This chapter contains a sex scene so if you would like to skip it, I'll mark the beginning and end with a couple of asterisks (**)
Enjoy the chapter :)
Zoe was sitting in the hot spring after getting back from her raid on the hunters. Hayden was still taking care of his section which was a much greater distance from his house than Zoe's. She had taken her clothes off, sinking into the water so just her head was above water, her eyes closed. She had turned 20 a month ago and her and Hayden had been together for two months now, and they had been the best two months of her life so far. She had never been with anyone before Hayden, being taken from her home at 16 and then being on the move ever since, she hardly had the chance to grow close to anyone until Hayden.
Barely any time had passed when she heard beating winds and a thump, indicating that Atlas and Hayden were back and had just landed. She wasn't worried he'd come to the springs immediately, he usually went to work in the forge before he bathed so she still had a little longer. But then she heard Hayden groan, and then the sound of him getting in the water at the other end of the spring. She was sitting at the end of the springs that was farthest from the house and opening her eyes, she saw him turn around to face the end she was sitting in. He stiffened when he saw her, "Zoe! I'm so sorry I didn't realise you were here, I'll get out, sorry."
He was starting to turn red. "Hayden, it's fine. You're at the other end, I think we can both use the springs at the same time."
"You sure?" he asked.
"I'm sure," she responded with a smile. "How was your raid?" she asked him.
"All fine, no dragons were severely wounded. You?"
"Same as you, all good."
"Does that mean that the red stain on your shirt behind you isn't blood?" he asked with a knowing look.
"Ok fine, I got stabbed but it's fine now. I don't even have a scar," she defended.
"Zoe, you can't keep letting yourself get stabbed. I know you can heal yourself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
"It's not like I like being stabbed. I just decided that whatever documents I could steal would be worth a potential knife to the side, and it was! I managed to grab their list of next shipments with dates and locations."
"Unbelievable," he muttered.
"Oh come on, it's not like you went unscathed either. Your side is bleeding," she pointed out.
"Shit! I thought I got it to stop bleeding," he cursed as he pressed his hand to his side.
"Warm water will tend to do that," she chuckled. "Here, I'll heal it."
"No!" Hayden yelled, putting his hand out.
"Why?"
"Neither of us are wearing anything," he pointed out.
"I'll put a shirt on, and I'd rather we see each other naked than you bleed out. And it's not like we haven't felt each other up,"
"Zoe!"
"What? It's true," she defended, laughing at his expression.
"Ok, fine," he relented.
Zoe rolled her eyes, he could be so sensitive about things sometimes, honestly, they had been dating for just over two months! She reached for her bloodied shirt and put it on before making her way over to Hayden. She scooped some of the water so it made a glove around her hand, the water starting to glow. She pressed her hand gently to Hayden's wound. It was on his left side, between his lowest rib and his hip.
"It's deep," she told him, not taking her eyes off of the wound. She kept her hand on his side, healing the wound from the inside out, the skin would be the last to heal. After a few minutes, she removed her hand, not even a scar left behind.
"Thanks," he choked out, staring into her eyes when she looked up at him.
She was standing right in front of him, her skin glistening with water droplets and her hair lose and hanging in wet curls down her back. The shirt she had put on was sticking to her wet skin, accentuating every curve. It was torturous and she had no idea.
The sensation of her healing his wound pulled him out of his thoughts. It was such an unusual sensation that he would never get used to, the skin and muscle stitching itself together, the pain slowly disappearing.
Zoe stood in front of him, less than half a meter from him, one of her hands on his right shoulder, the other hovering over his wound. He refused to watch her, trying to contain his racing mind and heart. Yes, they were together, but she had never shown any signs of wanting to go all the way during the times they had gotten intimate.
When he felt her remove her hands, he looked back down at her, meeting her eyes and choking out a thanks.
