by Skye Jones
She nibbled on her lip as she thought about her plans for the shelter. These things cost money. And she wasn’t above asking the guys. After all, it wasn’t for her, not as such. It was to make a difference in the lives of some neglected and needy animals.
“Princess, Mia’s here.” Callum stuck his head around the door of the conservatory where she lay on the sofa, book in hand.
“Okay.” She shook her head. “I must be crazy doing this.”
“Nah. You’re crazy if you turn the chance down.” He kissed her cheek and then ran his nose up her neck, taking a deep inhale. “Drive me fucking crazy, you do.”
She glowed at the compliment, but then remembered her wish to speak with him. “Hey, Callum. Can we talk? Maybe tomorrow? About Rhyndor and what he plans?”
Callum’s face dropped the smile, and his eyes narrowed. “Sure, Princess. We can talk, but we won’t stop him. He’s made up his mind. I’m fucking livid with him, and trust me, I rarely get angry with him. It’s too dangerous. Selfish. But he insists on doing it. If anything happens to him…and if you decide not to stay…”
His voice cracked, and he looked away, blinking hard as he stared out of the window. She swallowed and wiped away her own tears at the rare show of such strong emotion from a guy who normally played the fun, happy-go-lucky character.
“Fuck. Be the death of me, the pair of you. Get your ass out to see your sister.” He began to walk away, but he turned at the last minute and pulled her in to plant a harsh, demanding kiss on her lips.
Wow. Every now and again, he did or said something to slay her.
Heading into the den, she smiled at Mia sprawled out on the sofa, flicking through a magazine. “Hey, sis. Let’s get you liquored up, not too much though, because it’d be dangerous. And then you can fly.”
Mia put her arms out and did an impression of a plane, and Lilly laughed. Mia always cheered her up. She loved both of her sisters, but she found Mia less intimidating than Claire. Less put together and perfect. A bit more ditzy and silly, like her.
“Pass me some vodka, then. I’m dreading this.”
“You’ll love it. They were gonna do the whole ceremonial chair thing, but I begged them not to. I’ve seen it once, and it’s a load of faff and hassle. Instead, they’re going to put a sort of deep saddle on Rhyn. I’ll be on Steffan.”
“You’re going up there, too?”
“Of course. I’ll be with you. Only, I’ll be bareback, because I’m daring like that.” She snorted.
Pouring a small measure of vodka, she handed it to Lilly. “Here. A wee sip to loosen you up enough to get up there, but not so much you fall off.”
“Oh God! Don’t say that. I won’t do it if I think about falling.”
“You won’t fall, babe. You’ll be tied to Rhyndor. He’ll be tuned in to you the whole time. But if you did, you’d be caught. Callum will be up there, as will Aiden, Rhiannon, Kate, and a whole host of people, not one of whom will let you fall.”
Sipping at her vodka, Lilly smiled as the fiery liquid instantly relaxed her tense stomach muscles.
“You guys ready?” Aiden walked into the room.
No, nope. Not ready at all. She downed the rest of the vodka and cursed the measly measure, then she stood on shaky legs.
“Remind me again. Why am I doing this?”
“You don’t have to.” Aiden shrugged. “Rhyndor will understand.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to. You can miss what will be one of the most epic moments of your life because you’re chickenshit.” Mia winked at her and it took the sting out of her words, but Lilly didn’t want to miss it. Not really. Her legs, on the other hand, they kind of wanted to sit back down on the sofa and take a break.
Forcing herself not to be a chicken, in Mia’s words, she moved through the house and out the door as if in a dream. The hastily imbibed alcohol gave her a floaty feeling, and the nerves shrouded her in a fog of anxiety.
She got near to the gathering point and stopped dead. In front of her stood the most awesome sight she’d ever seen. Dragons, lots and lots of them, milled around. Some were small, some huge, some brightly colored, and some dull, but they were all beautiful. And terrifying.
