Page 19 of Wild Bond (Wild Bond #1)
I had heard someone say once that your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to die, but mine didn’t. Not that I put much stock in the saying, because whoever could have an informed opinion on the matter would in fact be dead and unable to report anything.
But all the same, I saw nothing. No flashes of memory or reminders of past deeds or mistakes. Nothing.
All I felt was an overpowering surge of regret.
Regret for the things I would never get to do or experience, the places I would never get to see, and the one that hurt the most . . . the regret for who I was leaving behind.
All these thoughts passed through my mind in the blink of an eye. From one moment to the next.
The wind whipped around me, tugging at my hair and clothing as I plummeted downward. I thought I heard Rake scream my name.
But then everything was drowned out by the keening roar that thundered in my ears and down the bond. A roar that was both a lament and a fierce denial, a desperate plea, and a furious challenge. A sound I felt down to my soul and that could only be issued by the one being whose own soul was bound to mine.
Skye.
Her presence in my mind suddenly overwhelmed me, as if a barrier had been torn down between us, the bond having been muted or muffled and abruptly becoming louder than ever.
There was barely time for Skye to warn me before my body struck something hard and stiff, but at the same time flexible and leathery.
The impact knocked the air from my lungs.
Skye’s wing. I had just crashed onto Skye’s outstretched wing.
My realization came a moment too late, and I bounced and then rolled down her wing towards the saddle still attached to her back. Unfortunately, my momentum carried me past the saddle, and it was only by some miracle of the gods that I was able to grasp onto one of the dangling leg straps before sliding off completely. The strap pulled taut as I dangled over the side, yanking my shoulder so hard it felt like my arm might tear from its socket.
I gasped in a mixture of agony and relief as for the second time in about as many minutes, I was able to gaze down at the ground far below with only my precarious grip keeping me from falling to my death.
Skye’s relief washed over me. She tried to help me by angling her body as I dug deep, ignored the screaming pain in my shoulder, and forced my arms to pull me up and into the saddle. All my strength drained away as I rested my head against Skye’s warm scaled skin, closed my eyes, and just breathed.
My heart beat madly in my chest. Thank you , I finally whispered in the bond. Sending with it all the love and gratitude I felt for the magnificent creature beneath me.
Skye hummed with happiness. She was relieved that I was safe and proud that she had been fast enough to catch me in time.
It made me smile and mentally shake my head at her.
The sounds of battle had faded, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes just yet to see why. I just breathed and sank into the bond, as my body trembled slightly.
I opened my eyes as Skye landed in the clearing not far from where Zade was once more tending to Valla. Nothing else moved in this small section of the forest. All our would-be attackers were dead, their bodies crumpled in heaps on the ground where they fell. The charred remains of a griffin had also fallen amidst the carnage.
Skye assured me in the bond with a flurry of images that once Rake and Naasir knew I was safe, they had taken care of the remaining griffins.
Hopefully, the griffins would return to guarding the mated pairs and their nests and decide we weren’t worth the trouble. I knew that group had been only a small portion of the creatures. The nesting grounds went on for miles. I couldn’t imagine how much harder a larger number would have been to deal with.
As I dismounted from Skye’s back, the ground shook, and Naasir landed beside her. Rake leapt from his back and strode over to me.
I only had a moment to take in the determination in the harsh lines of his face. “Rake, what—,” I started.
He shocked me into silence as he grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me. Hard. His mouth swallowing up my surprised gasp.
I forgot my exhaustion, that I had almost just died, and the fact that I had blood and dirt—and Realms only knew what else— on me, and instead just sank into the kiss. Into the decadent heat and feel of his lips on mine.
I barely even had time to respond before he was pulling away and demanding, “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
He scanned my face, then my body, his manner almost frantic, and I was reminded of the look on his face before I fell.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “A little banged up from wrestling with a griffin, but it’s nothing that won’t heal.” My arm also hurt, and my shoulder still burned like the fiery pit of the Ninth Realm, but I didn’t mention that.
There was so much emotion radiating off of Rake in that moment that I couldn’t make sense of it all, and I didn’t want to make it worse by admitting that I was injured.
He surprised me again when he cupped my face once more, this time with a single callused hand, the gesture much more gentle as his thumb stroked my cheek.