Before he knew what he was doing, his hand had reached forward, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, his eyes flicking down to her lips that she was nervously chewing that only drove him more crazy. His arm snaked around her bare waist, gently pulling her closer to him, his other hand tipping her chin up, his eyes searching for any sign of discomfort. Her hands found his bare chest as he started to lean down to her, Zoe meeting him halfway, before he pressed his lips to hers. As soon as their lips touched, Hayden's mind went numb like always, only knowing that he mustn't release the goddess pressed against him. They broke apart for air, both their chests heaving. Zoe looked up at him, her lips slightly swollen, an odd look on her face.
"Thank you," he said again, "but promise me you won't let yourself get stabbed again?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he realised how stupid the request was. "Actually, that's unrealistic," he was rambling now, "just try to-" before he could continue, he was silenced by Zoe's lips against his, her hand wrapping around the back of his neck, pulling his head down lower to meet her.
"Just shut up," she breathed between kisses. They were becoming more needy and desperate, Hayden turning them so Zoe was between him and the edge of the spring. He kept kissing her, his tongue slipping into her mouth to meet hers that had broken into his. He pressed her against the edge of the spring, kissing and sucking her jaw and down her neck, Zoe breathing heavily and letting out little moans.
**
She felt him grind into her, already hard, making her core clench again and her back arch, pushing her breasts into Hayden's chest. He continued kissing and nipping her neck and collar bone as she ran her fingers through his hair. His hands moved from her waist down her thighs, his thumbs skimming the inside of her legs, making her gasp. His hands travelled back up her body until they reached the base of her shirt, making eye contact with her, seeking permission to remove the one item of clothing. She nodded and immediately the shirt was pulled over her head making her breasts bounce from the movement. Granting him permission, he began massaging her right breast, his lips returning to her neck making her groan. Her core was clenching painfully, she needed him.
He didn't know how long he would last, he needed her so badly. He lifted her out of the water so she was sitting on the stone with her legs still in the water, her body pressed against his and her hands exploring his chest. He continued kissing her lips, his hands sliding up her leg to grip her waist. He slipped a finger between her folds, feeling her moan into his lips, he ran his finger up and down and into her core making her press into him harder. Pulling away from her mouth, he lowered his head so it was between her legs. Meeting her eyes briefly, he began licking and sucking her, immediately feeling her hands return to his hair, a moan escaping her lips. He continued teasing her with his mouth, bringing her closer to the edge, but never pushing her over. Removing his mouth, he gently lay her back on the ground, hoisting himself fully out of the water and kneeling over her. "Do you want to keep going?" he asked her. After getting a nod in response, Zoe spread apart her legs, giving him access to her entrance. He was throbbing almost painfully. He needed to feel her around him. Slowly lowering himself over her, he positioned himself at her entrance, slowly pushing inside her. He heard her hiss in pain when he reached her barrier, stopping and looking at her in concern. "Just do it quickly," she said.
"You sure?" He asked. After receiving a nod, he pushed into her, hating himself as he heard her gasp in pain. He stayed still, letting her adjust to the feeling of him inside her.
"Ok, I'm good," she breathed after a few minutes. With that, he began moving slowly and gently in and out of her. After a few thrusts, she started to moan. "More," she muttered. Taking this as his cue, Hayden picked up the pace, gradually thrusting into her harder and faster, grunting and moaning in pleasure himself, Zoe meeting his thrusts with her own. He moved his hands so one hand was gripping her hip, the other supporting his weight so he could thrust into her faster. He lowered his head so he could capture her lips with his own. He then moved his mouth so he was licking and nipping at her neck, drawing louder moans from the goddess beneath him. He pounded into her for as long as he could before he felt himself nearing his climax, struggling to keep his thrusts even. He could feel her walls tightening around him, pushing him over the edge and pulling out just before he released, collapsing on the ground next to her.
"Gods, that was incredible," he muttered.
"I think we should go inside," Zoe said after a few minutes of the two of them trying to regain their breath, turning her head to the side to look at him.
"Probably," he groaned, showing no sign of moving.
"C'mon lazy bones," she said, sitting up and running her fingers through his hair.
