Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Colbie
I groan and stretch. My body feels like it’s been beaten to a pulp. I have aches and pains everywhere. Last night with Hunter was the most active I’ve been in ages. I really need to work on my physical fitness, but I have a feeling life with my guys is never going to be boring. I roll over on the mountain of cushions and come face-to-face with a giant dragon head. His head is on the ground, and he looks relaxed, but his eyes are focused completely on me.
“Uh, hi,” I murmur as I lift a hand to wave at him, and he chuffs, a puff of smoke drifting out of his nose. He shuffles his head closer, and I reach out and give him a little scratch between the eyes. His eyelids drift closed, and he makes an adorable purring sound.
“I guess we should be getting back.” I sigh, and his eyes open, and he rumbles a displeased sound. “I know. I wish we could ignore everything and stay here too,” I tell him, understanding his disappointment, “but we have responsibilities we can’t ignore. I promise we will get a chance to return. You have so many pretties I’d like to get a look at.”
He preens before lumbering to his feet. I watch with awe as he shrinks and contorts until a naked Hunter stands before me. I sit up and wipe a hand across my mouth, making sure I didn’t drool in my sleep—or right now at the sight of his incredible body.
He grins at me and offers me a hand. I look down at the blanket covering my own naked form, feeling a little self-conscious. Despite our mating and feeling his emotions inside my chest, I’m still that girl whose mother never made her feel good enough, and my body was a large part of that. Although Hunter spent hours worshiping me with his talented tongue and dick, there was only dim light for him to see by. Now, though, the cavern is lit up like a chandelier. I glance around the room, noting torches built into the room all burning brightly, making his gold and gems sparkle beautifully. It’s as if the dragon wanted to show off his treasures.
“Don’t be shy, my precious. I know every inch of your body intimately, and I could see it all perfectly with my enhanced eyesight. You have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. You are perfection, the jewel of my collection,” he says roughly, unable or unwilling to hide the desire in his tone.
Despite being secretly thrilled at his words, I take his hand, and he drags me to my feet, causing the blanket to fall to the ground. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me, caressing my naked back and ass. When he pulls away, I look around for my discarded clothes and grimace when I remember they are completely destroyed.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I tell him, and he smiles and gestures to the pile of fabric in one corner.
“My dragon has prepared for everything. Help yourself. I was thinking maybe we could let your dragon out and we could fly back together. Mine is dying to see what she looks like.”
A rush of excitement flows through me, and I can’t deny that I want the same thing. “But what about Zalfari? I can’t exactly wander around naked,” I point out, and his eyes sparkle.
“I’ll pack a bag. My dragon will happily carry it if he gets to see you dressed in one of the outfits he procured,” he promises and leads me over to the corner with all the garments. He digs through a chest, pulling out a backpack and what looks like a spare watch uniform like the one I was wearing. He shoves it into the bag and then gestures for me to pick something from the garments.
“Everything is spelled so when you put it on, it will fit you perfectly. Take whatever you want, they are yours.”
I step forward, and I hear a rumbling sound of approval come from his dragon. He stares at me with his dragon’s eyes, like he’s sharing the same space with the creature. I flick through the hangers and pull out a seafoam green dress that is fairly plain compared to the rest of them. It has a heart-shaped neckline and three-quarter sleeves, and it’s long and flowy but without too much material that would make it a hindrance. It also looks like it would roll up without wrinkling, which is a big plus.
I pass it to him, and he stuffs it into the backpack, along with a pair of black slip-ons that I select. Hopefully the shoes have the same kind of magic, because they look slightly too big for my feet, but I can make them work.
Once that’s done, he returns to the nest and dons his own watch uniform, which managed to survive our lusty encounter. “I’m sorry I don’t have any food for us, but breakfast should be available when we return to Zalfari. I wasn’t prepared to come here on this trip. I will make sure the place is fully stocked next time we come.”
I look around but don’t see a fridge or any place for food to be stored. He must understand what I’m looking for, because he points across the cavern. In the wall of the cave is a door that is well hidden in the rock face.
“Through there are some living quarters—a kitchen, bathroom, and a comfortable lounge as well as a couple of bedrooms for the team. I haven’t brought them here before, but my dragon insisted that we would need them one day,” he explains. He must have known we would need a place to escape to one day when everything becomes too much for us, which I’m sure will happen eventually.
“That’s very thoughtful of him. Will he be alright with the others being around your treasures?”
“You are his greatest treasure, and he already shares you with them. Having them here will be no issue, I assure you.”
He holds out his hand, and I take it, then he leads me down the large tunnel toward the exit. The flames in the sconces extinguish behind us, leaving us in the dark, but my eyes quickly adjust as I feel my dragon rise to the surface. Her excitement is palpable, and it makes my skin tingle with anticipation. She’s going to be let out to fly, and I think she’s almost as excited about that as she was about him proving his dominance last night.
