by Ellie Pond
Daniel
What the fuck was he doing, carrying her to the shore? Being her personal water slide. How was he going to resist her? If she asked him again, there was no way he'd keep his hands off of her. Commitment or not. His wolf growled at the thought. Shut it. You don't do the time; you get no say. He pushed at his wolf, and the wolf silenced. He turned back to the group.
"Okay. Edvard, Daniel, Sam, and I will stay in skin. Ming, Zach, and Phin can shift. Take your pick, Naomi." The captain said.
"I'll . . ." She paused and glanced over at him.
Shit, don’t not shift because of me, he wanted to scream at her. He gave two imperceptible nods towards the jungle. She was looking at him, right? Not Edvard, whose shoulders were close enough to brush his chest.
"I'll shift,” she said. “I can get up the rocks faster and climb a few trees to take a look around."
"Good,” the captain said. “Edvard, take the night goggles and stay with Sam. I want a full impression of any traces of magic on the island you can find. Zach stays with Naomi, Phin, and Ming. Come back when you hear the signal."
Naomi tossed Sam a flashlight from her pocket and started taking off her clothes, leaving them in a neat pile by her boots. She folded each item. He was not staring. He looked away.
"You’re with me, Patton."
Fuck, he hadn't been watching the pairing as the captain listed them off. By the time he glanced over at Naomi, her lynx stood next to the pile of clothes. Zach's lynx bounded at hers, and he wanted to drop-kick his roommate—best friend. His wolf didn't perk up or nudge him at all this time.
The lynxes scampered up the cliff-side and were out of sight before the bears were halfway. The humans headed up the ravine, slowly clawing their way. Sam must have cast a spell, as the human and witch moved with more ease than he thought possible.
The captain spoke to the two on the boat. He pointed at Ina and Romie, who were watching them. The captain waited with his hands on his hips. As soon as the human and witch were over the top of the cliff, the captain pulled off his Dark Wing jacket and sweatpants. Daniel’s chest thundered. Holy hell.
The captain pointed at him. "Follow directions. We're checking out the possibility of an airfield." He tossed Daniel a video recorder. "Strap that to your hand. And try to focus on the ground, not my claws.”
"Yes, sir." The captain had given him the same recorder last week and told him to learn how to use it, without telling him why. Daniel checked the battery and storage available.
"Don't thrash about. Or you'll get torn up a bit. I don’t have the harness I sometimes use, but you don't need that, do you, Patton?"
"No, sir." Fuck. He was not going to be a wimp and ask for a harness.
"Patton, the camera has sound, so if you cry like a toddler or scream like a child, your crew mates will have something fun to talk about."
"Yes, sir." Daniel's legs locked.
"You're okay with this, Patton?" The captain locked eyes with him.
Things had certainly changed in the last month. Was he fearless? Hell no. But he would not give up this opportunity either.
A flash of tawny white flickered high on the cliff. Both Daniel and the captain turned and watched as the two lynxes skirted the edge, turning to the far side of the island.
"Yes."
"Patton: ground, not claws. We won't be coming by this island at low tide again for another month. I want to know if this is something I want to pursue long before that, and Earland will need footage to put her drawings over."
"Got it."
The long strip of sand was narrow but massively long. Towards the end of the beach, the cliff turned to a gradual descent to the water. The captain headed towards it.
His shift happened faster than any shift Daniel had ever seen. The captain was there, and then it was Dark Wing. A hulking dragon stomped towards him, his black wings camouflaged against the backdrop of the night sky. His stomach dropped, and his wolf took that moment to roll around in him. Fuck. Daniel focused on standing still. He double checked the straps on his arms. As the dragon came forward, sparkling moonlight reflected off his wings. Embedded crystals scattered down the captain’s shoulders, along the large bone of his wings.
Don't move.
Right. Dragons in dragon form could communicate telepathically.
Yes, sir.
