I was trapped here. The city was under attack, the Fae were too close for comfort, and I was stuck without my dragons. I bit back a cry of frustration, pounding on the window briefly before leaning my head against the cool window. I tried to figure out how to get out of this mess.

  I wanted my dragons.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Nine

  I yanked at my hair, trying to hold in the bubbling frustration that had made my thoughts erratic. I paced in front of the window, only able to watch the chaos unfold outside. Dragons caused a dark cloud in the sky as they fought. Fire shot across the sky every so often, and the air even in my room was heavy.

  It almost felt like I was choking.

  A door clicked open, and I whirled around, ready to charge for the front door and make a break for it. Except it was our bathroom door that opened, Aylia standing in the doorway.

  “Oh, you’re here.” She came over. “Are you okay? Did the king hurt you?”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  She frowned. “All students are to be in their rooms. As soon as the attack happened, they started sending us all back to our dorms.” Aylia came over and stood with me, staring out the window. Something about her was off. She was quiet and a little too calm.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Because…” I waved my hand out the window at the chaos. I didn’t realize I needed to explain the situation to her.

  “But they want us to stay here. And it’s safe here.”

  I snorted. “For me, but what about my guys? I need to get to them.” And I didn’t want to stay here and twiddle my thumbs waiting for the king to come back for me.

  Aylia made a small, dismissive sound as she walked over to her bed and sat down. She casually grabbed the textbook she had on the bed and began slowly flipping through it.

  “Aylia!”

  She looked over at me.

  “Why are you acting like this? Like you wouldn’t mind knitting right now even though the Fae are right outside our window.” As if to prove my point, our room shook briefly.

  “What can we do?” she asked. “We have to stay in our rooms. I don’t have a dragon, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know how to even fight back. We’d just get ourselves killed. So let’s just stay here and let what happens happen.”

  “What happens happen…” I repeated her words slowly.

  It sounded so weirdly worded like that. I stared at Aylia, taking in the hardness that seemed to have taken her over. She was no longer the cute, soft-looking friend that I knew.

  “Are you part of it?” I asked.

  “What?” That seemed to get her attention. Good. Something had to.

  “Are you working with the king? Spying for him?”

  She blinked, and then she broke out laughing. “Never. He’s the biggest creep to ever exist. I’d never want to help him.”

  “That’s bullshit. It makes sense. You feed him information about me, give him all my weaknesses. That has to be why he knows all the right buttons to push, why he’s able to control me.”

  “Rayna.” Aylia was in front of me, grabbing my arms. “Take a deep breath. I promise, I’m not helping the king. I’d never help him.”

  I yanked out of her grip, not wanting her to touch me. It felt wrong. There were only three touches I wanted right then, and none of my guys were nearby to give me the comfort I wanted from them. I couldn’t even feel them like I was beginning to all over again. The king must have revamped the block the academy had locked over our bond.

  I wanted to scream, feeling too alone and separated.

  “Rayna, calm down.” Aylia tried to approach me. I jumped away from her, needing distance.

  “Don’t touch me,” I snapped.

  She froze, her hands dropping to her sides, her face twisting in pain. “Rayna, I know things are confusing. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through with your mates and the king. But I can say this. We are safe here. No one is going to hurt us.” She tried to give me a smile, but it was a bit weak. “I won’t let them. I’m here with you, okay.”

  I nodded jerkily, my heart rate finally calming down, my thoughts slowing from their dangerous whirlwind.

  As my inner self calmed though, chaos erupted all around me. There was a loud boom, but it didn’t stop with just the wall shaking. Instead, all around us, debris flew, slamming into me. I grunted as pain erupted over my back.

  “Rayna!” I could hear Aylia calling for me, but then there was another boom, and I was no longer on my feet.

  I slammed hard onto the floor, debris raining all over me, and briefly for a moment, everything went dark.

  Chapter

  Thirty

  I had been blown up. My brain was slow in realizing that. My body wasn’t as it ached from being slammed around with debris hitting me. I coughed, the room hazy as I unburied myself from some of the wood that had managed to cover me.

  “Aylia?” I called out, coughing, my throat burning.

  The haziness blurred my vision as I stumbled to my feet, feeling disoriented. I couldn’t even say where in my room I currently stood. Everything was such a mess. A dragon nearby roared and shot through the air. The air around me whipped around as they shot by me. We didn’t have a window anymore.

  We didn’t have anything there anymore. It had been blown inward.

  “Aylia?” I called again, moving pieces, trying to pick me way around the room.

  Where was she? Was she okay? Was she knocked out? Hurt? I turned to the exit, only for pieces of the ceiling to nearly fall on me. I jumped to the side with a small yelp as a huge piece slammed into the floor right where I had been standing. If that had hit me, I would have been dead.

  “Aylia!” I tried again, feeling frantic.

  She had to have gotten buried. That was the only answer. I tried to dig through the debris, dreading finding her underneath.

  Yells broke out and thundering feet came in my direction.

  “Get her now!” someone called out. “We must make sure she’s still alive.”

  My hearing picked up on the words, and while I should have felt hopeful about help coming, dread slammed into me instead. I needed to get away.

