Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I believe it,” Blake said. He moaned into another kiss. His lips were against mine when his eyes opened wide. “Whoa. I don’t think I’m ready for you to go back there right now.”
I squinted at him. “What are you talking about?”
Blake’s eyes opened wide, and he leapt up into my arms. “Whoa!”
I looked down and saw Lily, Caleb’s hellhound, sniffing at the ground by Caleb’s feet. She picked up her head, tongue lolling out, her two spiral horns pointing upward.
I started to crack up. Blake laughed into my neck. “I can’t believe it,” he said. His breath was warm against my skin. “I thought that was you!”
“Lily, bad girl,” I said as I gently put Blake back onto the ground. “That ass is mine and mine only.”
Lily and Blake both looked at me, Blake a little more shocked than Lily.
“Yours, huh?” Blake asked, smirking.
“If it’s not, then I promise to make it mine.”
Blake’s eyes opened wide, cheeks flushing a fire hydrant red.
I had no idea red was my favorite color until now. “Especially when it’s riding me later.”
Chapter 15
A Magic Dragon Ride
Blake
Cassius and I stood outside, the summer sun baking us, hot enough to fight back the ocean breeze. I grabbed my shirt and fanned it out, trying to get some air.
“Sorry, guys.” Xavier appeared through the front doors of the castle. “I had to feed Bambi and Lily.”
“That’s totally fine,” Cassius said. He stood on the balls of his feet. He seemed more excited than nervous, while I was the opposite. I didn’t particularly enjoy the thought of flying hundreds of feet above the ground without at least a seat belt. Xavier had assured me that it would be completely safe, but when I asked him to pull up the safety statistics about flying on dragonback, he stuttered and said touché.
“Alright, ready?” Xavier asked. “It won’t be a long flight.” He walked over to the center of the courtyard. We took a couple of steps back. The hill started to slope downward. A road behind Xavier led out through an imposing set of wrought iron gates.
A road we wouldn’t need to be taking.
I understood the shifting process, but dragons weren’t really considered shifters. They definitely didn’t enjoy being called shifters to their face. Shifters were humans who took on the essence of an animal form, imprinted into their DNA. But dragons were dragons that took on human forms. I never actually considered myself a wolf, even though that was the form I shifted into.
Not so for dragons.
A plume of golden smoke rose from his feet, growing, billowing out. Thick tendrils of smoke curled and whipped in the wind. It became so thick that I couldn’t even make out a shadow or shape from inside it.
A tail appeared first, lazily swaying back and forth. Golden scales shone like gemstones. He had silky white hair hanging from the end of his tail that had the appearance of fresh snow. It looked so soft and inviting.
The rest of the smoke disappeared and revealed Xavier’s dragon form in all his golden glory.
“Wow,” Cassius and I said in unison. I put a hand under my jaw to make sure it hadn’t fallen to the floor.
Xavier turned his long neck in our direction, his snout sniffing at the air. His lips curled into a smile. The same hair on his tail was on his head, like a mane on a horse with wings. He had horns that curled backward, his teeth each the size of my fist. He flexed his haunches and stretched out his wings. They were huge, the sunlight shining through the thin flesh and revealing a network of veins.
I was in so much awe that I momentarily forgot we were riding him. He lowered himself onto the ground and curled his head so he looked at us with one large eye.
“You first,” Cassius said and gently pushed me forward.
“Oh, now you’re scared?” I shot him a look.
Xavier let out a loud rumble. Guess that was my cue to get this going.
I went to Xavier’s side. Between his wings and his neck was a smooth groove sans any spikes. I grabbed onto him and pulled myself up, tossing a leg over his side. I leaned forward and rubbed the smooth scales of his neck. He vibrated slightly underneath me, rising and falling with his breaths.
Cassius climbed on next. He wasn’t as smooth as me, needing a hand before successfully taking his seat behind me. He wrapped his arms around my chest. Xavier slowly raised his head before getting back onto his feet. There were two large spikes that came out from his neck, which made perfect handholds. I gripped them tight as Xavier flapped his wings a couple of times.
It was his way of telling us to get ready for takeoff.
I took in a deep breath to try and settle my quickening pulse. He started with a trot that quickly escalated to a full-blown run. He went directly at the closed iron fence. For a split second, I thought we were about to crash into it before he gave one strong flap of his wings and lifted us up into the air.