I hear him breathe deeply and chuckle. “I can smell your excitement,” he growls. “I’m tempted to turn around and take you back to the nest, but I know we have important things to do. Next time, I won’t be as understanding,” he warns, and I shrug.
“I’m okay with that,” I admit, and he squeezes my hand.
The tunnel starts to brighten as we approach the exit, the early morning light shining inside. There’s no ledge, just a sheer cliff face when we reach the end. There’s enough space for one of us to shift, but not both, and my nerves rise to the surface.
“How are we going to do this?” I ask him, and he drops my hand and steps to the side.
“I’ll shift first and wait outside for you.”
I grimace. “But how do I fly? What do I do?” I ask him, panic welling inside me, and he grips my shoulders and stares at me, his expression reassuring.
“It should all be instinctual. Let her take over, and don’t fight for control. She will know what to do, just enjoy the ride. I will be here if she goes off track and guide her to where she needs to be.” His voice is soft and encouraging, and I can’t help but trust him. None of these guys have done wrong by me, even before they knew I was their mate. Sure, Liam was an ass, but I have a feeling that behavior wasn’t reserved just for me and that’s how he was with everyone except his family—maybe even them at times.
“Okay, but if I die, I’m going to haunt this hoard. Your dragon will know no peace,” I threaten jokingly, but he nods seriously.
“If you die, he will know no peace anyway, but it isn’t going to happen. When I shift, strap that bag around one of my forelegs, okay?” he instructs and steps back, and I watch with a wince as he shifts. It always looks so painful, but they assure me it isn’t anymore.
His dragon huffs and nudges me with his giant head, almost knocking me over. I give him a scratch between the eye ridges before dealing with the backpack. He ambles over to the edge, spreads his wings, and pushes off into the air. I watch, wide-eyed, as he circles around before returning and hovering like a massive hummingbird, his wings flapping madly just outside the entrance like he is waiting for me.
“Here goes nothing,” I mutter and let my dragon rise. There’s a blinding flash of light and magic, and suddenly, my perspective changes as my soul recedes, allowing my dragon to take control. I watch through her eyes, and when she lowers her head, I catch a glimpse of her legs. She is a paler shade of purple, almost lavender in color, compared to Hunter’s shimmery eggplant hue. She spreads her wings and arches her back in a cat-like motion, stretching like she’s been asleep for a long time, which, I guess, she has been. She finally steps forward and off the ledge without a care in the world, and we begin to plummet. I scream, but of course the sound goes nowhere. I struggle to take over, but she has a tight hold on the reins. I hear a bellow of fear behind us, but as the ground rushes up, she snaps her wings out, and we glide to safety. She roars triumphantly as we take to the sky, our wings flapping slowly as if she didn’t just come close to splattering us on the ground. She circles her way up, the air whipping past us as she gains speed and altitude. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Hunter’s dragon come level with us before slightly taking the lead, directing us toward the village.
The view from up here is glorious, and I feel her pleasure as the wind rushes over our scales and the sun shines on us, doing little to ease the cold, but her body starts to heat, warding off the chill as we fly through a cloud bank and then head below it, breaking through to reveal the village of Zalfari in the distance. The return journey is a lot quicker than the one we took last night, our dragons’ speeds far superior to Hunter’s in half form. Before long, we are landing just outside the village. There are people out and about, unlike the last time we arrived, and the children cheer and clap as both dragons land, though they refrain from coming any closer.
Hunter lands between me and the gawking villagers, allowing me privacy to shift and clothe myself despite nudity being commonplace amongst shifters. It is still a long way off for me to feel comfortable being naked in front of people, if that will ever even happen.
I wear the dress I selected to return to the council home. I have a meeting with Nox’s parents to get through before we decide our next move, and I want them to take me seriously, so if that means I have to look like a queen, then I will. Hunter reaches into the bag and pulls out something shiny. When he lifts it, I see it’s a small tiara. He settles it on my head, pushing a lock of my hair back over my shoulder.
“My dragon insisted you needed this. It’s obviously not your official crown, but he was adamant you needed this today,” he tells me, shrugging sheepishly when I raise an eyebrow.
I reach up and cup his jaw. “Thank you,” I tell him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Before he can reply, the sound of hooves has us turning our attention to an approaching animal. It’s a small horse, a child, I think, if I’m guessing correctly. It has long, gangly legs, and it slides to a stop just in front of us. It’s a pretty white thing with a mane that sticks up at all angles. It snorts, its attention going from me to Hunter, then it squeals and turns and takes off in the direction it came from, bucking and kicking its back legs.
Hunter chuckles. “I guess it caught scent of my dragon,” he explains when I frown at the reaction. “It will be able to smell that we’re predators, but I bet it couldn’t stop its curiosity.”
We walk hand and hand through the village, the residents watching us with wary eyes. A few give us nods of respect, but most of them remain neutral, if not a little suspicious and leery. I’m not upset, since I would be cautious as well if I had been through what they just experienced. I just smile at them and focus on the tasks ahead. Mending bridges is going to take time, and I don’t have it right now.