by Zoe Chant
Morgan came to rest with his body draped over his treasure. It was how his ancestors had spent most of their time when they weren't flying or fighting, resting on their gold, dreaming of more. Harper walked back and forth, examining the thicker armored plates that protected his throat and belly, gently rubbing the scales no larger than her fingernails that made up the more flexible parts of his hide.
“So beautiful,” she murmured almost to herself, and Morgan lolled over on his side, making her laugh.
“Such a splendid beast. I almost don't mind that you kidnapped me away from my kingdom. Whatever knight they send after me can take his damned time.”
Morgan snorted at the idea of any knight managing to take her away from him, and then the snort turned into a wide-mouthed yawn. He shut his mouth abruptly, remembering that even the dragon-blooded didn't always like to be so close to so many large and numerous teeth, but Harper was gazing at him with wonder and adoration.
“You're a very strange woman,” he said, and he knew she understood what he meant because she smiled brilliantly and came to rest against his foreleg.
“And you look like a tired dragon.” she said softly. “You look like you want a nap.”
Morgan was reluctant even as he settled more firmly on the gold. He didn't want to spend any of his last lingering time as a dragon asleep and unaware, but the idea of a rest in his favorite place in the world, with his favorite person in the world, was a hard one to argue with.
“Just a little while,” he murmured, his eyes already drifting shut. “I still want to take you flying.”
“You will,” she said, stroking his side gently, and against his will, Morgan drifted off to sleep.
***
He awoke some timeless period later to the sound of a distant roar, something that made him snap his head up and stare around the cavern. Almost immediately, he looked down by his side where Harper was already staggering naked up to her feet.
“What was that?” she asked, and before he could answer, it came up again.
“Challenge call,” he said, getting carefully to his own feet. Harper suddenly struck him as impossibly small and delicate, and he made sure he knew where all of his feet were before he set them down.
“Challenge call?”
“Roughly translates to come fight me,” Morgan said, his voice tense, and then when the call came a third time, he shook his head.
“No. No. That's not a call from one of the clans. That's not…that's a rogue.”
His heart beat faster, and he looked down at Harper.
“I have to get you back down to the grounds. My family will protect you. They won't let any harm come to you. If that's a rogue, he won't be playing by the rules...”
Instead of arguing, Harper gave him a shaky smile. She grabbed his discarded T-shirt, throwing it over her head before slipping on her shoes. He was tall enough that she was relatively well-covered, and she nodded again.
“I can make my way back down –“
Morgan shook his head even as he reached down to scoop her up, holding her close to his chest.
“Looks like you're getting that flight sooner than we thought,” he murmured, and then he was making his way through the cave, down one of the halls that led up the side of the mountain and then out. It was slightly awkward hobbling along with Harper held so carefully against his chest, but then he was leaping clear of the rock, wings fully extended to catch the wind and to force himself up into the pale dawn sky
Harper shrieked as they rose, and he knew immediately that his woman, his true mate, wasn't afraid. She started to laugh, and despite the circumstances, something fierce and joyful welled up in Morgan as well. So what if he couldn't keep his wings? He had Harper, and there would be joy in the future, no matter what else he had or did not have.
The roar came louder now, and Morgan tore his eyes away from Harper, winging down to bring her to the camp ground where people were beginning to dash around in fright. He put on her on the ground, looking around frantically for anyone he knew, anyone he trusted, but she was already waving him up.
“Go! Do what you need to do, I'll be fine.”
Morgan hesitated for a moment, but then Harper sprinted for a crying child, and he knew that she was right. She would do what needed to be done, and that meant that he should as well.
With a bellow, he threw himself into the air again and rose to meet the threat.
By the full light of day and with the clarity of his time with Harper behind him, Morgan was able to truly see the red dragon who had been attacking him, attacking them, for the first time. There was something labored about the way his foe's wings moved, something heavy about them as if it was the only way he knew to fly. The Castells were known for their graceful maneuvers, but this dragon's flight was heavy, almost exhausting to watch.
All right, if he wants to fight me, he has to reach me.
Even as the red dragon started to lunge for him, Morgan powered past him in a single arrowing moment, seeking the higher cleaner air and getting himself and his foe as far away from the encampment as possible. He passed so close to the other dragon that he could feel a rush of heat and smell something oddly metallic and strange as well.
As he went past, he curled his tail and flicked It hard, catching the other dragon across the ribs as he went. The blow should have stung like a whip, but the other dragon didn't roar or even groan. Instead, he turned, painfully slow, and chased after Morgan.
Morgan pulled the move twice, diving past his opponent to make him turn, tiring him out before he struck. Each time, the red dragon lunged at him, and each time, he missed. There was something strange and deeply wrong about how the other dragon was moving, and Morgan wondered if he was wounded somehow. Had he been moving like this the entire time and Morgan had never noticed?
No. No time to think about that. Have to protect my family, have to protect my true mate.
