crash to the flower bed as I forget to keep flying and I can’t help but laugh as I sit up and Gage laughs with me.
“Maybe we need to practice that one a little more,” Gage suggests, picking me up and sitting me on his lap, his cock still hard against me.
I grin and kiss him. Oh, hell yes we can practice this again. And again. And fuck it, again. I couldn’t think of a more beautiful place to do it.
The usual cold air from the Enchanted Forest has been replaced by the smell of the sea. With every breath, I taste the salt from the water. The trees here look healthier, brushed away from the seafront, and sand mixes in with the fallen leaves that crunch under my feet. Echo flies in circles above Zander, happily floating away on his back. Pitch squeezes my hand tightly and I smile up at him.
“Remember that time we went to Devon?” he asks, and a fond smile tilts my lips up. It’s one of my favourite memories.
“Everyone thought you were a mad kid talking to yourself.”
I snort in laughter. “I will never forget the Keeper’s face when she found me talking to you on the beach. For years, she really did think I was insane.”
“When this is all over, I’m taking you to the beach and I’m fucking you on it,” Pitch declares like it’s a done deal, and every inch of me is completely on board with this plan.
It was three years after the beach that Pitch first kissed me, and the memory stays glued to my memory even to this day. Kissing your soulmate feels like coming home. It’s a feeling I’ll never get tired of.
“We’re here!” Jonah shouts back to us from the front of the group.
I rush to his side, staring out at the rolling sea stretching before us. Ambrose bumps my shoulder, a big smile on his face. He was right that we’d reach our destination within a day. Right in the centre of the glistening green sea is the mountain the dragons live on, and as we stare, at least five dragons fly out of the water and around the mountain in a clear formation.
“Is it true that only people with dragon blood can go into the city?” I question, turning to Zander. His eyes lock onto mine as he knows what I need to ask him.
“Ask it,” he mutters. “I know you’re dying to.”
“Zander, I need my uncle to help win this war. Even when I have the sword, I don’t have an army, and the only army left is his. I can’t go to him and ask, but you can for me. Will you?”
I hate asking this of him.
I hate that it has to be Zander since all he’s ever done is hide from his dragon side.
When Zander grits his teeth and turns from me, I add hurriedly, “But I understand if you can’t. I won’t force you to or guilt you into it. I just know we need help, and he’d be a good ally.” I turn to my other guys. “Can you leave us alone for a moment?”
Jonah, Gage, Pitch, and Ambrose awkwardly look between us before nodding and heading into the forest. Echo flies after them. I step closer to Zander, wrapping my arms around his waist. “You’re braver than you know, Zee-Zee. I would never ask this from you if I didn’t know you could do it.”
His silence and the fact he doesn’t laugh at my nickname makes me worry. Maybe I pushed too far by asking this of him?
“I’ve never belonged to the dragons or the magics of this world, Vina,” he whispers, his hand cupping my cheek and lifting my head at the same time. I almost gasp when I see his dragon-like eyes glowing as he looks down at me. “But I belong to you and you are my mate. For you, I will go there and demand help.”
I lean into his hand. “Tell them you’re my mate and will help lead the fae courts. Tell them we offer peace and much more in return for this debt,” I softly say. “And tell my uncle that if he hurts you and hides away in his mountain while his family needs him, I will burn the mountain down and destroy his kingdom if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“Damn, you can be scary.”
We both chuckle for a moment before he brings my lips to his. The kiss