Mac sighed, then nodded. Zeke leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, and she sighed again.
“I wish I’d met you during happier times,” she said. Her voice was soft and her face was flushed, indicating that her body was responding favorably to his touch. Zeke would have liked nothing better in that moment than to take her back to the bedroom and show her just how much he cared for her. But he knew that they really did need to get started on their day’s work. He would have to wait to make love to her again, although he could feel the telltale stiffening between his legs as his body responded to the sight and feel of her. He could not help the fact that desire rushed through him like a flood anytime she was near.
For now, though, he just smiled at her. “There will be happier times again one day,” he said. “But for now, at least, having you in my life makes these trying times more bearable.”
Mac smiled at him then, her first genuine smile of the morning. “Well said,” she replied, then stood. “I’m going to shower and change quickly, and then head in to work. Want to go together in the SUV?”
Zeke nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”
Less than twenty minutes later, Mac reappeared in the kitchen, freshly showered and once again wearing a button down shirt with the Falcon Cross military insignia on it. She had put on some light makeup, and had her hair pulled back in a tight, neat bun. She looked worlds happier than she had last night, and the bags under her eyes were no longer visible. Zeke stood, and began folding up the papers he had been reading.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded, and they made their way out to the SUV. Mac brought her broomstick with her, so that she could use it to come home later if she wanted to. She told Zeke that it was a good idea to have it on hand in case there was an attack and she needed to fly on a moment’s notice. The military had spare broomsticks, but Mac said it was always more comfortable flying on your own broomstick that you were used to.
Once they were on the road, Mac became quite talkative. She started running through all the different potential defensive strategies they had been using to train the Falcon Cross wizards, and also told Zeke about the training they were offering to any civilian wizards who wanted to feel better prepared to defend their homes in the event that the wizard defenses were breached and the enemy started infiltrating the village itself.
“I just don’t know where the best place is for us to focus our energy,” she said. “We have limited time, although we don’t know exactly how limited. There’s no way we can possibly train the wizards on everything I would like to have them trained on before the next attack happens, so I need to prioritize. That’s hard to do, though. I don’t want to make the wrong choice and focus on teaching the wrong strategies that we don’t end up using.”
“That’s what the meeting this afternoon is about, right?” Zeke asked.
“Right,” Mac said. “All of the military generals are going to discuss what we think is most important, and make a plan of action. You’re coming to the meeting too, right?”
“I’ll be there,” Zeke said. “Although, I’ve been thinking a lot over the last several days about how to best train the army, and I think I have an idea that makes a lot of sense. I’m curious what you think.”
“Okay,” Mac said. “Lay it on me.”
“Well, first of all, let me ask you something. I’ve noticed that many of your wizard soldiers seem to be pretty talented at flying on their brooms. How much training have they had on acrobatic flying?”
“Oh, tons,” Mac said. “Flying is a skill that’s been quite developed in the wizarding world over the last several centuries. After all, flying is one skill that is useful both during times of peace and times of war. So even though we haven’t seen much warfare, we’ve worked hard to develop our flying skills.”
“I think this is the key to victory for Falcon Cross,” Zeke said.
“Okay,” Mac said slowly, but Zeke could tell she wasn’t really following him. “I know flying is important, but it was only as useful as it was during the last battle because the enemy didn’t realize that he needed to send flying wizards and flying shifters. We’ve already discussed how we won’t be so lucky at the next battle. I promise you he’s working hard right now to assemble an army that can fly. In fact, that’s probably the only reason he’s delayed attacking again for this long—he wants to make sure he’s rounded up everyone on the side of evil who can fly.”
“Exactly,” Zeke said. “Mac, don’t you see? He’s struggling to round up an army of shifters and wizards who can fly!”
“So?” Mac asked, still sounding confused.
“So, he probably didn’t have a whole lot of soldiers who could fly. My guess is that whoever is behind this war is working overtime right now to try to get together a group that can fly.”
Mac frowned. “So, that’s buying us time. That’s good. But you sound like there’s more to your theory than that.”
Zeke nodded. “I’ve noticed that not all of the wizards around here fly. And the two wizards I know well—Bree and Lily, who live at the Redwood Dragons base—have never said anything about broomsticks or flying. So I started asking around, and I learned, to my surprise, that the majority of wizards don’t learn to fly.”
“That’s true,” Mac said. “Flying is not an easy skill to learn, so most wizards don’t even attempt it. And the High Council discourages civilian wizards from learning to fly. They don’t outright prohibit it, but they place strict rules on civilian flying. Broomsticks must be registered, and there are strict penalties for performing a flying spell without authorization.”
“Flying spell?” Zeke asked.
“Flying spells are how the broomsticks fly,” Mac explained. “Broomsticks may look wooden, but they have cores made of a special stone material that conducts magic well. When a wizard wants to fly, they must cast a flying spell on their broom. These spells are strong, and the stone core of the broomsticks makes them even stronger. They’re not invincible though. If a broomstick is damaged, say, in battle, a wizard could fall to their death.”
