by J. Kearston
She whimpers, her leg clearly broken, her clothes torn, but still in place. Smeared in blood and dirt as she is, it’s hard to make out her features, but there’s no denying who it is.
“Saige,” I breathe, not stepping any closer so I don’t frighten her.
Her eyes are closed as tears steadily stream down her face. “You came back. You really came back,” she sobs.
“Shh, it’s alright. Nobody is going to hurt you again, we’ve got you,” Kahl murmurs, holding her close.
The sobbing cuts off, but the tears don’t slow. Kaiden and Kinsley take the lead now, leaving Kahl in the center of our group with Elias and me, since his hands are full.
When we get to the central space our guards are up, eyeing each tunnel entrance distrustfully, as if they contain hidden threats. I see Yri’s bow on a corpse, unmistakable, and drawing my eye to our bags nearby. I slip away with Soren and Cai shadowing me before bringing it back, presenting it to Vyrian with a flourish.
“See that, Yri? I unlocked level two without ever getting in your pants,” I tease, giving him his weapon.
His fingers wrap around mine, not letting me let it go as he kisses me. “Weapons are your hoard, not mine, angel. But as a thank you, how about I show you the special feature?”
I lean in, intrigued. Cai and Soren heft our backpacks, pausing to pull out some jeans for each of them. The triplets start walking off in a hurry without us, barking at Elias to follow them. Vyrian does a series of twisting motions, small sections of metal spinning in a specific pattern. When he’s done, he tosses it into the pit, grabbing my hand and breaking into a sprint.
We get outside and just manage to slam the door before tremors rock the earth. “Fuck, you had explosives added?” I ask, breathless and impressed.
He shoots me a teasing smile as we head to my SUV. “There are a series of chemicals that combined in the right order result in a massive explosion. Each section of the bow contained a different component, and twisting in certain spots removed the divider between each.” He explains.
“One of your fathers taught you that? The engineer?”
His gaze turns wistful and nostalgic. “Yeah. ‘Stabbing is all well and good, but never underestimate a good reaction’ he would say. I thought it’d be a good hail Mary to have.”
“Little dragon.” Soren’s words halt me mid step, turning to him in concern over what has him sounding so nervous.
I return to his side, scanning the area briefly for threats before settling on his steely grey gaze. “What’s wrong?”
He shifts from foot to foot, passing his bag to Yri and leaving the two of us in supervised solitude. It’d be idiotic to be alone right now, but they others stay back enough to give the illusion of privacy.
He pulls his hand out of his pocket, outstretching it and flipping it before presenting me a palm filled with silver. I tentatively reach out and lift it, the chain unfurling and ending in a beautiful dragon shaped pendant.
Soren gently drapes it over my neck, and the chain is longer than I expected; the pendant hangs at my navel. I finger the intricate silver dragon, each scale carved with precision.
“From that first day I knew you’d not only be ours, but the dragon you were born to be; you just needed time to find your wings. So I had this made for you, planned to give it to you after the ritual. But after nearly dying, I don’t want to regret waiting until the time is right.” He scrubs a hand over the nape of his neck, uncomfortable, but pressing on. “I made sure it would be long enough that it could be worn in either form so you wouldn’t need to worry about destroying it.”
I give him a grateful smile, not having the words for such a meaningful gesture, but needing to say something. “It’s gorgeous, I love it.”
He smirks. “Twist the tail.”
I follow his instructions and the tail slides out to reveal a hidden blade. It’s tiny, but it could blind a man with the right force.
“That’s adorably badass,” I chuckle, going up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Thank you.”
“Just like another dragon I know,” he teases and I know this man is going to give me a run for my money coming up with mate-iversary gifts.
I can feel Kaiden glaring holes in my back, practically hear him tapping his foot and checking his invisible watch. With an extra bounce in my step, we finish crossing the distance to my SUV, the triplet’s gone. We climb into the car before I curse, looking at my family remorsefully.
“My keys were in my pocket when I shifted,” I admit, biting my lip.
There’s a series of curses before it’s decided that my mates and I will shift, the others will carry the bags, and we will carry them. It’s a risk, flying home, but if we can just get closer to Hadeon, we can walk the rest of the way so we don’t completely give away our location.
We can return to our life of relative peace, but I refuse to hide for the rest of it. Now that I’ve had a taste of that freedom, of the air beneath my wings, I’m not going to be able to give it up. Let the hunters come, and we will destroy them like we did here.
I know they’re still out there, licking their wounds, amassing their armies. We only dealt a small blow in the grand scheme of things and they know our faces now. I have no illusions life will be smooth sailing from here on out, but I’ve proven to myself and everyone here something important.
I was right.
It takes more than blood to be a dragon. You just need to be strong enough to take that leap and prove your worth, to find something you’d die to protect. Take your weaknesses and turn them into your strengths.
Why settle for something as mundane as simply existing when you have the potential to be so much more?
***
Also by J. Kearston
Rise of the Sphinx (completed)
Oblivion- https://books2read.com/u/m2Vd0j
Obscured- https://books2read.com/u/bP97kd
Obsessed- https://books2read.com/u/bwv6OO
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