I strip my clothes off in the alcove before the door to hang them on the pegs on the wall. The same pegs my grandfather and his father used when they visited the castle. I kick Roark’s clothes out of the way and open the door. The evening wind blows over the shifting balcony.
Evander’s already shifted, his dark green scales glistening in the dappled moonlight. Roark jumps from the buttress, diving and shifting as he goes. He soars upward, the flash of his blue-black tail taking off in the night. I bend my knees and jump into the air. My dragon takes over. Bones crack and my stretched skin vanishes, replaced with light blue scales. The heir of Crest Wing. I’m camouflaged for a bright sunny day with large cumulus clouds. On a night like tonight, if I’m moving fast enough, I’m a dusky, blurred cloud.
It doesn’t matter, not now. I thought I’d get a flight inwhen I went back home, but it was less than five minutes. Just enough to get from the portal to the castle my parents call home without having to walk the long trail along the mountain. Then I waited. Being the heir doesn’t get you access. Being the heir most of the time means I wait longer.
I speed my wings and speed up catching up to Evander, who is flying upside down like a dragonet.Prince, are you feeling better now?
I will be.
Good, you’re no fun when you’re grouchy.
Roark appears on my tail.
Where were you?I ask.
Peering in windows like a creep?Evander counters.
Her shades are closed.
That’s good,I say.Common sense. You think she’s the one?
I do.Evander rights himself and speeds along the tree line. It’s a lot more enjoyable to fly around Cloud Rift’s estate now that humans know of shifters. Thirty years ago, things were far more complicated. That doesn’t mean that the castle or my family have a good reputation in the area. No, we’re still feared. Which is for the best—it means less traffic up our driveway. And no tourists looking in our windows.
Evander’s in the lead, which normally I don’t like. He tends to have too much curiosity, and we stay out too late. Or end up swimming in a lake.
You love it,he counters.
Stay out of my head. I’m too tired to push you out. I growl and spit fire around his tail. He’s as immune to my fire as I am to theirs.
That’s the thing with thunder mates. Most dragons, not all, can read thoughts. Some can even plant thoughts into those with weak barriers. Most can communicate telepathicallywhen in scale. But thunder mates? Thunder mates can communicate all the time.
This morning when the candidate, Raine, left her phone on the table, I searched her mind for the login.
What?Evander hovers mid-flight, and I have to soar upward to avoid crashing into him.
The device was making too much noise. I found the code, but her defense is beyond what a normal human has.
What happened?I’m hovering above Evander.
She passed out.
She didn’t sleep in?Evander always seems to be more aware of things than me.
No, I carried her to her suite.
Did she see a doctor?
Why does everyone keep asking that? Her heartbeat was normal. I stayed with her for a while. She was fine.
She’s human. And a candidate, Evander says.
She woke up, worked, and ate dinner, no worse for wear.
I don’t like it.Evander swings around, heading back to Cloud Rift.
I have to admit I don’t like it either. But I also don’t have time for it, no matter how attractive and intelligent she is. The odds of her being our fated mate? Not good. Still, I follow Evander. And Roark follows us.
There’s a growl in my gut from my dragon.