A tiny yellow dragon came to her and smiled. The damn thing smiled and showed a row of fearsome teeth.
Aiden laughed. “Ignore him. That’s Daffyd. Six foot seven in real life, built like a rugby forward, and his dragon is tiny and bright yellow.” The dragon narrowed its cold eyes and then shot a perfectly aimed tube of flame right at Aiden’s crotch. Aiden yelled and jumped back and opened his own mouth to breathe flames back at the yellow menace. She stared at Aiden with her mouth hanging open. She knew both dragons and latents could conjure up fire; she’d seen it happen and done it herself. With her hands. She’d had no idea until now they could breathe flames too. Maybe only full shifters did such a thing?
She stared at Aiden a moment longer, and then something nudged her leg. She turned around and stared some more. A massive, astonishing dragon with scales the color of the deepest blues and indigos stood behind her.
“Meet Callum.” Mia grinned, her face lit up, and damn it, but Lilly had to grin too. Callum was beautiful.
Another huge, lumbering beast walked toward them, this one a dull red. “Steffan, baby.” Mia ran to the ginormous monster, and it put its head down and she kissed its nose.
Lilly snorted with laughter.
“What?” Mia cocked her head to one side.
“He’s not a damn Labrador puppy.”
“No. He’s my mate. And here comes your other one.”
Oh my! If she’d thought Callum and Steffan big, then the dragon walking toward them put them in the shade completely, size-wise. He also terrified her. She tried to calm herself by stating over and over it was Rhyndor, but holy crap!
Completely black, with no color to its scales whatsoever, the beast glistened all over as if wet, the scales reflecting the dying light of the day. Spiked horns guarded his great head and ran down his neck. They stopped over the main part of the massive body but continued down to end in one large, pointed spike, where the other dragons had tapered ends to their tails.
She saw the hurt in the creature’s eyes as plain as day as she took another step backward, but she found it hard to control her fear. Good Lord, Rhyndor scared the living crap out of her as his dragon.
“Honey, it’s Rhyndor. Don’t be scared. He won’t hurt you. In fact—” Mia made a gesture to the dragons and then took her arm, leading her away for a moment. “Let me tell you something. When I fully figured out all the power Steffan held, I got scared. I mean, scared. I said to him, you scare me, you’re so powerful. And he was so hurt. He told me I’d got it wrong. He said, and I remember this so well because it was beautiful. He said, this power, this thing about me which scares you, it’s for you.” Her eyes turned misty, and she blinked a couple of times. “Same with Rhyndor. Look at all the strength and menace in that beast of his. It’s all for you, if you decide you want him.”
Lilly nodded. She got it, but trying to make her brain relate the facts to her swirling stomach and pounding heart seemed another matter.
“Come on, let’s go say hello.” Mia pulled her forward and went right up to Rhyndor and patted him on the neck. He snorted and then blew a load of air out of his nose in something sounding a little like an elephant’s trumpet.
“See, he likes to be stroked. I bet he’d like it a whole lot better if you were doing the stroking.” Mia tossed her an exaggerated wink.
Lilly went up to Rhyndor and reached out a trembling hand. He put his head down and touched her palm with his nose, blowing a gentle stream of warm air against her skin. He nudged her once, twice, and then a third time. Emboldened, she ran her hands up over his great head and touched his gnarly skin. He felt like centuries-old leather to her fingers, but as she reached his neck and the scales that began there, the sensation changed. They were hard and cold and slippery. Like armor growing out of his skin.<
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“Wanna go for a ride?” Mia walked over to Steffan’s dark red beast and patted his neck. She got help to clamber onto his back by a few of the people milling around. Then long, thick ribbons in bright colors were brought to her and wrapped around her waist, wrists, and the dragon’s neck in a complicated pattern. By the time they’d finished their handiwork, Lilly had to admit Mia looked safe and secure. Some of the ribbons wrapped around her waist and then looped under Steffan’s belly, and others were wrapped around her ankles and wrists, and she held them loosely in her hands like reins.
