Chapter 23

Duran and Royce stood outside of the keep walls near the river the next day, the winter sun warming exposed skin as the clouds broke up and drifted away from the prior day’s blusteriness. Light breezes through the trees stirred the newly fallen leaves on the ground. Their dry crunch could be heard as Kierei waddled beside Grayson, Xora trailing after like a duckling.

With Kierei near enough, Duran approached him to rub over his cheek. “Are you ready? Feeling any pain?” Kierei huffed at Duran’s concern, his eyes to the sky. Studying the movement and line of his previously damaged wing, Duran couldn’t see any signs of his injury beneath the heavy, leathery overlapped scales protecting the wing’s arch. From shoulder to tip, the flex and strength of his wing looked whole and solid once more. The healers had done an amazing job helping the bone stabilize to knit together and heal. The dragon before him nearly vibrated with energy to be up in the clouds again, to feel the wind currents on this world.

“If you feel tired, come back down,” Grayson warned soothingly. “It won’t take you long to regain your normal stamina.” Xora nudged his hip almost knocking him off his feet, bubbling a chuckle from him. “Yes, lovely. We’ll be right here.”

“He looks calm and I’m seeing no strain.” Duran nodded with a happy smile. “Today is a good day to fly.”

“Tomorrow will be a full day of celebration adding to Kierei’s recovery as well,” Grayson mentioned. He stroked dragon faces like they were cats, both purring in a low rumble of pleasure deep in their chests at the attention. “All right, you two. It’s time.” He stood before Kierei, his hands framing his jaw to peer into his eyes. “Remember. Any sign of strain, come down. You don’t want to create another injury if the bone isn’t ready.”

Kierei huffed but nodded.

“All right then.” Grayson stepped back to join Duran and Royce. “Up you go!”

Kierei flexed his wings and swept them to and fro to give them a good stretch. Their massive wingspan was impressive. Including his tail, their span was easily three times as wide as he was long, with fine membranes delicately stretched between the bone supports, which were layered in thinner scales like armor. The wing scales appeared black, like his scales but brighter where they reflected light off the skin. It was a moment Duran knew he wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

The swept stroke of his wings disturbed the leaves on the ground as he tested them, preparing to take flight. Xora pushed upward with a powerful leap, the flap of her wings’ downstroke rocking them all with the force behind it as she lifted easily from the ground. Then she was airborne. Kierei trilled and standing on his hind legs, gave a thunderous push off to chase after her.

“Goddess,” Duran gasped, his eyes wide as they gained altitude.

“Now that is a sight I never thought to see,” Royce murmured enthralled.

“They’re beautiful,” Grayson agreed.

The two dragons dipped and soared high into the sky to dive and catch themselves with aerial grace and maneuverability that wouldn’t seem physically possible given their bulk, yet they spun and flipped as easily as birds on the wing. Xora tucked her wings and barrel rolled, eliciting more gasps of wonder. Duran was simply in awe of their ability.

A few more people joined the mages in watching the dragons’ airborne antics as their soaring overhead was noticed.

“They are truly more graceful than I thought could be possible,” one woman said.

Duran smiled when Royce slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him into his body, everyone watching in silent awe at the beauty soaring above them. “That gives me hope,” Royce murmured.

“How so?”

He stroked with a thumb lightly against Duran’s side, the tender caresses reaching his heart and shooting sensation dancing over nerves. Lowering his chin, he met Duran’s questing gaze. How Duran’s heart beat when he focused like that on him, like he was the only person Royce saw. “When he had nothing left to him, nothing to live for, now he is healed and he has reconnected with a sister. This isn’t their home, but they are adapting.”

“We may be able to return them,” Grayson mentioned. “Though from Kierei’s memories, the differences in their world are stark from when the dragons began to disappear to when we found him.”

“You don’t believe they’d survive,” Royce murmured. A shared glance between Duran and Royce confirmed what they’d both heard in Grayson’s words. Both felt the forlorn loss of Kierei’s world from the expression on their friend’s face.

