“That’s okay. You’ve been through a lot,” Joey reassured her. The guy certainly had an easy way about him and a healthy dose of boyish good looks and more than a smidgen of charm.
“I’m just worried…” She glanced down at the children. They had all agreed that they would keep the truth from the children. As far as Lauren and Elliot were concerned, Kelos and Amber were going on a date. An overnight date.
Joey got up abruptly from the table and went to Margie. “I’m here for you. As soon as you’re ready, we’ll head over to the sawmill and you can meet the Winter family,” he said.
“Thanks, Joey.” Amber truly appreciated Kelos’s friends helping them out.
“We’ll be just fine. You’ll be back before you know it. Hopefully with a surprise.” He arched his eyebrows and nodded.
“A surprise?” Elliot asked excitedly. His face was flushed pink after spending the day in the back yard and then helping Kelos finish laying the wood on the porch. Apparently, he had not used his inhaler once since he’d arrived. Shawn had examined him again briefly when he and Jane came over to help earlier, and he’d been hopeful that the inhaler might be a thing of the past. Or at least might only be necessary in an emergency.
“Yeah, a surprise,” Amber replied as she went to the children and kissed them both on the top of the head. “But if we tell you, it won’t be a surprise.”
“A secret surprise, even better.” Elliot thought for a moment. “Does the surprise contain chocolate?”
“You will have to wait and see.” Amber hugged Margie briefly and then took one last look at her family before she went outside with Kelos.
“Now we have to get a surprise,” Kelos grumbled as they walked across the back yard toward the gate which led to the trail where he would shift.
“I think Margie would like the surprise to be Fabian,” Amber told her mate as he grabbed her hand and led her through the darkness. “I don’t think, in this instance, that chocolate will make a good substitute.”
“Do you think he’ll come back here with us?” Kelos asked.
“I don’t know.” Amber had been asking herself the same question since they decided to go to Fabian. “I don’t even know if he’ll be pleased to see us.”
“He will.” Kelos stopped walking and turned to face her. “He’d do the same if it were the other way around, wouldn’t he?”
“Yeah, if he knew I might be in danger and hadn’t heard from me, he would leave no rock unturned until he found me.” She tilted her head back and looked up at Kelos. “I’m just scared. What if we don’t find him? What if he’s just disappeared?”
“No one just disappears.” He kissed her cheek and warmth flooded her veins. “We will find him. No matter what it takes.”
Amber nodded, keeping her greatest fear to herself. What if Fabian hadn’t just disappeared, what if he’d been murdered so that he couldn’t testify?
There was no use dwelling on what-ifs. She needed to concentrate on one step at a time. The first of those steps involved riding on the back of a dragon.
Excitement bubbled up inside her, but it was laced with fear. Flying over the mountains on his back was one thing but traveling all the way to the city was another. They would be exposed even though Kelos assured her they would avoid towns and villages on the way. And airplanes.
Amber looked up at the sky. Luckily, there was a good covering of cloud and the moon was mostly hidden, only peeking out for brief moments when the sky cleared.
“No one will see us,” Kelos assured her as he ducked under the tree branch and led her to the same clearing where he had shifted yesterday.
Was it only last night when they had swooped down deserted valleys and glided over the tops of the trees? It seemed like a different life. A carefree life.
“I know. You’ve done this before.” She smiled more for him than because she was happy.
“More than once.” He kissed her cheek once more and let go of her hand as he took a few steps away from her. Then he disappeared from the world, the air shimmered and crackled with static electricity as he faded away. She held her breath for a long moment, only letting it out when the big bulky outline of the dragon appeared in place of the human form of Kelos.
“Good evening.” Amber stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of the dragon’s face. He lowered his head and she kissed the small scales that covered his forehead. “Thank you for doing this.”
The dragon nodded and puffed tendrils of smoke from his nostrils. Not in the same happy teasing way he had last night but more to show his sympathy for her. The dragon might not be able to speak but his intuition was deep and profound.
“We should go.” She let go of him and he lowered himself down to the ground so that she could reach his leg. Placing her foot firmly on his foreleg, she boosted herself up, caught hold of his scales, and pulled herself onto his back in one fluid movement. “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
The dragon swung his head around and studied her with his mesmerizing eyes. Only when he was content she was seated securely did he crouch down before springing into the air like a coiled spring.
She was ready for the rush of wind that swept her hair back from her face and tried to push her off the back of the dragon. Feeling
