Page 49 of Flameborne: Fury
He’d become all business, shrugging on his jacket and buttoning it without thought, the efficient, sharp movements of a capable man who’d done it a thousand times. And there, with the jacket on, his high collar standing tall, his hair twisted back off his face and that stern expression, he was no longer Donavyn, my mate, but once againthe General.And I felt myself shrink.
“Bren?”
He’d asked me a question and I hadn’t answered.
I swallowed. “I, uh, the symbol was on a flag at the-the side of a tent. And I saw it on a guard’s jacket, I think?”
“Shit!Dress quickly. We have to find the dragons.”
“What?!”
“The dragons. We have to interrupt them, convince them to fly.”
“But—”
“Bren, you found an enemy camp, less than a day’s flight from our border. For all we know they could have been using the storm for cover. They could already have transported…fuck!”
He stormed over to the bedroll and began rolling it up. The trill in my stomach when I saw those thick, calloused hands gripping the roll tightly and was reminded of him grippingmedied quickly when he looked at me.
“There’s no time to waste, Bren. We have to get back. We have to inform the King.Now.”
18. The War Within
~ DONAVYN ~
We found the dragons off in the forest, curled up near a small waterfall, most of the trees and undergrowth in the area broken or uprooted. Even in the lee of a rocky ledge, the storm’s wind whipped scattered leaves around the gouged grass.
I slowed as they came into sight and took Bren’s sleeve to hold her back. If Kgosi was awake enough, he’d sense me drawing closer, but this would be dangerous.
“Stay behind me,” I muttered to Bren, the wind whipping my hair against my neck and cheeks. “Kgosi will challenge me. But he won’t harm me.”
Brens brows popped up. “He’d be dominant towardsyou?”She was shocked.
I nodded. “He’s a male in his prime, with his new mate, who’s still in heat. And I’m interrupting his nap. I don’t know which is the worst offense, honestly,” I said dryly. But I took her hand and pulled her with me through the trees.
The storm wasn’t vicious like the night before, but the wind was cold and stiff, ripping through the canopy overhead in shivering roars, then easing off, only to return moments later,raindrops sprinkling down in isolated showers, or thrown from the shaken leaves of the trees.
When we were only a handful of trees from the little clearing they’d made, the first low rumble vibrated in the ground under my boots. I urged Bren to stay at my back and let me handle him.
She nodded, but she peered around my arm. “Akhane won’t hurt me.”
I nodded. “That’s because she’s female.”
Bren huffed. “She’s strong! She can fight!”
I smiled. “That’s not what I meant. She won’t feel threatened by you. Trust me. Let me handle this.”
She looked a little worried, but nodded. Then I drew her out of the trees and stopped as soon as we were out of the shadows. The sky was still gray and dark, and the wind rushed and looped between the trees, buffeting me first from one direction, then another. I wasn’t sure if Kgosi had caught my scent or not.
We had one moment when we stepped out from under the trees into the gray light, to see the dragons, curled together like cats. Akhane lay in a tight circle with her wings tucked and her snout curled all the way around her rump to rest on Kgosi’s foreleg where he’d coiled himself around her, his tail tucked against her and his wing resting over her back.
His long neck extended into the clearing with his head towards me, flat on the ground, eyes closed and ears slack.
But then his eyes popped open and locked on me. His pupils narrowed to slits. A thin thread of smoke seeped from his nostrils, immediately carried away by the wind gusts before they could become tendrils, but it wasn’t a good sign.
Tugging Bren fully behind me, I lifted my hands, palms flat towards him in an attitude of submission and surrender.
“Kgosi, I wouldn’t have come except—”
