Pursuing a mate now? Tyalan had better simply be toying with that male. Under Koric’s sweet light, what
was the eagle thinking? They were in the middle of their first foray and failing in it was unthinkable. She
couldn’t give the Matrons any more reason to name her unworthy of being true-bonded. This was not the
time for mating.
Rot. Rot it all. She should call Tyalan back, now, ask her to break away from the tiercel. Simple enough for
any Eaglekin to do, well, any other who wasn’t bonded to the most stubborn, strong-willed bird in all the
Fourteen Eyries. She would definitely call her back. Most definitely. As soon as she could concentrate,
when this rush of heat left her head and ceased firing tiny sparks that flashed through her core. Shred it to
pieces! This was more than play. Tyalan’s bright sapphire essence oozed with intent seriousness. Hydeia
perceived an aching want smoldering from her eagle. Tiny beads of perspiration broke across her
forehead.
The eagles soared around each other as though in battle, the smaller smooth male remained slightly
higher in the sky. Hydeia focused her awareness more sharply on Tyalan and abruptly the eagle’s vision
overlapped translucently with her own, focused tightly on the slate-blue male soaring above in an elegant
glide. With her liquid reyn unfettered and connected with Tyalan, Hydeia felt the dewy air stream like silk
across her body, heard the wind whistle and the hush-quiet strokes of wings. And for the first time since
their full-bonding, Hydeia experienced her true-bonded’s raw primitive will of conquest, dominance.
Possession.
The tiercel was hers.
Hydeia swayed back, fell hard onto her bottom. Gooseflesh prickled along her flushed skin. A low moan
escaped her throat, coming as though from a great distant beneath the shrieks and shrill cries of eagles.
Tyalan was beyond calling back from this. The eagle’s determination to have the tiercel bore into Hydeia
with shearing focus. There was nothing for Hydeia to do but wait.
She thought about pulling back, tucking that part of herself, her reyn, that fluid of shimmering light that was
her connection with Tyalan, into the far reaches of her awareness. She didn’t want to intrude on a ritual
that was as age-old and rimmed with as much, possibly more, potent power as that of the true-bonding of
eagle with Eaglekin.
Yet she was curious. She’d have just a small peek . . .
She slid her senses out farther, fully embracing the hot slick reyn that pulsed through her. Her sight latched
onto, held, Tyalan’s pristine clarity of vision in the sky.
Ohhh! For a fervent instant, raw shattering emotion skidded up her spine, into her chest, and swept her
toward some unknown spire. Sucking in a breath, trembling, Hydeia curled over onto her side, letting the
hard rocky ground balance her, root her. The Matrons hadn’t prepared her for this part of the bonding. She
always rejoiced sharing the acute sensation of gliding through the sky with Tyalan, the rush of a stoop, the
thrill of crashing into prey, knocking the quarry out of the sky . . . but this!
Heat and fear and excitement flared through Hydeia, scorching her blood as the tiercel suddenly dove
toward Tyalan. The male’s shriek shrilled in her head. Excitement balled up inside her. Hydeia’s shoulder
dug into the ground, wanting to escape the unfamiliar emotions, while at the same time wanting to
experience them.
Moments before crashing into the tiercel, Tyalan rolled in the air, falling upside down, talons thrust upward.
Vicious heat stabbed into Hydeia’s chest, painful, glorious, scalding her control.
Talons locked together, the two birds tumbled through the sky, instinctive in their wild abandon.
Hydeia gasped, every nerve shivered, stroked as though by currents of rushing air. Beyond her own sight
of chipped rocks and hard ground, tall canyon walls streaked in rioting reds and drenching golds, spiraled
past her in a gauzy, dizzying rush.
She plummeted with the eagles, dangerously hurtling toward the deep black pit of losing herself, her
control, to the true-bond of the shared reyn that pulsed like a living shimmery strand between her and
Tyalan.
Shreds! She realized her mistake at once. She’d immersed too far. Too deep. She doubted the eagle
was even aware of her anymore, caught so fervently in the mating dance. She couldn’t know of the danger
to Hydeia. The Matrons had named her too reckless, too headstrong, too quick to follow her emotions, to
safely bond with an eagle of such strength, yet Tyalan had chosen her, none other.
Hydeia forced air into her lungs. She wouldn’t prove the Matrons correct in this. She had her own strength,
her own sense of will. She
would not become lost in the bird. She would not.
Frantically, Hydeia drew back, focusing her will as her nails dug into her palms. The wind roared in her
head. Feather strokes trickled along her flesh. Her sight swirled around and around, blurring while the
eagles plunged toward the ground. She was losing.
Hold back, hold back, she willed her reyn, yet Hydeia still fell with the eagles, still spiraled and rippled, until
she screamed and wrenched her reyn back to herself in a thousand vibrant tearing strands when at the
last instant the eagles broke free and soared back up into the sky, leaving Hydeia light-headed and
stunned, breathing raggedly on the rocky ground far below.
Hydeia gazed skyward, her sweat-slickened back clammy on the warm rock, every limb loose and liquid.
Focusing her breathing to slow, she pushed a moist strand of hair off of her face. Perhaps Tyalan taking a
mate had not been such an inconvenience.
Eagles mate for life, a taunting voice of caution whispered. Hydeia sat upright, a slow panic turning over
in her mind while she tried to remember the markings of the tiercel. A dark muted slate blue that rippled
like molten steel in the sunlight. Shreds, she’d been too caught up in the sensations, allowed too much
feeling unleashed to have taken notice of the male’s markings. This far from her eyrie’s territory, she had
just assumed he was a wilder, un-bonded. Dear Koric, sweet brother sun, what if the tiercel was true-
bonded?
What if . . .? Oh shreds. She formed an image of an Eaglekin male somewhere near in the canyons,
experiencing the same sensations she’d felt while Tyalan and the tiercel plummeted through the sky . . .
Upon Eagle's Light
She was going to strangle that bird!
Hydeia stumbled to her knees, scraping her palms on the sun-baked ground. Her
bond with the female eagle crackled with sharp brutal intensity. The light
luminescent glow of their shared reyn spilled along her flesh, warm spinning
coils, burning across all her enhanced perceptions. She splayed shaking palms
across the brittle shalestone, seeking the solidity of the rock. Sweet brother sun!
As though she rode upon the wind with her, Hydeia felt every whisper-soft current
of air ribbon across the tawny eagle, dewy cool as her sleek body circled below
the darker tiercel in the blue bright sky. Shadows of their long, narrow-tipped
wings slid across golden canyon walls, merging and separating while they
formed the pattern of their elaborate mating dance.
She was going to strangle that bird!
Hydeia stumbled to her knees, scraping her palms on the sun-baked ground. Her
bond with the female eagle crackled with sharp brutal intensity. The light
luminescent glow of their shared reyn spilled along her flesh, warm spinning
coils, burning across all her enhanced perceptions. She splayed shaking palms
across the brittle shalestone, seeking the solidity of the rock. Sweet brother sun!
As though she rode upon the wind with her, Hydeia felt every whisper-soft current
of air ribbon across the tawny eagle, dewy cool as her sleek body circled below
the darker tiercel in the blue bright sky. Shadows of their long, narrow-tipped
wings slid across golden canyon walls, merging and separating while they
formed the pattern of their elaborate mating dance.