Aria stripped off her cloak before plucking Mai from beneath her hair and offering her to Lucas. “You can hold Mai and ride me.”
Effing hell.The comment, stated in such a matter-of-fact tone, rocked his world, sending certain things into the stratospheric realm of ridiculous hope.
“I can fly, too,” he protested.
Aria shook her head. “Not sure Mai can hold on to my Dragon locks. Better if you take her. That crystal dust should make me big enough to carry you.”
Whether shecouldwasn’t really the point. Or maybe it was, he was too muddled to tell. But if he shifted to Dragon, he’d have to get naked, first.
So not a good idea right now.
Aria took his silence as consent. She shoved the shrew into his hands as her face began to lengthen and brilliant gold wings burst free from her back. She paced away to give herself more space, providing him with a glimpse of shapely buttocks sprouting a tail...
Seen in full daylight for the first time, Lucas was riveted, and he forced himself to wrench his gaze away. He offered Mai his large pocket as he didn’t have long hair to grip. After she squeaked at him and curled up inside, he bent to retrieve Aria’s cloak.
When he straightened, not just one Dragon awaited him, but two.
With her crystal levels boosted, Aria was much larger this time around—more small elephant sized than horse. The sun gleamed off brilliant red scales striped with gold, a stunning combination. Dani was as sleek as her human half, and jet-black—but not entirely Dragon. Her body was smaller than Aria’s, and covered in glossy fur.
Much as Lucas would love to know how a Dire ended up as a Dragon, he had bigger concerns. Aria was looking at him expectantly.
“Gets on,” she said.
Lucas swallowed and put a booted foot on her foreleg, reaching for the spikes that ran along her spine from head to tail. He pulled himself up between them.
She was warm between his legs, and he couldn’t stop himself from touching the gleaming scales. Silken soft, they were, covering a warrior’s—no, a Dragona’s—shapely body.
Aria turned her head to regard him with one huge, luminous eye. “Readys?”
“You sure you can do this?”
Aria snorted. “Yess. I haves enoughs crystal, now.”
Lucas ripped his hand away, gritted his teeth and nodded. “Let’s go.”
Dani was already airborne, circling above them. Aria’s muscles bunched beneath him and she launched into the sky.
His legs tightened spasmodically and his free hand whipped around to grab the spike. The leap shoved him hard into those behind his back as the ground fell away from them. From her nest in his inner pocket, Mai squeaked in surprise.
“Easy, there.” Lucas tried for calm, but his voice came out a full octave higher than intended.
As her red and gold wings beat, Aria’s head tipped back toward him.
“Yous good?”
Lucas’s fingers were white on the spikes. “Just focus on flying.”
Aria’s jaws opened in a laugh, but her head straightened as they followed Dani. With every beat of her wings, the muscles beneath Lucas shifted, but the spot where he sat remained relatively immobile. After a few moments, he relaxed a little, gaining enough confidence to look down.
The lush forest passed below them, the upper canopy alive with bursts of color and movement. Dense foliage covered most of the terrain they flew over, but it was mountainous, not level, and the odd rock outcropping protruded above. In between the green-clad peaks, Lucas caught sight of a few massive sinkholes filled with water. The surface was so still it mirrored its surroundings perfectly.
This area looked like it had remained untouched for thousands of years. A wild, untamed kind of place. Something Lucas had seen in the photos of nature magazines, but never envisioned himself visiting.
From the air, it was stunningly beautiful. And, as intimidating as hell. This was about as far from the city life as you could get.
Aria banked, and up ahead, Dani dropped toward the jungle. Lucas spotted a rock poking above the leaves. They followed the other Dragon down to it, where his mount backwinged and landed neatly on the ledge. They were outside a cave. Aria had just offered her leg for Lucas to dismount when a dark shadow passed above them. She gasped, and Lucas looked up.
He caught a seemingly endless glitter of turquoise scales before his brain adjusted and absorbed the truth—an enormous Dragon hovered above them.
