by Simon Archer
We ran through our plan to take down the Drahkon, and we took our positions. I went with the grounded troops while Rozmarin took hers with those who could fly. We needed to be swift, assuming we would have a small window of time to restrain the beast before it realized that it was in trouble and started crushing soldiers left and right. Only the fastest of the troops took part in the effort to wrap the beast, whereas the rest, those who maybe didn’t have the speed but had packed on muscle, would join in once we secured the rope around the Drahkon’s monstrous form.
Once we had taken our positions, Anix made the call, and all at once, we moved. Around and around we went, circling the Drahkon. The flying troops who had been distracting the creature continued to do so but were careful not to get caught in the ropes as the other soldiers circled.
Finally, after several loops around the Drahkon, Anix gave the command to pull. The impact of the monster’s body when it fell to the ground was so powerful, it knocked many on the battlefield, demon and soldier alike, to their knees. Even the castle walls shook from the impact.
The Drahkon roared and raged, but we refused to let go. No matter how hard the monster fought, we fought harder. The smaller demons were few and far between now, outmatched and outnumbered now that our reinforcements had arrived, just in time.
“Sorcerers! Now!” Anix bellowed.
The next few moments happened almost like it was in slow motion. Those who held the ropes already circled around the creature tightened their grips, but then sorcerers from every kingdom, not just Constanta, closed in on the Drahkon, chanting in a language I didn’t recognize. Some had light flowing from their hands, the colors varying depending on the individual. The air became thick and sticky, and the sweet smell of magic coated my senses. I could smell magic as a human, but now, my senses were greatly amplified.
Returning my attention to the beast before us, I watched as it writhed beneath the power of over two dozen sorcerers and sorceresses. The chanting grew louder and louder, seemingly forming into one single voice.
A bigger, greater, unearthly voice.
And then I heard something that shocked me entirely. Even though the noise and that uniform voice of the sorcerers, I heard another voice above the din, the voice of Sahar. I whipped around, looking for the source, and there she stood with the group of sorcerers, arms outstretched sending wave after wave of blinding white magic into the demon.
I blinked, wondering if this was just some trick of my exhausted brain, but no, it was really Sahar. When the light had called to me, and when the strange yet glorious figure reached out its hand, Sahar had been at the forefront of my thoughts. I wanted her to come with me too, to where, I wasn't sure at the time, but now I realized we had made the journey through death and back to life.
So many questions swirled through me, but they would wait until all this was over, if we managed to survive it, that is.
The sorcerers’ chanting grew so loud, now bolstered by the immense power of Sahar, that even I had the urge to cover my own ears. Still, the creature’s writhing only increased, making it harder to hold the lines. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer, my hands raw and bloodied from the rope, I sensed a change in the air.
The ground rumbled beneath the Drahkon, beneath me. When I squinted to get a better look, I realized that it was the ash of the destroyed zombies. It was collecting around the creature’s body, forming a circle around it. Black, swirling wisps of darkness caressed the monster from within the hole that formed beneath it. It took me a moment to realize that they were less like the caresses of wisps and more like the bondage of dark tentacles.
I released the rope and closed my eyes, focusing all my thoughts and energy on the light inside me. I could feel the warmth well up in my chest, and it vibrated and pulsed. It took all my strength to hold that ball of light there, in my core, and rather than completely release it all like I had before, I concentrated the light into a singular force, a beam of light that I aimed directly at the Drakhon.
My light, combined with Sahar's and the other sorcerer's magic to form a massive, bright dome around the demon, and slowly, that force field of light and magic pushed the demon down into the gaping hole opening beneath it.
Finally, after what felt like hours of that endless noise, and fighting, and death, the Drahkon gave one final ear-shattering shriek, and those dark tentacles pulled it into the abyss below.
Silence was the first thing that followed the absence of the beast as we all stood in shock around the pit that had closed and disappeared, leaving only ash behind. Even the dark clouds parted, taking the frigid temperature with it. When the sun reappeared, I swore to whoever was listening that I would never take its light and warmth for granted again.
Rozmarin and Anix hovered in the air, side by side above where the beast was brought down. Together, they raised their swords to the air for one last battle cry, but this one was a cry of victory. Triumph. Relief. Joy.
The answering calls that rang across the land would stay with me for the rest of my existence.
We’d won!
42
Rozmarin
There was much to do in the days that followed the battle. Firstly, cleanup and repairs over the kingdom as the battle had damaged or destroyed many of the streets and buildings. Businesses and displaced families who had lost their homes needed support to return to their daily life. Then there was the issue of hosting the eastern kingdom’s armies. Thankfully, there was enough room in the castle to host our guests. Though just barely.
After we banished the Drahkon back into the dark pit that it’d come from, thanks to the sorcerers and sorceresses led by Sahar, Anix sent Adriana to track down Rachel, Aerywin, and the trail of people they had following them to inform them of our victory and that they could return.
