Chapter Fourteen
Deo
The darkness was never changing. There was no flicker of light, fading of the sun, or sliver of silver. There was only darkness, and silence.
Never had I been imprisoned. Never have I been out of control. I reached down to my waist, feeling both gratitude and despair. The bastards now had the black box, but obviously had not known the power of the belt around my waist. A lot of good that did me though. Until I regained my strength… hell, until I got out of this fucking hole, the enchanted talisman was nothing more than an ornately engraved buckle.
“Cassandra,” I whispered her name just to hear it. “My Cassandra.” Where was she now? It had been two days since I’d seen her… held her. All that mattered was that she was safe. I had no way of knowing if my captors had made their way to the woods, finding her and the dragon. Once again, I prayed that I had hidden Margaret well enough and prayed the others were still tucked safely in the castle, finishing their meal.
Earlier, during dinner, Xander had not returned by the time the second course was being served. Having been in wolf form the majority of the time lately, scanning our perimeter, fatigue had made it difficult more than once for him to remove his belt on his own. Margaret had found the smaller gray wolf that was Xander, sleeping and snoring softly on the stone steps of the castle just yesterday.
Margaret approached me just as I was tucking into my fish. “Deo, Babyface hasn’t shown up yet and he promised me he’d return to eat, to sleep. Xander is probably passed out somewhere. Come and we will find him and help him with his belt.”
“Poor kid is exhausted. We’ve been running him ragged.” Though the younger man actually preferred his animal form, it was imperative he remember he was a human first. His senses were more highly developed as a wolf, but it was his mind—his human mind—that allowed him to understand all he saw when out on his rounds. I stood, waving the others back into their chairs. “Finish eating. Margaret and I will find him.”
When we reached the forest, there was no gray wolf waiting for us among the trees, eager to have his belt removed and come in for a hot meal. Looking out over the snow-covered forest, the hairs on the back of my neck began to bristle.
Something was off.
The breeze blew and with it came a terrible stench.
“Deo? What is wrong?” Margaret demanded, seeing my hand go to my belt.
Keeping my voice low, I commanded her, “Margaret, please for the love of God for once in your life do not argue with me and go as quickly and quietly as possible to the gatehouse and hide. There are demons here.”
To my relief, biting her tongue, she obeyed. I watched as she shuffled off to the gatehouse—there was no way she would have made it to the castle in time. When I saw that she was safely shut behind the door, I began to unlatch my belt.
I was too late.
There were only a few of them but too many for me to fight in human form. They dragged me deeper into the forest, smart enough not to want to involve any members of my pack. They ripped the black box from my belt. Tried force to get me to tell them where Cassandra was.
Sitting on the frozen ground of my prison, rubbing my wrists, I felt the wounds that were beginning to scar. By some act of the gods, I had managed to remove the wire from my bindings with my teeth. The metallic taste still tainted my mouth.
My fingertips ran over the gash on my face. Not accepting I had no idea where Cassandra had been taken, the devils had done a thorough job of trying to gain the information. The punches, the kicks had been the beginning—the torture progressing until finally they brought out a blade. The pain had been searing, but I hadn’t cried out. The burning slice was nothing compared to the pain I would feel if I lost her.
The cut ran down the right side of my face, from my hairline to my jaw. A reminder of the darkness that would trail me the rest of my days. I’d been barely conscious when one barked an order and the next thing I knew I was falling, my body bouncing from wall to wall until I finally slammed to a stop. The bastards had thrown me into an abandoned well, hands and feet bound together. Once I had freed my hands, it had taken only a few moments to unbind my feet.
I placed my hand to the latch on my belt buckle. My bones ached, my muscles were like jelly, and the blood loss had drained my strength. I was too weak to try to transform and break out of the pit in my wolf form. It might kill me.
Having run my hands over every stone in the walls, hoping for the smallest finger hold, the thinnest ledge, I’d found none. I supposed it could have been worse… at least this well had run dry. My head swam, my arms and legs shook, my gut twisted with worry, but I refused to give up. Without the black box, I couldn’t even contact Draco, couldn’t warn him of the conversation I’d overheard between the demons. Fuck! The only chance I had to save my love was to get to Cassandra before the demons did and I was stuck in a fucking hole in the ground!
My black box was in the possession of evil and it was going to lead the demons straight to the camp. To Cassandra. To the couple I considered to be my parents. To my co-mate, Draco.
