Page 33 of Saving Her Dragon

“You need rest, Lad,” Han’s deep voice rumbled quietly within his psyche, a heavy wave of Draconic concern washing through their Bond. “Your mind cannot heal if you force it to stay awake.”

Garrett didn't move. He kept his eyes locked on the empty dark above his head.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," he whispered into the silence.

8

Watching the Dark

Sydney woke to the sound of nothing.

The bedroom was swallowed by the heavy silence of 2:00 AM, and that absence of sound was precisely what had pulled her from sleep. There was no deep, rhythmic breathing beside her. There was no soft shift of fabric against the sheets.

She turned her head slowly on the pillow. Garrett was lying flat on his back, his broad shoulders perfectly square against the line of the headboard, his arms straight at his sides. His eyes were wide open. He was staring unblinkingly at the empty blackness of the ceiling.

He hadn't moved since they had laid down. He hadn't slept for a single second.

Sydney didn't ask the obvious question. She didn't offer a gentle inquiry into his well-being. She simply shifted across the mattress, sliding her hand up until her palm rested flat against the hard, unyielding center of his chest. His heart was hammering a steady, frantic rhythm beneath her fingers, completely at odds with his rigid, motionless posture.

"Dragon Man," she whispered into the dark.

"I'm fine," Garrett answered instantly, his voice clipped, gravelly, and entirely too alert.

"I didn’t ask a question," Sydney countered softly. She tried to project a sliver of their usual playful warmth into the space between them, but the smile died before it could reach her lips.

Through the raw, exposed channels of their Mating Bond, a wave of pure, suffocating exhaustion poured into her consciousness. It was a heavy, toxic tide of bone-deep fatigue, and right behind it was a massive wall of sheer, stubborn willpower.

Garrett was actively, systematically keeping himself awake. He was fighting his own biology as if it were a hostile force breaching his perimeter.

"You need to close your eyes, Garrett," she said, her voice turning firm.

"I'm being cautious, Syd," he murmured, his jaw tightening so hard she could see the sharp line of it in the faint moonlight filtering through the glass. "Establishing standard tactical observation parameters. That's all."

Sydney let out a sharp, frustrated breath. "I'm calling bullshit. You're scared."

"I'm prepared."

"Those two things are not mutually exclusive," she shot back, pushing herself up onto one elbow so she could look down at his face. She refused to stop. She could feel the agonizing humiliation and guilt eating him alive from the inside out, a dark stain on his soul, and she was not having any of it.

“I know you don’t want to close your eyes because your brother is sitting out there in a wooden chair in the hall, being vigilant in the dark.”

“It’s not that it is Grey,” he sighed. “I trust him with my life. More importantly, I trust him with your life.”

“Okay,” she stretched out the word. “Then what’s the…?”

“It’s the sheer weight, like a ton of cement blocks bearing down on me, of knowing my family is forced to establish a physical guard rotation to protect everyone from…” He cleared his throat. “From… From me.” Inhaling deeply, he kept going, “It’s like a fucking wound, Syd.”

“So, you’re gonna punish yourself, force your body and mind into submission so nobody else has to carry the burden?"

“I have to. I can’t…”

“Carrick ordered a watch because we need information, Garrett," Sydney insisted, her voice dropping into a fierce, protective register. "Not because anyone thinks you're evil. Not because we don’t trust you." Throwing her thumb over her shoulder, she didn't even take a breath or pause. “Grey is out there because he is your brother, and he loves you."

Dropping her hand, she traced the rigid edge of his cheekbone with the tips of her fingers. "And I am here because I am your Mate. Stop treating sleep like a prison sentence."

Garrett closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, a ragged, painful breath escaping his lips. When his gaze lifted back to hers, the vulnerability in his lavender eyes nearly broke her heart.

"What happens if one of you falls asleep?" he whispered, the words sounding entirely hollow.