Taming the Beast

By the time we made it back to where the tours began, Ella was nearly out of breath, her forehead glistening with cold sweat. "Well, that was way more exercise than I had originally signed up for."

I looked around, surprised to see that more time had passed than I thought. "Where are you staying at, exactly?"

She looked at me dumbfounded, narrowing her eyes. "At the McKinley's cottage, up the ridge some. Why?"

I sighed, knowing that there was no way she'd be able to make it up and around the edge of the mountain to get to the other side in order to get back. "We have a bit of a problem."

I explained to her the issue only for Ella to slowly turn around, looking down from where we just came. "I don't understand. It can't be much farther up to the cottage. I mean the tour started at the hotel. And the cottage is only…what, a little over a mile further?"

Shaking my head, I wondered what the hell we were going to do now. I couldn't just leave her there, and it wasn't exactly like I could transform and fly her up to the cottage myself. I'm sure that would go over well with someone as neurotic as this lass seems.

"While that's true, the problem is that it's inaccessible to you right now. You'd have to go up around the other side and come back down that way. There's just no way you’re goin’ to get back to the cottage tonight is what I'm tryin’ to say here. Looks like you might have to book a room at the hotel in town."

Ella slumped against the hiking post, wiping at her forehead and looking straight ahead, something trembling in her voice. "I can't do that. I brought just enough money to rent the cottage, give myself food for the month, and maybe do a few things here and there. I certainly don't have the kind of money they're charging for a hotel room for the night."

It hit me just then that under the lamplight above us, I could make out Ella’s features better, seeing the way her small nose turned up at the very end, and how her dark eyes weren’t actually dark but more of a warm hazel color. She twisted her hands in the long mess of wavy brown hair of hers, securing it all together in a bunch with a rubber band. "I guess I'll just have to wait around for the fog to clear up then."

"Have you gone mad? That's the quickest way to getting sick out here, you ken? No, you're not to be doing that." And before I could clamp my mouth shut, my dragon whispered in the back of my head, coaxing me into something I knew I shouldn't have agreed to. "You can stay the night at my place."

Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to squeak out a reply. "What? I'm sorry…I barely know you. I mean you seem nice enough and all but…”

I shook my head. "You can stay at my place. It's easier to g

et to from here and I have a couch you can sleep on. A few, actually."

I took in the sight of Ella somewhat speechless, her pretty face even more shocked than when I first found her. The dragon was whispering nonsensical things in the back my head, but I was putting my foot down. Even though looking at her and the way she kept licking her bottom lip nervously was definitely catching my attention in more ways than one, I was going to have to be good. I didn't want to take advantage or anything, even though it had been so long…

No. Humans aren't to be trusted. Whatever you think this will take shape as, is not happening, I growled back at the beast.

Stubborn as ever, my dragon refused to acknowledge my hesitancy with Ella staying over, even with the way I felt about humans in general, and helped plant some beautiful images of Ella on her knees in front of me, her small hands stroking at my length.

I could only imagine how big her eyes would get if she saw what she was in store for…

I closed my eyes. Stop putting words in my mind!

Clearing my throat before I lost control of the proper things I was about to say, I gestured to Ella. "So what do you say?"

Chapter 3

The hulking mass that was Bram turned to face me, his silvery eyes almost dancing under the faint moonlight as I stood up from the post. "So what do you say?"

What do I say? The things I wanted to say were so inappropriate that it hurt, but I sputtered out a "Yeah, okay." Ever the smooth one with men.

I found myself way quieter than before as I followed behind Bram, but that was probably because I wanted to…enjoy the view. His dark reddish hair was hanging damp from the fog, curling in on itself around the nape of his neck, distracting me. And this wasn't exactly the place to get distracted, trying to pick my way across the rocks jutting up from the ground.

In a sense of delirium, I was sure that I’d already died from exposure the moment I saw Bram walking out of the creepy shadows back on the moor. Easily six-foot-five, with broad shoulders, a chest like a linebacker, and muscles I could see bulging even under the thick woolen coat he was wearing, he could have easily been some kind of mysteriously sexy angel. But instead, he was a grumpy, brooding man whose expression was sour enough that it looked as though I had just spit in his food.

Then there was the simple matter of him sneaking up on me like that. No one was capable of doing that…not when I could hear their thoughts.

That was the thing about Bram, though. There were no thoughts.

All I could hear were his grunts and sighs to himself as he helped me find my way back. Clearly the last thing he wanted to do was to help me, but I didn’t know that for sure since I couldn't read his thoughts. I had never been in the presence of someone like this, and not only did it leave me feeling as though I were grasping around in the dark (which I technically was), but I felt vulnerable. Whatever he was going to say or do, I couldn't brace myself for it.

A thought tickled the back of my brain, telling me I knew what this had to mean. As far as my family and I knew, the only kind of people in this world I couldn't mentally read were supes—supernatural creatures that could change their human form. Typically, into an animal. Which meant that I was dealing with a possible shifter, and judging by the sheer size of Bram, he wasn't going to be some cute little house cat, either.

And he wanted me to stay the night with him? How was I supposed to feel about that?

Oh, there were many ways I felt about it, but the most rational thought was that it wasn't a terribly good idea. I considered just telling him thank you and making my way up to the cottage anyway, but the idea of being alone wasn't as appealing as it was earlier.