She was all alone on top of a wounded dragon, and she had no idea how the hell she was supposed to help him. She didn't even know how to fly a plane, least of all how to fly a dragon.
“Okay. Can you, like, brake? We're, uh, flying pretty fast.”
She swallowed when Braeden's left wing almost touched the top of a tree.
She narrowed her eyes. There was nothing but forest before them—but over there, to their right, wasn't that a highway?
Dusk was approaching. The sun was already very low in the sky. And she was pretty sure that there, in the distance, she'd seen lights.
Exactly what we need. Shelter. A phone. Civilization.
Only who the hell would believe her that dragons had made a mountain turn into a volcano?
Shit.
Braeden's wing had definitely touched a tree this time. Leaves were whirling through the air as a branch was ripped from the trunk.
Beneath her, the powerful body of the dragon shook, a groan escaping his throat.
“Okay. Stay calm. I know you hurt—but we need to go to the right. Can you do that for me? Go right? It's not far, I promise. And then you can rest.”
Tentatively, she pressed her hand against his neck, as if he was a horse.
She knew horses. She'd spent a few summers on the farm of her best friend's grandparents as a child. Twenty years had passed since that time, but she hadn't quite forgotten the sensation.
Of course a dragon wasn't a horse—but right now, it was all she had to work with.
For good measure, she nudged him with her calf as well, and a moment later, she felt Braeden tense.
He groaned again, a deep sound of pain escaping him—but he turned.
One of his wings rose, the other lowered, and a moment later, they were swerving to the right.
“That's it,” Alyx praised, relaxing when she could see the distant lights right in front of them. “Just go for as far as you can. We're close now. And then you can rest.”
She could hear Braeden's labored breathing. Every time his large wings rose and fell, she could feel the way he tensed.
Steele had wounded him. It must have happened when they'd escaped him—which meant that Braeden had carried her to safety, all this way, without saying even a single word.
Admittedly, there wasn't much she could have done while they were trying to outrun the magma. But he could have stopped once they were at a safe distance.
There was no need to drive himself to such utter exhaustion—was there?
Instinctively, she hunched her shoulders, fearfully searching the sky.
Maybe Braeden knew more than she did. Maybe it was possible that fire dragons could survive an erupting volcano.
Or maybe there were more of them out here... Braeden must have come from somewhere, after all.
Braeden's wings were beating more and more slowly. They were gliding on the air now, coming closer and closer to the ground.
There was the highway; she could see the lights of cars. And there, not far, was a building, dark against the sky.
She saw the neon sign advertising a motel just a heartbeat before a shudder ran through Braeden.
And then they hit the ground, the fire dragon managing two, three steps before he groaned and collapsed. Surprised, Alyx cried out as well, clinging to the dragon's neck.
A second later, the large body shimmered, and instead of the powerful body, she found herself clinging to an unconscious man.