“You’ll be riding in a saddle,” Aiden said. “You’ll be totally secure.”
At that moment, a group of men emerged carrying a large, leather saddle with a deep bucket dip and a grip at the front to hold on to. It looked like an exaggerated version of the western-style saddles she’d gotten used to riding on in America. They were followed by more men carrying the same sort of ribbons as were wrapped around Mia. They went about their work, and the time came for Lilly to be helped up into the saddle.
Rhyndor lay low on the ground, making it easier for her to get up onto his back. Her legs shook as she climbed up, getting a boost from Aiden. He handed her a headpiece. “So you can communicate with Mia. You want to stop and come down, let her know. Try to tune in to Rhyndor, too, though. He’ll be aware of your feelings. It’ll be scary at first, but let it pass and you’ll love it. Swear to the gods, Lilly. You’re about to fly with your dragon. Doesn’t get any better.”
She marveled at how friendly Aiden had been toward her in the last few days. She’d dreaded coming to the Welsh clan after how tense things had been between Mia’s mates and Rhyn and Callum. She understood why Rhyndor felt he needed to do what he planned, despite not liking it. He wanted to make amends, and furthermore, she secretly believed he wanted his friends back.
Apparently, back in the day, way before he’d gone off the reservation and become some bitch of a witch’s pet dragon, he’d been on good terms with Nathan and Steffan and close friends with another powerful dragon named Awen, from the Cornish clan.
She sighed as she settled into her seat. The politics of it all tired her. She only wanted to get to know these two men…males…and somehow figure out her heart and where her future lay.
Steffan roared. He lifted his head and roared into the sky, and two medium-sized but stunning dragons ran past her, surprisingly quick for their heft, wings flapping, and went straight off the edge of the plateau. She raised her hand to her mouth as they disappeared, but a moment later, they soared back into her eyeline, wings flapping lazily as they swooped in big, beautiful arcs.
After turning and twisting, the two dragons flew out in a straight line, high over the valley. Rhyndor stood, making her cry out in fright. Good God, even on the ground she shook at the height. He ambled to the edge and put his head down so she had an unobstructed vision of the view below. The two dragons were racing back toward them, when they changed course and headed at breakneck speed toward the valley floor where massive wood pyres were stacked one after the other. Both dragons opened their mighty mouths and blew out fierce orange flames as they neared the floor. The wood caught fire quickly.
Their magic protected their land from prying human eyes, and thank God because they were a spectacular and attention-grabbing sight.
“Oh my God.” The words were out before she could stop them, the sight truly awe-inspiring.
“Good stuff, eh?” Mia’s voice echoed in her ear, and Lilly squeaked before she remembered she wore the headset.
“This is weird as fuck, you know?”
“Which bit, in particular?”
“Wearing this call center getup while riding a dragon.”
“Well, we like to mix modern technology with our ancient dragony ways. Hold on tight, sis.”
Lilly did as Mia suggested and gripped the brightly colored reins as tightly as possible. The seat seemed secure enough but still… Oh shit, there went the ground. A gust of cool air blew past her face, and she struggled to take a breath in for a moment. Fuck, they were flying.
She glanced down, and her head spun at the sheer drop below them. Her breathing became faster and faster. She didn’t seem to be able to get enough air in. Try as she might, her lungs were working like bellows but not giving her any of the lovely oxygen she craved. A moment of dizziness overtook her, but then they were heading gradually down, down, farther down. Thank God, they neared the bottom of the valley floor, avoiding the fires, and now she could breathe. Now, she wasn’t terrified but beginning to experience the first stirrings of excitement and exhilaration.
“I think he brought you down because you were panicking.” Mia spoke in her ear, and Lilly turned to see her sister riding right alongside her on Steffan’s back. “We can stay down here as long as you like, okay?”