Head aching, I tried to guess how long I had been in this pit. A half-hour? An hour? The others would be sure to be looking for me by now. I’d been fading in and out of consciousness, my face, ribs, and back throbbing with every beat of my heart.
My head flew from my hands as I heard a scream and a scratching noise above me.
The demons had returned.
I braced myself for the next round of questioning, telling myself I could handle whatever they might do. Knowing it would not be a simple cut to the face and kicks to the ribs this time, I steeled my resolve. They could torture me all they wanted—as long as it kept them away from the woman who didn’t just own my heart, she was my very soul.
I looked away as the old wooden cover high above me was slowly pushed aside, letting in the winter sunlight. I needed to protect what vision I had. Fighting against the fatigue and fear of not being able to protect my mates, my pack… my family, I knew I needed to be prepared for even the slightest opening, the smallest chance to best these demons.
When my eyes had adjusted to the light, I took a deep breath. Raising my eyes to face my fate, my brow narrowed in confusion. Instead of seeing the unworldly blaze of red eyes, I saw the glow of yellow as a small shadow peered over the edge of the opening. The little figure gave another piercing shriek.
“Dirtbag!” I had never been so happy to see any animal, much less such a mangy one. Letting out the uproarious laugh of a mad man, I rejoiced. “You’ve come for me!”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Shit! The cat could talk? Would there be no end to the madness of this life?
A larger shadow peered over beside the cat.
“You didn’t think we’d leave you down here to rot like a sack of potatoes, did you, Deo?”
“Aunt Margaret?” I exclaimed with a mixture of joy and disbelief. “What is happening up there? Where are the others? How did you find me? I don’t have the box…”
“It was like… like something stole into my body, possessing me, calling me… like I could sense you,” she said, her eyes going huge, her hands weaving about in the air as she made a weird keening sound like one you’d hear in some cheesy horror film. Then, with a cackle, she shook her head. “How the hell do you think? I followed the little bastards and saw them throw you down here. Now, we can continue to play twenty questions, or, if you’d prefer, we can get your sorry ass out of this pit.”
It was good to give a chuckle at this incredible, irreverent woman, but even better to watch her lowering a makeshift rope ladder rung by rung. Muttering and cursing, Margaret swatted Dirtbag out of the way. The ramshackle feline looked like he’d been around at least a hundred years, but his paw kept reaching out to play with my rescue device as a kitten would a ball of yarn.
“All right, wolf boy. It’s tied tightly to a tree trunk up here. My fingers aren’t as good as they used to be, but I think the knots are pretty strong.” Margaret chortled again as she stood back. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough if my handiwork holds—if you fall back down on your ass.”
Standing slowly, I gave myself a moment of grace to stretch my sore limbs. I made my way to the ladder, placing one hand on either side of the ropes. As I went to put my foot on the first rung, I chuckled as the rope began to lift me into the air. Margaret Magic. Balancing my weight upon the rung, my hands digging into the rope, I rose quickly from the dark hellhole. The magical ladder shook me off, tossing me to the ground with a thud.
Dirtbag reached out to swipe at me, hissing as he did. Such a pleasant cat. I squatted and gave him a scratch behind the ear that had a chunk missing from it. My petting was rewarded with a sidelong glance from his only eye.
“Thank you, kitty,” I said, giving him another scratch. With a sniff in the air, the cat turned away from me, walking regally, his stump of a tail held straight up in the air. I had been dismissed.
Moving to my side, Margaret’s sarcasm disappeared as she spoke in a hushed whisper. “Oh, Deo, your poor face.”
“Just a scratch.” My hand absently went to my face, my fingertips gliding over it.
“Mutants,” she said, muttering a long stream of Greek curses under her breath.
There were far more important topics to discuss. “How are the others? Where is Xander?”
Her eyes met mine. Pushing her horn-rimmed glasses up onto the bridge of her nose, she gave me the full account of what had happened during my brief imprisonment.
“I hid in the gatehouse. I could still catch glimpses of you every now and then when they dragged you toward the trees. I saw them cut you, but I did not hear you cry out. Afterwards when I felt it was safe, I followed them as quickly as I could while staying out of sight. They dumped you into the well, then stood around conversing like they had all the time in the world. That was when Babyface came howling from the woods, teeth bared and gnashing—he looked absolutely terrifying—you would have been proud. He lunged at the biggest one, taking a chunk out of him. Baal and the others ran from the castle, hearing Xander’s howls, and rushed to help. They are all in the woods, now, defeating the devils, I am sure. As soon as the group was out of sight in the forest, I came to you. I knew you would want them together to fight, not here, babying your sorry ass. I can do that all on my own. Now let me take a look at this cut.”
