Harper couldn't take her eyes off the fury of the battle, her heart beating so fast she felt nauseated. Morgan's previous fights had been been vicious, but he was graceful in the sky. On the ground, there was no denying the cruelty of tooth and claw, how spurts of fire burned scales and put the acrid scent of singed leather in the air.
The red dragon's head slewed to one side and slammed hard into Morgan's neck. It sent him staggering to one side, and he would have lost his footing if he hadn't twisted hard to get his feet underneath him again. He came up hissing and biting, and Harper stifled a completely inappropriate urge to cheer.
Even in her terror, Morgan was the most graceful thing she had seen, lighter and leaner than the other dragon and weaving around the rogue's blows and flame while coming closer and closer. There was deadly intent in Morgan's motions, and for perhaps the first time, she understood how seriously he took his responsibilities to his family and to her.
He'd fight to protect us, and he'd die to do it, she thought, and she only prayed that neither would be necessary.
Just when she thought that the two were so equally matched that there could be no victor, there was a deafening bellow from above.
Harper looked up to see two other black dragons come spiraling out of the sky, coordinated as fighter planes on display. They struck the rogue from two sides at once, teeth closing hard around the red dragon's throat, and then, thank God, it was over.
One moment there were four mythical monsters threatening to flatten the mountain, and the next, all four were shrinking down to men again.
“For the love of God, trousers, Morgan!” came Reese's cry, and even from a distance, she could see Morgan remember that he had been naked when he'd transformed. She was still wearing his shirt. He took a scrap of canvas from someone's flattened tent, and Harper wanted to laugh as he gathered it around his hips in a kind of sad kilt. Then her near-hysterical amusement turned to astonishment as she took in the scene.
He was upright, doing his part to secure the blond stranger that had been pinned to the ground, and Harper stared.
He's all right, she thought in wonder and in awe. He's all right…
A sharp cry brought her attention around, and a buxom young woman with long black hair was hurrying towards her. The little girl in Harper's arms reached for her, and Harper let her go to her mother, who cuddled her tight and rained kisses all over her small face.
“Was she with you the whole time?” the woman asked. “Oh, I thought I was going to go out of my mind with worry. I thought she was with the rest, and my heart fair stopped when I realized she wasn't...”
Harper, still a little giddy from the running and the excitement, grinned shakily at her.
“Sounds about right. They'll run so wild if you give 'em half a chance.”
“Thank you, thank you,” said the other woman, giving her a wobbly little smile. “At least you didn't find her naked, that would be all I needed.”
A bell chimed in her head, and Harper started to laugh. It was a touch too high and loud, and the woman holding the little girl gave her an alarmed look until Harper managed to compose herself.
Morgan, what in the world have you gotten me into? Harper thought, but her heart was full of love. She had her man, she had her work, and she could help.
“Hey, honey,” she said to the little girl. “You don't like clothes, huh?”
The little girl blew a rather impressive raspberry at the dreaded subject, and Harper turned to her mother, who was watching this exchange with confusion.
“And you must be Miranda, Morgan's cousin?”
“I'm Miranda, yes…”
“My name's Harper. He dragged me halfway across the country to see if I could help your kid.”
For some reason, that set them both off, laughing fit to kill .It took them way too long to get things back under control, but when they did, Miranda was leading Harper towards the untouched tents.
“Come on. We can talk about it while they sort everything out.”
Harper tossed a look over her shoulder towards the dragons. Right now, she wanted more than anything to go to Morgan and to make sure that he was all right, but at a glance she could tell he was, even if he wore a ferocious scowl on his face. Then she sighed and followed Miranda, because she had her own responsibilities to look after.
***
Harper stirred when she heard a soft voice calling her name, and she sat up muzzily, looking around. There was a chill in the air, and the sky was black. She was just starting to shiver when a blanket was dropped down around her shoulders.
“I'm sorry, I didn't think. I should not have wakened you.”
Harper smiled up at Morgan, letting him help her to her feet. She had fallen asleep next to the fire pit at Miranda and her husband's encampment. The dragon-blooded didn't seem to feel the cold much, and the couple was sleeping quietly on a camp bed set back from the fire with their little girl between them.
She gestured for quiet, and with a nod, Morgan led her away from their encampment, towards a pavilion that she didn't recognize.
“Reese had some of the cousins set it up for me,” he said, lifting the flap to let her in. “I was hoping to get you back here so you could sleep in a real bed for a while. It's not much, but it's how I like to live while we're doing convocations.”
Harper looked around at the luxurious furnishings, taking in what looked like real furs on the bed and the electric lights that gleamed overhead.
“This may be a little bigger than my apartment,” she said wryly. “I think I'll live.”
“Will you?”
One moment she
