Waking the Dragon (32 page)

“No. But you certainly like being petted.” I closed my eyes on a sigh, sinking into the sensation of his fingers working my sensitive cleft in a gentle rhythm. “Don’t you, Moira?” He spoke in a hoarse whisper. His voice moved closer. His thumb massaged my nub, making me even wetter as another finger probed my entrance in a slow circle, teasing. “Don’t you?”

I wouldn’t lie to him, not even when he was performing delicious torture on my body that deserved a false response. I would erect no more walls between us now that I’d crossed that threshold, giving myself to him body and soul.

“Yes,” I murmured, rocking up against his steady strokes. His mouth opened over mine, tongue taking possession of its domain.

Then he punished me for my teasing. And I knew I’d tease him again as soon and as often as I could.

I awoke to muffled voices coming from downstairs. The candles on the three-tiered candelabra had burned down to one-inch stumps. I’d snoozed a long time.

A light shone into the room from a connected bathroom. I decided a shower wouldn’t go amiss, knowing the extrasensory Morgons could sniff out any scent on me. I blushed at the thought.

The bedroom was stark—no furniture but a bed and side table. Definitely Kol’s room. In the bathroom, sealed river-rock tiled the floor and standing triple-man shower. Four spouts poured from the ceiling when I turned the faucet. I had never considered the idea Morgons needed to wash their wings as well as their bodies. And even for Morgons, Kol was exceptionally large. Exceptionally.

After a quick shower in steaming spray, I redressed in Valla’s clothes and wound my damp hair into a long, tight braid. I pondered Kol’s refusal to take the step into heartbinding. Of course, I never thought I’d be so eager to commit. I was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. Not even to myself. Kol was everything to me. I wanted to be the same to him. An impossibility if he withheld the one thing that all Morgons held as the pinnacle of a mated pair’s intimacy.

I shook off my anxiety and walked out onto the loft balcony. A host of faces stared up at me as I stood on the edge. There were a few newcomers—Lorian, Kraven, and Conn.

Kieren’s face tilted into a smug smile. “That’s quite a predicament, Moira darling.”

Hand on hip, I dared him to say another word.

Kol gave him a scathing look as he stood from the sofa. With one beat of his wings, he landed in front of me, blocking out our audience. “Sorry.”

I shrugged, wondering how difficult it might be to try to fit into his world. My sister didn’t seem to have a problem, but Kol didn’t live in Gladium. He visited. His world was Drakos and Cloven and places like this—ones that didn’t factor in the needs of a human.

Kol lifted me close. “Are you okay?”

I nodded with a half-smile as he brought us back to the ground floor.

“You might need to install stairs there, brother.” Kieren grinned, but Kol made no remark, making me wonder what exactly our relationship status was. He wanted me, he had said. But he didn’t want the final binding that would tie us to each other forever. Was this truly about his mother? Or that he didn’t plan on this being long-term?

Lorian stepped closer. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” I managed a weak smile.

“I had orders from two hysterical women to ensure you were safe and unharmed.”

“I’m sure that you did. Rest assured.” I squeezed his arm. “So what’s the plan?”

We all faced Kol in a semi-circle, some sitting, some standing. Valla moved to stand by me, handing me a pair of long, lace-up brown boots. I leaned against the arm of the sofa to slip on the first one.

She leaned in close. “Glad you got rid of that floral scent. It was overkill.”

Tilting my head as I tied the laces, I whispered, “No weird smells, now?”

“Well”—she winked—“my brother. And he’s a little weird.”

I smiled, slipping on the other boot just as that same brother cleared his throat.

“We’re all aware there’s a spy either in the Morgon Guard or in Nightwing Security,” said Kol.

“Or in both,” added Lorian.

Kol gave a tight nod. “Which is why I’ve chosen you to escort us back to Gladium. Lorian’s top men.” He gave a nod to Kraven and Conn. “And mine.” He glanced at Bowen, then to his brother. Kieren wore no smirk now—his expression grave and…proud. Lastly, he dipped his chin at Valla.

“I’m not one of your best
men
, brother.”

“No, but you might as well be. You’re deadlier than just about every soldier in the Morgon Guard.”

Valla grinned at that.

