We call it a mind link,came his voice again.
“Well, that’s not weird and invasive or anything,” I mumbled petulantly, and the great beast huffed again, throwing my platinum hair back in a whipping gush.
I smirked, risking more sass. Brave or stupid, only time would tell. “Rude. Iris spent an hour doing my hair, my Liege, so you’ll owe her an apology if you destroy all her hard work.”
His large dragon eyes glinted, but the huff this time was much softer.Just get on my back, Maze.
Heart thundering, I walked over to the massive beast in overt fascination and swallowed my fear. This wasn’t a demon like the ones I’d been taught to fear. This was Onyx.
My power will keep you anchored to my back no matter how I fly. You’ll never fall, and it will also protect you from the storms I summon,he explained as I carefully navigated his surprisingly sturdy wing to reach his back.
Safe from the storms he summoned?
But if you’re afraid, you can cling to me,he added.
It was weird to have a creature this size taunting me, especially when it was all in my head—an experience I never thought would feel normal or fun, but it did.
Scoffing, I finally reached the top of his wing. “I won’t be afraid.”
The beast huffed in a very Onyx way.We’ll see about that.
A growl rumbled in my throat. “Very little scares me, demon,” I replied firmly, daring more cheek than I ever had.
I couldn’t deny it anymore; I felt safe with him. I wanted to put my faith in this snarly but gentle leader. He’d done something no one, not even Jona, had done. He’d protected me. He hadn’t hurt me or taken anything I hadn’t freely given, and as much as it went against everything I’d been told about dragons, he was an honorable male. More so than any of the men in my sector.
The beast’s head swung back to look at me. I got the sense my sass amused him. So much emotion glowed in his metallic dragon eyes in this form. I couldn’t explain it. It felt different when he looked at me in this form. Wild but pure. Feral but tender. Possessive but reverent.
He snatched up the duffle bag with his large mouth and dangled it in front of me. I grabbed it, and as soon as I sat down and settled into a comfortable position on his back, he pushed off the ground and we soared into the sky.
Chapter 12
Maze’s tiny hand absently stroked the column of my thick dragon neck as I sailed across the sky, performing a dance in the wind and fading sun for her.
My beast who struck fear into any enemy with his mere presence was trilling and humming for the little human, calling on fierce storms simply by having her on our back. He was determined to show our human what a dragon could offer, and it’d be a lie if I didn’t want the same thing.
My dragon wings stretched wide, and we artfully wove through the clouds so she could feel the power inside them—rain clouds we’d summoned just for her.
Maze’s laughter and awe motivated my beast into grander schemes and bigger shows of strength and skill, into swifter twirls and deeper low-banking sweeps over water and trees. Every laugh was a reward, and it wasn’t long before my dragon and I sought to impress the little human together, my ideas feeding his own.
“Wow,” she breathed, awe-stricken by the vast ocean at the other side of Black Mountain. Water Serpent territory. Their islands were only forty or so kilometers from the shore. Her raspy voice dragged the word in longing. She’d only ever known the desert lands, and if it were any other day, any other moment, I would’ve shown her anything she desired.
“It’s bigger than you, Onyx,” she teased, finally shedding her guarded personality. The sound of it was almost as beautiful as her smiles.
I caught her out of my periphery staring at the darkening expanse. The sun was nearly gone along the horizon. Her mouth was kicked up in a breathtaking smile that broadened the longer she stared.
My little Moon Beast was as free in the sky as I was.
Her soft, soothing fingers brought nerves to life in my scales that hadn’t existed until she touched them. It was bloody fucking glorious. I never thought myself lonely, but the week I’d spent away from her and the weeks in her company proved I was. It made me yearn for more. Crave things I never had. Want differently than what I’d known.
And finally everything clicked into place.
I didn’t believe Iris when she said it. I’d heard the word mentioned among the elite, but I’d never cared enough to learnmore. With so few female dragons and a disdain for humans, I never considered it.
Mate.
A primal, instinctual epiphany hit, one that I felt in the very marrow of my bones. One my dragon felt long before I did. Because as soon as she touched me in this form, I knew. As soon as her delicious scent transformed my body, I knew. No, the second I laid eyes on her in that cage, I knew.
Maze was meant to be mine.
