, she couldn’t deny that her life was certainly looking up. She was beginning to cultivate friends who cared about her, and people in Shifter Grove genuinely needed her to set up the store, so completely failing wasn’t all that likely. Living so close to nature felt much better than Delaware ever had and she felt like she was really making strides towards becoming the kind of person she wanted to be.

Now if only that pesky dragon would get out of her thoughts already.

Pearl grumbled to herself as she heaved her body up another few feet of solid rock. She glanced downwards, tracking the path a pebble made as it bounced against the rock and then skittered lower until she couldn’t see it anymore. She was a long,
long
way up, but that just made her grin and take another step. Pearl loved the danger, the slight uncertainty that came with every climb.

She didn’t consider herself a daredevil. All her climbs were planned and she rarely ever climbed alone. In Shifter Grove, she hadn’t found anyone quite into the sport yet and, frankly, she doubted she’d be great company with a dragon on her brain anyway. But that didn’t mean that she was any less safe – in her mind, anyway.

Suddenly, the mountain trembled a little. It wasn’t even enough to shift Pearl’s grasp, but it certainly made her stomach knot and her hands push against the stone a bit harder. She clung to the rock until the shuddering stopped, feeling the wobble go right through her. A frown crumpled her forehead and she looked around, as if expecting to see the source of the disturbance.

All day, she’d been hearing odd noises and loud clattering sounds. It was almost as if the earth was being turned somewhere, mountains being pushed and pulled and giant boulders being displaced. But that sounded silly even to her. She’d figured it must have been a series of small rocky avalanches further on in the mountains and she’d be safe as long as it wasn’t too close. But if it was close enough to shake Lying Dragon Peak then it had to have been something more serious than just noises in the distance.

With a bit of a pout, she looked up. Her destination was just another fifty or so feet above her – a good while of climbing – but she couldn’t risk it.

“Not this time, Lying Dragon,” she said, grinning a bit at the name she’d given the mountain.

She was just beginning to take her first steps downwards in an attempt to lower herself to the ground, when the mountain quivered again. This time, it wasn’t just a gentle shake but one that grew more and more violent.

“Fuck,” Pearl cursed, looking around frantically for a place to secure herself better.

She clicked her second safety carabineer to a hook she’d attached to the cliff and hung on for dear life as the mountain groaned and creaked below her. Pearl felt the little ledges under her feet give away one after the other, leaving her hanging only by her hands and the harness hooked to the side of the mountain. She scrambled to find another foothold.

Pearl glanced down again and the sight that greeted her kicked the air out of her lungs. The mountainside she had climbed up was rapidly disintegrating into dust below her, somehow falling inward and away from her into the belly of the mountain. She screamed as she felt the solid stone crumble and tear loose from the rest of the mountain, dragging her down along with it.

All she could do now was try to hold on to something and hope that the inevitable didn’t happen and that the rock wouldn’t crush her. Her hands gripped the stone so hard she could feel her skin tearing and she pressed herself against the wall as she toppled down into the depths of the mountain. Faintly, she could hear herself squealing as the air rushed by, and then the afternoon sun that had been shining too brightly was suddenly replaced by the bleakest darkness.

Her carabineers were still attached to the mountain as she came to a sudden, violent stop. Pearl slammed hard against the ground, her little piece of mountain still mostly in one piece underneath her. Smaller stones and plenty of dirt fell down around her and on top of her, making her cough and wheeze for breath. With her eyes shut tight, she expected another huge pile of rocks to tumble down upon her and kill her on sight – but it never came.

When she finally dared to open her eyes, Pearl found herself keeling precariously on the precipice of a gorge. A bit of the wall she had been climbing before the mountain decided to break apart had managed to get stuck between larger boulders, keeping her safe from immediate death – for now. She was only hanging by her carabineers and safeties, her toes over the edge, hanging over what looked like solid blackness below.

“Oh my god…” Pearl whispered.

Looking up, she could still see sunlight through a murky blanket of dust. The mountain had partially collapsed into itself, revealing empty shafts within that had gobbled up much of one side of the mountain. Somehow, she had got lucky enough to not be introduced to what lay below. But by the way the pocket of dirt and rock she was nestled on creaked and grumbled, she was sure that wouldn’t be the case for very long.

Bruises and cuts covered her body. She knew she had to have been hurt, that her body had to have been covered in extensive wounds, but she couldn’t feel them yet. Adrenaline was pounding through her veins so fast and hard that she thought she’d pass out from the excitement. Experimentally, she moved one of her hands but was met with a threatening creak right away. The best she could do was to lay very, very still and hope that someone, somewhere, had noticed that half the fucking mountain had just disappeared and came to investigate.

Pearl felt something press against her chest. She frowned, inching her hand closer to it – she’d forgotten that she was still wearing the dragon stone. When her fingers curled around the chain she was wearing, she closed her eyes with a sigh.

For a moment, she wondered whether she would sink so low as to believe in dragon magic. She also had to wonder whether lying there, inches from death, was the
best
time to call for Ares. But hadn’t he given her that necklace with the promise that he would come if she needed him to? And didn’t she really,
really
need him now – or anyone really?