“When I saw you fall . . .” he murmured, shaking his head. His eyes closed for a moment, as if he were wrestling with himself. A piece of his dark hair fell in his eyes, and I wanted to reach up and smooth it back from his face.
But of course, I didn’t. Because despite that kiss just now, and the way he was looking at me . . . this man wasn’t mine. And I couldn’t let myself wish he was, no matter how much I wanted to.
“We should help Zade,” I reminded him, stepping back.
His hand fell away from my face, and he straightened. He continued to stare down at me for a heartbeat.
I could tell there was something else . . . something more that he wasn’t saying. But now wasn’t the time. We both recognized that.
Rake nodded stiffly. “Later,” was all he said.
And from the resolved, almost possessive way he was looking at me as he said it, I wasn’t sure I was prepared for what later meant.
It took some time to see to Valla’s many injuries. Naasir helped to pull the thick spear from her side, and Skye breathed fire over the wound, temporarily cauterizing it so Valla wouldn’t bleed out before it had time to heal. Her wing, which was broken in several places, had to be set as well. Once that was done, the poor female finally succumbed to her pain and exhaustion from the whole ordeal and fell asleep where she lay.
She was now resting fitfully while Skye kept her company curled up on the ground not too far away. Skye’s eyes were closed, her big head resting between her forelegs, but I could tell from the bond she wasn’t asleep, merely monitoring the quiet sounds of the forest around her. Naasir was patrolling the late evening sky, keeping watch and acting as a deterrent to any griffins that thought to attack us again. I had no doubt they would rally and return before long. We had to be on our way before that happened, but Rake and Zade thought we had some time before we needed to leave. And Valla wasn’t healed enough yet to shift to her minor form so we could fly back to Dessin.
Besides some cuts and bruises and a few nasty claw marks that Naasir had sustained, the rest of us came out of our encounter surprisingly unscathed.
My arm still hurt, but it already felt better than it had even an hour before. My fatigue, however, was worsening by the second. I finally gave in and sat down on a small boulder close to where Rake and Zade stood, afraid that if I didn’t, my knees would start shaking and give me away.
Rake used his foot to kick over the body of one of our attackers that lay on the ground.
“Zehvitian,” Zade cursed, noting the faded black armor and red and gold tunic.
“Why would Zehvitians attack us?” I asked.
“They probably weren’t working under the direction of the crown,” Zade guessed. “And if they were, there’s no way for us to prove that with all of them dead.”
“More likely, they are deserters or simply former soldiers. Minor skirmishes between our kingdoms have become common over the past few years since the war ended,” Rake explained.
The peace had been garnered right before I was imprisoned. From what little I had heard since being out, our nations may finally have peace after decades of conflict, but neither side was necessarily happy about it. We definitely didn’t like or trust each other, nor were we ready to forgive or forget all that had been done or the lives that had been lost.
My mother had once told me that my father had died fighting in the war. I had no way of knowing if that were true, of course. And if it was, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
Rake continued speaking, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I searched several of them, and none of them had anything that would explain their intent.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Zade argued. “Why would they attack three dragon riders? Even if they had ten of those catapults.”
Naasir had found the catapult our attackers had used to shoot Valla down hidden not far away, and then happily destroyed it with a single swipe of his powerful tail.
“What I’d like to know is how they knew we would be here at all?” Rake said. “I doubt it was random, but were they after us specifically?”
“They were after me,” I said.
Both men stared at me.
“How do you know?” Zade asked.
“What do you mean?” Rake demanded at the same time.
I sighed, feeling my head begin to throb. “One of them almost stabbed me, but then another one screamed at him that I wasn’t to be harmed.”
I was watching Rake closely as I said this, so I saw his jaw harden.
“You weren’t to be harmed?” Zade repeated.
I nodded. “Then another one said that they didn’t want to kill me, just take me with them.”
“Well, if they didn’t want to harm you, shooting your dragon out of the sky is not the way to accomplish that,” Zade remarked dryly.
“I don’t think the bolt was meant for me. I think the target was Naasir,” I told them, looking at Rake. “If he hadn’t come after Skye . . .” I trailed off.
“It makes sense,” Zade admitted, his voice still detached in the way it had been ever since Valla was shot. He gestured to Rake. “You and Naasir are the biggest threat. If the goal really was to capture Rin, they needed you out of the way, and they knew that they only had one chance to surprise us and take you out of the equation.”