He checked the camera again. As a massive claw grabbed him around the waist, his body planked like a hang glider. Dark wing's right claw encircled his entire body. As they rose above the cliff beach, he slowed his breath and swallowed a scream. What the fuck? His stomach lurched, but he focused on the camera, getting good footage of the cliffs as he soared upward.
The captain’s wings flapped silently above as they rounded the edge of the island. A smaller island clung to the side, a mass of mangroves with a round bump floating in the ocean. They circled the whole island until they reached the far side, which had a massive sand jetty. The dragon chuffed as he flew lower. The island was five times the size of the one already owned by the captain.
By the time they flew over the boat, Daniel had forgotten his nerves and was focused on getting the footage needed. The captain soared up the center of the island, over the mountains that rose from the cliffs. In the middle of the island lay a large flat area of exposed rocks. Water rushed from somewhere—Daniel could hear it—but it wasn’t visible.
I'm going closer. The captain spoke across the telepathic link.
Okay.
They circled the valley again. To the west, the sound of rushing water grew louder. They flew between two trees.
Landing.
Daniel had enough time to get his wits together before bracing as Dark Wing landed. The claw opened, and he stumbled the last few feet to the black dirt below. The jungle was quiet but for the rushing water. Not a bird or a bug stirred. The captain shifted from his dragon in a blur of motion and plunged forward into the jungle towards the sound. Daniel trudged after him, filming the jungle as his heart returned to its normal speed.
"Captain, can I ask you a question?"
"Go for it."
"There’re drones that do the same thing we just did."
"Yes, but I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and I can't risk there being footage of me. You're one of the few alive today who has ever laid eyes on me in my dragon form, Daniel. No drones in the sky with me. Hurry up."
Daniel stopped fiddling with the camera and followed, trying his best to keep the captain’s bare ass out of the shot. Daniel jogged along. The captain sliced through branches with a claw on his hand. They broke through the forest to find the rocky edge of a pool. Water crashed down the side of the cliff into it, then flowed in a river down the valley. The air was charged here; the current had the hairs on Daniel's arms standing up. He filmed all around.
"Turn the camera off, Daniel."
"This place is beautiful. You're sure?"
"Turn it off."
Daniel pointed it at the ground and turned it off.
"Wait here."
Daniel didn't have time to reply before the captain shifted and his dragon plunged into the water. Daniel waited for him to spring up. But the captain didn't.
Daniel traced the line of rocks down to the edge of the pool. He took a handful of water and smelled it—it was fresh, warm. He walked towards where the pool turned into a river. Daniel couldn't see far, as the canopy of trees overhead blocked most of the water, and he plodded back to the water thrusting itself over the cliff. The black rocks had veins of a dark red jutting through them and little bulbous nodules. He ran his hand over the smooth surface.
The camera wasn't filming, but the clock worked. It had been twenty minutes since the dragon dove into the water. The bottom of the black pool was not visible. Nor the back of the waterfall. The wind blew a sticky breeze through the forest.
"Captain, Captain, Edvard. Over."
Fuck. "Edvard, Daniel. Captain isn't available."
"Sam's fallen. I’m taking her back
to the tender and we’re heading to the ship to get her help. We'll return as soon as possible."
Fuck. "Copy."
The captain was either okay or he wasn't. Daniel didn't have any delusions that he could save him. The shifter was five hundred years old and had been taking care of himself for almost that long. Daniel kicked a rock into the water. The captain had told him to turn the camera off, so as not to capture any pictures of him. That didn't mean Daniel couldn’t get some good shots of the area. He hit record and focused on the rocks and the surrounding jungle, the densest he'd ever seen.
The noises of the jungle got louder the longer the captain was under the water. First the bugs started, and then he saw a bat fly out from an opening near the water. A cave. Shit, the captain wasn't underwater, he was in a cave. His anxiety level dropped a bit.
A blue-white moth flapped in front of him, larger than any at home. He taped it as it rested on a log. The moth flew off and into the woods, landing on a blue-gray flower that bloomed on a vine up the side of a tree. The flower quivered as the moth landed in the middle of it, then snapped closed. Damn. The moth shook inside the bloom, and the flower opened, spitting out the moth that was now orange—all of its iridescence gone. And the flower glowed stronger.
