by J. D. Monroe
Izarin sipped her champagne and smiled slyly.
“Mother. Is it a Chris? At least tell me that.”
“Chloe, Taegan tells me that you’re flying quite well,” Nareta said, leaning forward. “And you’re feeling well?”
“Yes,” she said. “We’ve been going out to the Grove every weekend. He’s a very good teacher.”
Nareta beamed with pride. “I know he is. He’s a patient man, like his father.”
Not to mention, they celebrated each successful training session with a hearty round of lovemaking. She hadn’t realized just how primal her dragon side was until he practically tackled her, instantly igniting a ravenous need in her. Yesterday, they’d been the only ones at the Grove, and she’d checked an item off her bucket list: sex in the car.
Not that she’d be mentioning that to his mother, who had no need to know that her precious son could draw an orgasm out of her as naturally as he summoned fire from thin air.
“We’re heading up north in a few weeks,” Tellana said. “Miles and miles of open land to fly. I hope you can come.”
“I’ll have to see how it works with my school schedule,” Chloe said. “But I hope I can.”
Izarin tilted her head. “Why don’t you come work for me? Or one of the family businesses? Then you can make your own schedule.”
“It’s very kind of you,” Chloe said politely. “But I really like working with kids.”
“Human children?” Nareta asked.
She nodded. “I found out my mom taught music when she first came here. Maybe it runs in the family.”
“I think it’s great,” Tellana said, shooting her mother a sharp look. “Alyssa Kouris loves her.”
“Oh, goodness. I hope I didn’t offend,” Izarin said. “If you’re happy, then I gladly support you. I think it’s wonderful.”
Chloe bit back a response. She didn’t want or need Izarin’s approval to keep her job. But after spending several evenings with the family, she’d realized that as Taegan said, the community really was a family. Flawed, but fundamentally good. Izarin’s support was genuine, not a passive-aggressive jab at a perceived inferiority.
“Nareta, her mother was a Sunbringer,” Izarin said. She smiled. “My grandmother came from the Sunbringer clan as well. They’re a powerful warrior clan in the old world. You have strong blood in you.”
Izarin’s words warmed her and Chloe nodded. “I’d love to learn more about it,” she said.
“You will,” Izarin said. Her brow lifted, following something over Chloe’s shoulder.
A warm hand fell on her back, sending a delightful shiver down her spine. She didn’t have to look up to know it was him. The heat, the delicious scent, and the mere contact of Taegan’s skin on hers awakened the fiery energy in her. Chloe glanced up and smiled at him. He held out a glass of champagne. “Ladies. Two minutes ‘til midnight. I’m afraid I have to steal her.”
Chloe stood, watching as Taegan took his mother’s hand and kissed it gently. He spoke to her quietly in Kadirai. She smiled, waving him off. He kissed her cheek again then offered his hand to Chloe.
He kissed Chloe’s cheek as they walked out to the balcony and into the cool winter evening. “Hi yourself,” he said. “Did I rescue you from the ferocious dragon women of Portland? Were they awful?”
She laughed, nestling herself against him. “They were fine,” she said. “I think they like me now.”
“I know they do,” Taegan said. “My mother called me three times this week to make sure I was bringing you tonight. And she texted me while you were talking to Tellana to say that Mirav Kholar was checking you out, and she would burn his eyes from their sockets if he tried to make a move on you.”
She laughed aloud. “Lucky for him, I’m taken.”
“Yes, you are,” he said.
“Is your mom okay being alone?”
He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “She’s not alone.” She followed his gaze to see Malek holding Nareta’s hands while Tellana held two glasses of champagne. “That will never be a risk in this family.”
The countdown had begun inside as the guests chanted, “Nineteen, eighteen…”
Taegan grasped her waist, turning her to look up at him. “You know, there’s a dragon tradition that I haven’t told you yet.”
Her heart thumped. “Which is?”
Eleven. Ten.