"I'm allowed to be lazy, I was the one doing all the work," he complained.
"Well if we get inside, I can make it up to you," she said in a low voice, immediately turning Hayden on again.
"I guess I could make it inside," he said in mock contemplation.
-o0O0o-
He kicked the front door closed, lifting Zoe into his arms and carrying her to his room and laying her down onto the bed, immediately starting to kiss her passionately and massage her breasts, her moans making him smirk.
He was suddenly flipped onto his back, Zoe sitting on top of him. She gripped him, running her fingers along his length before leaning down and taking him into her mouth, making him gasp. She gently sucked on him before teasing his tip with her tongue, bringing him to the brink, but stopping just before he went over the edge and making him whine in annoyance. Before he could form a coherent sentence, she lowered herself onto him, wincing slightly from pain but starting to move much sooner than before. He stared up at her, her breasts bouncing as she rode him and her teeth biting her bottom lip in an attempt to supress her own moans. She rode him for several minutes before he could feel himself building up again, both of them moaning and gasping in pleasure. Once he felt himself nearing the edge, he flipped them over, thrusting into her as fast and hard as he could before he pulled out, releasing on the sheets next to him and slumping against her.
He looked down at her, one of her hands coming up to wipe his hair off his sweaty face before she leaned over to press her lips to his. Summoning the strength to move, he sat up and cleaned himself up with the already dirty sheet before throwing it into the corner of the room and passing Zoe a towel.
"Thanks," she said sounding exhausted as she cleaned herself. They both crawled back into bed, Hayden pulling the doona over them and Zoe nestling in next to him and closing her eyes.
**
-o0O0o-
He was in a meeting with the leaders of the Academy, Atlas curled up around his chair. Zoe and Uri had most likely broken into the Academy's library like they always did even though he had advised against it. Zoe had been declared an enemy of the Academy when she had saved them all after her six month disappearance when she was nineteen and he was twenty, so she couldn't be seen at the Academy unless she wanted to be thrown in a cell. He was now twenty-four and Zoe twenty-three.
He would usually only meet with the Academy leaders once a year, but the last eighteen months, the meetings had increased to every quarterly. This had pleased Zoe since she was given more opportunities to visit their library, although the first few visits she had tried to deny why she had wanted to make the trip to the Academy with him. The meetings had increased in frequency due to the increased hunter activity that was at its highest ever. He and Zoe were struggling to release all the dragons that the hunters had caught due to the sheer number. Grimmel's hunters had moved into the open and Drago's dragon army that Zoe had discovered two years back was growing exponentially, Viggo's business the only one that was steady and not rapidly increasing.
The meeting was just finishing up and they were to head to the hall for lunch before going back into plan. He was to meet Zoe on a nearby island just after the moon had risen tonight, giving her a whole day to exploit the library and him a day of boredom.
She removed her armour and weapons, handing them to the group of guards that had found her thanks to Sharpshot's inability to turn invisible, she really needed to make him a cloak or something out of Uri's scales that she could throw over him when needed. She had decided to cooperate, thinking she could easily escape whatever cell they put her in. Over the years, she had honed in on her bending and other gifts as well as mastering her ability to break out of almost any cell thanks to her many captures, mostly by Viggo. She didn't mind being captured by Viggo, and he didn't seem to mind her escaping either. It was an odd relationship that they had, she mused as her new cell door was closed behind her. Uri and Sharpshot had managed to get out but Zoe thought she'd humour the guards and let them take her.
She sat down in her cell against the back corner and closed her eyes, letting herself dose off for a bit.
-o0O0o-
She was woken to the sound of metal scraping against the stone floor. Opening her eyes, she saw one of the guards push a metal plate with some decent looking food towards her before leaving her alone again. She leaned forward, picking the plate up and began to eat. The food was actually quite nice, they certainly treated their prisoners much better than Drago. Once she had finished, she slid the plate back under the door so one of the guards could take it back to the kitchens, and then she leant back against the wall, falling back to sleep.
