Chapter 10 Vaxan
~Vaxan~
Utterly frivolous.
Chaotic.
Playfully reckless.
That was what I’d called Zayn’s suggestion to spend a portion of our date night in this manner.
With great affection, I might add.
A date night that had been untimely and awfully delayed.
Now, however, here we were.
And it was all those things I’d accused—and absolutely wonderful for being so.
It was invigorating.
I didn’t drive my magnificent beauty of a car for the thrill of it, for an adrenaline rush like Zayn and Winter clearly did with their motorcycles as I had witnessed in full tonight.
It was a smooth drive, something I sank into when I needed to clear my head, didn’t wish to teleport to every given destination, or to use my magic, days in which I wished to perform tasks the mundane way.
It most definitely appeared that I had been missing out.
Because as I tore down the backroads, allowing discipline and responsibility to give way to fun and exhilaration, the rush was all-encompassing.
Winter rode beside me to the right, working his Ducati Panigale hard to keep pace with me.
Zayn was to my left on his Triumph Speed Triple.
The thunder of their engines collided with mine, creating the sweetest aggressive symphony, as the world whipped on by in a fury—yet one rooted in a sense of peace, if that made due sense.
Perhaps in this moment, it didn’t need to.
The most exhilarating aspect of it all, however, was Evira soaring above the three of us.
In full dragon form glory.
She was an absolute vision of majesty, ferocity, and beauty.
Sleek, overlapping scales shimmered with frosted cobalt and icy cerulean, like she was sculpted from living frost and stone combined.
Her eyes glowed with arctic light. Veins of her magic pulsed around her chest and along the edges of her wings.
And the ridges along her head and neck formed elegant, blade-like spines.
The wings themselves as she flapped them with graceful force were truly mammoth and etched with fractal patterns.
She would soar ahead every few minutes, which would result in the three of us speeding up, then she’d slow and turn her head and fly right over us. It would then set Zayn off and he’d perform a stunt for her viewing pleasure.
Speaking of such a thing, as Winter roared past me, trying to catch up to Evira, I noted an alteration to Zayn’s form and speed, making me swing my head to the left.
Oh no.
He was smirking at me.
He reduced his speed and then left my sightline.
Thankfully, I regained sight of him in my mirrors.
No.
No. He was not doing what it seemed like.
I lifted one hand off the steering wheel and flicked a spark of my citrine magic out the window and downwind to him, using it to carry my voice on the wind.
“You do this and there will be punishment forthcoming, rageling.”
He jolted as my words reached him.
His eyes met mine through the rearview mirror.
But then they lit up, flaming with his fuchsia fire.
It had done nothing to dissuade him.
In fact, it had actually served to fuel him.
Of course he’d turn a possible reprimand from me into a delight. He knew I’d meant it in an erotic sense, for it to occur during our planned group liaison later this very night.
It certainly showed just how comfortable he’d become with exploring his submissive side.
Although, that didn’t exactly serve me well currently.
Damnation.
A wisp of frost brushed across my right cheek and I turned to see Winter now beside my window, keeping pace with my car again.
“It’s seventy-thirty if he makes it, because he never preps a stunt like this—jumping something big—beforehand. He just goes on impulse. Go figure. But I’ve got you. Keep your speed steady, though. Don’t react by decelerating or anything.”
“Understood.” I gave a nod, a whole lot of intrigue sparking.
We reached the peak of a little hill—and that was when Zayn made his move.
He used it as a ramp, just as Winter and I hit the decline, to propel his motorcycle off the ground, accelerating and pushing forward with his body angled appropriately, and then he was soaring over the length of my car.
Whoops and hollers reached my ear, making me smile in spite of his unruly antics and the risk to my darling Lamborghini.
I was able to gauge his precise position with my Basilisk senses, even in the blind spot of him being directly over me, until the visual then returned via my windshield as he made his descent.
I tensed.
He wasn’t going to complete the jump.
The angle was slightly off.
I rapidly ran the calculations in split seconds, determining he would be two feet shy of a safe landing. His back wheel would drive into the hood.
I needn’t have worried, because shadows wove along the road directly in front of me. They rapidly swirled over the hood, higher, wider, until they formed a dark cloudy bridge that extended out fifty feet ahead.
