Escaping Death

Chapter 16

Solana

Tate and I soar high enough above the clouds that we don't need to conceal ourselves rewarding me with a glimpse of his dragon. His dragon features match his human ones. His scales and his wings are as black as his hair, his eyes the same icy blue, and his body slim and toned. My coloring is similar to his except he is all black, as dark as the ink decorating his body, and I have a purple line running down my spine that ends at the tip of my tail.

Tate glides silently through the sky, barely disturbing the air around him, like an actual shadow flying through the clouds.

Though we're matched for size, he's faster than I am. My brother, Rhys, is the one who received our mother's increased speed. It makes him a formidable guardian to my sister, Calla, the next queen of Twilight Grove — not that my mother is stepping down any time soon.

No. I inherited the shadows and, like my dads, I can control my fire and the heat of it much more than my mom and uncle can. I can actually control quite a few things, but I don't make those known. Those cards I play close to my chest.

Suddenly, Tate drops down through the clouds like a stone in water, perching himself atop the peak of a small mountain below us. I nose dive down to follow him, coming to a stand next to him back in our human forms.

"You see that tall, black and silver tower with the logo for Lobo Tech?" He points towards a skyscraper in the city off in the distance.

I nod yes. It's a prominent building, one of the tallest that I can see.

"We need to break into their server room. It's on the third floor accessible by authorized personnel only."

"What do you need in there?"

He raises a curious brow, surprised I think by my question. "I spend more time in the shadows than in the light, Sunshine. You sure you want to know?"

His honesty catches me off guard. I expected him to deflect or give me some non-answer like Ace, but something tells me that if I say yes then he'd tell me everything. He won't coddle me.

"I'm no stranger to the dark, Tate. The flower I'm named for thrives in the shadows."

Tate's pupils dilate before he averts his eyes and looks out into the distance. "Later, perhaps. We need to get going, their offices will only get busier."

He spreads his wings and holds his arms out in front of him. "It would be easiest if I carried you, or you can fly to the alley on the south side of the building and meet me there."

An uninhibited laugh bubbles up from within me. "You sound like Eli. You trying to get your hands on me, too?" I tease him, though it's not 100% something I'd be opposed to.

Compared to the others Tate is the smallest of the guys. He's a fraction shorter than the rest, slimmer and trimmer. It's probably how he can move the way he does, quickly and silently, truly undetected. The others are brawny, their muscles carved from years of conditioning and use. Tate just is muscle, he's lean and powerful.

But it's those arctic blue eyes of his that draw my attention time and time again. Them and his tattoos. I can see them escaping the collar of his shirt and dripping down his wrists flirting with his hands. I wonder what the rest of his body looks like, how much of him is decorated and how much is left untouched, unclaimed.

"For the record, Sunshine, I don't need to play games to get you into my arms. In this particular instance, carrying you enables us to see each other while shadowed."

That is true, to an extent. As long as we're within 2 or 3 feet of each other I'd be able to see him, but with a ten foot wingspan that's hard to do in the air.