A noise cracked behind him. He pointed the camera to the ground. But it wasn't the captain. He saw them racing up the side of the river from under the scrub growth. Two lynxes.
Zach sprinted up to him. He saw what Zach's lynx would do and jumped backwards. His brothers liked to mark him too. But before Zach reached him, the smaller lynx jumped on Zach and hissed, her back legs kicking at his head. Zach rolled away and shifted.
"How the hell did you get all the way in here? We've been running the entire time."
“You’re slow. That's all.”
"I'm not. Serious. You've got the camera back." Zach reached for it. The two of them had messed around with it for the last week. Zach had worn it during a Kunyon ball match they played on the private island. Crew vs guests. They’d trounced the guests, but then they had a former professional on their team. And a lot of the guests were a little older.
Daniel tucked the camera to his side. Naomi's lynx sat, her blue eyes watching them both. She hadn't shifted back herself.
"Let me see the camera."
"No. Captain gave me some specific instructions."
Zach searched the woods. "Captain? Where is he?"
"He dove into the water about half an hour ago. And hasn't come back up yet. It's a cave, though. Bats were flying out of it a few minutes ago."
"Bats? Weird. It's night. Bats usually come out at dusk and go home at dawn, not in the middle of the night."
That was his roommate. Full of random knowledge.
"Wait, seriously, how did you get here?"
Daniel cocked his head at his roommate.
"No fucking way! The captain flew you here. You saw Dark Wing. Holy fuck. I mean, I know most of the bridge crew knows what he looks like, but I haven't been on the bridge when he's taken flight yet. And he flew you? Shit. Were you scared?"
Daniel saw Naomi shift in his peripheral vision. "No way."
"Right. I would have shit my pants."
Zach reached out and touched Daniel’s jacket around the stomach.
Daniel swatted his hand away. "What are you doing?"
Zach put his finger through a fist-sized—make that claw-sized—hole in his jacket. "Yeah, I would have shit myself."
Naomi marched over to him.
"What the hell, Daniel?" She pulled at his jacket. He took it off and held it up. His shirt below only had a minor snag, but the jacket looked bad.
His eyes held hers as she pulled his collared polo shirt out of his pants. He wouldn't let them sink to her chest or lower. He wanted to push his roommate into the gushing water so he couldn't look at her anymore. She tugged again and his shirt pulled out of his pants. A red gash ran across his belly. He hadn't noticed it, and the skin was knitting together already. His wolf might not shift for him, but he had all the shifter senses and healing. She ran her hands over the wound.
Naomi
Her fingers trembled as she touched the area around the red mark. "Does it hurt?"
"I didn't even notice it until Zach saw the hole." He gulped.
Right, Zach. She glanced over at his roommate. And stepped away from Daniel.
"Hey, I’ll go up there and see what I can see of the pool. I'll be right back."
She could hear Zach's step crunch away before he shifted. Interestingly, her lynx resisted the urge to shift.
She put her hand on his chest. "You're sure it doesn't hurt?"
His chin jutted out. "It did, but it doesn't hurt at all anymore."
Daniel put his hand in her hair and her breath hitched. He pulled something out and showed it to her: a half-wilted palm frond. He dropped it to the jungle floor. A large iridescent moth fluttered over his head to a bloom next to her.
"Watch." Daniel pointed to the flower. His fingers skated down her forearm.
The flower closed over the moth and spat it out orange.
"That's crazy."
He stood behind her. The urge to lean back into him overwhelmed her. That was what she wanted: for him to agree to sex with no obligations. This wasn't the time. It was definitely the place, though. Her lynx wanted to roll around with Daniel on the litter of jungle leaves in the worst way. Or up against a bolder, or in the pool. Her scent permeated the air. He had shifter healing, but couldn’t shift. She wondered if he could smell her.
