Blaze growled and lunged toward the Storm King. Griff tackled him, almost taking Blaze to the ground. They stumbled while Grlind had words of some sort with Jade.

  Blaze and Griff managed to keep from toppling over, but just barely. Griff pushed Blaze up against a nearby tree and sagged on him for support.

  “Sorry,” Griff said a moment later. “You don’t want to attack the Storm King. He could kill you with the flick of a finger.”

  “He wouldn’t,” Blaze grumped. “Would he? Really?”

  Griff shrugged halfheartedly. “I don’t know, and that’s the point. We don’t know him. We might know of him, but that isn’t the same thing. Don’t you remember, he mentioned having men executed!”

  Blaze gulped. “Do you think they were beheaded?”

  “What does it matter how they died? They ended up dead, period,” Griff retorted.

  “There’s still painful deaths and quick deaths, and any level in between,” Blaze pointed out.

  Griff closed his eyes and rested his head on Blaze’s chest. “I don’t know where Shadnay and Eleandross went, the world has warped somehow, either for real or as an illusion, we should have been at the place where my wings were lost—according to the map—hours ago and I think we’re lost. Everything is a mess right now.”

  “Except for us,” Blaze said. “You and me, together. We have each other. Everything else will come together as it should.”

  “You are…” Griff tipped his head back and looked up at Blaze. “Incredible. Sweet.”

  “Are you two done?” Jade asked. “We need to find a place to rest for the night.”

  Griff bit back a groan. “I just want to be with you, somewhere quiet and secluded.”

  “But you want to find your wings.” Blaze cupped Griff’s chin.

  “Yes, of course, but we could be doing that, just you and me, and maybe the world wouldn’t be off course,” Griff couldn’t help but say. He stepped back from Blaze. “Things are what they are, however. Maybe we can find somewhere to bed down for the night where you and I can have some privacy.”

  “That,” Blaze drawled, “would be awesome.”

  Griff winked at him. “It would.” And Griff had some very specific plans for what he would do with Blaze if they had enough time by themselves. “Let’s go.”

  As soon as they started forward, Jade and Grlind started walking again, too.

  “So no one has seen Shadnay and Eleandross for hours?” Griff asked loudly.

  “No,” Jade replied.

  Grlind shook his head.

  Griff frowned. Did that mean they were gone, off somewhere being happy dragonflies? Or had something bad happened to them?

  He and Blaze discussed the options, and it was only when Jade pointed out a waterfall that Griff admitted to himself at least that perhaps they’d lost the dragonflies when the map or world changed.

  It was a worrisome event—another worrisome event in a day full of them.

  After they turned in for the night—without any privacy, so Griff had to settle for cuddling, which was good, too—Griff let his mind wander. He was in an almost trance-like state.

  He saw himself floating—no, flying. He was flying, his wings so gorgeous and full, truly spectacular wings. He was flying, mostly content, a little distracted, then he was terrified, screaming, hurting. The pain as his wings were ripped from him was so intense he could almost feel it happen again.

  Griff saw his wings flutter to the ground.

  The ground! Griff studied it in his sleep state, taking in the details.

  It looked nothing like the ground where he’d been told he was hurt.

  Nothing like it at all.

  Griff spent the rest of the night trying to decide if his memory was correct or not in its revelations. When the suns rose over the closest mountain, he still didn’t have an answer on the subject.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Blaze was up before anyone else. He slipped out from under Griff’s arm and leg, then quietly made his way to the pack Grlind had set aside for the night.

  Rather than risk making too much noise, Blaze hefted the whole bag up and glanced to make sure Grlind and Jade were still asleep. The two of them were a good half-dozen feet apart, and Jade wasn’t facing Blaze, but he watched the Storm King’s breathing for several moments until he was certain Jade wasn’t feigning sleep.

  Blaze returned to Griff’s side and put one hand over Griff’s mouth. Before he could nudge Griff awake, Griff’s eyes shot open, and he grunted as he tried to sit up, hands going for Blaze’s arm.

  As soon as he saw that it was Blaze touching him, Griff slumped and leaned against Blaze.

