Page 90 of Bound to the Orc King

I jolt, and only Aldronn’s quick move to wrap an arm around my back keeps me from toppling off the log.

“I found her,” I say. “But the second I tried to get close, something blocked me.”

“Didn’t the goddess tell you she’s imprisoned?” he asks.

“Yeah, which means I still need to figure out how to break her out.”

“You’ll do it,” he says, and the conviction in his voice makes my heart skip. It’s still amazing to have someone who believes in me the way he does.

“So what do we do?” Luke cuts across the moment.

“We fly.” Sheevora stands. “I will carry Naomi and Wranth, and you will bring May, so she can find the goddess.”

“And me,” Aldronn growls.

The dragon tips her head and stalks off, Luke following her.

“You’re not leaving us behind!” Rune leaps to his feet. “We want to be there when you find the Moon Goddess.”

“Exactly,” Starfall adds. “The unicorns must be represented.”

Shadow grins. “The goddess will certainly want to meet me.”

“No one’s leaving anyone behind.” Naomi pats at the air with her palms. “I promise I’ll come back and get you all.”

“Until then, the rest of you pack up everything and wait in the largest cave,” Aldronn says. “Place the door crystal in an inner cave with a low ceiling. If the dark fae come through, they won’t be able to fly. It will even the odds somewhat.”

Once far enough away from camp to have room, Sheevora shifts into her dragon form. Luke does the same, a jolt of magic pulsing through the air like someone set off an invisible bomb.

“Fuck me,” I whisper.

He’s even larger than Sheevora, a gigantic red dragon with amber eyes and wings that blot out the sun.

While the green dragon makes a ramp with her foreleg that Naomi and Wranth can walk up, Luke stands tall.

“Well?” Aldronn frowns up at him. “Are you our ally or not? You’ve still have to prove yourself trustworthy.”

“How many times must I tell you I followed orders?” Luke booms, his voice a bass drum. But he lowers his leg for us.

Aldronn ushers me ahead of him, placing a hand on my lower back to make sure I keep my feet. When we get to the top, I scramble over Luke’s shoulder to sit in the dip at the end of his neck, and Aldronn settles behind, wrapping his arms around me.

Sheevora takes off, and Luke springs into the air with so much force that I would have flown off his back without Aldronn’s strong thighs clinging to the dragon, keeping us anchored.

The massive red wings pound the air, sounding like drumbeats. My heart races, excitement pouring through me as I crane my neck to try to see everything. Laughter bubbles in my chest, building until I let it out in a whoop.

I’m riding a freaking dragon!

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Aldronn

Riding a dragon is an exhilarating experience and made more so by May’s joy. I take great delight in her happiness. Part of it’s that she’s younger and less jaded by life, but most of it is her sunny disposition.

“You know,” she yells back at me, “it’s not really fair that you guys call this the Northern Wastes. It might not have forests, but it’s got its own kind of beauty.”

“I agree.” The moss-dotted landscape is stark, yes, but seen from above, the ice weaves lovely patterns between the greenery, forming patterns like massive snowflakes spread across the ground. “It’s the dragons who named it such. No orc has been this far north.”

“We named it thus for good reason.” Lukendevener bends his snake-like neck around enough to pin us with a disapproving eye, the vertical pupil a black slash against the amber. “You will see.”

---