The Protector (Fire's Edge #4) - Abigail Owen Page 0,85

red dragon?”

Lyndi smiled. “Lyndi. You can call me Lyndi.”

Even through the crags and crevices of his unusually molded face, a sort of gratified pleasure broke over the troll. The expression was a familiar one. Levi couldn’t help shaking his head. Damned if the woman he intended to mate didn’t have a heart as big as the sky. If only she’d give him a piece.

“Vilsinn stay with Lyndi?”

Another smile from his intended mate. “I’d like that.”

“What about man dragon?”

Levi snorted a laugh. Tempting to lay a claim, make sure the troll understood who Lyndi belonged to, but the way she’d been ready to rabbit only minutes ago helped him resist the urge. “We are always happy to make new friends. And I have to go. Tomorrow.” He had to force his jaw to unclench, voicing that out loud. “I would feel better knowing you were here.”

“Protect,” Vilsinn said with a nod.

“Exactly.”

“Vilsinn like.”

Lyndi patted his massive arm. “We do, too.”

The troll grunted, and Levi wasn’t sure if the sound was one of happiness or merely acknowledgment. “Sleep now.”

As he’d done before, the troll moved to what Levi was starting to think of as his corner and curled in on himself, turning back into what appeared to be a boulder inside a cave.

After a long pause, staring at the lump of troll, Lyndi turned to the boys. “A good idea for all of us.”

Levi checked his watch. “Next patrol shift is up in ten minutes. Go ahead and relieve your brothers now,” he said.

Lyndi moved off without him, without even glancing in his direction. On his way out, he grabbed Elijah. “Let William know I’ll relieve him in ten.”

Elijah’s gaze followed the woman who’d given him and his adopted brothers a chance in life, obviously realizing Levi intended to speak with her, but wisely for his age said nothing. “You got it.”

Following her springtime and smoke scent, Levi found Lyndi standing at the entrance to the cave, arms wrapped around her middle, watching as Elijah stepped out to the ledge big enough for a single dragon to shift, shimmered into the green dragon he became, and launched himself into the air from there.

“Anything?” Levi asked, coming up behind her.

“Nothing.” She sighed, shifting restlessly on her feet. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

“We’re never safe. We have to assume that.” Levi should follow Elijah, but first he had to know. “Do you know what the troll meant?”

She shook her head. Then again, with more conviction. “All I can think of are things that wouldn’t ever—” Her arms tightened around her, as though she was having to hold herself in.

With hands gentle on her shoulders, Levi turned her toward him, taking in a face made more pale by the blue light of the moon filtering in the cave entrance from outside. The worry smoldering in her eyes was unmistakable.

And he knew.

He was out of time.

Right. No more waiting. He leaned down and captured her lips, an all-out deliberate assault on her senses, but also on her heart, telling her with each brush, each press, that she was the love of his fucking long life.

Pulling back, he put his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, just taking in her scent, the radiant heat of her body, and the connection that they’d both been denying for far too long.

“Min eneste means my only one, which is exactly what you are.”

Lyndi sucked in a shuddering breath as he walked away, starting his shift even as he moved. As soon as he was done, he craned his long neck to find her still standing there, so self-contained.

“I love you, Lyndi Chandali. With every part of my soul, I love you. Always have. When I come back from this patrol, I have every intention of mating you.”

A small whimper of distress pierced his heart, threatening to bring him down even as he launched into the night sky. He sent one last thought to the woman who held his future in her hands.

“I dare you to be brave enough to love me back.”

…

Instinct drove Lyndi out of the mouth of the cavern onto the ledge, releasing her dragon in a shimmer of changing perspective as she became something else entirely. A tangle of emotions—anger, guilt, confusion, even fear for the pain giving in would cause them both—she didn’t take the time to unravel drove her over the edge to extend her wings. With a leap, she dropped only to swoop back up, riding the currents of the wind