Page 27 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Celestina

“I missed you,” I confessed once I found the strength to talk. “I missed this.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better.” He growled deep in his throat. “I never expected I’d have to protect you from my own fucking brother.”

“While I don’t agree with his methods, he did get rid of Queen Beatrice’s collar.”

Soren shook his head. “He should have never—”

“He was desperate to save Amaya,” I needed him to know.

“Not an excuse.” He kissed me hard, thrusting his tongue deep into my mouth as his cock, still buried deep within me, stirred. “I was so frightened that I’d lost you when that dragon flew away with you.” He kissed me again. “I can’t lose you.”

“I’m right here.”

“Yes, you are.” He grabbed my hips, pulled out, and then thrust inside me again. “You’re exactly where I need you to be.”

“Before the two of you start up again,” Cullen said as he emerged from the shadows of the trees, “let me remind you that we need to get moving. We want to have as much distance between Celestina and the dragons when they discover she’s missing.”

Soren made a rude sound.

“He’s not wrong,” I said, wiggling to separate myself from him, but only succeeding in pushing his cock deeper.

Soren cupped both my cheeks and kissed me again with such fierce longing that, in that moment, I forgot where we were and what we were doing.

Cullen cleared his throat.

Right.

Dragons.

Escape.

Need to move.

With a long-suffering sigh, Soren turned away from Cullen to block his brother’s view. He lifted me and set me on my wobbly feet as my long, pink skirt fluttered down around my legs.

“Shall we go, my princess?” Soren offered his arm.

I’m a princess. How could I have forgotten? Tiny dragons fluttered in my belly. I smiled as I placed my hand on his arm as if we were about to walk into his father’s court or into a ballroom instead of making our way through a hazardous dark forest.

Cullen kept several steps behind us. His lips compressed to an unhappy line. He remained so silent that I looked over my shoulder to reassure myself that he was still there. We walked for what felt like hours—though it wasn’t that long—before we came upon a flickering torchlight within a tight thicket of trees on the far side of a hill.

“Sky Girl!” Raya, dressed in black battle leathers, ran toward us. She grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into her strong embrace. “We all missed you something awful. Especially Patty. She strapped on one of Gray’s swords and was ready to march across the continent on her own to fetch you.”

“I missed her, too. And you.” I hugged Raya back with just as much enthusiasm as she’d shown me. “And even you, Gray.”

Gray, also wearing black battle leathers, scowled. “Are you sure we should take her?” What did he want Soren to do? Take me back to the village?

“We’re not having this conversation.” Soren made it sound as if they’d already discussed my rescue several times before.

“I think we need to.” Gray blocked my path forward.

Stealing me away from the dragons would cause them to retaliate. Cities could be burned. Lives lost. Was my rescue the trigger for the destruction I saw in that nightmarish vision? I hugged myself.

Was I worth it?

Soren moved to stand in front of me. “Celestina belongs with us.”

“Hell, Soren, I know there are feelings involved. But someone needs to say this.” Gray flung his arm out, pointing in the general direction of the plateau. “Celestina was back with her own kind. She was back with the ones who would have raised her if Queen Frieda hadn’t kidnapped her. How can we take Celestina away from what should have been her home?”

That argument went in a different direction than I’d been expecting. Gray was worried for my wellbeing instead of worried about the security risk I might present?

“She is mine.” Soren bared his fangs. “She belongs with me.”

Gray held his ground. “We don’t know that.”

There was so much tension that the air crackled with unspent violence. Both Cullen and Raya stepped in between the two warriors.

Gray made an angry sound in the back of his throat. “I know what it’s like to live as a minority in Fein. I know what it’s like to be an other in your society, Your Highness. While the vampires try to treat the humans fairly, and I do like where I live and what I do, there aren’t many of us. And we’re spread out from each other. Our rituals and holidays aren’t recognized. Our traditional foods aren’t served anywhere. If we want to make it ourselves, the ingredients for those foods are damn near impossible to come by. Celestina, you have an opportunity to discover what it means to be a dragon. You have this chance to immerse yourself in dragon culture. If you leave, you might never get that again.”

“Gray,” Raya breathed as she reeled to face him. “I never knew that you…”

He slashed his hand through the air. “This isn’t about me. And I’m sorry, Soren, but this isn’t about you, either. This is about Celestina cutting herself off from her own kind. Forever. It’s not a decision that should be made for her nor should it be taken lightly.”

“If we don’t get moving, the dragons will make that decision for us,” Cullen warned. “And we won’t care, because we’ll be dead. Except for you, Celestina.” He bowed his head in my direction. “What do you wish to do?”

