34. Tacita #2
“No, no. Not the fence!” Khaos commentates beside me, his hand slamming to his mouth as he bursts into hysterics. We watch in bemused horror as Wyatt, in his dragon form, slams into the perimeter fence, taking down several of the chain link fencing panels.
The first flying lessons are always entertaining, and I wasn’t going to miss this, even if I’m supposed to be meeting Garrick in his office to go through the latest CCTV footage.
Milo, who is also in the lesson, runs towards Wyatt as he unsuccessfully tries to detangle himself. Milo took a while, but finally revealed his demonic side yesterday. It was quite a surprise to wake up with a panther that wasn’t Garrick sleeping between myself and Wyatt.
It takes a few minutes but he, in his human form, along with a few other contestants and the Officers taking the lesson, manage to unwrap the fence from Wyatt.
The dragon springs free, flaring his wings and shaking like a dog.
Flying hasn’t come the easiest to him, but then again none of the new winged-shifters have managed to fly more than a few feet in the last few days.
It takes a while for them to figure out the muscle movements and build up some strength in their wings.
“He can fix that himself.” Garrick’s gruff voice comes from behind us.
Uh-oh. Busted.
He steps up to the lip of the building Khaos and I are sitting on and places his hand between my shoulder blades, sending a shiver through the arches of my wings.
“This compound is hardly big enough for a dragon to practice flying, you can’t blame him really,” I plead Wyatt’s case, keeping my voice low so no one overhears me talking.
“Zafihra seems to manage fine.” We look skyward and see the other dragon shifter circling overhead. Wyatt was meant to be following her into the skies when he tripped up on the take off.
“No wings, no judgement,” I admonish, reaching over my shoulder to poke him in the side.
“Is that so?” He tries to be stern but I hear the smile in his voice as he grips my hand before I can pull it back.
He lays a kiss to my fingertips before letting go. “Seems like judging is exactly what you two are doing on this rooftop. Maybe if you’re not working this afternoon, you should be down there teaching instead.”
Before I can respond Garrick shoves me from the roof.
I barely hold in the shriek that rushes up my throat before I extend my wings to save myself.
Flapping them before I’ve even fallen a full storey, I twist in the air so I’m facing the very dead panther shifter when I rise back up to the level of the roof.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I threaten him in my most deadly voice. It gets swallowed by Khaos, however, who bursts into even more laughter, the grin splitting his face is so wide he looks like he’s just won front row tickets to our favourite theatre in Elysium.
Garrick has the gall to pull an innocent face, placing a hand to his chest. “What did I do? Except give you an order. In case you’ve forgotten, Death Bringer, I give them around here.”
“Ooooooo, go Garrick.” I shoot a glare at my best friend for siding against me.
“Is this gang up on Tacita day?”
I’m too busy plotting my revenge on my Officer-Needs-putting-in-his-place to notice the commotion behind me. That is until the sunlight disappears, a large shadow appearing over me and quickly extending to Khaos and Garrick.
Flapping my wings again to spin in place where I’m hovering in the air, I’m met with one pissed looking orange dragon, flapping hard but managing to hold himself airborne. Just.
Smoke rolls out from Wyatt’s nostrils.
I want to voice my elation at seeing him off the ground but with several of the humans and guards attention now on me I keep my mouth shut.
“I’d find something fireproof if I were you, Garrick.” Khaos chuckles, moving himself back along the ledge, out of the shadow of Wyatt’s great body. “You might have been playing but you just endangered a dragon’s mate.”
Mates aren’t really a thing, there is no magical bond between the supes, but his use of the word does aptly sum up how Wyatt has been treating me and Milo since he turned. The possessiveness has been a lot, and dragons are known to be protective of those they love to a fault.
“He’s flying though, isn’t he?” Garrick rolls his eyes and I turn to stare at him, seeing the cunning in his eyes. He didn’t push me just to irritate the fuck out of me, he did it because he knew Wyatt would literally fly to my rescue.
I’d take a second to cherish the sweet gesture if he wasn’t about to get his ass lit on fire.
Flying slightly higher, I put myself above Wyatt’s eyeline as he hovers, still growling and billowing smoke from his nostrils.
Garrick moves below and Wyatt tracks him instead of me, releasing another rumbling growl from deep in his throat. Rolling my eyes, I flap my wings and fly higher to get his attention. It works, his right eye swivelling to watch me.
Lifting my hand, palm up, I curl my fingers twice in a silent ask for him to follow me as I float backwards away from him.
Wyatt nearly clips the building as he attempts to turn mid-air, but he manages and is soon heading towards me.
I flap a little harder to keep out of his way, still flying backwards to keep track of his progress as he finds the coordination he needs to get himself a little higher.
He’d barely been off the ground before to get level with the roof, but we head upwards slowly, and make it out into the open, instead of within dangerous proximity to any of the compound’s buildings. Or fencing.
Flying with Wyatt sends such a thrill through me that when Zafihra joins us I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. We’d flown a few circuits of the surrounding mountains before she flew up next to Wyatt to run through some simple manoeuvres with him.
Dipping away, I return to the compound and land in the quadrant, seeing the roof now empty.
Khaos has disappeared entirely but Garrick has joined the remaining shifters, and is tutoring the panthers amongst the group.
Milo runs up to me on four legs as I fold in my wings, his greeting an exuberance I don’t expect.
I brace as he barrels into my thighs and rubs his body around my legs like an overgrown house cat.
It doesn’t go unnoticed by the others in the quad but I’m finding it hard to give a damn that I’m in my demon form and not in my human form. Maybe they’ll think he’s just being grateful that I got Wyatt flying, seeing as everyone knows that they’re together.
Garrick approaches too, although with a slow swagger instead. “Nice work. Maybe I should hire you permanently.”
I want to tell him where to stick his job offer. As much as this job has changed my life and I jumped at the chance to do it, I do miss straight up killing the assholes that prowl the planes. Although, I guess joining the staff here for three months every decade could be fun.
Tilting my head, I give him a shrug in response before leaning to scratch Milo behind the ears. He erupts into a purr that melts my heart. Since our confessions in the shower the other day he seems extra appreciative of any affection I give him.
“I should only be here for another half hour. You can stay, or head to my office, but we really should get some more video looked through today.”
Nodding my agreement, I look him up and down hoping to convey my desire to have him alone.
Garrick steps into my space, ignoring the other cat wrapped around my legs so he can whisper in my ear. “I look forward to my punishment for throwing you off the roof. I expect to be put on my knees to work for your forgiveness.”
It’s a good job I’m wearing a mask because I have to bite my lip to stop myself groaning in frustration. How does this male wind me up so, and then have me melting for him?
He walks away, back to those he’s tutoring, calling Milo as he goes, who reluctantly follows him and leaving me staring after them both.