Own Her (The Warriors of Hades 3)

Savastian grinned, his fangs flashing at her. And then he was in the air too and flying behind his brothers. She closed her eyes, excited and anticipating the flight.

“You don’t want to miss this, Mekenna,” he said in a deep voice.

She looked at everything, trying to take in as much as she could. They were high enough that the tops of the jagged mountains were feet below them. He curled his claws deeper into her skin, not breaking the flesh but making sure to keep her close. The heat of his body and the warmth of the air had beads of sweat lining the area between her breasts.

But the heat didn’t bother her, and in fact the wind on her face and the open air had her lifting her arms out and closing her eyes again. She laughed, feeling like she was the one flying on her own, nothing stopping her. There was the idea that if he dropped her, she could fall to her death, but not even that could sway her happiness.

“These are the Tartanaian Mountains,” Savastian said, and she opened her eyes to see what he referred to. “Many Hades warriors make their home in the mountains.” They moved toward the farthest part of the ocean, and she stared at the horrendous, scary creatures that broke through the fiery liquid.

They were scaly, flames coming from their bodies, their eyes a glowing yellow in color, and their fangs like massive swords. She held onto Savastian harder, and he chuckled.

“I’ll never let you go, female.” He leaned in close and inhaled deeply from her hair. He turned right and headed toward the forest of fire. “And that is our home, deep within the Brokaou forest of flames. There are caves buried in the ground. It’s safe and will be all ours, dimina.”

He dipped low, and she noticed the way he curled his wings further into his body and turned to clear the narrow opening. He soared lower to clear the mountains, and then he was landing on the dark, rocky ground of the entrance at the forest opening.

Sebastian took her hand, and Fillip and Viktor stepped beside and behind her. They then walked into the forest. She tilted her head back, looking at the fires that topped these majestic-looking trees with the black-and-white trunks.

She moved past one of the trunks and saw the smooth, almost glassy-looking texture, but didn’t dare touch anything. The farther they went into the forest, the more the heat surrounded them. Pieces of fire seemed to fall from the sky, landing in odd places around them.

She pressed closer to Savastian, feeling the other two brothers move closer to her as well, and didn’t know how she could survive a world so destructive.

An outcropping of caves could be seen up ahead, but before they even made it another foot, all three males stopped. They caged her in, reached for their weapons, and became deathly still and silent.

Was a predator close by? Was danger too great for them to handle about to attack them? Gods, she hated not knowing, and she couldn’t even see anything aside from their firm, red backs as they kept her blocked in with the protection of their bodies.

Mekenna closed her eyes, slowly counted to regain her thoughts, and when she got to ten, she opened them once more, ready to face whatever had altered the men. She heard the hissing and growling sound coming closer and closer. Twigs snapped, echoing off the fire trees, and when Fillip shifted on his feet, she could see through the gap between the brothers’ bodies this horrendous beast moving toward them.

“She needs to get to the caves,” Viktor said, and he took a step closer. He had a sword in one hand, and his wings slightly unfurled, the tips pointed toward the front of his body as weapons.

The other two brothers glanced at him, and then Fillip backed up, grabbed her around the waist, and pressed her back to his chest. He was ten feet off the ground only seconds later, and although there were trees surrounding them, their branches were so high in the air they were not an obstruction if he needed to fly.

He wouldn’t be able to go very fast, but unless that creature could fly as well, it wouldn’t be able to get them.

Fillip stayed airborne for a few moments, and she watched in horror as the beast charged forward. It didn’t have wings, but its body was close to the ground, long, and scaly, and the tongue that came out of its mouth was tipped with a flame. It slithered like a snake but so much faster that her heart was in her throat.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly, and although she was not in the line of danger being in the air like this, she felt like she was in the thick of the fight.