The Protector (Fire's Edge #4) - Abigail Owen Page 0,79

little too much truth.”

He huffed. “Don’t tiptoe around my feelings or anything.”

“But…” She leaned forward, needing him to truly hear her. “Drake’s a loner and can be an asshole. He needs someone to have his back regardless. I knew that you would die before letting anything happen to a single one of your teammates.”

The teasing light faded from his eyes, replaced by a searching frown. Gods, didn’t he know who he was?

“You are the anchor for this team. This family. Don’t you know that?”

“You…really mean that.” He sounded baffled, which was this side of adorable.

Relief that he finally believed her was short-lived, obliterated by a panic that she’d given too much away. If he knew her heart, he’d never give her up when the time came. He’d never find his true mate. Because of her. She knew Levi—his loyalty, his stubbornness. He’d never allow himself to seek that bond with someone else if he committed himself to her.

Panic hit her stomach like a punch to the gut. Lyndi’s eyes flared wide as a battering of nausea slammed into her with the sweeping force of dragon fire. Hand to her mouth, she sprinted into the woods and immediately emptied her stomach of all its contents.

Vaguely, she was aware of Levi at her side, holding back her hair until she was done. Breathing through her nose, she leaned over, hands on her knees, waiting to see if another wave of panic would crest and bring more up.

“Here.” A canteen was shoved in front of her. When the hell did he grab that?

Lyndi didn’t care. Slowly forcing herself upright, she screwed off the top, swished some water in her mouth and spit it out, repeated that a few times, then took a few tentative sips. “Thanks,” she said.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Her glance skittered away from his hard stare. Dragons didn’t get viruses or stomach bugs, so there was no sense in lying. “I think the stress of…everything…is getting to me.”

Not to mention the agony of what she’d have to do to the man standing in front of her. It was the only explanation she could come up with that made any sense to her.

Levi tugged her into him, wrapping his big arms around her. “I know.”

Not discounting her feelings or telling her not to worry or saying that he’d take care of everything, like Levi would have even a few weeks ago. Just acknowledging the worry.

She relaxed into him, burrowing her face into his chest and breathing in smoke and brandy. Tension seeped out of her like a slow leak in a tire.

“We get to the mountain today,” he said. “And we figure things out from there. One day at a time. Yeah?”

She nodded against him. Then closed her eyes on a wave of despair so bleak, her throat wanted to close up and cut off all her oxygen. Once they were set up in the mountain, they’d be as safe as they could make themselves. They wouldn’t need him there after that.

How am I going to let you go?

Chapter Fifteen

Finally getting to the mountain he’d scouted centuries ago hadn’t cut the work or worry at all. They had just as much to do and still had to watch their backs every second.

Levi hid his concern for Lyndi, not to mention the gut-twisting knowledge that leaving her was just around the corner, behind getting shit done. Not hard to do when he was organizing and managing a bunch of juvenile dragons, trying to hide their tracks, and get them somewhere safe. All on a pinhead’s worth of sleep and shitty freeze-dried food.

He watched his mate closely. No use calling her anything else now, because that’s exactly what she was. Though he tried not to let her see both what was in his heart and his watching.

Concern was scratching at him like a flea-bitten dog.

Getting sick was rare for dragons. Usually, it indicated a much bigger problem. They healed easily, but that didn’t keep a handful of the more deadly diseases completely at bay. What if this wasn’t stress and she hadn’t told him everything that happened getting Bree out? Or she’d just got unlucky? Cancer did happen among their kind, rare as it was.

Stop.

He shook off the thought because he was being ridiculous. After that one incident in the woods as they’d broken down camp, she’d been fine.

Maybe she was right and she’d just had a stress reaction. The gods knew she had enough reasons for that.

The problem was, she’d also backed off. Shutting him