Devoted to the Dragon (The Last Shifters #1)

46. Randi

Chapter 46

Randi

M y dragon soars over the lake, and I can’t help but get lost in my reflection. The magenta color is shocking, as is how my claws taper out to a frosty blue. Each time I see myself, it takes me a moment to remember that the colorful creature is me.

I waited and wished for so long. Now that it has happened, it’s taking a hot minute to sink in. I’ve really awakened. Purple-pink hair, blue eyes, strong scent. None of it is what I imagined as a girl, but it’s also kinda perfect. Even with that, it’s a lot to take in. But besides the weird body-snatching color change, the foundational stuff feels really good.

I’m an omega with a bonded horde. My wolves are protected, my serpent is really mine, and I’ll never face an endless future alone again.

My dragon does another pass of the lake, stretching her wings and checking in on her territory, but all is well.

We slept all day yesterday and most of today. This evening, we finally ventured out of my nest to get some fresh air down by the lake. I expected the guys, maybe even me, to have some lingering feelings about what happened with Knox, but so far, it’s been easy—easier than I would have ever guessed.

Watching him get so sick and feeling helpless about it really reinforced the need for me to get over my shit. My dragon knew what she was doing when she issued the challenge. I’m a little spiteful that she couldn’t have given her girl a clue, but I don’t think it would have mattered. Magic is a tricky thing. But the guys delivered in such a big way that I can only be grateful.

We still have things to iron out, but I feel settled. There’s no need to rush or race a ticking clock. We have time to feel each other out and learn how to be a horde.

I land easily on the shore, shaking off my dragon and taking human form. Fennik holds open a blanket for me, and I go directly into his arms, his presence settling some of that itch under my skin.

“You didn’t fly long,” Fennik murmurs, his lips brushing my neck. His tongue swipes over my new mark, sending a current of electricity down my spine.

“I wanted snuggles,” I admit with a half-formed moan.

That’s new too. I’ve always been tactile, and for so long, I craved touch but didn’t allow myself to indulge that need. I can’t get enough now that I’ve allowed myself to have it.

Fennik chuckles, and the deep vibrations feel delicious against my chest. “That can definitely be arranged.”

My alpha scoops me up on a startled shriek and throws me over his shoulder, his palm smacking my ass twice as he carries me back to the campfire. Fennik deposits me in Knox’s arms, and my serpent’s silky shadows wrap around me in hello. I snuggle back against his chest, my dragon already purring.

Knox takes my lips, slow and savoring, as though I’ve been gone for days instead of an hour. By the time he’s done kissing me hello, I’ve forgotten what decade it is. He smiles into my lips, feathering kisses down the side of my mouth and then my nose, the bond thrumming with his smug satisfaction.

“Welcome back, baby.”

I’m too dazed to respond. Instead, I nuzzle into the crook of his neck where that sweet smoke is strongest.

Across the dancing yellow-and-red flames, Gunnar winks at me. He’s wrapped in a blanket, back against a fallen log, and holding a plate of kabobs. I make a grabby motion, and he chuckles but moves close enough to feed me bites.

Fennik forces us to pause long enough that he can slip his shirt over my head. He gives me a forehead kiss and goes back over the fire pit, turning the kabobs as he sips his drink.

It’s quite the operation they’ve set up. When we decided to go down to the lake, Knox disappeared. I’d assumed he was shadow-walking to the beach, and he was. He just happened to visit multiple stores first. By the time we made it to the spot, he had the whole thing ready for a lakeside barbecue: coolers with drinks, food, and blankets. It was a thousand percent over the top and very Knox .

When we saw it at first, he was so nervous. I’m sure a big part of that is because I destroyed the nest he made. But I could feel in the bond how much he wanted to contribute, to make something nice for all of us. He’s really very sweet, much sweeter than he lets on. I told him how amazing it was and apologized again for the nest, but he shook his head and told me we were done with apologies. That may be true, but like his desire to give me this tonight, I want to reassure him that he doesn’t need to make any more amends.

It was a whole conversation without words. It’s nice how our bodies and hearts can talk through the bonds when sometimes our mouths can’t always say it best.

“What did you learn from the bonds that you didn’t know?” I ask no one in particular.

Knox jumps in first. “Gunnar’s every third thought is food.”

“Nobody needs the bond to know that.” Fennik gives our pup a soft smile.

Beside me, Gunnar wiggles his eyebrows. “I do love to eat.”

“Pussy and snacks,” Knox adds. “You’re like a horny puppy.”

In the bond, we all feel the reminder that Gunnar is obsessed with food because survival taught him that he doesn’t know when his next meal is coming—the same way the bond tells me Knox wanted to take care of us this evening or that Fennik sometimes worries about how much older he looks than the rest of us.

It’s beautiful how the bond allows me to see all these hidden layers. I’m kind of obsessed with it. I want to study all three of them and their hidden places.

I focus my energy, trying to send reassurance to Gunnar in the bond. I tell him that he’s safe and he doesn’t need to worry about finding a home anymore. It happens while we laugh on the surface. Both layers feel necessary, and both light up his heart.

