When Celedon was around, I liked feeling different. I enjoyed being lost in this new world, in his world and his life. But without him, all I felt were my losses.
I didn’t wait for my jailor to tell me I couldn’t, and headed out the door.
The village was bustling. The sun was still on its way up, but the people—shifters—were already going about their daily chores. Jubilant voices preceded a group of children chasing a ball down the cobblestone street. Men and women headed the other direction, carrying platters toward the center of the village.
A pair of women passed, carrying jugs of what smelled like herbal tea. They glanced back at me, whispered to each other, and kept walking. I followed the women to a gathering of picnic tables packed with wolf shifters. It seemed most of the village was here, already eating or delivering trays of food to the communal tables.
I caught a glimpse of Thorn standing at the other side of the gathering. His arms were crossed as a group of men around him took turns speaking. His eyes caught mine, and he nodded his head to the side.
I looked to where he had gestured, and found my father and Polly at a table by themselves. Polly’s arm was in the air, waving wildly. “Astra! Astra, over here!”
I crossed over the courtyard to their table and took a seat next to my father. His face was sour, he was still wearing the clothes he had worn on the ship, and it looked like he hadn’t touched the plate of food that sat in front of him. Polly, on the other hand, seemed to have eaten every bite of whatever she had been given, and appeared perfectly content in a set of green clothes that matched mine.
“Good morning,” I said.
A man with blond hair set a plate of food in front of me, along with a metal cup of tea.
“Hey,” Polly said. “You’ve got to try the green stuff. It’s amazeballs.”
I looked down at my plate to the pile of what looked like green whipped cream in the center of six heaping servings of different dishes, none of which looked familiar.
“It’s like if chocolate, mint, and orgasms had a delicious food baby that melts on your tongue,” Polly said.
My father just looked at her. I laughed. I’d missed her, them, this.
I dipped my fork into the green stuff and tasted it. It was divine. I also recognized it. “This has to be made from coulu fruit.”
“Oh, so you already know all about the mouthgasms,” Polly said.
I smiled and nodded. “I’ve tried it. Are you both being treated okay?”
“It’s much better here than the last place,” Polly said. “It was so fucking dirty. They put us in cages. And I only got the chance to stab one of them.”
“We’re still prisoners.” My father pushed his plate away.
While I was given the opportunity to sleep in a real bed and was out exploring the island on the back of a dragon, they were being kept in cages. I should have found them sooner. I should have tried harder.
“They didn’t hurt you, did they? At the other village?” I watched my father’s face. I’d never seen him so sullen. It wasn’t like him.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Have you been locked up here since you washed ashore, Astra?”
“No,” I said. “I was with Celedon.”
“The dragon?”
“Yes.” We’d had almost this same conversation the night before. If he asked me next if I’d had a chance to examine the staff, I’d swear it was déjà vu.
“All kinds of mouthgasms then.” Polly waggled her brows.
I looked from her to my father again, and I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks. “It’s not like that.”
It kind of was and it kind of wasn’t. Mostly I just didn’t want to talk about it.
“Too bad,” Polly said. “He’s hot AF.”
It was too bad. I thought we were going that way, and then he left. He was my two-hundred-year-old alpha dragon shifter virgin. Try saying that three times fast. And I missed him.
Dad cleared his throat. “You wanted to hear about the staff—”
“I want to hear about his staff.” Polly waggled her brows and laughed.
I smiled at her, but looked to my dad.
Polly stood up. “I’m getting more green-gasm, anyone else want?”
“I’m good, thanks,” I said.
She shrugged and walked away.
Dad leaned forward and put his journal on the table. It was opened to a different page than before. He slid it over to me. “You want to know everything. This is it.”
I skimmed through text about seismic activity and a bunch of calculations narrowing location, and stopped when I saw a sketch.
Of a dragon.
“You knew?” I pointed to the picture.
He shook his head. “I gathered stories during the war when I could. I never knew anything for certain.”
“But the museum funded—”
“I funded this excursion,” he said. “This is a rare opportunity to study a culture no one else has. It’s everything I dreamed of, and more. I want to be excited about being here, but I can’t. Not at the cost of being a prisoner.”
I sat back and studied his face. The dark circles around his eyes were darker than ever. His beard was getting too long, and he really needed to wash. Still, I understood. When I’d thought I was going to be stuck as Celedon’s prisoner, I could see nothing past my escape.
And it had been worse for Dad.
“You were right,” I said. “There is magic in the world, and the Staff of Terra is real. It’s not even at the bottom of the ocean. It’s a world right here where we can live it. We aren’t prisoners here, we’re guests.”
He snorted.
“You don’t want to stay here, you won’t have to. But take the chance, get a shower, fresh clothes. Make sure you’re well enough to defend yourself out there if you want to go it alone.”
He looked at me, and touched his hand to mine. “A caged bird doesn’t know how to live back out in the wild when he’s freed.”
“It’s just a shower,” I said.
“And walls never guarantee safety.”
I sighed. He wasn’t going to listen to me. He had his mind made up, and there was nothing I could say to change it.
