19. Dragon’s Lair
NINETEEN
dragon’s lair
Arcane
She can pretend all she wants, but I know she just checked out the camouflage of my cock. Twice.
A shade of pink colors her high cheekbones as she looks quickly away, taking in the dry planes of the land just off the white sandy shores of the beach.
“It’s prettier than I imagined,” she whispers on a breath, and a feeling like addiction strikes through me at the awestruck sound of her voice.
“That’s because mankind hasn’t had the chance to ruin it all,” I tell her with a smirk. “When a dragon’s shifter passes on and leaves them here to find their own path in life, they get as far away from our kind as they can. They come here.”
I start walking to the south where the most activity always is.
“Why?”
Her simple question lifts my brows. I eye her petite frame as she walks in time with my steps. Her long legs eat up the dirt with a natural sway of hips that seems confident but apprehensive at the same time. She’s a poised woman for the first time since I met her, but the realm of the living takes time to get used to, clearly. I’m still assessing her when she peers up at me from the corner of her eye. Our gazes clash for a sparking moment that’s torn away before it ever even ignites. She folds her arms around herself and looks away once more to the mountains in the distance.
“I think deep down, they know the bond between them and their shifter is all that keeps them safe. A predator can spot another predator from miles away. Humans can’t be trusted. Hence, the war that comes closer and closer to this little safe haven they built for themselves.”
“Who are the Raiders that steal the hatchlings?” she asks, and I remember that she didn’t exactly grow up in the middle of a decades long war between two kingdoms. She doesn’t know the history that taints our lands.
“The Raiders are the ship makers from the Kingdom of Minden. Their craft has accelerated in the last few decades. They’ve gotten braver, crossing the ocean. They’ve gotten reckless in their bravery.”
“And the Death Riders, they defend the dragons. They protect them?” The scrunch of her nose is cute when she’s curious, and I have to force myself to stop smiling like an idiot at the sight of it.
“That’s the academy’s number one goal: to keep the dragons safe from thieves.”
“Then why have they sent us out to steal the rarest one we can find just in the name of an academic competition?”
Shit. She’s hot when she reminds me she’s got brains and boobs.
“If I had to answer, I’d think it’s Reign’s way of testing our loyalty and honor. Will we obey him and perform his petty tasks? Will we fail before the harder trials begin? Will we tell him to go fuck himself and never look back?” The careless shrug that pulls at my shoulders blooms a smile across her pretty face, and how the fuck am I supposed to be searching the island for rare creatures when all I can think about is how incredible she looked tangled up in my bedsheets yesterday?
Her questions carry on with each step of our journey. The dirt turns rocky and overgrown with long weeds. Trees sprout up here and there, and after an hour of sweating beneath the blistering sun, a canopy of big leaves now shades over us. The creatures here are languid with their days. They hang from branches on long scaley bodies. They curl around tree trunks and slither underfoot without any notice at all from the oblivious blonde at my side.
“I can’t believe we’ve been here for hours and haven’t seen anything yet.” She sighs a heavy breath of disappointment. Her hands meet her hips, and she looks like she’s fed up with this mythical game of hide-and-seek.
And I can’t hold back the laughter that shakes from my chest.
“What?” she asks on a near shriek.
A massive nightcrawler dangles down from a high-hanging tree branch inches from her head. The sticky sound of its mucus detaching from the bark nearly has me gagging. The strings of its slimy substance blow in the wind as its snakelike body curls this way and that. Thick black scales glint in the sunlight as its snout brushes against the back of her hair, and it inhales deeply.
“Yeah, I agree. It’s crazy how little activity these parts have had today,” I say casually, but I take her hand in mine. A line creases her eyebrows, and I pull her safely away from the flicking black tongue of the creature behind her.
“Come here,” I whisper. We lower down at the base of a thick trunk. Her knees bump mine just slightly as we crouch down, distracting me as I try to focus on the one watering hole just yards away.
I point, and her eyes grow wide and knowing at the sight of the well of water in the distance.
Only the sound of her steady breaths can be heard, and I can’t stop myself from leaning into her. Our hair brushes, and I keep her hand held in mine, brushing my thumb back and forth against the softest skin I’ve ever felt.