“You have to be kissing me when the clock hits midnight, or we’ll both be cursed for the rest of the year,” he said.
Five. Four.
“I think you’re lying.”
“Do you want to risk it?”
One.
She grabbed his hair, pulling him in for a ravenous kiss. His arms tightened around her, caging her against his warm body. Kissing Taegan made everything else seem dull in comparison. Breathing was a chore, an unfortunate necessity that interrupted the sheer perfection. His teeth grazed over her lower lip as she pulled away.
“Wait,” he murmured, gently holding her jaw so he could claim her lips again. “Have to keep going for good luck.”
She broke away and gave him a serious look. “Do you think we’ll have even better luck if we’re in bed together before the clock hits one?”
“I’m a highly educated engineer, and science says it’s worth an experiment.”
“Then get us out of here, science boy.”
They’d shared an Uber over, since they’d both planned to drink cocktails and didn’t want to deal with downtown parking. It was all she could do to keep her hands off of him in the car, though he was very surreptitious as he slid one hand under her skirt, fingers just inches from the blazing heat between her legs.
They managed to keep their cool to thank the driver and walk up the sidewalk like normal people. But somehow, Taegan had her dress unzipped before the door was completely shut.
“Time’s ticking,” he panted, headed for the stairs.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen. Shimmying out of her dress, she bent over the granite countertop and grinned.
He groaned. “Holy shit, Chloe.”
“Come on. This is a year of good luck at stake,” she said. The clank of his belt buckle sent a shiver down her spine.
His hands were blazing hot as they traced over her hips, then pulled the lacy panties down. His fingers trailed the back of her thigh, then slid gently inside her, teasing. “Are you ready?”
“Absolutely,” she replied, clenching tight around him. She braced herself as he slid into her, inch by perfect inch. His arms encircled her, caging her against his warm body as he rocked into her, slow and deep.
Their fiery power crackled in the air and in her veins. It enveloped her body in pleasure, a featureless blanket like fresh snow. She was falling and flying at once, completely at peace.
Taegan’s rhythm accelerated, driving relentlessly into her. Suddenly, he arched into her, groaning as he climaxed. He breathed heavily against her sweat-slicked shoulder. “You didn’t…”
“Not yet,” she said. “But—”
Before she could protest, he dropped to his knees and spun her around, covering her sex with his lips. She cried out as a white-hot bolt twisted from her core and up her spine like lightning. A violent shudder rocked through her. He was almost too good at this.
“Taegan, I’m…” Her whole body trembled. Her legs buckled, and she went tumbling to the ground. The cabinets rattled as both of them hit the floor in a heap of limbs. She squealed as her elbow smacked the floor and sent a shock up her arm. “Shit.”
His eyes went wide as he loomed over her. “Oh, my God, are you okay?’
She burst out laughing as he grabbed her face, tilting it back and forth to look for injury. Through peals of laughter, she managed to say, “I’m fine.”
“That was so much more cool in my head,” he said. “I’m sorry. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I promise I’m fine,” she said. He grabbed her hips and lifted her into his lap, helping himself to a kiss. “Much b
etter now.”
“I had nice candles and everything upstairs. And then you had to go and…” He gestured broadly. “Be stupidly hot.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
He pulled away and grasped her arm, peering at her elbow. His lips blazed warm as he kissed around the bony joint. “You have a bruise.”
“I’ll live,” she said. She pulled her arm away and grasped his face. “Stop worrying. If anything, you should be proud.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re so good at that you made my legs stop working,” she said. He laughed, pulling her in tight for a kiss. Trapped in his arms, she felt like Cinderella, holding onto the magic well after midnight. Well, if Cinderella had ended up naked on the kitchen floor instead of riding in a pumpkin.
Taegan broke away suddenly, clasping her hands between his larger ones. “I need to tell you something. I spent a week on Google trying to decide if it was wrong, but I came to the conclusion that no one else knows what the hell they’re talking about.”