Soren turned toward me. He didn’t say a word, but I could read the determination on his face. He’d fight for me. He’d fight to keep me. If I told him I wanted to go back to the village, I doubted he’d allow it.

And, yes, part of me ached at the thought of leaving. I did want to nurture my budding friendship with Amaya. I wanted to learn dragon lore from Gregory. Drink ale with Ivy. And learn gardening from Juniper. But on the other hand, if I stayed, they would expect to use me to attack the humans and the vampires. If I stayed, the vision of Fein’s destruction by dragon fire would become a reality, because I’d be the one leading the charge.

I couldn’t allow that to happen.

“My heart wants to be with Soren,” I told Gray. I reached my hand out to my battle-hardened warrior, who gladly accepted it. “I’m not being abducted.” Soren twined his fingers with mine. The tension tightening his features eased. “I consider all of you my family, my chosen family. My support. My future. You are where I want to be.”

While Gray wasn’t happy about my decision to run away from the continent’s last remaining clan of dragons, he gave me a nod as if to say he respected my decision to return to Fein with them.

I looked around, searching the thick copse of trees for where they’d hidden their horses. “We’re not walking back, are we?”

“No, Sky Girl.” Raya hooked her arm with mine. “We’re going to fly.”

“Fly? You do know I don’t have the ability to change forms. And even if I did, I wouldn’t want you riding on me, because that’s just weird.”

Cullen led the way. I noticed that Soren and Cullen kept their distance from each other.

Gray followed Cullen. Soren stayed at my side. And Raya took up the rear. It felt all so familiar traveling like this. Having them surround me made me feel safe, protected.

Dawn was nearly breaking when we reached a clearing filled with heavy morning mist.

“Here we are.” Cullen had to stop to wipe dew off his glasses.

I looked around. “Where?”

Raya chuckled.

Gray scowled.

“You’re going to love this,” Soren whispered with enough heat that I shivered.

“This is one of Cullen’s side projects,” Raya offered. “The fog included.”

I didn’t want to walk into a place I couldn’t see. When the others went forward, I tried to hang back. Soren put a comforting hand around my shoulder. “It’s safe.”

Together we entered the thick curtain of fog, turning the dimly lit morning into an indistinguishable sea of white. Who knew what manner of beast hid within that mist? I’d been taught all my life to avoid misty areas because that was where the vampires hid when the dawn was cresting. I knew it was irrational—I was safe with these vampires—but I couldn’t seem to help myself. How did one fight what amounted to a lifetime of bloody warnings? My heart raced because that was what my legs wanted to do. Run. Run as far away as I could.

“Did you secure our dragon?” I recognized Driscoll’s arrogant voice even though I couldn’t yet see him.

“Celestina is safe,” Cullen answered the spy who worked for him.

“It’s a magical shield?” I asked as we passed through the heavy fog. From the hill, the fog looked as if it covered the entire clearing. But from the center of the clearing, I could now see that it encircled the field to hide our massive escape vehicle. “An airship?”

I’d only seen them from a distance. Queen Beatrice supposedly owned one, but never used it. A metallic balloon towering several stories above me was tethered to the ground by six long ropes. Below the balloon sat a wooden structure that resembled an oversized egg. There were round windows like one would find on a sailing ship and a door with sturdy hinges.

“Are the currents holding?” Cullen asked Driscoll.

“They’ve been steady for the past hour. But there are signs that the winds will start to shift to the west. There’s no time to tarry.”

“Very good.” Cullen turned to me. “Everyone in. Driscoll and I will start unlatching our anchors.”

“An airship.” There was no stopping the smile from coming to my face even if I’d wanted to, which I totally didn’t. This was…this was… I was going to fly again. And this time I wouldn’t be half-conscious and bleeding.

“Told you that you’d love it,” Soren said as he brushed a gentle kiss against my temple. “How are you feeling? Do you need more blood?”

“I’m fine.” This time it wasn’t a lie. It was amazing what a little blood and sex could do for a girl.

Gray held the airship’s door open for us. I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like inside, especially since the airship belonged to a royal family. “Is it ridiculously lavish?”

“My sister decorated the interior.” Soren rolled his eyes.

“So it’s…?” Princess Priscilla wore beautiful gowns and had a comfortable bedchamber, but she also opened medical clinics throughout the kingdom and championed equality, which meant her decorating style could go either way.

“It’s ridiculously lavish,” Soren finished for me, his voice filled with fondness for his younger sister.

“Splendid!” I hurried to get inside.