“Our plan is to speed directly for Paxon Nightwing’s place in Willow Woods outside of Gladium.” Paxon was Lucius and Lorian’s cousin. Their fathers were brothers. Paxon’s mate and wife, Ella, was expecting her baby any day now, so I knew it was serious for us to descend on them. “Their home is known only to direct family members, and would be an unexpected place for us to hide away from the city. But we need somewhere isolated where we can further evaluate the information Gaius was able to smuggle out to us.”

Heavy silence weighted the room, remembering Gaius.

“What we do know,” Kol added, “is that scouting parties will be flying between Cloven, Drakos, and Gladium to intercept us.”

Kol whipped out a map from his inside jacket pocket. After spreading it on a low table, he pointed to the valley region southeast of Cloven.

“We’re here.” He trailed his finger along the valley near the mountain region of Feygreir where his home was. “If we skirt the western side of Drakos, past Singing Wind Wood, we can keep outside the area where scouting parties expect us to be.”

Kieren nodded. “That should be the safest route.”

“Agreed,” said Lorian. “If we’re lucky, they may believe we already gave them the slip and have called off the scouting parties.”

Kol’s piercing gaze scanned each one of them. “Let’s go then.”

Valla tossed a pair of leather gloves to me. “You’ll need these.”

“Thanks.”

Kieren and Bowen slipped into another room off the living area. As Kol took my hand, leading me to the door, I noted it was a small armory. Swords, daggers, jagged weapons of steel lined within a wall-to-wall glass case. Kieren handed Bowen a quiver of steel-tipped arrows and a bow.

Kraven must have been well-armed as he marched directly outside.

Conn stood to one side, thumbs hooked in his front pockets, staring at Valla with a mischievous grin on his face. “You don’t need to arm yourself, Blondie?”

She passed right behind him, nose in the air, twisting with brutal speed, whipping out her rapiers from concealed sheaths, and criss-crossing them at his neck. If he were an enemy, she could behead him in two seconds.

Conn grinned wider. “Someone’s a bit sensitive.”

“I’m not sensitive,
Red
.” His smile slipped. “I’m just always armed. Best remember that.”

“Oh, I don’t think you’d ever let me forget it.”

“Got that right.”

She whipped her rapiers away, the steel-on-steel zinging a vibration in the air before she sheathed them in scabbards sewn into her pants. I’d thought they were just odd-shaped pockets.

Kol tugged me along as I’d craned my neck to watch the display.

“What was that all about?”

Kol shook his head. “Those two have hated each other from afar for a very long time. Whenever they’re forced into one another’s company, they always exchange a few barbs.”

Considering the heated exchange, I imagined what might happen if that anger transformed into another kind of passion. Maybe they fought to avoid other emotions brewing under the surface. I didn’t have any more time to consider it as we stepped through the cabin door.

Once in the night air, a cool mist wrapped me in a chilly embrace. Billowing vapor hovered on the lake and around the cabin, curling slowly in the breeze, layering the night in white.

Behind me, I heard buckles clink together. Kol unfolded the harness we’d used before.

“Why do you call this place Blind Bird Falls?”

I cinched the harness strap around my waist and buckled it tight. Kol had strapped his part of the harness to himself already.

“You see that tree over there?” He pointed to the massive evergold, the one with arm-like branches stretching far and wide.

“I do.”

“Kieren and I used to play a game with Valla there. We’d hide a bread roll somewhere in the branches and blindfold her. Using her Morgon senses, she had to find the prize.”

“What if she fell?” Yanking the harness tight across his chest, he arched an eyebrow. Then it hit me. “Wings. How could I forget?”

“She was never in any danger.”

“Still”—I finished the last strap—“it seems kind of dangerous as a child’s game.”

“The Morgon world is different than the human’s.”

I’d begun to see that, wondering if I had any place in his world. Perhaps Kol was right in choosing not to heartbond with me. Maybe his instincts were better than mine.

He spun me around and pulled me flush against his chest, buckling us together. Leaning down, he whispered, “I like the way you feel against me like this.”

I lifted my chin in the air, refusing to meet his heated gaze over my shoulder. “I’m sure you do. I think you just like having me bound to you and at your mercy.”

“Oh. No doubt of it.”

“Hmph. You’d best just keep your eye on the sky and your head out of the gutter.”

His arms wrapped around my front. “Later.” A quick kiss on my neck as he braced me in his arms.

