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Chapter One

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MATTHIAS DIDN’T THINK he would ever get used to the fact that he was watching the dragons fly above his head.

Dragons. They weren’t just characters in books or movies, not anymore, not for him. All of his life, he’d thought they were fantasy, and then he’d met his best friend, Parker. How he’d gone from meeting Parker to living in a castle full of mages and dragons, he still wasn’t quite sure, but this was his life now.

He lived in a castle. He wasn’t a prince or rich or anything like that. In fact, he didn’t even have a job right now. He’d suggested he could find one, but the mages had told him to forget about it and that he was welcome to stay at the castle for as long as he wanted. It made him feel weird, but also, he’d started learning Spanish, had been reading more than he could ever remember reading, and he’d been spending time with Parker. He’d explored the castle one room at a time, and he’d made friends with the people who lived there. That included the mages and the dragons, at least when they weren’t out fighting evil. It also included the humans who lived at the castle, who were the people actually running the place. Mages were nice, but they were scatterbrained and a mess on the best of days. Besides, they were all coupled up, which sometimes made things awkward. Matthias was glad he had other people to talk to.

But none of those people could give him what the dragons were giving their mages right now.

The dragons were flying above the castle, going back and forth, flipping in the air, with the mages screaming with laughter on their backs. Matthias was human. He would never have a dragon, and he was fine with that, although he couldn’t deny that he was jealous of the relationship between the mages and their dragons. What he wasn’t jealous of was the fact that people routinely tried to kill the mages. He was glad he didn’t have to deal with that.

But he was also jealous that he wasn’t currently flying high in the sky.

Someone screamed, and Matthias swallowed as he watched Penley drop from the sky. He didn’t go far. His dragon would never allow him to get hurt, and Bennett swooped down, catching Penley before he could get anywhere near the ground. Penley laughed, and Matthias breathed easier.

He was in an odd position. He wasn’t the only human at the castle, but he’d only been living here for a short time compared to everyone else. He wasn’t a mage or a dragon, and even though he was Parker’s best friend, he wasn’t dating any of them, either. Sometimes, that left him feeling lonely, especially in times like these when it felt like everyone was out there having fun except for him.

It didn’t have to be that way. The best he could do was stand on top of one of the towers and watch the dragons and mages. Even Marlow’s son, Jason, was up there, but not Matthias.

Sometimes Matthias wondered what would happen if he left and what kind of life he could have out there. He’d had a normal life before meeting Parker. He could probably go back to it, although it would be hard to explain why there was an empty spot in his resume. He couldn’t very well write down that he’d been living in a castle with dragons. That meant he was kind of stuck, but at the same time, he didn’t want to leave. His best friend, the one person he considered family, was here. Matthias didn’t have anyone else, and he wasn’t planning on moving away from Parker.

A shadow suddenly covered him. He looked up at the sky, watching as a dragon lowered himself down on top of the tower. The dragon quickly folded his wings around himself, and Matthias waited. He’d been living here long enough to recognize the dragons even when they weren’t in their human form, so he knew who this was.

That was why he wasn’t surprised when Samuel was suddenly standing in front of him. It seemed dragons could shift hundreds of times a day, and it never looked like much. The blink of an eye, and they went from one form to the other. They weren’t even naked the way shifters usually were in the romance books he liked reading.

He and Samuel were in the same boat. They were both here because their best friends belonged to one of the mages, and while they’d talked before, they were just friendly. Matthias was a little confused, and that didn’t change when Samuel cocked his head while staring at him.

“Want to fly?” he asked.

Matthias blinked, then looked around, wondering if Samuel was really talking to him. There was no one else on top of the tower, though. It was just him and the wind, and Samuel clearly wasn’t talking to the wind. “I’m sorry?” Matthias asked.

Samuel gestured between the two of them. “You, me, the sky,” he said, pointing upward. “I’ve seen you watching the other dragons. Want to fly?”

“Is that allowed?”

Samuel frowned. “What’s allowed? What wouldn’t be?”

“Well, I’m not a mage. You’re not my shield.”

“So? Graham’s up there flying with Emory, and he’s as human as you are.”

“Well, yes, but he does have some magic in him.” Since the very bad guy the mages had to defeat was related to Graham, he definitely had some magic in him, although not enough to actually be a mage. Matthias was pretty sure there wasn’t a drop of magic in him, though.

Samuel chuckled. “There are no rules when it comes to this. Dragons can decide who they want on their back when they fly.”

“And you want me?”

“Why not? Unless you don’t want to fly?”

Matthias wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. “Of course I want to fly. Can we go now?”

Samuel laughed. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Come on, get on my back. I promise I won’t drop you.”

He shifted back, and for a second, Matthias could only watch him. Was he really about to do this? Was he really about to climb on the back of a dragon and fly?

Hell yes, he was.