And I wasn’t staying for the walls. I was staying for Celedon. He promised he’d come back, and I knew he would. He had to, because this feeling, my heart ripping in half without him, I knew he felt it too.
A whirring sound made me turn. It happened again, and this time I realized what it was. An arrow lodged into the table right next to my plate. It was on fire, and the flames quickly spread. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What the hell was going on?
“Get down.” Dad slipped down under the table.
I followed.
Thorn and a group of men ran toward the direction the arrows were coming from. Some of the women pulled children away, running for shelter in the trees and huts. There was screaming, yelling, and lots of other noise. It was chaos.
“Now’s our chance,” Dad said, and pulled my hand.
“I can’t leave,” I said.
He gave me a sad smile. “You’re waiting for the dragon.”
I nodded.
A thunderous sound bellowed through the village, echoing through my head. I covered my ears, and I smiled, recognizing the sound.
It was the summoning horn that meant Celedon would soon return.
Chapter 16
Celedon
The wail of a distant horn resonated through the forest. There was no question, it was my summoning device, originating from my people’s village—where I’d left Astra.
I took to the sky, unwilling to waste a single moment when my mate needed me. It was only one night that I’d been gone. It was supposed to be for her protection. If harm had fallen upon her, I’d never forgive myself.
My chest was tight, like my lungs could not get their fill, like I was suffocating.
A haze of gray rose above the village, a cloud of charred air. People scattered below, run
ning, screaming. I scanned the ground for my mate amid the chaos as I shifted to human form above the village square.
My knees buckled as my feet hit stone. I rose up.
The smoke was thicker on the ground. People ran from the west side of the village to the east. I headed against the flow of terrified villagers.
A woman fell to her knees, coughing. She cradled her unnaturally bent arm to her chest. I offered her my hand and helped her to her feet. Black ash was smeared across her face and her eyes were red. When she looked upon my face, she smiled.
“My Lord Cele—” Her words cut short as she coughed and leaned into me.
This never should have happened. It was my duty to protect these people, and I had failed.
Two men were running by. I grabbed one by the arm. His eyes went wide with recognition.
“Help her,” I said.
He did as I instructed and wrapped an arm around her, supporting her weight. “Of course, my lord.”
“Have you seen Astra?” I asked.
His brows furrowed and he shook his head. “Sorry, no.”
I ran into the smoke. There were people everywhere, coughing and falling. In every ailing shifter, I saw my mate. Every broken bone, every fallen tear, every heartache was my fault.
“Astra!” My voice boomed through the village, noise among a din of despair. The wolves, my people, shared my pain, searching for their loved ones among the destruction.
Fire raced across thatched roofs and carried up the trees to the houses above. I raised my palm, lifting thick vines from the earth, and directing them over the flames. As they smothered the destructive heat, their leaves withered and burned.
Some of the wolf shifters who had run were returning with water, fighting fires of their own.
“Help me, please.” A man grabbed my arm. “My son, he’s trapped.”
I followed the man to a hut with a collapsed roof. A huge oak tree had fallen from outside the village wall, crushing two other buildings as well. Kneeling by the side of the dwelling, trying to peel away the broken boards of the outer wall, was Astra.
Her dark locks were pulled back at the nape of her neck, and her attire was like that of the villagers. But she could never blend into a crowd. She was special, she was everything, and she was okay. Relief flooded my veins at the sight of her.
“It’s going to be fine,” she said to someone in the building. “We’re going to get you out.”
I looked to the exposed roots of the tree and began knitting the threads of life back to the shape they were meant to be in. The tree began to lift slowly—too slowly. I tightened my grip around the staff, drawing from its strength.
The tree jolted upright, and the branches burst upward, growing. It wasn’t what I’d intended. I fought to cut off the link, pulling back on my magic. The tree grew and grew, towering ten feet above the others. It had to stop. I had to stop.
Finally, I wrenched my fingers from the staff.
I filled my lungs with smoky air and looked back to the hut for Astra.
The man held a child in his arms, tears of joy rolling down his face. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
I could feel Astra’s closeness with my eyes shut. Soft hands caressed my chest, warm and familiar. I blinked and looked down. Her chin was tilted up, her cheeks smeared with ash. Her azure eyes searched me, and my heart flooded with relief. She was okay—Astra was okay.
“You’re late.” Her voice was so soft I could barely make out her words.
“Sorry about that.” I brushed the black from her face with my thumb, cupping her cheek. She fit perfectly in my palm, like I was made to hold her, to touch her just like this.
“You’re here now,” she whispered.
I slid my fingers back to the nape of her neck and captured her lips. She leaned in and opened for me, and the world disappeared.
She tasted as sweet as honey, and I drank her in. We were lips and tongues and sensation, our kiss deepening until I lost myself.
When she pulled slowly away, her eyes remained closed. I could still feel her on my lips, taste her on my tongue, and I knew my life was forever changed.
Astra filled a part of me I hadn’t realized I was missing. I’d never known true happiness until I met her, true pain until she was in danger. She was my forever. Nothing mattered more.
