Chapter Six

Emma

"Y ou want me to go with you? To your house?"

Everything about it screamed bad idea. So, why was I even considering it?

It was Rhyse. Something about him screamed safety .

I looked him over, from his loose-fitting, lightweight black pants to the sleek, nearly form-fitting navy sleeveless shirt he wore, exposing the lean, hard muscle of his biceps. Was it his size that was having an effect on me? He was a giant, and not much of him was anything but muscle. The strength …

Behind him, a dragon dipped in the sky. I swiftly returned my attention to Rhyse, absolutely not willing to face that little bit of reality just yet. Later, I could question my sanity.

To his credit, Rhyse just stood there, that same near perpetual frown etched onto his handsome face. This was one irritated person. Always.

"I don't know, Rhyse," I said, using his name, feeling it roll off my tongue with surprising ease. It felt right to say, like I was used to it. Comfortable with it. With him. I shook my head. "I don't know you. How can I trust you?"

He snorted, looking around to the left, the right, and then behind him. "Looks to me like you don't have a lot of other options."

The casual disdain was more than I could handle in my current state. "Then I'll make other options. Ones where I don't have to go with a stranger!"

Rhyse bared his teeth angrily. "Okay, fine, have it your way!"

He went stomping off in the direction he'd indicated, leaving me behind. Alone. On an island full of dragons. As a human. Without shelter. Or food.

"Wait!" I cried, hurrying after him as fast as I could. I needed two strides for each of his.

He didn't stop when I called after him. Didn't even slow down. I grabbed his arm when I finally closed the gap, trying my best to ignore the thickness of his bicep as I did. The man was strong .

I found that much out when I tried to spin him around and found myself doing the turning instead. He just didn't move. For a brief moment, I was terrified. The raw power it took to simply ignore that, even from someone of my small size, was impressive. Rhyse didn't even so much as sway when I pulled on him. He just kept on walking. I was a fly, a nothing.

It was incredibly rude of him to act that way. So, why was my stomach fluttering out of control simply from touching him?

He kept walking, forcing me to hurry and get in front of him, parking myself in his path. For a moment, I thought he might just walk right through me. But, at the last second, he just stopped. Didn't slow down, didn't freeze, he just ceased all movement in a split second.

It was unnerving how still he stood. Like a statue except for the slow rise and fall of his chest and the occasional blink of his strikingly green eyes.

"Listen, I'm sorry," I said when he finally fixed those orbs on me, inviting me to speak. "Maybe I—No, I know I'm acting a little crazy."

He humphed in agreement.

"Can you blame me?" I fired back, suddenly angry at him all over again. "You wanted me to look at my memory loss from your side. Now, it's you turn to do the same for me, Rhyse."

The biggest reaction I got was saying his name. He actually blinked at that. That seemed to break the ice because he relaxed a little.

"Perhaps not," he conceded slowly.

"Thank you," I said with genuine meaning. "I'm in the middle of a place I don't know, with creatures I didn't know existed until minutes ago, and I can't remember most of the past year or what happened to me during it. That's left my mind a not very fun place to be right now, if I'm being honest with you. I'm trying to keep it together, Rhyse, I really am. But there's a very large part of me that wants to just scream and run away. I don't think it's that wild for me to be a little wary of trusting you. To me, I just met you five minutes ago. Am I totally off base here?"

He grunted. "When you put it like that, no, not really."

I watched the frown ease out of his features a little. What would he look like without it? If he had a smile in its place? I tried to imagine Rhyse smiling. Even only knowing him for a few minutes, it was hard to picture anything but the constant irritation he was currently sporting.

"Are there any other options besides going to your house?" I asked tentatively, wondering what he would say.

"Not really. I told you that you have my word I'll keep you safe and won't do anything to you. Except feed you, give you a bed to sleep, if you need it. You can trust me, Emma."

There it was again. That feeling of comfort and protection emanating from him like some sort of bubble, only now it reached out to encompass me as well. I'd heard the expression "words have power," but I'd never really understood it. Until now.

"Thank you," I said, clenching my jaw while I inhaled slowly and deeply.

Get a hold of yourself.

We started walking again. The same path. He walked slower now. I still had to move fast, but I was used to that. It came with being five-three (on a good day). The world simply did not move at a pace meant for me. That was fine. I could adapt.

The medium-sized village grew larger. I swayed nearer to Rhyse as a dragon took off from the far side of the cluster of buildings, soaring high into the sky before pointing inland and making speed.

A large market was clustered up against the docks, and it was there that we angled for though Rhyse kept us walking along the pier. He didn't take us into the market itself, which I found rather odd but chose not to voice. My attention was elsewhere.

"What's that place?" I asked, pointing through several of the stalls to a large building that anchored the other side of the market square.

Rhyse followed my finger. "That's a—"

I didn't stick around to hear more. I turned and bolted down the docks as fast as my legs could carry me.

There was a distinct, frustrated sigh from behind me, but I didn't pay it any attention, pouring on the speed. One boat, that was all I needed. One boat and I could get out of this place. I could go home . To whatever home I had.

All of Rhyse's politeness and handsomeness had welcomed me into the Dragon Isles, as he said it was called. It would be easy to simply fall in line and do as he wanted, go with him to his home and accept my fate. That was what he wanted.

Which was why I chose not to believe any of it and instead make my escape.

I passed several large boats, filled with various nets, rods, fishing hooks, harpoons, and other gear necessary for larger scale fishing operations. Then I spied what I wanted. A large cabin cruiser. Hopping down to the deck as fast as I could, I went for the steering wheel.

"Keys, keys, keys, where are the keys?" I muttered, searching frantically but coming up short. "Shit."

And then I was up, heading down the docks again, refusing to look over my shoulder to see where Rhyse was. The wooden slats creaked and groaned while the water beneath gently lapped against the pilings driven deep into the ocean bed.

"Emma."

I stumbled to a halt as Rhyse flew past me and blocked the way, his arms crossed across his wildly impressive chest. His hair fluttered softly back into place along his shoulders, the sun glinting off the various tints of brown. The sun actually made his skin glow as it highlighted him from just above and behind. Perfect lighting. It just wasn't fair because the man didn't care!

"Stay away from me!" I shouted, backing down the docks step by slow step. "I don't know what you think I said, but I would never volunteer to come here and leave my life behind! You kidnapped me. You must have! And none of them care, do they?"

"Careful, Emma," Rhyse rumbled. "It gets slippery."

"Don't tell me what to do," I snapped. "You don't know me. You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you're going to fall."

"I am—" My foot snagged on something, a pile of rope, and I stumbled backward.

Into open air.

I screamed as I fell toward the ocean, but it was cut off as I came to a sharp, abrupt stop, my legs dangling over the side of a boat. An odd warmth started to cover my right shoulder and flow down my arm.

Casually, as if nothing was the matter, I turned my head to the right and gaped at the giant harpoon sticking up through my shoulder, impaling me.

The boat rocked gently with the waves, and the movement tugged at me, making me rock back and forth.

Then the pain hit me.