What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,17

wary concern.

Amber drew in a shaky breath and slowly lowered her arms as she tried to clear the last foggy remnants of sleep from her mind. It wasn’t a dream…Matty and I really were saved by a dragon! Wait…!

“Where’s—”

Raphek pointed across the room and her eyes anxiously followed. “Your son is there with Emma on that rug playing with Emma and Sevek’s pet mog.”

Mog?

The first thought Amber had when she saw said creature that currently had its back to her and was being pet within an inch of its life by her son was, They have a sheep as a pet?

Then she did a doubletake. Yeah…last time she checked, sheep didn’t have large white paws like a dog or long, floppy ears like a bunny…

“Mommy! Come pet Jaws, too!” Matty said excitedly.

The fluffy creature—mog—stood so docilly while Matty loved on it that Amber almost believed that it was just a rather large plushie. Why in the world would Emma name it Jaws? Did it like to chew things? Or did the word “jaws” mean something else in the Draknar language?

Emma chuckled. “From the look on your face, you’re probably wondering why I named such a marshmallow after a shark. Don’t be alarmed, but once you see his teeth, you’ll understand. He doesn’t bite, I promise.”

Amber surged to her feet in alarm anyway before she remembered the gunshot wound on her leg. A split-second later, Raphek was at her side gently grasping her shoulders with hands as hot as a heating pad as she wobbled and nearly crumpled to the ground, not from any kind of pain, but an intense spell of sudden dizziness.

“Easy,” he chided, his low voice inexplicably sending shivers up her spine. “While your wound is mostly healed, your body, rather than Lady Serie’s magic, did most of the work. You’ll probably feel weak for another day or so.”

Her mind whirling in a million different directions, Amber allowed Raphek to coax her to sit back down onto the couch. “Thanks,” she said hoarsely. She then refocused on Matty, who was now looking at her with wide, confused eyes. “Mommy’s just a bit dizzy right now, sweetie. I’ll come pet Jaws with you in a minute.”

“Your cheeks are much too pale,” Raphek said, the scrutiny of his eyes making her squirm. She was not used to being fussed over—not since she had gotten married, anyway, and definitely not by men too gorgeous to be real. “Let me go get you some juice.”

Only when he released her shoulders and stepped off to the side did Amber realize that there was an unfamiliar dark-haired man seated on another long couch across the room. He had what looked like a tablet clutched in both hands, but his gaze was fixed keenly on her.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I-I didn’t see you there—” Amber stammered as her entire body instinctually tensed.

A dragon guard waiting to interrogate her? The black, tunic-like outfit he wore was different than the guard uniforms she had seen the dragon-shifters wear on TV years ago during the Dragon Summit. A quick glance at the windows facing the balcony showed only darkness. Just how long had she been sleeping?

The unknown man’s intense expression melted into a friendly smile as he set his tablet down onto his lap. “I’m Emma’s mate, Sevek. It’s nice to meet you, Amber Davis.”

Amber relaxed minutely, though she still rung her hands anxiously in her lap. “Oh, of course. It’s nice to meet you, too, though I’m really sorry for troubling you and Emma with my mess.”

Emma sighed heavily. “As if watching over your little cutie is any kind of trouble,” she interjected before Sevek could reply.

“But—I slept too long, and now it’s the middle of the night! I don’t want to keep you from your sleep any more than I already have!” she protested. “You all probably have work tomorrow, and—”

“It’s no trouble, really,” Raphek cut in earnestly as he handed her a mug of the same yellow juice she had drank earlier. “Draknos have no need to sleep.”

“At all?” Amber asked incredulously, looking from him to Sevek to Emma and back.

“Completely unfair, isn’t it?” Emma said with an annoyed huff, but she was smiling.

Amber couldn’t even imagine it. “It sounds exhausting, actually.”

“I suppose it can be at times,” Raphek mused.

“Can’t miss what you’ve never experienced,” Sevek added with a shrug.

A strange, high-pitched sound had Amber looking over at the three on the rug again. Matty had gotten up and was on his way over to her.