her from reaching Eilagh.
Turning back to the dragon, Binda was just in time to see Dimitri
embrace Eilagh from behind as Max wrapped his beautiful golden webbed wings
around them both. Feeling a gaze on her, Binda turned to Zane.
"Are you all right, beautiful? Not too shocked?"
Unable to speak, Binda gave a small shake of her head. In a daze she was
barely aware of him leaning over her and prying her fingers from the edge of
the table. He placed both of her hands in her lap and gathered her up in his
arms. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she squeezed her eyes shut and buried
her face in Zane's neck, breathing in his masculine scent as he began walking.
Instantly she felt calmer, as though his very presence was like a balm to her
mind. When she felt Zane lower himself, she raised her head to see what
appeared to be a library surrounding the large armchair where they now sat.
"Where are we?"
"This is our library. It's opposite the clinic. Baxter and I need
to be near the clinic until Carina wakes up. We were hoping you would spend
your days here so we can spend time with you whenever we can get away."
"Well, only if it's convenient for you."
Her voice was heavy with sarcasm, which was completely lost on him as he
obviously took her words at face value. Zane smiled widely at her. Her gut
churned with all the emotions running rampant though her. She had enough to
worry about without trying to explain the concept of sarcasm, so she let that
conversation slide for the moment. That, and she
refused to give in to her selfish desires until Carina was well. Her friend’s
health was more important than her bruised ego.
"Dragons, huh?"
With a roguish smile he grinned at her. "Yep. How are you coping with that?"
"Don't know. I mean I've read a heap of shifter books—but they were
fiction. Pure fantasy. Now I discover it's not. That
it's real. It's a lot to process and adjust to."
A totally adorable frown creased Zane's brow.
"Fiction? Fantasy? What do you mean?"
Binda scanned the shelves around her. All the books looked like they
were leather bound and very old.
"Make believe. On Earth, people write stories to entertain, to
allow the reader to escape from their real world for a while. You don't have
things like that? What is in all these books?"
"I've never heard of such a thing. These tomes are our history,
legends about our creation and other things. Since the liaths came and their
evil illness ran rampant, killing all our females and young, this room has sat
empty. The plague also took a lot of our elders, those who knew everything that
was contained here. Did you read this fiction often?"
"I did. I was a librarian. I love books, being surrounded by
them." She paused to swallow and take a breath as she processed what he'd
said. "That's why I've only seen men here, isn't it?"
Binda winced at the effect her quiet words had on Zane. His shoulders
slumped as his whole body shuddered. Damn, she hadn't meant to hurt him. She'd
simply been curious about what had happened.
"It was ... devastating. The liaths came on the Great Wind, like
you and your friends. They were friendly to begin with. We accepted them into
our society. Then they moved into our labs, started experiments. Still they
promised they were doing no harm, and none of us sensed the evil in them."
He paused to sigh loudly. "Then one day, they completely abandoned the
labs and began moving around the castle. It seemed strange the way they were
covering every inch of the place, so we went to check the labs and found their
notes."
He stopped on another sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Still
sitting in his lap, Binda couldn't resist the urge to comfort him. Cupping his
cheek in her palm, her heart swelled with an emotion she didn't want to examine
as he nuzzled and kissed her palm.
"We did all we could. But it was too little, too late. By the time
we made it back to the main rooms of the castle we were finding our dead.
Dimitri had already sent out
Turning back to the dragon, Binda was just in time to see Dimitri
embrace Eilagh from behind as Max wrapped his beautiful golden webbed wings
around them both. Feeling a gaze on her, Binda turned to Zane.
"Are you all right, beautiful? Not too shocked?"
Unable to speak, Binda gave a small shake of her head. In a daze she was
barely aware of him leaning over her and prying her fingers from the edge of
the table. He placed both of her hands in her lap and gathered her up in his
arms. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she squeezed her eyes shut and buried
her face in Zane's neck, breathing in his masculine scent as he began walking.
Instantly she felt calmer, as though his very presence was like a balm to her
mind. When she felt Zane lower himself, she raised her head to see what
appeared to be a library surrounding the large armchair where they now sat.
"Where are we?"
"This is our library. It's opposite the clinic. Baxter and I need
to be near the clinic until Carina wakes up. We were hoping you would spend
your days here so we can spend time with you whenever we can get away."
"Well, only if it's convenient for you."
Her voice was heavy with sarcasm, which was completely lost on him as he
obviously took her words at face value. Zane smiled widely at her. Her gut
churned with all the emotions running rampant though her. She had enough to
worry about without trying to explain the concept of sarcasm, so she let that
conversation slide for the moment. That, and she
refused to give in to her selfish desires until Carina was well. Her friend’s
health was more important than her bruised ego.
"Dragons, huh?"
With a roguish smile he grinned at her. "Yep. How are you coping with that?"
"Don't know. I mean I've read a heap of shifter books—but they were
fiction. Pure fantasy. Now I discover it's not. That
it's real. It's a lot to process and adjust to."
A totally adorable frown creased Zane's brow.
"Fiction? Fantasy? What do you mean?"
Binda scanned the shelves around her. All the books looked like they
were leather bound and very old.
"Make believe. On Earth, people write stories to entertain, to
allow the reader to escape from their real world for a while. You don't have
things like that? What is in all these books?"
"I've never heard of such a thing. These tomes are our history,
legends about our creation and other things. Since the liaths came and their
evil illness ran rampant, killing all our females and young, this room has sat
empty. The plague also took a lot of our elders, those who knew everything that
was contained here. Did you read this fiction often?"
"I did. I was a librarian. I love books, being surrounded by
them." She paused to swallow and take a breath as she processed what he'd
said. "That's why I've only seen men here, isn't it?"
Binda winced at the effect her quiet words had on Zane. His shoulders
slumped as his whole body shuddered. Damn, she hadn't meant to hurt him. She'd
simply been curious about what had happened.
"It was ... devastating. The liaths came on the Great Wind, like
you and your friends. They were friendly to begin with. We accepted them into
our society. Then they moved into our labs, started experiments. Still they
promised they were doing no harm, and none of us sensed the evil in them."
He paused to sigh loudly. "Then one day, they completely abandoned the
labs and began moving around the castle. It seemed strange the way they were
covering every inch of the place, so we went to check the labs and found their
notes."
He stopped on another sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Still
sitting in his lap, Binda couldn't resist the urge to comfort him. Cupping his
cheek in her palm, her heart swelled with an emotion she didn't want to examine
as he nuzzled and kissed her palm.
"We did all we could. But it was too little, too late. By the time
we made it back to the main rooms of the castle we were finding our dead.
Dimitri had already sent out
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