Skydance

by Katherine Rhodes

  “Emergency boning,” Niko grunted.

  “Mile high club,” Max reasoned.

  “He’s the only one who can handle this.” Carl laughed.

  “There’s no one else who can come!” Keni said.

  “We need you to wedge this in!” Patricia giggled.

  “People, people,” Amy said, holding up her hands. “This is a small problem.”

  They all collapsed into a fit of laughter and spent the rest of the night making up wonderful puns about Brent and his problem. Eventually, though, Keni kicked Max under the table and they had to head out. Keni had an early flight and she had to pack. His and Niko’s flights were a few days later, since he wanted to stick around and make sure that Niko was going to be okay with going back and forth between North Carolina and Minnesota, and make sure he could handle his wife behind bars. Their first visit was on Friday, and they both had a flight out on Sunday.

  Max looked at the house behind them as they headed for the car. “Keni, can you just put a few wards around this place? I’d feel better. Something that keeps her from any other dreamwalkers getting in, too?”

  “Of course.” She smiled. “Worried?”

  “He won’t be home for a few days, but we’re also in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina. There are serious hills around here. I don’t know if the Hatfields and the McCoys are around the corner.”

  “I think they finally signed a peace contract a few years ago.”

  “Oh.” He shook his head. “You know what I mean.”

  Nodding, she waved back toward the house and a few pulses of magic traveled through the air. Max felt more relaxed once those were up. He couldn’t figure out why he felt that there was some kind of danger, but he did. He hoped it was just him worrying about Brent and what a dick the guy was for doing this to his fiancée.

  As they walked into the hotel, Max stopped Keni for a moment. “Do you need a ride to the airport?”

  “Hotel has a shuttle. I’ll be fine.”

  “Be careful. I’ll be home next week.”

  “Sure you will.”

  He watched her walk into the elevator, not moving. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Keni waved as the doors closed. “Good night, Max.”

  His cell phone rang in his ear.

  He forgot how loud it was when it got dropped right next to an ear after falling asleep. Groping for the device, he had to poke the answer button a few times before it actually took and made the connection.

  “Hrrrn?”

  “Max?”

  “Ammmm?” He cleared his throat and tried to wake up a little bit. “Amy? That you?”

  “I didn’t know who to call, Max.”

  “What’s wrong?” He sat up and flipped on the light in the room.

  “I…I guess I just don’t know what I’ve done. So much is going on that I’m scared I’ve screwed this up. I don’t think this is right. Or maybe it’s wrong and I’m okay with that? Or…”

  “Amy, stop, stop. Take a breath. Can you hang on for a little while? I’ll drive out to you.”

  She was quiet. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’ll come out to you.”

  “Thank you, Max.”

  He pulled on a pair of sweats and T-shirt, grabbing his keys and wallet. He managed the back roads between the hotel and the house at a breakneck speed. He was glad he’d rented the car and didn’t drive out—out of state plates would have gotten him pulled over with the speed he was going.

  Amy was on the back deck as he pulled up the driveway, and he walked straight back there. She was wrapped up in a heavy blanket and crying quietly as he sat down next to her. She was freezing, and he pulled her close and let his natural heat warm her up. A few moments later, she stopped shivering and looked up at him.

  “You really did come out here.”

  “Of course. I said I would.”

  “I didn’t know who else to call. I totally faked being okay with this, Max. I’m not okay with it. I hate Brent now. I hate that I’ve wasted time with him. I also hate that I can’t just call my best friend and talk with her about this.”

  “She’s not gone forever, Amy. You’re only two hours away.”

  Sniffling, she snuggled into him more. “If you haven’t noticed I don’t do well with change. I mean, do you know anyone else who would have spent three years pining for her best friend and thinking it would all go back to normal when we found her? How unrealistic is that? And thinking that there was nothing wrong with my fiancé working until seven or eight three nights a week and working weekends in a financial firm? I mean…it doesn’t make sense at all.”

  “You’re not unrealistic, you’re hopeful.”

  “So hopeful I was willing to not see what was going on with Brent.”

  Max took a deep breath and wrapped her right. “You’re hopeful, Amy. Do you know why? Because you can see people’s dreams. And dreams are hopeful things. Unless you had enchiladas and watched Saw.”

  She laughed, and snorted, and then tried to stop laughing and made herself snort again. “Enchiladas?”

  “It was a really bad dream. Also, I knew better than to watch horror movies. So it was a collection of bad ideas.” Max leaned back in the chair. “Look, Amy, I get that change his hard. I mean, I was born in the Carpathians under the Hungarian Empire. I spent a long time in Victorian and Edwardian London, and the way the world had changed even between the two was shocking. And just imagine how much it’s changed from there.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m making this insignificant, because it’s big to you. I just want you to understand that I get it. Change sucks, and your best friend is in jail.”

  Amy just rested against him, not saying anything for a few minutes. “It’s okay that I hate change?”

  “Yes. Of course. Remember, you can see Betsy anytime you want. You’re not that far away, and you can visit her dreams. You’ll be okay.”

  “Will I? I can’t be trusted to find someone to marry who doesn’t treat me like shit.”

