Page 29 of The Dragon's Omega
“Don’t apologize,” he murmured gruffly, brushing his knuckles along my jaw to cradle my chin. He tipped my head back, lightness slanting over his features again. “My mate’s word means a great deal to me. Never fear sharing the truth, Lianna. I’ll always listen.”
My alpha plucked at my lower lip thoughtfully for a moment, his pheromones suddenly pumping harder, thicker. “We should go—see what they’re up to, if they’ve breached our old contract.” Vidar gave me a quick once-over, followed by a slower, more sensual up and down that made my heart pitter-patter. “While this is, without a doubt, my favorite look on you?—”
“Oh, you like my towel gown? It’s haute couture, actually.”
He snorted, then kissed my forehead, my nose, and my lips.
“I suspect you could make a sack look couture, little omega.” His grip tightened around my waist, and I squealed as he scooped me off my feet. “But I think we should get you proper attire—clothing worthy of a dragon’s mate.”
Delight split my face wide and made my cheeks ache. Flushed, weightless in his grasp, I squirmed and threw my arms around his neck, kissing him ardently, desperately, as he whirled away from the pool.
Whisking me off to a wardrobe stocked with pieces he had collected over the years.
And then, sooner than I would have liked, it was back to the real world and all its problems.
CHAPTER 10
Lianna
“You want a bite?”
Kind of embarrassing to sound breathless at a time like this, but funnel cake was a rare delicacy. I’d been shoveling it into my gob from the second the paper plate loaded with fried dough, powdered sugar, and fresh strawberries hit my grabby little hands.
From the way I’d gone full duck, swallowing pieces whole, barely chewing, one would think I hadn’t feasted all morning back at Vidar’s hoard—that I was still starving and had been for weeks. It only seemed right to offer him the quarter left, but my generosity breezed by without his notice.
I glanced up at the alpha towering by my side. He cast a tall shadow in the crowd, festivalgoers veering around us, giving him a wider berth than they would ever afford me. And it wasn’t like the place wasn’t wall to wall with people. Winding down into the late afternoon on the first day of this weekend-long beachfront extravaganza, fresh blood spilled in from the various entrances, families with their face-painted kids on the way out to make room for the college crowd.
“Vidar?”
He scanned our immediate surroundings with a stony expression, from the people milling around to the wall of food trucks on our right, the artisan booths selling jewelry and candles and tarot cards on our left, and the henna artists offering temporary tatts ahead. His scowl softened, however, when it dipped to me.
“No, sweet girl.” He nodded to my plate with a thin smile. “That’s all for you.”
I hummed softly and popped a sliced strawberry in my mouth.
Today was once again a day of many firsts.
Most of which happened well after we left Vidar’s island hoard.
Now that my alpha was at full strength, he had left his heart behind for safekeeping, stored in that box of nails and screws, and changed into his dragon form as soon as we reached the surface. Beneath an aggressively bright sun, a clear blue sky, the air hot and dry, I climbed onto his golden back for my first real flight. No more cowering and fainting and wanting to puke my guts out in his claw. No, this time I settled between two spikes on his back, straddling the one in front, arms locked tighter than tight.
Magic and endurance fully restored, Vidar had used another gift from the gods to whisk us safely back to Cedar Cove: invisibility. As long as we maintained physical contact, I was hidden from the world too. He flew slowly, leisurely beating those big wings over the Pacific and down the West Coast. After a few exaggerated loops that had me threatening to hurl all over his back, Vidar stuck to the straight and narrow, offering a relatively turbulence-free—albeit windy-as-fuck—journey home.
At one point, just before landing, I found my confidence—enough to throw my arms out and whoop, going full Leo on the Titanic. Queen of the world!
I mean, what a missed opportunity if I didn’t, right?
We had landed about two hours ago far up the beach in a dusty fenced lot full of trailers and supply trucks. Invisible to the festival staff, Vidar changed forms the moment his claws touched dirt, and we strolled into the impending chaos hand in hand.
The second major first came shortly after, because, you know what?
Pack Synn’s Summer Solstice Festival wasn’t actually that bad. I had been building it up in my mind as this influencer-infested hellscape for weeks now, all because of social media gloss and the way those idiots harped on about it.
But, hey. If you liked crowds on a hot day, pricey pieces from local artisans, good albeit loud musical performances on various stages with a giant one being prepped for tonight’s DJ sets, and all-you-can-eat fried foods alongside organic vegan pop-ups, this was the place to be on the summer solstice.
And, you know, with the right company, this might be a fun day of drinks and dancing. Not my personal vibe, sure, but it wasn’t a total nightmare either.
At least… not in my opinion. Vidar? Impenetrable fortress, my dragon, one that only ever opened to pay for my food or shoot me a grin or to stare down an alpha who seemed a little too interested in my outfit. Otherwise, he had said very little since we joined the fray.