“Sometimes it is better not to eavesdrop,” Kelos told him.
“I expect you are right.” O’Malley grabbed the packs and handed one to Kelos as he checked the truck over.
“You’ve packed light,” Kelos said as he hefted O’Malley’s pack onto his shoulder.
“Hannah is certainly prepared. There was no way she was going to carry all of the gear she brought so I swapped it into mine.” O’Malley inhaled deeply and let it out slowly as his nerves built. “I haven’t traveled into a mountain region with a civilian before.”
“A civilian?” Kelos asked. “Is that the new word for mate?”
“No, it’s the word for an untrained person of non-shifter persuasion.”
“Ah, I see. Shifters can naturally take care of themselves and soldiers are trained to take care of themselves.” Kelos nodded as O’Malley handed him the keys to his truck. “I believe your mate is capable of taking care of herself, especially if she has you watching over her.”
“It’s scary, isn’t it?” O’Malley swapped packs with Kelos and inserted both arms through the straps before lifting it onto his shoulders.
“Having a mate?” Kelos asked.
“Yes. I’m so happy I could burst and yet at the same time I am terrified that something is going to happen to her while we’re searching for Karl. It makes me resent the guy even more,” O’Malley admitted.
“Resent him for getting lost even though if he had not gotten lost, Hannah would never have walked into your bar?” Kelos had a way of putting things into perspective.
“Now you are saying I have to thank the guy for getting himself in whatever trouble he is in?” O’Malley rolled his eyes. “Some friend you are.”
Kelos chuckled. “Aren’t we such complex creatures?”
“None more so than a dragon shifter who has lived through the ages of man,” O’Malley stopped walking and turned to face Kelos. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”
“Yes, you can. By finding Hannah’s brother.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “Dead or alive.”
“Dead does not bear thinking about.”
“But whatever the outcome, you are there for Hannah and that is the most important thing. You will be her shoulder to cry on or the person she celebrates with. But more importantly, you are the person she came to who she knows she can rely on and you will not let her down because you are her mate.” Kelos glanced at the sky once more. “As much as I enjoy your company, we need to leave. I really do not want to spend a day in some remote place when I could be here with my mate.”
“I understand.”
“I know you do.” Kelos laughed as they turned to the house and their mates who were inside talking.
When O’Malley woke up this morning, all he had to think about was his bar. Now he was leaving the bar in the hands of a man he barely knew to fly off into the night with his mate, while riding on the back of a dragon.
Fate sure knew how to mess with a man.
Chapter Eight – Hannah
After her talk with Amber, Hannah felt a little more confident about everything. She’d confirmed Kelos was a dragon shifter and left Hannah in no doubt that they weren’t all making this up as a joke on her.
She’d also talked about mates, just as Betsy at the diner had. Amber seemed to think, no, believe, that Hannah was O’Malley’s mate. Although, she didn’t explicitly say the word.
Now things were about to get real. Kelos was about to shift and then Hannah and O’Malley would climb on his back and they would fly away to the Himalayas.
“Just breathe.” Amber touched Hannah on the shoulder and spoke to her in a soothing voice. “Kelos will look after you. He won’t let you fall.”
“I don’t like flying much at all,” Hannah confessed.
“This isn’t like putting your life in the hands of a pilot who is flying a metal box, Kelos’s dragon is a living, breathing, feeling creature who is deeply caring of those around him.” She smiled as Kelos looked at her. A look that was deep and loving. That was the look that finally convinced Hannah that she would be okay.
Even if their journey took them across oceans and up a mountain.
“Are we good?” O’Malley asked. The cougar shifter had been keeping himself in the background, letting Amber reassure Hannah instead. She was grateful he’d seen that she needed to hear about Kelos the dragon from someone else. There was less pressure listening to Amber tell her about the marvels of dragon flight.
“We’re good.” She gave a nervous smile. “I might not be saying that when we actually take off and fly but for now, we’re good.”
“Then we need to move.” O’Malley had his pack on his back and held Hannah’s pack in his right hand.
“I’ll take that.” She held out her hand and he passed it to her, helping her heave the pack onto her back as she put her arms through the straps.
“Comfortable?”
She nodded although comfortable wasn’t exactly the term she’d use. Even with the extra weight O’Malley had shouldered, the pack still dragged at her shoulders. “Thank you, Amber.” She gave her new friend a quick hug.
“I’ll see you both when you get back. And I hope I’ll get to meet your brother, too.” Amber hugged Hannah and then went to the kitchen door where she leaned against the frame, waiting for Kelos to shift.
Kelos was waiting around twenty feet away having already said goodbye to his wife. With one last lingering look, he turned his attention to O’Malley and Hannah. “Don’t scream.”
“I think he must be talking to you,” Hannah leaned across and whispered in O’Malley’s ear.
“You might be right.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him.
Her teeth chattered as she watched Kelos closely. It was the strangest thing. One moment the man was there, the next he was gone.
Hannah took a step back. She didn’t really
