While two of my mates are strutting around naked up here.
Getting to my feet, Kodi and Stone both do a sweep of the cliff again. Carefully stretching my wings, I wince, biting back a pained sound. Flying here, I had adrenaline on my side. Now, I feel every lance of pain from the tiny bones that didn’t set right, but gods know I’ve endured worse.
“What’s wrong, firefly?” Kodi demands, one hand resting on my front leg as he scans the horizon.
There’s no real way to communicate that I don’t want to have a conversation before washing away every memory of Malcolm’s hands from my skin. And no way to leave without them freaking out that I’m leavingthem.So I do the only logical thing I can think of.
I take both men in my fists and jump.
Ignoring their confused shouts, I use the smoke as coverage and glide to the left for as long as possible before taking to the skies, Avery following right on my heels. Hopefully, it will throw off any remaining humans below enough they won’t have time to record anything even if I’m under no illusion that we’re anything other than totally fucked at this point. Revealing the existence of shifters to humans we don’t plan to take as mates is the one golden rule that our society agrees upon, and threats to that secret are met with swift elimination by other shifters in the area. But the cat’s out of the bag, so I may as well take advantage of not having to climb down that cliff butt ass naked with the news cameras rolling.
Once we’re a short distance away, I call out to Raiden, the ear-splitting sound echoing across the forest and sending it into ominous silence as every creature dives for cover. Here’s to hoping he understands it wasn’t a cry for help and just letting him know my position so he doesn’t get back and go on a rampage when we aren’t there.
Each beat of my wings is another slice of agony, burning down the shoulder blade attached to my fucked up wing, but Stone and Kodiak’s death grips on my claws makes it easier to compartmentalize the pain. Crashing is one thing if it were only me, but having other people’s lives in the palm of my hands has always been my best motivator.
Literally and figuratively.
The sound of rushing water guides my way, and before long, there’s a split in the trees where a wide river cuts through the forest. Dipping lower, I follow the water for a few seconds until we reach the small waterfall, gliding to the pool beneath. Circling in my descent, when we’re low enough I’m sure they won’t burst open like human piñatas upon impact, I let go.
Kodiak and Stone plummet into the water, their shouts swallowed up by the roaring waterfall. Folding my wings in with a sharp hiss, I dive beneath the surface a short distance away, the sudden silence deafening. The water is calmer here, the current easy enough to brace against without being swept away.
Burying my head in the sand never worked, but the view from beneath the waves is prettier anyway.
My screaming lungs overshadow the pain of drawing my broken wing back into my body, the caress of water a seductive whisper tempting me to stay in this peaceful bubble forever. But I’m starting to realize that I don’t want the soft comforts of peace. I want to live, even with every bit of pain it demands in payment for the occasional moment of happiness.
I’ve paid the price for at least three happy endings by now, but even if it’s not enough? A life with them is one that’s worth fighting for.
By the time I’ve scrubbed off every trace of dried blood and the feeling of Malcolm’s hand on the nape of my neck, my chest feels like it's going to explode. Kicking off the bottom of the river to launch upward, I break through the surface and suck down deep, gasping breaths, my lungs burning from the shock to my system. A split-second later, I’m yanked against a hard chest, patches of obsidian scales cropping up randomly on Kodiak’s skin.
Fingers splayed across my ribcage, he holds me away from him as he scans me for injury, going so far as to lift me in the air like it’s nothing despite him treading water. Each new scar he discovers has his eyes darkening, and after a small eternity, gently lowers me into the water again. “One day you’re going to give me an actual heart attack, I just know it.”
A splash has me looking over my shoulder, finding Stone coming up for air and swiping water from his face. Catching sight of us, he releases a flurry of either foreign curses or thanks, swimming quickly to close the distance. Pressed against my back, he pins me firmly between the two of them, one hand on my hip and the other around my throat, tilting my head back to face him.
“I’m getting dangerously close to doing something extremely stupid,” he warns, crashing his lips against mine in a brutal kiss.
Taking mercy on him, I breathlessly tease, “Let me guess. Dr. Frankenstein was really what inspired you to go to medical school, and you’re going to stitch the two of us together so you always know where I am?”
His soft snort of amusement takes most of his anger with it, kissing me breathless to dispel the rest. “You always see right through me, don’t you?”
Wrapping my legs around Kodi’s waist, I let myself enjoy the brief reprieve that we all know can’t last. “The sexually repressed doctor that cares about everyone but himself? You say that like it’s not glaringly obvious to everyone else around you.”
With a teasing growl, he nips at my lip hard enough to draw blood. Flicking his tongue across it, he grinds against my ass.
Not one to be left out, Kodi slides a hand up my thigh, gripping my other hip. “No, he says it like a man that needs his mate in order to stay sane. We both do. Gods, Amara…” With a rough swallow, he softly admits, “The only thing that kept me going was knowing that you had to be alive, but imaging what you were suffering through? Because I failed, and couldn’t find you in time to save you from him?” Warm breath feathers across my face with his shaky exhale. “Those thoughts are going to haunt me until the day I die.”
Palming the back of my head, he kisses me hard and fast. “Put us out of our misery. Please.” Indigo eyes darkening, pupils flickering to vertical slits and back, he croaks, “What did he do to you, firefly?”
I’m saved from answering by a jarring thud, metal groaning on the grassy shore as Raiden drops a street-food truck, shifting in a fluid motion before his feet touch the ground. My stomach lets out another audible growl, and Kodi swings me around to his back, swimming us to shore. Raiden’s there in an instant, helping me out of the water as the other two haul themselves up the bank behind me.
Just a girl and her three inhuman boyfriends, wet and naked in the woods with a stolen taco truck. It’s either the start of a bad joke, or a fantastic evening.
Raiden narrows his eyes, studying my face closely. “You left.”
Bracing myself on his shoulders, I rise on my toes, pressing a soft kiss to his stubbled jaw. “Only because I knew you’d find me.”
A shudder wracks his body, and I take the opportunity to slip away and into the commandeered food truck. It takes a bit of trial and error, but eventually I get a lay of the land and fire up the grill and pull out supplies. The guys mill around awkwardly outside, wanting to take over and take care of me, but are smart enough to accept that wouldn’t go well right now. My dragon made it clear they’re in the doghouse as far as she’s concerned, and while I don’t exactly feel the same, I can’t write off Stone’s advice.
She feeds off ofmyvolatile emotions. I’ve always considered the two of us separate entities, and that was probably a big contributing factor to my shifting problem, energy issues aside.
