Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 71

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

TATE

The release would have sent me to my knees if I had been standing. Instead, I could feel Aether’s arms wrapping around me, pulling me close even as my energy and force poured out of me and into him. He took it, every ounce I threw at him. I could hear him grunting and knew it had to be painful. But he didn’t back down, he didn’t slam his door shut and refuse me, instead he welcomed it. I hesitated, perhaps I should stop.

I can take it.

He was assuring me, and again, I trusted him. I pushed more of the energy drowning me into him.

I could feel my temperature dropping. The itch to shift was vanishing and the hyper-aware nerves were calming. My body was still tingling, but this time it wasn’t frantic but soothing. My hair fell, brushing my shoulders, and I relished releasing so much potency. I’d never known such power, such force before.

I kept feeding Aether until the pressure lessened and I could feel myself think again. The high I’d felt moments ago was gone, the powerful invincible feeling had dissipated and instead, I was exhausted, thoroughly tired.

I went numb.

Aether slammed his mental door shut and the energy stopped flowing. It pooled inside me, snuggling around itself.

“Hold on, Tate, I got you,” he whispered into my ear, brushing his lips ever so tenderly to my earlobe.

I looked into his eyes. I believed him.

Let’s get the hell out of here, darling.

I could feel his grip on me tightening as his body began to shake, to buzz. He physically released me, but I remained suspended in air, cradled in its grasp. Aether threw back his head and a cloud of black engulfed him and crackled.

I went weightless. I couldn’t see anything but black light swallowing me whole. I couldn’t see Aether anywhere or his cloud because I was in his shadows. The grip holding me released and I fell, plummeting toward the ground fifty feet below.

I screamed as I tried to find my internal thread, I would need to shift. If I could become a raven again, I could save myself. The thread hung limp like an empty glass and wouldn’t do anything when I tugged on it.

Massive talons wrapped around my waist and stopped my fall. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I was being pulled upward. Black-scaled claws gently held me and then tucked me into the underside of a dragon’s warm belly.

Aether.

I told you I had you.

He held me close to him, his heat keeping me warm as an odd sense of peace and coolness settled over me. I looked below to see the chaos and mass carnage. Three-quarters of the compound had been leveled. It was on fire, smoke and ash littered the air. Seethings crawled on all fours and some stalked on two legs as they looked up at Aether and then shrieked before fleeing into the forest, seeking coverage.

The large, monstrous seething was nowhere to be found. Like it vanished.

Hold on, dear.

Before I could even respond, fire erupted. It swallowed the entire compound whole, one building at a time. The seethings all dropped the moment the fire hit them.

Aether circled his head around until he lit every single remaining building on fire.

Shae!

The thought was a plea. I scanned the ground. Just beyond the tree line in a small clearing, I could just make out the periwinkle blue of her head. She was alive, she was alive. He didn’t fry her.

I resent the implication.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

He chuckled—odd coming from a dragon, it sounded more like huffs and growls, and yet I knew it was a laugh.

Aether lifted his head and roared. The screech shook the ground, knocking the black leaves and pine needles from the trees—reducing all the structures to nothing but smoldering rubble. He released another roar followed by a stream of black flames that lit the night sky.

With mighty strokes, he flapped his massive wings and flew higher into the night air. His grip around me was tender, but secure. Both air and energy assured me I was safe.

I got you.

Somehow, I believed him. Even after all the deception and betrayal I’d faced, the lies and power games he’d played, I trusted him. I knew him. This male, this dragon, was connected to me in ways I didn’t understand. But that murky internal pool of power had been cleared, and with it came the clear realization that Aether was mine.

I lowered my inhibitions, sleep tugging at me as sheer exhaustion began to claim my essence. We continued our climb, and I watched the compound along with the life I once knew burn to the ground. It was now nothing but ash.