Chapter 18 #2
Her laugh made warmth pool in my chest. “And my wing muscles will tire eventually,” I added. “I have no trouble carrying you for a short flight, but I am not yet accustomed to bearing a passenger.” Oh, but how I wanted to fly with her again and again and again.
She squeezed her arms around mine. “Should I have put on an emergency flight pack?”
She was teasing, but I was quick to reassure her. “I will land long before we must worry about my strength giving out.”
“Good to hear.” She looked up ahead at the tendrils. “Shall we see what happens if we join our visitors?”
Cautiously, I turned in a wide circle and flew toward the station and the gathering of tendrils of plasma hovering far above it. They cleared a path for us as we approached.
As we passed through the gathering, their power sizzled on our skin. They fell in behind us as if we were leading a flock of birds. Elena turned to look over her shoulder and gasped at the sight of them swirling behind us.
I flew higher and circled the station in a wide elliptical path above the forest canopy. The tendrils danced in a long trail, twining around each other and shimmering in what I might have called joy or happiness if those emotions could be attributed to living plasma.
Their twirls gave me an idea. I had never done this maneuver carrying extra weight, but I could not resist a playful move.
I squeezed Elena. “Would you like me to spin?”
“Do it,” she said without hesitation. “But first turn me around to face you, if you can.”
Very, very carefully, my wings spread wide so I could soar smoothly, I turned her in my arms and tail so she was facing me.
Gods, her beauty and fearlessness made my hearts sing.
Some of her long hair had come loose from its braid and her eyes were wide and wild with excitement…and with arousal. Her sweet and nearly intoxicating fragrance was unmistakable despite the strong breeze.
She wrapped her arms around my neck. She fit so perfectly to me. “Ready,” she breathed.
I clasped Elena even tighter against my chest, flapped my wings to gain altitude and speed, and dove, rolling us twice. Her shriek of pure delight rang in my ears as we spun in midair and then righted ourselves.
I soared on an updraft, banked, and turned to watch as the tendrils paired off and mimicked our movements by twirling around each other in a symphony of color and sparkling power.
Panting, Elena pulled my head down to hers and kissed me.
For a heartsbeat, I lost myself in her taste and scent and the warmth and softness of her skin against mine. My wings lost their rhythm and we dropped a few feet before I regained control.
She gasped against my mouth. “Don’t fall out of the sky, dragon,” she murmured. “If you can’t multitask, let’s go back to the roof.”
I had planned to fly higher, to enjoy this time in the air with Elena and the tendrils, but her scent and the way she caressed my neck banished those thoughts like leaves blown by the wind.
I took my time descending though, soaring in wide circles around the station and skimming the trees to elicit gasps and thrilling scents from my mate.
She grabbed a bright blue leaf from the very top of a tree and tucked it into her shirt between her breasts.
A souvenir of this first flight? My hearts swelled with joy.
By the time I made the final turn and headed for the grassy upper roof, we were both trembling with adrenaline and need.
“I will land on my feet,” I said, kissing her hair. “You will not need to assist.”
“All right.” She tucked herself against my chest.
Landing was easier than I expected, despite being barefoot and having to balance Elena’s weight. I needed a few extra steps to come to a full stop and steady myself, but we landed softly and safely.
I did not, however, stay on my feet for long. With her hand on the back of my neck, Elena wiggled free of my arms and tail and pulled me down to the grass.
Mindful of how much larger and heavier I was, I folded my wings and rolled to my back, curling my arm around her so she ended up lying on top of me. Forux sniffed us as if to make sure we were unharmed after our flight, then wandered back to his napping spot next to Elena’s discarded datapad.
Elena settled in on my chest, cupped my face in her hands, and kissed me.
All the world faded away.
My every sense filled with my mate. Her earthy scent, her cool skin on mine, her sweet taste, the sound of her gasping breaths and racing heart, the way the sunlight formed a halo around her hair before I closed my eyes to lose myself in the wonder of her…
nothing in my life had ever felt so good and so right.
My hearts raced and waves of heat rolled through me.
Only one thing remained undone to make this moment utterly perfect.
