Page 41 of Smoke and Flame

His heart warmed at the older Drahkelle’s sight.“For good reason.”

She nodded and started from her place.“I will get you food.”

He moved in step with her, keeping his strides shortened.“I don’t plan to stay.I figured I’d take a look at the territory.”

“I figured as much.”She held up a hand and went to the kitchen for a moment.At dragon’s speed, she was back.She held out a big pack with thick straps.“When you land, you’ll be hungry.No need to starve your dragon because you’re all tangled up in emotions.”

He chuckled and shook his head.He didn’t address her comment but took the heavy bag.The aroma of roasted meat and fruit came through it.His dragon rose, but Aodh ignored him.“Thank you.Kai is in the bath now.”

“Leave that worry to me.I’ll care for her.”

“She is not to leave the suite,” he commanded as he shifted the bag to his shoulder and started but stopped.“And set a guard at my stairs.No one is to go up.”

“Ah...Ninki’s visit did not sit well with you.”

“I will address it.”With that said, he left.

Outside in the pitch black, far away from the Mckenna building, Aodh paused.He took a few breaths, needing this moment alone.There were too many emotions warring inside of him.This was a new experience for him.Before Kai, his life had been simple, but she was a complication.It was thrilling, but he feared his dragon did not feel the same.After the days in bed with her, he was sure of who Kai was to him.

It had been too long since he’d let his dragon out.Even now, his beast was scratching and clawing at him with the need to stretch its wings and soar.It would have been easy for him to allow his beast to launch from his loggia off the side of his suites, but he opted not to do it, unsure of his dragon around Kai.

Aodh wouldn’t put her in danger, even for his beast.

He continued forward until he found a large enough clearing.He quickly found space since it was so early, and most were still in their homes or working the night shifts.Finding a clearing was prime with the laws around not cutting down trees.Setting his pack down in the flat area, he glanced at the dark sky.The moon was no longer visible through the dense ozone.

Unlike other shifters, dragons had a bit of mage blood, which helped them change without the fanfare of stripping or ripping up their clothing.

Aodh inhaled deep.

“Rrrr!”His dragon exhaled with a roar as he appeared and stretched his wings up into a high arch.There wasn’t room enough in the clearing for him to expand them out.He swished his spear-like tail left then right over the hard, dirt-packed ground.

Staring out from his dragon’s slit pupils, Aodh saw everything from the tremor of a leaf on a branch thirty feet away to the red-orange hues of the heat off those in his thunder moving in human form.

He noted many of them halted on their path to glance in his direction.

More than twenty feet in height, his dragon would cause trembling of awe, with a hint of apprehension.He was their Dragon King, and they respected him with a healthy amount of trepidation.

His dragon leaned down, inhaling the savory meat wafting from the sack.When he started to open his mouth and consume it, Aodh yanked on the internal reins that tethered them together.

Dissatisfaction rumbled through his beast.The dragon, just like the man, didn’t like to be controlled.

Snatching up the pack with one of his front claws, the dragon launched into the night sky, the ground shaking in his wake.One, two, three flaps of his wings as he rose above the land, the treetops bowed under his wind gusts.Off in the distance, his dragon saw the others who were part of the security detail as they flew and surveyed the perimeter.Aodh would do that, too, but he would start with the furthest point north, needing to give his dragon time to soar.

He rose higher and higher in the air, relishing the Icy chill of the wind along his thick skin.There were only a few hours until dawn, and he wanted all that time to align his mind and beast.There was a peace flying this high above the land.

Aodh’s dragon barely flew fifty miles when he realized he wouldn’t be granted the solitude he desired as a giant royal Egyptian blue with two large horns glided up alongside him.

~YH~

The beast beside Aodh, with its long snake-like body’s wings, spanned just as wide as his own.He didn’t need to look into yellow, slit eyes to know who joined him.

Brother, why are you here?

Ah, you know how much our dragons love to soar after a good round of sex.

It was true.Even though the human part of their forms preferred a bit of rest after sex, their dragons gained energy.The only way to burn that off was through battle or a harrowing flight.Since multiple treaties bound them around wars, and it was too early to drag another from their bed for exercise with broadswords that left Aodh—and Liekki, apparently—with taking to the skies.

How were your days with your little human?Liekki chuckled.

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