by Jadyn Chase
I cherished one consolation in my hour of doom. The Kellys would be safe. No one would find my phone. No one would see the footage. The Clan would continue on without any interference from the rest of the world. That was the last gift I could give to Luka. He deserved that much for all the trouble I gave him.
The dragon stalked one last step toward me. I closed my eyes and steeled myself for the end. I had a simple choice to make: let him eat me or jump to my death. Which should I choose?
I turned to face the wide open space. From here, I could see enough of the wilderness to remember the day I spent up here with Luka. I could die with that vision in my mind.
The dragon gave a low barking noise. I glanced over my shoulder, but he no longer frightened me. I was ready to do what I had to do to rob him of the satisfaction of killing me.
Just then, before I could turn my head again, something careened out of nowhere and smashed him in the side of the head. His neck whipped sideways. I almost jumped off the ledge then and there, but before I could summon the will to do it, a bright blue streak shot across my line of sight. Before I could blink, another dragon swooped in, grabbed the red monster by the neck, and catapulted over the side.
In a fraction of a second, the red dragon vanished into the night. A blood-curdling screech echoed up the cliff, followed by a thump. I stared into the dark, too stunned to move. I blinked once, and an apparition out of my worst nightmares rose up before me. A dragon more terrible than the first levitated in front of my face glowing hideous blue. The eyes narrowed on me and it let out a spine-chilling roar.
I closed my eyes and took a step toward the ledge. One dragon was as good as another. If the red one didn’t eat me, the blue one would. No doubt it killed its enemy to steal the meal for itself.
My foot brushed the cliff edge. Hollow emptiness welcomed me down into the void. Nothing could hurt me down there. Nothing scared me anymore, and I would leave this whole terrifying hallucination behind.
I willed myself to relax into my decision. I opened my eyes so I would see the view the way I saw it with Luka. I imagined him next to me.
When I opened them, the blue dragon fluttered around to the rock at my side. It landed. I almost looked away before it collapsed on itself and changed. It shrank and transformed into a man.
Luka rushed me and grabbed me by the shoulder. “It’s me, Louise. It’s just me. Take it easy. It’s only me.”
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
“It’s me, Louise,” he kept saying again and again. “It’s me. You’re all right. He’s gone. He won’t hurt you. You’re safe. I’m here, Louise. Back away from the edge. That’s right.”
I went numb in his hands. Could it really be him? Could that awful creature really be Luka? I never let myself picture what he would look like. For some reason, I thought he would look something like a Disney character—cute and harmless. I never dreamed he could be so terrifying and ugly.
Now he stood before me, his own pristine self. The events that just transpired replayed in my mind again and again. He attacked that red dragon and threw it over the cliff. He killed it to save me, and now he stopped me from jumping to my death.
Little by little, the terror and panic subsided. They left me weak and trembling, and I stumbled trying to walk away from the edge. Luka caught me in his arm and steadied me. He eased me down on the rock and sat down next to me.
I gulped down a lump rising in my throat. “Don’t you want to…..?” I nodded toward the battle. “Don’t you want to go back there and help your Clan?”
His hand closed over mine and he squeezed. “You need me more right now.”
I hung my head. “I’m sorry. I never should have come up here. I can never thank you enough for….” I looked toward the cliff and the words died in my mouth. I couldn’t even articulate what happened.
He saved my life. That was the plain truth. He saved my life at the campground, too, but this was different.
His voice drifted into my ear. “There is one thing you can do thank me, if you really feel that way.”
“Name it,” I exclaimed. “Tell me anything I can do, and I’ll do it.”
He pressed something cold into my hand and I looked down at my phone. “You’ll destroy us all if you run that story. You know that, Louise. All our lives are in your hands, including mine.”
“I don’t want to run the story,” I cried. “I want to protect your Clan….and you. I would do anything for you. I didn’t realize until I came up here. I was only thinking about the story, but I know now it doesn’t mean anything compared to your safety and your family’s safety.”
He nodded down at the phone. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you came up here after all.”
A heavy weight gnawed at the pit of my stomach. Did I really care that much about him and his people to throw my whole life away? What was more important to me—him, or the admiration and praise of the outside world?
I tapped the screen and navigated to my Photos. There were all the pictures I took at Parrot’s Perch and at Buck Creek. There was the video I just took of the dragons fighting each other.
My thumb hung suspended over the screen for a second. Then I hit Select and checked every file related to my investigation. I scrolled through the whole app until I selected them all. Then I punched the trash can icon and deleted them. I did the same with the text files saved on the phone’s cloud connection.
I handed the phone to Luka and smiled up at him. Now that I actually did the deed, I felt lighter, happier. I made the right decision. “That’s all of it gone. Some of the text files are still in the public domain, so I can’t completely erase them, but at least no one will be able to find out anything new about you—not without coming up here, that is.”