  I glanced around one last time, hoping to see any sign of Aylia. Maybe she got out? The thundering footsteps were getting closer, the sound of armor clanging together. I scrambled through the mess and nearly tripped into the hallway. The dragons who had been guarding my door before the explosion were knocked out; some of the debris had hit them.

  After glancing back one more time, I took off running away from the guards. My eyes burned with the need to cry as I whirled a corner and kept going. Others were running too, and I used them to stay as hidden as I could as they rushed their way out of the academy. Someone was yelling for everyone to get into the bunker deeper in the mountain.

  That sounded like a terrible idea to me. This was my chance to escape. I just needed to find my guys.

  Pain shot up my side from all the running, my breathing growing ragged. Once again, I was reminded of how unfit I was for this kind of activity. For some reason, I found myself in the library. It was quiet, the chaos of the students and the fights muted. No one was in the library; it was the last place anyone wanted to be.

  “Rayna!” Philit’s harsh bark caught my attention. He was up top, on the floor where we had met last. “Stay there.”

  Before I could say anything, all three of them jumped down. I screamed, knowing they couldn’t fly, but they landed in a crouch, like they hadn’t just jumped down three stories.

  “I told you this was the way to go,” Landers said, sounding way too proud.

  “What happened to you?” Zilon asked, reaching over and wiping at my cheek. He pulled away, my blood dotting his thumb.

  “My… my room exploded.”

  My heart was still thundering in my throat after seeing them jump down like that. It took me a moment to clear the horror scenario replaying in my head, visions of the carnage that would have happened if they hadn’t landed as smoothly and effortlessly.

  All three of their eyes grew huge.

  “Are you okay?” Philit asked.

  I nodded, starting to feel a little numb as I calmed down and caught my breath.

  “We can’t stay here; we need to go,” I said. “The king. They’re looking for me.”

  Their expressions hardened. “I think it’s time we hunt down the captain. Come on.” Philit grabbed my hand and pulled me back out of the library.

  “What if they catch us?” I asked.

  “Who?” Philit asked. “The dragons are too distracted with the battle, or do you mean the Fae?”

  He made a good point. Philit easily led us through the hallways, working toward the middle of the academy.

  “There!” Zilon pointed out the window.

  Tanja zoomed by on the captain’s back with a hard expression, her bow and arrow cocked. She let it fly before spinning higher up. We moved to the window, pressing up against it to see where they were going.

  “This way,” I said, running further down the hall. “We can only wait for them to land.”

  They chased after me. “Be careful, Rayna,” Philit said.

  “There’s some balconies this way,” Zilon said.

  We ran that way.

  “Watch out!” One of the guys grabbed me and yanked me back just as the glass shattered and bodies were tossed through.

  I was pushed further behind all three of them as two Fae stood up. They were tall and lanky with glacial blue eyes, and they didn’t seem fazed at all by the fact that they were just shoved through windows. Right before our eyes, even the shallow cuts on their faces closed up.

  “Rayna,” one of them hissed. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

  That got the other Fae’s attention.

  “Back the fuck off,” Philit warned.

  The Fae approached us, uncaring. They didn’t seem affected by the three dragons before them. Their eyes remained on me. It felt like my breath froze in my chest.

  My skin grew hot and prickly. I was scared of the Fae coming closer and killing my dragons. I stepped closer, pressing my hands against Philit and Landers’ backs. That hot prickliness filled my fingers, and by the way they stiffened, they’d felt it too.

  “Hand her over,” the first Fae said.

  Another Fae landed in the hallway through the open window. Three versus three. It looked like it could be even, but the guys weren’t the best fighters, having no time to train, and their wings were still bound.

  “No.” Philit’s definitive answer was deadly.

  The Fae charged.

  Landers and Zilon roared as the three of them surged forward, clashing with the Fae.

  My heart jumped back in my throat, and I almost felt like I was going to choke on my fear as I watched them fight. It was clear that compared to these particular Fae, my guys lacked experience. Even Philit was having trouble fighting them.

  One of them roared, fire bellowing out in the chaos of the fight. It took me a moment to realize Landers had just breathed fire. It took the Fae a moment to realize it too. The prickliness in my skin built back up, like I was the one about to breathe fire instead of my guys. It gathered in my fingers again. I briefly wondered if this was why Landers just breathed fire despite being in human form, and if I could help them could do it again.

  That one feeling sent that heavy tingling through my bond with the dragons, and then all three of them were breathing fire.

  Everyone was shocked. Me. The Fae. My guys. It should be impossible. They weren’t even in their dragon forms.

  One of the Fae was the fastest in getting over the shock, and went for Landers, tackling him to the ground. But then Landers did his magic again—fire spewing out of his mouth and right into the Fae’s face. The Fae screeched, quickly getting off and away from Landers, as he wiped at his face.

  The other two Fae were getting ready to renew their attacks when there was a roar, and the window closest to the Fae shattered. Tanja rolled in, righted herself, and then in quick succession, sent two arrows flying through the air. They hit their marks, getting the two standing Fae right in their eyes. They stood for a long moment, not moving, eyes wide, with their unhurt eyes wide. Then, their heads exploded in bits, and their bodies collapsed.

