“What do I do, then?” she asked.
“Put your hands up,” Ran said. “Straight up.”
“Wait,” she said, looking at him. “What about you?”
His expression turned thoughtful, somewhat sad. “I’ll be following right behind. In my dragon form.” He folded his arms, looking pensive. “Dray’s right. It’s time to show you everything.”
She felt her heart beat one painfully hard thump in her chest. She put a hand to it, not knowing why.
Then Ran reached for her and put both her hands above her head.
“Wait, I’m not—”
“Dray, she’s ready.”
Before she could protest, a huge force wrapped her waist, sweeping her off her feet and into the air. She nearly shrieked as she saw the ground below her and looked down as she flailed to see her entire torso had disappeared and she was hanging suspended in something hard and cold that felt suspiciously like giant talons.
She looked back down and saw Ran standing on the top of the building, looking out.
She blinked and he was gone.
Then she heard a swooshing in the air and could feel he was behind them. Something huge, maybe even bigger than Draven.
A part of her had always wondered if perhaps he was weaker than Draven and that’s why Draven seemed overprotective and worried.
But the presence behind her sent chills down her spine. Something ominous. Something dangerous. Nothing like the calm she’d felt with Quill or the safety she’d felt from Draven.
No, what she felt from Ran seemed like pure, utter destruction.
But she forced herself to take a deep breath and look around her, enjoying the sheer magic of the moment. She was flying, something she’d always dreamed of as a kid. The ground looked tiny below, the clouds were getting closer, and as they went up and up, she found herself engulfed in misty white.
She blinked and looked forward. It was hard to keep her eyes open, but it was exhilarating. Just as it had been the first night she’d been with them.
Exciting. Dangerous. Something few people in the world would ever get to experience. Her heart soared within her.
Then she heard a roar from behind her. Followed by a screech that sent chills through her body. The talons around her tightened, and they dipped in height.
After another few horrible noises, she realized the dragons were talking to one other. She reached for her ears, wondering why they didn’t just use their minds.
Maybe there were some downsides to dragons after all. Then again, she’d known some men who made pretty annoying noises as well.
And they didn’t come with multiple orgasms and unbelievably beautiful bodies.
As they dropped, the clouds passed, and Melissa could see beautiful green farmland and rolling hills stretching out in front of them.
As the ground grew closer, she realized just how fast they were going. Suddenly, she felt like a plane about to land without wheels. She tucked into a ball but felt air swoosh around her in a puff as she felt the world stop moving. Then she was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, just a few inches away, and then she felt a massive thumping just ahead of her. The sound of something huge landing.
And then another thump. Something else on the ground. Something even bigger.
She crawled back on her hands, looking up in the direction of the noises, and she saw the air shimmer in front of her.
Then, in a matter of seconds, scale by shimmering scale, she saw a golden dragon appear. As tall as a house, long and lean and standing on all fours, long neck arched regally up to peer down at her. The whole thing looked dipped in the finest gold, gleaming in the light, and she caught her breath at it’s beauty.
The eyes in the intelligent, reptilian face were a blazing red, like the center of a fire.
The expression as it peered down at her was haughty and reserved. Very much Draven.
She let out a huge breath as she watched him and then felt a chill wave over her as she saw something else changing out of the corner of her eye.
She looked over, almost against something in her that was begging her not to, and saw a dark shape materializing against the sky.
Much taller than Draven. Much more terrifying. Its body was black but shone with the colors of an oil slick. Its feet had disproportionately large claws, and the twisted monster looked terrifying rather than regal. The reptilian eyes flashed at her, a noxious shade of green. And the sound it made as it breathed, slightly raspy, set her on edge.
The air seemed changed, almost as if breathing it made her slightly nauseated. And she almost felt like she could see something green leaking out from the scales.
The whole picture just looked evil.
The longer she stared, the more she couldn’t see anything of Ran inside that creature.
But then he changed, and where the dragon had been, there was nothing. No, as the smoke cleared, there was a man, jerking on the ground in what appeared to be a seizure.