Page 50 of Flameborne: Fury
He gave no warning. Not a sound. One moment he was curled with his mate like a barn cat, the next he snaked silentlytowards me, mouth wide to bare his fangs and wings extended, tail lashing.
Bren sucked in a shocked breath behind me, but kept her head and didn’t run.Good girl.
I kept my eyes low and didn’t take a step back as he rushed me. My heart pounded in my ribs, and I almost broke a split second before he slid to a halt, mere inches from running me over, roaring so loudly my ears rang. But I didn’t back away.
Bren flinched, but stayed at my back.
‘I’m sorry, Keg—’
‘You breach the sanctity of the mating!’Kgosi snarled in my head, lifting one foreleg to slam it down on a small tree nearby that had somehow escaped the chaos, flattening it to the ground as easily as I’d squash a bug.
‘I know. And I’m sorry,’I pleaded as he turned and began to pace, rippling back and forth in front of me, rustling his wings, ears pinned back against his skull.‘I wouldn’t—you know I wouldn’t—if it weren’t important.’
‘Important?! Your petty human rules and empty traditions—’he turned his head and unleashed flame, sending another, larger, splintered tree up in flames like a torch. I felt the heat of his fire wherever my skin was bare, but it wasn’t close enough to burn. Even in his anger, he had the control to be precise.
Bren yelped and startled. I reached back to hold her to my back, but she didn’t try to run.
I swallowed hard and kept my eyes down, praying that tree was green enough it wouldn’t send the whole wood up.
‘Calm down. You know me, Keg. You know I have no desire foryourmate—I’m bonding with my own!’
Kgosi stopped pacing, his neck rearing back so his head was high over us as he gazed down, enraged.
‘I see no mating. You are not joined! I see two whose hearts still seek each other—yet work together to intrude on our peace!’
I bristled and at the same time a trickle of fear started at the back of my neck. He was saying that our bond was fragile. But bonds among humans were rare, and from the little I’d heard, we’d never been as good as the dragons at surrendering to them. My bond with Bren would grow and strengthen. It already had. And we weren’t going to give up.
I stood my ground and lifted my hands again to soothe him, trustingourbond. That ultimately his concern for my protection would override his desire to remove all males from his mate’s presence. As he growled and began pacing again, I sent him a rush of calm and soothing,pleading.
“Kgosi, please listen: Bren found an enemy camp two hours north. A small army. No dragons that she saw, but she didn’t fly the surrounding lands. We have intruders marching on Vosgaarde. The Kingmustlearn of this.”
Kgosi rumbled again, the deep, resonant call that shook the ground for miles. He stopped pacing, but weaved back and forth on his front legs, his head snaking slowly side to side, ears still flat back against his head. I waited, certain he’d be speaking with Akhane, and also wrestling for control.
Behind me, Bren clung to my waist, her forehead pressed against my spine. It was touching. And made my body race for her.
The tension rose in the quiet as Kgosi didn’t speak, or shift, but continued to weave in front of me. I swallowed and considered retreat, but finally, Akhane crooned and sighed, rolling to her side and stretching.
I heard Bren’s breath release and breathed a little easier myself when Kgosi snorted, then turned away and walked slowlyback to his mate, rumbling for her in the sweeter, softer way the dragons offered for comfort.
‘Keg?’
‘What you ask… my heart fights it mightily, Donavyn.’
I nodded, though he couldn’t see me.‘Trust me, I have no desire to return yet either, but neither do I want to return in two days to discover that our enemy made it into Vosgaarde while I reveled in my mate.’
Kgosi growled his disapproval.
Reaching Akhane, when she sat up to greet him, they rubbed snouts. Then he rubbed the side of his massive head all the way along her neck, rumbling to her while she chirped and chittered.
In any other circumstances I would have been pleased and touched by their obvious affection, eager to leave them alone. I reached back for Bren’s hand and drew her up to my side, gripping her hand tightly and not letting go, so we could watch the dragons together.
She leaned into my arm and sighed, and I felt the surge in her as well. The desire to seek privacy and each other’s company and—
I had to stop that train of thought before it derailed me. My body already hummed with adrenaline and need because it had been a couple of hours since I’d had Bren, and between our own bond and the dragon’s, it had already been too long.
I grimaced. We still hadhoursof flight back to the Dragon Keep. And once there I’d have to inform the King, and send scouts, strategize—hours of work before we would flyagainto intercept these interlopers.
Kgosi huffed, hearing my thoughts and sensing my unease.‘You forget: The Creator draws us near our mates when the bond tightens. What you ask, Donavyn—it doesn’t only challenge my restraint with her. If a male were to approach—’
