Chapter Nine
“No way.” Heather delivered the flat words along with a glower at Max’s face. “You want me to ride your back? Is that some kind of dragon sex thing?”
His snort of laughter made her irritation hit home. She took a step back from him as he said, in a voice still carrying laughter, “I assure you it isn’t. I want to show you the world. Well, part of it, and to do that you have to be in the air.”
She looked at the edge of the high roof and then back at him. The wind was stronger up there and her hair waved about her face. She brushed it back. “I don’t know. I mean, I was scared you’d drop me before.”
“That’s because you were hanging onto my foot. You’ll be on my back.”
“What if I fall?”
“I’ll catch you before you hit the ground if you do, and really you won’t. Just use your thigh muscles to hold yourself in place and put your hands on my shoulders. You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, that sounds totally safe,” she shot back sarcastically.
“It is.”
Was it? She really doubted it. She also hated being a chicken. She gave him another look. He was still human right then, and that led to another question. “So how do I get on? I mean, do I just jump on your back and then you change or whatever?”
“I’d prefer you waited until after I change.”
She looked at the sky and the ground, so far below, again. Her heart ticked a fast beat in her chest. “Um…okay.”
He changed. It happened so fast she barely had time to register that he even had. Still, even though she had known he was a dragon, her feet took her backward and right toward the edge of the roof. He reached out and grabbed her, holding her in place. He said, “It’s all right,” in a gentle voice that made her heart flutter.
She said, “Sorry. It startled me.”
“I imagine so.”
She stepped closer to him. Now that she was that close, she found herself marveling at him. The scales covering his flesh were thick, armored even. They shone and glistened like the wings of ravens, and she reached out a tentative finger and stroked it down his side. A hot flush raced upward from her crotch, confusing her. His scales were firm but yielding, not so much stiff armor as fleshly armor. A hard gasp came up in her throat, and she stepped back, unable to keep looking at him. He was so beautiful, and such a rare thing that she found herself at a complete loss.
Words came. “I didn’t mean you are a monster. I just meant…I mean, in my world…that’s what they call….you, you know…I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
His head turned. His eyes were still his, and she managed to look into them despite the wave of dizziness threatening to topple her in every way possible. He said, “Thank you. Are you flying with me?”
Was she? Did she really dare? She swallowed. “Will I hurt you?”
“No.”
She took a long breath. “How do I get up? You’re pretty tall.”
He chuffed laughter. Small streams of smoke came from his nostrils. “Good point.”
He knelt, folding his body down in a graceful way that left her able to straddle his back. Her fingers found that smooth spot between his neck and shoulders and then the hard ridges below it. “Do I hold onto…um…these?” Her fingers stroked those ridges and more heat flooded into her lower body, leaving her confused and a little frightened.
“Yes. I’ll go slowly.”
She held on. His body rose into a standing position. Her legs gripped the sides of his body. Then he took flight, slowly levering himself off the rooftop and into the sky beyond it. A little scream came from her mouth as she looked down at the vista of empty sky and earth below. “Okay. Um, yeah. That’s….uh. Scary but…” Thrilling. It was thrilling.
He asked, “Are you okay?”
No. yes. I don’t know. “I think so.”
His mighty wings stroked the air, taking them higher still. She held on, her eyes fastened on the ground that was rapidly dwindling beneath them. The view became one of patched earth and mountain, and then they were flying away from the castle and toward the world beyond.
Then he dropped lower. The air got thicker, and she found herself able to fully breathe. The wind ran over her face and body, sending her hair flying back from her face. A sense of freedom, sheer and impossible freedom, hit her and a smile sprang up. A lightness entered her heart, and for the first time in a very long time, everything just melted away. She forgot about her constant discontent, her unhappiness with her job and her life and the hurt Todd had left in his hateful wake. There was just sky and clouds and the feel of a dragon between her legs. It was a heady thing, one she knew that she may never get to experience ever again.
He settled down lightly at the base of a tall cliff. Heather stared at the lush foliage, most of it alien to her, and not only because she wasn’t sure if it existed on her world but because she had never seen so much greenery, having been raised in cities where parks were the only real green space.
