Page 13 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

~ brEN ~

The first crackle of lightning lit up the sky ahead and my heart dropped.

‘You have to land, Akhane, it’s not safe!’ I raised my arm to shield my eyes against the driving needles of rain and the strands of my wet hair that the gusts whipped across my face, stinging like blades.

Akhane didn’t answer, but I felt the groan vibrate in her chest, and the weight of disappointment and frustration course through her. She was driven to go home, to find her mate. But if we stayed in the air, we’d be struck by lightning, or blown to the ground.

A moment later she began the descent, wheeling, but she lifted her head and screamed her defiance at the punishing sky.

I did everything I could to soothe her and reassure her, but I felt sick. And needy.

Even in the storm, even in the chill and pain, my mind kept tripping back to those memories of Donavyn kissing me, and turning them into visions of us tangled on my bed, or in the mineral pools, or—

I swallowed hard and shook my head. Was this normal? Did the men feel this way when their female dragons went into heat? Or was it because I was a woman?

Akhane screamed again when the lightning lit up the clouds a second time.

Nervous, I looked down, but between the rain and the growing dark all I could make out was trees lashing in the wind and marshy grasses scattered with rocks and boulders that pushed out of the ground like broken teeth.

We’d been blown west, closer to the foothills of the mountains.

I had no idea where we were, only that we were still in the unclaimed lands, hours from the Keep, and we wouldn’t make it home tonight.

There were a lot more rocks and thinner trees here.

But it was still mostly forest, with clearings of marshy grasses here and there, punctuated by the scattered stones.

No shelter big enough for a dragon that I could see.

But Akhane’s skin was so hot, maybe she didn’t need it.

Her scales pulsed and glowed like God Himself blew upon the hot coals under her skin.

Akhane screamed again and I wanted to weep. She was twisted with unsatisfied need and the instinct to mate. I felt the frustration and the latent thrill. But it was clear she suffered .

I was grateful she had the presence of mind to wheel and spiral down, looking for a safe place to land, but as she began to drop her hind-end and back-flap, she sent me a wordless image of a cave to the west.

‘Go, Bren. I cannot. I have to move. And I don’t want to hurt you.’

I swallowed hard and patted her neck. ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t hurt yourself.’

She screamed again, and then plowed into a landing.

The moment she was still, I unclipped the bag and bedroll and let them drop, sliding off her and sliding down the mounting strap to the ground.

Akhane stood, legs splayed, every inch of her trembling.

Her mouth was open, tongue extended as she panted, and her tail lashed like a cat’s.

She looked like insects crawled under her skin where she couldn’t reach them, tormenting her.

The moment I reached the ground, I yanked at the buckles, scrambling to get the harness off of her while she could stand still.

‘Please, hurry.’

I nodded, panting myself, but finally the harness was loose and I hauled it off and to the ground in a messy tumble.

‘You’re free, you can—’

Akhane leaped away at a run, her wings low and down until the tips almost dragged on the ground. As she raced into the nearby trees, she raised her head and screamed, a desperate sound that vibrated in my belly and made my heart race.

But then I was left with a wet harness on the ground, not properly rolled, and my bag and bedroll. I remembered the cave she’d shown me and picked up my things first to go looking for it.

It wasn’t far away, thank goodness. Dark and damp, the opening half-obscured by overgrowing tree-branches and scrub.

It smelled musty, and I guessed I’d be glad not to see what lay at its back around the corner where it wound away from what little light the stormy night let in.

But I needed to get the harness in here to dry, otherwise we wouldn't be flying again until the sun came out to dry it.

‘Mate. My mate,’ Akhane groaned, sending a clench of need through me.

Dropping my things deep enough into the cave that they’d stay dry even if the wind shifted.

I gathered a few sticks and a broken branch near the entrance that weren't soaked, hoping I'd be able to start a fire later.

Then I looked out of the cave entrance and braced for the cold before running back out to find the soaked harness in the clearing.

I missed it the first time in the dark that was only punctured by lightning, though more and more often now.

When I circled and finally found it, I tried to drag it, but it was so heavy, and the straps kept catching on the tussocks of grass, or pulling loose rocks and making my load even heavier.

After failed attempts to roll it, I unbuckled half of it to carry it in pieces.

When I finally had all of it in the cave, I spread it out in flat lines on the ground to dry, then turned to my things.

Donavyn, grasping the hair at the back of my neck and twisting it around his fist, calling to me as he thrust—

I gasped and shuddered. Outside, there was another scream, and a strange creak.

I rushed to the opening of the cave in time to see the silhouette of a tall tree tip and shake as Akhane rubbed against it, leaning her shoulder into it so hard there was a mighty crack to rival the lightning as she snapped the twenty-foot tree like a twig.

She tumbled sideways when it gave under her, then lunged back to her feet, screaming again.

Donavyn’s calloused hands at my waist, gripping hard enough that his fingers dug in, turning me, flipping me. I was helpless as he pinned me to—

My breath rushed out of me. ‘Akhane, is there any way to stop the… the… resonance?’ I didn’t know what else to call it. There was a part of me that was her. And when she screamed, and yearned and needed, so did I.

She didn’t answer, but rippled between the trees, calling, her tail lashing, throwing up stones and divots of earth behind her.

I tried to push her aside in my mind, to close myself off from what she felt, but my body thrummed . The wet leather on my skin should have felt like a cold prison, but the way it rubbed and hugged me made my breath come faster.

‘Mate,’ Akhane pleaded in my head.

I stood, quivering and frustrated because I couldn’t help as the land around me was illuminated by lightning crackling across the sky again.

Akhane gave a frantic shriek and I swayed towards her, instinctively yearning to be close.

To help. But there was nothing I could do.

The frustration and ache she felt shuddered through my body and dragged my heart to my toes, making me pant with her, our hearts beating in time.

I tried to reach for her through the link, but she’d stopped speaking in words, only giving me images, and so many of those were not helping.

How long would this last? How long would she suffer? Would I be disqualified from the ranking if it was days before we could return? I vaguely remembered being told a dragon’s heat lasted three or four days, but I wasn’t sure and—

My belly clenched with a bolt of desire so thick, I curled my toes.

I hunched and fought the urge to strip and lay my hands on myself.

But with the leather wet, I was worried if I took the clothes off, I wouldn’t get them back on.

I needed to make a fire. I needed to eat something.

I needed to keep my head straight and watch the weather.

But Akhane screamed again, somewhere out of sight under the trees. Lightning flashed and a cluster of trees whipped and shook, churning against their neighbors because she rubbed her aching body against them. I put a hand to the side of the cave and clawed my fingernails against the stone.

Then there was another, awful shriek. Akhane tore back into the clearing, chin up, her great head whipping side to side, wings high…

She was frenzied.

I almost went to her, tried to reach for her again in the link, but lightning zipped across the clouds and Akhane reared, screaming like her ribs would split. I gasped as I looked up to see the silhouette of a massive dragon plummeting towards us.