Chapter 14

Duran trailed Royce through heavy trees some distance from the cave opening. The rumble of the river wasn’t far in the distance. Sparkling sunlight dotted the ground through the lush overhead canopy. If they’d been at home, it was the kind of day Duran loved getting outdoors to explore, letting his magic entwine with the world surrounding him, leaving him energized and at peace.

Today wasn’t one of those days though. Royce hunted for Kierei in his leopard form. As he followed at a meandering pace, Duran collected thin limbs and branches that were supple, stripping the shoots from the lengths before stuffing them into his pack. Remy was flying over the treetops, keeping watch for them. The reddish sun bore down on them from overhead, from a cloudless teal sky. The odd colors of foliage drew his eye as he moved among the trees. They’d experienced so much on this journey. A different world, the amazing creatures, discovering Kierei. And the fated crown. But they weren’t done yet. They had to try to patch up Kierei’s wing well enough to have him return home with them. None would leave the dragon to fend for himself. At least, no one that Duran called friend.

Finding a tree on the path with a drooping flap of loose bark, he tugged at it experimentally. It felt like linen between his fingers, supple and sturdy. Carefully, he peeled the white-hued sheet away from the trunk. He succeeded in pulling down the length to come away with at least a couple feet of long, wide, pliable ribbon. It was stringy if he tugged on the fibers on the drier end with his fingers, while the length felt light in his hands. It could be separated into thinner strips for ties or used as a sheet for stronger support. Rolling up the bark, it was added to his pack. With a hand on the tree, he offered a silent thank you then began to look for more in earnest. He found several trees with the same type of peeling bark to roll up and add to the one in his backpack already.

Needing to locate a few branches to be used specifically as support pieces, he was almost done with his searching. Duran honestly didn’t know how they were going to stabilize the wing without damaging the flight membrane, but he was going to do his best. He’d never attempted to set an injury like it. The dragon’s wing was shaped more like a bird’s wing. Kierei trusting them was an odd alliance, as well. That had to be Grayson’s doing, he realized while thinking over the day’s events. He was a very gentle sort, and the dragon had bonded with him quickly. Dragons, to his memory, had never existed on Kielbos, so it was impossible to say why Kierei was being so trusting or why Grayson specifically. Maybe it was the earth magic he’d explained connecting them? Was he able to understand the dragon so well because of the world they were on? Was it the magic of this world melding with Grayson’s own to feel so much, understand so much? Was it possible if he and Rune had felt a physical change in their magics, that Grayson may have also?

If the dragons were being taken to boost the Blood Spawn army, then Jayce and they were going to have to come up with ideas to either beat them, befriend as Kierei had proven was possible, or return them to their own world.

He was grateful the crown had been found where the Goddess’s map led them. The power of the crown was still unknown to them. None of them could trigger the Goddess gifted power within the sculpted symbol. What was the crown’s mystery? Would it be enough to truly bring the people of Kielbos, of the surrounding Caduthian lands, together? As he moved through the trees with watchful steps, he continuously searched the ground for firewood along with any loose limbs that could be used for Kierei’s wing while his mind mused through the ever growing question plaguing them all.

Whuhu.

Duran searched upward and spotted Remy in the branches overhead. He froze in his tracks as the owl’s call translated into the voice of the young man the owl had been in the land of the fae. He startled when he replayed the words. “He’s doing what?”

Whuhu. The owl flapped broad wings then cocked his head sideways, as though he couldn’t make it any clearer.

Duran slung his carried backpack over a shoulder and picked up his pace to a jog, following the owl’s low gliding form.

Reaching a sun-soaked clearing encircled by a wide gap of trees, he paused at the edge of the tree line. It took him a moment to spot the snow leopard. Which he did when a giant paw lifted into the air and batted at…nothing. Duran frowned. What is he doing? He was half buried by a thin-stalked, spindly type of yellow leafy grass that easily reached more than halfway up Duran’s calves. The air was perfumed with a sweet, almost dry, floral scent. The big cat was rolling around like a, well…like a giant cat playing with toys. Duran shook his head. “What are you doing?” he called out.