She breathed in slowly, still touching my chest, and opened her eyes. “I wish we could stay just like this.”
Me too.
“But Thorn needs you.” Astra slid her hands down my sides and rested them on my hips. “Your people need you.”
Duty had never been a burden. Being a guardian had been my entire existence, until it meant I had to leave behind my heart.
Chapter 17
Astra
Celedon turned. I refused to blink as he was enveloped in a flash of bright light. I wanted to see, wanted to hold onto any part of him that I could for as long as possible, even if it was only to watch him leave me again.
I had no right to ask him not to. It was me who’d told him to go. But that didn’t make the tightness in my stomach any less, it didn’t make it easier not to reach for him.
Wings unfurled from his shoulder blades, small at first, but not for long. Green scales shimmered in the harsh white light, and I watched. Celedon’s wings grew high above his head, low to the ground, their shape curled around him. The light dimmed, and it felt like slow motion, like time stood still while my heart thudded in my ears and my stomach twisted in knots.
I told myself everything would be okay. I told myself that he’d raced into danger a thousand times. I told myself to turn back and return to Polly and my dad, to where the villagers gathered away from the destruction. Soon he’d come back.
Time caught up. Like they were spring-loaded, Celedon’s wings burst out to the sides and spread wide, and he shot up into the sky. Smoke clouded my view of him, making the distance feel even greater than it was.
He flew forward, and I followed, knowing I was supposed to be going the other direction. Celedon flew into the fire, and I followed. To the ends of the earth I would follow. That’s when it hit me—even if I could leave the island, I didn’t want to. I couldn’t. My heart was here, with Celedon. I wasn’t just falling for him, I’d already crashed hard. I loved him.
The smoke was thicker as I pressed forward, and I ran harder, shielding my nose in my elbow. My eyes stung, my chest was tight, and I refused to turn back.
Villagers worked to put out the fires, dousing the flames with buckets of water. I wove through the narrow streets, following the sounds of clashing metal and the snarling of savage beasts. Through the haze of smoke, I saw movement, bodies crashing into each other. When I was close enough to see clearly, I saw that it wasn’t man versus man, but a pack of gray wolves fighting other animals similar in shape and size, but with brown fur—coyotes.
At the center of it all was a wolf larger than the rest. He seemed to be wearing armor, with half of his body covered in plates of metal. How the fuck? Metal Wolf raised his head to the sky and let out a howl so loud I could feel it.
Other wolves followed suit, stopping what they were doing to howl. At first I wasn’t sure why they were doing that, but then I saw the coyotes who were left standing lay down on the ground and roll to their backs. Was it...was it really over? Were they giving up?
Beyond the fallen village wall, between the trees, there was movement. A group of coyotes was escaping. Above the trees, a massive shape shadowed the coyotes, following them away from the village. Celedon.
Soft orbs of light glowed around what had once been gardens, and now was nothing but a blood-soaked battlefield. Wolves and coyotes transformed into human shapes. Gashes covered their bodies. It would have been awe-inspiring bearing witness to the magic if my brain wasn’t busy focusing on the fading image of a dragon above the forest. Celedon’s fight wasn’t over, and the rest of the wolves needed to help him.
Metal Wolf remained the only beast left amongst wounded m
en. I knew he had to be Celedon’s warrior, Thorn.
I stepped past a few naked women and a hell of a lot of naked men. I mean, I’d never seen so many ripped, bare dudes all together like this before. It was like a peek into an NFL locker room, and I wasn’t even able to stop and appreciate the sight.
Vines coiled up Metal Wolf’s legs and the ground cracked beneath his feet. I stopped walking and watched as the vines crawled up his fur. A flash of light, and the wolf was replaced by a man.
“Thorn,” I barked, mustering every ounce of captain command in me.
He tilted his head and his lips upturned the slightest bit, like I was fucking hilarious. “Astra Rhodes.”
“You need to follow him,” I said.
“I am needed here.” Thorn looked to the fallen wall, over his people, his surrendered enemies, and to the buildings damaged in the fire.
At least the fires seemed to be out.
Okay, I got it, he had a lot on his plate. But he had a whole pile of naked soldier types here. He could help Celedon and come right back. I put my hands on my hips, looking the naked guy in the face and not even glancing at his crotch. “What if it’s a trap?”
“If the Guardian of Land needed assistance, he would have asked for it. He is more competent than you give him credit for,” he said, then addressed the crowd. “No one leaves.”
“Give me three guys,” I said.
“You test my patience, Astra Rhodes,” Thorn said. “The answer is no.”
He turned and barked orders at the naked crowd. The villagers took the coyote invaders as prisoners, and I was all but forgotten.
I stormed away. Thorn wasn’t going to help me—fine. But he wasn’t going to stop me, either. I was leaving, because on an island in the middle of fucking nowhere, I’d found greater magic than I’d ever imagined possible—love. It sounded cheesy and I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to let Celedon face his enemies alone. I was going to help him, even if I had to do it by myself.
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