  “Rayna,” Tanja said, running to my side.

  There was whooshing wind before Captain Corniz landed in the hallway: big, naked, and absolutely furious.

  He looked around and spied the remaining Fae still rubbing at his crispy face. He stalked up to the Fae, grabbed his head, and twisted. There was a crack and then another crack. The Fae fell to the ground, his head rolling only a couple feet away from his body.

  “What are you guys doing out here?” Captain Corniz asked, now stalking toward us. It was so hard not to look, and once I did, I had to focus on Tanja standing in front of us.

  Intimidated, I moved so that I stood behind the guys.

  “Calm down,” Tanja snapped at her mate.

  He froze briefly, still glaring at us. His gaze landed on me and softened briefly. “Find safety until this is over.”

  “We can’t do that,” Philit said. “This is our chance to get out of here. Rayna isn’t safe here. The king will destroy her.”

  “He won’t kill her,” Tanja said.

  “Exactly. Death isn’t the only bad outcome,” Philit said in a hard enough voice to draw a growl out from the captain.

  “Death would be preferred,” I said softly, finally inching out from behind the guys, knowing I was being silly hiding behind them like that. I needed to be braver.

  “So you’re trying to escape?” Tanja asked. “Actually escape this time?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “We didn’t understand the situation last time,” Zilon said. “We understand now. But we need your help. We can’t fly like this.” He turned his body so his wings showed off.

  “You’re asking us to do something risky,” Captain Corniz said. “We risked ourselves too much the last time you failed to leave.”

  “We won’t make that mistake again,” I said. “We’ll leave. We really will.” I tried to make my eyes as pleading as possible. It was important that they believed us. “It’s too dangerous to be here. The king will kill the guys and try to force the bond on me. You know what I mean when I say that.” I turned to Tanja before she could speak. “And despite him being your uncle, you know he will do that too.”

  Her mouth closed and her shoulders slumped.

  “Please,” Zilon said. “This is the perfect time for us to get out of here.”

  “You guys will never see us again. Ever,” Philit said.

  “Where will you go?” Tanja asked.

  Philit answered confidently. “Far away from here. We’ll figure it out.”

  “Fine.” The captain went over to Zilon first and did something that no one could see, then the bindings that had been pinning Zilon’s wings closed clanged to the ground, a total of six of them. He did the same to Philit and Landers before stepping away.

  All three guys stretched out their wings, and everything they felt just flooded through me. Their relief, their worry, their determination. It boosted me, making it feel like I had been trying to breathe underwater all this time until now. I took in a deep breath, feeling something inside of me settle.

  “Help win this fight, show the dragons and Fae that they should fear you guys, but slip away before the fight ends. As soon as it’s over, no doubt the king will try to capture you again. Promise,” Captain Corniz said.

  We nodded and whispered our promises.

  “Stay alive,” Captain Corniz glared hard at all of us. “And don’t get fucking caught this time.”

  He swooped Tanja up into his arms, went over to the window, and jumped out. A moment later, a roar broke through as he rose in his dragon form with Tanja on his back. They took off, rejoining the fight.

  Chapter

  Thirty-One

  The guys didn’t wait long the moment they were free. A massive gust of wind swept through the hall, nearly taking me with it. Then, roars echoed off the walls. Their elation filled me, and despite the chaos we were in the middle of, I laughed, feeling their excitement, relief, and happiness thrumming through me. It fed into my own emotions.

  Philit came forward, bowing low. I didn’t wait, jumping up on him. It was instantaneous, our connection. Heat flooded through me as his spine impaled me, locking me into place on his back. I moaned, coming right then and there, having too much inside me pent up. All that relief was enough of a flood gate to send me over, and for a moment, I was lost in the feel of him inside of me—not just inside my pussy but in my head too—our connection concrete and deeper than when I wasn’t touching him.

  The other two dragons made a sound similar to a moan, and their pleasure hummed through our bonds. They were feeling what I was feeling. For a moment, all four of us were in complete pleasure.

  Then the building shook, roars from the battle outside bringing us back to reality.

  ‘We need to help them,’ Philit said.

  ‘Won’t be easy,’ Zilon said.

  ‘Easy. We will just destroy whoever gets in our way,’ Landers said.

  I was in agreement.

  ‘We fight our way out of here,’ I sent through them. ‘As soon as the battle begins dying down, we sneak out. But we have to help them. These are our people.’

  ‘I know,’ Philit said, picking up on my anxiety.

  Echoes of their agreement came back to me, and then Philit took off out of the window and into the sky. He remained silent, spinning upward while the other two let out a roar so that anyone focused on us, would actually focus on them instead of me.

  It wasn’t long until the battle found us. There really wasn’t anywhere safe to go. All around us, the Fae flooded the space, using their magic to fight the dragons in the air. It was a complete warzone. Fae had their own magic that allowed them to move through the air. Not as well as a dragon, but it definitely made it trickier to stay away from them.

 

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