His lover’s eyes were shiny, and Caelan wanted to hug him, but there was nowhere small enough on Drayce for Caelan to wrap his arms around. So, he had to go with his second choice.
“You want to try them out? You’ve got a brand-new clan to protect.”
Drayce answered by dropping to the ground and stretching out his neck for Caelan to climb on.
Caelan twisted to see Haru leaping into the air and shifting into his sunset dragon. “Eno and Rayne, you’re with Haru. Adrian, you’re with me on Drayce.”
“Oh fuck,” Adrian swore, his eyes locked on the massive fire wings.
“Come on, thief. I’ll keep you safe,” Caelan chuckled. “We’ve got some Takahashi ass to kick.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Drayce Ladon
Drayce roared.
If he’d been in his human form, it would have come out as a whooohoooo! But he was a dragon, and he was flying. He wanted to shout and perform loops in the air until he threw up, but he was keenly aware of his two passengers. Caelan might be laughing and shouting his joy with him, but he was pretty sure that Adrian was mumbling prayers and clinging to Caelan.
Even if this didn’t last and this was his final flight ever, he was fine with it. The goddess had promised that he’d keep the power so long as he loved and protected Caelan. Not a freaking problem. He didn’t need wings to do that.
But he loved this second chance. He loved having at least one more flight—something his father hadn’t been compassionate enough to permit him before hacking his original wings off.
His shadow stretched over the land and the trees were a blur of green and white beneath him as they raced back to the Omari compound. Crisp, clean air filled his nose and stoked the fire in his chest. Flying was the freest he would ever be. The world drifted away and the sky embraced him while the wind lifted him higher.
When he’d lived on the Isle of Stone, he would disappear for days at a time, staying almost constantly in his dragon form. He would slip into the woods and fly up to the peaks of mountains, far from other dragons and even farther from his own clan. He could forget everything when he was flying. It was the only time he was at peace. The only time he felt safe.
Except there was one moment when he’d been in his human form while on the island that was good: when his father said he was being sent to Erya. He might have been locked away from his dragon form while in Stormbreak, but spending time with Caelan made it all worthwhile.
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Haru coming up on his left. Drayce canted his head to get a better view of the orange dragon and made a noise that most wouldn’t guess was a laugh. Rayne had pretty much flattened his body to Haru’s back and was gripping him tightly with both hands while Eno pressed close, holding on to his terrified boyfriend.
Yeah, he was never getting Rayne up in the air again.
Caelan, on the other hand, was laughing like a lunatic and urging Drayce to go faster, higher. Maybe after this was all over and he got to keep his wings, he could sneak off with Caelan for midnight flights over Stormbreak Bay.
Drayce huffed at the idea. That would definitely give Rayne and Eno heart attacks.
A hint of smoke on the air was a grim reminder of why they were rushing. The brief joy he’d found in flying dwindled as black clouds of smoke rose in the southeast. Haru let out an anguished roar and Drayce echoed it. The Takahashi were attacking the Omari.
With a violent flap of his wings, Drayce pushed as hard as he could. He was confident that his new wings were larger and stronger than his old pair. He couldn’t remember ever flying so fast. Haru should be faster than him, thanks to his smaller and sleeker build. Drayce felt like a freaking tank in the sky, but these goddess-made wings were amazing.
Why couldn’t all the gods and goddesses they met so far be this helpful?
Drayce flinched and tried to scrub that thought from his mind. Could they hear his thoughts? Hopefully not. If they weren’t listening to him, though, he was more than happy to admit that Caris was his favorite from now on.
As they crested a final rise and the Omari manor walls came into view, Drayce’s heart clenched. The air was swarming with black dragons and more fighters in black were trying to push their way past the gates. His new clan. His new family. They were all in danger.
There was no feeling of kinship or lonely ache when he saw the Takahashi clan members. He hadn’t felt as if he was one of them for most of his life. All he saw was the enemy, and they needed to be stopped.