  “Come with me,” Blaze said very quietly, then he stood and helped Griff to his feet.

  The copse of trees they’d slept under was rife with twigs and other crunchy, noise-making things, so they had to pick their way very carefully until they were a good distance from the others.

  “What’s wrong?” Griff asked, his words hardly more than a wisp of breath.

  Blaze moved them a little farther away, closer to the river running where, according to the map, it shouldn’t be. He sat on a large rock there and patted it.

  Griff came and sat beside him.

  “Can you make some light?” Blaze asked. If he weren’t such a fuckup himself, he could have done it. He hated not having any of his abilities anymore. His sister-in-law had damned well better give them back.

  “Sure.” Griff chanted just a few words, and a small glowing orb appeared in front of them. Though little, it cast a fair amount of light.

  “Thanks.” Blaze opened the pack. He found the map easily enough and took it out. Then he handed the bag to Griff. “Look in there and see if anything is in the bag that shouldn’t be.”

  “Like what?” Griff took the pack. “And who would have put anything in there?”

  Blaze shrugged. “We don’t know Grlind, only the story he told us, and that elf is off. All the weird stuff has happened since he arrived. That could be a coincidence.”

  Griff nodded, but his eyes had a faraway look to them, as though he was lost in his thoughts. It didn’t take long for those thoughts to spill out. “Or, Grlind could be taking advantage of Jade’s appearance to frame him? If we’re considering the theory that one—”

  “Or both,” Blaze interjected.

  “Or both of our new acquaintances are sabotaging our quest, we have to reach out and consider as many possible scenarios as we can,” Griff agreed.

  Blaze scowled. “Um. Realistic ones, right?”

  “Preferably, but with someone as powerful as the Storm King involved, there’s no telling what’s realistic and what isn’t,” Griff pointed out. “And if he’s hiding because there’s a coup, then it’s even possible that Grlind has been searching for him for nefarious reasons, and our running into him has caused a delay in Grlind’s plans.”

  Blaze’s stomach dipped like it did when, as a dragon, he dove down toward the ground at breakneck speeds, only to pull up at the last second. Except he didn’t get the adrenaline rush or fun that usually came with that experience.

  “Or they could both be innocent,” Griff continued.

  “And someone else moved the world? Or the map?” Blaze asked. “But if they altered the map, they’d have had to know about the map. The only person besides me or you who knew of it was Gia.”

  “She didn’t do it,” Griff said flatly.

  Blaze held up his hands. “I didn’t say she did. I’m just stating the truth. You said we had to consider all possibilities. Maybe she told someone else after we left.”

  “Ugh!” Griff stood up. “She probably did. She’d at least have told Artaxis. He’s her lover and king, after all.”

  “He’s your king,” Blaze felt compelled to point out. “But never been your lover?”

  “Never. He’s asked, but I’m not—he doesn’t—there’s just no—I didn’t want—” Griff huffed and stomped one foot in an adorable display of temper.

  Not that Blaze would tell him his fit was adorable. He had better self-preservation instincts than that.

  “I wasn’t interested,” Griff finally got out. “I’ve always been a bit different than the rest of the fairies in my frolic.”

  “Are you sure you’re from your frolic?” Blaze asked.

  Griff gawped at him.

  “What? I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was just asking. I mean, Bonny’s not from our clan, and there are other dragon clans ours interacts with sexually and…well, okay. Mostly sexually.” Blaze shrugged. “So I don’t get why you’re looking at me like I sprouted a third eyeball.”

  That at least got a snort of laughter from Griff. After which, he said, “I don’t know, either. Shock, I guess, because Mom always said she couldn’t begin to guess who my father was. She didn’t even know which fairy from which frolic had impregnated her, according to Gia, and that’s the norm for us. When a woman wants a baby, she’s able to become pregnant. Mom was a true Love fairy, so, as I said, there’s no telling who my father was, and in our frolic, it doesn’t matter. There is no judgment, and there were plenty of males around to mentor me. There’s a saying, it takes a frolic to raise a fairy.”

  “Huh.” Blaze scratched his chin.

  “Huh what?”