“Whoo! Yeah, Win! Fucking yeah!” Zayn cried excitedly, a moment before I watched him and his Triumph soar right over my car, the shadows carrying him above the hood on the bridge. He tore along it, then spun around, performed a wheelie and came to a rough, jarring stop on the side of the road.
Unbelievable.
I looked out at Winter and he gave me a chin lift.
“Much appreciated, little death.”
He grinned. “Got your back.”
We both slowed as we neared Zayn, now dismounting.
Someone was eager for their punishment.
I’d just pulled in behind Winter on the right side of the road when Evira suddenly swept down and snatched Zayn up in one of her talons.
He shrieked in surprise as she soared up into the sky with him confined in her hold.
I climbed out of my car and Winter swung his leg over his bike and jogged up to me, the both of us looking up at the night sky.
We fell into a fit of laughter as Evira tickled Zayn with her free front claw, making him yelp, giggle, and writhe.
His power sparked and little cries escaped her as he tickled her back with it.
And then she proceeded to whip him up into the air with a flicker of her magic safeguarding him as she set him onto her back.
He grabbed onto one of the blade-like spines at the back of her neck and stroked her scales with the other, earning a sound much like a purr from her, which I’d never quite heard from a dragon before in their animal form.
It was truly wondrous.
“How does she do that, hmm?” Winter spoke, coming to me and tucking himself into my side in that affectionate way of his.
I held him to me, feeling it strange that he was in a brown leather jacket stretching across his broad chest instead of his usual hoodie. With him, I was so used to the soft cotton that hard leather didn’t compute. Although, it certainly served him well.
“Being effortlessly delightful, striking a unique combination between playful and enchantingly ferocious?”
He chuckled. “That, undoubtedly, but also being so sweet and sexy all at once. I’m both turned on and awestruck.”
“A heady combination,” I chuckled back, stroking his hair.
A sound reached me through Zayn’s excited exclamations.
A whine from Evira.
Pain.
She was in pain.
But the sound wasn’t at a decibel level that Winter or Zayn could hear.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to react physically while Winter was against me, and worry him.
Evira caught my eye and held my gaze even as she soared above.
Then words reached me on the wind.
Draconic Tongue.
I spoke it, not fluently, but at an intermediate conversational level.
How she’d known that, though, was another thing entirely. And I was duly impressed. She’d done her research and I deeply respected that sort of forethought.
I couldn’t revel in that, though, as I registered what she was saying.
“My Crown Heir marking has just left me.”
My stomach dropped.
I whispered back at a level imperceptible to Winter, dipping my head so he didn’t see my lips move. “Evira, I am so very sorry.”
“It’s fine. Really. I knew it was coming.
My dad already completed the abdication ritual, the markings aspect can just experience a delay.
It was just a brief burning sensation—a bitch of one, but brief at least. The point is, when I shift back, it will be noticeable that I’m missing the marking on my left shoulder.
It will upset Winter, especially, given that he feels responsible.
And Zayn won’t take it well either. I can’t have that.
It’s taken so long for us to get to this date night, and to sink into the four of us again.
But we’re going back to my suite soon to play, and if they see this, it will ruin everything. ”
“I understand, but you don’t need to downplay your pain and upset for—”
“It’s not upset. I promise. I just need your help to keep it quiet. Just for now.”
“Evira—”
“Please, Vaxan. It will gut me if tonight is ruined by this. By the ignorance of my people.”
“What do you need me to do, beauty?”
“I can replicate a marking to replace the missing one with my ice, but it won’t hold. It will heal too quickly. But if you add your petrification, it will freeze that in place.”
“What you’re asking me to do is—”
“Just for tonight.”
I drew in a steadying breath, which had Winter eyeing me with concern.
I forced a smile, then stroked his cheek, his eyes fluttering closed for a moment, which enabled me to converse with Evira again.
“Okay. I will see to it. The instant you shift back, recreate it, and I will move in to embrace you and perform the petrification. I can’t go too deep without causing you pain and severe damage, so it will last but a few hours.
Create a distraction for Zayn and Winter. It will take me a few moments.”
“I wish a simple glamor was possible, but Winter can see through illusions. Thanks for doing this.”
“I don’t want you suffering through distress. I know how much tonight means to you.”
Her eyes sparkled at me and she lifted her dragon chin.
Then she swept down in a deep arc.