Free Mate Of A Dragon Villain (Skeleton Key) by Skeleton Key, Mandy Rosko

“Th-they won’t hurt her, will they?”
    This time, she did hear the disgruntled muttering.
    Hargreave nodded. “She is perfectly safe with my men.”
    It was the calm expression in his eyes, despite the sounds of fighting that were still so far away and yet so close, that made Amanda swallow hard and release Olga’s hand.
    Olga squeaked, and Amanda felt the need to reassure her. “I won’t let them hurt you. You’ll be safe.”
    She couldn’t guarantee that, but that same trust for Hargreave and his word returned to her. If Hargreave said Olga was a guest and not to be harmed, then Amanda believed him.
    She probably shouldn’t, but there was nothing to be done about that now.
    The blond-haired man really did treat Olga gently, and there was nothing sinister in his gaze as he stared down at the smaller woman. Olga squeaked again when the man pulled Olga up into his arms, clearly ignoring the mud and leaves on himself as well as the smell on her.
    Olga even blushed when she, reluctantly, put her arms around the man’s neck and shoulders.
    So caught up in the sight of them, Amanda released an embarrassing squawk of her own when Hargreave pulled her up into his arms. Heat rushed up her neck and into her face, too. Her hands needed somewhere to be, so it only made sense for her to wrap them around Hargreave’s neck and shoulders.
    And despite how dirty they were, despite how much they smelled, she couldn’t help but notice the strength and warmth of him. It was all around her, comforting her like a warm blanket.
    Amanda could hardly look at him, but when she did, the way his eyes danced as he looked at her, the pleased smile that pulled at his lips, it made the heat in her face so much more intense.
    His next words were softly spoken, as though anything harsher would frighten her. “I would never have left you with them.”
    Without any effort at all, and before Amanda could open her mouth to reply, Hargreave’s wings made their appearance, spreading out behind him, strong and vast, before flapping down hard, yanking them into the air.
    Amanda screamed. She couldn’t help herself.
    Hargreave’s men shouted around her, but she could barely make out a word of what they were saying.
    Didn’t matter anyway because when she opened her eyes and looked down, there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of feet between her and the ground. She would have screamed again if there had been any breath in her.
    Oh, right, she was breathing. She was hyperventilating. This wasn’t something she was ever going to get used to, and she remembered falling from the sky when she’d opened her closet door with that skeleton key. Not something she wanted to experience again.
    Hargreave shushed her. He did it gently. There was no hint of annoyance or anger in it. “Sweet, be calm. You’ll draw attention to us. Eldric’s men will shoot us out of the sky.”
    Amanda bit down on her lips. She nodded, focusing on breathing deeply through her nose.
    As much as she didn’t like the way the butterflies twisted and slammed around in her stomach with every flap of Hargreave’s wings, getting shot down would mean falling again. Not something she wanted to deal with.
    “That’s it, good. You’re doing so well.”
    Hargreave’s voice sounded genuinely proud. Amanda wasn’t looking at him. She was too busy burying her face in his chest, but she could almost hear the smile on his mouth. It felt good. It really did.
    “Don’t…don’t drop me.”
    Even her words sounded like they wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.
    Hargreave chuckled at her. “I would sooner spear myself.”
    She believed him. That feeling inside her, the good one, stirred up again. For better or for worse, Amanda felt a pull towards this man, that she could trust him to hold her this high off the ground and keep her safe.
    She relaxed, her muscles melting out of that tense, high-strung sensation that had been making her entire body cramp up without realizing it. She