  “Brent doesn’t deserve you.” Max shook his head. “He didn’t seem to like most of your family and friends anyway, so is it really a loss?”

  “I guess not.” Amy wiped away a few tears. “He started to change when I told him about the Sectorum and my dreamwalking. I guess he wasn’t really interested in being mired in that kind of history and obligation.”

  Max swallowed his pride. “You slept with him? Because if you two were waiting for the wedding night...”

  Amy laughed and patted his cheek. “You’re cute. Of course, I slept with him. We were cohabitating.”

  “Yeah, well. That doesn’t mean much.”

  “Yes, Max. I slept with him. No doubt. So our lack of sex was not an issue. Well, it was an issue, but I was more than willing. I really do think that the magic is what scared him. Not me, and not the sex thing.”

  “Uh, is this something we have to worry about? How much did he know?”

  “Well, we shouldn’t have to worry. I didn’t tell him everything. I told him about the dreamwalking magic and had started to tell him about the Sectorum. But only just. I didn’t come anywhere near telling him the extent of it and how deeply I was involved. I guess that if he wasn’t comfortable with that, he’d never be comfortable with Betsy being mated to a dragon. Or my boss being the Gray Eminence. Or one of my best friends being a sorceress.”

  Max laughed. “Still, you might want to make sure he’s not going to tell anyone. Not that they’d believe him about shifters and sorceresses.”

  “I’ll scare him in his dreams.”

  “Amy…”

  “What? I can do that. It’s not hard.”

  “I’d…” He coughed.

  She turned and looked at him. “Are you jealous that I’d go into his dream again?”

  He could feel his eyes darting around, to keep from looking at her. He was incredibly jealous that she would ever even think about it. But if he was going to talk, it was going to be ne
cessary for her to convince him. “Maybe a little.”

  “Maybe a lot,” she corrected with a grin.

  Clearing his throat, he shook his head. “Amy, don’t. Don’t tease me.”

  “Tease you? Max, I think it’s sweet you’re jealous.”

  “Mój cenny, it’s not just jealousy.”

  Amy cocked her head. “It’s not just…Max? Are you carrying a torch for me?”

  “No.”

  He stared at her for a moment, studying her. He felt like a bit of an asshole for wanting her before her fiancé had even realized they weren’t a thing anymore, but at the same time, she was his. His mate. His to keep. He had been patient in waiting for her, in not interfering with her engagement. There was no way to tell how long his window of opportunity was going to be open for.

  He grabbed her hand from under the blankets. “Come on. We’re going for a ride.”

  “What? It’s three in the morning.” She gasped and resisted a bit.

  “You called me, and now we’re going on a little adventure.” He stood up and helped her off the chair. “Come on. Just…trust me.”

  It was clear she wasn’t really prepared for this, but he pulled her along down to the car. She was in the cutest pajamas he’d ever seen, with cupcakes and kittens, and she was wearing cupcake and kitten slippers. They were perfect, and she looked adorable. He helped her into the car and ran around to get in himself.

  He’d been meaning to do this for a few days, and now was the perfect time.

  Following the mountain roads around, he made his way west from the house to the higher peaks of the Appalachians. He’d found the perfect spot and realized it wasn’t going to be easier for her to climb to the ridge he needed.

  Didn’t matter. He’d carry her if he had to.

  The turn off for his destination appeared suddenly, and he had to jerk the car to the left, and he was almost foiled by a gate not very far down the road. But he hopped the curb with the rental, as Amy yelped and looked around for cops. There was no one around, and he got back on the road just after the gate.

  The main parking lot was too far from the trail, so he made his way to the picnic area near the lake and parked there.

  “Max, where the hell are we? What are we doing? I’m in my damn pajamas.”

  “Come on, trust me.” He held out his hand.

  “You want me to hike through the woods in the middle of the night, in my slippers?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “And you’re here with me. Come on.”

  She finally climbed out and he locked the door behind them.

  “We’re going to get arrested if they find us out here.”

  “My car is legally parked in a lot.”

  “After going around a locked gate at a state park.”

  “Whatever. Come on. I want you to see this.”

  “Max! Slippers!”

  He turned around and bent down. “Climb on.”

  “Are you for real? You’re going to carry me? Where are we going? It’s cold out here!”

  “Climb on. Just please, climb on.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and he grabbed her legs around his waist. He made sure to keep himself warm and started to walk through the dark woods. He was glad for his supernatural strength. Carrying her all the way to Hanging Rock wasn’t going to be a problem.

  “Shit, Max, I forget you’re a shifter sometimes.”

  “Because I don’t show it?”

  “Yes, and I just know you as Max. Not an elemental dragon. What are we doing out here, anyway? I mean, I was just confessing to you that I’m confused and sad, and now we’re pulling some kind of Jedi master training trick?”

  Max guffawed as he jogged down the path. “That’s not what I was going for, to be sure. But it does kind of look like that.”

  “You could have told me to grab my tennis shoes.”

  “Why? We’re not playing tennis.”

  “Trainers. Sneakers. Things you run or walk in!”

  “Oh, it’s a North Carolina thing… Gotcha. This was too much of an impulse to wait for you to get shoes on. Plus, these are cute.”

