“Hold on, eaglet. My mother assures me this will work.” He pulled open my mouth and tipped the contents in, splashing a drip onto my bottom lip. I wanted to lick it off but didn’t need to. He bent in to kiss me and thus removed the drip.
I sighed and we both heard it.
“Meena?” he said. “Thank Saēna, you are coming back to me.”
That sigh was the most the potion helped me to muster yet, even as the pain relief washed through me. Oh lord, did I want to kiss him and without thinking about it, I puckered my lips. He blinked twice as if he didn’t believe he’d seen it. I did it again. A kid in a candy store, that was what his eyes lit up like. A kid in a freaking candy store.
“I do not want to hurt you, dear one,” he said.
That wouldn’t work. I puckered my lips for a third time so he knew I meant business and he took the hint, his lips gently touching mine. The world made sense when we came together, even for something as simple as a kiss.
If a person could will a potion to work, I’d already be up walking around. Potions took whatever time they needed to take, however, giving no regard to the needs, wants, or desires of the drinker. My full functionality was bound to come back sooner or later. The liquid coursed through my veins, pushing out the pain and leaving tingles behind, but I wanted to move. To stand. And if I were being honest, to pee. It’d been a while since I drank all that water and I was blessed with a pretty strong bladder, but it finally caught up to me.
“Copper,” I managed to whisper. It was only one word, but one would’ve thought I’d given the most profound word ever uttered by his reaction. His sharp intake of breath. The way the corners of his mouth tipped up. The shock, awe, and joy reflected off the tenderness in his rounded eyes. The way his whole face lit up. He’d been holding back. My mate had been worried with a capital W.
And I had to ruin our moment by saying, “Pee.”
Several gorgeous Roc warrior men threw their heads back and laughed, including Shadow. Of course, with their eagle senses they’d hear me.
“Ah, the glamorous life for our future king,” Crest teased.
I thought Shadow was going to ignore him as he gently helped me to stand. One arm around my waist, with the other he held my hand as he helped me limp toward an outcropping of trees. He threw over his shoulder, “You will have to tell me how those words taste when you find your mate, dear brother. I will make sure to record the moment for posterity.”
The other men started punching Crest’s arm and jabbing his shoulder as we left the clearing.
“Did I… embarrass you?” I asked. The words still came slowly, but as the tea worked its literal magic, I was able to speak more of them in succession.
“I am humiliated,” he said, deadpanning. “My life-mate almost died on me twice in a matter of days and the first thing she asks is for me to help her use the bathroom. If she can speak, she should be servicing me.”
“Ooo… aerie-lord is… feeling snarky,” I teased.
He turned me into his arms fully. “I never wanted you to come on this quest, though I understand why you need to. But you must also understand that my life is tied to yours. Crest cannot know the instantaneous depth of unconditional love when two souls connect. I have lived my whole life waiting to meet you, and now that I have you, my dear eaglet, there is nothing big or small that I would not do if you asked.”
Yes, stupid, stupid tears welled in my eyes. How could they not? His words were hands down the nicest words ever spoken to me in all of my twenty-nine years.
This wonderful, sometimes infuriating man loved me. All the loneliness I’d experienced in my life led me straight to Shadow. Now we really had to save the world because so many other people deserved to find what I had. Like my best friend, Breya. If anyone deserved a happily ever after, it was her.
With renewed purpose, I pointed out the tree I wanted Shadow to aim for. And he helped me with all of it. The pants. The squatting. All of it.
Yes, it was safe to say fate had given me a good one.
“Do Roc go on honeymoons?” I asked as we slowly made our way back to the campsite.
“We have to have our wedding first. Though not a normal tradition for the average Roc, a royal wedding is an occasion not to be missed. Our people love a good party.”
“Rogue said that, although, since none of you were born for the last one, I’d like to know how you know.”
“Because the elders of Cloud City still talk of my parents’ ceremony. It was so good, they ended up with twins.” He winked at me.
