Free Awakening by Caris Roane

way too hard. But she was also caught up in tracking the men. Duncan broke free and wheeled away to gain altitude.
    Merl flapped in such a way that he remained in one place, while he watched Duncan come at him from a higher position at full speed. His wings did a kind of rotating flip that drew him aside at the last moment. At the same time, he caught Duncan hard in the back, with his foot, as he flew by.
    Duncan was only ten feet above the ground when he caught himself with his wings at full-mount and stopped from plowing into the lawn.
    Rachel hardly saw Merl. Her eyes tracked her man, and he was glorious. He flapped slowly at first then faster and once more went at Merl. But this time he knew the Third ascender’s trick and adjusted so that he caught Merl’s left wing.
    The ensuing and very loud snap caused all the warriors to groan loudly.
    But to everyone’s surprise, Merl kept flying even though part of one wing dangled. The Third ascender was using levitation to stay in the air!
    Rachel could see that Duncan now hesitated because of Merl’s broken wing. That kind of damage done to a Second ascender would have had him falling to earth.
    It was clear to her, however, that Merl wasn’t giving up; the warrior was pissed.
    This wasn’t good.
    Without giving it a second thought, she stripped out of her dress and bra and prepared to mount. She wasn’t as quick as these two men in releasing her wings, so it took time for the mesh to rise and the swelling of her back to complete.
    Then the rush came, a tingling through her entire body so close to the feeling of sex that her breath caught. Before she flapped her wings, however, she brought forward the shielding power. She rose straight up into the air, naked except for her red thong, and headed straight for Duncan as fast as she could.
    Merl flew at top speed as well, wings at close-mount. He was aiming right for Duncan from a higher altitude, rage on every feature of his face. He had to be in an enormous amount of pain, but still he pressed on.
    At the last moment, before the collision could happen, she tackled Duncan around the waist, pushing him backward several yards. At the same time, she let her shielding power flow.
    “What the hell!” Duncan shouted. He caught her around the waist. “What are you doing?”
    Glancing over her shoulder, she watched Merl scramble in the air, turning in a circle, hunting for Duncan.
    Back to Duncan, she said, “What am I doing? Stopping the fight, idiot. And unless you want everyone seeing me bare-breasted, you’d better return me to the patio where I left my dress. Otherwise, I’ll let the shield go then all these warriors will get an eye-full.”
    Duncan was breathing hard, his eyes wild. But when his gaze landed on her breasts, she watched his attention finally shift from Merl to her.
    Suspended in midair with his wings flapping and holding them both in place, he took several deep breaths. She could see he was attempting to compose himself. Battle adrenaline didn’t leave the body easily.
    With his wings wafting and her own barely moving, he leaned into her and kissed her. His hand sliding over her breast and fondling. And it felt damn good, too good, shake-up-her-life good.
    “Rachel. I need to take you to bed.”
    “But what were you thinking attacking Merl like that?”
    “I wasn’t. Besides, the bastard deserved it.”
    She didn’t even try to answer that one since to some degree, Duncan was right. Merl knew better, but he’d flirted with her anyway.
    Duncan finally floated them down to the lawn. Drawing in his wings and giving her time to do the same, he held her hand as he led her back to the patio.
    Because she kept him shielded, they were able to blow right past the warriors. Not one of them turned in her direction; clearly her shield held. She heard the confused chatter that went similar to what had happened in the hallway behind the med-bay: where had the two of them gone?
    Endelle had of course turned in