  “Max, that ridge is huge! Let me down. I’ll walk if you can help me.”

  She had spotted the climb to the top. He hadn’t even realized he was running as they moved down the path, but it felt really good to stretch his legs and use his power. “No, Amy. Let me. I forgot how good it feels to run.”

  “With my ass on your back?”

  “Yes. Especially with you.”

  She was quiet. He hadn’t meant to put so much in the statement, but there it was. He kept running, and the ridge was nothing but a blip to him. The path to the top of the ridge was a bit more, but again the strain felt good. His dragon was dying for him to get to the top and wanted out.

  Of all the dragons in Pine Valley, he had been the one in the most control until Niko had mated. He still wanted out, to be flown, on a regular basis, but he didn’t let it take control. It was only bad when he’d been under stress.

  Or when he was running with his mate on his back.

  Finally, the trail led out to the rock, and it was exactly what he’d hoped and needed.

  “Wow…” Amy breathed the words in his ear. “This is gorgeous.” He couldn’t disagree with the moon at gibbous, sitting above the trees, but heading for the horizon. “Okay, Max, put me down.”

  He looked over his shoulder. “You trust me?”

  She caught his eyes. “Yes?”

  Smirking, he re-secured her on his back. “Whatever happens, don’t let go.”

  “Don’t let go?”

  Max didn’t explain. He just held her tight and ran for the edge of the hanging rock and jumped off.

  Amy screamed.

  Reflexively, her arms and legs tightened around his falling body. Her eyes slammed shut so she couldn’t see the end as the ground rushed up to kill them.

  They were going to die, smashed into the rocks below the cliff.

  But before they had been in air more than a second, she felt his body change. The magic of the shift rippled through him, and the neck she was clinging to became too large to wrap her arms around. A tall spine emerged and she grabbed that instead. His waist expanded, and she found she was seated as though she were riding a horse.

  Daring to open her eyes, she found that Max was gone. Instead, she was sitting on the back of a white and purple dragon, his wings wide and flexing to turn them up from the death spiral she was sure they were in.

  They skimmed just over the tops of the trees, the wind from their passage shaking the leaves from the branches. The moonlight lit the way through the sky, and they winged west, deeper into the mountains, the canopy hiding their passage from the dark below.

  “Oh my God, Maximillian!” The words were shrill and shocked, even to her own ears. “Are you insane?”

  He glanced back at her, his bright blue eyes still fully his and laced with mischief. He dipped his wings from side to side, and Amy gasped, holding on to the spine even tighter.

  She knew he wasn’t going to drop her, even though he was—basically—hot dogging. Feeling the powerful strokes of his wings, it was simply stretching his muscles. Even though they were streaking through the sky at breakneck speed, he kept his body heat high enough to keep her warm in the cool wind.

  “Max, did you plan this?”

  He lifted his head and dipped it: a yes.

  “You’re a son of a bitch. You tricked me!”

  This time, he tipped from side to side.

  “Don’t tell me no. You tricked me.” Another tip from side to side. “You just decided to do this on a whim. Tonight. But you were planning it. That’s the only way you knew about Hanging Rock.” This time a lift and drop: yes.

  She held on and let him fly, covering insane distances and simply gliding over the mountains and valleys of the state. There were canyons and peaks, and he skimmed them with equal skill. They were moving so f
ast she really didn’t have time to think about anything except holding on—and shockingly, enjoying herself.

  “Max, the sky is getting light. We’re going to have to go back soon. You’ll be seen up here.”

  Swooping around, she saw the parking lot with the car below them. He’d already started heading back, and they were getting very close to landing. “Oh, God, please tell me you’ve landed before…”

  She felt him chuckling beneath her and dropped into a dive. She screamed again, but as he got close to the ground, he swooped around and landed right next to the car in the brightening light of day.

  He put his foot up to help her down. “Max, don’t shift yet. Just wait a moment.” Amy scrambled down his massive paw and claw and landed in front of him. Walking along his flank, she trailed her fingers over his scales, tracing patterns and looking at the way the light sparkled on his white purple patterns.

  Max turned his massive head to look at her walking around him. Blinking slowly, he was patient as she examined him, and finally stopped in front of him. “You’re absolutely gorgeous. You’re even more beautiful than Niko…”

  She watched as the magic washed over him and transformed him back into the Max Amy had known until tonight.

  The extremely naked Max.

  “Oh. My.”

  He raised an eyebrow and dipped into her pajama pocket, grabbing the car keys she hadn’t realized he’d dropped in there. Popping the trunk open, he grabbed a set of clothes and pulled them on quickly.

  She didn’t miss the hard-on. Even in the sweatpants.

  “Why did you do that?” That wasn’t what she wanted to say.

  “Do what?”

  “Jump off the damn cliff with me on your back! Why didn’t you just shift and pick me up.”

  Shaking his head, he closed the trunk. “Because I can’t. We’re confined to shifting only with our element until we’re mated. I am an air dragon. I have to shift in the air, and since my human can’t fly, I have to fall.”

  “With me on your back?” Folding her arms, she gave him an angry stare.

  “Well, I don’t usually do that.”