Page 29 of Creatures of War

“We need to figure out how to get out of here,” Landers said.

He glanced at Philit before pulling me into his lap. Philit seemed like he wanted to keep me in his lap, but after a slight hesitation, he let me go.

“How can we do that when we can’t even contact Rayna through our bond? It’s like everything is blocked off somehow.”

“So it isn’t broken?” I asked.

“Does this feel broken to you?” Landers said as he ran his hand down my arm, sending sparks through me. I moaned against the touch, responded easily to him. “That’s what I thought.”

“But Coral said—”

“Fuck what she said. We all heard about her. Even the other dragons are talking,” Landers growled. “If she tries to touch you again, punch her face in and rearrange it. Don’t shy away from her.”

“No, don’t do that.” Philit sighed. “Rayna’s supposed to be keeping her head down. Besides, she apparently already did that and got whipped for it.”

“She needs to fucking protect herself,” Landers snapped back. “They need to realize Rayna isn’t a doormat.”

They went back and forth like that, arguing over how I should deal with Coral. The more they talked, the more it sounded like I was entering a tunnel, their voices becoming distant.

“Rayna!”

I snapped my eyes open and found myself staring up at Aylia.

“Class, we need to go now. I let you sleep as long as I could, but we shouldn’t be late,” she explained.

“Good idea,” I mumbled.

It took a bit, but I was able to get out of bed. Aylia even had my uniform ready. At least the academy had replaced the one they destroyed. As I moved, I realized I still felt that soreness in my body, just like in my dream. Like my real body was the one that got fucked senseless. It made me smile, even as my cheeks heated up.

“We have to get going; today is our first riding lesson.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

Aylia grabbed my hand and pulled me out of our dorm room. “Our first riding lesson is today. Everyone is hush hush about what we’re going to do. No one has any dragons yet. Everyone thinks that today, they’ll start pairing us off to see if anyone is our mate. Apparently, everyone in our class will be there with all the unmated dragons.”

That got me excited and got me moving faster. My guys were close. I’d get to see them after not truly being near them for the past three days.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I bit back a groan as we turned to face Coral. She’d been quiet the last couple of days, but apparently, it was too much to ask her to remain that way.

“To class,” I said.

“I told you to stay away from the dragons. They don’t need you,” Coral said, stepping close enough to get into my personal space. “And it isn’t like you get to pick your dragon anymore.”

I shoved her away from me, my skin feeling like there were creepy crawlies all over with her so close. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Coral shrugged, not phased by my reaction. She slipped by, going out to the training grounds without looking back.

Chapter Sixteen

Everyone was gathered in the middle of the massive field with the dragons around us in a big circle. A small stage was set up, just big enough to fit a couple of people. At the top of it, Captain Corniz stood front and center with a harsh gaze as he waited. Tanja stood slightly behind him.

While we waited, I glanced around the field and tried to get a peek at any of my guys, but there were so many of us that I was having trouble seeing over heads or around the stage. And I still couldn’t sense them like I should have been able to. It did feel like we were closed off from each other. Was that because of whatever the academy had used to bind their wings? Was there something out there that could block a connection?

My stomach dropped at that. If they could block a connection, then what stopped them from breaking it?

Slowly the whispers died down as it became evident that Captain Corniz was about to start. The constant silence stretched out awkwardly until the students shared uncomfortable glances with each other. Then, he finally started, making some of us jump with how his voice seemed to echo across the field. I could hear him as clearly as if I were standing right in front of him.

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