Page 88 of The Exiled Dragon

“Your Dragon,” Creed spoke. “It has been so long.” Amora nuzzled her Dragon’s head to the navy blue dragon until I gasped.

“Wha-?” I stuttered.

“Mate, Nicholas is my mate.” Nicholas purred, his Dragon pushing closer to Amora. “Adam is a disgraceful person,” her Dragon let out a cry of defeat. It was the saddest cry coming from such a beautiful beast. It was full of pain and suffering. Nicholas purred louder, hushing her cries. “Enough of that, you are mine now. We will talk more later. For now, we should celebrate.” Nicholas pushed away, hovering over Amora’s Dragon as she scraped her claws against the stone, pushing away. Her Dragon let out another roar as Nicholas chased after her.

We all flew back over the water, doing nosedive after nosedive, feeling the rush of the air between each feather. Amora and Nicholas looked happy. Her laughs echoed through the rocky passages of mazes off the shore. Sirens continued to jump from the water, trying to touch our underbelly, and an abundance of dolphins joined in on the fun, trying to race us from cliff to cliff.

My wings never grew tired. Each passing moment had me becoming more confident. As promised, Creed never left my side, watching me carefully, pushing my limits.

We flew until the suns had almost set. The sea waters grew dark. The Sirens that had watched us play and dance with each other in the air had already submerged themselves when we finally landed on the white, sandy beach.

Creed’s Dragon came up to mine, purring louder than a lion as our foreheads touched. Our scaled faces rubbing against each other’s cheeks and tails intertwining around each other. Dragons may inhabit our bodies while we are human, but while we are Dragons, we inhabited theirs. Our Dragons were as much in love with each other as we were.

“I love you.” My eyes began to water. Never in my life had I ever thought I would experience such an emotion, not after the horrible way my father had lived alone. Could any human experience an emotion such as this without a bond? I felt sorry for those who don’t and grateful that I have Creed as my bonded mate.

“And I love you, my little fawn.”

Creed

Having Odessa shift back into her human form was difficult. Her Dragon didn’t want to transform because it was worried mine would fly off and leave her. She pranced on the beach back and forth with the front claws, making me laugh that Odessa couldn’t control it. I spoke to my Dragon, trying to explain we had to shift at the same time if we ever wanted to eat. Once we both shifted together, our clothes remained on our bodies.

“The magic will help keep your clothes from ripping.” I smiled. “I’m thankful for that because I would want no one to see what is mine.” Taking my hand, I laced our fingers together, pulling her back to our ‘rutting cave.’

“I thought all Shifters were okay with their nakedness. You seemed to prance around just fine before.” My face turned scarlet, trying to hide my face from Odessa. I did not prance, and I did not strut. All right, maybe I showed my muscles when we first bathed together back at our cave, but that was only because my Dragon deemed it important. To show her I could pleasure her later.

And I certainly did.

“I do not understand what you mean.” I shook my head, leading her down the winding passageway, still pulling her arm. Her giggles excited me until I reached our bed. An unfamiliar smell hovered over it. The air was stagnant and smelled of death.

Pulling her to my side, she gasped, then let out a loud cry. “FLUFFY!” Her hands pulled at my waist, holding me close. I looked to the other side of the bed, and found a paw lying in a pool of blood. My tongue slid from my mouth. Now smelling the stench, I pulled Odessa with me, not willing to let her go. Covering her eyes, I leaned over the bed, finding Fluffy no longer breathing, his eyes opened in fear, his claws covered in another scent.

“Can you stand?” Odessa whimpered, covering her eyes, silently crying. Kneeling, I lifted his paw, letting my tongue catch the scent of what he fought so valiantly. My claws extended, realizing who it could be. All this time, I had worried about my brother knowing and taking what was mine. I had completely forgotten that Odessa was being hunted by someone else.

“Creed,” she whispered. On the large mirror that hung above our bed was a message written in our pet’s blood.“She can’t hide forever.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

Creed

Odessawasvisiblyshaking.I grabbed her, pulling her to my chest, hiding the blood still flow from Fluffy’s body. My own heart ached at seeing our pet, who was more like family over the past many years, lay in front of me.

My Dragon didn’t care for the sentiment. He was enraged. Growls left my chest, thinking of the Vampires that were after my mate. My mind had forgotten everything the past few days with my rut. The only concentration was on my fawn and now we had been pushed back to reality. I still feel my body not fully complete with my rut, but I’d be damned if I’d make love to her after seeing this.

My Dragon pushed away my physical body’s urge to mate with her again, now only worrying about what to do next. We had been on our own, hiding away in caves and now we had nowhere to go, nowhere I could take her. Vampires have caught her scent and will follow us to the ends of the world.

“What do we do?” she sobbed. “Should we…” Her voice stopped as we heard light footsteps approaching down the narrow, rocky passage. I growled, pushing her behind me. Her fingers holding onto my long hair, I felt the grip tighten around my braids.

“Ho, Dragon,” the lighthearted voice said with uncertainty. “It is I, Osirus and Melina. We have come…” Osirus stopped at the mouth of the cave. His fist was tightened while his own mate stood behind him. “Too late, shit.” Odessa poked her head around my body, running to Melina.

“They found us.” I let my body relax , enough for my Dragon to let Odessa run to Melina as she embraced her. Melina’s wings fluttered, only for them to dip lower.

“It smells like…” Her voice shook.

“Blood.” Osirus stepped towards me, eyeing me carefully before rounding the bed, looking at our pet. “Your pet?” he questioned. I nodded, still not wanting to use my voice for anyone but my mate.

“They killed him.” Odessa sobbed silently. Approaching Melina, she handed Odessa back to me, her tense body calmed once again as I held her in my arms.

“He isn’t dead, just nearly,” Osirus muttered to himself. “He’s about to give up, however. His aura is flickering.” Melina kneeled beside her mate, brushing the one patch of hair that did not contain its blood. “Sing for him, darling?” Melina’s voice croaked, but a soft gentle hum left her mouth. Twitches in Fluffy’s toes had Odessa watching curiously.

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