50
Aria spread her wings. The light of the rising moon danced over her red and gold scales.
She tilted and banked, then snapped at the clouds. Flying usually soothed her, but nothing would ease her tonight. Nothing except something that wasn’t there.
Aria growled and rolled through a cloud, the vapor trailing off her wings. Her Dragon was screaming in her mind, and Aria’s sanity held on by the thinnest of threads. She hadn’t exactly been honest with Nikolai. The restlessness in her soul had taken on an intensity that threatened to unhinge her.
Her body burned with need. Maybe she should have told him to come back tonight. She wasn’t sure if she could hold on until the morning. Or perhaps she should have broken down Lucas’s door.
Lucas.Yes,her mind shrieked.Lucas.It wasn’t Nikolai that her Dragon craved. Not this time.
She had a hankering for Morph.
But Lucas was locked in his room, wrestling with his own demons. And she had a good idea as to the cause—the crystal dust.
If he was going through withdrawal, she should help him. Wanted to help him, in fact. But she wasn’t good company for anyone right now. The burning in her blood—it only wanted to fly. Fast, and low, before someone grabbed her by the throat, and took her higher than she’d ever flown before.
Aria opened her jaws, and roared. Curled her tongue, activated the special gland at the back of her throat, and tried to set fire to the clouds.
She couldn’t, of course. But the sky did light up in a most satisfactory manner, providing her with a few seconds of entertainment before her mood soured again. Be damned if she was going to be at the mercy of her sharding hormones. Maybe Cara could help her through this. Lucas wasn’t an option until he was well, and then—
Aria hissed. His Dragon was beautiful, but far too small to carry her into the sky. She clacked her jaws together and banked sharply.
Something huge shot by overhead, the jet of air sending her spinning.
She caught the merest glimpse of gleaming scales before strong talons gripped her. Her spin slammed to a halt, and broad golden wings spread, the air crackling as they slowed her tumble. His grip shifted, rolling her until he held her by the forearms.
Gorgeous. He was gorgeous, his scales glittering gold in the moonlight. So much like Ash, and yet, not—his eyes weren’t one color. The centers were the color of ink; the irises rimmed with emerald.
It was Ash’s body, but Lucas’s eyes glimmered back at her. And he was so much bigger than he should be...
Lucas!
Yes?
How? You didn’t take more crystal?
Nope. Had a little help from a friend. Well, a lot of help from a friend.
He pulled his lips back from long, sharp teeth, and white static filled Aria’s brain as her beast seized control. She twisted free from his hold, folded her wings, and dove.
Catch me if you can, lover.
In seconds, he was after her. For just a moment, she remembered when he’d tumbled from the sky—but with his consciousness tangled in her own, his dive was perfect, the wings angled for control.
He could fly. He really could fly.
Joy flooded through her. Her wings flicked open as she ducked, and then dove again.
Linked to her mind, Lucas mirrored her every move, and he started to anticipate, cutting corners to close the gap between them. She sliced abruptly left, folded her wings, and ducked into a thick cloud.
Enveloped by darkness, her heartbeat seemed to echo back at her. Instead of flying straight or rising, she banked right, accelerated, and dropped below the cloud. Her head turned so she could view the area far behind her, where she expected him to emerge...
To her shock, he dropped like a rock from directly above, and his teeth closed on her tail, spinning her around. She barely felt it, the scales were so thick, but before she could react and jerk free, he rotated her in midair as he transferred the tail grip from jaws to front feet, and then hind, climbing her body until his foretalons gripped her upper arms.
His eyes glowed emerald.
You,he said,are mine.
