My stomach dropped as the Alpha descended, landing in an open field on high ground.
“Are we at your den already?” I asked, confused as his feet hit the ground with a thud. He held me so carefully and securely that I barely felt the impact.
“Not yet, mate. We will shift fully so we can get there faster,” the Alpha replied, surveying the others as they landed. The fire dragon landed behind us, but he didn’t shift back.
“You will ride with me,” the Alpha ordered as he lowered me to the ground. My eyes narrowed on him. He was beautiful. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to curl up in his arms or rake my nails across his face.
“I’ll ride with him,” I countered, pointing at the red dragon. He hadn’t annoyed me yet. The Alpha looked like nothing would make him happier than arguing with me, but there was a quiet coughing sound from behind me that caught his attention. With a resigned sigh, he gestured dramatically at the red dragon behind him.
It didn’t even occur to me to fear him. These males were far less intimidating in dragon form than they were out of it.
The red dragon watched me approach, bronze eyes shining against his leathery, scarlet skin. Flight Milain, my original prisoners, hadn’t let me leave the den, and there was no room for them to shift indoors. Not since my parents had I seen a dragon in their shifted form. Gods, how many years had it been?
He was majestic.
The tingling in my limbs had only eased a little after touching the Alpha, and I felt my body pulling me towards the others. I didn’t even know what I wanted, why I needed to touch them to ease the heaviness in my arms and legs.
I just… I had to confirm they were mine, to reassure myself.
Letting instinct guide me, I reached up, my fingertips brushing against his scaly neck until he bent down, rubbing his enormous face against my palm. My mouth twitched, a strange emotion I didn’t understand slipping over me as the tingling sensation eased. Then the grumpy Alpha appeared at my back, and the emotion was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“I will help you up,” he barked, his face tight with irritation. Before I could object, he’d lifted me around the waist into the air. I scrambled atop the dragon, leaning forward to wrap my arms as far around his neck as I could, my legs notched in front of his wing joints.
It had been so long since I’d moved around like this, and my weak muscles were already protesting. I let my cheek rest against the scales of his neck, sighing at the warmth of them as his fire magic tingled just under his skin. My lack of energy didn’t bode well for my plans. Flight Milain would overpower me in seconds at this rate, even if I got my hands on some liltane in the forest to put them to sleep with.
I looked up as the distinctive crackling and scraping sounds of shifting dragons filled the air. The familiarity of it made my breath catch, taking me back to a time when my siblings and I had flown on our fathers’ backs, or watched my mother’s golden dragon swoop through the skies, playing with her mates.
Perhaps if I focused on the memory enough, I would cry? In the brief time I’d spent with these males, I’d already felt more than I had since the day my family had been taken from me.
It was dangerously addictive. It would be hard to give up.
Fortunately, the dragons took to the sky before I could let myself worry any further about it. The black dragon led the formation, bigger and more intimidating than the others. On one side was the green earth-dragon, and the silver air-dragon was close on my other side. I could just make out the blue water-dragon behind us as I craned my head back. They’d formed a protective circle around the red dragon.
Around me.
A flying prison.
I bit down hard on my lower lip, forcing myself to stay present and not panic. These were my mates, not my jailers. This was different, things would be different now.
Tightening my grip around the fire dragon’s neck, I could peer over the side at the ground below us. It was awe-inspiring. So much space. There were hills and valleys, forests and fields, homes of every shape and size.
I was so absorbed in taking in the ground below me; the journey felt like it took no time at all. The mountain we were approaching was unfamiliar yet familiar all at once. It was dotted with cave entrances from the top to the bottom, each with a ledge wide enough outside its entrance for a dragon to land on.
It was more populated than the mountain I grew up on and was later enslaved on. Less isolated. More witnesses.
The dragons — my mates — circled, landing one at a time and shifting. None of them entered the cave, though. They all moved back against the wall, pulling their clothes on and waiting, eyes glued to me like I’d disappear if they looked away.
The red dragon beneath me waited until everyone else had shifted before gliding effortlessly to the ledge. The pushy Alpha was at his side in an instant, ready to catch me. I glared at him, but I also couldn’t figure out how to get down, so I allowed myself to slip into his arms. Gods, his body was so hard it could have been carved from rock.
It was strange, the feeling of his body against mine. It made me feel things I wasn’t used to feeling.
I didn’t like it.
The red dragon shifted back, and I watched him dress as discreetly as I could. This was a very distracting environment, and I had things to do.
As if he could sense I was contemplating leaping off the side of the mountain, the Alpha scooped me into his arms, cradling me like an infant again as one of the other males opened the door to their home.
It was a good den, a most promising den.
My dragon instincts, which had always driven me to nest and make my living space comfortable, practically purred as we entered the cave. It was brighter than I expected, light pouring in from the windows on the front face of the mountain. The walls were a brilliant white stone but plain. They needed paint. I’d paint beautiful murals on such a fine canvas.
My gut clenched at the familiarity of a dragon den. There were high ceilings that were tall enough to accommodate male dragons, polished stone walls, and cool stone floors. It had been a long time since I’d been among dragons.
The Alpha carried me into a cavernous parlor off the entryway, his arms firmly wrapped around me. It seemed I wouldn’t be walking anywhere on my own any time soon.
The rock walls had bench seats carved into them. There was a heavy wooden couch and matching armchairs in the middle of the room, all large enough for humongous male dragons to sit on. Despite the bright walls and generous space, the heavy dark red curtains made the space feel cozy. It needed blankets, though. Some soft cushions. A rug.
No. No, I would not get attached to this den.
One of the males, the tallest after the Alpha with the longer dark blonde hair, moved silently towards the hearth, leaning against the wall. The Alpha sat with me on his lap, but I scrambled off into the center of the couch. I needed some space, my head was a mess.
“My name is Ezra,” the hulking dominant male next to me announced, casually flicking a ball of fire at the empty grate, making it burst to life. “I am the Alpha of this flight,” he added unnecessarily. Aside from being too big to be anything but the Alpha, I had seen his black dragon.
"The Beta, and blue dragon" he continued, indicating the other blonde male who was now adding logs of wood to the already burning flame. They looked oddly similar. "Oren."
“I’m Levi,” the male who sat himself down on my other side said, smiling gently at me. He had rich black skin, short black hair and a beard I felt strangely compelled to stroke. I trapped my hands in between my knees in case I got any other strange ideas. Part of me wanted to get it over with, and the tingling urges seemed to go away after I touched them. Levi was less intimidating than Ezra the Alpha, despite his bulging muscles and broad frame. His dark brown eyes were warm and soulful, yet sparkled with amusement.