I choked on my saliva and coughed. “Dial down the testosterone there, buddy. Let’s stick to one.”
“Stick with one? Eaglet, I am aiming for triplets.” Then he bent in to kiss my shocked lips. It was only a peck, but every kiss from Shadow meant something to me. “And I was thinking Hawaii. Warm beaches and an active volcano for my volcanologist.”
“You know me so well.”
“I do, which is why I will say right now, not until tomorrow.”
Uh… what? I looked at him and waited for him to elaborate.
“You want to go looking for the voice again,” he said with a knowing authority. Dammit, was I that transparent? “Do not try to deny it, my love. But you need to rest today. Tomorrow we will head up to the cap.”
“I wasn’t going to deny—who am I kidding? Okay. Rest today. Cap tomorrow.”
“I honestly thought you would fight me on this one,” he said.
I shrugged. “You’re right. I need to get my strength back first.”
“I am sorry, could you repeat that? I do not think I heard you correctly.”
“I did,” Rogue called from the camp up ahead of us.
“She said you are correct,” Bracken called out. “Mark this day on your calendar, Shad.”
“If you’ll really do anything I ask,” I said to Shadow, “then destroy all of them.”
While Shadow lifted me off the ground to kiss me good and deep, his friends and brothers laughed in the distance.
Avalon’s brew had been just the thing. The next morning when I opened my eyes, feeling warm between the fire the men had kept going and Shadow’s body wrapped protectively around me, I not only felt better, but frisky and shifted to roll him so I could wrap my legs around his hips.
“What are you doing?” he whispered groggily in my ear.
“Saying good morning,” I answered. “I feel a hundred percent better. Your brothers are sleeping. We’re under these nice, warm pelts.” To get what I wanted, I shifted my pelvis upward, grinding it against his.
Shadow growled and then gave me exactly what I wanted. We tried to be quiet, we really did. But a Shadow-induced orgasm was a heady thing—pretty much impossible to keep quiet.
I did a quick sponge bath, dressed, and rolled up the bedding while the men caught and cooked breakfast.
While we packed, Race put out the fire and we began our hike back up the mountain. The closer we got to the cap, the greater the chills that ran over my skin. If I thought it had been eerily quiet before, that was nothing compared to now. Cemeteries held more life than this mountain side. We found our way to my cases still actively taking readings. I went into research mode, checking results, taking soil samples to break down in solution. I needed to check the acid levels. The heat radiating off this girl was unbelievable. I peered inside and the magma levels had risen so close to the surface, if this wasn’t a life or death situation, I’d have already evacuated.
“What are we looking at?” Shadow asked, startling me. I, of course, jumped in response.
“See this line?” I traced my finger along the line I wanted him to pay attention to. He nodded. “For lack of better explanation, this gives us the rate at which the magma levels are rising. And see this line?” I pointed to another. “This is the pressure buildup. My professional opinion, we’ve got about seventy-two hours before she blows her top.”
“We cannot stay.”
“No, Shadow, we can’t go. See the
se?” I showed him a couple of other reports. “These are from a nearby extinct volcano. Extinct. But it’s active again, and god—it’s a supervolcano. If this one blows, it’ll be bad for the surrounding area. If a supervolcano blows, I can’t even give you a number on the loss of life in North America, let alone the world. The last recorded supervolcano to blow caused a mini ice age back in 1815. Survivors called it the year without sun.”
Shadow’s body went rigid and for a split second I thought it because of what I’d told him, but when I noticed all the men closing ranks around me, I knew something so much worse was about to go down.
Four wolves walked brazenly into camp, as if they weren’t about to have their heads ripped off by a group of overly-protective eagle men. Right before my eyes, the one who appeared to be the leader, an enormous white wolf, leapt to his huge, very naked human form. He looked Nordic, like he hailed from Viking blood. And wow. I was impressed with myself that my eyes stayed lifted enough to notice.
“Step back,” Shadow ordered.
