Yes, she did. Because nothing sucked more than being left alone to face a nightmare. To have no one to rely on.
Nodding, she held her arm out to him. “Friends?”
Dash hesitated. In all his life, he’d only had one friend he could truly rely on. And even that had been out of necessity. Mostly because he’d seen too many people betrayed by those they’d called friends and family.
Trust for creatures like them was very hard won.
Tanis smiled at him as she wiggled her fingers of her outstretched hand. “It won’t bite you, beast. My arm has no teeth.”
Laughing, he shook her arm. Then, he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head as he used to do his sister. “You are certainly a unique creature, Dragon.”
“It’s okay to call me a major burr in your arse. It’s what Davin always did.”
“More like a barnacle. You’re growing on me.” Dash returned to his unicorn body.
Tanis gasped as she saw that he had wings on his side. “You can fly?”
“When it suits me.”
She sputtered. “Why weren’t you flying when I captured you?”
“You didn’t capture me, and I was trying not to draw attention to myself. I didn’t want anyone in my kingdom to know I was leaving. Again, I’m the only unicorn with a black horn. I tend to stick out among my kind.”
Made sense.
She swung up into the saddle and saw that, once more, he wore a bridle for her. Without a word, she gently held it, takingcare not to tighten it. Instead, she held mostly to the saddle horn so as not to trip on that scar. “Ready when you are, beast.”
He shot off at a gallop, then leapt into the air.
Tanis actually gasped as they left the ground. Until now, she hadn’t realized how scary it was to fly when she wasn’t the one in control of it. She clung to Dash’s back, terrified she was going to fall.
“Are you all right, Lady Dragon?”
“Not really. I think I might be afraid of heights.”
He laughed. “I’ll catch you if you fall.”
“Please do.” Because it was a long, long way down to the ground. Funny how it’d never seemed so when she was a dragon. Perhaps because she was so much larger?
She wasn’t sure. But this was absolutely terrifying. It required a level of trust she wasn’t comfortable with giving someone else. Not even her adorable beast.
Closing her eyes, she tried to think of other things.
Happy things. Like not falling to her death.
Normally, it would be images of her as a girl, learning to fly with her brother. For some reason that had always been her most comforting memory.
Today, it was an image of her unicorn laughing as she teased him. Of those bright green eyes shining with humor.
Weird. Even stranger? She wanted to lay herself over his back for comfort. And before she could think better of it, she did exactly that.
Instead of holding on to the saddle or reins, she held on to his mane and let the heat of his body soothe her fear.
This close to him, she could feel his calm heartbeat, and it quieted the frantic beating of hers. With every ripple of his muscles as he flapped his wings to keep them in the air, she felt calmer. It was just the two of them with the winds sweeping over their bodies.
And for the first time in a very long time, she felt peace. It made no sense at all. She didn’t really know him. They were being hunted, and she could fall to her death at any second.
Yet she was at peace here.