Zeke shuddered. “I guess that’s another reason the High Council wants to regulate civilian flying.”
Mac nodded. “There are lots of rules. The High Council wants to make sure that no one is flying around on an unsafe broomstick, or with a weak flying spell. And any civilian who does learn to fly must not fly beyond Falcon Cross airspace. The last thing we want is for a wizard flying around on a broomstick to be spotted by a human. It’s incredibly difficult to maintain an invisibility spell while flying. That’s a lot of magic to manage at once. Only the most talented wizards can do it.”
“This is great news, Mac,” Zeke said, his voice rising with excitement. “I think our enemy has not been able to find many evil wizards who can fly. He might be able to train the wizards he already has, but they’ll be well behind the curve of your wizards, who have been flying for years already. And it’s not easy to find shifters who can fly. There are dragons, but most of them are firmly on the side of good. Dragons are very difficult to corrupt with evil. There are eagles as well, but they are even rarer than dragons, and are also very difficult to corrupt. My guess is that whoever our enemy is, he’s going to be searching for bat shifters. Bats can be good flyers, but they are relatively easy to defeat with dragon fire.”
“So you think we might actually stand a chance in this war, due to our flying skills,” Mac said, turning hopeful eyes toward Zeke as he pulled into the long driveway of military headquarters and rolled down the window to show his I.D. to the guard.
“Morning, Zeke,” the guard said. “Morning, Commander Somers.”
Zeke and Mac returned his greeting, and then Zeke continued driving down the long driveway.
“I think we stand a damn good chance. And I think we should put all of our emphasis on beefing up the flying skills of our wizards as much as possible. We should spend every spare minute training the new recruits how to fly. And the veteran soldier
s should work on improving their flying skills so they can easily outmaneuver anyone in the sky.”
Zeke saw hope in Mac’s face for perhaps the first time since the attack on Falcon Cross.
“You just might be right, Zeke,” she said, her voice rising with excitement. “I’ll talk to Raven. She’s one of our best flyers, and can train the veteran soldiers. Benji and Allan can work with the new recruits. If we can outfly the enemy, we can defeat him. Or at least keep him from destroying Falcon Cross.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Zeke said, reaching over to squeeze Mac’s knee affectionately as he pulled to a stop in one of the parking spaces near the side of Military Headquarters. He killed the engine, and looked over at Mac, who was practically glowing with happiness in the morning sunlight. He smiled, thinking that the determination that he’d seen in her eyes the first night he’d met her had finally returned.
“This is huge, Zeke,” she said, covering his hand with her own. “Thank you. I’ve been so busy stressing out about all the little details of what to teach the soldiers that I didn’t take time to see the big picture. We can do this! Falcon Cross can be victorious.”
In response, Zeke leaned over to kiss her. This kiss was soft, slow, and sweet. They knew they didn’t have time to do anything but work right now, but Zeke didn’t care. These stolen moments with her were the most glorious moments of his life. He had never been an overly optimistic person, but he couldn’t help but believe that everything in this war was going to turn out okay.
He hadn’t mentioned it to Mac yet, but he already knew she was his lifemate. When they had made love the night before, he’d felt the telltale burning in his core—the heat of the lifemate bond. Until last night, he’d all but resigned himself to the fact that he would be alone for life. What woman would want to spend a lifetime with an introverted dragon who was always traveling for work? Even when he was home, he spent his days secluded in the Redwood forests, far away from civilization. There weren’t too many women who would fall in love with a man like him. Yet somehow, despite the fact that she knew everything about him—all of his flaws and shortcomings—Mac still wanted him. She had still given herself to him. How had he gotten so goddamn lucky?
Zeke didn’t have time to ponder the question right now. Mac was already pulling away and reaching for the handle on the passenger side door.
“Looks like I need to go talk to Raven and plan out some flying lessons,” she said. “See you in the meeting this afternoon. I already know the generals are going to love your plan.”
She closed the door behind her, gave him a little wave and blew him a kiss, and then bounded up the steps of Military Headquarters.
Zeke smiled as he watched her go. If only this war could be over quickly, so that he and Mac could figure out how to settle down into normal life together. With a long sigh, Zeke opened his own door and climbed out of the SUV. He had a feeling that this war was going to last longer than any of them had anticipated.
At least, though, he would be fighting with Mac by his side. She might have a thing for sparkles and pink, but she was the toughest girl he’d ever met.
Falcon Cross was in good hands.
Chapter Eleven
Unfortunately for Zeke, he barely saw Mac for the rest of the day. He was busy conducting workouts for the new recruits, now focusing on building strong leg and arm muscles, both of which Raven had told him were very important for broomstick flying. He had broken away for the meeting at three o’clock, which had been a resounding success as he had hoped. Everyone loved the idea of building up the wizards’ flying skills, and lessons had already begun in earnest for the wizard soldiers.
Now it was nearly eight p.m., and Zeke was finally tearing himself away from his desk. Mac had set him up with a temporary office in Military Headquarters, and right now the desk in that office was covered with papers, most of which Zeke had scribbled notes on. He had done everything he could to help plan strategies and training for the Falcon Cross army. Today, he had switched his focus to aerial defensive tactics. He had seen some of the advanced Falcon Cross flyers today, and he was impressed. He knew that with just a little bit of training, they would be able to handle just about anything that the enemy could throw at them.