Then I hear them: wings.
My finger presses to my lips, and I meet her deep emerald eyes before tilting my finger up to the leaves above.
Her head tilts slightly at the sight of a quick-blinking white light.
Butterflies? she asks from the depths of my mind, and a shiver curls through my stomach and straight down at the feel of her warm voice within me.
Will-o’-wisps , I tell her, and I have to clear my throat hard despite not even using my voice.
Will that ever go away? Will the bond that links me to this maddening woman forever make me out of my fucking mind with lust?
Will-o’-wisps? she asks on a sexy voice like velvet. I swear to the goddess, my cock is taking on a life of its own, and I really have to focus on camouflaging the rip-roaring-raging hard-on that’s pretending to be soft cotton pants right now.
Like fairies. Incredibly productive little creatures. I swallow hard and consider if she’d let me kiss her right now. Her head’s tilted up, and the magic of the moment shines in her eyes. The blinking lights of the will-o’-wisps sparkle all around her. Dusk kisses the skies overhead, casting us in hazy shadows.
She’s like a blooming flower in the midst of hell. How did she become mine? It’s like I’m standing in the middle of a goddess-damned fairytale.
I don’t deserve this bliss.
And she doesn’t deserve the heartache that’ll surely come.
“There,” I whisper along the shell of her ear. Her head turns, mirroring mine as we gaze upon the rarest dragon: The Nornhorn. Its horns are splintered and barbed, coming up off its head like a tall, elegant crown of thorns. Long wings fold back across its lounging body like a plate of black armor so dark, it’s almost blue. The golden fairy lights beam across the shine of its scales. The will-o’-wisps touch down on the beast’s back before bouncing up with tinkling laughter and soaring down once more like it’s a dance or a game that I just don’t understand.
He’s beautiful, Keira hums along my thoughts, turning on every nerve in my body with the sound of her voice alone.
Our faces are so near one another, my cheek brushes hers when I look at her. Our eyes lock with a sparking connection, and all I want is to fuck her on the mossy bed of grass beneath our feet. We don’t ever have to go back to that fucking academy again. We can just live here in this fairytale land . . .
Until nightfall comes, that is.
“We can’t take him,” she whispers aloud, breaking the spell of our bond with words that I wish she’d say to me and me alone, and why the fuck am I so possessive of the sound of her voice now? No one else should be allowed to bask in the melody of her words.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“What do you mean?” I pull back from her slightly just to remind myself to breathe air every once in a while, because I’m clearly convincing myself that all I need to live and breathe is this woman.
“It’s the size of a horse, Arcane. How would we make sure the academy brings him back? What would they do with him after the trials?”
My lips part, but as it turns out, I don’t have an answer to that question.
What does the academy do with the creatures from our trials?
“Nornhorns are deadly pureblood dragons that gain sustenance from magic. They’re so rare because magic in itself is rare. If we have a net, we could capture it easily. We’ll definitely win.” I search her body for something more than blades and belts, but I think that’s all the academy has given us to work with.
She blinks at me, and I think I’ve explained it well enough. She gets it now. She’s about to agree, when instead she says . . .
“I’m not taking him.” And she looks away from me to the nornhorn.
Then she stands. Fuck. She’s going to scare it away. Or worse, it’s going to charge at her. I reach for her hand once more, but she’s already stepping through the quiet of the forest.
The fairies linger in the air, not daring to come back down where the girl stands in the middle of their safe haven. Keira’s steps are soft and gentle. Every move she makes is. She takes care to comfort others. That’s never been clearer than in this moment when she kneels down to her knees right in the mud and extends the palm of her hand to the beast before her.
The nornhorn’s enormous orb-like eyes assess the girl bowed before it. It doesn’t rise to its taloned feet. It doesn’t scatter away from the humankind who’s only ever hunted it. It does the most dangerous thing of all: it coexists. With a tilt of its deadly horns, the creature lowers its head. My breath catches. My heart drills.
Then it brushes its snout against Keira’s palm.
Riders who have a bond with a shifter will always attract other creatures with ease. They’re able to move in sync with nature’s deadliest predators because a part of them will always be in tune with the beastly kind.
