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Her heart jumped into her throat as she spun around.
“Oh my God, Dax, I’m sorry, I…”
But Dax was already making a “calm down, it’s okay” gesture with his hands.
“You all okay?” came Rollo’s voice again.
“Yeah, buddy. Hundred percent. I have Bloom. We are safe on the mountain. If you have it handled, I think it best for me to just keep her here. She had an awful fright I imagine. I want to give her a chance to calm down.”
“Ten four. We’re cleaning up down here. Will give you a holler back once we have them all mopped up.”
“Copy that,” he said as he set the handset down.
She couldn’t apologize fast enough. “I wasn’t going to come down here, but then I heard the radio, and I thought it might be important…and then, well, I saw my father’s picture! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop, really…” The words just poured out.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright…it’s okay. I get it,” he said. “No need to add to your trauma today, okay?”
Relief flooded through her.
“All this,” she said, waving at the map. “You weren’t lying. That is, I knew you weren’t, but I should have known, I…”
This time he interrupted her. “No, Bloom, it’s okay. Understandable, to say the least. But look, will you just trust me? It’s ongoing, just believe me when I tell you we are following up on a lot of leads. Leave it to us.”
“Thank you Dax. That’s all I wanted. To know it wasn’t going to just be forgotten. Thathewasn’t going to be forgotten.”
“Bloom, of course he is not forgotten,” Dax said.
She felt her heart swell again with relief. It was as if she had been holding her breath for the last few years and could finally let it all out. And then after all that had passed throughout the day, she almost felt weak in the knees.
“Hey hon, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Dax said as he came and enveloped her in an embrace. It was hard to say if it was more just a catch to prevent her from falling down where she stood, but she didn’t really care. She was just relieved to let go.
“And then you saved me, even after how I’ve been.”
“Bloom, shhh,” he said, bringing a finger to her lips, ”You’re fine. I mean it, you’re fine.”
She breathed in his fresh showered smell, and snuggled deeper into his embrace.
“You’ve always been fine,” he said as he now whispered in her ear. I haven’t exactly been the most cuddly myself, you know?”
She relished the feel of his strength surrounding and supporting her.
This is perfect.
Almost perfect,she corrected herself.
“Hey,” she said, matching his whisper in tone. “Do you think we can get out of your man cave now? It’s great and all, just not really my jam.”
Dax laughed, probably as much to release some of the built up tension of the day as in response to her funny comment. “Yeah, babe. I think we can do that,” he said as he led her up the steps.
Once upstairs, he led her to the closest couch where they collapsed together in a heap.
Dax let out a deep breath, as if he too were releasing all the pressure he had been under.
He turned to her. “I’m so happy you’re here. Safe,”
“Yes, thanks to you.” He had saved her life and she could never thank him enough.
“When you were taken, I lost control. My dragon took over. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you, Bloom.”
