To Tame a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,48
would have preferred she not traverse on foot that bottomed out and led to the rocky cliffs and standing formations closer to the river.
She was nowhere in sight.
Falthyris bunched his leg muscles, leapt into the air, and took flight. He followed the pull of the mating bond, knowing instinctually that it would not lead him astray.
He rode the air currents toward the river, eyes moving ceaselessly for any sign of her. The blast of relief that struck him when the river came into view nearly made his flight falter—Elliya was there, naked and standing extremely still in the water with one of her sharpened sticks in hand. Alone and exposed.
Falthyris growled and angled himself down, stomach lurching at the harsh change in trajectory. He landed heavily on the shore behind Elliya just as she thrust her stick into the water. She started, whirling to face him with wide eyes, and raised the stick defensively.
An impaled fish wriggled on its end.
Her expression brightened with a sudden smile, and her body relaxed. “You are awake!”
That smile very nearly cut through his anger and concern, but it wasn’t quite enough to cool him.
“Why are you out here alone?” he demanded, stalking closer to her. “You should not have left by yourself, Elliya.”
Her smile faded, and she arched a brow. “Why not?”
He threw his hands out in a wide, sweeping gesture. “Because it is dangerous! Tenfold more so with the Red Heat at such intensity.”
She lowered her stick slowly, took hold of the fish, and tugged it off the stick. “I see.”
“You see?” Falthyris strode into the shallow water, clenching his fists. “That is all you have to say? What if you had been attacked by a hungry beast? What if you had been attacked by a pack of them? You might have been harmed, you might have been killed, your tender human flesh left to rot in the belly of some ravenous creature! You are but a weak, defenseless, fema—”
She swung her arm with more speed than he’d thought her capable. The fish’s tail struck Falthyris’s cheek, producing a wet slap. Though he felt only the faintest sting and a trickle of water down his scales, he could only stare at her in shock, any words he’d meant to say having died on his tongue.
Elliya held his gaze as she stepped closer. “Dragon, you did not just call me weak and defenseless. I am a huntress. I have hunted and slain the beasts of this desert since I was young. And this”—she raised the limp fish she’d struck him with—“is meant to be our morning meal.”
He pressed his lips into a tight line, nostrils flaring. “You slapped me with a fish.”
She smiled wide, flashing her white teeth. “Who knew a fish could serve dual purposes?”
“Striking me with a trout does not nullify the danger in which you’ve placed yourself, Elliya.”
His mate sighed. “Falthyris, I am fine. I climbed down from your lair and followed the ravine straight here. I was not in any danger that I could not handle.” She looked down at the fish in her hand. “I simply wanted to surprise you with a fresh meal when you awoke.”
The earnestness in her explanation pierced deep into Falthyris’s chest. His little huntress had sought to provide him with food. That was not the way things were meant to be, but he couldn’t help finding it endearing. Of course, he didn’t have to be happy about that.
“You are forbidden to place yourself in danger for my sake, Elliya,” he said with a growl, reaching forward to cup the back of her head and force her to look at him. “How can I protect you if you are not at my side?”
Her brows creased. “I am not as weak and defenseless as you think, and I cannot always be by your side.”
“I will concede to your first point. You are not weak and defenseless, at least by human standards. But on your second…where else would you be but with me?”
“I can hunt.” She shook off his grasp and walked past him to the riverbank, where she dropped the fish into a crude basket she’d woven from grass—a basket already filled with fish.
Falthyris followed her, flicking water from his tail and the bottoms of his wings. She’d called him stubborn more than once, and he could not argue against it, but she could be hard-headed enough to match him. “And we are not speaking of your capabilities, Elliya. We are discussing should and should not,