by Abigail Owen
“Definitely you.”
The relief in his voice was palpable, as if he were sitting beside her already.
“We need to find a place for me to set it down.” The closest airstrip, according to the attendant’s information, was another hundred miles from here. Skylar relayed that information to Ladon.
“I’ll fly beside you until we get there.”
The plan was to leave the plane behind, with a note as to where it came from originally. She’d check later to see if it had been returned. She might be a thief when she had no other option, but she refused to hurt other people in the process.
“Where should I look?” The level of anticipation, the need to see him, shocked her in its urgency, tightening her insides like a vise.
“Directly ahead. You’ll see me any second.”
Searching the skies in front of her, not even a blip of a dot registered. With the sun almost directly above her, glare wasn’t the problem, though the brilliance of the early winter sky had her blinking.
Where is he?
She’d come so damn far, and she was so damn tired. They weren’t safe yet, but they’d be together. Something she wanted so badly, she ached with the tension of it.
I love him.
The realization came not as a sudden thought bubble over her head, or even as a surprise, if she was honest about it. Knowing she loved Ladon Ormarr…her mate…was already there, underneath everything she’d done and said, every thought, so ingrained, she wasn’t sure when it began. Otherwise, his appeal to stay with him would have fallen on deaf ears. She just hadn’t put the words to it until this moment.
A dual sensation joined the urgent need to see him, to touch him. Flutters of excitement, like champagne fizzing through her blood, joined a deep-seated sense of belonging. With Ladon was where she was supposed to be, where she was her strongest, her most powerful, even though it also put her at her most vulnerable.
And she was okay with that. More than okay.
Who knew vulnerability would become something to embrace rather than scoff at or avoid at all costs?
A tiny movement, directly ahead and slightly above her, caught her eye. The beat of his wings maybe.
As she stared, his form grew larger, taking shape.
“I see you.”
“What? You didn’t believe me?” he teased.
Skylar shook her head with a goofy grin stretching her lips. Mr. Serious was teasing her now? Finding his destined mate had changed him like it had her, it seemed.
“I see you smiling. Are you laughing at me?”
Darn dragons and their overdeveloped senses. “Maybe just a little. More like laughing with you.”
Stupid to allow herself the distraction of giddiness. They were far from finished with this perilous journey.
“I can’t wait to get you out of that tin can. I need to touch you.”
Gods what those words did to her. “Me too.”
Ladon was bigger now, close enough for her to make out the glitter of the sun against his indigo scales. How could she have ever found dragon shifters abhorrent, based only on the actions of a few? He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen—terrifyingly powerful while gracefully controlled. Awesome.
“A soon as I get to you—”
Ladon flared his wings, halting his forward progress to hover in the air a moment, jerking his head to look at something off to her right, his left. Before she could attempt to locate what had caught his attention, he blasted a roar so thunderous, her small plane rattled with the force of it.
Ladon arrowed toward whatever threat he’d perceived, moving faster than she’d thought possible. The white dragon finally took shape in her feebler field of vision about a second before Ladon slammed into it.
It couldn’t be one of her two loyal followers who’d come with him. Wherever they were, they weren’t close enough to exhibit aggression and earn that reaction from Ladon yet. Which meant she’d been followed.
To her horror, he and the other dragon wrapped around each other, grappling, jaws snapping, and plummeting toward the ground.
Skylar held in her yell, deliberately shutting down her own fear. Fear could only get in both their ways right now. Ladon was a skilled fighter. She had to trust he could handle one dragon—
“Fuck,” she muttered as clouds above her took ominous shapes.
She knew what that meant now.
More white dragons.
After they’d taken her to Pytheios, she would probably never trust a cloud again.
One dropped down directly in front of her, opalescent in the sunlight, wings spread wide, flapping sideways to hover in an almost upright position with its tail hanging down. It stared her down with such obvious deadly intent that Skylar had to rethink the level of danger in which she found herself.
I killed Pytheios’s witch. Not only that, but she was mated. Skylar had no doubt that Pytheios intended to take her and keep her again. He was out for blood this time, and killing her would kill Ladon, too.
I don’t think so, asshole.
Skylar nosed the plane into a dive, concentrating hard as she monitored her instruments, her altitude, and the fucker who dove after her.
Right about now, she would rather be in a plane built for more maneuverability, but she’d work with what she had. No matter what, she needed to survive this.
For Ladon.
The dragon after her was catching up quickly. Too damn quick. No way was she going to make it to the ground before he caught her. She considered ditching the plane and doing a low altitude pull with the chute strapped to her back, but the last time she was freefalling around dragons, she was plucked out of the sky and given to Pytheios with a fucking ribbon tied in a big red bow around her neck.
“We’re right behind you,” a foreign and yet familiar voice reached her. “Turn on my signal.”
It had to be her own white dragons. Skylar focused and was ready when the order came.