What I’m watching right now isn’t like that though. It’s like they know each other. A familiarity that has more trust than it should. Even the will-o’-wisps have glided back down to lift the pale strands of her long hair and . . . are they fucking braiding flowers into her hair right now?
How? I ask through the channel of our bond.
Her smile is alive in her tone when she answers.
Because I’m not throwing nets and knives at the poor little guy. He’s sweet. Come pet it!
“Come pet it,” says the girl playing with the ancient beast like it’s a puppy instead of a monster that impales its prey and sucks the blood clean from the carcass.
No, thanks, I answer back, knowing damn well that thing won’t purr and lick my hand like it’s currently doing to her.
A buzzing sound hits my ear before flicking wings pelt against my cheek. A shining black beetle lands on my bare shoulder. I flick the annoying little scarab beetle away and stare hard at the confusing woman before me. My heart pulls just to be near her. The pain is soothing in a strange way. But it also reminds me how limited our time is together. Soon I’ll be gone.
I’ll leave this incredible woman behind.
Alone.
Forever.
The beetles are coming out, Haunting. Nightfall is coming. We have to go.
The beetles? she asks, and those big emerald eyes look back to me.
Scarab beetles. They’re a sign of the dead. We can’t stay here past sundown, I explain.
Headmaster Reign said Dragon’s Lair is uninhabitable because of the low temperatures at nightfall, she murmurs at the back of my mind.
My eyebrows lift at Reign’s incredibly basic explanation of the dangers of this land. Part of me wonders if he even understands the threats of this island at all.
I spot a few dragonflies coming out to make friends with my mate as well. Their little tails glow yellow and orange at the spades. They add to her mythical beauty in this ridiculously picturesque setting.
I stand with a tired sigh. I almost hate to steal all of this away from her. It only takes two steps before the crunch of a long stick beneath my boot breaks the magic of it all. The will-o’-wisps drop the strands of her hair and dart off into the shadows with shrill words of warning shrieking between them all. The nornhorn quickly stands, its strong legs backing away from me but keeping its head lowered like it’s still considering if it should impale me or not. I hold its gaze but don’t make any fast movements. The moment it shakes its massive horse-like head at me and turns away in a trot, I strike out just behind Keira’s head and capture one of the slow-soaring dragon flies before it gets away.
The buzz of little wings in my palm reminds me of a childhood long gone. It blinks colors of orange and yellow within the cracks of my fingers. Keira stares down at the light in my hand, and I almost wonder if she’s going to yell at me to give it back to nature. To save the little thing from the claws of the academy.
But she only smiles. Slender fingers cover mine, and she slowly uncurls my palm until it’s flat and open. The long and skinny creature doesn’t have horns but it’s scaled in a similar way to my own beast. It exhales a hot, steaming breath through its tiny snout. It doesn’t dart away the moment the cool evening air hits its iridescent wings. It turns with its tail circling its body before lying down, sweetly curled up in the comfort of the well of my palm.
“You don’t have to hold things prisoner to keep them,” she whispers to me. “He’s tired. He wants to rest.”
When the depths of her pretty eyes meet mine with golden light blinking between us, I can’t fucking take it anymore. I can’t hold back. I tilt my head down to hers, and without another second of time keeping me from her, I kiss her. It’s slow at first. It’s meant to be sweet and gentle and everything she deserves. But then, this whimper of lust slips from within her. And with my free hand, I’m threading my fingers through the softest hair I’ve ever felt. Her lithe body presses to mine, her chest melds against me, and I feel every soft curve. When my tongue parts her lips, a gasp of a breath releases from her lungs, filling the space between us before I devour the sound of her moan. I want her. I want every fucking part of her to know she belongs to me. I want to fuck her so good that my name and my name alone is all she knows.
Cold water drops against the back of my head. One or two at first, and then a downpour of millions all at once.
My stomach drops as I pull away from her swollen lips. Rain taps along big leaves over head. It drips from my lashes against her cheek. I should have gotten her out of here hours ago. I should have netted the nornhorn and delivered it to the academy like they ordered. Instead, I allowed myself to become enamored by my own obsession with the most mysterious girl.
Now it’s too late:
Nightfall has come.
