Page 8

Kai gasped as a puff of smoke greeted her when she entered the suite.

The smoke was roasted cinnamon-filled and cloaked around her in a warm embrace.

It glided along the bare skin of her face, neck, arms, and hands like fingers touching her.

As if a living, breathing thing, the smoke swirled and ringed around each of her fingers so sensually it caused her heart to beat a little faster and her blood to heat a little hotter.

She stood in silence for a moment in the toe-curling caress and thought about the last time she was face to snout with the dragon, how she and Aodh had spent the night writhing in each other's arms among his hearth-stone.

As the cloud of smoke dissipated, the sight of Mckenna’s bulk stretched long and wide, devouring all the space in the front room with his form and energy.

Even though she expected Aodh, the man, she loved how the dragon commanded everything around him, filling her with awe.

His huge eyes were so much like Aodh’s in color and intensity.

The narrow slits of his pupils locked in and tracked her.

She was sure the beast was aware of every movement and gesture she made, no matter how subtle and attuned to her.

She felt the same way about him. Even when she saw the tip of his tail flick, she felt the vibration along her nerves and throughout her body.

“Mckenna,” she whispered his name as she moved toward the giant, settled on his underbelly with his muzzle resting on his front claws, patiently waiting on her. She felt the weight of the pack on her back.

Mate. Are you ready to ride with me?

“Yes.” She paused. I’m nervous. My feet have never left the ground before.

Oh, mate... He shifted forward, dragging his bulk closer to her, and puffed out another ring of smoke that danced around her but was not as dense as the last time. I will protect you and keep you safe.

They stood there together in the quiet moment. Do you trust me, love?

Love... not mate. One word of the three she longed to hear from Aodh. However, she knew this was an endearment from the dragon, not a confession of either beast or man’s feelings.

With my life. She meant it. There wasn’t a single person on the earth as she knew it whom she trusted more with every part of her. She set her fears aside. “Take me flying, Mckenna.”

He rose to his feet, not his full height because even though the suite was built to accommodate his girth, there was still not enough space for the dragon to stand and move freely without caution.

It always amazed her to see the elegant fluidity of his movements.

The Mckenna turned one of his front paws up and uncurled his claws so that the rough black pads were showing. Sit in the center .

She walked past his massive, sharp claws and knew just one of them was deadly enough to kill a human with a single swipe.

However, she did not fear her mate. She knew he would never harm her.

Once inside, she moved closer, seeing the deep lines and grooves within the dark pads.

She had the urge to run her hands along them and read the story of Aodh’s life, which he must have lived—the things he had seen and experienced.

Her life had been complicated and stressful but sheltered.

Not wanting to waste a second of her time with him, she climbed up and seated herself in the center as instructed.

“Okay,” she announced, even though his powerful head was angled so he could watch her.

The dragon began to furl each claw around her one by one until he held her tight.

However, not in a way that caused her any pain.

His grasp was snug around her hips and legs but allowed her to lift her arms and curl them over the small scales at the base of his top claw.

His hold eased the pack's weight, and she was more than grateful for that.

With the cast-iron pot inside, she would not have been able to carry it for long if she had to walk any great distance.

He pulled her in closer to his chest as he began to navigate his mass around the room to move toward the open sliding glass.

She reached up and brushed her hand over the soft glow around his heart. Now, since she could observe the dragons closer, she had never seen another's heart glow and knew when it had with the Mckenna, he was revealing that vulnerability just for her.

Even with him holding her, his gait was still smooth and steady because he used the single claw at the top center of his wing as a sort of crutch, a fourth limb.

Once they were partly through the door with his upper half balanced on the landing, Kai looked down and saw the ground one story below.

It was far enough away that if she fell from this height, it would shatter most of the bones in her body, if not kill her.

However, she was unafraid as the dragon held her securely in his clutch.

She felt his body tense with his next breath before he launched them into the air. There wasn’t even a slight dip toward the ground as he flapped his thick wings, and they ascended higher and higher into the evening sky.

Her heart beat fast, and excitement filled her veins. There was air in her face, and the wind whipped her tight coils around her head. It felt wonderful.

Kai watched the ground fade away below them as they began to soar over the treetops. She could see for miles and miles. There were other dragons off in the distance to her left and right, and she knew most of them were patrols keeping an eye on the borders.

She took in the beauty of the many hues of the rich lavender sky around her, holding on to the final hour before the blackness of nightfall.

She knew from old pictures that the sun used to have a more vibrant yellow that illuminated a blue sky, and at sunset, the colors were a wonder to see.

However, this was her world now, and she would not bemoan those things of the past with sadness and loss as her parents and other older humans who remembered did, but she would accept and take in the breathtaking sight as it was now.

And the purple rainbow deserved to be admired and appreciated, especially from such a height.

They flew in silence across miles and miles as if Mckenna didn’t want to disturb the experience of her first flight.

Kai noted that the trees were so dense in some places she could not see the ground, while others were wide, flat fields of dirt, not a single bush or blade of grass.

When they passed over an old, abandoned city, she saw buildings razed to the ground, a pile of twisted metal and cement, while most of the ivy climbed up and smothered others that still stood.

There were more than a few towns that were nothing but piles of rubble and ash, or worse, underwater, with only the roofs of houses or the steeple of a church crested above the surface.

She tried not to think about how many people lay under the water and ash. Living among the vibrant existence of the Drahk, it was easy for her to forget that barely a tenth of the population on the Northern American continent made it into the underground city.

The dragon banked right and set them on a new course.

Oh, my . Kai could not believe the breathtaking sight before her in the distance. She had never seen water that wasn’t coming out of a fixture. However, now, before her, was a body of water, so formidable in its movement that it appeared to be as alive as the dragon that held her.

The water seemed fierce and angry as it rolled and crashed with high, glorious white-capped waves against red rock—trapped and bracketed within. It went on further than she could see.

What is that? Why does it look so majestic and angry?

The ocean. It is in some parts of the Gulf of Mexico, but mostly, the Pacific Ocean consumed the Canyon.

Kai tried to remember all the images of the Pacific coastline she had seen that stretched from California to Alaska. She couldn’t merge what she remembered into what was before her now. It didn’t look like this in pictures.

Because the part you are seeing used to be called the Grand Canyon.

Her gasp was loud, harsh. Confounded, she shook her head. That can’t be. They’re over twelve hundred miles apart.

Until the global catastrophes of earthquakes were so vicious and devastating, they split the seas and caused Tsunamis so great that the colossal waves devoured coastal states and countries all over the world.

Kai sat speechless in his grasp as the Mckenna continued to fly them along the new coastline. The terrain changed, but the water continued to roll and crash over the land. She watched until it became so dark she could only hear the sea. Soon, even that sound faded away.

Oh, how has this world changed ?

~YH~

We will stop to eat before returning.

After a few moments, they descended and landed. The ground rumbled under the heaviness of the dragon, and dirt popped up and pinged a little around them. But the landing wasn’t as rough as she would have thought.

In the blackness surrounding them, Kai couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. She forgot how dark the land got at night since living in the central section of the Drahk territory. It was well-lit among the businesses and homes.