She nodded, still too winded to speak, but grateful for the chance to regain her equilibrium. Time passed, maybe five or ten minutes, and she began to be lulled by the sure, rhythmic beat of Rhyndor’s wings. Something else began to happen to her, something strange and wonderful but terrifying too. She became ultra aware of him, to the point she almost felt what he did.
Nothing as straightforward as reading his thoughts, but it was as if she understood his mood. Sensed the peacefulness he experienced in that moment. A deep feeling of contentment and belonging washed over her, and she understood with startling clarity it echoed his own emotions. Moved to tears, she dared to lift one shaky hand to wipe at her cheeks. How did a person walk away from something like this? Something so elemental and downright beautiful? But how did someone give their life to two men they’d known weeks? The whole thing churned her emotions and tired out her overthinking brain.
On impulse, she leaned forward and hugged Rhyndor’s neck, surprised at the warmth she found there when expecting the same cold hardness she’d experienced when she’d touched his scales earlier. After a few more moments, Rhyndor began to climb higher again. Slow and careful, and he looked back at her as they ascended, clearly waiting for her to give him a sign she wanted to be up there with him. On her nod, he powered those great wings of his and pushed them ever higher.
Once they reached a great height, he stilled, wings beating in the air but not propelling them forward, and Steffan pulled alongside. The fires had all been lit now, and the valley floor blazed below them with ten great pyres and lots of smaller fires in between. Suddenly, something exploded below her, making her jump and squeal. Bright shards of color lit up the now dark sky, blues and greens and reds, all burning brightly for a moment before dying down to nothing. Fireworks! She loved fireworks.
More bangs and flashes burst into the night sky, some gold, some white, and others a riot of color. She watched in awe as the display lit up the mountains and valley below them, turning stunning into transcendent. When it finally ended, Rhyndor turned to her and made an odd sound. Steffan followed suit, and then they flew fast and straight across the expanse of sky, swooping down low and fast toward the fires and accelerating back up at breakneck speed. She screamed, but in exhilaration rather than fear. Since the moment she’d tuned in to Rhyndor, she’d stopped being afraid. Her heart and soul knew he’d never let harm come to her if he had a say in the matter. If she fell, he’d hurtle down through the sky after her. If anyone ever came after her, to harm her in any way, he’d stand between her and the danger. Hell, she’d bet everything she owned this male would die for her over and over again. No one. No one in her life had ever loved her in such a way, except for the mother who gave her up to save her life.
Callum would be the same way, too. It was how these males ticked. Mia understood it, as did Claire. Now, Lilly needed to make her mind up. To stay and take the ultimate step, make the big, scary leap. Or run away from all this and go back to her old life, albeit with a tentative plan. Should she try to make some sort of a go at it on the outside, living as a human? Or see if she could put her plan into action here? At least here she belonged. She had kin and a clan and
men who wanted to lay down their lives for her. The only thing stopping her, the thing getting in the way was her damn human logic. The rational, stern voice that whispered to her how only insane people committed to a centuries-long lifetime with two people they’d only just met.
Finally, they landed, and by the time she climbed down from Rhyndor’s back, Callum had already changed into his human form. His face glowed with health and vitality as he strode toward her, and she wondered if changing form did something for them. The dragon equivalent of a smoothie detox, maybe?
“Did you enjoy it?” Callum took hold of her face and kissed her hard on the lips before she answered. “You tuned in to him. I felt it while up there, flying. I want you to do the same with me.”
Her legs turned to jelly all over again at his kiss and his words. “When we get the chance for me to ride you, I’ll try.”
“Oh, you don’t have to ride me, Princess. Or least, not in this way. You can tune in to me anytime, but getting down and dirty always helps.” He waggled his eyebrows.
She clucked her tongue at him. “Do you ever miss the chance to turn things around to sex?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Wasting such a chance would be criminal, in my humble opinion.”
Rhyndor came over to them, also back in his human form. A few dragons around them changed back into their human forms, and each one seemed surrounded by a mini tornado. Her hair blew about her face, and leaves and small debris floated in the air.