“Turn hard.”
With a sharp maneuver, Skylar banked right, into the creature, forcing him to avoid her in a hopping maneuver that then dropped him below her where she couldn’t see. Hopefully into her new friends’ clutches. About now she was wishing for a plane with firepower as well as maneuverability.
She didn’t have time to think about it as yet another dragon, this one closer to silver, came directly at her. Tipping her wings, she put the plane into a spiral, which would hopefully make it harder for the next dragon after her to do much. Regardless of his impervious scales or healing abilities, she was doubtful he wanted to test crashing into her plane.
No. He just wants to crash me.
Her best hope was Ladon or her two protectors shaking the opponents they’d tangled with and getting to her in time.
But given her spinning motion, she couldn’t find her mate in the air, and she didn’t dare reach out to him through their mental link for fear of distracting him.
A glittering flash of movement to her right told her she’d run out of time. She had maybe ten seconds tops before this asshole took her and her little plane out.
No way was she going down without a fight, though.
Locking her focus on where she thought he’d show next, Skylar got ready to pull out of her spiral and fly right into the fucker.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
She pulled on the yoke, leveling out in time to see the literal whites of the dragon’s eyes, satisfaction spiking through her at the shock reflected in that gaze.
Skylar reached for the door handle when, with no warning or sound, Kasia appeared in the seat beside hers.
“What the—”
Kasia clamped a hand on her wrist. “Let go of the plane.”
Instinct and all the training her mother had put them through had her obeying before consciously deciding to do so.
Her sight and hearing returning in a harsh pop, Skylar put her hands on her knees, breathing steadily. “Kasia, what the fuck?”
Her sister looked less than impressed, her lips compressed in a tight line. “I should’ve known you’d try to crash your plane into one of them.”
Skylar ignored the accusation. “How are you here?”
“We teleported. No way was I letting Ladon rescue you alone. You’d both end up dead.”
The boom of an explosion almost felt like it rocked the ground, and they jerked around to see. Behind a stand of tall pines, a ball of flame billowed up into the sky followed by thick black smoke. Not the first plane crash she’d witnessed, but damn was she glad no one was in it.
“Skylar?” Ladon’s voice pierced her mind, and she grabbed for her temples. In his haste, he forgot to temper the volume of his thoughts.
“I’m safe.”
“Good.” That was it, though. She assumed he reengaged with his opponent.
Kasia tipped her head back, searching the sky.
Skylar followed suit and could only just make out shapes moving above. Flashes of blue or gold or what seemed to be a cloud rolling around, which she guessed were white dragons. When the hell had so many shown up?
A hard push of wind had both of them spinning to face whatever was close to them. Kasia was reaching for her, but Skylar sidestepped as she recognized the two dragons landing beside them. “I know them,” she told her sister.
“Help Ladon,” she ordered. “And be careful.”
One shook his head, his scales rippling with the emphatic movement. “He ordered us to protect you.”
“I am your queen, not him.”
Kasia’s head whipped sideways as she stared from Skylar to the dragons and back. “Your what—”
Skylar waved her off. “Go.”
Without a blink of hesitation, they spread their wings wide, sun turning the pale membranes translucent, and launched into the air.
“Holy shit,” Kasia muttered.
Skylar turned a grim countenance her way. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Right.” Kasia looked up again, this time her gaze assessing. “For now, I need to help, too.”
“Wait!” Skylar flashed a hand out to hold on to her sister. She knew what Kasia meant to do. Teleport herself up there and use her skill in any way she could to help. If she got creative, she could wreak some decent havoc. So could Skylar…if she could get up there.
“Take me up there with you and drop me.”
“What?” Kasia shook her head. “No way.”
“I know it’s batshit crazy, but if I can touch them, I can send them away. Far away.”
Kasia paused at that. “Damn,” she mumbled to herself. “What if I can’t get you out of there?”
“I have a parachute.” She pointed at her back. “I’ll use it if you can’t get to me before I hit the ground.” It would have to be a very low altitude pull, but it could work.
She convinced herself that it was true, because she had to do this.
“Ladon’s going to kill me,” Kasia muttered. She grabbed Skylar’s arm. “Ready?”
“Let’s give them hell.”
In a soundless, sightless blink, Skylar found herself above the fray. Immediately, the pull of the planet yanked her downward, the wind in her ears increasing as her fall went from zero to terminal velocity.
Same problem as last time, in that her eyes watered like hell, blurring. At least this time she had sunglasses she’d pulled out of the plane’s small glove compartment. She could see well enough to aim and avoid, because if she smacked into one of these guys, the impact would break her.
She probably looked fucking ridiculous, but she didn’t care. She could help.
The first thing she saw was her two white dragons, but they were too far away to help. Looking down, she spotted Ladon directly underneath.
