Page 43 of Ignite the Infernos

The person in muddy-green riding gear leans back to catch my mate, and several things happen at once. The empty flier I’m clutching crashes into the black trunks directly in front of it. The other person catches Ever, but just barely, and the front of their flier clips one of the rocky walls with a damning crunch. I try to pull my hand from the ravine to reach for the duo before they can gain any momentum trying to get away, but something alarmingly grabs onto my hand, and I can’t pull it free.

Startled, I look down, prepared to set whatever it is on fire, but freeze when I realize it isn’t an animal that has me—it’s the black logs, only they’re not logs at all now that they’ve curled themselves around my wrist. I pull with all my might, but it only causes more dark limbs to secure themselves around me.

Fuck!

Desperately, I watch Ever and the other flier slowly making their way farther down the ravine, and I snarl at them. Ever turns to watch me, and I can feel the self-satisfaction radiating off her. She brings a hand to her helmet and mimes blowing me a kiss before she straightens in her seat and wraps her arms around the torso of the male in front of her.

Outrage overcomes me, and I swing my body around to try and knock them from their flier with my tail. I miss by mere feet, and all they feel is an angry breeze instead of my wrath. Ever doesn’t acknowledge the swipe in any way, and I know I’m on the brink of losing it if she slips away from me again.

“Tove! I need you!” I shout through the red haze taking over.

“I’m on my way. What’s wrong?” she frantically replies.

“I think a plant is trying to eat me, and if you can’t make it stop, I’m about to go into a frenzy,” I warn, and the silence that meets that statement is anything but encouraging.

“Describe it,” Tove orders, and I hurry to do just that. “Aeson, whatever you do, don’t struggle, and don’t light it on fire. Judging by the extensive root system and the carnivorous vibes it’s giving off, I’m pretty sure you just stuck your hand in a Scream Eater. If you try to scorch it, cut it, rip it apart, or anything else that exposes its xylem, it will release a gas that will knock you out so it can eat you in peace. I’ll be there in three minutes. Do not do anything until I get there.”

Easy for her to say—she’s not watching her Bonded race away with her arms wrapped around another male. The black stems—or maybe they’re leaves—currently choking my wrist slowly move up my forearm, and I force myself not to fight it. Fabric brushes across my palm as I loosen my grip on the flier in my fist. I notice it’s a pack of some sort. Ever’s pack, I realize. Slowly, carefully, I bring my thumb over the seat so I’m not holding onto the downed vehicle anymore, but instead, I’m gripping the pack.

I relax when my measured movement doesn’t seem to trigger the plant in any way. That’s of course when the flier I just let go of tilts and the engine catches one of the black trunks and rips it open. I have seconds to hold my breath and lift my head as high as it will go before a sickly brown vapor plumes from the injured stem and begins to rise.

My desperate gaze finds Ever again, and I watch helplessly as her flier slowly soars out of the ravine and races off. I refuse to look away, even as my vision tunnels and my lungs scream for air. Internally I claw at our bond, packing it with all the fury and despair radiating through me, but there’s no answer. My soul begs for her to look back, but she doesn’t, and once again I have no choice but to watch as my Bonded runs from me.

Chapter 20

Ever

“WE NEED TO GO,” GABLE barks impatiently. “If his guards show up, we’re fucked. You do understand that, right?”

I ignore Gable’s complaints and anxiously search the sky as we idle around a bend half a mile from the ravine we just escaped from. Apparently done waiting around, Gable shifts his weight forward and reaches for the throttle. The engine revs, and I slam myself against his back in alarm, grabbing the asshole’s arm and squeezing it hard in warning.

“If you take off after I told you to wait, I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you regret it,” I growl, meaning every word.

Gable tenses against me, and then he blows out a frustrated breath and sags in his seat, cowed for now.

“Our window is closing, Scioness,” he urges, and I swear he’s one more no-shit statement away from getting a fist to the kidney.

“I just need to make sure Tove is coming,” I grit out again, knowing he doesn’t give a single fuck, but usually he’s not one to disobey a direct order either.

The engine of the flier gives an unexpected whine, and a concerning rattling soon follows. It’s been doing that more and more while we sit here, and hope that the damage isn’t serious begins to fizzle out like a match in a rainstorm.

“Shit,” Gable utters, and he leans forward to assess the front of the flier, like he’s going to see something different from the last two times he’s done exactly this. With an annoyed huff, he warily scans the skies and then opens his com.

“Anyone near Greedy Gulch?” he asks. “My cycle is bleeding out, and I don’t think she’s going to make it. I’ve got the scioness with me, and we’re going to need two lifts.”

“The queen and I are almost to the exit point,” Mayur answers quickly. “Vero? Amadi?” Mayur hails, and the com fills with quiet static.

“Why is Ever with you? What did she do to her cycle?” Enslee cuts in, and I scoff at the insinuation in her tech-crackled tone.

Gable snorts. “She pissed off a dragon and needed rescuing,” he answers arrogantly. “I’m waxing my suit of armor into a gleaming shine as we speak.”

My answering huff is indignant.

“I can’t get to the gulch, but if you head west, I can meet you at the midpoint to the crystal caves,” Amadi finally answers.

“Vero?” Gable queries again, knowing we need two fliers to take the both of us.

“I’ve got a dragon up my ass. Let me shake the bastard, and I’ll head your way,” Vero calls back, his words buzzing and brittle as they exit the speakers in my helmet. There’s no missing the strain in his tone.