Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

should
     be moved much.”
    “I was thinking just the two of us. Gary and Jubal can stay and protect the others
     and your things. We won’t leave them for long.” He gestured toward the wide circle
     of plants. “That’s amazing. You’re amazing.” And mine.
    Her gaze jumped to his. She heard him so clearly, that firm, soft and warm and so
     sexy voice pouring into her mind so intimately. Her hand fluttered to her throat.
     “You’re not going to turn into a giant red dragon right now are you?”
    “Do you want me to shift into a dragon?” His voice sounded different, causing her
     to think more closely on the conversation: something in what they were saying mattered
     to Dax but Riley wasn’t sure what.
    “I was thinking we could hike if it’s not too far.”
    “I was thinking something a little different.” Dax sent a picture of him lifting her
     off the ground and taking to the sky with her in his arms.
    “No. No way. Don’t even think about—” She squealed as the man swept her off her feet
     and began to run.
    “I can’t believe you’re carrying me again.”
    He glanced down at her in genuine surprise. “I can turn into a dragon, stop an explosion
     with ‘magic,’ and do all manner of incredible feats, but you can’t believe I’m carrying
     you?”
    “That was a figure of speech. Now put me down. I will not be carried through the jungle
     by Tarzan.”
    “I do not know this Tarzan, but if he makes a habit of carrying off his woman, I think
     I would like him.” His laughter rumbled through her. “Wrap your arms around my neck
     and hold on tight.”
    He launched into the sky, spearing up through a hole in the canopy. The moment they
     broke through the canopy, Dax caught her around the waist and turned her so she could
     see the ground below them and the direction they were flying. “Oh my . . .” From this
     height she could see the volcano clearly as it was billowing ash from one side. The
     rivers of magma spilling down its sides looked like ribbons of orange light in the
     dusk sky. The sight was humbling and beautiful on such an elemental level Riley found
     all she could do was watch in awed silence.
    “I had hoped you would like this.”
    “Dax, I don’t know how anyone could not like this. It’s beyond words.”
    “The height doesn’t bother you?” There was a teasing note in his voice.
    “If you let go, the height will bother me very much.” She realized her nails were
     digging into his arms wrapped around her waist. Slowly she loosened her muscles, trusting
     he wouldn’t let her go.
    “I won’t let go.” Warmth spread down her spine and nestled deep inside.
    The sky turned red and gold all around them, and little red and gold flakes swarmed
     about them. At first, she thought the glittering flakes were embers from the volcano,
     but they remained close despite the fact that Dax and Riley were racing across the
     sky.
    “What are these red and gold sparks in the air around us?”
    “The side effects of a choice I made. Mitro was getting out, and I wasn’t strong enough
     to stop him. I needed something more than I had to give . . .”
    “You locked yourself in a mountain for untold years, but you blame yourself for his
     escape? Dax, it’s my fault he’s free. My mother and I didn’t get there in time. I
     wasn’t strong enough to keep him caged.”
    “No, Riley. Stopping Mitro is my responsibility. It always has been.”
    Silence speared between them. Riley wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to comfort
     him but wasn’t sure how.
    “What was the choice you made?” she asked instead. “When you were trapped in the volcano
     with Mitro, you said you made a choice . . . one that caused these red sparks that
     flicker around you at times, especially when you’re moving fast. What was it?”
    “Mitro and I weren’t the only ones trapped in the mountain. A fire dragon had chosen
     that volcano as his final resting place long before we arrived. When Mitro was trying
     to escape, the dragon offered to merge his soul with mine in order to give me his
     strength and abilities.”
    “You mean dragons are real?”
    He laughed. “I tell you I chose to merge my soul with a dragon’s and you’re more interested
     in the fact that dragons are real?”
    “No . . . well, yes. Really? They’re really real?”
    “They were. I don’t know if any still live. The one I found had been there for millennia.
     His body had crystallized,