When I get to the top I have to squint at the sudden brightness. I know we were underground, but I didn’t expect it to be this dang bright. Then I realise it’s not the sun blasting my eyes, it’s her. Layah stands in front of me with big, beautiful wings of every colour I’ve ever seen. The sunlight flows through them giving off a kaleidoscope of colours shimmering in every direction. Her camo gear swapped out for a white flowing dress, her feet bare and her hair fallen from it’s tight updo into long, luscious blonde curls that flow around her wings and down her waist. Her pink, blue and purple eyes now fitting perfectly with her appearance. Now THAT is a fairy. My fairy. She’s there one second, burning my eyeballs and then next, she’s gone. Fucking poof!
“What the fuck?” I say spinning around in every direction. I inhale deeply, recognizing her scent, it’s still there, just…smaller? Then this little bug flies right into my face and I flinch. Only when it’s close enough, I see that it’s her, just tiny! And she goes right for my nose. I feel a pinch of some sort before she shoots away to my ear and thankfully with my dragon hearing I catch it, a tiny little “boop” and a laugh like an angel, as I stand with my mouth open in shock and owe. She just fucking booped me. I close my mouth, not wanting to accidentally inhale my tiny little mate and grin. Someone wants to play. I strip off my shirt, shorts and underwear, not wanting to tear them because they are the only set I’ve got since I didn’t have notice to pack and I shift. I let my dragon to the front, sitting right alongside me as we take to the skies, spreading our massive golden wings and letting the fresh air carry us. With my dragon’s eyes, I can see everything ten times clearer, and I watch as my little fairy zips around our face, easily keeping up with our speed. Fascinating! We fly together for a short distance, and I am in absolute heaven. My mate with me in the skies, I can’t believe it. This is what really living feels like. Layah shoots off downwards and I circle from above, watching as she goes right for a big elk. Now how is a little thing like that going to take down an elk? I’m about to swoop in and save the day, you know, be the big strong dragon mate she needs right now, but I stop myself, keeping in a slow circle like a hawk. She shifts into her original size just as she hits the top of the elk, her pretty wings shining brightly as she twists her body in a spin and slams her delicate looking wings into the animal. Fuck that can’t be good, I think to myself, right before she goes back to tiny mode and I watch the elks head fall to the ground. Dam! What are her wings made of?! They’re fucking weapons! She zips back up to me and goes straight for my ear. “Fetch.” I hear clearly. My dragon growls in approval before he forces me out of my thoughts and swoops down low to pick up the elk in our claws. We do this four more times. I watch from the skies as Layah slaughters her prey and then I swoop down and grab the bodies…almost like she’s shopping and I’m just holding the basket. That’s okay though, I’ll hold her basket any day.We both fly back to where I’ve left my clothes, and I drop the animals gently before I shift back and change. I was kind of hoping Layah would want to have a little peak at what’s in store for her, but she doesn’t. She shifts back to her normal size with her back to me and I get the perfect view of her wings in full. There’s something incredibly sexy about having a mate with such unique wings. I reach my hand out to touch them, slowly and quietly stepping closer when they fold backwards, slapping me in the face as they retract into nothing. Her dress gone, her hair tied back, her camo gear and boots back in place exactly how it was before.