“Uh…okay?” Her heart thumped. He looked so serious. Had he found something else about her past?
“I love you,” he blurted. “And I’m sorry if it’s too soon or not soon enough, but I needed to tell you that.”
Her throat clenched around a lump of emotion. She laughed. “I love you, too. It’s not too soon or too late. It’s perfect.”
“Oh, thank God,” he breathed. “I was—”
She grabbed his face, cutting him off with a kiss.
He moaned against her mouth then broke away. “It’s just that sometimes I worry—”
Shutting him up was too much fun, especially when he gave in so easily. Before she could lock his lips down properly, he pulled away. He gently held her jaw, keeping her at bay. “Let me finish, you insatiable creature.”
“I can’t help it when you’re so stupidly hot,” she replied, trying to lean in and kiss those tantalizing lips.
Despite her dragon strength, he was still stronger. “Sometimes, I worry that you would have been happier not knowing any of this. Without me.”
“Are you insane?” His eyes went wide. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. The time before I met you seems like a million years ago. My life wasn’t bad before, but it was…I don’t know. Empty isn’t the right word. I had—still have—friends, a good job, lots of things to be happy for.” She sighed. “Meeting you changed my shape.”
“Literally.”
She laughed. “Yes, literally. But it’s like you came along and remade me. You expanded me.” He snickered, eyes drifting down to his groin. “Shut up. Are you twelve?”
“Sometimes,” he said.
“There’s still room for all the good things I had before, but you made room for more and brought it all with you. Family, history, everything. I wish I’d known about it all along, honestly. But knowing I could have gone my whole life without this fire…without you? I’m beyond grateful,” she said. “You’ve brought nothing but good into my life. I love you. No regrets.”
“I love you,” Taegan repeated.
She ran one finger down the center of his chest. “Can I kiss you properly now?”
“Nope,” he said, still holding her jaw gently. “New proposal.”
“I’m listening.”
“I don’t know if banging it out in my kitchen is sufficient to guarantee good luck for the rest of the year,” he said, his voice very serious. “I suggest we go upstairs and be extra certain. First day of the New Year is extremely important.”
“Lead the way.”
The End
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On day four hundred and thirty-two of Sohaila Mara’s unjust captivity, she received a sign from the heavens. Since that fateful bloody encounter in the shattered lands of Ifrahl, Sohaila had documented each day in her journal, which had been intended to document patient care upon her arrival in Blackstone.
On day thirty-two, she wrote a simple prayer to the Skymother in a shaky hand. Thanks to her refusal to follow Sidran’s orders, she had not eaten in nearly sixteen days. Her mind was clouded but she sensed that the ultimate freedom was on the horizon. She’d written, please let it happen in my sleep. Bring me home to your halls.
On day forty-seven, she watched one of the Aesdar make the painful, shuddering transformation from a monstrous white dragon back into human form. Its wings blotted out the sun. In its shadow, the air reeked of sickness and death. She had never seen anything like it. That day’s entry consisted of a detailed, but carefully detached description of the terrible process. Words like abomination and unnatural were unscientific, but they would have been appropriate.
On day eighty-eight, she’d made her first and only attempt to escape her captors. She hadn’t written on that day. When she was returned to her quarters and able to hold a pen again, she summarized those three days in a short paragraph, unusually terse in contrast to the detailed entries surrounding it.
Escape failed. Face injured. Left eye obscured. Blood healing applied. Unsure of expectations for recovery.
On day two hundred and sixty, Master Sidran had left the Silent Orchard with three of her Aesdar charges, saying only that he was headed north for a mission. Nearly three weeks later, Sidran returned with only two of them, demanding that she accelerate her work with the trainees he’d left behind.
Sohaila had been imprisoned in the Silent Orchard, a long-abandoned temple in the shattered lands for over a year. With no bells to signal the hours of prayer, she did her best to keep her faith. She had long given up fighting him and did what work Sidran demanded of her. Though her days were sometimes chaotic, her imprisonment was a constant.