The man looked between me and Shadow as if he understood what I was to him. Boredom showed clearly on his face and I couldn’t tell if he was confident or stupid because he didn’t step back. “Hannibal requests a meeting with the Roc,” he said.
“What Hannibal will receive is the head of a wolf as response if you do not step back now.” My mate’s posture turned from protective to aggressive, as did the other Roc warriors’. Their low growls scared me, and I knew these men would never hurt me. I wasn’t sure how those wolf boys weren’t peeing themselves.
“Step back,” Bracken ordered as he and Race stepped closer to our unwanted visitors. I knew it was their job to protect the royal family, but that didn’t make me any less scared for them, even for Race, who always acted like he’d caught me kicking his puppy.
The wolf looked to Shadow and tipped his head down in a half-bow, knowing, it seemed, who Shadow was. The wolf took one step back, causing his men to step back, too. “Hannibal sent me in good faith. Just as you’re Talon’s sons, Hannibal is my father.”
“I know who you are,” Shadow said. “And I do not give a shit. I see you look at her.” He used his regal chin to point behind him at me. “You know what she is to me. I do not know if you have found your mate, but I do know, like the Roc, wolves mate for life. Therefore, you understand why leaving her is a problem.”
“By all means, bring her along,” the wolfman said, smirking.
“Hannibal’s treatment of humans is legendary, witch or not. You can understand how that would be a bigger problem.”
I could have been wrong, but it almost looked like the man flinched at Shadow’s words. Didn’t he agree with his father?
“So it’s true, then?” the man asked. “She’s the witch?”
Shadow’s menacing step forward told me he was done. The wolfman’s step forward showed he wasn’t scared of my mate. Yep. Officially stupid. I’d seen the Roc take on wolves.
“Shad, do you think this could be a setup?” Crest asked.
“Of course, I think it is setup,” said Shadow. “But Hannibal has sent his only son to request the meeting. I have to take it.”
“Then I’m coming with you, brother,” Rogue said.
“So am I.” Crest stepped closer to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“We cannot all make ourselves vulnerable and someone needs to take care of Meena,” said Shadow.
“Leave Race and Bracken,” Rogue said. “They will keep her safe. But no one has your back like your brothers. We need to be with you.”
“Shadow?” I asked, not liking this one bit. “You aren’t really gonna leave with him, are you?”
“I have to, eaglet.”
Though not my best moment, I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Shadow easily picked me up, pressed his lips to mine, and finished with an eagle’s kiss.
“You better come back to me, mister,” I said. “Do you understand?”
He laughed, even though to my mind, there wasn’t anything to laugh at. “I will come back to you, my love.”
“I love you,” I whispered. “Without end.”
“Without end,” he whispered back, then kissed me once more and set me down. Shadow, Rogue, and Crest moved away from me, their clothing dropping to the ground as they shifted to birds. I quickly gathered them to shove inside a pack. Crest took the pack from me in his massive talon and the men flew away, following the wolves.
Chapter Sixteen:
This Isn’t Happening
I watched until they turned to brown dots in the sky, holding my hand over my eyes like a visor to block the afternoon sun from blinding me because I didn’t want to miss a moment of Shadow’s retreating back. The best thing I could do right now was get back to work. Back with my tubes that had been stored safely with the monitors when I’d originally left the cap because of the wolf attacks. It was a miracle that they’d stayed in place and intact after the quakes. Man, leaving here seemed like so long ago now, even though the reality was it had only been a like week and a half.
There were a few results that could happen when the soil or rock debris met the solution. It could turn clear. It could stay exactly the same or it could turn red. What it couldn’t do was what I watched it do—turn black. Necrotically black. Every single sample.
What the hell was going on here? I retraced my steps to pull clean samples from the same spots. I traced new paths to find untouched areas to test. I even opened new solution. The results never changed.
“The constipated look on your face says that is not supposed to happen, is it?” Bracken asked.
“No. It’s not. Whatever’s tainting the samples isn’t natural.”