  “It’s just different from the dragon way. Not that I’m saying it’s wrong or anything. It’s interesting to learn about your ways. When you think about it, we don’t really know much about each other,” Blaze pointed out.

  “This is true. We have time,” Griff agreed. “I saw nothing odd in the bag, by the way. If it’s charmed or magicked, I can’t tell.”

  Blaze grumbled, mostly curse words. He’d wanted an easy solution to their problem. “Okay. Let’s look at the map without them here.”

  Griff took one edge of the map and Blaze the other.

  “We’re here,” Griff said after looking up at the sky. He touched a spot on the map. “Gods with goiters! That’s not where it said we were when we stopped last night!”

  Blaze blinked. “No, it isn’t. Even if the map hadn’t changed, the land is still wrong, though. Isn’t it?”

  Griff grimaced. “Yes. So maybe it’s the map and the land that’s been magicked?”

  “It—”

  “Wait!” Griff let go of the map and hopped up, suddenly more energetic than anyone should be in the early morning hours. “There was something…something I think I remembered, even thought I was sort of dreaming. It was…it was…” He trailed off and groaned. “Think, damn it!”

  Blaze tucked the map away, then stood and rubbed Griff’s shoulders. “Don’t try so hard. And just because you were dreaming, sort of, doesn’t mean you didn’t remember the truth. Like your brain relaxes when you quit trying to think about so many things. Brilliant ideas come during sleep. Well, that’s what I heard. I just have sexy dreams about all the ways I want you to fuck me.”

  Griff trembled and turned in Blaze’s arms. “You dream of me fucking you?”

  Blaze bobbed his head. “Oh yeah. All the time. Even when I’m awake.”

  Griff’s nostrils flared, and he placed his hands on Blaze’s hips. “There were still a few of the flowers in the bag.”

  Blaze’s cock had started growing hard as soon as he’d mentioned what he dreamt about. He went hot then cold all over, then hot again. Lust hit him fast, scrambling his plan to talk about what was happening with the land and the map and the—well, everything.

  He opened for Griff’s kiss, moaning when Griff gripped him with more force and thrust his tongue in like he was staking a claim.

  Blaze pushed frantically at Griff’s clothing, seeking only to free his cock. As soon as he got his hands on that thick, rigid shaft, Blaze clenched his ass and shivered.

  Gods, he’d turned into a horny bastard, more so than ever. He wanted Griff all the time.

  And judging by the way Griff shoved at Blaze’s trousers just enough to get them down past his cock and ass, it seemed that Griff was just as desperate for him.

  Griff kept kissing him, teasing and dominating with his tongue, his teeth, his soft lips.

  All Blaze could do was try to keep up. He had one hand on Griff’s shaft, kind of stroking when he could get his brain to kick in and send the message to his arm and hand to move. With his other hand, he clutched at Griff’s shoulder.

  Then Griff did a bitey, tuggy thing to Blaze’s lower lip that hurt just enough to send Blaze’s arousal into a whole new level of urgent need.

  Blaze made an embarrassingly mewl-like sound.

  Griff spun him around. “Hands on the rock.”

  Blaze bent and slapped his palms against the boulder they’d been sitting on. He couldn’t spread his legs much with his trousers still on.

  Griff noticed and grumbled something, then Blaze was nude, and Griff was spreading his ass cheeks, rubbing slick, cool liquid over his hole.

  Blaze really, really loved magic.

  “You look so sexy like this,” Griff praised as he slid one slick digit into Blaze’s hole.

  Blaze said, “Thank you.” It wasn’t his fault it came out missing all vowels. That was due to Griff finding his gland and giving it a nice, sweet rub.

  “I should…should take my time, draw this out,” Griff said, his voice stripped down to not much more than a series of rough grunts. “I’m a Love fairy.”

  And Blaze would love to get fucked, soon. He wiggled his hips and started shoving back, trying to get the message across since speech was beyond him.

  Griff palmed his balls and the combination of fingering and fondling felt so good that Blaze’s vision blurred. He gasped and panted and forgot about everything. All he could do was feel, and Griff kept pushing more and more feeling into him.