Then, on day four hundred and thirty-two, a little bird changed everything.
Open shutters let in a cool, dry breeze and curious creatures. Feathered in drab brown like tree bark, the bird landed on the windowsill of her laboratory. Pungent herbs simmered in an iron pot, filling the air with a thick, medicinal smell. Though her dragon was long gone, Sohaila still possessed the razor-sharp senses of her Kadirai blood. The tiny clack of talons on stone broke through the quiet crackle of fire in the hearth.
Frowning, she looked up from her notes to see the small form, outlined by the harsh afternoon light. She smiled. “Oh, hello. Aren’t you an unusual sight?”
Ravaged by magic in the Great War, the once-beautiful landscape of Ifrahl was rocky and gray, nearly devoid of life. Beyond the broken stone walls of the Silent Orchard, petrified trees loomed overhead like skeletons, gaunt fingers grasping at the empty sky. The occasional insect skittered across the rocks, but she had not seen a single bird since arriving here.
Until today.
The bird chirped in response, tilting its head. Bright eyes flashed at her.
“I’m Sohaila,” she said. “And you are…a bird. Am I really talking to birds now?” She laughed at herself. “I apologize. I haven’t seen a pretty thing like you in a long time.”
A hundred varieties of birds flew through the dense forests of the Iveron enveloping the Shrine of Mara, her home for nearly fifty years. She had not realized how much she missed their noisy sunrise greetings until she woke in this place to ominous silence.
She inched closer, offering a hand. “I won’t hurt you. Come sit with me. Oh, don’t—”
It fluttered out of sight. A gentle breeze swept back on her, carrying the unmistakable scent of sage and rain-damp earth. Her eyes widened. That was Edra blood. That was the smell of a shapeshifter, not a simple creature far from its forest home.
Her heart thumped in anticipation as she dashed to the window. Gripping the windowsill tight, she leaned out to look for it. The tiny dark form flew toward the temple’
s domed roof and out of sight. “Come back,” she whispered.
Among Sidran’s followers, she had encountered mostly humans and hybrids, a handful of full-blooded Kadirai, and of course, Sidran’s retinue of tattooed freaks. But no Edra.
That had to mean something.
Returning to stir the mixture of herbs over the fire, she pondered what it could mean. Could this be a sign from the Skymother? Why would one lone Edra be so far from civilization, and why would they land on her window of all places? Was someone looking for her?
“Don’t get your hopes up,” she scolded herself. Sometime around the fourth month of imprisonment, she’d given up the hope that anyone was searching for her. Escape was no longer an option. This was her lot, at least for now. She’d told herself something would change, and she’d know when the time was right.
Something had changed.
Her mind constantly drifted to the little silhouette and that unmistakable smell as she carefully measured out the remaining ingredients for the healing liniment. The final ingredient was a flask of glowing purple elixir from Sidran’s cache. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she dumped the contents into the pot, producing a rich smell with a metallic bite that betrayed the base ingredient.
Forgive me, Blessed Mara and most holy Skymother, for tainting your ways with their blasphemy. No other way has worked, and I must keep my oath to protect all your children.
Another hour of stirring and boiling produced a smooth, jelly-like substance with a rich purple tint to it. As she continued to stir, Sohaila watched the window for the return of her Edra visitor. Had Sidran begun capturing the Edra for his experiments? Or had he finally managed to gain some of them as allies?
She had just moved the pot off the heat when the door to her workshop creaked open. Tanio, one of the Chosen guards, nodded to her. “Sister,” he said politely. Like most of Sidran’s followers, he wore a red scarf embroidered with silver wings over his armor. Regardless of his gentle demeanor, he was utterly devoted to Sidran.
As Tanio bowed, she fumbled for the gauzy veil that covered the lower half of her face. “Yes?” she asked as she secured the veil over her scarred cheek.