I stared up at the smudge of moon hidden behind billowy clouds. “Fly, Moonring.”

“As my mistress commands.”

With one bend of the legs, we rocketed into the night sky, flying low over the lake, moving south. I gripped the straps crossing my chest, the best place to “hang on.” Though I had no real control at all. I hoped Kol understood how much trust this took for a human, placing my life in his hands. Literally.

Flanked on our right were Kieren, Valla, and Bowen, their wings dark against a mist-gray night. To the left in V-formation were Lorian, Kraven, and Conn. Because of the haze, we steered closer to the ground, rather than find cover in the clouds.

We moved swiftly over and out of the valley, crossing a rocky, barren wasteland. We finally drew close to Gladium, flying over the frosted forest of Singing Wind Woods.

I’d muffled my face behind the collar of my trench, but still the cold seeped into my cheeks and gloved fingers. Kol’s arms tightened around me. “You’re shivering.”

I snorted a laugh. “Humans aren’t built for flying in the freezing cold.” I couldn’t hide the tone of bitterness from leaking into my voice.

“What’s wrong, Moira?”

“Nothing. I just—”

Slam!

My body jerked sideways. Someone gripped my arm. I caught a flash of yellow wings. One of Kol’s arms left me, then the other as he grappled mid-air with two, maybe three Morgons. We spun toward earth. I punched at the Sunsting soldier gripping my arm, my fist glancing off, landing nowhere. A flare of silver. A dagger. I screamed, kicking and struggling. The whole time we were surrounded and gripped by the enemy, wings flapping, all of us falling in a mass of grappling limbs.

The cries of mid-air battle echoed above us. A fireball burst from someone, beaming across the inky sky. The distinct singing of Valla’s Drakonian steel clanged against another. One of Bowen’s arrows whistled through the air, hitting a large target.

The solder who gripped my arm swung his dagger toward me. No, he wasn’t aiming for me. It was the straps linking me to Kol.

“No!” I screamed.

I was yanked away from him. A bellowing growl filled the night. I glimpsed Kol held by two Morgons as we still spun mid-air—one trying to stab a knife in his chest, the other attempting to stab him in the back. He had both men by the throats, squeezing the life out of them, his face contorted in rage. The one with a death-grip on my arm sliced through air, severing the other strap.

“Kol!”

Feeling our bonds broken, silver eyes whipped to mine. His great wings beat furiously to free himself from the grips of the other men. I dangled in the hold of my captor. He laughed, his hand wrapping my wrist.

“You want her, Moonring? Go get her.”

The vise on my wrist released me, tossing me into the night. I screamed.

So did Kol. “Moira!”

Falling, falling, falling.

Breathless. I flailed my arms, helpless to save myself.

Treetops filled my vision. Frozen, craggy branches stabbed upward, as if rocketing toward me, though it was my body plummeting down. I closed my eyes, unable to watch my death come closer. I stilled my limbs and opened my arms, finding peace in no longer fighting for control, because there was none to be had. I pictured the one who meant the most to me in all the world—hard planes, icy stare, warm hands, warmer heart.

“I love you,” I whispered into the wailing wind.

Arms wrapped around me from behind. We sped toward the earth, avoiding the trees.

“Tell him so the next time you’re alone.”

“Kieren!” Tears streamed as he shifted me in his arms so I could hold onto him.

“Hang on, Moira darling. I’ve got you.”

In the dense growth of trees, he didn’t set me down, but flew close to the ground into the heavier woodlands where massive evergolds grew close together. “I need to hide you.”

I could hear someone yell not far behind us. “Moonring!”

Barron Coalglass. My heart hammered against my ribcage. Kieren banked hard left toward a fat, hollowed-out tree. He dropped me inside, but it was too late. Barron was upon us. Kieren whipped around, wings up. I burrowed farther into the hollow of the tree, loose bark crumbling on my shoulders.

“I know she’s there,” crooned Barron. “As soon as I kill you, I’ll find her.”

“You make it sound so easy, Coalglass.”

“It will be. You’ve spent too many days in the Senate, Moonring. Your hands have grown soft, your hide thin.”

“Is that so?” Kieren circled, leading Barron away from the tree. “I’ll give it to you. Even leaderless, your operation seems to be functioning well.” He drew him farther away into a clearing.