“You’re not going anywhere, Moonglow.” Amaya materialized from the air. Her voice crackled with cold rage. She stood like a warrior goddess with a proud tilt to her head. She wore not a stitch of clothing and didn’t seem bothered in the least at her stark nakedness as she blocked me from getting near the airship’s entrance. She raised her large taloned claws.

“You held the third form!” I was so pleased to see that she’d materialized from air that I forgot about the danger she posed to us and the damage those claws had done to my body in the past. “Can any of the others do it? Or is it truly a talent only you possess? What did you do to master it?”

Instead of answering my barrage of questions, she glared. “If you value your life, Invader, you’ll drop your swords,” she warned Gray, who’d already pulled both his short swords from their scabbards. She kept her back to him as if she didn’t consider him a threat. Surely, an insult to Gray. “Unlike your neutered moonlight dragon, I can conjure fire while in any shape. I can end you before you touch me. Or perhaps I’ll end your precious prince’s life instead.” Her gaze shifted from me to Soren. “He’s the one who’s bewitched our savior.”

Raya, who was standing beside me, slowly moved her hands away from her body to show that she wasn’t a threat. I couldn’t see either Cullen or Driscoll. I hoped neither of them planned to do anything that would cause Amaya to overreact and harm Soren.

“Everyone, hold your positions.” Soren raised a fist. He tightened his grip on my shoulder, pulling my side flush with his. “We’re not stealing Celestina. You’re the one who stole her. And you can go back and tell the tribe that she wants to come with us.”

“You mean you—” She sniffed the air and then twisted her face to show her disgust. “You fucked her and drained her until you weakened her resolve to stay where she belongs? Excuse me for not believing anything she says is what she really wants. Or needs.”

“You know this is what I want, Amaya,” I said. “You know I wasn’t happy. The village isn’t my home.”

“The hell it isn’t! The clan has dreamed of this moment, the moment when their precious moonlight dragon returned to fight for them. You represent our only hope for a better future. I’m not going to let your lust for rutting on some vampire’s cock destroy that.”

“It’s not lust—” I tried to tell her that what I felt was love, and not just for Soren but for everyone I’d met in Fein. Love drove my need to return to them. But Amaya refused to let me say any of that.

“I might have believed what you feel for your vampire could be something other than lust if your neck wasn’t covered with bite marks. Fuck, Moonglow, you haven’t been gone for more than a few hours. How the hell did he have time to feed on you that many times? How the hell do you have enough blood in you to even be standing?”

I put my hand on my neck while my face burned like fire from embarrassment.

“I may have gotten carried away,” Soren said for my ears only. My skin still tingled where he’d bitten me repeatedly when we were…getting reacquainted. And he hadn’t healed the marks. He liked to leave them visible whenever he wanted to make sure others knew that I was his possession. “Sorry.”

Unfortunately, the fact that they were there and so visible and that there were so many of them meant I had to work twice as hard to show Amaya that I could make clear-headed decisions. I removed Soren’s hand from around my shoulder and took several steps away from him. He didn’t try to stop me, but he did rumble his displeasure.

I squared my shoulders. “Amaya, if you harm anyone here, I swear I will grab on to you and siphon your powers until the world unmakes itself.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Amaya gave off the kind of reckless energy that suggested she would strike out at one of my friends just to see if I had it in me to fight back. I fisted my hands at my side and didn’t dare breathe. I didn’t dare blink. Because I was serious. I would show the world my rage if Amaya took Soren away from me. I needed her to feel that.

It took everything in me not to react when the fog that had ringed the clearing flooded the space behind Amaya.

“I don’t want you harmed,” I told her as a warning to whoever—either Cullen or Driscoll—was using the fog to sneak up behind her: Don’t harm her . “But, Amaya, this is my life. I’m not a symbol. I’m not an ancient idea come to life. I’m simply me, an imperfect creature trying to make the most of her life. And right now, I’m choosing to have a life with these vampires. When the clan is open to accepting that decision, I will come back to talk with them, learn from them, help them if I can. But if they continue to dictate the decisions I make, who I mate with, and what my life will look like, I can’t be around them. I need space to grow, to discover who I am.” I pointed back toward the plateau. “I barely had space to breathe back there.”

Amaya snarled leaving no doubt that she wasn’t human but a deadly creature of the night and sky. “You would doom us to—?”

Cullen moved with the kind of dizzying vampire speed that still startled me. One moment Amaya was alone with the mist creeping up behind her. The next moment, Cullen was in front of her with his hands on her cheeks. He didn’t strike her or try to do anything to restrain her.

He spoke only one word. But it was a word that reverberated with such a strong pulse of compulsion that hearing it had my legs collapsing beneath me and Soren racing to catch me. And I wasn’t his intended target.

“Sleep . ”