“You’re not wrong.” Gunnar dives for me, pretending to eat me up and making me snort-laugh when he plants raspberries on my stomach.

That dissolves into giggles when Knox adds his shadows. He twists Gunnar and me up in his silky bands, zapping us with different textures and tickling probes until my little wolf is howling and begging for mercy. We land in a heap, me sprawled across them, all three laughing.

Fennik looks completely unaffected on the other side of the fire, shaking his head at our antics. He loves watching us, though he has no desire to join.

I pick back up our conversation as I turn into Gunnar’s side and wrap my leg around Knox’s. “You know what I learned from the bond?”

“Hmm?” Knox hums, the sound spurring me on.

“How much Gunnar wants his cock cage back.”

My little wolf sucks in a breath and pinches my side. “Way to call me out, gorgeous.” The words aren’t said with any venom, but I feel that little slip of vulnerability in his voice.

I press kisses up his side, then whisper in his ear, “I fucking love that you want it back, and I can’t wait to play.” I nip his neck, and his purr sounds in response.

Beside us, Knox howls in laughter. “Please. Details. I need details.”

Gunnar shoves him, but it’s without malice. “Don’t knock it until you try it, asshole.”

“You sly, cheeky dragon. Is it another energy lock?” Knox asks. He picks up his phone and texts furiously before tossing it back on a blanket. “How did you learn to use energy magic anyway? The wolves don’t. I thought maybe it was just the serpents?”

“Dragons use energy in crystal work and healing.” We always have, though only our healers can access it the way I think both Vandera and Knox can. Knox has a powerful connection to magic, but it’s raw, as though he’s never been trained.

“How? Can you see it or taste it?” he asks, mind racing and bond curious.

“Not the way serpents can.”

He asks a dozen questions at once, sitting up excitedly.

I try to answer them, explaining how I use magical energy to create the club’s cages and induce ruts. Still, Knox gets sidetracked every few seconds and asks a dozen more questions.

Gunnar sits up, shaking his head. “I’m no expert, but let me be real with you because she’s making it sound all technical.”

Knox laughs, making an exaggerated motion for him to continue.

Fennik joins our pile, already laughing. “I can’t wait to hear your version, pup.”

Gunnar settles in like a full-blown storyteller, his hands already waving around. “It starts with the rut-haze hash from candles instead of your smoke. She’s got naked dancers in cages and everyone pissing themselves trying not to come or bite somebody by accident. So, you’d never make it.”

Knox flips him off, but Gunnar laughs.

“Then after you survive the haze, you move on to this one.” Gunnar points at me.

“Of course she’s the boss fight,” Knox jokes.

The two of them go back and forth until Fennik and I are bent over, tears in our eyes. They give a recap of our bonding the same way, speculating wildly and making my dragon’s challenge seem like the takedown of an evil sex pirate or something.

Gunnar looks at us imperiously. “Laugh all you want, but you know this shit needs a manual.”

It’s true. That’s why we have Shadow Books, but talking about it with them is definitely more fun.

After we all settle back together in a pile, Knox asks more serious questions about the magic of the club and how I think that’s connected to the wolves’ dying magic. I haven’t ever really talked to anyone who practices magic—besides Vandera—in a long time. His questions get me thinking. He interjects, sharing details about how the clubs he runs for his family work and the way that magic could be used at Frenzy.

That discussion leads to the wolves’ mating magic and his family’s treaty. It grabs my wolves’ attention, and they join the conversation, helping me think through some of our next steps.

We talk for so long that the next time I notice, the fire is banked coals and dawn is waking on the horizon. Gunnar is already asleep, lying between Fennik’s legs, tail wrapped around my foot.

Knox’s thumb rubs along his new bite mark on my shoulder, that tug of arousal pulling me back to his violet eyes. “To bed?”

When I nod, he wraps us all in his shadow bands. The smooth, silky touch sends warmth to my belly. He shadow-walks us back to my nest. It’s surreal, feeling the shadowy current instead of just the gauzy memories, but the rush is the same. It’s like trying to walk inside a tornado, the whipping wind so strong I can barely orient myself. Knox doesn’t falter, and in seconds, we’re back in my nest, all of us snuggled in the same configuration as when we left.

“When can we do that again?”I ask.

“Anytime you want, baby.” Knox grins.

Fennik holds his stomach, looking at the two of us. “That can be something that’s just the two of you,” he says, looking a little green.

Gunnar mumbles that he needs a redo before yawning and passing back out.

I wiggle around until I’m sandwiched between Fennik and Knox, my hands in Gunnar’s hair. I’m too freaking sore to want anything but their scents and their warm bodies, but even that is so good that I can’t help but purr.

Knox’s shadows unfurl, and Fennik adds his purr to mine. The room becomes a sleep cocktail of citrus woods and smokey sage.Sleep tugs at the edges, but I want to savor the moment a little longer.

“Hey, Knox?”

“Hmm?” he asks sleepily. He nudges his nose into the crook of my neck.

“We should?—”

“Tomorrow,” Fennik grumbles, tugging me closer. “No more magic talk tonight.”