RPOV

I didn't say much other than respond to a few questions from Dimitri and others. 'Did you sleep well?', 'What do you want for breakfast?', 'Are the clothes I provided satisfactory?'

I tried to be polite and answer them all, but I was having a hard time simply being around people right now. All of them had this look in their eyes, including Dimitri, that if they asked the wrong question or said the wrong thing I would break. All but one.

I moved over to Eddie. He still looked pale, but he was looking a lot better than yesterday. He had been on the brink of death yesterday. I sat down next to him. He was staring into the fire. I wasn't sure if he was even aware of my presence when he spoke.

"You know what they are calling him?" Eddie asked, not looking up from his mug that was probably as full as when he was handed the thing.

I shook my head. The motion was large enough so Eddie could see, even if he was still staring down into the liquid.

"Mason the Foolish. He finally got his nickname, and they gave him that!"

Eddie seemed to be enraged but lacked the strength right now to be very passionate about it, so he just sounded flat. But I could understand his feelings. Mason was shooting for something more flattering. He was shooting for something heroic. And no doubt that was what he had in mind when he and Eddie took off towards that cabin. But he had ended up with Foolish. Not Mason the Awesome, or Mason the Brave, but Mason the Foolish. Although I shared Eddie's rage, the nickname wasn't entirely inaccurate. He had been foolish. Foolish to go, and foolish to have come back for me.

"They dubbed me Eddie the Lucky. Because apparently surviving an attack from a Snow Dragon while being unconscious and fed from is unheard off. Funny, I don't feel lucky."

Eddie was scoffing. His tone reflected humor, but his voice was empty of any emotion.

Nickname picking was rarely a conscious thing for Dragons. It wasn't like there had been a conclave where they had debated an accurate nickname. One of them probably had called Mason foolish at one point, and Eddie lucky, and they had stuck. But it would stick for the rest of their lives.

I almost laughed at my own thought. Mason's life was over. He didn't have to hear this.

"How are you holding up?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I am okay. Weak and tired, but I'll be okay… physically."

I grabbed his hand in mine and squeezed. It seemed to have been enough for him to break down in sobs. I moved over to him and hugged him. Taking as much comfort from him as I was giving him.

"I was unconscious and out of the way when he died. I was useless. I should have stopped him from going; I should have made him turn back. I failed him. I failed my best friend. I was still unconscious when they burned him. I wasn't even there at his funeral."

He was sobbing into my shoulders, blubbering tears, and snot all over my fresh clothes. I had been conscious when they burned him, but not with a very present mindset. I remember screaming, but my voice had sounded so very far away as if it wasn't my own. My body had seemed to violently react to his death, yet my mind was numb and could only stare at the flames consuming my friend.

But as he was pouring his heart out to me, I realized maybe Dimitri was right. I was blaming myself, Eddie was blaming himself, but in the end, Mason made his choices. And I knew if I had to convince Eddie of that, at least in part I had to believe it too. I took a deep breath and pulled him from my embrace.

"I feel guilty too. He came back for me. He wanted to save me from Isaiah. If he had stuck to the plan, he would still be alive. But I realize Mason probably felt guilty for dragging us into it. You and me and Christian, I don't think he could have lived with the idea of any one of us dying because of his choices. Unfortunately, it cost him his life."

Eddie wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He didn't seem particularly convinced, but he did stop crying.

"It is just that he wanted to do so much more with his life. He had big dreams, and now he will never get to live those. He had so much potential, and now because of one mistake, he is gone."

It was a hard lesson to learn for all of us. War meant you didn't get second chances. You fight, or you die. I don't think until that moment I realized just how devastating war could be for the victors. Even if you survived, how many of your friends or squad members would have died? Will this change me? Maybe we all die in war, yet some of us are reborn in battle as people with a lot fewer friends and a lot more scars.

After breakfast, Dimitri and I headed back upstairs. He wasn't necessarily hovering, but I knew that if I hadn't just watched a friend die and hacked off the heads of two Snow Dragons, he would probably be downstairs discussing the particulars of our next mission. But as it were, he was leaving most of the arrangements up to Stan.

I sat down on a chair next to the fire. Dimitri took the chair opposite me.

"War sucks," I pouted.

He chuckled.

"Yes, it does. But sometimes it is necessary."

"Did you ever… lose someone?"

