Don’t worry. I’m coming.
There was no time to say the words. I tried to send them down the connection that’d brought me back to her, but I had no way of knowing if it’d worked. Ness could see me. She knew that I was coming for her.
The brothers had other ideas, though. They leapt on my back. Time slowed even more with them holding me back. I snarled and lashed my tail, hitting one brother. He grunted as he hit the ground. The other brother wrapped his arm around my neck.
I paid him little attention and threw myself over the edge of the building. The shifter on my back—Jackson? Marcus? I didn’t have time to tell which was which—let out a pathetic whimper when the world opened beneath us.
Ness’s expression changed from panic to acceptance. She mouthed something, but the wind stole the words from me. Like hell was I going to let her hit the ground. That wasn’t going to happen today.
I snapped my wings in tight. The extra weight on my back helped me plummet faster. The ground below rushed up to greet us. The way time slowed, it seemed as if I had nothing to worry about. I couldn’t trust my perception.
The fourth-floor windows passed us. Then the third-floor windows. Right before we reached the second-floor windows, I caught Ness and threw my wings out. The air became solid beneath me. I cradled Ness close to my chest, twisted my body, and dumped the shifter on my back.
He let out a loud yelp, but the fall wasn’t far now. Without him on my back, I rose into the air. Could Ness hear the frantic beat of my heart? Could she tell how I’d been afraid to lose her?
Ness
I buriedmy face in Ryder’s chest. Inside, my hound was still scrambling in a panic. She howled in terror for several more moments before realizing that we were safe. When she paused, panting, I let out a sob.
For a moment back there, I’d been prepared to hit the ground. There was a slim chance that I could have walked away from it. Not because of my shifter healing. I was pretty sure that impact would have killed me.
The memory of Alvin snapping my neck made me wonder if I could have come back from that fall. How much of that could I have healed? Would death keep shoving me back into the world of the living until I’d finished my job here? Or did I only have one get-out-of-death-free card?
There were too many questions still up in the air. I’d accepted my fate way too easily. Though, there wasn’t much I could have done to survive the fall. Once I lost my footing, I’d been helpless. Only the sight of Ryder leaping after me gave me any solace. With Ryder there, Alvin wouldn’t be able to pick up my body and carry me away.
Thankfully, Ryder had my back. His wings were a wonderous thing to behold, stretching from his human shoulders. From a distance, his dragon features were dark. This close, I could see the subtle iridescence in his scales and the way the membrane of his wings shimmered in the pale daylight.
When I looked up at his face, I noticed scales climbing from the corners of his jaw to his temples. They, too, glittered in the light. He glanced down at me with worry. I didn’t know what he was worried about anymore.
He’d caught me.
I was safe…for now.
Alvin had been in my head when I’d reached the edge of the roof. Alvin had told me to jump. I’d felt my body tense in preparation. It’d taken every ounce of willpower I could muster to keep myself from leaping over the edge.
When I wouldn’t jump myself, Jackson had taken it upon himself to get the job done.
I missed the warm feeling in my parents’ kitchen with Dad steadily making a stack of pancakes. I yearned for the sound of forks scraping plates as we all tried to get every last drop of maple syrup.
I’d already had enough excitement to last me the rest of my life. If I survived this, I would never go in search of any other kind of thrill ever again. Roller coasters? Hell no. Skydiving? Not me.
When Ryder banked around a corner and tilted his wings to create drag, I tensed. Not because I expected us to fall—if anything, the landing was smooth—but because I wasn’t prepared to walk on my own two feet yet.
With Alvin in my head, I didn’t know if I could trust my own body. Ryder seemed to understand that without me having to say it out loud. That, or he just wasn’t ready to let go of me yet. Either way, I allowed him to adjust his hold on me and carry me out of Lakesedge. The evidence of his partial shift vanished, both wings and tail disappearing back into his body.
The walk was long, but I dozed in his arms. Every so often, I would wake and think of his car, parked in the heart of Lakesedge. I thought about mentioning this, but I kept falling back to sleep before I could open my mouth.
I woke on the bed in Ryder’s rental apartment. This place had become my home in the past few days. With Ryder warming my back, I had little reason to move. He tightened his grip on me when I wriggled. His growl rumbled in my ear and sent chills down my spine.
Those chills turned into fireworks deep in my core. My breath shuddered out of me as need gripped me tight.
“I almost failed you again,” Ryder growled.
I could feel his anger towards himself. Twisting in his arms, I was able to press my forehead to his. Before I could even say anything, he cupped my cheek and pressed his lips to mine. I melted against him. Without thinking, I parted my lips for him.
His tongue delved into my mouth. He explored me with an urgency he’d never shown before. His hand on my cheek slid back so that he could cup the base of my skull. I let him hold me because here, I was safe. With him, I would always be safe.
The ice around my heart began to melt again. I couldn’t let it disappear. I had to hold onto it so that Alvin’s binding ritual couldn’t take ahold of my arcana. He’d used it once, but the arcana had been a weak shadow of itself. If the ice melted, then he would have more.