Page 6 of We Steal The Flight

A dragon.

I look up as a huge dragon flies across the sky, its silver scales glowing brighter than the moon, and I feel knee-buckling relief for the first time in weeks. This is a dragon I know very well. Maz. My bonded swirls around before heading straight towards me, crashing into trees and flattening them along with Mindless.

“I’ve missed you. Don’t move, my mate.” Black. The relief of hearing his voice makes me sob. Another dragon swoops low, all silver scales like steel armor, burning a circle of fire around us and stopping the Mindless. Maz’s dragon might not have any eyes, but he can see me. Wait, he won’t see Lyra and her bonded. We can’t leave them. Maz’s claws reach down, grabbing me in one go, lifting me up into the air.

“Black!” I shout back into his mind, hoping he hears me with how weak I feel. I’ve lost too much blood now. “A witch and two shifters are down there. Save them!”

Black’s dragon roars once, flying back down as the wind whips round, and lands with a thud. Lyra and Zeph quickly climb onto his back as he breathes fire around them. Mindless climb up his legs, and I cry out a warning, reaching for him even with half a mile between us. Mell jumps on them, ripping the Mindless off Black’s dragon wings before he takes off into the sky and the rest fall into the forest, dripping with Black’s blood. “Thank you.”

“You’re hurt,” Black snarls behind me, his dragon flying faster to get to Maz and me.

I go to tell him I’m fine, just as the blood loss takes over and I pass out in the sky, knowing they won’t let me fall.

Chapter 5

Iwake up warm and confused. One moment I was fighting the Mindless outside of the academy and now someone is fidgeting with my bracelet…what happened? I snuggle into the hard warmth resting right next to me, underneath me and at my back, breathing in the familiar scents. I slowly blink my eyes, looking up at brown locks of soft hair and blue eyes, and my lips spread into the biggest smile. Black. My mate. He releases the heirloom he gave me and rests his bare hand on my cheek, and I press into the touch, enjoying every moment. “Black,” I whisper, my throat stinging. There were so many moments I didn’t know if I’d get back to him, to my bonded and my world.

“Juniper.” He whispers my name back, like our names are enough to say everything we need to between us. “Don’t you ever leave me like that again…please.”

My heart hurts at his tone, at the way he says please. Gods. “I came back. There’s never any world I won’t come back from, and I didn’t want to leave,” I whisper softly. “I’d never willingly leave any of you. Not this year, not any of the years we have had before. I always came back and I always will.”

“I will always wait,” he breathes against my lips before softly kissing me.

I only realize why he is so gentle with me when another hand touches my anklet, smoothing it out. I turn my head and see Maz lying at our side, and my heart jumps at the sight of him. He isn’t wearing a shirt, his glasses are lopsided on his handsome face, and his messy dark hair is drifting over his forehead. Maz’s blue eyes look even brighter when he catches me staring at him. “Welcome back, beautiful. How are you feeling? How is your back?”

“Sore,” I admit, finally focusing on the claw-made scratches I can feel dragging down my spine. This is why I’m lying on Black, so I don’t lie on the injuries. There is a scent of something herbal in the air, and I can taste a potion in my mouth, which I’m sure is pain relief of some kind. “What happened?”

Maz shares a look with Black, one I can’t read. “It’s complicated here; why don’t we begin with your side of things first?” Maz clears his throat. “Do you want to tell me why you brought the enchantress and two of her bonded back? We saved them because you asked…but why?”

Black growls. “She just woke up from being injured. My mate can rest before she needs to answer anything.” His eyes start scanning the room, searching for something. “She needs more pain relief and⁠—”

“I love her too! I would never⁠—”

“No, it’s okay.” I touch Black’s lips with my finger, and he nips it, making me grin. I turn back to Maz, my eyes softening, and I take his hand, linking our fingers. “I understand why you need to know…your curses. She was made out to be the enemy for everyone, and I would want an explanation too.”

I sit up, and Maz offers me a drink of water. I sip on it as I tell them everything I’ve learnt, why the spell went wrong, and how the enchantress was trapped in the real world. It takes a while to explain it all in detail, but eventually they sit in silence, looking shocked. I continue to sip on my water until it’s gone and wince as I shift back to lean on Black’s shoulder. He sighs before pressing a kiss to my forehead, still watching the only door to the bedroom we are in. There is a double bed where we are sitting, a lit fireplace and one cabinet. The wallpaper has peeled, and there is a distinct smell of damp in the air and a chilly breeze coming from a boarded-up window.

“You can’t trust her. None of us can.” Black speaks first. “She might be your mother, but she is an immortal witch who killed for magic, time, and power. I sympathize with her for losing her mate and baby, but we cannot trust her word.”

“I know that, but I do feel like she is telling the truth. I need you not to trust her, but trust me,” I say, looking at them both. “She’s done nothing but help me get back here.”

“She still cursed us, babe,” Maz reminds me.

“I don’t understand why she would have done that or how. She couldn’t get back here.” I shake my head. “We need to talk to her. All of us together. Where is she?”

“Under observation.” Black strokes my arm. “And you’re not well enough to be walking around yet.”

I shrug. “I’m still going.”

Maz grins at me and shakes his head. “It’s not far; she is in one of the local houses. But first, you’re going to shower, re-bandage the scratches, and have new medicine applied. We need to get the blood off you because it’s driving my dragon insane, knowing that you’ve been injured. There’s something else we have to tell you first. Shower, and then we’ll talk about everything with your mother and her bonded.”

“Where are⁠—”

“Shower,” Black gently suggests, but there is no missing the firmness in it as he slides his glove back on. Vale and Kane aren’t close, I’d know it. I’d feel it. Anxiety makes me itchy, but I know Maz is right, I need to shower the blood off me and let them take care of me for the moment.

Maz lifts me up into his arms, very careful not to touch my back, and carries me through one of the two doors in the room. The bathroom isn’t much; most of it is taken up by a clean-looking, old‑fashioned shower with a tub at the bottom. Maz helps me strip out of my bloodied clothes until I’m just in my underwear, before he carefully deposits me into the tub before running the tap to get the temperature right. Minnie peeks her eye out from around the shower curtain before scurrying away.

Black leans against the wall, a thick towel in his hand. “So, your little pet friend turned out to be far more than a pet.”