-o0O0o-
The sun was setting the next time she woke. Getting up and stretching, she walked over to the door. She pressed her palm to the keyhole, a blue glow emitting from her hand before she heard a satisfying click, telling her that the ice she had formed inside the keyhole in the shape of the key had worked. She peeked out the door, seeing no one, she casually stepped out of cell, leaving the door wide open just to taunt the guards and headed down the hall to the storage cupboard where her armour and weapons would have been taken.
She found the storage room with no problems, not even coming across one guard as it was dinner time, although her luck ran out when she got to the storage room. There was one guard standing in front of the door and looking very bored.
As Zoe approached the rider, they turned to look at her, tensing and reaching for their weapon of choice.
"Hello," she greeted cheerfully. The rider was a male who looked to be her age with coffee brown hair and blue eyes. He was very tall, probably half a head taller than Hayden, and he was very lean in his leather armour. He looked incredibly familiar, but she didn't know where from. "I was wondering if you could take a step to the side so I can get to the storage room?" she asked innocently.
"And why would I do that? I'm here to stop people, mainly you, from going in there," he remarked.
"Look," she said, her tone suddenly becoming much harsher and her eyes narrowing, "I'm going to get through that door whether you let me or not, so I advise that if you would like to remain injury free, you will let me through that door and not call for anyone." To get her point across, she summoned flames to her hands and a gust of wind to swirl around them.
"Ok, ok, you've proved your point," he said, stepping to the side and opening the door for her. "Your things are on the left," he added, Zoe nodding in thanks. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" he asked as he came into the small room, watching her put her armour on.
"I don't know, do you train boy?" she responded. She had finally realised why the rider looked so familiar; he was from the world of Grey and used to get the same train as her to school each day. Either that, or the train boy was this rider's look-a-like.
"What? Train boy?" he asked, utterly confused. After a few moments, a look of understanding and recognition crossed his face. "You're the girl from the train in the world Above?" he sounded disbelieving.
"Sure am."
"Ok, that is so weird. What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same. But to answer your question, as I'm sure you already know, I'm one of the fury riders."
"My mother's a water bender, she sent me here once I finished year 12."
"Huh...and you ride a dragon too?" she asked, gesturing to his leather armour.
"Yeah, a razorwhip."
"Very nice," she said as she secured the last of her armour, reaching over to sling her dual swords over her back.
"Oh, and my name's Thomas."
"Nice to meet you, Tom. I'm sure you already know my name?"
"Thomas, not Tom," he corrected, "and I don't know your name, they just refer to you as the White Rider here."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah..."
"My name's Zoe. Can I ask you something?" she said as she slid a dagger into its place on her arm, continuing when Thomas nodded. "What do they tell you about me and Hayden?"
"Well, they say that Hayden is our ally, and that the White Rider is an enemy."
"So they don't tell you that we're all fighting for the same thing and against the same enemy, for the dragons' safety and against the hunters?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"No? Wait, you're telling me that you, Hayden and the Academy should all be on the same side?"
"I'm telling you that we are, but the Academy's leaders are...how do I put it nicely?...fucked up. They see me as an enemy even after I saved their arses twice, but they don't like the power I have because I ride a white fury."
"It was you who saved us from the hunters four years ago?"
"Yep, and it was four years ago I was declared an enemy."
"That's messed up."
"You don't say," she responded sarcastically, grabbing her helmet and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Thomas asked, sounding slightly panicky.
"To meet Hayden and then from there it depends on what was said at the meeting."
"Wait!"
"What is it?" she asked, turning to face him.
"Can- can I come with you?" he asked rather nervously.
"Why?"
"I don't want to get sucked into the Academy's illogical thinking. I want to be out there and actually make a difference," he said with more confidence.
"Fine by me. Go pack your stuff, I'll find your dragon. Meet me outside the door to the council room. And don't ask questions," she added when Thomas opened his mouth to speak.