  Blaze’s dick was leaking pre-cum, his nerves pinging with electric shocks of pleasure. He lowered his chest down closer to the rock’s surface and closed his eyes, chasing after a release that was tantalizingly close.

  Then Griff’s fingers were gone, and something thicker and hotter was pushing into Blaze’s ass.

  Blaze gulped, and his body seemed overloaded with pleasure. He felt raw and open in a way he couldn’t comprehend. It had to do with more than just bodies meeting, mating. There was that bonding, the deeper ties forming and building, binding them and resonating between them.

  Griff filled him with one long, slow thrust. He ran his hands up and down Blaze’s flanks, over his back and shoulders.

  He ground against Blaze’s ass.

  And just when he started to move, drawing his cock back until the fat cap stretched Blaze’s ring, only then did Griff reach under Blaze and fist his shaft.

  Blaze let the sounds fall from him—the needy, wanton, eager sounds he couldn’t be embarrassed of giving to Griff.

  Griff rasped with every thrust, saying Blaze’s name, praising him, his body, his mind, his heart.

  He pressed his chest to Blaze’s back and rutted with short thrusts, as if he couldn’t bear to pull out farther and put any distance between them. But he drove back in hard, those few inches he withdrew. His hips would barely separate from Blaze’s ass before he was slamming them back against Blaze’s butt.

  He jacked Blaze steadily, and Blaze shoved a hand down to join him, needing to touch Griff as much as he could. Their hands together were perfect on his dick. Blaze didn’t mind the scrape of rock against his skin, the bruises he’d have on his butt cheeks and hopefully other places from Griff holding on to him.

  Nothing mattered but what they shared, the intimacy of it and the animalistic nature of fucking. The combination was deeper than anything Blaze had ever thought he’d experience.

  His climax built and built until Blaze could hardly breathe. Then it hit, racing through him, sending his mind and body soaring as wave after wave of pleasure was pumped into him. He came so hard he lost track of everything until Griff snarled, the sound raw and wild and bare. He stiffened and rammed his cock in deep, his cum hot as it jetted into Blaze.

  Blaze’s legs gave out. He scraped his chest and forearm more as he went down.

  If Griff hadn’t had the agility to roll them, Blaze would have smacked his chin on the rock as well. Instead they landed on the ground, in a jumble of tangled limbs and sticky, sweaty masses.

  Blaze might have dozed off. Eventually he became aware of his arm going numb and the suns beginning to rise. “Griff? We should get back to the others.”

  Groaning, Griff sat up and rubbed at one eye. “Yes, I guess so. We didn’t do anything wrong, though. That’s our bag, and our stuff in the bag.”

  “Right.” Blaze knew that. He still felt like they’d stolen it. He sat up and winced. His ass was sore.

  “Too rough?” Griff sounded so worried.

  Blaze shook his head. “No. I like knowing I’ll feel that—feel you, all day.” And possibly tomorrow. And the next day. Blaze grinned. “It’s like a dirty secret. Like I’m walking around with your dick still in me.”

  “Oh.” Griff blushed. “That’s good, then?”

  “Very.” Blaze wiped a smudge of dried lube off Griff’s cheek. Gods only knew how it got there. Then he remembered— “Hey, the dream? What was it? The memory dream?”

  Griff sighed, then said, “I remember! It was of when I was hurt. When I lost my wings. Only, the weird thing was, it wasn’t in the spot I’d been told it happened in. And it made me wonder, the memory I had before of it, was that really a memory? Or was it something there because I’d been told it so many times?” Griff turned big, worried eyes on him. “Blaze, what if my king lied about where I was attacked?”

  “Would he do that?” Blaze asked.

  Griff didn’t look happy at all. “I didn’t think so. But what do I know? Artaxis could declare that I was injured on another planet, and everyone in the frolic would believe it. I just don’t see why he’d do that, though.”

  Blaze was in a quandary. He didn’t want to discount Griff’s dream, which might be an actual memory, but he didn’t want to alienate Griff from his frolic, either.

  And he didn’t know enough about Artaxis to make a call on his possible motives or whether or not he’d lie to Griff about the whole thing.