Her fingertips ran over my face. I could feel the healing tingling of her powerful hands as her fingertip zigzagged along the jagged cut, stitching it together as she spoke. She inspected me closely afterwards. “It is healed; I’m afraid it will scar, but not as bad as your shoulder. I can only heal the black magic; I cannot erase its history.”
I touched my face. Unlike the ragged tear that I’d suffered when a demon’s scythe had sunk into my flesh in the last battle, ripping through skin, muscles, and tendons, I could feel the cold, clean line of the healed wound. “At this rate, I’m going to look like Frankenstein,” I teased, knowing I could be dead rather than simply scarred. Holding out my wrists, I asked, “Can you clean these up a bit?”
After another generous string of curses directed at the ones who had damaged me, she got to work. Gently, Margaret took my wrists in her hands. As she brushed her thumbs over the abrasions, I watched as the gashes closed, stopping the ooze of blood. When she was finished, there were only thin white scars left.
“Too bad humans have such limited vision because these only make you look that much tougher,” Margaret said with a wink.
Rubbing each of my healed wrists in turn, truly unconcerned with my appearance, I said, “Margaret, I must go to the others and bring them here. I need to lay my eyes on my love. I need to see Cassandra, hold her in my arms. Make sure she is safe. I must go to her, now.”
Margaret reached over to me, running a hand over my hair with a motherly tenderness she so rarely revealed. Her serene gaze fell over me and when she spoke, her voice was so sure, I felt a glimmer of hope.
“You must go, and I will send you off in style fit for a king.” I opened my mouth to question the meaning of her statement, but she placed a finger over her mouth, indicating the end of the conversation. With that, she rose to her feet with a groan. “Damn hips. I’m getting old. Too old for this skata. You kids and your crazy drama. Always causing trouble. In my day, you know what we did for fun? What we did to pass the time? Huh? We worked. None of this damn demon-chasing business.”
“I work plenty, Margaret. You know that.”
“I know. I only tease. Besides, without all this adventure I’d probably be bored. Though I could have used a few more days with just Alekos around the castle. That boy can play some chess. And eats like a horse. Never met a food he didn’t like, that one.” A smile stretched across her face and she patted me on the back. If I wasn’t mistaken, her eyes glistened with tears. “You two are good boys, Deo. And you did right by Alekos, taking care of him like you did. You worry about Xander, about us all. You are a good man. A good, good man.”
Her words warming my heart, I stood beside Margaret, her cat rubbing at our legs, looking over the land before us. The sun was setting in the gray sky. The hills surrounding the castle were covered in a foot of powdery new snow.
Picking up her pet, Margaret stroked his matted fur and Dirtbag began to purr. With a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, Margaret said, “Have you ever ridden a catamount before, Deo?”
I looked at the cat in her arms. He gave a whiny meow and a lazy glare with his good eye. “You mean this fleabag?”
Dirtbag hissed, swiping at me in disgust.
Margaret howled in laughter. “Don’t speak ill of your taxicab, Deo. You are in no shape to shift and the Escalade would take hours.” She placed the cat onto the ground. He sat down on his haunches and gave a huge yawn as if the entire conversation bored him. “He will take you to your princess.”
Reaching into her pocket, Margaret retrieved a small brown leather collar that had a little silver latch on it, resembling our much larger belts. Bending down, she snapped the collar around Dirtbag’s neck. Moments later, a green cloud rose around the feline. We both took a few steps back from the rising cloud.
When it dissipated, there stood a mountain lion, the size of a small horse. One of its ears had a large bite taken out of it, there was one large yellow eye, and one closed eye socket. The tail of the lion was nothing but a stump. Its matted fur was bare in patches. And when it yowled, it was the same ear-piercing noise I had grown accustomed to.
“May I present to you, Sir Dirtbag, the mountain lion,” Margaret pronounced, waving her arms in the air with a flourish.
He smelled terrible. Giving another howl, he glared at me impatiently.
Reading my unsure expression and the wrinkling of my nose, Margaret began to chuckle. “What are you waiting for, knight? Climb aboard your trusty steed and go save your princess.” By the time she finished her sentence, Margaret was laughing so hard she was doubled over, slapping her knees.