-o0O0o-
She was crouching outside the door to the council room, her ear pressed to the door, listening to the voices inside. She couldn't hear Hayden's voice so it must be the meeting between the upper most officials. She looked down the hall to see Thomas coming towards her with a satchel slung over his shoulder.
"Ok, so you have to trust me, can you do that?" she asked when he crouched down next to her. After receiving a nod she continued, "hand me your bag. You're going to have to pretend to be chasing me. I need to get something that's in that room, so I want you to burst through the door when you hear me say something like 'bye' or I give them a farewell. I'm going to jump out of the window and I need you to do the same."
"You want me to jump out of a window that's several stories high?" Thomas asked, incredulous. "Are you crazy?"
"I've been called crazy before. See you on the other side!" she said, grabbing Thomas' bag and bursting through the door.
"Good evening to you gentlemen and the token lady on the council, good to see the gender equality," she said in a cheery but sarcastic tone. The people in the room were initially frozen in surprise by her sudden appearance. "Now, I was wondering...ah yes there it is," she said as she spotted the thick book on the mantle over the fireplace. "Would you mind if I spent an hour just going through this to take some notes?" she asked in mock innocence, strolling over to the fireplace and picking up the book.
"Put that down!" some old white guy she didn't care about yelled at her who was sitting next to Marcus, the head of the Academy.
"Now that's not a very nice way of speaking," she lectured, making the man and people around them more angry.
Seeing that her time was up, she stuffed the book into Thomas' satchel and jumped onto the long table they were sitting around that stretched the length of the room. The council members finally unfroze, reaching for their weapons as Zoe danced across the table towards the window. "Since you won't let me have a read of it now, I guess I'll just have to take it with me. Thank you so much for lending me this book, I can guarantee it will return safely. It's such a pity we had such short time together, but I think it's time I go now."
At that moment, Thomas burst through the door, causing more chaos as council members started shouting and tripping over one another to help Thomas who was supposedly trying to stop her. Running the last few steps, she jumped off the table and then out of the window, but not before giving the people in the room a two-fingered salute. She was pleased to see Thomas leap out of the window right after her, leaving a room full of angry, shouting Academy leaders behind. Using her air bending to slow her decent so she was falling next to Thomas, Zoe stuck her thumb and forefinger in her mouth and whistled, a razorwhip flying beneath them and catching them both on its back. They flew straight out to sea, Uri and Sharpshot joining them and Zoe leaping off the razowhip's back and onto Uri making Thomas cry out in shock when she leapt off his dragon while they were flying at rapid speeds.
He saw Uri and a razorwhip heading for the island he was waiting on, Hayden heading straight towards her as soon as they landed, worry no doubt written all over his face.
"What happened? Are you ok? I heard they had captured you," he asked quickly, not even sparing a glance at the other dragon and its rider.
"Relax, I'm fine. Their cells are pathetic, I just took the time to have a nap and enjoy a nice lunch," she said as Hayden pulled her into a hug.
"You were thrown in a cell and you take the time to nap?" he asked, not remotely surprised, but more exasperated. "What took you so long?" he added.
"I had to bring this guy with me," she said pointing with her thumb over her shoulder towards the rider who was watching them, "and I thought I'd borrow their book on the hunters that they keep in the council room."
"You what?!"
"This is Thomas, by the way," she said before he could scold her. Pulling the book out of Thomas' bag, she handed him back his satchel which he took with a thanks.
Hayden nodded in greeting, "Hayden," he said before turning back to Zoe, determined to not let her off the hook so easily.
Before he could speak, Zoe cut in, "Tom will be travelling with us for a bit, you could say that he's an Academy dropout. But how did the meeting go?"
"Same as always," he said with a sigh. "They spend hours talking about what they could do but never commit to anything."
"Wait, so you guys work together?" Thomas asked, confused.
"It's more of a baby sitter situation, I have to make sure she stays out of trouble," Hayden mumbled making Thomas laugh.