His hand gripped her hips and tugged her backside against him. His cock nestled between her butt cheeks. Naomi rolled her hips. Her tongue darted out to lick her dry lips. His hand trailed up her stomach and pinched her breast. He kept the other at his side, the camera strapped to it. His lips brushed her neck, and she moaned.
And water jetted into the air as the dragon burst out above the jungle's canopy. Naomi stepped back from Daniel and shifted to her lynx. Shit. Her lynx wanted to get away from there as fast as possible. She darted up the cliff-side, following Zach's trail. Wet rocks made a natural path next to the waterfall, an easy jump from rock to rock to the top of the cliff-side.
She turned and looked down into the pool below. The dragon was no longer in the water, but the wake of him leaving still sloshed at the edges of the pool. She sprinted towards Zach.
Naomi found him digging in a bit of fresh dirt, and she cocked her head, sniffing. She didn’t recognize the scent of whatever lived in the hole: an earthy aroma, mammal most likely. Curiosity zinged through her. She pawed at the ground with Zach, his nose buried. Naomi needed him to stop digging, so she pushed at his hindquarters, but he wouldn’t budge. She grabbed his tail and bit, tugging at him. They had to go.
Zach shook his head, and his eyes locked on hers. The scent would remain a mystery. It was odd because it was the first scent, other than insects, she'd picked up on the rest of the island.
Naomi ran towards the ridge, which lined up with the trail they'd followed in. The two of them raced towards the beach. A loud roar shook the ground. The signal. She glanced over her shoulder; Zach was behind her. Her lynx never tired, but now she slowed. When was the last time she'd spent so long in fur, running through open land? Her lynx legs vibrated with exhaustion.
They picked up the path they'd come down. The bears joined them on the trail, Ming lumbering after Phin. Zach jumped around the rocks to get to the beach below. She scrambled down the rocks and padded over to her clothes. The captain barked orders into his hand radio as she pulled on her pants. As soon as her jacket zipper reached her chin, Daniel appeared at her side. "What's going on?" She motioned towards Daniel.
"Sam fell, and Edvard took her back to the ship."
"Shit. Is she hurt badly?" Naomi winced. Sam had told her once that she was a seer and not great with other magical tricks, like healing.
"She's okay; just a sprain is what the ship told the captain. But now the tender is acting up. They were
part of the way here and it cut out. Romie got it going again, but they're heading back to the ship to get the smaller tender. Captain's, uh . . . not pleased. The plan was we would zip in and out and the ship could keep going at a slow speed. With the delay, they're floating. It won’t delay us too long from the next port, but he’s . . . he's not happy." Daniel meandered towards the group near the water.
The captain was pacing, tendrils of smoke circling his head. The tide was out farther and the beach much deeper now. Ming hadn't shifted back but was pulling a long piece of driftwood from the top of the beach to the wet sand. With his hind paws, he dug a deep hole and put the wood in it. He pointed a claw at the captain. The captain held the radio away from his head and a stream of fire lit the log. Ming shifted and sat down on a stump next to his impromptu fire pit. The captain walked away. Zach and Phin added logs to the fire and joined Ming on the massive tree stump. Zach had dressed, but the other two males sat naked. Naomi walked over to the fire ring, Daniel beside her.
Daniel threw down his ruined jacket on the sand. "I'll share." He sat on the jacket.
She sat down next to him, her bare heels digging into the sand, her boots still by the rocks. The waves were gentle because of the protected harbor, and the breeze was enough to keep the insects away. Her lynx had had a run and, other than the odd smelling mammal that her lynx wanted to get away from, it had been a magnificent night.
"What time is it?" Naomi asked.
Daniel turned the camera over. "Shit, it's five a.m. already."
A light orange peeked from the horizon, and the occasional bird squawked.
"You going to put on your clothes?" Zach asked the two naked shifters, tossing a shell into the waves.
"No point, if the boat’s not back soon. I’ll swim for my breakfast." Ming spread his legs. Phin did the same.
"Too bad Colette's not here," Naomi said under her breath.
Ming nodded at Naomi. "Is that your roommate’s name? The one with the wavy long hair and the curves?"