Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Turned out, the legends were absolutely right. When a dragon loved, he loved completely. Sam had never been loved like this before, with all the support and protection and adoration that came along with it. As much as he questioned the dragon’s sanity for choosing him as a mate, he had to bask in it a little, too. Hard not to.
Between wanting to shake Dimitri, that was.
They’d been winding up a steep path for a good two days now. The vegetation had thinned out the higher they climbed. While they weren’t forced to stop and hack through the vines as much, they were still moving slowly because of the steepness. Sam’s legs were threatening to give out, and Dimitri’s sweet offer to carry him was starting to look more enticing.
Dimitri swore he could just shift into his dragon form and plow through the trees, clearing them a path, but Sam had zero interest in destroying the natural habitat of so many creatures. It was better if they left it as untouched as they possibly could, even if shifting would have meant he could ride on the dragon’s back.
The rest of the team had taken turns in the sky scouting ahead, but the canopy was so dense they couldn’t get a good view of booby traps or hints of where the Sousa might have lived. Sam refused to risk missing a sign of the lost mage clan. He might be exhausted, but hope that they’d find the Sousa or even the Tupã kept him putting one foot in front of the other.
The larger predators were still giving the dragons a wide berth. There had been hints of pumas and jaguars, but he hadn’t actually seen one yet. The only things that didn’t give a shit about dragons were the bugs.
So. Many. Fucking. Bugs.
Giant, venomous bugs.
Bugs that wanted to crawl into his clothes, suck his blood, and make him endlessly itch.
“Why aren’t the bugs scared of you?” Sam complained as they finally reached a flat area. He wanted to believe they’d finally reached the top of the mountain, but he was too tired to hope and walk. He could only manage one of them.
“Bugs aren’t scared of anything. Everything is bigger than them. Plus, they know they outnumber everything else,” Vasily replied.
“Bugs need to learn to be scared of dragons just like all the other creatures,” Sam muttered.
“Preach!” Luka called out from behind him, wringing a tired huff of laughter from Sam. At least he wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the bugs.
“I think we’ve reached the top,” Gregori announced as he walked back to join the rest of the group. He’d gone ahead to scout, searching for signs of the Sousa and booby traps. “Every direction I look, it’s downhill again. Which way? Keep heading northeast?”
While all eyes turned toward Sam, he dropped on his ass in the dirt. Thank god. Sam’s screaming thighs and calves were absolutely done with hiking up a mountain, thank you, and would be willing to hike up another booby trap-infested mountain precisely never.
Sam may get a bit sarcastic when tired. Sue him.
“We haven’t seen any new clues for where the Sousa were living. It may help to get higher,” he suggested.
“We tried that earlier today,” Vasily argued with a shake of his head. “The canopy is too thick. We’re not seeing anything.”
“Flying might be too high. How are you guys at climbing trees?” Sam pointed to a particularly massive tree not far from where they stopped. The trunk matched the width of a city bus and its thick limbs reached high. It would give them a peek above the tallest limbs while allowing them to be lower than the dragons could comfortably fly.
Gregori scratched his sweaty scalp, his nose wrinkling. “I don’t know if it would hold a dragon.”
Sam groaned. They were making this more difficult than it needed to be. “But it will hold a man.” Slipping his pack off his shoulders with a relieved moan, Sam shoved to his feet and started toward the tree. “I’ve climbed plenty of trees with my brother. This one will be cake. The branches are all close.”
Footsteps jogged after him and he glanced over to see a stern expression gracing Dimitri’s face. “I’m going with you.”
It was all Sam could do not to roll his eyes. He’d fully expected the dragon to climb up with him.
“Me too!” Gregori called out.
Vasily snorted. “Luka and I will stay on the ground, ready to catch you when you fall.”
“Or just laugh at your clumsy asses,” Luka tacked on.
“Not funny, Luka. You fucking catch Sam,” Dimitri snarled as he stopped in the middle of pulling himself up on the lowest branch.
“Ha! Whatever, old man. I’ll make it to the top before you do,” Sam taunted as he climbed past him.
Gregori’s cackle followed him up the tree as he climbed up branch after branch. He might be exhausted and his muscles were burning, but now it was a matter of pride to make it to the top before the dragon. He could hear Dimitri following directly behind him, while Gregori was on the other side of the tree, picking a different path to the top.