Cautiously, I approached the huge cat. Sniffing at me, he lowered his body, allowing me to climb onto his broad back. For some reason, Dirtbag did not quite evoke the same feeling of awe as Draco had in his dragon form. Still, beggars could not be choosers.
I threw my leg over, grabbing a hold of what fur I could find, and slowly began to seat myself, worried about how much weight the creature could take. When his head turned back and I would swear he rolled his good eye in disgust, I smiled… the move reminding me of a sassy little princess I knew.
“All right, let’s do this,” I said, settling onto the animal’s back. If it weren’t for the stench, the cat made a quite comfortable ride. “Tell the others to stay in the great hall when they return from battle.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I said.
“Skata,” Margaret said, shaking her head. “I’ve heard love is blind, but never knew it made you stupid. You need to be able to find her.”
My stomach sank. I had no idea where Cassandra was. The demons had my black box. I would have to wait until the others returned—however long that took.
Dipping her hand dipping back into her pocket, Margaret pulled something out, tossing it to me. “Not only do they smell like rotten eggs, they are as dumb as rocks. Those red-eyed idiots dropped this.”
I looked down at the object I’d caught. It was the black box. Within moments, I knew in which direction Draco had taken our mate. Tucking the device into my pocket, I said, “He took her north, to Maine.” Margaret nodded and took the catamount’s head between her palms. Though no words were spoken, I had absolutely no doubt that she was giving her precious pet instructions. When she nodded and gave the creature a scratch between his ears, I didn’t even have time to thank her before Dirtbag took off through the dense forest. Leaning down, I grabbed a tighter hold of his fur and hoped we would not be too late.
* * *
The ride was so smooth I had almost fallen asleep as we raced through the trees. I was jarred wide awake when Dirtbag suddenly came to an abrupt halt, dumping me off of his back and onto the snow.
“You can forget about a tip, bud,” I said. Giving a hiss, he didn’t even look back as he slunk off into the woods. Brushing the snow off my ass, I quickly made my way, jogging after him, anxious to find my mate.
I began to hear the faint sounds of laughter. As I grew closer, I heard Cassandra shout my name and graceful footsteps falling in the forest.
In no time but what felt like an eternity, I had Cassandra in my arms. Breaking through the woods, she had thrown herself onto my chest. Holding her tightly, I inhaled her scent. Stroking her hair, I murmured, “Cassandra, my love.”
“Oh, Deo. You are here! We knew you were coming as soon as you contacted Artem through the black box but I wouldn’t believe it until I saw you. Draco sensed you moments before you arrived, but I never thought…” She clung tighter to my chest, her fingers pulling at my shirt. “I can’t believe you are here! I had the worst dream. They—had you.”
“Who?”
“The demons.” The tone of her voice had changed. Fear had replaced the almost childlike joy of a second ago and she was wiping tears on my shirt. She had not yet gotten a good look at my face.
“You dreamt of demons?” I asked, placing a hand behind her head and bringing her face to my chest. I held her so her gaze was not upon me.
I felt her head gently nodding against me.
“What did they do to me?”
Whispering so quietly I almost didn’t hear her, she said, “They had a knife. They… they cut you.”
Could it be possible? Was Cassandra the prophetess she had been named for? I didn’t want it to be so, but I had to ask. “Where did the knife cut me?”
Without raising her head, Cassandra reached up toward my face. For the first time, I suddenly felt a bit of fear that my wife would find me… unattractive, no matter how faint Margaret assured me the scar would be.
“It’s hard to see, but it’s here,” she said, her voice trembling. Beginning at my hairline, she brushed her fingertips over the path the knife had taken, then leaned forward to gently kiss the blemish. “Is it so awful if I admit it’s a little sexy?”
“Not at all,” I said, relief filling me as I reached out to bring her hand down. She gasped as she took my hands in hers, dropping her gaze to my wrists. Tears again welled in her eyes, spilling over onto her rosy cheeks. “Oh, God, it’s not just one cut. They-they hurt you because of me—”
“Shh, they are just flesh wounds. Margaret fixed me up as good as new.”
“No,” she said, her hands going to press against her mouth as any illusion of sexy scars evaporated as she took a step back as if in fear.
“I promise, I’m fine. I…” I stopped speaking when I realized that she wasn’t discounting Margaret’s skills, she simply wasn’t hearing or seeing me at all. Sure, she was looking at me, but I wasn’t her focus. The prophetess was seeing again.
