AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The footsteps stopped.
“Did you hear that?” the whiner whispered.
“I don’t think that was the wind.”
“The ring and necklace are glowing bright as stars,” the other man said, then exclaimed in pain as he dropped something.
“I can’t hold them. Too hot.”
“Must mean we’re close. But I only see rocks. Where—”
A large warrior equivalent to Shai’s size in human form, perhaps even taller, swept aside the shrubs, staring past them and directly into Shai’s eyes.
He knew that his face and body were mostly obscured in the darkness of the cave. But his eyes glowed gold.
The bearded warrior was staring right at him.
“Oh.”
The first man stumbled next to the warrior, revealing his sweaty, hair-matted pale face, still trying to catch his breath.
He was almost as tall as the warrior, but everything else was the opposite. He was so pretty he could rival the fairies in beauty. But he was clearly male, given the wide shoulders, angular face and form. He possessed long dark hair that was tied back in a fat braid which sat over his shoulder, loose strands sticking to his cheeks and temples.
“Wow.”
The second man appeared as well on the other side of the warrior. His appearance was somewhere in between the two opposite ends of the spectrum. There was a fundamental masculinity about him, a subdued power, whereas the other two practically vibrated with the magic they each clearly possessed.
And now, all three strangers were staring unblinkingly at him as if he was the one they sought all along.
“You must be Shai,” the second man said. “You look exactly like the sea glass green dragon painted on Heba’s tomb walls.”
Shai’s eyes blazed and nostrils flared at the mention of his and Heba’s names.
He immediately lunged through the entrance of the cave, crowding the three men back. He rose above them and arched his neck down over them, opening his wings to close them in so they couldn’t escape. Trapped within the prison he made with his body.
What do you know of my Mate?
Who are you?
He communicated this in his mind by instinct, hoping they understood. He hadn’t transformed into human in so long, he wasn’t sure he knew how any more.
“Whoa, big guy,” the most human amongst the three men said.
“We’re no threat to you or your Mate. I’m Ben, and this is Ere and Sorin. We’re here to bring you back to your Heba. She’s waiting for you in the human realm.”
They understood him, was Shai’s first thought, making him exhale in relief. But Ben’s words froze him again once they penetrated.
They knew where Heba was. They were here to take him to her.
He didn’t dare believe this Ben, for fear that he was dreaming and this was all a figment of his imagination for having been trapped here for far too long.
But then, the objects on the ground caught his eye with their throbbing glow.
It was Heba’s silver ring, the one that matched the band around his claw. And the necklace she made for him when she was still a girl.
Carefully, tenderly, he scooped up the keepsakes with his claw, reveling in the scalding heat that burned the tough skin of his palm. He squeezed tight, making them sear like brands into his claw.
They were real, the pain told him.