“Woah.” I say on an exhale. She’s quick to grab an elk and a bore by their legs and start dragging them backwards to the manhole. I’m quicker to grab the two bores at my feet and then snatch the two animals from her grasp as well. They weigh practically nothing to me and I won’t have my mate lifting heavy things when she doesn’t need to. "I can carry those, you know." "Ah, but you don't have to, doll." I wink.Kai shifts beneath me, sliding his fingers free with a gentle kiss to my chest, and Dylan catches my waist, steadying me as I rise onto my knees. My legs tremble, but not from fear. From need. Dylan’s hands roam up my thighs, worshipful, before he move my hips to guide Kai inside me. The stretch makes me gasp again, this time louder, and Kai groans as my body slowly sinks down around him.“Gods, Layah…” he mutters, his hands gripping my hips, thumbs stroking my skin like he’s grounding himself through me. I roll my hips slowly, adjusting, feeling every inch of him. It’s overwhelming,the fullness, the warmth, the way I fit so perfectly around him like I was made to. Like he was made for me.Dylan leans forward, his mouth brushing my shoulder as he whispers, “You look so fucking beautiful like this.”He runs his hands up my belly, cupping my breasts, teasing the sensitive peaks between his fingers as I start to move. Kai meets each shift of my hips with a slow thrust upward, matching my
I shouldn’t be here. That thought hums under my skin, even as the fire crackles in front of me and warmth radiates from both sides of my body. Dylan’s laughter still lingers in the air like something sweet, and Kai hasn’t stopped watching me, not in a possessive way, but in a way that says you matter. I should be running. Pushing them back. Guarding what’s left of the soft parts inside me. Instead, I’m here. Sitting between them on a blanket under the stars, firelight kissing my knees, and for once, I’m not preparing to fight. I’m just… existing and fuck, it’s terrifying.But when Dylan leans against my side, his shoulder brushing mine, I don’t pull away. When Kai shifts slightly closer, resting one hand behind me like a quiet tether, I don’t flinch. Their presence is grounding, like I’m a tethered balloon that’s finally stopped tugging against the string.I swallow thickly and whisper, “I don’t know how to do this.”Dylan’s head tilts toward me. “Do what?”“This.” I gesture vaguely t
KaiShe’s going to leave. I know it like I know my own heartbeat, steady, inevitable, and completely outside my control. She’s terrified of what it means to stop running and I get it. I’ve lived my whole life among creatures bred to kill and trained to follow orders without question. For most of them, softness is a weakness. Love is leverage. And vulnerability? That’s just a clean kill shot waiting to happen. Layah didn’t come here asking to be protected. She came here already half-broken, but with purpose, with strength and drive. I don’t want to hold her down. I just want to give her something that makes staying worth it...even if she still leaves.I lean back in the chair near my library, elbows on knees, watching the last sliver of orange fade behind the hills. There’s something about dusk that makes truths harder to ignore. Like everything softens enough to let your fears bleed through. What if she doesn’t come back after this week? What if we’ve already had all the time we’re go
The training field is sun-warmed and buzzing with energy. It’s nothing fancy, just a packed-dirt clearing near the hellhound housing quarters, surrounded by jagged black stone and the occasional patch of dry grass, but to us, it might as well be a palace courtyard. After months of hiding in forests, fighting in ruins, and sleeping under magically camouflaged trees, this is luxury. Our group is loose and laughing, a handful of us stretching, others already circling up for sparring. Nick’s barefoot, conjuring little flames between his fingers like a magician showing off at a party. Jordan is talking shit to a hellhound almost twice his size, pointing at the practice blades like he’s already won. I’m sitting on the edge of a boulder, pulling my hair up into a messy knot, when I catch the first look. A hellhound, young, maybe my age, watching us from the edge of the field. Not with distrust but with curiosity. It’s happening more and more. Every time we laugh. Every time we spar with each
LayahI wake up warm. So warm, I don’t want to move. Not even a little. There’s a chest pressed against my back, an arm draped across my waist, a hand still tangled with mine in front. I’m swaddled between two walls of heat and scent, cedar smoke and dry pine, summer air and dragonfire. Dylan behind me. Kai in front. My brain takes its sweet time catching up to the fact that I didn’t just dream it. That I really did crawl into Kai’s bed last night wearing nothing but his oversized shirt. That I fell asleep tangled between two men who have every right to call themselves mine and every reason not to push. Which, judging by the tight tension in their bodies and the way they haven’t moved an inch, is exactly what they’ve been doing. I shift slightly, stretching my legs under the blanket. Immediately, both bodies press in closer, as if their instincts are hardwired to keep me surrounded. My cheeks flush as fragments of my dreams resurface… heat, hands, mouths on my skin, teeth grazing my n
The house is quiet now. Plates have been cleared. Boots kicked off. Most of the resistance is tucked into corners, couches, borrowed rooms. The fire in the living room is down to a glow, casting amber shadows across the walls. I should sleep, but I don’t. I linger in the hall outside my room, her room now, if only for a little while. My fingers hover near the doorframe, knuckles brushing the wood like it might burn me if I press too hard. She’s in there. In my space. In my shirt…and gods, I am not strong enough for this. The door creaks softly as I nudge it open. She’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, her damp hair combed out now and hanging over one shoulder, the silver-starred blanket draped over her legs. The room smells like cedar and cinnamon and the faintest whiff of her magic, moonlight and wildflowers and ozone. She looks up as I enter and she doesn’t tell me to leave. That’s… probably all the permission I’m going to get. I close the door behind me and move to the edge of the