Royce snorted and rolled to his side, gazing at Duran before thumping to his back and rubbing his body into the yellow grasses.

“Remy, keep watch, please. I have no idea what’s got into him.”

Whuhu.

Duran settled his laden pack near the base of a tree and carefully approached the cat. He’d seen Royce’s snow leopard a few times now, but he didn’t know what to think of this behavior. The giant furball was practically purring. No, wait. He was purring, sort of. The vibrating sound was clear as he approached, though it didn’t quite sound like a normal purr. Not his biggest concern.

“Royce?” he tried again to get the animal’s attention. The feline’s focus skipped over him and Duran froze, locked by bright blue eyes blown wide. He didn’t feel threatened, but he didn’t understand what Royce was doing, either. “Are you feeling all right?”

The cat rolled to his feet with a wobble. He stumbled then braced his paws, staring, no glaring at the ground. Duran put a hand over his mouth to hide his snickers. “Royce?” he choked, swallowing the building laughter.

The fluffy head popped up and the sound he made was almost a meow but harsher, nearly a grunt but definitely feline.

Duran approached and knelt before him, cupping his face to enjoy his full-coated, thick fur in his hands for the first time. It was lush and so soft. “Royce, I think your cat found something that makes it drunk. Do we have anything like this at home?” He ran a hand through the yellow grass and a fine pollen stuck to his skin. The leopard immediately began rubbing his face all over his hand, sniffing and blowing hard until his nose was dusted with the yellow pollen, butting against Duran’s raised palm as he snorted and licked at the pollen. Duran gasped at the rasp of his tongue roaming over his skin. Gentle but very thorough as he bathed Duran’s arm.

Satisfied he’d done his job, the cat used his shoulder and frame to push against Duran until he toppled to the ground then wound around him, his long tail flicking over his face as he vocalized with an audible rumble until Duran was flat on his back. The snow leopard immediately flopped down on top of him, whooshing a groan from his lungs like Duran was his personal cat bed, wiggling over Duran’s chest as he nudged into his throat and chin.

Duran didn’t know what to make of the cat’s behavior right then. Watching Jayce and Cedri practice fighting skills had been breathtaking. The shifters who had begun to call the keep home were shyer. Everyone respected their need to keep a marginal distance until a trust formed. The Tanglewood clan had been secluded until they’d joined those at the keep, and the familiarity of trust, friendship, and respect took time. Cedri and Royce weren’t quite as standoffish because of their roles, but this?

This was so unlike what he’d witnessed up to then.

“You are hot,” he grumbled, trying to push the cat off his chest. His prompting was met with a pitiful yowl of discontent. Duran sighed, unsure if Royce was functionally aware of his cat’s behavior or not, or if the man was anywhere in the mind of the cat. He curled an arm around his fluffy middle instead, letting him settle and snuggle. The leopard apparently liked that a lot as the vocalizing increased. “What are you doing?” Duran muttered. “Are you even in there?” The soft coat of his belly was bared and he couldn’t resist running his fingers through the plentiful fur.

A wide paw rose and covered half his whiskered face as he huffed against it. Studying what he was doing, Duran realized he was fixated on the yellow pollen.

Duran knew of a certain herb that drove cats absolutely out of their minds when it was dried and ground down. “Is this grass like the milkbonnet weed at home? Is it making you crazy? I swear it’s like you’ve fallen into a barrel of ale, being so silly.” The freedom to scratch over his length didn’t really add any rebuke to his words as Royce’s leopard ate up the attention. He wiggled and arched with his wide paws flopping through the air, all but begging for spots to be rubbed and scratched.

He’d never seen a single shifter behave so openly, so trustingly. Or more like their animal. He chuckled when Royce rolled his head backward to rub against Duran’s chin. “Pretty kitty, that’s what you are,” he cooed playfully at the cat’s antics. “Drunk kitty. Is this grass better than milkbonnet weed? Should we take some home?” Royce stopped moving as though considering, then he nodded.

Well, that was good to know. At least some part of Royce was aware in this form, to answer a full question. Slinking to fall from Duran’s chest, Royce teetered to reach his paws and then butted against his hip to get him moving.

