Pia Saves the Day (Elder Races #6.6)(10)

“If I don’t remember it,” the dragon said, “how can I trust you’re telling the truth?” He spread out one forepaw to indicate the gold and jewels. “You bring me convenient gifts of all my favorite things. Do you think I’ve never seen a trap baited with such as this before?”

She stared at him, breathing heavily, but remained silent. Then her chin came up. “Fine. Maybe bringing the treasure was a mistake, but I’m not leaving.”

“As you wish,” Dragos said.

He glanced dismissively once more at the treasure lying on the ground between them, then turned his back on her, gathered himself and sprang into flight.

The last thing he wanted to do was go hunting, but he needed food to heal and time to think. Either the female would be waiting for him when he returned, or she would not. If she truly wanted to find her mate again, she would wait.

If he returned.

Chapter Four

Pia stared up at the sky, watching Dragos leave. Normally she loved to see him take flight, but now watching the dragon fly away gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. How far would he go?

How could she be so stupid?

The satellite phone in her pack rang, and she dug it out to answer it.

Graydon demanded, “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you did he?”

She looked in the direction of the low, nearby peak of a neighboring mountain, where the gryphon hid, keeping watch from a distance. It said something, didn’t it, that Graydon would even ask such a thing. A week ago—a day ago—the question would have been unthinkable.

“No,” she said dully. “He didn’t hurt me.” At least, he hadn’t hurt her anywhere that was visible. Inside, she felt like she was slowly bleeding from some vital artery.

“I’ll follow him.”

“No! Leave him be for now.” Unable to stand still, she paced through the clearing. “It’s my fault he left. I panicked and pushed him too hard. The gold and jewels—they were a bad idea. He doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t remember, Gray, and of course he was suspicious. I’d brought all his favorite things, and he thought I was baiting some kind of trap.”

“Take a deep breath,” Graydon said gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was a good idea, as far as it went. Are you sure I shouldn’t track him? What if he doesn’t come back?”

Scrubbing at her face with the back of one hand, she tried to think. Where would he go? What would he do?

She was excellent at predicting what Dragos would do and where he would go, but she had no idea what this strange, frightening creature might decide. The thought of the dragon prowling unchecked through the countryside made her stomach tighten even further.

But she had roused the dragon’s suspicions, and if he sensed Graydon following him, Dragos might attack him. Graydon could get hurt, or worse, killed. Dragos would never forgive himself if that happened, and she would never forgive herself either. Graydon’s kind, steady presence was one of the reasons why she had made it through such a dark, awful night, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

“No,” she said again. “We can’t risk it. Maybe I raised enough questions in his mind that he’ll come back on his own for answers. He said he needed to think. For the moment, we’re going to have to trust him, and wait to see if he returns on his own.”

Those were some of the toughest words she’d ever had to say. They ranked right up there with telling Liam you have to be a big soldier now. The panicked animal inside her wanted nothing more than to chase after Dragos, but the thought of trusting the dragon who was even now acting without Dragos’s memories was almost insupportable.

“I want to join you,” Graydon said. “It’s going against all my instincts to leave you there alone.”

“Well, you can’t,” she replied flatly. “If he comes back, and he smells your scent, he’ll be even more convinced this is some kind of trap.” She glanced once more up into the sky. “For now, we’ll just have to wait.”

“Call me if anything changes, or if you need me to come. In fact, call me every half hour,” Graydon said. “I want to hear the sound of your voice, and know you’re okay.”

She knew what he wanted. Like Eva, he was scared, and he wanted reassurance. With the fact that Wyr mated for life, and with Dragos so critically injured, everything about their lives was unpredictable now, unstable.

But she had no more reassurance to offer Graydon than she’d had to offer Eva.

She said, “I’m not going to pretend to be fine. To tell you the truth, I feel pretty crazy, and I feel like I’m fighting for my life. But you’re going to have to trust me, too. I’m dealing with it. I’ll deal. And I’ll call you if I need you.”

He swore under his breath. After a moment, he said, “Okay, sweetheart.”

Hanging up, she stuffed the phone back into one of the side pockets of the pack. She had to get her act together. She didn’t know how long Dragos would be gone, and she was exhausted. Waiting through the long, terrible night as the sentinels searched for Dragos, dealing with legalities for both the Wyr demesne and for Liam’s sake—just in case—and the long hike up the mountain, along with confronting the dragon, had all taken their toll.

She needed to refuel and rest, at least as much as she was able, because she had no idea what would happen next.