Ryder & The Kings Eyes (Book 3 Hell in the Realm Series)

CH 4

Ryder

That dragon's tail whipped around and right past them, barely missing them at all, and her horse reared up on its hind legs and whinnied again, as did several of the others. That dragon turned its big head and looked right at her and her troops. It had blue eyes that were dark around the edges and more brilliance in the center, and they kind of looked like they had a sword stabbing into its eyelid, as it’s pupils.

Then it just dismissed them all as they tried to settle their horses. Not often did a horse came across a dragon and these horses had come from the human realm. They had never seen anything like this creature before.

Ryder could only suppose from the way that beast turned away from them, disregarding the unsettling it had caused their horses, by the fact that it had nearly bloody crushed them with its cages and practically landed on them, that it didn’t care about who they were. They were of no threat to it; was likely its own thought process.

Ryder could see it was battle hardened from all its scars. There were not only rips in its wings, but it had scars down it’s tail and legs, across its body, one that ran nearly through its right eye. Those wounds she thought had to have been from other dragons. Those scars were large and thick in places and looked to be from massive sets of claws. Only one thing had claws that big: other dragons.

She saw as it tossed clothes onto the ground from one clawed front foot and heard its bones c***k for it to shift to its human form. She and her troop finally got to move on after their horses settled, and her attention was drawn to the omegas in the fields as she heard many gasps at seeing the dragon. She turned to look at them, they were all now running from the fields towards the pack.

She was certain that the dragon was also headed to the very pack that she and her troop were: there was nothing else out here, just that pack and the fields to be harvested. She knew those omegas were not running from the Kings Eyes, who had descended into the fields path heading for their pack, because that would have happened 10 minutes ago if that was the case.

That dragon had brought cages with it, and those omegas didn’t want to end up in them was her guess. Those five cages were large enough to house wolves, in human or wolfen form, she thought absently. Her eyes moved back the dragon shifter, who was now standing in human form his back to her.

He had long black hair that fell down his back, and he was just casually pulling on a pair of black pants, though his eyes she thought were also on those wolves that were fleeing away from him, much as hers had been a moment ago.

His human was as scarred as his dragon, and he appeared to be in no rush whatsoever. She watched him as she nudged her horse, and it made its way along the path again; as he picked up and pulled on a sleeveless black cloak that fell to his ankles, and then he reached up and pulled the hood of it over her head. She saw that it dropped down over his face, much the same way theirs did.

His head turned now that his hood was on, and he looked right at her and the group of King’s Eyes coming up on him, and all she saw was his mouth and chin, as she watched him, his hand deftly doing up the dragon clasp button on his cloak without even looking at it. There was no shirt for this man, just pants and a cloak.

He was muscled up to the hilt, a very defined six-pack and deep muscles rolled from his six-pack around the side of him, he also had massive pecks. Despite all the scars on his arms, they were as muscled as the rest of him. He was tall as well, stood easily a foot and half taller than she was. Kind of reminded her of Hugo’s giant frame.

Her eyes moved over his attire and there, on that hood that covered his face, was a golden circle with a red flame in it, and she understood just what he was; a Dragon Flame for the dragon royal family, he was the equivalent of a King’s Eyes here in the wolfen realm.

“You could watch where you’re going to drop things in the future, Dragon.” She told him as she came up upon him.

His mouth quirked in one corner. “I did,” he stated, sounding fully amused to her. “They landed exactly where I wanted them too, Wolf.”

He was un-phased by her and her troop, he knew he was the stronger and more powerful of them all, which meant he had no fear of her and her troop. He could probably set them all on fire from where he stood if he wanted to. She’d heard Dragon Flames could produce fire in their human form, unlike other regular dragons who could not.

“State your business here in the wolfen realm, Dragon.” She called out to him.

“State yours,” he countered. “They’re expecting me, are they you?” he asked right back.

“We were here first, so our business comes before your own,” Ryder told him, and nudged her horse into a trot to pass by him. Only to have him suddenly appear before her horse, he moved damned fast for such a large man. Her horse reared up as it tried to avoid him, and then it was tipping over.

She was yanked from the steed by the man who laughed softly at her plight, “Don’t go dying on me now. Being crushed by your horse is, I hear, not a nice way to go.”

Ryder yanked herself from his grip and turned to face him. “Don’t be so bloody rude.” She grated out at him; her horse wouldn’t have done that if he’d not shot himself in front of her in the first place.

“I was first here, so my business with this pack will be attended to before yours, wolf,” he stated once more.

“The hell you were.” She shot right back, glaring at him through her hooded cloak. It was clear to her that he could also see through his, it was as magically imbued as her own.

“Hmm.” He turned and looked at his cages. “Do you see them, where they are? They landed in front of you, so I was here first and if you interfere in my business or stop me from retrieving the blood debt this pack owes my kingdom, it could see war come for your king.” He informed her and turned back to look at her. That corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement once again.

Ryder frowned at him. “We are on a mission.” She stated, knowing he would understand that.

“As am I,” he nodded. “Declare your mission and, if it doesn’t interfere with mine, we’ll attend it at the same time. King’s Eyes and Dragon Flame together.” He smirked right at her, and she had a feeling he thought it was going to interfere with his business, and so he’d get to go first.

“I can’t speak into your mind, and I will not voice my mission aloud for anyone to overhear.” She stated firmly. “So you speak of your mission, and I will judge if it’s going to interfere with mine.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t work for me.” He shook his head. “I, however, can resolve that issue.” He smiled at her, and she heard the tearing of flesh and saw as two massive wings emerged from his back.

Her eyes moved towards them, they were as big as his own beasts in full dragon form, she’d never seen anything like it in her life. She watched them stretched out and then felt an arm snap around her, and she was yanked up against him and those wings snapped to the ground, and they were shot up into the air very fast.

His wings beat hard and fast, shooting them way up into the sky. She barely had time to gasp out “Let me go,” before his wings were curled around them, and they were suddenly upside down.

“It’s a long way down. You're sure you want me to let go.” He chuckled softly as her eyes found the ground many hundreds of feet below them. “Don’t throw up now,” he told her, sounding fully amused to her.

Then they were spinning around and plummeting towards the ground. She gasped and closed her eyes, her head turned away from the sight of the ground rushing towards them. Then she felt completely disoriented, as if the world around her had just tipped over, and she was suddenly the right way up and her feet were on the ground a moment later.

The air around her was suddenly very warm, and the Dragon Flame let go of her, as his wings settled behind him as she stumbled and gasped and felt her stomach heave, she turned to hurry away from him only to have him clamp an arm around her. “Steady there, wolf, or you’ll die.” He told her and there was no amusement in his voice.

Ryder saw what was before her as he pulled her to a stop. There was nothing, just the sky, and when she looked down as he pulled her back towards himself, she saw a long drop-off of a cliff face below her that disappeared into clouds.

She was she now knew in the Dragon Realm; this Dragon Flame had the ability to transport them to his own realm, and now he held on to her solely to stop her from falling off the cliff they were standing atop of; something she would indeed plummet to her death from.

“I’m fine.” She murmured a moment later as her stomach stopped rolling. “You could have warned me dragon.” She muttered as she stood and took in her surroundings.

“Now where is the fun in that for me?” he chuckled at her from behind his hooded cloak.