them.
When had things in her life ever gone according to plan?
Her marriage, she had thought, once upon a time.
But we all know how that turned out, don’t you? Amber thought bitterly.
She just hoped for once this time would be different, for Matty’s sake. They were finally in a place where Garrett’s family couldn’t reach them, and she would get down on her knees and beg until her knees bled and her voice gave out if that’s what it took to keep it that way.
CHAPTER FOUR
It seemed to take both an eternity and no time at all before Amber felt her stomach drop again. A few seconds later, the impact as the dragon landed reverberated strongly throughout her body. She had spent the time in the semi-darkness of their warm cocoon whispering reassurances to Matty and mentally fretting about how she was going to convince the dragon to let them stay.
Amber winced and scrunched her eyes shut when the hand that had been covering them was suddenly removed, and the normal brightness of the day hit her eyes. She then slowly cracked her eyes open, allowing her eyes to gradually adjust for a few seconds before she squinted up at their savior.
Had Amber not known that the saurian creature looking down at her with bright, orange-colored and vertically-pupiled eyes that didn’t seem to blink was a talking, sentient being that was sometimes a man, she might have screamed in terror.
Instead, she pushed herself up by her elbow, then with a bit more difficulty, to a sitting position using one of her hands as she clutched Matty protectively with the other. That was slightly better. At least this way, she didn’t feel like a mouse staring up at the gullet of the snake about to swallow her whole. Much.
Amber swallowed thickly, her mouth suddenly irritatingly dry. “Thank you so much—for saving us from those thugs.”
“You’re injured—bleeding.” The dragon frowned, his nostrils flaring, before he carefully lowered them onto the thick grass before she could even open her mouth to reply. “My questions can wait. Is the child injured, as well?”
Mentally, for sure, Amber thought in despair. Aloud, she replied, “I don’t think so. He’s just terrified right now.”
The dragon’s frown deepened. “Perhaps if he saw me as just a man…”
Huh? Wait—was he going to—!
“No, no,” Amber said hastily as the dragon took a single step back. “That’s not why—”
She nearly swallowed her tongue as the red and black dragon began to rapidly shrink, twist, and shift his form like some kind of wild and disturbing morphing effect gone wrong. Then her face nearly spontaneously combusted as seemingly, between one blink and the next, a tall, dark-haired and naked man with muscles that went on for miles now stood before her. He stared down at her with narrowed eyes, the same fiery orange as the dragon’s had been, set in a startlingly handsome face with day-old stubble.
Amber knew she should look away, that it was likely rude to stare. The last thing she needed to do was cause this incredible being offense before she could even plead her case, but the moment those unusual eyes caught her gaze, it was as though her body had been ensnared and frozen within a piece of her namesake.
“My son wasn’t—wasn’t scared of you,” she blurted out, wincing internally at how desperate she sounded. “He loves dragons and dinosaurs, and…” Her voice trailed off in embarrassment as the man’s lips curved up in obvious amusement.
“So I see,” the once dragon said as he gestured down at her with his chin.
Amber’s eyes immediately looked down at Matty. She relaxed minutely. Oh, the plushie. She caught an inadvertent glimpse of his entire exposed front as she looked back at him before she quickly looked up at his face. She could feel her cheeks burn even hotter than before. He definitely was all human male now, magnificently so…
The dragon-man knelt beside her without further comment or even a hint of self-consciousness about his nudity and gestured at her right leg. “May I examine your wound?”
“Oh, yes, of c-course,” she stammered, flustered beyond belief.
“I’m Raphek of the House of the Red Flame. What’s your name?” he asked as fingers that were a lot warmer than a regular person’s should be carefully wiped some of the blood away from a wound that was thankfully smaller than she had feared.
Had those goons used a high-powered rifle, they could have blown her entire lower leg off.
“Amber. Amber Davis,” she answered, wincing at the sudden