He bent forward and kissed me. “Thank you.”
He leaned back, wound his arm behind his head, and sent the phone rocketing into space. I watched it fly over Smokey Ridge and plunge into the void. I should have been outraged and upset by that, but I wasn’t. I could only think of one phone call I needed to make. I had to call Mac and tell him there was nothing to find up here and that I resigned my position as a reporter. I could make that call from any payphone.
15
Epilogue
I stuck my head into the bedroom and yelled at the top of my lungs. “Are you coming, babe, or are you gonna spend all night in there?”
Louise’s voice floated from the bathroom. “I’m coming! Just give me a minute.”
“We’re already late,” I called. “Hurry it up.”
She emerged from a cloud of steam billowing out of the bathroom. It plumed around her like Venus emerging from the sea foam. She looked absolutely stunning in a tight black dress, sheer pantyhose, and spike black heels.
Her hair shone piled on top of her head in a crown of shimmering brass. Teardrop earrings decorated her jawline and matched the glossy lipstick inviting me to kiss that juicy mouth.
She strutted toward me on her heels and swatted my suit jacket with her clutch handbag. “I do NOT have dags, Mister, so watch your mouth.”
I couldn’t help but grab her as she tried to walk past me. I missed and wound up putting my arms around her from behind. I sank my teeth into her neck and purred. “You look good enough to eat for lunch.”
She squirmed and let out the most delicious little mew of excitement. She wound up shoving her rear end into my crotch, and a rush of blood made me stiffen against her. “You said we would be late, and if you eat me for lunch, you’ll spoil your appetite for dinner.”
I couldn’t let her go, not now that I saw her all decked out and ready to show off to the world. I slipped my hand around her belly to the flat place above her pubic bone. “Come on, baby,” I murmured in her ear. “Just a little quickie.”
“It’s never a quickie with you.” She twisted in my embrace again, but when my hardness dug into her beautiful round curves, she wound up moaning instead. “Luka….”
“Say my name,
baby,” I snarled. “Say it just like that.”
She gasped a little under her breath. She tried to resist, but that never worked for long. It only succeeded in driving me insane.
I inched my hand lower. She flattened her own fingers against my knuckles like she wanted to stop me, but when I pulled her in tight against my hips, she arched her back and folded forward.
“Oh, baby, yeah,” I breathed.
“Luka….” she moaned. “Please.”
“Beg for it, baby.” I bit down hard on her neck and made her whimper. “Beg me for it.”
“Oh, Luka, please.” Her voice jumped a register into a high-pitched whine that shot straight to my nuts.
“Come on, angel. Just a little one.”
I didn’t wait for another invitation. I slid both hands down her thighs and raked my fingernails up her stockings. I caught the hem of her dress and scooted it up over her hips. She undulated in my grasp, but she didn’t break away. Of course not. She wanted it as much as I did.
I glided my hand between her legs to her panties and found her soaking wet. My fingers disappeared in a spongy cavern of blistering desire. Oh, God, yes, that’s where I wanted to be.
“Oh, Luka,” she moaned. “Oh, yes, please.”
“Easy, baby,” I croaked.
I laid one hand on the back of her neck and eased her forward. I lifted her arm and placed her hand on the bedroom wall by the door. She took the position with no resistance and pushed her ass against my bulging meat.
Quick as light, I unzipped and slipped between her legs into that heavenly dark fissure where I belonged. She reared back at the sudden pressure of my entry. She tried to turn around, but I held her in position and slithered all the way in to the hilt.
She craned her torso around, and one hand landed on my chest. She pushed against me, but her lower body told me another story. She heaved and rocked to meet my insistent thrust, and her face transfigured into a picture of orgasmic astonishment.
I took hold of her hips and went to work. She matched me stroke for stroke, and her escalating cries spiked into screams. I couldn’t keep my hands off her with that dripping wet ecstasy sweeping up my stomach and chest to explode in my mind. I grabbed her by the jaw and crushed my mouth against hers. “Baby.”
“Luka!” she shrieked. “Luka, please!”
Christ, she set me on fire when she screamed my name like that. It lashed burning hot passion through my prick into every corpuscle of my body. It filled me with glowing light and left me radiating confidence and mastery for days afterward.
I found myself driving into her harder, but I couldn’t stop. She screamed louder until her shrieks became incoherent spikes of noise in my ear. Nothing could stop me now.
I closed my arms around her waist and held her with all my strength. Her feet no longer touched the floor and I controlled all her movements, but her face and her screams told me I could do no wrong.
She straightened her arm against my chest to shoved herself forward, but that only created a better angle for my thrusts. Every shattering blow against her alabaster flesh rocked my world as never before. Her delicious syrup dripped down my shaft and tickled my thighs.
