Around us, the direction of the wind shifted, and with it came the sound of howling that was anything but natural. I Tracked demons as a whole, gasping at what I felt. I grabbed the coat and pulled it on. “We’ve got to get up in the air, ‘Phelia. We’ve got incoming nasty fuckers.”

She shifted her weight and the remaining snow slid off her body. Using the rigging attached to her, I climbed up and strapped myself in as the gusts picked up, as if the very elements were against us.

As soon as I was buckled in, she threw herself sideways and we dropped into open air. We’d been on the edge of a high cliff deep in the Brooks Mountain Range in northern Alaska. She tucked her wings tightly to her body and we shot toward the ground at a speed I’d never felt with Blaz.

Male dragons are known for their strength and power with the elements. Females are known for their speed and maneuverability. You know that. I do not understand your surprise.

I did know that, we’d worked together for months training, both Blaz and I. But I’d never ridden Ophelia during those months. She gave a hard bank to the right, flipped sideways and slid between a narrow gap in the mountains.

“So you can outrun these bastards?”

I do not know; how many are there?

I Tracked the demons again. “I’m guessing, but at least thirty.” The impressions I picked up were odd, though, thirty that kept blending and twisting into more, and then less. How the fuck was that even possible?

“They’re doing something weird.”

If we were bound together, I could read them through you.

If we were bound, her life would be tied to mine; but there was a problem. One dragon, one Slayer. That was it, no second chances. “That’s not possible, though. Erik said so.”

She let out a long snort that curled flames back over her neck. Erik does not know everything. Your father trained him, and while he taught him all he could, Erik did not like learning from his brother. His pride kept him from truly understanding. The question is, would you even want that with me?

Carefully, I Tracked Ophelia. I wanted her emotions more than anything, to know what she was truly feeling.

She was scared that she wasn’t good enough for me, but inside that fear was a kernel of hope.

I put my hands on her hide. “Okay, I’m going to try and bind us together.”

Her thoughts whispered back to me, and I understood the fear in her. I will not survive another rider’s death, Rylee. Promise me you won’t die.

I sucked in a breath and lied. “I promise, I won’t die. The plan is for all of us to get out alive.”

Then do it. We are stronger together than apart. Blaz wouldn’t mind. He loved us both.

I pressed my hands hard against her. “That he did. But he doesn’t have a say in this, does he?”

Ophelia laughed, the echo of it rumbling back to me. No, I suppose he doesn’t.

The thing was, I didn’t know what had bound me and Blaz together. We’d flown together after fighting, and when we’d landed, we were bound.

Highest heights and lowest valleys, Rylee. That is what we must do. And you must allow yourself to enjoy it.

She tipped her body and began to climb into the ether reaches. We passed the last mountaintop and I swayed in my rigging as the air thinned and I struggled to breathe. “Too high,” I whispered, hoping she could hear me.

One more stroke of her wings and then she tucked them to her sides and rolled in the air. We seemed to pause for a breath, as if gravity had somehow failed.

The free fall was like nothing I’d ever experienced with Blaz, and I realized something.

He’d always held a little back.

I think he was afraid to lose you, always knowing what you would be asked to do.

“That bastard.” Easier to be mad at him than to remember the pain of losing him.

The mountaintops raced toward us and with them, the first of the demons. I stared hard at them, trying to make out what form they’d taken. Flying monkeys again? Harpies? Dragons?

None of those shapes.

They looked like people, with wings and long tails tipped at the end with an arrowhead. “Fallen angels?”

That is very, very bad.

Of course it was.

Ophelia plummeted toward them, and as we drew closer, they tipped their faces up to us. Pre-requisite glowing red eyes, of course, but other than that, there was nothing. No nose, no mouth, not even ears. They were completely naked but there weren’t any distinguishing features that would mark them as male or female. As in no breasts, no twig and berries.

We blasted through their ranks, sending them spraying to all sides as if a wave of air had hit them. As we continued our free fall, I stared back up at them. “They’re regrouping, tell me what’s so bad about them.”

They are literally the fallen ones. They were good once, even fought against the demons. But somewhere along the way they lost themselves to the darkness. Their touch can paralyze, and then they will take their time raping you with their hands and then tearing your guts out of you. Not necessarily in that order.

The wind screamed around us and I kept my eyes on the fallen ones. I didn’t need to look at the ground; I knew Ophelia would deal with the fall.

And like that, the bond snapped open between us.

Her emotions and fears, her worries and strengths flowed into me, and mine flowed into hers.

It is predicated on trust, Rylee. But I could not tell you that. It can be harder to bind yourself to a dragon the second time. I was . . . concerned.

“Didn’t want to tell me that, either, huh?”