Chapter 7 #3
“They’re charmed to stay with you no matter what shape you take. The gold chain is a personalized pass for the town shield. The feather charm on the silver chain is an anchor. If you get disoriented in the air, it will help you find your way back.”
Subtle magic flared as she touched the feather. “To here, or to you?” Her luminous eyes showed none of the fear he knew she must be feeling.
“Me,” Tanner admitted, holding her gaze.
“Back to me.” He stepped back to break the magnetic pull between them before he did something reckless like kiss her for real this time.
Exploring their attraction five minutes before leaving on a dangerous mission was monumentally unfair. She deserved better.
In the frozen stillness of the courtyard, the wind had fallen silent, leaving the air sharp and biting in Tanner’s lungs. He pulled out his phone and, with a few quick taps, sent the coded messages to notify the team about their launch. He slid the phone into his pocket and turned to Avelunne.
With a silent pulse of magic, he deactivated the layered charms on the peace-bonds she wore. The faint shimmer around the metal bracelets and belt winked out. She unhooked the belt and slid the bracelets from her wrists. She held them for a moment before setting them carefully on the ground.
“I won’t pretend this will be a glide on steady winds,” he said, his voice softer than he intended. The need to protect her warred with the mission’s demands. “But I’ve seen you in action. You’re more powerful than you give yourself credit for.”
Avelunne looked up, her eyes luminous in the half-light, reflecting the first stars of the violet sky.
“Even though you don’t trust me, as is right, I trust you.
” Before he could process her words, she stepped into his space.
Her hands, surprisingly warm, came up to frame his jaw.
Then her mouth was on his, a sweet, warm softness that tasted of winter air and a kind of bravery he was only just beginning to understand.
It was cool, then hot, and he pulled her close.
The feel of her against him sent his senses into overdrive.
Her hands skimmed his shoulders, but before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled back.
The taste of her and her magic saturated his senses.
Her expression was unreadable as she turned away.
With a fluid grace that made her seem like she floated, she walked twenty paces toward the open field, shedding the T-shirt, slippers, and sweatpants, the only clothes she hadn’t left in her room.
She made a small bundle of them on the snow-dusted ground.
Standing, her naked skin moonlight-pale and her human form slender yet gently curved in all the right places, she dissolved into a sparkling fog that expanded into something vast and primal.
Tanner’s breath caught. He’d admired dragons in flight from a safe distance, but up close, she was stunning.
He’d only seen gray scales when she’d crash-landed on his vehicle.
Now her scales were a shimmering, iridescent blue-green, like opals submerged in a shallow sea.
Tiny whirlpools of sparks danced across her hide.
Her unmuffled magic washed over him, soaking deep into his bones and charging his blood.
She launched herself into the sky, a vision of alien reptilian majesty against the stars.
He barely stopped himself from shifting right then and chasing her.
Shaking himself and telling himself to stick with the plan, he hurriedly stripped out of his jeans and T-shirt. He stuffed his clothes into the bag he brought. After a moment’s indecision, he added hers, too. Denise or Chulo in the Transition Center would find them and bring them inside.
The necklace of charms settled against his skin. He closed his eyes and let the thunderbird take over.
The shift was an instant, sharp release.
As a thunderbird, his thoughts were usually a clean, sharp focus on wind, altitude, and intent.
The mission was critical. His cousins and the other captives depended on him.
But tonight, his mind was in chaos. The taste of Avelunne’s kiss was still reverberating through his veins, a phantom sensation that distracted and disoriented him more than a tornado.
He’d built an internal fortress with a century’s worth of lies to himself. A mate was an impossibility. A risk he couldn’t afford. A magical mismatch.
That fortress had kept him safe and grounded in Kotoyeesinay, but alone.
Tiziri’s casual revelation about her wolf-shifter mate had blown through the ramparts.
Avelunne’s kiss had just undermined the foundation.
He did have a chance for a mate. That chance, the one he’d denied for so long, was a blue-green vision of scales and starlight, flying just above him, toward the hell she had just escaped.
She is ours. The thunderbird’s rare, clear declaration resonated in the heart of his shared soul.
The human part of him, the man who had just been kissed and left breathless, could only agree. But a cold dread followed the soaring hope. It was never, ever going to be that simple.