“The griffins did a pretty good job of that for them,” Rake noted, a bitterness creeping into his words.
“Lucky for them,” Zade mused. “Though I doubt they were counting on quite so many of the creatures responding to the commotion. That is, if they even intended for any of them to come at all.”
“They did attack us before we reached the pass,” I pointed out.
“Griffins are too dangerous and unpredictable to factor into any plan successfully,” Rake said.
I couldn’t help but agree and thought of the griffin that tore that man apart and how that definitely had not been part of the plan.
Whatever their plan had been, it obviously had been ill-conceived. If their scheme was to take me—which I still didn’t understand why anyone would want to do—they could have done it at a much more opportune time and place. Namely, when I was alone and not with two other dragon riders. Did they have a death wish?
Then again, I had barely left The Tower compound since bonding with Skye. Maybe whoever this was saw their opportunity and took it. We were now only a short flight from Dessin, maybe a few hours ride by horse. We had been gone most of the day. If someone heard we were leaving, that gave whoever it was plenty of time to get a message out, and set the trap, then simply wait for us to return. That was assuming of course whoever they were was operating from the capital. If Zehvi really was behind this, or someone else altogether, then I was out of theories.
After several minutes of heavy silence, I asked, “Why wasn’t Naasir distracted? Or Valla for that matter?”
Rake’s brow furrowed. “Distracted?”
“The piece of metal or whatever it was that Skye saw in the trees,” I explained. “Why weren’t your dragons distracted by it as well? I’m sure they saw it too, but Skye was the only one who reacted.”
“Training,” Rake responded.
“And years of experience learning to withstand the temptation,” Zade added. “Unfortunately, it’s a common tactic used to lure or distract young dragons during battle.”
I had guessed as much, and I knew they were both speaking from firsthand experience. I had seen something similar used on dragons during the battle of Dessin, but until bonding with Skye, I had never experienced the pull, the sheer need that a dragon would feel. I had gotten a taste of the feeling when Skye was mesmerized by that council member’s rings, but that had been nowhere near as powerful of a pull that time.
I could sense Skye’s guilt and regret in the bond. She knew her distraction had, at least inadvertently, been the cause of Valla’s injury. I tried to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault and that regardless of her distraction, one of us still would have gotten hit.
I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I lifted my hands to rub at my temples. Realms . My head hurt.
When I finally looked up, it was to see that both men had stopped talking and were watching me closely.
“Everything alright, Rin?” Zade asked, concern lacing his tone.
A tinge of worry came from Skye as well.
I sighed. “Just tired, I think.”
Rake came to crouch before me, his big frame taking up all the space and the air around me. Those eyes that regarded me so closely were nearly level with mine. His hand rose, his thumb and forefinger skimming just under my chin.
As I stared back, I felt like he saw everything . . . definitely more than I wanted him to.
“Go rest,” he commanded. “We’ll wake you when Valla is healed enough to travel back to Dessin.”
I stared into his eyes for a moment more before nodding. Seeing no reason to argue, I let him pull me to my feet and did as he ordered. I was dead on my feet and we both knew it.
Making my way over to Skye, I plunked down beside her and leaned back against her side. Her long neck curled partially around me, cocooning me in her warmth. I sighed in contentment and Skye let out a soothing huff. I closed my eyes, and in no time at all, I was drifting.
I hardly remembered the flight back, or even getting in the saddle. Had someone helped me? All I knew was that once again the leg straps were the only thing keeping me from falling off Skye’s back as I fought the exhaustion that threatened to overtake me. Or perhaps it was the hard chest at my back and the arms wrapped protectively around me?
But then again, maybe I was dreaming that part.
Still, I was only half aware when we finally landed in The Tower courtyard. It must have been well past the middle of the night now. As I dismounted, hands helped me down. Zade climb down from Naasir holding Valla tenderly in his arms. I heard Zade say something about taking Valla to see The Tower healer, and Rake’s voice speaking in low murmured tones.
What could have been minutes or hours later, I was being lifted into a pair of strong arms and resting my head against something hard and warm that smelled good. I stirred again when I was placed on something soft. A familiar presence cuddled up into my side, and I exhaled. Warm fingers brushed the hair from my face. Then I was sinking into blessed oblivion.