Morgan feinted, one more pass that would have taken him past his challenger, but then instead of going by, he struck instead. He clawed at the other dragon's belly, raking at the interlocked scales there. It might have been a fatal blow if the red dragon hadn't fallen back, but by the roar that erupted from the dragon's throat, Morgan knew that it must have hurt him.
Think of that the next time you come after me or mine, Morgan thought, and he roared his fury at the one who would hurt the people he cared about.
He started to pull back again, hoping to lead the red dragon off, but quicker than he had been before, the red dragon closed the distance between them, his heavy body almost bristling with menace. Morgan couldn't pull back before he was struck a hard blow along his ribs. The blow ached, but there suddenly there was something freeing about it, as if a curse had been broken.
He could take a hit. He could take as many as he needed to.
Morgan roared, spitting fire at the red dragon's face, clawing at him, and, startled by Morgan's ferocity, he pulled away as Morgan harried him through the sky.
Intent on his foe, Morgan didn't realize they had come in a large circle until he saw the tents below them again. He didn't see how low they had flown until the red dragon landed right next to Harper.
They were close enough that Morgan could make out Harper's bright and panicked gaze, the way the child she held clung to her. He could see how the red dragon's claws dug up the soil like a great earth mover and how his tail lashed out like a mad snake, knocking over a large pavilion with one swipe.
Mine. My mate. Mine, mine!
Fury and love and fear came out in Morgan's bellow, and he fell from the sky like a stone.
Chapter Nineteen
∞∞∞
Not even the impending danger could take Harper away from the heart-pounding excitement of flying. She had flown by dragon before, but being in a car towed by Reese was entirely different from being held so securely in Morgan's claws. She stared up at the dawning sky, and then she was looking down over the ridge and the forest below them. For a moment, she forgot
all about the danger and only reveled in the power and the beauty of being with Morgan in this strange and wondrous moment.
When the roar from the rogue came again, Morgan spiraled down to drop her on the campsite where there were people running every which way. She looked up to see Morgan's head craning back and forth, looking for help, but she shook her head.
“Go! Do what you need to do, I'll be fine.”
She might have waited from him to answer, but then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little girl, small and dressed in a nightgown that made her look like a ghost. She was sitting flat on the ground, crying her eyes out, and Harper started for her, not looking at Morgan.
A moment later, she felt a gust of wind that told her that he had taken wing again. She spared a moment of fear and desperate love for her mate, and then she was swooping down to scoop the little girl up in her arms.
“Mama,” the little girl sobbed. “I want my mama.”
“Oh, it's all right, it's all right, kiddo, we'll find her...”
One moment she was holding a little girl, and the next the child was out of her arms, slippery as a fish and running for it, crying for her mother in a low and panicked voice. With a yelped curse, Harper took off after her, even as the mountains echoed with the roaring of two furious dragons.
Have to get the kid, have to get to safety, Morgan can take of himself, of course he can…
If she thought about Morgan too long, his wounded side, the way his human body hit the ground so cruelly after the previous two flights, she would freeze. She couldn't afford that. Right now, all she could do was catch that kid, and by God, she was going to do it.
She put on an extra burst of speed, grabbing the girl up in her arms, and this time, she squeezed tight.
“We're going to find your mother. Don't run again,” she ordered.
“You're not my mama!”
“No, I'm not, but we'll find her, I promise,” Harper said, looking around.
For all the little girl's protests, she clung to Harper, chubby arms thrown around Harper's neck, and it would do for now. A roar made her look up and Harper stared at the two dragons that met in battle in the dawn sky over her head, suddenly closer than they were before.
There was no doubt in her mind that it was the red dragon that had attacked them twice before, and now for the first time she could see how much bigger he was than Morgan. Where Morgan was lean and graceful, almost serpentine in his shape, the newcomer was like a tank, all coiled muscle and menace. He lashed out with tooth and claw, striking at Morgan who seemed intent on staying just out of range.
Harper tore her eyes away from the primal sight, and she started to follow in the direction taken by the people around her. They were retreating back into the caves, she realized, and she started to run. The caves, if there were places where people could fit but dragons couldn't, would be the safest option open to them in this remote location.
She was well behind most of them, however, and then, just before she gained the trees, the red dragon landed in front her, crashing through the branches, heat and fire and clawed terror filling her head with panic.
No, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic…
She skipped back just in time to miss the slash of the red dragon's tail, and then she was sprinting back the way she had come, holding the girl in her arms tightly.
If he breathes fire, maybe I can protect her, shield her…
Then there was a terrible thud, and she looked back just in time to see Morgan land, facing the red dragon and putting himself right between them and the rogue.
There was an instant, just an instant, when Harper glimpsed a flash of copper, Morgan's startled gaze, and she knew that he saw her. Then he was facing the rogue, head lowered and tail thrashing as he formed the most daunting barrier he could between her and the enemy.
Harper would have run farther, but the red dragon roared and struck the ground with his tail, sending an unbelievable tremor through the earth. It was enough to bring Harper to her knees, and the little girl in her arms squalled, hanging on even tighter. By the time she made it back to her feet, Morgan had pushed the red dragon back. Now he had the rogue crouched down to the ground, his wings out and beating furiously at the other dragon's head.