After the first week of constant meetings and reparations, however, I could no longer wait to complete my mating bond with Chris. In all the chaos of post-battle, we had hardly had a single second to ourselves. The mating instinct awoke when I saw him on that battlefield, but we simply hadn’t had the time to solidify it yet. Finally, after a week, I’d had enough. The sexual frustration of the mating ritual had me so irritable that, eventually, Anix threw a travel pack onto my desk and told me to ‘take the boy and fuck it out before you kill someone.’
So, one night, after our nighttime meal at full dark, I told him to pack an overnight bag and get ready to fly.
“What for?” he’d asked, skeptically. He wore the kingdom’s colors in a practical seat of black suit pants and a form-fitting midnight blue and silver stitched shirt which accentuated his muscles. My panties had immediately felt warmer and wetter at the sight of it.
I pulled him into my arms, leaning up to place a light kiss on his forehead. “Do not look so doubtful, my lord. I merely wish to bring you somewhere I hold near and dear to my heart. Much like you,” I said gently.
He returned my soft smile with a wicked one of his own. “Uh-huh. And does our little trip involve desecrating said special place?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me to his chest snuggly.
I buried my face into his firm body, partly to breathe in his scent and partly to hide the grin that had formed on my face. “Perhaps. Though I cannot imagine why you would say it in such a way that would leave one to believe you view it as such a dreadful experience,” I teased.
Chris pulled back then, looking down at me so that his eyes met my own. That sinful smile was still there, tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Then you have misread my intentions, Your Highness,” he purred, heat filling his gaze, making my thighs tremble. “I’m merely put-off that you decided to wait this long.”
He was certainly not alone in that sentiment. My aching core could attest to that.
“My apologies, my lord,” I said. My voice had taken on a sensual quality, lust swirling in my vision. “I most certainly have been neglecting my duties as your mate.”
; Chris froze in my arms at the word. His gaze was suddenly so open. Vulnerable. “Mate?” he whispered as if speaking it out loud might confirm that it was too good to be true.
My gaze softened at the same time as guilt filled my gaze. I truly had neglected my duties as his mate. I had failed to even explain the notion to him. It was easy to forget that he had only just transitioned into this new life as… whatever he was… with how he took on the changes with such grace.
“Mate,” I confirmed, pouring all of the love, and appreciation, and gratitude I had into the word.
Chris’s eyes filled with tears, and he pulled me to him forcefully, his new strength surprising even me. “I love you,” he whispered.
“And I love you,” I replied.
43
Christoff
Rozmarin flew us northward on our seventh night of freedom since we destroyed the Drahkon and eradicated the zombies from the kingdom. She had barged into my room like a woman on a mission and threw an overnight bag in front of me, declaring that we were to leave after full dark. And now, here we were.
The sky was surprisingly crystal clear, and the air had a refreshing, cool bite to it as we soared beneath the stars. We flew in silence, mostly, just comfortable, happy, and content to be together and alone for once.
Despite the growing need to solidify the mating bond between us over the past week, we hadn’t had a single moment alone. We hadn’t even had time to move my belongings into her room, though that didn’t stop me from sleeping there almost every night. Even still, we would often work ourselves to the bone during the days with meetings, negotiations, reparations, and paperwork that we would often collapse onto the bed at night, already half asleep by the time our heads hit the pillow.
So, we relished in our time together as we flew over the mountainous range of the northwest. Snow and evergreens covered the taller mountains, while the shorter ones sported diverse greenery. For the first time in decades, no zombies roamed the land beneath. For the first time, there was no need to track the numbers of hordes in the area or beware of the dangers that were lying below. For the first time, there was just… peace.
“What is it?” I asked, dragging Rozmarin out of her thoughts. When I pulled back to look at her, I adjusted my grip to bring a hand up and wipe at her face. To her surprise, they came away wet. I guess she hadn’t noticed the tears running down her face with the intensity of the wind.
She smiled at me softly, letting me see the content in her gaze.
“I…” Her voice trailed off, a lump in her throat forming once again as happy tears continued to flow over and fly away. “I just never thought I would actually see the day when the world would become zombie-free. I had always dreamed of it, but…”
Her voice trailed off again as she buried her face into my shoulder. I held Rozmarin tighter, my silence the only confirmation she needed to know that I felt the same way.
“But thanks to you, we do.” Her hand came up to cup my cheek. “Our kingdom would have been burnt to ash without your light, and the rest of us with it. And even before then, you have opened my eyes to issues I have been blind to for decades. Not only have you saved us from pure chaos and destruction, but you have also managed to make me a better Queen for Constanta. You have been our salvation, Christoff.”
Rozmarin’s tears flowed hotter and harder at the end of her dramatic speech, and I hugged her to me, letting her know she can let them flow freely.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
After a while, she pulled back to cup my face with her hand, my arms tightening around her waist. “This kingdom could not have asked for a better ruler than you, Rozmarin.”
She gave me a wry, self-deprecating smile, but her eyes remained soft. “Rulers. Plural. I may be the face of the royal Queen’s council, but I cannot take credit for ruling this kingdom alone.” Her gaze heated. “Besides, I will not be the only one on the throne, before long. Constanta will soon have a King.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Is that a proposal, Your Highness?” I joked, though my heart had nearly jumped out of my throat at her initial implication.