“Okay. You need to find your backpack. Remember you’re supposed to be hunting for Kierei.”

Duran barked a loud laugh when Royce suddenly bolted into a flat run to one end of the grasses, leaped into the air like he was going to climb something, then flipped like he’d been shocked with his paws spread wide and his tail whipping like a banner in the wind to reverse direction the other way. While Royce was losing his mind over the coarse pollen, he found a few young sprouts to dig up as well as full clippings. With those wrapped together, he could protect them as a bundle until they returned home.

“Come on, kitten. Time to go back. We need to help Kierei,” he called. Royce’s feline gait wobbled as he finally joined Duran. “Where is your pack?” Royce sneezed, blowing a fresh cloud of pollen outward. Duran dug a hand into his ruff to keep him from haring off again as he started to rapidly lick at air. Royce huffed but with a shake of his head, leaned away and retook his two-legged stance.

“This stuff is evil,” he grumbled, his voice scratchy. He shook his head, his hair scattering, then he drew deep breaths as though clearing his thoughts of the grass’s influence.

Duran studied him, his lips twitching at his friend’s antics. “You can withstand it in human form?”

“My leopard clearly loves it, but yeah, at least enough to get away from it.” Royce grimaced. “I don’t even know how long I was like that. I stumbled across the grass while hunting.”

“Long enough to worry Remy. He came and found me.”

Royce dropped his face into splayed hands. “Goddess,” he muttered.

The impetus to run his fingers through Royce’s pale hair to knock clinging pollen free was impossible to ignore. The silky texture of his hair was so different from his cat. He enjoyed every caressed touch regardless of form.

Lifting his face enough to lock eyes, he realized Royce’s gaze was pinned on him now where he’d frozen at Duran’s touch. Duran’s heart tripped hard enough beneath his ribs that he wouldn’t be surprised if Royce heard it. The blue of his eyes nearly glowed with heat, and Duran knew now he was the prey. He shivered. He licked over his bottom lip when he also realized Royce was beautifully naked. Pale skin and sculpted muscles on a compact frame. How would all of that skin feel? Next to him? Duran’s mouth went dry with the rush of need and his heart raced. And they stood…so…close.

The rich timbre of Royce’s voice was low when he said, “The one thing I can’t resist is you. You’re beautiful.”

Duran swallowed trying to control his runaway pulse. While Royce’s eyes were still a little wild, sultry from the cat’s reaction to the pollen, there was no doubt who was in control. “You—” Gazing at bared flesh made him ache to touch. Everywhere. “You’re stunning,” he managed. “You and your leopard.” Pale skin, taut and smooth across his chest to his shoulders. He was almost ethereal in the sunlight. His entire body was his to view, from his solid chest to the defined muscles of his abdomen, even to strong thighs.

And the thick cock rising between them. Seeing Royce’s reaction made his heart pound.

“You make me want like no one ever has,” Duran offered. “I don’t understand it, or why you.” The wave of desire with Royce standing there almost knocked him to his knees. And he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He swallowed as he continued to stare, imagining the taste of his length, running his tongue along the hard shaft quickly thickening, to lick and please. To learn the sounds Royce would make, to pull them from his kitten and savor them, each and every one.

He snapped himself out of the fantasy when Royce spoke. Now wasn’t the time. And why Royce? Goddess, the man confused him.

Royce’s lips softened into a poignant smile, as though he knew a secret. “You will.” A swipe of his thumb against Duran’s lower lip sent a wave of tremors over his frame. “Let me dress. I should have enough game to give Kierei strength to return with us, to focus on his healing.”

Duran dipped his chin to break that amazing stare. “I’m ready.”

Walking behind Royce, he couldn’t look away from the sway of his walk, the smooth skin or the tight shape of his ass. He was a thing of beauty, to be cherished. With a weakness for broad shoulders and a strong playground down his spine, he made Duran’s blood sing with need. Duran’s typical type of male company had usually been taller, and as such, broader, but the sight before him made his hands tremble to run his palms down the breadth. To learn every dip and muscle beneath pale exquisiteness.