I draped my wing over us to cradle her and to shield us from being seen. This moment belonged to us alone.
I had always considered my wings perfectly weighted and sized for flight, but their primary purpose had morphed into keeping my mate safe and warm.
Elena sighed and melted against me, her curves fitting perfectly against my chest.
“Damn it,” she murmured, her lips on the corner of my jaw. “You’re so annoyingly irresistible now that I hate you less.”
To be called irresistible by my mate while still euphoric from our flight…my chest rumbled in pleasure. I coiled my tail snugly around her bare calf. She quivered and nuzzled my chest.
The fragrant grass beneath us hummed with the interconnected ecosystem’s energy we had observed before our flight. Elena’s heartbeat and her scent completed the sensation of being at home, secure, and perfectly content.
She kissed me again, much more fiercely this time, and flicked her tongue against my lips to demand more. I ran my fingers through her silken hair and held her close.
“What may I do so you might hate me even less?” I ventured when our kiss ended.
“Let’s see…” She rested her elbow on my chest, propped her head on her hand, and pursed her pretty lips, as if daring me to kiss her again.
“You’ve fed me,” she mused. “Carried my equipment up the stairs and to the roof without complaint, let me scan you to make sure you’re not influencing me with pheromones, taken me flying and landed us safely, and covered me with your wing so I don’t get chilly in these shorts.
And you let me call you dragon instead of Dr. Husiorithae.
That’s quite a lot of items in the non-hate column. ”
I cupped her face. “And yet, by my accounting a deficit remains. I must add more.”
The corners of her beautiful mouth turned up. “Let me turn the question around. What would you like to do so I might hate you less?”
That mental list was damn near endless and focused a great deal on actions I hoped would lead her to call me dragon—and not quietly. My body thrummed with desire. Her own scent revealed she shared my need.
But her scent also told me our flight had filled her with endorphins and adrenaline.
I could not be certain her words and thoughts were not influenced in a way that might lead to regrets later.
I had already erred catastrophically with her.
I could do nothing knowingly, ever, that might cause her to have regrets, or hurt her in a way I could never undo or be forgiven for.
My search for my real self continued as I stripped away my many facades and masks so my mate could truly know me. What lay beneath all those layers, I was not sure. But above all, I wanted to be an honest, good man for Elena. She deserved nothing less.
“If once the rush from the flight wanes you still want me to answer that question, I will,” I said. “Better yet, I will show you. Right now, I worry you are not clear-headed.”
Her smile faded. Her sweet and fiery scent changed from contentment and desire to something more like sadness and frustration. My hearts twinged. I did not want her to be sad or angry with me.
“I am quite clear-headed,” she said with a scowl. “I didn’t drink a bottle of Probytian moonshine; I went flying with you. Now you’re walking on eggshells. Drawing back, just when we’re getting closer. I don’t like it.”
“I should be cautious,” I countered. “As you pointed out, I have made many terrible choices these past few months.”
“Most of your terrible choices involved ignoring or overriding your instincts, and here you are doing it again.” She pressed her palms to my chest and studied me as if I were a lichen whose secrets she was determined to discover.
“Stop living so much in your head. What do your instincts want? You can tell me. We’re both scientists. Let’s examine them together.”
What did my instincts want?
Her.
Everything in my body and soul needed to feel her bare skin on mine, to claim her and be claimed, to drown myself in the wonder and perfection of my brilliant, beautiful, intuitive, wild-hearted mate.
To taste her, fill her, heal her and be healed.
I wanted to share all the marvels and miracles of the true mate bond, the most wondrous aspect of being Fortusian.
I wanted that so much, more than I had wanted anything in my life, even escape from the cult that captured the rest of my family.
Thinking about my estranged family—and how much I had risked and sacrificed to gain my freedom—made me ache even now. But it also granted me the ability to see this moment in a new and different way.
I had flown away from the compound toward a life devoted to science and reason. But what I had wanted even more were happiness and the right to choose with whom I would build my life and perhaps one day have a family of my own full of love and trust rather than hurt and betrayal.
At last, a long-overdue realization began to dawn.