Ember of Hope

He found her standing at the edge of the lake with her hands resting over the back of a little yellow bench, staring out at the water, deep in thought. Her unbound hair flew in the air and he couldn’t help himself from stepping behind her to inhale her scent. And maybe she’d sensed his presence or maybe he’d made a sound but she whipped around so fast she smacked him with her hair and stumbled into him. Catching her in his arms he set her on her feet again, “Easy, it’s just me, Damien” he said softly.

“God, you idiot, you scared the shit out of me” she squeaked, putting a hand on her heaving chest. He could hear the wild beat of her heart beneath her hand.

“Never ever sneak up on me like that again or I swear I’ll find a way to turn you into a frog”.

He laughed out loud at that, showcasing his blindingly white teeth against that golden mocha skin of his, “glad to see you’re still feisty little human” and it shocked him into silence to see her eyes blazing but not with anger this time as he had expected. Then she blinked her eyes and turned her face away and he wasn’t sure that the heat was really there or just a figment of his imagination.

“Tell me what you were thinking just now?” he asked, taking her arm and guiding her to sit on the bench.

“Nothing much” she said avoiding his eyes. Damien took her chin in a gentle but firm grip and turned her face to make her look at him. “Really? I thought you could do better than that. Try again” he admonished and tried to hide the shiver that went through his fingers and spread across his body at that little touch.

Sarah heaved a long sigh as if to ready herself and looked him in the eye when she said, “I’ve been thinking about us”. His heart hammered, “what about us?” he all but whispered.

She stood and started pacing. “All of it Damien. Everything that has happened since I came here” she sounded exasperated, “I mean can you believe how much has happened in this month and a half? I was just an ordinary party girl and then BOOM there are dragons and magical kingdoms and wars and curses. And as if that wasn’t enough some fucktard kidnaps me and then tortures my best friend in front of me and threatens her that if she screams he’ll let his men rape me. then my best friend turns into a freaking dragon and then I almost DIE and wake up to find that I have a MATE” she huffed and plopped back next to him without realizing he’d gone still as death near her.

“What did you just say?” he asked in a deathly low voice.

“What, that I woke up to find a mate?” his eyes told her that her answer was wrong and when the right answer hit her… “Oh shit” left her lips before she could stop it and her eyes widened.

“Damien… shit… please… I wasn’t supposed to tell you that” she pleaded, “please, please don’t tell Val. Raegan will have my head” she grabbed both his hands in hers in an attempt to make him understand.

“I don’t want you to do anything stupid okay? Please promise me you won’t go find trouble over this”.

“Don’t ask me what I can’t give you Sarah. That fucker and everyone with him is going to die”. His tone was a death sentence in itself.

“Damien I’m here, aren’t I? That’s enough. I’m here and fine and Raegan is fine too. Please I don’t want you to go there or tell Val. Okay?”

“You can’t expect me to not seek retribution from that bloody bastard. He killed my people. He kidnapped my mate and my friend. And now you’re telling me he threatened to rape you? What the fuck Sarah? How can you even ask me to just let him go?” Damien’s face looked like it was about to burst and his hands had clenched inside hers. His pretty golden eyes were two pools of molten gold… hot and deadly. He was grinding his teeth so hard that she feared he’d lose all his teeth by the time she managed to calm him enough.

“No, I’m not saying that we’ll let him go. I’m just saying that give Raegan time to tell Val herself, it’s her story to tell Damien. And nobody even touched me, I promise. And then we’ll talk to the council and your king and see what they say. We won’t take any hasty steps to endanger ourselves again”.

“It was my job to protect you Sarah and I failed at that. You’re asking too much”, he was barely clinging to the edge of his patience and humanity.

“Hey, don’t you dare go all Neanderthal over me. It wasn’t your job to protect me. I’m an adult and I’m responsible of taking care of myself”. She had left her seat on the bench in favor of standing in front of him, looking down her nose at him with her hands perched on her hips. “And if I say you won’t do anything then you bloody well won’t do anything. End. of. Fucking. Discussion.” She punctuated each word with a finger jab to his chest. “And if you tell Valiance about any of it, I’ll kill you. Mate or not”. She huffed, blowing hair out of her angry face. She was cute.

“So you accept me as your mate?” he asked with a shit eating grin splitting his face.

“That’s all you heard, huh?” she laughed and then started pacing.

“I’ve to warn you before you decide to bind yourself to me for forever. That I’m not good with relationship stuff. I fuck things up every time. And I know that I’m not an easy person but yeah, I’m ready to give it a try… with you”.

And there was hope in her eyes too, he realized. She really wanted to give them a chance. Maybe there still was hope for him. With a heart full of hope and emotions he stood, grabbed her arms and smashed his lips on hers. Taking her in his arms, he crushed her to his chest as close as he could without breaking her.

“Please tell me everything” Damien asked her softly a while later but Sarah could detect an edge to his tone that suggested violence.

“Damien we can talk about it later” she tried.

“Please Sarah, I need to know. I promise I won’t do anything before its time”. Even though the wording was vague, she thought about letting him off the hook, figuring he’d had enough.

“Okay” she sat back on the bench and pulled him down with her. She started with the night she and Raegan were kidnapped by Titan and his men. As the story progressed though; Damien looked more and more like a beast hell bent on ravaging everything in its path. If not for Sarah’s death grip on his arm, he would probably have been well on his way to Titan.

“Damien” Sarah called loudly and he realized he’d been so immersed in his bloodlust that he hadn’t heard her call his name again and again. “Hey, stay with me” she said softly and brought his hand to her lips and continued.

“And then Ray turned into a dragon… a freaking dragon. Dude how is that even possible?”

And Damien just stared at her thinking she was probably pulling his leg to divert his mind from the whole situation. “What?”

“Yes. I’m serious. I couldn’t believe my eyes either. She has been my best friend since I could barely talk. And she wasn’t a fucking dragon. But there she was. Breaking out of iron shackles and I… I just kept staring like a dumb rock. And I was a little scared too”, she confessed, “but then she started talking and it was just like talking to Ray. And then I thought she could probably break us outta there, you know”

“Whoa. I don’t know what to say. If she was a dragon atleast Val would’ve known. She was his mate and even if she wasn’t we can always tell a dragon by its scent. I don’t understand”.

“That’s what she wants to ask Val. Well, before she has to dump all that shit on him”.

“What happened then? Did you get caught?”

“Not right away, no. we broke free from that place and in the beginning Ray couldn’t figure out how to fly but I guess her survival instinct kicked in and we were in the air. It wasn’t smooth but we made it quite far actually” Sarah sighed, “then Titan caught up to us and we would’ve kept trying to outrun him…I mean outfly. But then Tristan was there and Ray had to help him”.

At the end of the story she let out a long breath, “And then you came and all was well” and she smiled up at him.

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