Harper couldn't take her eyes off the fury of the battle, her heart beating so fast she felt nauseated. Morgan's previous fights had been been vicious, but he was graceful in the sky. On the ground, there was no denying the cruelty of tooth and claw, how spurts of fire burned scales and put the acrid scent of singed leather in the air.
The red dragon's head slewed to one side and slammed hard into Morgan's neck. It sent him staggering to one side, and he would have lost his footing if he hadn't twisted hard to get his feet underneath him again. He came up hissing and biting, and Harper stifled a completely inappropriate urge to cheer.
Even in her terror, Morgan was the most graceful thing she had seen, lighter and leaner than the other dragon and weaving around the rogue's blows and flame while coming closer and closer. There was deadly intent in Morgan's motions, and for perhaps the first time, she understood how seriously he took his responsibilities to his family and to her.
He'd fight to protect us, and he'd die to do it, she thought, and she only prayed that neither would be necessary.
Just when she thought that the two were so equally matched that there could be no victor, there was a deafening bellow from above.
Harper looked up to see two other black dragons come spiraling out of the sky, coordinated as fighter planes on display. They struck the rogue from two sides at once, teeth closing hard around the red dragon's throat, and then, thank God, it was over.
One moment there were four mythical monsters threatening to flatten the mountain, and the next, all four were shrinking down to men again.
“For the love of God, trousers, Morgan!” came Reese's cry, and even from a distance, she could see Morgan remember that he had been naked when he'd transformed. She was still wearing his shirt. He took a scrap of canvas from someone's flattened tent, and Harper wanted to laugh as he gathered it around his hips in a kind of sad kilt. Then her near-hysterical amusement turned to astonishment as she took in the scene.
He was upright, doing his part to secure the blond stranger that had been pinned to the ground, and Harper stared.
He's all right, she thought in wonder and in awe. He's all right…
A sharp cry brought her attention around, and a buxom young woman with long black hair was hurrying towards her. The little girl in Harper's arms reached for her, and Harper let her go to her mother, who cuddled her tight and rained kisses all over her small face.
“Was she with you the whole time?” the woman asked. “Oh, I thought I was going to go out of my mind with worry. I thought she was with the rest, and my heart fair stopped when I realized she wasn't...”
Harper, still a little giddy from the running and the excitement, grinned shakily at her.
“Sounds about right. They'll run so wild if you give 'em half a chance.”
“Thank you, thank you,” said the other woman, giving her a wobbly little smile. “At least you didn't find her naked, that would be all I needed.”
A bell chimed in her head, and Harper started to laugh. It was a touch too high and loud, and the woman holding the little girl gave her an alarmed look until Harper managed to compose herself.
Morgan, what in the world have you gotten me into? Harper thought, but her heart was full of love. She had her man, she had her work, and she could help.
“Hey, honey,” she said to the little girl. “You don't like clothes, huh?”
The little girl blew a rather impressive raspberry at the dreaded subject, and Harper turned to her mother, who was watching this exchange with confusion.
“And you must be Miranda, Morgan's cousin?”
“I'm Miranda, yes…”
“My name's Harper. He dragged me halfway across the country to see if I could help your kid.”
<
br /> For some reason, that set them both off, laughing fit to kill .It took them way too long to get things back under control, but when they did, Miranda was leading Harper towards the untouched tents.
“Come on. We can talk about it while they sort everything out.”
Harper tossed a look over her shoulder towards the dragons. Right now, she wanted more than anything to go to Morgan and to make sure that he was all right, but at a glance she could tell he was, even if he wore a ferocious scowl on his face. Then she sighed and followed Miranda, because she had her own responsibilities to look after.
***
Harper stirred when she heard a soft voice calling her name, and she sat up muzzily, looking around. There was a chill in the air, and the sky was black. She was just starting to shiver when a blanket was dropped down around her shoulders.
“I'm sorry, I didn't think. I should not have wakened you.”
Harper smiled up at Morgan, letting him help her to her feet. She had fallen asleep next to the fire pit at Miranda and her husband's encampment. The dragon-blooded didn't seem to feel the cold much, and the couple was sleeping quietly on a camp bed set back from the fire with their little girl between them.
She gestured for quiet, and with a nod, Morgan led her away from their encampment, towards a pavilion that she didn't recognize.
“Reese had some of the cousins set it up for me,” he said, lifting the flap to let her in. “I was hoping to get you back here so you could sleep in a real bed for a while. It's not much, but it's how I like to live while we're doing convocations.”
Harper looked around at the luxurious furnishings, taking in what looked like real furs on the bed and the electric lights that gleamed overhead.
“This may be a little bigger than my apartment,” she said wryly. “I think I'll live.”
“Will you?”
One moment she was inspecting the tent, and the next, Morgan had pulled her into his arms. His mouth swept down on hers, and she leaned into the kiss eagerly, wanting him with every bit of herself. She devoured him and allowed herself to be devoured, and in the end, there would always be more to give because they replenished each other.