He wasn’t in the least successful in avoiding what his eyes demanded he view, enjoying it far more than he should have but he tried to give the man privacy to dress. Clutching the bundled grass in his hand, he stooped to add it to a pocket for protection before swinging the nearly full pack to his shoulders. “Any extra wood for a fire is all we need now.”

By the time he turned, Royce had finished dressing, tugging on his boots last. Losing the view made him want to pout. It had been a drool-worthy view.

Royce reached his feet and grinned widely into his face. Like he knew Duran’s thoughts.

He probably did. Duran sniffed, ignoring him. “Let’s go.”

Duran didn’t understand the appeal of the shifter. But it was getting worse. No. Not worse. Stronger. Definitely stronger. He wanted to spend more time touching him, running his hands over skin and through his hair. To taste his kiss, his skin, and hear his moans.

He bit his lip to hide the grin, remembering the fur on his leopard. The animal’s playfulness felt…special. For him. Mages didn’t kill to collect fur for themselves because of their affinity to natural magic. While survival dictated certain needs such as leather for protection and mundane needs, furred animals were excluded as mages couldn’t discern a wild animal from a shifted person. The last thing a mage would ever dare to do was wear a shifter’s fur unwittingly.

And why would someone want to kill a creature as beautiful as Royce’s leopard? Or Jayce’s lion? Anyone who did would suffer consequences.

They gathered armfuls of loose branches and larger logs to haul back through the tunnel on their return. Holding a lit branch aloft sparked with a little help from Duran, they traveled the tunnel’s return with quick ease. Surprisingly, they found Grayson and Rune both huddled asleep against the dragon and Rune’s spelled light dark.

“Everything okay?” Duran asked.

Rune stretched and rose to a braced palm, blinking into the torchlight. “We guessed we’d do best to rest because it’s going to take a lot of our magic to help set Kierei’s wing.” He patted the dragon’s shoulder. “And he’s warm.”

The dragon chuffed, as though he were laughing.

“He’s very easy going for a dragon,” Royce mentioned. He dropped the wood a distance from the dragon and began to stack it to make a small bonfire.

Grayson yawned. “We talked a lot while you were gone. He wants to help us as much as we want to help him. The mages who took his eggs left him to die.” Kierei grumbled and sank back to the ground. “With his wing immovable, he is trapped here.”

“How did he know to protect the crown?” Duran wondered. He knelt next to Royce who began dumping out their finds, separating the splint pieces from the wood for the fire. With them going through the strips and lengths to pick the best to support the broken wing, Duran carried the other satchel with Royce’s hunting bounty and neared the dragon.

“It was a shiny he liked when he found it during one of his flights.” Grayson shrugged. “The eggs were tucked in the burrow with it, and it appears his fight to keep his attackers out of it pushed the crown out of their reach, or they simply didn’t care. He was injured in the fight to keep them away from the eggs.” It sounded almost fortuitous happenstance then that the crown had been shoved deep into the hollow. Duran shuddered at the implication. Too close.

Duran neared the dragon’s head. Kierei had shuffled several yards away from the wall, allowing both wings some room for relaxed movement. “We have something for you to eat. We didn’t know what was good or bad, so don’t hate us if it’s something you wouldn’t normally like.” He dumped the contents and let Kierei pick and choose what he wanted to scoop with a long tongue into his jaws. He did his best to not hear the crunch of bones. The dragon was efficient if nothing else.

“He says thank you.” Grayson remained by his side but let him eat in peace. It took mere minutes for the hunted bounty to disappear, though the pleased sigh at the end seemed to say it had been exactly what had been needed.

Duran spoke to Rune. “How do you want to do this? We need to extend the wing to place the bone, then fold it close to his body to brace it.”

Discussing through the details of the plan to reset the damaged wing bone, they worked together to trim down splint lengths and bits of bark fiber to be used with the rope they had brought. “It isn’t going to look pretty by any means,” Rune said. “But the support should allow him to walk out of here.”