He looked up at the ceiling when I asked my question, and a sad expression came to his eyes. Part of it made me feel connected to Dimitri that he would be able to understand what I was going through, but part of me felt disappointed. It meant that I would probably always remember what happened to Mason and always be sad about it.

"I think everyone has. It almost feels like a rite of passage, but that is the reality of war. We are all fighters, and we all know what we are getting ourselves into, but it does mean that attachments inside the military are hard, because you never know if you are ever going to see that person again."

"Who was it for you?" I asked.

"Ivan. He was my best friend growing up. We went through training together, and for almost two hundred years we were thick as thieves. A few decades ago we were fighting Snow Dragons, and he died. I was in a different squad at the time and wasn't there when he died. I never forgave myself for that. I knew I probably wouldn't have been able to prevent his death; I would have probably died with him if I had been there. But I still felt responsible for it. We did everything together, yet he died alone."

I saw Dimitri was trying hard to compose himself, probably for my benefit, but I didn't want him to hide his feelings from me.

"So, Roza, I know how you feel. I blamed myself for Ivan's death for a long time. But I realize now that there was nothing I could have done. And only by living my life and remembering him and what he stood for, am I keeping his spirit alive."

"I know. It is just one thing for my head to know, it still needs to convince my heart. Because all I can see is him distracting Isaiah in hopes of saving me before Isaiah killed him."

I broke down into sobs again as the images flooded my mind, his lifeless eyes staring at me in blame. Dimitri rushed over to me and pulled me towards him. I listened to his heart, needing the reassurance that he was still here and that part of my world still existed. That I had a reason to live.

The next few days, my sobs had diminished, and I seemed to be able to breathe again. Don't get me wrong, Mason's face still haunted me and sometimes I was wailing against Dimitri screaming at any God that would listen why they had to be so cruel, but those episodes were getting farther in between, and at least I didn't dream about the incident as much.

Eddie seemed to improve as well. Physically he was almost back to being himself. Emotionally he was able to enjoy at least some time with the others again. They had made a point of including him in conversations and activities. It was nice to see that even though Eddie and Mason had been new to the squad, they were making a real effort to include Eddie and give him some grounding.

We all settled in nicely in the inn. After the first few hours of awkwardness and shock of seeing Stan affectionate towards anyone, we all accepted that Lee was part of this family too as they had accepted me.

We were almost beginning to relax when the order came to move towards a small town east of us. The main forces had been winning there, but several Snow Dragons had gotten away, and we were now expected to round them up and take them out. I suppose this little reprieve was over and we were back to reality, back to war.

Dimitri was conversing heavily with some of the senior members of his squad as I took it upon myself to pack our bags. Dimitri might be fine in his Dragon form being completely naked, but I needed clothes. In the late afternoon, we were all ready to go.

Part of me dreaded another mission. I didn't want to lose another person, but part of me was grateful for the distraction and the action. Being in battle or on the verge of, meant I had to focus on that and little else. In the end, we were at war, and my distraction could cause someone else their life.

The rest of them transformed and stood in front of the inn ready to depart. I climbed on Dimitri's back and clenched my thighs against him to support myself. With a strong push of his wings down towards the earth we took to the skies. I had almost forgotten how good it felt to fly with Dimitri. I hadn't registered much of it on the way here, and before that, we had been in human form for over a week. The feel of the air across my skin, the feel of speed as Dimitri's wings carried across great distances. This is what freedom felt like, and even though I was conscious of the fact Mason could never experience that again, I would enjoy it for the both of us instead of denying myself this feeling of pure bliss.

We landed a few hours later in an open field, close to a cabin and a lake in the forefront of a mountain range. We were a few miles away from the village where the sightings had come from as not to be noticed. I saw the other Dragons settle in for the night near the lake. Dimitri changed back to human and put on some clothes.

"I thought we could stay in the cabin tonight." He motioned towards the structure behind him. The place looked abandoned but sturdy enough and I did prefer an actual building compared to the open air. Must have been my human upbringing. Also, I think my Comrade might have an ulterior motive for making sure we had some privacy.

"I am not sure. I am beginning to like the fresh open air. Maybe we should stay here tonight," I said with a smile on my face, trying to pull his leg. But I saw his face fall in disappointment. The last few days we hadn't had a chance to be intimate, you know with me balling my eyes out, but I was beginning to get back to normal, or at least a new normal and I would like to have some alone time with my man.