“I’m almost positive they wouldn’t. They would suffer. The ravaging of their world had been happening for some time before all of our involvement. Far longer than the few days we were there. The time variable caused an even larger rift than the visible loss of life and animal habitation we witnessed. Entire species died off due to the decimation of wildlife across numerous continents as the lands were scavenged. He was aware of all of it before he was even injured. What he remembers, when the lands were teeming with life, is further in his past. What we experienced was because the damage had already been so horrendous.” Grayson lifted to watch the dragons chase each other across the sky. “He knew his world was dying. It was why he fought so hard to protect his eggs. Without being able to connect with other dragons, he believed they were all that was left.”

Duran circled fingers around Grayson’s arm in solidarity. “Whatever they choose, we’ll keep them safe. Kierei, Xora, and whoever else we are able to rescue or find. I know Lord Morrow has made this promise and will keep it. All of us feel the same way. They were innocent of this war we face.”

“Me too,” Grayson agreed sincerely. “Me too.”

Duran leaned into Royce’s side, both watching the dragons zip past and play overhead. When it appeared the dragons would like to spend some time stretching their wings in the morning breezes, he spoke to Grayson. “Send for me if he’s not feeling right when they land. I’m sure he’s going to want to rest until he’s feeling fully fit when they come down.”

Grayson nodded. “Likely. I’ve been working with them and the livestock breeders to ensure there is plenty to keep them fed through the winter and beyond. They seem to have found a fondness for hog and boar. They both have told me it tastes like one of the roving pig types from their world. And so far, nothing has made them feel ill.”

“That’s good to hear.” Duran hunted upward and spotted Remy in the branches. “Remy, love.”

Whuhu. He fluffed his wings and dropped to settle on a lower branch overhead.

“Will you stay with Grayson and Kierei to come get me if they need me?”

Whu.

“Thank you.” He twisted, speaking sweetly into Royce’s ear. “I have a craving for a snuggle.” They weren’t needed right then, and sneaking away for a few minutes to themselves midmorning added to the wave of hunger thrumming through his blood as he snagged with blue eyes that were suddenly sharp and dark with his and the cat’s desire to be closer. Right now. Clearly this was a good idea as Royce leaned into his arm and shoulder, pressing his length into his hip where he felt the signs of his arousal. Goddess, this man made his mouth water.

Royce’s gaze glistened with the inner heat that made Duran’s insides quiver with want. “My cat agrees.”

“He always agrees,” Duran teased with a throaty chuckle, nuzzling at his temple.

Royce hummed quietly. “He loves you.”

“Your cat?” Duran blinked. Was he hearing more in his tone, seeing more in Royce’s gaze? He wasn’t too selfish to think to himself that he hoped so, right? There wasn’t exactly a memory of the epiphany to when his heart had fallen for the blond. The surge of warmth, affection, and love had simply existed and once he’d recognized it, he’d embraced it fully. This skin shifter was his.

A firm blush was rising on Royce’s cheeks as his eyes dipped away. “Mmhm.”

Duran cupped Royce’s chin until he could peer into steady blue eyes. “I love your cat,” he praised. “He’s beautiful.”

Royce returned his stare before drawing a sharp inhale. Duran didn’t know what he found, but the sense of urgency in his lover was unmistakable. With a single hand clasped within his own, he tugged and hurried them both back toward the keep. Duran bit his inner cheek to calm the happy laughter bubbling in his chest. The keep interior was fairly warm from the roaring fires in the various rooms, but Duran hardly noticed, his first thought and concern being the man with him. No one stopped them going through doorways, or during their dash down the hallway to their shared quarters.

With the heavy wooden door to their room pushed firmly shut on the world, Duran spun an unsuspecting Royce until his spine was pinned flat into the door, the weight of his chest keeping him still. The temptation to have his hands touching all over the broad muscles of Royce’s chest was immense. Firm muscles and smooth skin that tasted like the wild winds and sunshine.

He braced his palms on either side of Royce’s head. Goddess, those lips called to him, so close, but there was something burning on his tongue that had to be said. “Tell me why you haven’t marked me yet,” he demanded.

“Wh—What?” Royce swallowed hard.

That was not the response he’d expected from his lover, suddenly silenced and caged beneath his frame. Duran’s gaze roved over his face, recognizing the shock, the high color on his cheeks. He’d surprised his lover. Nearing, he swept his tongue torturously up the side of his neck until he reached the sensitive spot behind his ear, swirling until Royce shuddered in his arms with a low groan of hunger that shot through Duran like arrows. “I saw Rune’s mate mark last night. Now, tell me,” he taunted against Royce’s taut neck. It hadn’t taken him long to deduce where the new scars had come from, and how or by whom. Mages didn’t brand or claim.