“Kierei, you have to trust us just a little longer, all right?” Duran stood in front of the dragon when they were satisfied enough to make the attempt. “We don’t want to hurt you, so I’m going to see if my magic will affect you. It will make you feel hazy, sleepy almost. Are you willing to let me try?” Wrapping him in a healing, dulling sensation was something he knew he could do, except he’d never attempted any creature as large as a dragon before. He wasn’t a healer, but he knew he could help with this. The ability to control energies to affect senses was a talent he didn’t expose often, but to assist with setting Kierei’s injury he would help without hesitation.

Grayson had moved closer to his head, stroking with a hand behind his crown down his neck. “He says yes.”

Duran said, “You honor all of us.” Kierei bowed at the neck in answer. “Are you three ready? Royce?”

“We’re ready.” Royce gathered with them, studying the broken wing. “It looks like a clean break. Realignment and support to heal is hopefully all he needs.”

Taking a moment to steady himself, Duran raised his palms outward from his sides, opening himself up to Kierei’s aura. The rush of energy was instant and bright, stronger than it had ever reacted for him. Whether it was because of this world’s magic and energy, or because of something within himself, he didn’t question it. Not if they wanted to help the black dragon first.

The undulating red and orange of his pain was bright and erratic, overshadowing the cool blues and light silver fluctuations of his calm. Each color was distinct and bold, but it helped to give him a clear sign of his pain and discomfort. He offered a cooling wave of energy and as he suspected, the instant the pain was relieved, Kierei drooped with exhaustion.

Pushing outward, he created an energy bubble of sorts to embrace the dragon and keep the bubble stable. “Okay, Royce, you should be able to straighten his wing now.” He spoke calmly, quietly. The pulse of his gifts thrummed through him as he held the stasis for the trio to quickly move to set the damaged bone in his wing.

Royce ran a hand down the thicker portion of the wing to reach the break point. “This is much like an arm, with the bones going into the wing being fingers. The better the set now, the more likely he’ll be able to fly later. If we align the break and stabilize it, we can support it now then patch him up fully at home.” They didn’t have a way to sew the tougher hide of his wing flap or scales to aid with the healing until they were home.

Rune nodded in understanding. “I can support the weight on this end. Duran, are you okay?”

“We’re doing fine,” he said with a light smile and full focus on Kierei’s pain levels. “He’s very calm, accepting. Let’s hope he stays that way when the pain hits.”

Rune gently straightened out the wingtip where it sagged against Kierei’s back while Grayson and Royce supported the broken weight. Rune’s murmured words of a spell Duran couldn’t hear well enough to place seemed to help ease the pain further as they shifted and adjusted the wing, bit by bit. Then with a firm pressured tug, they snapped it into place with a raw grind that was thankfully short lived.

Claws flexed into the soil and his tail whipped, but Kierei otherwise didn’t move.

“Carefully fold it inward,” Royce instructed, as each propped a section of the wing. “Don’t fight this, Kierei. We need to brace it to start the healing.”

Grayson’s lips tightened as though sensing Kierei’s discomfort. “He’s trying.”

Using the flexible bark and sturdy lightweight lengths first, they splinted the broken bone then cross-tied it with more of the supple fibers and rope. “It’s going to feel awkward but once we get you home, we can really work on it for you. Mud packs, herbs, and find a way to patch up the damaged scales over it.” Royce moved quickly around Kierei’s wing. “One more knot and you can release him.” Duran nodded indicating he’d heard.

Kierei’s eyes were hooded as he remained at ease, infrequent, small motions revealing his contained pain as he flexed his claws into the cavern soil or released a hard exhale. When the other three stepped back, Duran cautiously eased the energy he was spending to keep Kierei calm.

“How is he feeling?” Duran asked, watching the dragon’s eyes widen then eventually close.

Grayson moved to the dragon’s head, a hand curled around a horn to connect. “He’s tired. He thanks you for doing what you could. It hurt but he knows what we’ve done will help. The strain on his back is far less, though his wing is throbbing.”

Duran walked forward and cupped a scaly cheek. “Rest Kierei. We can likely leave from your den, but we have a little time to let you rest for that journey.”

Kierei pushed into his hand then exhaled a rumbled groan when he stretched out on the dirt of the lair.