Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Samuel cut off Dimitri’s desperate words by grabbing his face with both hands and kissing him. The tide of panic receded and, for a moment, Dimitri got lost in the touch of his mate.
When Sam released him, he blinked slowly, falling into those wide eyes behind dirty glasses. “I don’t need a mate who can fix me. I need a mate who will stand beside me and believe in me no matter what.”
Dimitri opened his mouth to promise to be exactly that for his strong, stubborn man, but the words didn’t get the chance to escape.
“Dimitri? Samuel?” Luka called out.
Sam chuckled while Dimitri could only roll his eyes. Later. They were finishing this discussion later.
Reluctantly, Dimitri loosened his hold on Sam and dropped his arms to his sides, allowing the man to step completely free of him. The archeologist glanced over his shoulder, giving him a half smile as if Dimitri was the one who needed the reassurances right now.
They strolled back to the rest of the group. As soon as they came into view, Sam stopped and sneezed not once, but twice.
“Shit! Did I make you too cold?” Dimitri demanded. “Do you need a jacket to warm up again?”
“Oh my god!” Sam threw up his arms and stomped over to the others. “It feels like it’s one-hundred degrees in here with thick humidity. I do not need a jacket.”
“But you sneezed! You could be catching a cold!”
“It was a sneeze. There’s pollen in the air. I don’t know.” Sam stomped off with Dimitri following close on his heels.
When they reached the others, Dimitri ignored their questioning looks. They wouldn’t have overheard their discussion about Sam’s condition, but it was likely they’d heard his worries about Sam’s wellbeing. He didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was his mage.
Sam headed straight for the booby trap they’d uncovered. It was all Dimitri could do not to completely shift and place his enormous dragon body between Sam and the trap. They had no idea what the booby trap would do if it was triggered, but Dimitri felt pretty damn safe in saying it was nothing good and that Sam was determined to put himself in harm’s way to get to his goal.
But he was not willing to let Sam endanger his life to achieve that goal. The knowledge of Sam’s broken core made his mate seem all the more fragile. Combined with Sam’s desperate determination to continue so he could fix his core, even at the risk of his own life, Dimitri was barely holding in his need to protect him.
As he picked up his pace to catch up with Sam, the earth crackled and crunched under his feet. Sam stopped and looked down, causing Dimitri to do the same. Ice and frost covered the forest floor everywhere his feet had touched.
“What is this? Showing off?” Sam demanded.
“What? No! Of course not! I’m just distracted…and worried,” Dimitri argued. He needed to pull himself together, but Sam wasn’t giving him that chance. The stubborn archeologist turned and resumed his march to the trigger to inspect it yet again.
“Dimitri, you okay?” Vasily called. There was a hint of mockery in his tone.
Dimitri snapped his head around to bark at his companions, who were staring at him like he’d lost his mind. Vasily held up his left arm and motioned toward his forearm. Dimitri glanced down at his own to find that it was now covered in scales.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
His dragon was clawing at him, trying to climb out of his skin and take control of his body. Dimitri’s fears for Sam’s safety were weakening his control. If he didn’t wrestle his dragon down fast, he was going to completely shift, and there was a damn good chance his fat dragon ass was going to trigger the booby trap.
Sam had started to kneel but stopped and twisted around to look at Dimitri, who quickly placed both of his arms behind his back. “Problem?”
“Nope. No problem. Other than the fact that you don’t need to be so close to the booby trap. We don’t know what it’s going to do. The fucking thing is old enough that we probably don’t even need to touch the trigger to set it off.”
Sam narrowed his eyes on Dimitri for a second before turning his attention to Gregori, who was coming up on the other side of Dimitri. “What do you think? Were you able to come up with any way to dismantle it?”
“No, unfortunately not. At least, not without a mage.”
Sam didn’t even flinch at Gregori’s careless words, but he didn’t need to. Dimitri felt the sting and was already snarling, claws exploding from his fingertips as he reached for the other dragon.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Sam grabbed Dimitri’s arm and dug his heels into the dirt, attempting to hold him back. “He didn’t mean anything. He’s right. We need a mage who can cast spells to remove the trap. I’m useless.”