Page 34 of So I Dared a Dragon (The Mating Game #6)

thirty-four

. . .

Calista

All my life—at least, in this lifetime—I’d talked a big game. And it usually came back to bite me in my ample ass. Stunned tourists stared at Aarix and me as we walked across the parking lot naked in preparation for our shift. I blew them a kiss that made me explode into my dragon form and launch into the sky.

“That was dramatic,” Aarix said when he joined me.

“They came to Vegas for a show.” I laughed. Flying felt amazing. So amazing that it could almost take my mind off our mission. “If you need to call in backup tonight—”

“Absolutely not. You know what to do.” He wouldn’t even let me entertain the thought. “If I thought I could’ve liberated those dragons without you, they’d be free already. I need you, sunshine.”

“It’s funny you’ve always called me sunshine, and now I’m the only one who can help you defeat the Night God.”

“There’s no such thing as a coincidence,” he said. “I like calling you sunshine, but I’m proud to call you mate.”

This man. This dragon. He needed my power, but he had no idea how much of it he gave me. With him by my side, I felt absolutely invincible.

I’d do whatever it took not to let him down.

“I’m holding you to that Vegas weekend,” I teased as we flew over the desert. “How will we find this tiny pendant?”

“Listen,” he said. “You’ll hear it.”

This far outside the city, the desert was nothing but stars and silence. We glided over the endless expanse, and I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt so peaceful, which was ironic, considering what we were here to do.

On second thought…it wasn’t ironic at all. Tonight was the night that I changed my default setting of chaos and chose peace, security, and a certain future for everyone I cared about.

It felt good to take control of my life.

A soft thump got my attention, and at first, I thought it was my own heartbeat. But the rhythm was off. It almost went in double time, but it had an echo, like a quieter follow-up.

“Do you hear it?” Aarix asked softly.

“I do.”

“Clear your mind as much as you can. Just focus on its signature,” he instructed. “It will make itself visible to you.”

The pinprick of red was so tiny, I wasn’t sure I could trust my eyes. Had Aarix not told me what to look for at exactly the right time, I would’ve flown right by it.

We swooped down, and I braced myself for an attack. Because in my former life, with the Montana pack watching over me, “protecting” me, that was exactly what would’ve happened. But tonight, it was just us and the Guardian Stone in the desert.

“It’s still on the chain,” I marveled as I picked it out of the sand. Close up, it glowed just as brightly, like it was welcoming me home.

Aarix held his hand open. I dropped the pendant into it, and somehow with his giant talons, he managed to get the clasp open. It was warm against my chest when he placed it, and that soft little thump became a part of me.

Any doubts I had about making it all the way to Colorado faded. The limitations of my old life couldn’t even begin to define me anymore.

We flew side by side, going north of Vegas, on our way to Sunset Springs, and I tried to prepare myself for what would happen next. What it would be like to see the Rocky Mountain dragons again. But the memories refused to come. It was possible my brain was only revealing details slowly, not to overwhelm me with too much at once. My body was light, my mate was beside me, and the world was so beautiful.

Still, I wanted to remember details of my thunder. Names of dragons. But only blurry images came to me, on the tip of my tongue, just out of reach.

Maybe my brain wouldn’t let me believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.

No matter what was happening, it was surreal.

“What are those lights?” I blinked, trying to clear my vision. We were in the middle of nowhere, and we didn’t fly at the same altitude as planes. “It looks like they’re coming closer.”

“They’re eyes,” Aarix said.

The pendant was on fire. “Are they friendly?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s Magnus, Luca, and Darcy.”

They’d stopped, waiting for us to catch up to them.

“Before you tell us this is your fight, we know that,” Luca said when they reached us. “We have no intention of interfering with your ceremony. But this is history, something these dragons have lost so much of. It would be a shame if no one was there to record all the details.”

“That’s so sweet,” I said. It wasn’t the time for my heart to melt like a chocolate chip. “My thunder deserves to have this moment documented. And every moment going forward.”

Sunset Springs was coming into view, along with the mountain range that protected the little town. The vibration of the air was changing, and the crisp, clean taste changed. It wasn’t polluted, but it didn’t taste like snowflakes anymore.

I looked at my gorgeous mate. The sun had begun to wake from its slumber, coming to assist us in this mission. The light made the hints of green in his dark purple scales look ethereal.

“How will we do this?” It had all seemed so certain before the red rocks of the Rocky Mountain range came into view. The vibration felt like a DJ had remixed it—excitement, nerves, validation. They were all there.

And most of all, victory.

Aarix reached for my hand. “When we came here without you, before you were able to fully shift, we found the mountain. We could feel the life inside it. But we couldn’t find the opening. I believe your power will be able to get us inside.”

“No pressure or anything,” I chuckled. “What should I be looking for?”

“A knowing,” Aarix said. “A deep and unshakable certainty.”

That would’ve been a batshit crazy explanation to wolf me, but it made perfect sense to my dragon. Sunset Springs, for the most part, had yet to wake up, and I picked up on the rhythm of the craggy mountain range’s heartbeat. We swooped in between the peaks, so high up our hot breath turned to ice.

“Here,” I said. “It’s here.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what led me to make that declaration except for that deep knowing, that absolute certainty that my mate had wanted me to look out for.

Aarix nodded. “Lead the way, sunshine.”

With the excitement, the earth came at me fast, and it was all I could do not crash. Once I landed, I took a moment to catch my breath. My body needed to reacclimate with the earth, and listen to what it had to tell me.

Emotion overwhelmed me. How long had she been trying to speak to me? I hadn’t listened. I could say I didn’t know, but the truth was, I’d ignored her like I’d ignored myself. It had been easier, less painful that way. But now it was time for all those feelings to come to the surface.

“Should we shift?” I asked. Aarix and the rest of the dragons were in their semi-human forms when they had been trapped in the mountain, and I hated that I couldn’t remember what my thunder looked like the last time I saw them.

My brain wouldn’t have to protect me anymore. That was a strange feeling to want to mourn.

“How do you feel more powerful?” Aarix asked.

“Like this.”

He nodded, and no more explanation was needed. We explored the side of the mountain, and my instinct led me down a worn path that seemed familiar. There was a spring that ran along it, and I could clearly see myself as a little girl, skipping along with my family.

I had sisters. I peeked back at Darcy, trying to place her there. I couldn’t be mad at myself that it didn’t come automatically. Were those wolves with us? It would make sense at the right time.

There was an old, worn rock that rose out of the path. The last time I’d seen it, we used it as a bench, a place to keep our things when we swam.

Tears stung my eyes. I was home. I grew up here.

I didn’t remember all the lives in between that one and my current existence, and I had so many questions. Had the parts of me that weren’t dragon made me mortal? Once we liberated the thunder and brought peace to all the dragons, I would learn my history, and make sure it could never be erased again.

I looked at Aarix, unable to speak, and nodded. He took my hands in his, like the emotion of the moment was too much for him too. He didn’t have to tell me what to do. I just knew.

I closed my eyes and pictured this place exactly as it had been hundreds of years ago. Full of love and laughter. Innovation and rivalry. Loyalty and trust. And so, so much hope.

A rock on the side of the mountain began to shake like we’d started an earthquake, but everything else was still. Allowing. It turned to dust, welcoming us inside.

But more important than anything else, my thunder was finally free.