"The Academy told us-"
"I know what they tell you and its a load of bullshit. Except the part about Zoe being dangerous," Hayden added with an afterthought. "But only to those who mess with the dragons. Otherwise she's your greatest ally," he said with a smile and noticing Zoe's ears reddening. "So, what's the story with you?" he asked Thomas.
"Uh...well, I was on guard outside the storage room when Zoe came up to me and demanded her stuff back. She looked familiar but I couldn't remember where from so I started talking to her while she was putting her armour on and it turns out we recognised each other from the world Above. She told me how the Academy's messed up and I asked if I could come with you guys. That's about it," he shrugged.
"So you guys were friends?" Hayden asked.
"We never spoke to each other, we would just see each other on the train on our way to school," Thomas explained.
"That is so weird."
"You're telling me," he muttered.
"What's your dragon's name?" Hayden asked.
"This is Phoenix, I've had her since I was 19," Thomas said, stroking the metallic scales fondly.
"She's beautiful," Zoe whispered, walking over to the female razorwhip who was immediately taken by Zoe's presence. Hayden would never not be amazed by the way any dragon would just gravitate towards her.
"We should probably get going before they send riders after that book you stole," Hayden suggested.
"I didn't steal it, I'm just borrowing it and I'll give it back," Zoe defended, Hayden just rolling his eyes at his girlfriend.
They were sitting around the campfire on the island that Zoe had left Remi to help Hayden and the Academy, both Hayden and Thomas talking about who-knows-what while she poured through the book she had 'borrowed'. She had her notebook next to her, but so far hadn't written anything down; either they didn't have anything that was actually useful or it was information her and Hayden had already collected. She was about to slam the book shut and give up when she noticed a loose piece of parchment that was folded between two pages. Unfolding it, she scanned the words and sketches, her eyes widening at what she saw. It was on Grimmel and had a rough drawing of four dragons that she recognised as deathgrippers, each one with a leather collar around its neck and some large syringe thing sticking into each dragon. She read the notes, finally finding something useful and to be honest, completely shocking. It said that Grimmel used the deathgrippers' own venom to drug them into obedience, they would only respond to Grimmel while drugged. She copied the information down into her notebook and finished reading through the book in case there was anything else, but found nothing. Closing the book and putting her notebook and pencil away, she stood up with her helmet in her hands and the book tucked into one of her bags.
"Where are you going?" Hayden asked after noticing her heading towards Uri.
"To take the book back," she said without looking at him.
"You need to sleep, the book can wait."
"I slept all afternoon in my cell. Besides, the sooner I return it, the less likely we'll have to deal with their riders."
"Ok," he sighed, "be safe and don't do anything stupid."
"I'll try," she said with a smile and going over to him to peck him on the lips. With that, she jumped into the saddle, Sharpshot crawling up onto her shoulders before Uri took off towards the Academy.
"Are you two together?" Thomas asked him after Uri and Zoe had disappeared from sight. Hayden just nodded, not taking his eyes off the sky, waiting for Zoe to return. "So you travel together and work together?"
"Yep."
"What do you usually do?"
"Release dragons and blow up hunter ships," Hayden said smiling to himself, remembering the days when he and Zoe were still getting to know one another. "But the last few years we've started collating information so we can take down the hunters, permanently."
"Sounds like a big job. How come you've spent so many years collecting information? Why don't you just sneak into the camps and deal with the leaders?"
"We want to make sure that a new leader doesn't just take over as soon as we remove the current one, so Viggo, Drago and Grimmel. We also know barely anything about Grimmel and how he operates."
"Makes sense, but it sounds like you're doing what the Academy does, coming up with plans and courses of action, but not actually putting them into motion."
This had Hayden stumped, Thomas was right. They had spent a few years just dawdling, collecting information and releasing dragons. Zoe herself had said that they needed to stop Drago as soon as possible before his dragon army got too big, but Hayden was always the one that would shoot down her decisions to take Drago out when they had the opportunity, saying it was too risky. But everything they were doing was risky and they couldn't wait around forever.