Instead of answering right away, Rozmarin banked left before slowly raising her chest and dropping our feet, until she landed us in a meadow located on one of the lower-lying mountains. My heart continued to race as she swiftly pulled two giant blankets from her pack, completely ignoring me once she steadied me and let me go.
I took the time to look around at the meadow. The last time I’d been in an open grassy field like this was…
I shuddered, the memory of those horrifying undead supernaturals as they closed in on me, flooding through my mind. It would be a long, long road before those memories wouldn’t make my heart race and my stomach curl with dread. Almost every night since it all ended, I woke up at some point in the night, sweaty and panting from the terrifying images that snuck into my dreams.
Two arms wrapped around my waist from behind, and a solid warmth settled across my back.
“I am sorry. I did not think of what kind of memories a place like this could bring back. Do you want to choose a different spot?” she asked, her voice soft and apologetic. She turned me around a fraction to meet my gaze, and she sported an optimistic grin. “We have an abundance of options.”
I smiled back, the horrific memories slowly melting away with the softness of her voice. The gentleness of her touch.
“No.” I looked around at the meadow. Wildflowers of every color bloomed and shined beneath the soft, ethereal glow of the stars. “I think I would rather make new memories to replace the old.”
Before I could even think another thought, Rozmarin was lifting me up and then gently laying me down on the soft, wool blanket she’d laid down over a small area where wildflowers didn’t grow.
“Your Highness,” I breathed, my tone mockingly appalled as the warmth of Rozmarin’s body settled over me as she lowered to her elbows. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
She raised a brow.
“Trying?” she asked, her tone unreadable. I only nodded in response. Rozmarin dipped her head so that her lips brushed the shell of my ear, and her breath sent involuntary shivers down my spine.
“The word implies that I will fail. Am I going to fail, Christoff?” she asked, and her tone had a dangerous edge to it.
I swallowed and shook my head, earning me a delighted chuckle. She pulled back, and it surprised me to find that her expression was serious, almost grim.
“We do not need to do this now, you know. We can wait. We have all of the time in the world.” Even as I said it, I could feel my own erection, long and hard, against her leg. I brought my hand up to cup her cheek. I couldn’t believe I was here, that we were here.
“I want this, Chris. I want you.” As I spoke, I felt the bond between us stronger than ever, pulling at us to become one. “Also, if you don’t put some part of you inside me right now, I actually might explode.”
She chuckled again, dropping her face to my neck and inhaling deeply, scenting me. When she pulled back, heat and love were all I could see in those silver pools.
Her eyes became molten lava, swirling with desire. “I do not think I will ever have enough of you to satisfy me. I fear you will tire of me long before I have had enough.”
I raised my arms and wrapped them around her neck, pulling her head down so that her lips met mine for a brief moment before I pulled back. “You know I can’t resist a challenge.” And, finally, she leaned down, closing the last few inches of distance between us.
The kiss started off tender and sweet while I explored Rozmarin’s mouth with my tongue. Slowly, the kiss deepened, and my hands tangled in Rozmarin’s hair, a needy moan slipping through her occupied lips.
The raspy sound snapped something in me because a low growl emanated from my chest, and my hips thrust upward. I nipped at her lip and sucked it into my mouth, careful not to draw blood with my new canines.
In the next moment, I hauled us both up until I was sitting back,
and she was straddling my lap. She looked up at me with all of the emotions she’d had to push aside over the past week. Longer, if she was anything like me.
I pulled her face to mine for a searing kiss. Her hips rocked against mine once, twice, three times, feeling that delicious friction against my arousal building higher and higher.
Just as my movements started to become more frantic, I grabbed Rozmarin’s waist, flipping us over so that I laid on top of her. She buried her face in my neck and nipped at the sensitive, exposed skin there. I couldn’t help but thrust against her at the feel of her sharp fangs threatening to break my skin. I had known that completing the mating bond would involve blood, but I had no idea it would come so… naturally to me. It was like my body knew exactly what to do.
“You drive me to madness,” Rozmarin accused, lightly, her voice filled with desire. She stared at my neck with so much longing that I couldn’t help but laugh.
She wasn’t having it, though, because my amused laughter was quickly cut off and replaced with another soft moan when she thrust her hips up against mine. Just like that, I was brought to the edge of that peak again.
“Please,” she begged, she was already too far gone to care much about modesty or shame.
“Please, what?” I asked, into her neck. “Tell me what you want, sweetheart.”
“Touch me,” she breathed.
My lips kicked up into a wicked smile, and my hand moved up her side to cup her breast over her shirt. Her breath hitched as my thumb circled the sensitive nub repeatedly until it was a hard peak. I did the same to the other breast, and her panting became louder and louder until it was all I could hear.
Cursing the fabric that separated her skin from mine, she squirmed until I realized what her intentions were. I helped her pull the shirt over her head, taking the soft cotton of her bra with it until I exposed her breasts to the cold, night breeze.