Page 14 of Creatures of War

“It was time well spent,” Landers said, his voice dropping an octave lower as his heated stare focused on me.

I did all I could not to blush, my perverted mind already flashing back to what he did to me exactly in that timeframe. The feel of his lips, his caresses, how he so effortless sought out those parts of me that I didn’t even know would make me burn so intensely until he gave them attention. Landers knew his way around the female body very well.

“Rayna!”

I blinked. Zilon was in my face, frowning hard.

“Focus,” he said.

“I noticed it before, but you enjoy getting lost in your head a lot, don’t you,” Philit said in a husky voice.

It was then that I noticed that all my emotions had been filtering through my bond with them, so they were feeling the pleasure I was experiencing. That only made my face explode with heat. To think all my emotions just got broadcasted to the three of them. Bury me now.

Landers was grinning broadly, and when I looked at him, he chuckled. “Come here; I’ll carry you first.”

“We can’t fly far as we are now, but we just need more distance until we shift into dragons,” Philit said.

“Is this a good idea?” I asked.

“Better than staying here,” Philit quickly responded.

“But where will we go?” I tried, asking again.

Philit didn’t say anything, but I could feel his stress. He wasn’t sure either. We couldn’t go back to our hometowns; we’d be too easily found. And what would the others say about us, running from the academy instead of doing our duties as dragons and a rider?

“We’ll figure it out,” Philit finally said, his wings unfurling.

The other two did the same, letting their wings relax, which reminded me of how big they were. They all looked like warriors—granted not trained—but still fierce and dangerous. Their tails were curled close to their bodies out of the way, as the scales along their shoulders glinted in the little bit of the sunlight left. They looked ready to take on the world and for what?

Why?

All of them looked at me, giving me my answer. They were doing this for me. To keep me safe.

I smiled as I moved toward Landers, willing to let him carry me. I oddly enough felt the trust between us grow as I got closer to him. The last time I thought I trusted him, he shoved me off a cliff to force the bond between us, but after the battles and after he’d stood up for me and even after feeling what we could be together, I knew I couldn’t let him go. He was as stuck with me as I was with him.

A twig snapped not far from us, catching my attention, I turned toward the sound, not expecting its suddenness. Something fast flew toward me.

“Fuck!” Landers grabbed me and threw us to the side.

Right where I’d been standing was a silvery net. I blinked as I stared at it, confused about where it had come from.

Then, there was rustling and all around us appeared a bunch of dragons, wings tight against their bodies and their tails swaying agitatedly behind them. They were all massive, buffed up, and looked absolutely pissed off. The scales all along their shoulders were glimmering, almost entrancing to stare at, but my fear was enough to override that feeling.

We were screwed. Majorly. And not in the good way.

Leading them was Tanja’s dragon, Captain Corniz. His expression was blank as the others behind him glared hard.

“What are you doing?” Captain Corniz asked in a gruff voice.

‘Shit,’ Landers sent out.

‘Agreed,’ I thought.

‘We need to get out of here. I’ll distract. Landers, take Rayna and get her away from here.’ Philit stepped forward, drawing their attention.

Landers squeezed me tighter, and I felt Zilon move closer to us too.

“Grab them,” Captain Corniz commanded.

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