Page 29 of Mated in Flames

There’s awe in her eyes. And, seeing the amazement and warmth on her face, the words leave my mouth before I can think more about it.

“I could carry you, too.”

Her head jerks up. For a moment, I wonder if I’ve gone too far. But then a smile spreads wide across her face.

“Can you?” she breathes.

In response, I step back. I hadn’t planned to fly today. Dane will be incredibly upset. But I need to. There’s no way I can refuse Luciana this, not now that I’ve put the offer on the table. I flare my wings wide.

“You’ll need to hold on,” I say, reaching out for her.

She steps willingly into my arms, her curves fitting perfectly into my body. For a single moment, I imagine what it would be like to stay here like this forever, holding her close and savouring the feelings that sweep me.

Then I wrap my arms around her as she loops her arms around my neck, and hold her as securely as I can. I have no intention of going too high or fast with a passenger, but that doesn’t mean it would be okay to drop her.

“Ready?” I murmur into her ear.

“Ready,” she says, breathless.

I start to flap my wings, slow, powerful beats that stirs the ground around us and makes the grass rustle. Luciana’s arms tighten as, carefully, we lift off the ground.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten. As a young phoenix, learning to fly was only secondary to learning to walk. Once, before the threat of the Supernaturals came into our lives, I spent my days swooping through forests, daring myself to go faster and faster without hitting any trees.

Flying after so long feels like coming home, and it’s even more perfect that I have Luciana with me, her breath on my neck as she looks down at the ground we’re slowly leaving behind.

“This is amazing!” she gasps. “You can really fly?”

“You thought I was joking?” I ask with a laugh.

She looks up at me.

“No,” she says. “But there’s so much about the world that I just didn’t know about, Warwick. Even though I travelled the world and did my best to help people, there’s an entire community, now. That would have stayed hidden to me for the rest of my life if it wasn’t for my father leaving me his property. How is it possible that it remains unseen?”

“We make it that way,” I say. “Because there are people in the world that would use our powers for greed and power, and those that would hunt us like dogs because we’re different. We can’t take that risk. So, we hide, and almost no one thinks to look for us.”

She sighs and lays her head on my shoulder. We’re several feet over the ground now and I hover there as we look down at the countryside, which seems so much smaller all of a sudden.

“I wonder how my father found it,” she says. “He was out here for almost as long as I knew him. How did he know to start his farm?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “And, knowing what I do about the farm, I wonder if he knew about us. He never came looking for the escaped phoenix creature, almost as though he knew it was safe.”

I think of the old man that once lived across the road. Dane and I kept our distance, but he had always been friendly. When Luciana smiles, I can see how she was related to him, and it’s strange to me to realise that I probably knew her father better than she did.

Then Luciana shifts, and I feel her eyelashes against my skin as she closes her eyes.

“Thank you for showing me,” she says.

I smile down at the top of her head. She has no idea just how special she is to me, not yet. But, one day, I hope I can tell her.

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