Lightning strikes through the sky, crackling thunder all through the forest. The wildlife that surrounded us just moments ago has abandoned us to the threat of the shadows. With her hand in mine, I lead her back through the maze of trees. Everything’s too close in here. I’ll never be able to spread my wings in this cluster fuck of nature. We’re miles from the flatlands. We just have to get to the open plains, and then I can shift.
My boot slides as we round a messy den of sticks, and I eye it carefully, not knowing if it’s a demon den or just a fox burrow. She stumbles in my wake, and both of her hands catch my arm before she fully hits the muddy ground.
My stride stops instantly, and I pull her back up by her slick palm, bringing her close against me.
“Let me lead,” she utters, and the surprise of those words slam into me all at once. She pulls the dragonfly from my hand and slips him into a pocket along her arm that I didn’t even know existed. The orange glow of the little animal is the only light now.
“Uh, yeah, lead the way, beautiful,” I encourage, but honestly, this girl doesn’t even know north from south right now, and I’m wondering if it would make me look like a total control freak if I just threw her over my shoulder like a barbarian instead.
I’m wrapping my arm around her back and preparing to hike her ass over my shoulder when she grabs my hand . . . And then we’re running . Fast. Faster than I might have ever run in my entire human life.
What—how—how is this possible? I ask as a tree limb snaps me in the face. She dodges around the next larger one with ease, letting it thud firmly against my temple as she goes, oblivious to the man she’s pulling behind her like a rag doll.
Reign. He said the mating mark will enhance my abilities, and I hadn’t considered trying until now.
Another loose hanging vine stings across my face, and she looks back at me in the blur of her run. It slows her steps instantly, and she stops for me to catch my breath because what the actual fuck is happening right now? Who is this girl and what has she done with the clumsy mate I once had?
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, bringing her fingers up to trace a line that burns pain across my cheek. Blood taints her fingertips, and the concern in her eyes shifts from me to . . . something just behind me.
The slick mud beneath my boots staggers my steps as I turn. And then I see them . . .
Thousands of red eyes blink at us from the depths of the forest. They surround us from the back. I feel them pressing in on us, their glinting gazes shifting closer and closer the longer we stay in their homeland.
Lean arms cradle around the backs of my thighs. Her palm presses to my spine. With a grunt of strength, she lifts me, hugging me against her chest . . .
She holds me like I’m her damsel or her bride. And it’s kind of nice, to be completely honest.
Then she’s running again.
The sting of bugs hitting my skin attacks us with every step she takes. The green of the forest blurs together into dark shadows, but I can smell the sulfur in the air. Among the clatter of crackling wings from the beetles hailing across my body, I can hear the growl of the creatures behind us growing closer. Flames shoot by my head, singeing the hair, and I look back over her shoulder to see dozens of fireballs soaring through the air.
What are those things? Keira says on a shaking voice within my mind.
Her hold on me tightens as her boots slide across the land. She rights herself and carries on without a second to even catch her breath.
Demons, I tell her as flatly as I can, trying my best to keep the urgency out of my tone and avoiding asking if her newfound abilities might fly our asses out of here entirely.
But I don’t. I allow my girlfriend— mate —to carry me from the cusp of danger like the damsel that I clearly am. Determination pulls at her brow. Streaks of dirt and sweat trail down her face. I can’t help but smile at her the moment the moonlight brightens around us. The trees fall away, and my wings rip from my flesh in an instant. I leap from her arms but keep my hands locked on her body. Soft thighs clamp around my waist as she jumps freely onto my back. The feel of her ass beneath my fingers is an addicting sensation that burns through my dragon’s thoughts as much as it does my own.
He’s snarling out at the fire that launches our way. The flames of the demons behind us hits his right leg, and that burning pain sinks into me. With a flinch, I try to ignore it as long talons eat up the dry earth. Big wings expand around the small frame of her body. The cold night air billows beneath me, and I kick off from the ground hard as we catch the breeze beneath our wings. Her chest presses firmly against Hades’ back, hugging my beast in the softest embrace. Her gentle hands dig into his scales like she’s scratching an itch he can’t seem to reach. He purrs beneath her as he soars up into the heavens.
She feels . . . so fucking good.
I never want to let her go.
It’s just, deep down, I know eventually I’ll have to . . .