I forced myself not to stare at the double perfection of Braxton ass. His perfect, sun kissed, tightly muscled … shit.
The horror coming at us from the trees helped to cool the raging torrent of my hormones. Twenty of the beasts – did they call for a freaking family reunion or something? – were galloping across the sand. I couldn’t see any wings on their mishmash of features, so we might have flight as an advantage. I felt the pull as Braxton gathered his energy – strong, almost visible in waves around him.
He never even had to bend forward or drop to all fours. His shift was so fast that one moment he stood six and half feet of muscled male and the next he was fifteen feet tall of powerful dragon. His black and blue scales glistened under the sunless green sky.
The creatures must have had at least half a brain. As Braxton tilted back his snout filled with razor sharp teeth and roared to the sky, they skidded to a halt. About fifty yards separated us from them, just enough distance that they were safe from Braxton’s flames which would strip the flesh from their bodies in seconds.
I edged myself closer to the dragon’s tail; somehow I knew he wanted me as close as possible. A thump sounded behind us. I spun around and my heart dropped, pretty much ending up at my feet.
Crap, shit, ass.
“Brax!” I shouted, already sprinting, and in about five agile steps I was moving along the thickly scaled tail and up onto his broad back.
The dragon snorted but didn’t eat me, so he wasn’t taken by surprise. Maybe he’d also seen the creatures which were dragging themselves from the water. Not only were we facing mutant bear-monkeys, but behind us came the serpents – shaped like water dragons, but on a dinosaur scale, and there were literally hundreds of them.
I settled into the groove just behind the dragon’s wing joints. Those powerful appendages thrust outwards and within a few swift beats we were airborne. It wasn’t the first time I had flown with Braxton, but generally he lined his hide with a saddle so the scales wouldn’t rip my skin to pieces. The armor plating of his skin was smooth, but the impenetrable strength and immoveable nature of them made them hell on my skin.
As we ascended, the view from below became startling clear. The fey might have left Faerie land, along with many of the demi-fey, but those which had stayed behind were giant and scary, bad ass mothers.
“What’s the plan, Brax?”
He couldn’t answer me, but I was hoping he’d be able to mime or play friggin’ charades or something, because I had no idea what we should be doing.
Where should we go? How did one escape from this land? No one ever spoke of it. I wasn’t sure if Jacob even knew. Sometimes he went off and had clandestine garden parties with other fey, but wasn’t allowed to share too many of their “ancient secrets” and we didn’t push him. I could only hope he had spoken to his brothers a little more, giving Braxton some insight.
So far we were clear; nothing followed us into the air. However a battle was about to take place on the sand. The water dragons had not been emerging just for us, and a pissing contest was about to erupt. They didn’t want the bear-monkeys on their sand. Which was great for us and as long as nothing was in the air.
A blur whooshed past us. Okay, note to self: don’t speak or think here. Faerie land had an asshole sense of humor. My head snapped to the side as I tried to see what was coming at us. Braxton was doing the same; his large eyes and advanced sight would be picking up far more than I could. Another blur flew by, this time much closer. I shot to my feet, both hands resting on the scaled back so I could keep my balance. If I had to fight I needed to be up and ready.
Braxton roared again. I jumped a mile and almost slipped off his back, catching my balance at the last moment and orientating myself again.
Wafts of simmering air surrounded me, as smoke emerged from Braxton’s mouth and nostrils. This was followed by his flames, a long, uninterrupted plume of red and blue fire. The heat that came after was extreme … I swear my skin started to bubble a little. On occasion he forgot that fire was fluid, and that it could spew back on me.
Shadowy shapes flew in from all sides, and I finally got a decent look at what we were facing. A giant eagle – long feathered wings, sharp talons, and a beak which looked lethal. Riding on its back were demi-fey, not exactly like any we had on Earth, but I still recognized the otherness of them. In fact, judging by their long hair, claws and screeching, they were my first glimpse of the famous battle-hungry harpies, female warriors who were well known for their bloodthirsty nature.
As Braxton caught sight of a harpy about to launch herself off the eagle and at his head, he let out another blast of fire. She ducked the flames, somehow managing to stay on her bird. While that distraction came at us front-on, two flanked me on either side. I rose to my full height; Braxton was sort of hovering, so it wasn’t hard to keep my footing. A harpy flung herself at me. I braced myself, calling on my wolf for extra speed and dexterity.