Of course Kasia would pair her with her mate. About five thousand feet below her, giving her roughly thirty seconds, he faced off against two other dragons—one so brilliantly white, the sun glinted painfully off its scales. She aimed for that one.
“Push them more to your right.” She sent the thought.
“What?”
“I’m above you. I can take one out as I go past.”
Then she gasped, as a shadow was the only warning of another dragon coming at her. Skylar curled up in a ball, knees to her chest with her arms wrapped around them, and dropped faster through the air, then popped back out to her skydiving position.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ladon was yelling at her.
“Don’t argue. Push them right.”
Below her, Ladon performed a spinning move that slammed his barbed tail across the darker-hued white dragon. Then he jerked his head up in a flash of a move, but she knew he saw her when a low growl of frustration came through their link. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Helping. To the right. Now!”
Ladon dipped his shoulder, sliding to his left, then moved forward, forcing both dragons more to the right, exactly where she needed them.
“Five seconds. Keep them there.”
I hope I don’t lose a hand trying this.
Skylar pulled her fire from where it smoldered deep within her, the flames pouring out over her skin and clothing. Luck was with her, and the white dragon backed in closer to her as she dropped by.
Surging forward, she reached out, sending him away the second she made contact. She hardly felt him before he was gone, and her hand didn’t break. More like the sting felt when you slapped someone good and hard. The other white dragon jerked back, startled enough to make her laugh as she shot past him.
…
Ladon gritted his teeth against the instinct to go after his mate, her laughter following her past him. Batshit crazy in action. Still, she was wearing a parachute, not yet deployed, and he couldn’t ignore the fucker in front of him.
“You’re going to kill me, woman,” he called after her.
“Focus on your own ass, lover boy,” came the unrepentant reply.
Then Kasia popped up beside her and the two of them disappeared, probably to drop over another dragon.
She was right.
Without his partner, the cream-colored dragon in front of him turned and dove away. Ladon shot after him. No way was that guy getting away. White dragons were longer, more willowy, which made them beautiful in the air, but slower, built for distance more than speed. Some could go twice as far as other dragons. Which was probably why, once the Americas were discovered, the clans had found a handful of rogue white dragons already living there, their ancestors likely having crossed over the Bering Strait ages before.
Quickly, Ladon gained on his enemy. Every facet of the dark rage consuming him focused on taking out the dragon in his sights. These fuckers had followed Skylar, had attacked his mate. No way were any of them leaving here alive.
As the meters between them shrank, Ladon ignited the inferno inside him, roiling in his gut, ready to spew over his opponent. He knew he’d caught the guy across the top of his head with that tail strike a moment ago, and speckles of blood flew back at Ladon, the metallic scent faint in the air.
Suddenly, the white dragon flipped over onto his back, bringing his back claws up. Ladon’s momentum meant he couldn’t turn away. To avoid being gutted by those razor-sharp talons, he flared his wings, curling his own back legs under him.
They struck talon to talon, the shock of the impact reverberating through him. Each gripped the other, refusing to let go. Ladon tried to go for his opponent’s bared chest, doubling over to rend him with his front claws. The other dragon was smart, th
ough, flinging his wings wide, putting them into a spiraling spin.
His mistake. You really want to play it that way?
Ladon locked his grip and flung his own wings out, adding to the death spiral straight down. The Gs sent their bodies outward from that link, making it impossible for either to get at the other, but that wasn’t his goal. The browns and greens of the ground below spun closer and closer and he wasn’t letting go. Not yet.
The trick to playing chicken was knowing when to flinch.
“What are you doing?”
Skylar. Where was she? He couldn’t look for her.
“Ladon, what are you doing?”
“You worry about you.” Even his thoughts sounded strained.
“Let go.”
Not yet. But he couldn’t spare the thought now. He needed to time this just right.
The white dragon pulled at his grasp, trying to escape, flapping his wings in more frantic jerks, but Ladon wasn’t letting up.
The ground came at him, the only thing he could see now.
“Let go!” Skylar yelled inside his mind now, her fear like an electric wire snaking inside him.
He waited one beat longer, then used his wings to flip the both of them over before he released his grip. Both he and the other dragon shot away from each other with almost uncontrollable force, but flipping had guaranteed Ladon’s orientation to the ground used that force to throw him more upward while his opponent hurtled toward the ground.
A boom resounded below him. As soon as he stabilized, pulling out of earth’s gravity into the air with a roar of effort, he looked down. The white dragon lay on the ground in a twisted pile of limbs, dirt scattered on and around him like a bomb had gone off, a dark red pool of blood seeping out from beneath him.
One fucker down.
Ladon returned his gaze upward, searching for his next opponent. All around them, dragons swarmed the skies. Some paired off. Some fought two on one or ganged up with several against one. Diving, flying, dropping, gaining altitude. Roars of fury or howls of pain. Bursts of color-tinged fire. Blood raining down from the skies to cover the earth. The battle filled his view with a strange sort of beauty.