Eternal (Dragon Wars, #2) Read Online Free

Dougal.
    Brett scuttled off to find alcohol. Dougal could practically feel his silent grumbles. At the moment, he didn’t care.
    He looked at Caitlyn as she stared at the fire. Her eyes were blue, but not like the hateful ocean. No, they were more akin to the skies back home.
    “Are you sure you want to do this tomorrow?”
    “No. To be completely honest, I have absolutely no interest in going to dragon baby land. I guess I’m the right person for the job. Out of the whole lab, I’m the most appropriate Werewolf to go.”
    She shook her head and some of her blonde hair fell around her shoulders. With a sigh she shrugged and what he could only describe as a disgruntled smirk crossed her face. It was...adorable.
    “The whole conversation moments ago, with the Miss versus the Ma’am thing? I couldn’t help except wonder if the word Doctor wouldn’t be more appropriate given your level of expertise to be sent here.”
    Caitlyn lifted her gaze to meet his. “Female Werewolves don’t get to have such a title.”
    “I know.” He cleared his throat. “Are we honorary brother and sister? Since my brother mated...which one of your sisters?”
    “Lena. She would have been five when you left. She was the baby.”
    “What?” He couldn’t keep the shock from his voice. “My forty year old brother mated your baby sister? “
    “She’s twenty-three.” Caitlyn laughed and it made the night brighten. He sat straighter. “We were all surprised. Not unhappy. Shocked, yes. The mating chemicals want what they want, right? She told me she knew when she was seven.”
    “Well, color me shocked. Good for them.” Devon mated. At least one of his brothers should enjoy the privilege, and to the girl next door no less. Stranger things happened, he supposed.
    “He saved her from a dragon.”
    Devon’s bravery didn’t surprise him in the least. “He lived for five years in a dragon prison. Saving his mate from a dragon? Must have seemed like a boring day.”
    His little brother who had tagged after him with skinned knees as a mated Werewolf, it was difficult to reconcile. He’d been benched from the prison rescue, which freed Devon. When possible, Werewolves weren’t sent on missions with their direct kin. Of course, with their dwindling numbers, the rule would have to be changed soon.
    “Why were you the most qualified to do this?”
    She jumped when he spoke as though her mind had been elsewhere. He’d do almost anything to know what she thought about.
    ****
    C aitlyn supposed she could lie. She didn’t owe him the truth. For all intents and purposes, with her silly mating feelings and new familial connections aside, she didn’t know Dougal Owens at all. How would he know whether or not she was the most scientifically qualified member of her team to go on the trip? If she told him it was work related, he’d believe her.
    Yet this was likely the only time she’d ever really get to speak to the man who captured and held her thoughts and sexual fantasies for the whole of her adult life. She didn’t want to diminish their precious few moments together with falsehoods.
    “We’re all equally able to evaluate the fields—nests—whatever you want to call them. I’m going to take a few pictures and then the whole lab can see what I saw anyway. They believed I would be the least likely to be molested by the soldiers I encountered.”
    Her heart beat too fast and she forced it to slow. Nothing miraculous would come of her confession. He’d likely not give her words another thought, never know the cost of her confession. Or the way she stupidly cried herself to sleep after the meeting about why they all felt she should be the female to visit the fields.
    She was the least likely to mate someday, therefore if she did die, she’d be the smallest loss to society. Gods, sometimes she hated female Werewolves.
    “Why would they think something so ridiculous?” A growl rumbled in the words. He stood. She half-expected him to