Skin shifters did. It was a need of their animals while bonding between mated pairs. And there was no doubt Rune was utterly and completely Jayce’s mate.

The same way he’d accepted he was Royce’s and Royce was his.

Royce shuddered, his fingers gripping and kneading at his hips. The hard shape of his body pressing against Duran’s heated his blood with need. Yet, he still hadn’t answered.

“Unless… Unless you don’t feel the same,” he asked, doing his best to mask his hurt. Taking a chance to open his heart, that chance was rife with risk. He’d known that. Experiencing a broken heart once in his life had been traumatic. Yet even he recognized what he felt for Royce far surpassed the childish love of youth, though a tender heart still bled when hurt.

Royce clutched him with bands of steel in answer, his arms caging his frame as close as air and clothing would allow. “Duran.” Royce’s voice broke. “I love you. I’ve wanted to mark you since that first kiss.”

Duran stilled, searching his face and finding open honesty. “Truly?”

“My leopard knew, but you aren’t a skin shifter. I wanted to give you time, to give us both time. Mates are mates, that is as natural as breathing. But I needed one thing more.” His entire being softened. His face. His lips. Even the tightness of his spine at being manhandled into the door. All of what Duran saw before him matched the glow in Royce’s blue gaze which had captured Duran as well as any net. “I wanted, needed, your free choice to love me before I claimed you, because I know I love you. And mates are forever. I never wanted to take that choice away from you by being rash with you. It’s far too important to mate before you’re completely, irrevocably ready.”

Duran’s chest expanded with a surge of tenderness hearing those words then he leaned wholly against Royce’s frame in relieved answer. The building frustration he’d been weighted down with since the night before when he’d spotted the oft-hidden mark on Rune’s neck at the evening meal evaporated. Rune’s hair and collars usually covered the mark at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Last night he’d simply been looking in the right direction when Rune had moved.

Cupping Royce’s jaw, he brushed their lips together once, tenderly, reverently. Royce’s palms burned hot where he clutched at Duran. Their presence helped keep his mind and body from splitting right down the middle hearing those words. “Dear kitten,” he murmured. “I love that you’re someone who cares about the happiness of his best friends. I love your beautiful beast. The way you respect me. I love your need to protect those you call your own. But mostly, I love you.”

Royce whimpered. A soft sound that escaped from between pouty lips carried on the wings of a heartbeat. He bit his bottom lip, then drew closer to say, “I never thought to find someone like you.” Bold blue eyes drew him like a moth to a flame, a flame he never wanted to be freed from. “The day I made my bargain for a kiss, I had no idea how my life would change. The clan was all I’ve ever needed.” He nuzzled Duran’s temple. “That is no longer true. I need you more.”

Duran’s lips lifted in a smile that he felt to his core. “As I with you. I’m mage but I swear you are the magic that makes my heart beat.”

Royce swallowed slow and hard before closing the distance between their lips. Duran sighed as their heat brushed into one another, soft and entreating. His playful, loyal, brave kitten. And he was inarguably Duran’s, in the same way he was Royce’s, to the marrow of his bones. Their kiss started tender, a promise, a vow between them. Soft touches and warm murmurs of need and want shared willingly. The kiss lengthened, becoming demanding as their bodies pressed closer, angle to angle as their bodies’ needs began to override the sweet heat of their shared promises. As with all the times they’d come together in their passions, the hunger Royce drew out of Duran was like none other. There was something more in his touch though. Something they both craved, a completion that was overdue, a desire that burned. A screaming in his blood against his ears, in his brain. He was ready. More so, he needed it.

Duran dug his hand beneath Royce’s tunic, tugging it upward and breaking the kiss long enough to jerk it over his head. It fell to the floor, forgotten, no longer creating a barrier to the expanse of beautiful skin before him. Then he pushed into the kiss, claiming Royce’s lips so there was no room for misunderstanding, crushing chest to chest, lip to lip. Furrowing fingers into Royce’s pale hair, he possessed him like a starving man, devouring his taste, words, and moans. Groans slipped between them. Need rose like a spring storm between them. Full of energy. Swiftly and without apology.

There was no way he was leaving this room without Royce’s bonding mark. He was going to claim his cat in every way there could be between them.