“We just need a little bit more time,” Zeke said aloud to his empty office. “Just a little bit more time.”
If they were attacked tonight, well, they would do the best they could, and hopefully it would be good enough. But the longer the enemy held off, the better. Zeke leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. The problem was that no one seemed to have any idea where the enemy was, or what he was doing. Zeke had met with Noah, Owen, and Myles today. Noah kept in touch with Knox to keep up to date on any news regarding the war. But whoever was fighting against them had been eerily quiet. In Texas, where Knox was helping the shifter protectors, and in the California Redwoods, were Vance was protecting the Redwood Dragons’ base, things had been completely calm. No attacks had been made, and no enemy scouts had been sighted.
It was too quiet for Zeke’s liking. Something big was brewing, and Zeke worried that the enemy would be back in Falcon Cross within the week. Undoubtedly, the enemy’s pride had been wounded by the crushing defeat his last army had suffered. He would want to repay the wizards for that.
Zeke sat up straight and stretched his arms out. There was no sense in sitting here any longer and worrying. He should take the advice he had given Mac, and go get some good food and rest. He wondered if she was still here, in fact. He’d found a small gift for her this afternoon when he went into town for lunch. If she was still here, then he would give it to her now. If not, he was going to be disappointed that she hadn’t said goodbye, but he would be glad that she was taking his advice to eat and rest.
Zeke grabbed the small paper bag that contained the gift, and left his office, heading for the stairwell that would lead him to Mac’s office. When he got there, though, the office was dark. The lights were off, and the door was open, but Mac’s broomstick was gone, so she must have headed out already. Zeke closed the door behind him with a sad grunt and headed back to the stairwell. He had so hoped to see Mac again tonight. Maybe he should text her to see if she’d had dinner yet. If not, maybe they could eat together.
Zeke was surprised by the way his chest tightened up whenever he thought about Mac. He had never been the type to overthink what a girl might be thinking of him, but he couldn’t seem to keep himself from worrying about where Mac was right now, or why she hadn’t stopped by to see him before she left. Perhaps she didn’t feel as strongly about him as he did about her. Perhaps last night had been more of a fun diversion for her than a life-changing bonding moment, as it had been for Zeke.
Zeke knew that no matter how Mac felt about them, there was no going back for him. There would never be another girl for him. They were bonded, even though she probably had no idea what a lifemate bond was. For Zeke, at least, the rest of his life would be spent loving and protecting Mac, as much as she would let him.
Zeke frowned, suddenly wishing that he had gone to Mac’s office earlier so he could catch her and talk to her before she left. He hadn’t wanted to bother her too much because he knew she had so much work to do—she’d spent the whole morning and much of the afternoon in the war room with her generals, mapping out plans. Zeke had not gone because he’d thought that she had it under control, and that he would be of more use helping out with the new recruits. But now he was feeling sullen at just how little he had seen Mac today.
He was so bad at this whole romance thing. In pretty much every other area of his life, he was the epitome of confidence. He knew what he wanted and how to get it. But this was new for him. This was a girl. A girl he loved.
Love. He rolled the word around in his head, and smiled. He did love Mac, which was strange to think about because he’d only met her a little over a week ago. But she had already captured his heart. Zeke determined right then and there that the next time he saw her, he w
ould tell her that. After all, they were in the middle of a war. Tomorrow was not guaranteed to anyone. He needed to use the time he had now to say the things that were on his heart.
Zeke pushed open the door of the military headquarters building, and started walking down the long steps toward the lone SUV. He was glad that the wizards had let him borrow one so he could come and go on his own time instead of having to bother a driver with his odd schedule. He was indeed one of the last people here tonight. He knew there were still guards, and there was always at least one general on duty these days, just in case there was an attack at odd hours in the middle of the night or late evening after others had all left for the day. But those wizards must have all ridden their broomsticks to work, because there were no other cars in the parking lot right now.
As Zeke reached the bottom of the steps, his ears perked up. He could have sworn he heard music coming from the direction of the training fields. His hearing was very sharp, thanks to his dragon genes, and it sounded almost like the sort of music you would waltz to. Intrigued, Zeke decided to investigate. He walked quickly toward the back of military headquarters, where the training fields were located directly behind the building. He knew those fields well by now, since that’s where he led the workouts for the soldiers during the day. He was curious why someone would be playing music out there, but as he walked closer and closer to the back of the building, the sound got louder and louder.
When he rounded the corner of the building, his eyes widened in surprise. On the field in the very center of the training fields, there was a tote bag that he recognized as Mac’s, and a sweater that he knew also belonged to her. The music appeared to be coming from somewhere in the tote bag, and Zeke knew enough about wizardry by now to guess that Mac had some sort of portable music player in there that she had cast an amplification spell on so that she could hear the music in the air.
The Commander and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 3) Page 11