“Deo, if I was right. If what I saw happened to you… that means—”
Her statement trailed off as she refocused her eyes, looking at me, full of sadness.
Grabbing a hold of her shoulders, I gave her a small shake.
“What? What does that mean, Cassandra?”
Her eyes locked on mine, her eyes dark with fear, she said, “There are others—at the castle. I don’t think they are demons… but-but they are just as deadly.”
* * *
Dolly and Cassandra had disappeared into the trailer, leaving me to confer with the Ambrosia men.
“If she has seen it, it is real, Deo.” Artem looked up at me earnestly. “She has the sight.”
“Do we have any idea who she saw in this vision? Who is at the castle? What we will be up against?”
Artem shook his head. “Only that they are deadly.”
I sighed, running my hand through my hair. “I don’t understand all that is happening, but I do know this… whatever this is, it is more than we first believed.”
“What do you mean?” Draco asked.
“I mean that the demons could have killed me but didn’t. Why?” Before they could offer their thoughts, I continued. “I don’t understand it, but I heard them taking about the one… how they had to find the woman… destroy her.” I turned from them to look toward the trailer. “Everything in me is screaming that woman is Cassandra. I believe our mate is at the heart of all of this.”
Artem nodded. “I think you might be right. There is something about her… she’s more than she appears. More than she even believes. We’ve got to keep her safe.”
“I agree,” I said. “I thought hiding her away would be best, but not anymore. We need to dig deeper. Do more research. Together we can work through this, but we need to get back to the castle. We must ride like the wind.”
Draco stepped forward, grasping my shoulder. “We won’t let anything happen to our mate. We’ll protect her.”
The door to the RV opened, and Cassandra stuck her head out. “Can we please come out now or shall we continue to pretend to be busy in here?”
I chuckled and gestured for her to join us. When my mate came to my side, I slid my arm around her. “Glad to see that you listened to me and obeyed our mate. Asking permission so sweetly.”
Man, my girl better never wager anything important in a poker game. The moment her face began to turn red, I shook my head. “Don’t tell me, Draco’s belt came off?”
“No,” she said softly, her cheeks rosy.
“No?” I asked, my eyebrow lifting before turning my attention to our co-mate. He grinned and shook his head.
“Nope, but let’s just say that our girl isn’t quite the fan of oil as she thought,” Draco said, his hand reaching out to pat our mate’s ass before grinning and jogging to the RV, disappearing inside.
“Ah, I’m gathering he’s not talking about massage oil,” I said, giving Cassandra a long look. “We all know how much you love it when we give you a nice slow, head to toe massage. So, what kind of oil was it?”
“Some concoction your Aunt Margaret put together. It was green, slimy, and stinky,” she said. I chuckled and then gave a grunt as her elbow found my side. “It’s not funny. Do you have any idea how much nettle oil burns when it’s slapped all over your…”
“Naughty bits?” I provided when she stopped speaking, her cheeks turning even redder. Chuckling again, I pulled her closer. “I’ll only say two things: one, I’ll bet that whatever you did to earn the lesson, you won’t repeat it and two, Margaret isn’t my aunt… she’s our aunt.”
The slam of the RV door covered her soft groan as we watched Draco returning, a black velvet bundle under one arm. Dolly followed, moving to stand beside her husband.
Though the talk about oil had me thinking of all sorts of delicious possibilities, I knew I needed to focus on what was truly important. I addressed our group. “The RV is too slow. We will ride as one. Artem, you will transform and run below Draco. Dolly, you are to ride the very cat that I arrived on—none other than Aunt Margaret’s enchanted housecat.”
“Dirtbag?” Cassandra asked, her eyes going wide. “Seriously? Are you saying the cat is enchanted?”
“Yes, he shifts into a catamount,” I said.
“Of course he does,” Cassandra said, rolling her eyes. “He’s an Ambrosia, and he’s male. Lucky little kitty.”
Having heard my mate’s wish for the ability to shift herself before, I just chuckled and continued to reveal the plan. “Cassandra, you and I will ride the dragon. It is imperative that we stay together should there be any traps. We will need one another.”
Draco said, “Deo, we have discovered that Cassandra has powers. They may aid us in battle.”
My eyes cut to my wife, waiting by the fire. “More than the power of sight?”
“I can—stop things,” she answered hesitantly. “Make objects obey my command.”
Was this what Artem had meant? Was there even more we still had to learn? I shook my head, unable to process the news with so much on the horizon. “Let us leave and you can show me at the castle.”
