Page 55

Jaz

I stared at myself in the mirror.

Amelia smiled. “Pretty sure they’re going to like that.”

“I love the blue gleam they have,” Yani said from her perch on Amelia’s bed. She was stroking Sookie, who lay on her back and waved her little legs.

I examined my arm. At first glance, my scales appeared black, but they did gleam blue. And sometimes green, depending on the light. Yet I didn’t think it was their color that my mates would find appealing.

I glanced at Amelia. We had much in common, including a trio of Drakes hanging on our every word. Well, maybe not exactly hanging, but we won most of our arguments.

She had become a fast friend. Her scales were like her hair—a very pale gold. Since she’d been sprouting them a lot longer than me, she’d developed a certain level of expertise with them—she rarely wore clothing now, only her scales.

Amelia had showed me how to envision them covering me in a certain way, and then to make it happen.

As a result, I now sported a bustier of dark scales that pushed my breasts together, forming substantial cleavage.

My shoulders were bare, but I’d grown long sleeves of scales, and let my little talons emerge from my fingertips.

I knew my guys liked me pointy.

My lower half was clad in clinging scales that emphasized the curve of my hips and the tuck to my waist. All in all, I was pretty fucking sure I’d get them drooling before we went flying.

“You’ll have to grow scales on your shoulders if they take you above the clouds,” the ever-practical Yani stated. She bent down to pick something up off the floor—a tiny little sandal.

A Birkenstock, in bright pink.

“Presents from Xandros,” Amelia laughed. She winked at me. “And I’m betting you won’t be flying this evening.” She bounced a plump little girl on her knee.

I raised my chin. “Oh yes, we will. I’ve been waiting for Zyair to be strong enough for this. We can rub scales anytime.”

“Tell that to them.”

“I most certainly will,” I affirmed.

The other two members of her female triplets were already asleep in their cribs. The one in her arms chortled, and then, from her back, spread golden wings.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Amelia said, holding on tight. Her daughter giggled and flapped harder.

The sight rendered me breathless, as did the little tail that waved. Drake babies, from a human mother.

At one time, the concept would have horrified me. Now, it only filled me with longing. To have children from my mates—Amelia’s face was alight with tenderness as she convinced her wayward daughter to fold her little wings and snuggle against her breast.

She looked up and met my gaze, before smiling. “Have fun in the clouds. If you make it up there.”

Both Yani and Amelia laughed as I exited to the hall outside Amelia’s room.

I was inside solid rock—Azrome had assigned us quarters next to his own in a hidden mountain complex in the Canadian Rockies.

Since the decimation of Raptor Clan and the death of their father, he and his two brothers—the current leaders of Raptor—remained safely in their retreat.

As Zyair recovered, Yani and I had spent a lot of time over the last week with Amelia, along with her trio of baby girls. They were adorable, although raising baby Drakes had its challenges.

Human babies rarely got airborne.

Not without scraping knees, anyway.

I hurried through the complex to the elevator, riding it past the level of the main entrance, and up through the mountain. Eventually it spat me out on a ledge, where my Drakes awaited me.

They were clad in the traditional loincloths, which only enhanced the muscles above, beneath, and below it.

They were so perfect, they stopped my breath. Delicious.

All three of them were in a conversation that ceased the instant I stepped out of the elevator. Three sets of eyes gleamed at me—sapphire, garnet, and emerald.

“Very nice,” Xandros said.

“More beautiful than a Draka,” Rhodes murmured.

Zyair strode forward to take my hand. “We can fly later.” His face reflected his battle for health, with new hollows in his cheeks and dark circles beneath his eyes. Those eyes sparkled emerald at me, though, and what pulsed through the link revealed his thoughts were healthy and very male.

I ripped my gaze away, casting a glance to the setting sun. Far below us, the Stardrifter sat docked near the house, so as not to reveal my new home.

“It will be dark later,” I pointed out.

“The lighting is perfect now.” Rhodes’s eyes were positively glowing as he pushed my hair back to bare my shoulder.

Zyair lifted my hand to his lips. Then he turned it over, and kissed the soft scales on the inside of my wrist. Tingles shot through me, and I wavered.

Slightly .

I tilted my head. “You promised me a sunset flight. Sunsets are almost as beautiful as sunrises.”

Xandros groaned. “You are not going to make us fly, after showing up looking like that, are you?”

I grinned at him and ignored my weakening knees as Zyair began to nibble rather than just kiss. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Do you not know that forming scales around a raging boner is a tricky and delicate process?” Xandros protested.

My grin widened.

He sighed as Rhodes cast a regretful glance to the light sparking along my scales.

Zyair removed his lips from me and laughed.

By the expressions on their faces as they transformed, the scale coverage issue was indeed difficult. Considering that things expanded accordingly—I watched the process in fascination, and had to force myself not to weaken.

Minutes later, I leaned back against Zyair’s golden head spikes and let the wind blast my hair back from my face.

Yani had been right. The first thing I’d done, was grow my scales over my shoulders. The air up here was bitterly cold, but my covering insulated me from it. Now, only my cheeks stung, and it added to the sense of exhilaration I experienced.

To one side of us, Rhode’s dark dragon flew, and to the other, Xandros’s fiery red one. They paced us as we rose above the clouds, and I gasped.

The setting sun outlined everything with color. I’d painted sunsets before, but nothing I’d ever rendered could properly portray the way each ray lit the individual strands of vapor that trailed off my Drakes’ wings.

It was pure magic.

Xandros started to barrelroll, stitching the vapor into a spiral.

“Show off,” growled Rhodes.

“Hey,” Xandros rumbled. “You might be a better pilot—emphasis on might —but up here, I rule. ”

“A barrelroll does not declare you king of the sky,” Rhodes countered.

“Pretty sure it does,” Xandros said, mockingly. “You used to get dizzy doing them.”

Rhodes rotated a garnet eye my way. “I was a child!”

“You just hide it better now.” To emphasize his point, Xandros did another roll.

Rhodes snorted and clacked his teeth. “You certainly have never lacked for ego. Too bad it does not help you pilot a ship.”

“It was only one comet!” protested Xandros.

I rolled my eyes and leaned down to Zyair’s ear. “Have they always argued like this?”

“Do Drakes have enormous cocks?” He drew his wings close to his body, and dove.

I shrieked in delight as we dropped like a stone, pressing me back against his neck spikes.

Until the mountains rose around us, and he leveled off.

He began ducking and diving through the mountain passes.

Just like he’d flown the Stardrifter, he now flew himself.

Combining his clever mind with the power and agility of his body made him capable of amazing things.

Rhodes and Xandros trailed us, but Zyair had a point to make, and he was making it well. Xandros may proclaim himself king of the sky, and Rhodes might think he was the most capable pilot, but Zyair was all of that, and more.

I’d tried to fight Fate, yet I couldn’t care less. Instead, I leaned into every turn, and laughed out loud as together, we soared.

Because the universe’s ultimate meddler had been right .

Zyair, Xandros, Rhodes, and I—we were one .

But there is always room for another.

Come join THE ELLIES, you won’t regret it. And the biggest bonus is all the thrills and frills you’ll receive. You’ll start off with this great epilogue where Rhodes takes Jaz on the most exciting birthday adventure filled with surprises…