The Dragon’s Chance by Jessie Donovan

Chapter Nineteen

Connor MacAllister approached Aimee King's cottage and took a second to go through his options.

With all the hubbub of his sister Cat giving birth and his mum going to America, he hadn't had a lot of free time.

As a result, it meant he hadn't been able to walk past Aimee's cottage like he normally did, not for a couple weeks now.

Aye, he'd thought of sending her a note, but he didn't want to scare her. After all, it'd taken months for the female to gather enough courage to merely open her window and wave at him.

But maybe now she thought he'd forgotten her or didn't care, or maybe even had retreated once more after some sort of setback.

Which meant she might not come to the window again, maybe never.

And for some reason, he didn't like that.

His dragon sighed. Don't just stand here. That won't accomplish anything.

It's a delicate situation, dragon. As you well know.

His beast sighed. Aye, but she's come a long way from arriving on Lochguard. And knocking on a door isn't going to send her into a fit.

You don't know that.

Maybe not. But I do know that if she can't learn to come out of that house more than once every few weeks, she'll never be able to enjoy life again.

While Connor didn't know all the details of what had happened before coming to Lochguard, he knew Aimee had been tossed into prison by the old Skyhunter leader at age eighteen and had stayed there for five long years. Everyone assumed Aimee had been tortured in some manner, given how her dragon was silent. That only happened because of drugs, severe trauma, or a combination of the two.

Or so he'd read. Connor had secretly been learning more and more about inner dragons over the last few months. He wasn't a doctor, but for some reason, he wanted to know more about Aimee and what was or wasn't possible for her now.

He may not be able to help her talk to her beast again or even encourage her to shift if her dragon did return, but he could distract her, make her smile, and maybe teach her to trust him a wee bit. Not all males were bad, and if he could be the one to remind her of that, then he'd be content.

Mostly.

However, no matter how bonny she was, Connor wasn't going to imagine more.

Aye, well, not in reality. He couldn't contain his dreams of the lass smiling and welcoming him. Teasing him freely and not holding back.

Being the female she could've been had she lived a normal life.

But she hadn't had a normal life, and Connor knew it. So pushing aside those thoughts, he readjusted the container in his hands. Cat had mentioned once how Aimee liked biscuits, so he'd made some chocolate chip ones for her.

Right, then.He'd put it off long enough. So Connor stepped onto the path, looked up at her window, and waited to see if she'd show.

One minute passed, and then another. Even after five minutes, she didn't appear.

He had one last option before the door-knocking. So he picked up a wee pebble and tossed it against the window. And then again with another.

No dark-haired lass came to the window.

Connor was just debating whether he should knock when Aimee's slight form appeared in the window.

As she scanned the path and spotted him, he waved. And for a second, Aimee merely stood there, her face expressionless.

Then she opened the window. "What?"

Connor resisted frowning at the irritation in her voice. He'd never heard that before. Aye, they hadn't talked much, but she'd always been shy and kind before.

He lifted the biscuits. "I'm going to leave these biscuits here for you."

"Why?"

At her curt tone, he wondered if she were angry at him. "As an apology. I didn't mean to miss our near-daily greetings, but a lot has happened to my family lately." He paused and then blurted, "I was going to send a message but didn't know if you'd want it."

Her posture relaxed a fraction. Her voice was soft as she answered, "I had hoped you would say something about why you haven't been around." Her next words were merely a whisper, but he heard it easily thanks to his supersensitive hearing. "No one tells me anything, after all. And I…well…going out is difficult for me."

It was the first time she'd ever been so honest with him and said more than a few words about the weather or asked what he was going to cook that day.

Ignoring the small thrill that shot through him, he cleared his throat and smiled up at her. Deciding to push her a wee bit, he asked, "So are we friends then?"

She looked off to the side and lightly traced the edge of the window frame. "I had hoped we were."

Oh, lass.He hated that she had to doubt it.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Of course we're friends." He placed the container on her front stoop and then raced back enough to see her again. "Give me a request, Aimee. And I'll do whatever you want."

She smiled shyly as her green eyes met his again. "I like it when you surprise me."

Even though his dragon kept silent around Aimee since flashing dragon eyes still frightened her, Connor could sense his dragon's approval.

And so he backed up, ran, and managed a series of flips until he was on the other side in front of her cottage.

As he stuck his landing, he grinned up at her and she clapped. "That was brilliant."

At the happiness in her eyes, Connor decided talking with her via window wasn't nearly enough.

Aye, it'd take time and patience, but he was determined to sit across from Aimee King, talk with her, and be the friend she desperately needed.

The hard part would be not wanting more from her.