O'Malley: Summer (Shifter Seasons Book 7)

know what she’d been expecting but that wasn’t it. For a person to just completely vanish seemed more unbelievable than dragons existing. This whole experience was definitely messing with her grasp on reality.
If shifters were real, if dragons were real, then what else was real?
“Hannah.” O’Malley’s hand on her arm brought her back to the mountains where the darkness surrounded them. But there, out of the darkness, a large creature loomed, its scales rippling in the light from the kitchen doorway where Amber stood.
“It’s really a dragon.” She stared at the creature as it turned its head from side to side and then sank down with one knee.
“It’s really a dragon and we have to get on his back.” O’Malley cupped her elbow in his hand and propelled her forward. She wasn’t aware of how it happened, which foot she placed on his leg first or how she managed to swing her leg over its back, but somehow, she was straddling the dragon.
Hannah gripped onto the large horn that jutted out along the dragon’s back, just as O’Malley had described. Behind her, his body pressed against her backpack, his arms around her waist, was the man who was her mate.
“Hold on tight.” As the dragon dipped down and then launched himself into the air, Hannah saw things in crystal clarity. Dragons were real and she was O’Malley’s mate. They shared a connection. It was evident in the touch of his fingertips as he held her elbow and now in the way her body tingled as he held her against him.
Her world tilted sideways just as the dragon did as he cleared the tops of the trees and then flew across the side of the mountains, heading for the peaks. There was nothing between them and the stars as the dragon skimmed the peaks and then flew higher. He climbed and climbed until the air was cold and thin. Up here they would not be seen from the ground as he banked to the right and flew toward the coast.
Out across the ocean, he flew without pause. On and on, not tiring as her hands stiffened around his horn. She could not flex her fingers and ease the cramps that tightened her muscles. Yet she wasn’t scared. Amber was right, this was not the same as being in a tin airplane with a pilot at the controls.
She was riding on the back of a living, breathing dragon. Made of muscle and bone, with scales that shimmered and wings that beat a steady rhythm as he carried them toward their destination.
Time seemed to have no meaning, she was locked in another world with O’Malley watching over her, holding her, keeping her safe. She leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder. Turning her head, she said, “This is incredible.”
“It is.” His cheek rubbed against hers. Rough against smooth, and her nerve endings tingled at his touch.
Hannah never wanted this to end. She wanted them to fly on and on, an endless flight where her problems were left behind on the ground far below. But that would mean Karl would stay lost forever and she couldn’t let that happen.
So when the dragon banked to the right and began to descend, she was ready to face the next part of the adventure she’d started out on when she walked into the bar and met O’Malley. Unsure of where exactly that adventure would take her, or where it would end was yet to be seen.
But she was ready to face whatever life threw her way if her mate was by her side.
Hannah’s resolve temporarily dissolved as the dragon came in to land. A strong wind buffeted them as they dropped lower over the mountainous region where the village Karl had set off from was situated. The dragon coped well, but Hannah’s grip threatened to fail as her stiff hands refused to obey the commands sent by her brain.
O’Malley held on tight, his arms circling around her, keeping her from falling off as the wind whipped her hair around her face, temporarily blinding her. Hannah closed her eyes and focused on the things that were tangible, solid, and real. She didn’t want to look at the world below that seemed to be rushing toward them too fast.
Kelos would keep them safe. He wouldn’t let them fall. She repeated the words Amber had told her until at last, with a light thud, the dragon landed on two feet.
She let out a rush of air her lungs had kept prisoner and the wind immediately stole it away, leaving her breathless. Hannah sucked in another breath, breathing deep, filling her chest with air before letting it out slowly. She was back in control.
“Are you okay?” O’Malley asked as he loosened his hold on her.
“I think so.” She stared down at her hands, willing her fingers to uncurl from around the horn, but they refused to obey.
O’Malley shifted his weight and leaned over to one side. Covering her hands with his, he rubbed them until they warmed enough for the feeling to return. Stretching and flexing her fingers, she finally gained mobility and let go of the dragon horn that had been her constant security during the flight.
“We need to get off so that Kelos can fly home.”
Hannah nodded and rolled her stiff shoulders as O’Malley swung his leg behind him and slid down onto the dragon’s leg. She followed, practically falling into his outstretched arms as he caught her and stopped her from falling. When he was certain she could stand on her own, O’Malley jumped down to the ground and helped Hannah as she clumsily followed.
As soon as they were on the ground, the air popped and fizzed and the dragon disappeared to be replaced by Kelos in his human form once more. “Are you sure you are okay here? I can wait twenty-four hours just in case the trail is cold, and you need to go straight back to Cougar Ridge.”
“No, this is the right place,”