I moved over towards him and traced my finger down his chest and purred at him seductively.

"But for the right motivation, I might be persuaded to spend the night in the cabin."

His disappointed face lit up with excitement, then lust, and then he was dragging me towards the cabin. With Dimitri's long strides I had to actually jog a little to keep up.

He practically kicked in the door and threw me on the bed. His lips were on mine a second later. It started out rough and passionate, but it ended sweet. Once the most immediate urge to kiss had been satiated, he pulled back and gently started kissing and caressing me. And it was just what I needed.

His strong hands with long rough fingers were stroking my skin underneath my shirt, moving towards my binds. There was something to be said about Dragons always being naked. Dimitri took his time undressing me and kissing every newly exposed skin. He was already naked so I didn't have to waste time on doing the same to him and Dimitri seemed to be using that extra time to focus on me. Oh darn.

My pants first, then my binds followed, and I was completely naked before him. He took in my appearance. It wasn't just in blatant lust, but he also seemed to determine if I had changed; if the events of the past few days had scarred me almost in a physical manner. I didn't sustain many injuries when fighting Isaiah, but that wasn't what Dimitri was looking for. He seemed to be looking into my soul, hoping to see his Roza in there; hoping I hadn't let Mason's death drag me under.

He seemed to like what he saw because his smile grew and he bent down. First I thought he was going to kiss me, but he moved lower. Then I thought he was going to kiss my breasts, but he moved even lower. When his tongue made contact with my clit, I gasped. He had touched me there, but he hadn't kissed me there yet. And the feeling was amazing.

I spread my legs a little more, giving him better access and placed my hands in his hair, trying to pull him closer. He lapped at my clit and core, alternating between long and short strokes, between hard and soft ones. Occasionally he would thrust his tongue inside. The combination of so many different sensations alternating was driving me crazy. His actions increased in intensity as my moans grew louder.

I noticed Dimitri too was getting a little excited. He had moved his hands in-between his legs and was starting to stimulate himself. There was something incredibly sexy about Dimitri losing control and having to touch himself simply because he was pleasuring me. It was that thought that drove me over the edge. He was able to control himself long enough to gently bring me down before he slammed into me with a loud groan. There was no gentleness after that. It was simple, hard coupling as I was super sensitive from my earlier orgasm and was desperate to experience that again and Dimitri was already on edge after his own hand job.

It was a good thing we were a bit away from the others. There was no way they wouldn't have heard us if we had still been at the inn. As a matter of fact, they might still hear us. I didn't know what was louder; our moans, occasional scream or grunt, the fact the rickety bed was almost falling apart and slamming into the wall time and time again, or the sound our bodies made as they collided together over and over again. It wasn't long before we peaked together. I felt him unleash himself deep inside of me, and I clenched and squeezed his cock hard, trying to keep it here. The orgasm seemed to last forever as we kept riding each other until finally he deflated and I let go long enough for him to pull out. Panting loudly I was lying on his chest, just trying to get back to a normal breathing rhythm.

I had needed that. One moment of normalcy and intimacy, to know I could still enjoy life, that I was able to be happy and content if only for a moment, despite the fact that one of my friends had left this world and his ashes were scattered in the wind in some desolate endless snowy void.

"Tomorrow we will search the area for any signs of Snow Dragons. Stan has heard from the main command that they suspect some have fled to this region. Activity has been high, almost as if they have a base here," Dimitri said as he leisurely stroked my back. His words were business, but his hands tried to stay in our little bubble a bit longer.

"Are they fleeing or do they have a new leader?"

He sighed.

"I doubted Isaiah was the only one. There were too many Snow Dragons to be controlled by just one leader. I suspect Isaiah ran the North. What upsets me is that based on the reports we received from main command, these Dragons seem to know the area. This is too far from the border to have been scouted in the recent past. It means that at least one of them has infiltrated our lands for a lot longer."

The thought was terrifying. Snow Dragons stood out, even in human form. For a Snow Dragon to have gone unnoticed for so long means this Dragons was very smart and patient. That combination in a Snow Dragon was very dangerous.

"So now what?" I unconsciously snuggled a little closer towards Dimitri. He tightened his grip on me a bit.

"Tomorrow I will teach you how to track. Maybe I'll take Eddie too. He hasn't had much experience with tracking. It is a more on the job kind of thing. Once we pick up the trail of one, we can discuss and plan of engagement."