Dolly bid me goodbye with a kiss on the cheek, then with a wary look over her shoulder at Draco and Cassandra, called, “Y’all be safe. I’ll go find that mangy catamount of Margaret’s. Let’s go, Artem. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen you in your wolf form.” The couple jogged off into the woods.
I took my place beside Cassandra, wrapping my arm tightly around her. “Draco. It is time.”
“Can you take this?” he asked, handing me the black bundle. “They are Cassie’s daggers. I don’t want to leave them in the RV.”
Nodding, I took them, tucking the bundle into my waistband at the small of my back, pulling my shirt down over them. I prayed that we wouldn’t need them, but Draco was right. We couldn’t leave them here… not when we didn’t know when we’d come back for the trailer.
Giving Cassandra’s cheek a kiss, Draco walked fifty paces from us. With his back to us, we could hear the unlatching of his buckle. Within a moment, we heard the click of the latch again and watched as the orange haze rose. The cloud reached its massive, dragon size, deepening to a dark red. It then began to suck into itself.
The last wisps of the cloud were brushed away by the swish of a giant tail. Draco the dragon stood tall, lean, and ready to ride.
Wide eyed, Cassandra gasped as if seeing the transformation for the first time. Draco came forward, nuzzling her hand with his great snout. She laughed as she stroked his velvety scales.
Giving Draco a pat of my own, I murmured, “Thank you, mate.”
Draco bowed his great body down for us to climb upon.
Cassandra had just swung her leg over and taken her seat when we heard yelling. Looking down at me, she said, “I thought you said you rode Dirtbag here.”
“I did, why?” I asked.
“Look.” Cassandra pointed and I turned to see Dolly coming out of the tree line and it looked like she was carrying something… and that something looked suspiciously like a cat and I was not talking about a catamount.
“What happened? Where’s his collar?” I asked as Dolly got closer, Dirtbag lolling in her arms.
“I don’t know,” Dolly said, shaking her head. “We had just gone to look for him when he came limping up.”
At a pitiful meow, Cassandra dropped back to the ground. “Poor little thing must have hurt his paw.”
I shook my head as both women fawned over the bedraggled cat, his normal nasty disposition nowhere in sight.
“Don’t worry,” Artem said, coming up to wrap an arm around his wife’s waist. “I’d rather Dolly ride back with me. Dirtbag can stay in the RV. We’ve got enough food and water to last until we come back.”
“No! Aunt Margaret would kill us!” Cassandra said, shaking her head emphatically. “Besides, Dirtbag brought Deo to me. The least I can do is take him back to his momma. He can sit in my lap. Deo, you can hold onto both of us.”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” I said. “What if we are flying high and Dirtbag decides he doesn’t like it? He could claw you to pieces.”
“No, he won’t,” Cassandra said, reaching out to scratch the fleabag between his ears, putting her face right down close to his. “He’ll be a perfectly behaved gentleman, won’t you?”
“Son, decide one way or the other,” Artem said, leaving the decision to me, the alpha of our pack.
With a final glance at my wife’s face, I made my decision. “Fine, he rides with us.”
Cassandra clapped her hands and hurried to seat herself. Once she had, she reached out for her passenger. I took the cat from Dolly and Artem’s hand went to his buckle, readying himself to shift. Lifting Dirtbag, up, I stared into his eye. “Listen to me and listen good, kitty. If you so much as scratch my wife, our co-mate will roast you alive. Got it?”
I heard the familiar rumble coming from the dragon, knew Draco was not only amused but agreed with me. As for Dirtbag? Well, he didn’t seem the least bit concerned, that yellow orb rolling in its socket.
Handing the cat to Cassandra, I pulled myself up to sit behind her. Wrapping my arm a bit tighter around her, then grasping onto the fold of the dragon’s neck, I asked, “Ready to fly?”
Before she could answer, Draco pounced from his great legs, leaping into the air. I held my breath as we rose high above the evergreens. Looking down, the trees became smaller as we grew further from them. Soon we were in the clouds, sailing. They looked so dense from the land below, but they whipped by as we flew through them.
Cassandra leaned back against me and I smiled. Over her shoulder, I could see that Dirtbag was already curled up in her lap, enjoying my mate’s soft strokes. Hell, I couldn’t blame him—I envied him. There would be no more strokes for me until we faced whatever was waiting for us back at the castle. I kissed the top of Cassandra’s head as our co-mate flew through the night, carrying us to meet our destiny.