Page 77 of Hidden Fate

“You’re shirtless.” I pouted. I didn’t like the idea of anyone else—especially the women—seeing him like that.

Chuckling, he pulled me against his chest and kissed my forehead. “That’s your fault. You ripped my shirt apart.”

I extended my bottom lip out further, trying to prevent a laugh from escaping. It had been my fault after all. “Seemed like a good idea at the time…now I’m not so sure.”

“Oh, it was a very,verygood idea,” he said as he nipped my bottom lip. “And sexy as hell. I like you that desperate.”

My face flamed, but I didn’t try to hide. Not with him. “Well, you, my dear, have a way of making me that way, and I’m pretty sure it won’t ever change.”

“Good.” He sucked on my lip. “Because I need to work on my endurance. Five times just wasn’t enough. I think one night, we need to see how many rounds we can go.”

I moaned, already wanting to have sex again. “You’d better stop, or we’ll be having another go right now.”

His fingers dug into my hips. “Then let’s—”

“You know we need to contact the queen,” I interjected. If he finished that sentence, I would be naked again in seconds.

“Fine.” He released me and took my hand instead. He connected,Only because we need to make sure we’re prepared for tomorrow so we can sex it up again.

I laughed, knowing this moment of no stress would dissipate the closer we got back to camp. “Deal.”

Hand in hand, we headed back, and when we reached the cabin grounds, everyone was still in the same area, but there were no smiles or laughter anymore, only serious and stern faces.

Saphira arched a brow. “You guys were gone longer than any of us, which is sad since you two were the first to leave.” Then her eyes landed on my hand. “Oh, my gods. Did you exchange rings?”

Everyone turned to look at Thorn’s and my hands, and Eva, Saphira, Cassidy, Hydra, Mindy, Kari, Chandra, and Reece hurried over and gushed. Normally, I wasn’t one for attention, but in this instance, it didn’t bother me. This was yet another way Thorn and I had claimed each other.

Let me go grab a shirt,Thorn connected as he sneaked away, happiness brightening his face.

When Thorn came back, we got serious.

Thorn informed us that the queen had answered. Drake had taken over the royal bedroom. She was staying in the bedroom all the way down the hall. Theron and Spike alerted us that they had reached out to the thunders they knew had fighting experience in the injured network to see if they would help. Many had said they’d try, but with such short notice, they weren’t sure how many could come.

We’d done everything we could for tomorrow. The only thing left to do was get the best night of sleep possible.

We all went to bed, but even though I was cuddled in Thorn’s strong, comforting arms, sleep eluded me.

I focused on closing my eyes…and enjoying his touch.

* * *

My heart hammered.We were walking through the woods toward the royal dragon lands, having parked about twenty miles from the edge of the property in a public area humans used.

There were a hundred of us. Spike and Theron had hoped for more, but we were running out of time, so they’d messaged their contacts, telling them where we were going in case more could come, though I wasn’t hopeful. We had more than I’d expected, so I’d count that as a blessing.

Uther had said three hundred guards were watching the territory at all times and that Drake would be increasing that number by morning. Essentially, the closer to the coronation he got, the more guards he put on duty, but that was a good thing. That meant most of them wouldn’t be well rested.

We’d split up to travel to avoid detection and had chosen a meeting place a mile outside of dragon lands. We needed to reach the edge of the property around midnight.

Thorn, Elliott, Mindy, Eva, Sol, Saphira, Tyson, Wyvern, Arrow, and I were traveling together. We walked in silence, trying not to rush. Drake’s warriors would be watching for us in dragon form. Arrow had informed us that humans didn’t come close to the dragon lands, likely deterred by the dragons’ presence, but we had to be careful. These woods weren’t technically part of the dragon lands.

As we neared our destination, trepidation surged through our group. Even when I thought about something else or concentrated on the feel of Thorn’s hand in mine, my limbs grew heavier. We were heading into a fight against trained people who outnumbered us, but there wasn’t a better option.

Though it’d been hours, it felt like we reached the meeting location in minutes. None of us dared to speak.

I laid my head against Thorn’s chest, and his arms wrapped around me as we waited for our allies to arrive. Even Elliott didn’t speak, his face pale, knowing what we were about to do. Not only that, but their father was likely with Drake.

Opal, Echo, and Fury would lead Kari, Chandra, Hydra, Errol, and Brenton. They’d take the right side of the château. Cassidy, Rex, Blaze, and Owen were in charge of the group that would attack from the left, which included Mindy, Eva, Sol, Elliott, and Tyson. Both groups would use a combination of bows and firearms. It would make it harder for the warriors to counter any of them since they’d have to deal with both bullets and arrows. The rest of us would attack down the center so they could follow and surround the château, hopefully catching Drake’s warriors by surprise. We had daggers and would be fighting by hand or in dragon form. The few of us who’d trained regularly with firearms each carried a gun as well, including Vlad, Theron, Spike, a few others in his thunder, and me—just enough to throw Drake’s warriors off balance.

---