Forty-Six
Flying Lessons
Tirah peered over the ledge at the lake far below and gulped as she remembered the last time she stood here.
“Are you ready?” Saber asked.
“No,” Tirah said.
“You know I won’t let anything happen to you, right?” He held her close.
“I do.” Then she smiled at him. “I guess now is as good a time to learn as any.”
Saber claimed her lips once again. “I love how brave you are.”
“I’m not sure it’s brave.” Tirah laughed and pulled away before Saber could peel her clothing off and take her right where they stood. Not that she’d mind. They were so secluded no one would see them.
Saber reached for her again, and Tirah shook her head. “Uh-uh. You have to teach me how to fly first. If you do a good job, I might give you a reward,” she teased. Saber raised an eyebrow and grinned at her.
“I’ll be just out there, waiting for you.” He pointed to the air in front of the ledge.
“All right.” Tirah moved back to give him room to shift, then realized she needn’t have bothered. She gasped when Saber fell backward off the ledge. Then his power tingled over her. A moment later, a large black dragon rose into the air in front of her.
“Now it’s your turn,” Saber said. His midnight scales glittered under the rays of Tartaria’s suns, while his wings flapped just enough to keep him afloat.
“You are so beautiful,” Tirah said, thinking how lucky she really was. Things could have ended up so differently.
Saber snorted a light plume of fire off to her side that quickly drifted away. “Beautiful? Guys aren’t beautiful!”
She laughed. “Guess you aren’t a guy then, because you are beautiful, and very, very sexy.” She snickered, letting her desire shine in her eyes. Still grinning, she started to undo the buttons on her shirt.
“Sexy? You think I’m sexy?” Saber sounded way too pleased. Then before she could answer, he groaned. “What are you doing, female? Trying to kill me here?”
“I like this shirt and don’t want to lose it in the shift,” she said.
She felt Saber’s hunger rise at the sight of her bare breasts.
“Now I’m not going to be able to concentrate on helping you,” he said teasingly. When she’d purposely tried shifting earlier, she’d shifted back naked, her clothes just gone. He’d really enjoyed that moment along with the following ones as well. “Just don’t think about it,” he said. Tirah knew that was what happened earlier. She’d been trying too hard.
When she was ready, Tirah drew on her power. A shower of sparks swirled in the air as she shifted into her dragon.
“You. You are the beautiful one,” Saber said, sending her images of all the ways he planned to savor her later. If she’d have been in her human-form, Tirah would have blushed at some of them.
“What color am I?” she asked, then craning her head around, she surveyed her body. It had been dark the first time she’d seen her dragon form. Now, her scales sparkled like fire in the sunlight, making her gasp. Under each scale, red fire swirled. “Last night I thought I was brown, now I look light orange or …”
“Your color changes with the light,” Saber said, awe and love in his voice. “Part of you looks like flaming fire, while another is burnished copper. You are gorgeous.”
“I am?” she asked, a smile in her voice.
“You are, my love.”
“So, what do I do now?” she asked.
Saber had her practice some exercises with her wings and neck, along with her tail. He waited while she took a hesitant step closer to the ledge.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he yelled when she did just that, then laughing, she jumped. Her joyous cry rang out as she circled around him.
“Fly with me, my mate?” she asked.
“Always,” Saber replied, and together they flew across the lake and over the mountains.
“This is amazing.” Tirah craned her head to see him.
“I want to show you something,” Saber said and led the way to the tallest spire.
“Wow,” Tirah said when they had landed and shifted into their human-forms. “Do you come here often?”
Saber’s gaze grew distant as he gazed over all the mountains and lakes. “I’ve spent a lot of time up here.”
“By yourself?”
“Yeah.”
Tirah clasped his hand, reveling in his warmth and the fact that he was her mate. “Well you aren’t alone anymore. This is breathtaking.” Incredibly tall, each thin spire of the Death Ridge Mountains reached toward the heavens. “It’s like each spike is trying to outdo the one beside it.”
She drank in the sight. Some parts of the rocky spires shone so brightly, while other parts looked black, and yet she knew the rock was actually dark blue. “They are so sparkly, so pretty, but they look so deadly.”
Saber nodded. “It’s the contrast cast by Tartaria’s suns shining down on them.”
Tirah smiled, happiness consuming her. For the first time she felt like she belonged. “I had no idea there were so many different lakes out here.”
“The pink one is hot. The yellow one stinks. The green one is warm and teeming with life. The deep blue ones scattered everywhere are also warm and really deep,” Saber said, pointing out each one.
“What about the pale blue ones?” Tirah asked.
“It is ice cold.”
“How is it they are so different?” she asked, mesmerized at the sight.
“Some are fed by underground springs, some by the run off from the mountains.” He pointed out the snow caps in the distance. They sparkled so white it was almost blinding.
“What about the one below your waterfall?” Tirah asked. It was a pale crystalline blue.
“It’s our waterfall now, and it is neither warm nor cold. You’ve noticed the sparkling spires in it?”
Tirah nodded. “I have. Do you ever swim in any of these?” she asked, nodding at the lakes.
“I have, and I look forward to showing you each of my favorite spots.” Saber stared at her, and heat tingled through Tirah. Saber smirked, passion bright in his eyes. “You shifted back wearing clothing.”
“I did, but I don’t plan to wear them long.” She tangled her fingers through his dreads, pulled him to her lips, and slid her other hand under his shirt. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmured and began to trail her lips down his throat to his chest.
“I can fix that,” he said, his voice husky.
***
Saber had never been happier as Tirah flew beside him back to their home. She had more than saved his life, she’d saved his soul and given him something that he knew he’d never be worthy of, no matter how long he lived. She was his other half. The only shadow in his life was his missing brother.
“We’ll find him. I asked Mihel to check into the spell used as well,” his love said.
“Thank you,” he said, knowing he’d never stop trying to find a way to free Adarias.
“Saber?” Tirah said a few minutes later as if she were in deep thought.
“Yes, my love?” he asked, thinking about all the other places he’d like to take her.
“I love you.”
Saber soaked in her words. “Please, never stop.”
“Never. You are mine for eternity,” she said, and in his mind, her arms wrapped around him.
“I sense there is more on your mind,” he said.
Tirah giggled. “I was just wondering, can dragon shifters …”
“Can we what?”
“Well, can we … in dragon form—” she said evasively.
“What are you asking me?”
“You know, can dragons … ah … together …” Then she sent him a mental image that almost knocked him out of the sky.
When he regained his balance, Saber looked over at Tirah to see glee shining in her eyes.
“What do you think?” he asked and flipped over. Then he proceeded to fly upside down just below her.
Tirah laughed, and Saber rolled until he was right side up, then sent her a mental picture.
Tirah gasped, then snickered. “If you want me, you’re gonna have to catch me.”
Saber roared and blew a playful plume of fire at her. Tirah shrieked and took off. Saber let her get ahead of him for a moment, then shot after her.
“It will be my pleasure.”