With one last piercing screech, she flopped over and went limp. She hung there whining and sobbing in mortal ecstasy. I couldn’t hold back anymore, and I unloaded into her with everything I had. The torrent drained me of my vital essence, and we both buckled in a heap on the floor.
She sprawled face down on the carpet still mewling and trembling in the throes of climax. I leaned against the bed until my head cleared. Sweat dampened my hair against my forehead, but I couldn’t stop drinking in the sight of her spent body stretched out before me.
I tugged her skirt down over her hips and scooped her into my lap. I cradled her against my neck for a minute until she stopped whimpering. I petted her cheeks and kissed her until she started to respond.
I pushed her upright and made her lift her head to look at me. Drunken bliss flushed her cheeks, and her eyes shone from a long distance away.
“Are you ready to go now?” I whispered.
“Why did you have to do that to me?” she mumbled.
“Because I can’t keep my hands off you, baby. You know that.” I kissed her again. “Do you want to wait a little while longer before we leave?”
She ran her thumb across her lips. “No. Let’s go.”
She stood up and teetered on her heels for a moment before she caught her balance. She crossed the room to the dressing table and adjusted her hair in the mirror. She checked her makeup and picked up her clutch.
When she turned to face me, the old wicked flash returned to her eyes. She was back. I offered her my arm and escorted her out to her car. I held the passenger door open while she got in, and then I took the wheel.
She gazed out the window while I drove, but her head swung around when I went through Norton and on down the highway. “Where are we going?”
“You don’t think I’d take us to a fancy dinner date at the Watering Hole, do you?” I fired back. “What do you take me for? It’s our nine month anniversary, and we’re gonna do it right.”
I drove for half an hour to the next town of Marlinville. I pulled in at the steak house, and I suppressed a grin when Louise didn’t notice some familiar cars parked in the lot.
I helped her out again and took her on my arm. She didn’t suspect a thing until I opened the door and she walked in.
“Surprise!” A hundred and fifty of my relatives packed the joint, and they all yelled at once.
Louise jumped a foot in the air, and her hand flew to her heart. She barely had time to catch her breath before they surrounded her all talking at once. No one could hear a word over the noise.
After nine months of living together on the Ridge, she knew everyone in the room. My Ma and Pop, my brothers and their wives, my uncles and cousins and nieces and aunts. Everywhere she looked, someone she knew and loved pressed her hand and drew her into the throng.
My Ma kissed her on the cheek. My sister Lucy gabbled in Louise’s ear, but I could see Louise didn’t understand anything anyone said to her.
The party settled into a steady tide of noise, drinks, food, back slaps, bear hugs, shining faces, and general pandemonium. I lost sight of Louise in the crowd until my brother Ezra shouldered his way through the assembly to my side. He leaned in close and thundered into my ear. “You ready?”
I beamed up at him and grabbed a champagne flute off the nearest table. I jumped onto the tabletop and tapped a butter knife against my glass. It didn’t make a sound. No one even noticed me until Ezra cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed, “Quiet!”
A few people turned around. Then everybody noticed me standing on the table. The conversation bubbled to a gentle ripple.
I raised my glass. “You all know why we’re here. There’s only one person still in the dark, and I think it’s time we lifted the veil and let her in on our little secret.” I scanned the crowd until I found Louise. I held up my glass to her. “Louise, the last nine months have been the happiest months of my life. You proved time and time again that you’re one of our Clan, and none of us ever want you to leave. There’s only one thing you could do to make all of us happier than we ever could have dreamed.”
I hopped off the table and the bodies parted to let me through. I walked up to her. My heart fluttered in excitement. This was the moment that changed my life forever.
She gazed up at me in wonder tinted with confusion. Her eyebrows quivered. “Luka? What’s this all about?”
I pulled the black velvet box out of my pocket, went down on one knee in front of her, and cracked it open to reveal the ring inside. You could hear a pin drop in the room. “Louise Devereux, will you please make me the happiest man alive by doing me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage?”
I couldn’t hear her answer over the blood surging against my eardrums. She covered her mouth, and tears sprang to her eyes. Her mouth shaped the word, Ye
s, and she nodded again and again.
My fingers trembled wrestling the ring out of the box. Was it me, or was it wedged in there so tight not even the Incredible Hulk could get it out? Finally, I yanked it free. I dropped the box and forgot all about it. I tried to slip it on her finger, but our hands got tangled in mutual shaking.
Somehow or other, she helped me slide it onto her finger. I launched to my feet and flung my arms around her. The steak house erupted in deafening cheers, but the rest of the world disappeared into nothing. I had her in my arms, and she was all mine, forever.
More from Jadyn
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Chapter 1: Piper
I stepped on the iron stake to drive it into the soft forest soil. A bird squawked over my head, and I peered around the canopy. Daylight blinked through the branches. The elusive Smoky Mountain Flying Fox wouldn’t show itself until long after sunset, so I had a few more hours to set up my equipment.
