Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,49

you ready for this, Big Boy?

Please. Zavier puffed out his chest and belched up a few sparks. I was born ready!

You were born a scrawny little pipsqueak, Caleb teased. But we’ll let you live with the fantasy. He glanced over at Scarlet. “On your mark, Buttercup.”

She grinned, looking both nervous and excited. “Get set…”

“GO!” they both cried in unison.

The dragons burst from the shack, launching off their back feet and leaping into the night sky, their leathery wings claiming the air currents and beating them into submission. It was zero to sixty faster than any sports car, and though Caleb tried his best to look cool, calm, and collected—as if this were just another Tuesday—inside, his pulse was racing and his stomach was flip-flopping madly. It’d been so long since he’d been on the back of a dragon in real life. He’d almost forgotten how exhilarating it could be.

The night was dark, with heavy cloud cover over the moon and stars. Caleb had insisted they wait for a night like this, to make sure they were able to fly unseen. It was a bit colder than he would have preferred, however, and the icy wind whipped at his face without mercy. But he didn’t care. He was flying a dragon again. His dragon. Talk about a dream come true.

“Oh my God, this is AH-MAZ-ING!” Scarlet squealed from somewhere nearby, though he couldn’t see her through the clouds. His heart warmed at the joy he heard in her voice. Like him, she’d suffered so much. And now, like him, she was finally free.

How does it feel? he asked, switching to mind speak to be better heard over the rush of wind.

Like I’ve died and gone to heaven, she replied blissfully. I thought I’d be scared, but I just feel so good. Like…I don’t know…I was born to do this or something.

Caleb smiled. Maybe you were.

They cut across the sky, dipping and soaring and weaving in and out of the clouds, Zoe and Zavier teasing one another as they danced their dragon dance. Caleb was pretty sure the two dragons were having as much fun as he and Scarlet were, which meant they were having quite a lot of fun indeed.

In case I didn’t tell you lately, you’re pretty awesome, he told Zavier, slapping him playfully on the neck. The dragon turned to him, lifting a skeptical eyelid.

As awesome as the legendary Fred?

Caleb gave him a scolding look. Now, now, let’s not get crazy here.

But even as he teased the dragon, he knew the truth. While Fred would always have a special place in his heart, Zavier had already proven himself a worthy successor. For the first time since he could remember, Caleb felt a strange sort of peace about his first dragon’s death, and he liked to imagine that Fred was looking down from the Nether, smiling at him (while chomping down on a huge steak bone, of course!), happy to see her guardian moving forward with his life.

They found a rocky campsite a few miles away, atop a small desert mountain. Once on the ground, they dismounted their dragons and found a few boulders to sit on while Zoe and Zavier curled up around one another, tails entwined as they set out to clean each other’s scales with their long, black tongues. Silly creatures, Caleb thought, really not much different than overgrown house cats.

He sighed contentedly, stretching out his legs in front of him and his hands above his head. “If only we were in the Nether now,” he remarked. “I could conjure us up a nice fire and roast us some marshmallows—really make this night perfect.”

But Scarlet only shook her head, lying down on her back and staring up at the sky. “It already is perfect, Caleb,” she said.

He looked down at her, at her simple unguarded face. At the contentedness sparkling in her dark eyes. Warmth flooded his stomach again. She was right. This was perfect.

And so was she.

He closed his eyes. How easy it would be for him to just crawl over there now, to take her into his arms and pull her to him, their mouths and bodies coming together in mutual heat. Scarlet, he knew, would never push him away. She’d never call him a distraction. She would never make him feel even the tiniest bit unworthy of her love.

He stifled a groan. Was this how Trinity had felt when he’d gone and kissed her in the Nether? At the time, he couldn’t fathom how