*Are you okay?* Rafe queried.
*Hell, no! That thing scares the crap out of me.*
Rafe’s hand touched my shoulder and I felt his calming thoughts wash over me.
*Quit that! I know it’s dead, but you don’t have to pamper me by tamping down my emotions. I can handle myself.*
*Sorry.*
I felt his touch on my emotions relax. What the hell was it with men and their thinking? Just because a woman had a reasonable fear of a monster that could gulp her down with one swallow she was being emotional. Hell, Rafe had nearly been swallowed by this beast, but he hadn’t had to watch the one person that was expected to train and protect him getting eaten. I’d rather our roles have been reversed. I still woke up with nightmares of him being eaten, leaving me alone, an untrained Wanderer.
He flicked a finger against my earlobe. It stung.
“What the hell!” I swore spinning on him forgetting that we were trying to be quiet.
He grinned that damn sexy grin of his and I wanted to box his ears for him.
“Let’s get a move on. You can think about the dragon when we’re home. For now, just remember that we killed it, not the other way around. We’re the Wanderers, we eat dragons for breakfast.”
His levity was infectious and I found myself forgetting my dread of the beast.
I nodded. “Okay, sorry, memories…you know.”
“I know, but let’s stick to the here and now until we’ve done what we came for. Come on,” Rafe said as he strode purposely across the hangar’s concrete floor, the heels of his riding boots made a soft click with each step.
I followed closely and in a moment, the click of our boots merged into one sound. Rafe was only a couple inches taller than I was and when I was hurrying, I could match his stride.
A layer of frost covered the colossal beast and light gleamed off of its open eye almost as if there were still life in the creature.
We stopped beside its front leg. It had been placed on its right side, but its head was turned so that the massive wound that Beast had torn in the side of its muzzle was plainly visible. Huge teeth and white bone gleamed in the raw wound.
I caught a shudder of emotion from Rafe and knew that he was remembering what it was like to be inside those colossal jaws. I wanted to put my arms around him and hold him, but I rejected the thought as soon as it occurred. Rafe wouldn’t appreciate my noticing his reaction and trying to comfort him would wound his pride. Sheesh, men.
Looking away from the jaws, Rafe put his right hand against the scales that covered the dragon’s chest. His fingers moved back and forth, wiping away the thin layer of frost. In a few seconds, he found what he was looking for.
“Here,” Rafe said. “This is one of the entry wounds.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw an x-shaped wound about two inches across. “Yep, that looks right. Do you see the others?”
His hand moved again and stopped a couple of inches away from the first wound.
“Hmmm, here’s another.” His hand moved again and stopped almost immediately. He turned to look at me.
I met his gaze and saw puzzlement on his face. “What?”
“I didn’t know you’d gotten so good. You were how far away?”
I thought back to the battle. After Rafe had been attacked by the dragon, everything got frenzied. “Well, about twenty yards for the first two shots, but it was about a hundred feet up and climbing when I fired off my last bolt.”
Rafe’s right eyebrow rose and his lips pursed.
“What?” I asked.
“To put three bolts into an area less than a hand’s breath apart in the middle of a battle with all the adrenaline pumping through your veins…I don’t think I could have made these shots.”
I gave a half-hearted shrug of my shoulder. “So, I got lucky.”
He studied me for a few moments. “Yes, I guess that would explain it.”
Rafe reached down and drew his tantō blade from its boot sheath. I felt the small snap of energy as he reversed the spell that kept it in its tantō shape. In a moment, it elongated and thickened, morphing into its original katana form.
“This may get messy,” Rafe said. “You want to give me a little room?”
“Shouldn’t I retrieve them? After all, they’re my bolts.”
“But it’s my sword,” Rafe said with a half grin. “Don’t worry, after I’ve cut through to the bolts, you can retrieve them.”
I wrinkled my nose. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to retrieve one of my broadheads. I studied the dragon’s chest and wondered how deep the magical broadheads had penetrated.
Rafe set the tip of his sword against the first wound and pushed. The blade sank into the frozen flesh to its hilt. He pulled it out and stared at the enlarged wound.
“You didn’t hit the bolt?” I asked.
“No, I felt resistance, but I’m sure that was a rib. I hadn’t thought your crossbow could sink a shaft that deep after penetrating dragon scales.”