But, she had to be honest with herself, if there was one person she wanted to see before she tumbled to her graceless death, it was that abhorrent dragon. What that said about her state of mind was something she didn’t really want to think about.

Ares, help.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ares

Few creatures – other than the dragons themselves – had ever been introduced to the delicate workings of a dragon’s psyche. Deep down inside, they were basic creatures, as all humans and shifters were. They were driven by a few guiding principles, and whenever one of those was questioned or endangered, they would lash out. For dragons, those things were their mate, their hoard, and their pride. Hurt one and feel the burn of dragon fire, hurt two and give up any notion of physical safety right then and there.

Ares felt like all three had been taken from him in one fell swoop and he was damn sure he wasn’t going to stand for it.

He could feel something was wrong even before he heard Pearl’s call. His entire world convulsed and tremors ran through his mighty body, stopping him in his tracks. The dragon looked up, listening intently. He could hear a shockwave of sound go through the surrounding mountain ranges, much like the ones he had been creating when dismantling Sleeping Dragon Hill. It was an avalanche of some sort, somewhere, but far away.

Before he could think about what he was doing, he had taken flight. The sun glinted off his golden scales and twinkled off the gold streams in the rocks. It seemed to be of little importance now. He was already flying towards the source of the sound when he heard Pearl’s call.

It went through him like a lightning bolt. His innards twisted and a hiss rose to his jaw, a strangled roar restrained deep within him. His fire burned and jostled within him and each muscle became tense and rigid, fearing the worst. Ares hadn’t expected her to use the pendant. He knew she was far too proud to call for him if there was nothing wrong, so she had to be in danger – and that thought terrified him.

He flew as fast as he could, sure that he was getting closer to her. Her scent and her presence, combined with the magic of the dragon stone, led him straight to her. It didn’t hurt that there was a big column of dust rising from the exact spot he felt her presence from.

Ares could see the gorge that the collapsed mountainside had created. His heart thrummed at ten times the speed as he hovered above the black depth, desperately searching for Pearl. For a second, he feared the worst, but then he saw her deep down in the rubble. She was clinging to a tiny piece of earth that was somehow still hanging from the crevice.

I’m here. Don’t worry,
he projected towards her.

Pearl glanced up and Ares saw surprise etched on her features. She looked devastatingly gorgeous even when she was terrified out of her mind. He couldn’t stay there for long – his wings beat up more dust and soon he wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. Even worse, each gust of wind from his wings could have been the final push needed to shove Pearl down into the immense blackness.

Unhook the carabineers.

“What!? I’ll slip and fall!” Pearl spat back incredulously.

Trust me.

“Why should I?”

It was a valid question and one he’d have to answer later, but now wasn’t the time.

Just do it.

The gorge was wide enough that he could swoop in and grab her if needed, but he couldn’t take her and the heavy rock without fearing he would hurt her. Instead, she would have to put her faith in him and trust that he had her, even when he had done everything to convince her of the contrary over the last few days.

“If you let me fall, I swear to god, I will come back to haunt your scaly ass!” she hissed.

Then, she undid the first carabineer and immediately slipped a bit lower on the rock. Ares readied himself, watching her struggle with the second one. She would tumble over the edge as soon as she unhooked it – the angle of the rock didn’t really allow for a lot of grip. As her hands were struggling with the carabineer, Ares began his descent, packing his giant body as tightly as he could.

He swooped below the rock just as she undid the second safety and slipped off the rock with a scream, only to tumble down between his wings a second later. She clung to his scales as he burst upwards, the heavy movements of his wings and his body scraping against the rocks and bringing rubble down around them. The mountain shook violently and roared louder than Ares ever could.

When they burst up and into the sun, the mountain folded into itself and crumbled into the gaping maw in the ground, gobbling up the rock, dirt and ground that had made up Lying Dragon Peak.

Are you alright?
Ares projected, glancing over his shoulder.

Pearl’s gray eyes stared back at him, half terrified, half burning with excitement. He liked that look on her.

“I’m flying on the back of a dragon! How do you think I am!?”

His dragon let out a small murmur of agreement, strong wings carrying them away from the hole that had once been a mountain at increasing speed. He didn’t stop until he reached Shifter Grove and didn’t even try to hide himself from the curious eyes of the inhabitants. He had bigger issues to deal with than a bunch of shifters seeing him fly over town (again).

Ares flew straight to Pearl’s little cabin and touched down gently in front of it. He lowered himself to the ground, his belly smushing against the soft grass, and extended a wing to the side so she could climb off. Gingerly, Pearl slipped down his side and stood up, though still obviously trembling. His golden eyes took in the sight of her and he could see all the wounds she had from the fall and the way she’d had to scrape across his rough scales to stay on his back.

It was all his doing and he knew it. If it hadn’t been for his work at Sleeping Dragon Hill, he doubted the mountain would have collapsed like that. Unwittingly, he had put his mate in more danger by trying to make things better than if he had left well enough alone.

I’m sorry.

Pearl looked shell-shocked, surprised and hurt all at once.

“What for, exactly?”

He let the shift take him and, soon, he was standing before her as the man, not the dragon. The dragon coiled itself tightly within him, satisfied that it had managed to save Pearl, but terrified at what it would mean for them.