He squatted and picked up a pinch of dirt, rubbing it between his fingers and letting the particles fall back down to the ground, staring at his hand instead of looking at me. “So, you think it is magic?”
Shaking my head, I set the tube down next to the others and told him the truth. “I don’t really know enough about witchcraft yet, but I’ve been testing soil samples for years—so yes. My best guess is we’re dealing with some kind of magic.”
“What do you think we should do?” Race asked this time, standing with his hands on his hips, looking very prepared to reprimand me if I didn’t give the answer he wanted.
I had no clue. With Shadow gone, what could we do? Boy, my answer came quick and fierce when I dropped to the ground to sit. My hands touched first to control the fall and it hit.
“Help—please, anyone. Help me.”
Not good. So not good. I whipped my head to look at Bracken. “He’s there. I hear him begging for help. He sounds desperate. We have to go into the mountain.”
Race ignored me, turning to his friend. “We cannot go. Shad would kill us.”
“He’s my mate; I know he’ll be upset. But we don’t have time to wait. I hear the voice for a reason and this cap is about to blow anytime now. We’ve officially run out of time.”
“She is right, Race,” said Bracken. “We move now, or it might be too late.”
“I do not like it,” Race argued.
“I don’t like it. I’d much rather have Shadow’s agreement on this, but that can’t happen now.” And even though in the back of my head I knew the equipment would most likely end up incinerated, I packed it all, sending my readings to a file share so we don’t lose all this work, should the world not end and all.
“How are we going to get in?” Bracken turned to the mouth of the cap to look down.
That was a very good question and I hoped my answer wouldn’t kill us in the process. “Come’ere,” I said to them both. “You see that lip jutting out? It’s about six feet down from the top.” I pointed to a spot across the mouth from where we stood. Both men nodded. “Good, now look directly below it. There’s a cave.”
Yes. My big plan. Well, it happened to be the best I could come up with under the circumstances and was better than what the guys came up with
, which was a whole lot of nothing.
I pulled up the file share app on my phone and opened the mountain schematic that I’d copied from the original map and uploaded for safe keeping, then turned it around for the men to look at.
“What are we looking at?” Race asked.
“That cave isn’t just a cave, but a tunnel system. The magma chamber doesn’t touch so far as we know. It’ll get pretty warm in there, but we should be able to climb our way down.”
“Will we need any special equipment?” Bracken asked.
“Nope. The trickiest part will be dropping down onto the lip and then swinging into the cavern.”
“We should bring water, right?”
“I’d recommend it, yes,” I said.
“Wait here.” Giving my pack a tug when he flipped open the flap, Bracken opened it to pull my bottle out, then did the same from the other packs left by all but Shadow.
Race handed over his.
“I will be back,” Bracken told us.
I knew Bracken even loaded down with water bottles would move faster than me without them.
Race and I waited where we were. I dropped down to sit cross-legged. Race stretched his out in front of himself and leaned back on his arms for support.
“Why don’t you like me?” I gathered the courage to ask.
“Women are trouble. Always have been—always will be.”
“That’s pretty unfair.”
“Listen, you are probably a great person. But my job is to keep Shad safe. Battles with the wolves and ravens—he needs to keep his head in the game. He keeps his head, easier for me to protect him. But now you got him thinking with his dick, making stupid or irrational decisions, like coming down from the city to keep you happy. Saēna! We should be there now, not getting ready to climb inside an active volcano.”
“You don’t have to go; no one’s twisting your arm here. If you want to hate on someone, hate on the universe because the universe pushed Shadow and me together. And I should remind you, I saved his life.” The man had me so incensed that when I used my thumb to point at myself to drive the point home, I ended up jamming my thumb against my chest. It hurt and pissed me off even more. “The first day I saw him as bird, he’d been badly injured. We fought off those ravens together. Bracken has my back; we’ll be fine.”
Flight: The Roc Warriors (Immortal Elements Book 1) Page 15