Inception (Ateez Ot8 x Reader)

Chapter 8

The thick foliage provided some relief from the blazing sun as only small slivers slipped through the canopy above our heads. I didn't have any idea how they knew which direction they were going, but I suppose it didn't matter as long as we were far away from Tregeron. I wasn't sure how long we had been riding when we approached an empty meadow and finally slowed down for a break. At least that's what I thought it was until a loud roar above our heads shook the trees and vibrated the ground beneath us. I covered my ears casting my gaze to the sky at the same time a huge, ruby red dragon dropped into the meadow before us. My eyes widened seeing the massive creature lift its head to observe us. His luminous scales glinting the color of fresh blood under the sunlight, yellow eyes glowing ominously, and small tendrils of smoke emitting from his nostrils. I couldn't tear my eyes away. As terrifying as he was in all his glory, he was beautiful. It was one thing to hear rumors of them and their gifts, it was another to be witnessing it yourself.

My gaze was riveted to him until another hulking figure hurtled to the ground beside him, shaking his mane of jet black as he grunted. This one was a deep blue so dark; he might as well have been black. The only indication he wasn't was the way the sun illuminated his scales letting them shine sapphire beneath the brightness. Before I could ogle the two of them together too much, they morphed. Their large bodies shrunk exponentially as they became the familiar faces of Yunho and Hongjoong once again in human form. My brain was still trying to keep up with what I had just seen when the two of the approached our troupe in search of their own steeds. The always evident frown on Yunho's face present as he glared at Hongjoong.

"You're late." Yeosang stated without so much as a look at either of them.

He was busy perusing a map with Mingi who also seemed unfazed by the two's appearance.

"Yeah well you can blame Hongjoong. The bastard shot me which delayed our departure."

I whipped my head around to look at Yunho, finally noticing the red stain on his left shoulder. Yeosang tore his attention away from the map long enough to check on Yunho.

"You took the bullet out?"

Yunho grunted in agreement before hauling himself up on his own horse. He rolled his injured shoulder once grimacing in pain before taking the reins. His eyes found mine briefly before turning away to join the other two looking over the map. Wooyoung shifted behind me, his breath ghosting across my ear as he leaned down.

"Would you like to walk around a bit? Seems like it'll take them a while."

Before I could answer, Jongho led his horse up right beside us.

"No. We're still too close to town. It's not safe for her to be wandering around by herself."

"Who said she'd be by herself?" San chimed in on the other side of us. "I'll gladly be her escort."

He shot me a wink which made my cheeks burst into flames. I turned my head quickly to see Jongho shooting San a deadly glare.

"She's not wandering around and you're not escorting her. That's final." He growled before moving on.

San sighed casting me an apologetic look.

"He can be a hard ass sometimes. Don't worry about it princess. It's just his personality. He's a rotten apple." San chuckled at his own joke leaving me confused.

Ignoring him, I checked on my mom to see her eyes flickering between the three of us. They narrowed suspiciously as Wooyoung shifted behind me again to press himself closer to my back. His arm had come to loosely wrap around my waist when we stopped. As much as it kicked my heart into high gear, I tried my best to ignore it.

"Speaking of hard asses though. Guess that means you're also bonded to Yunho. How unfortunate." San cackled, showing off his dimples.

My brows furrowed in confusion. Then I remembered the pain that shot through my hand back at the stables. I snapped my gaze to Yunho to see him still in deep discussion with Yeosang. His face was stoic, eyes hard as he stared at the map in front of him. His lips were pulled down into a slight frown as Yeosang whispered something to him.

It has to be one of the other two.

My eyes drifted from his face down to the blood stains on his shirt over his shoulder. My face went pale at the thought. Of all the people....it had to be Yunho? The man hated my guts, and we hadn't even known each other a day. There was no way in hell he would be okay with being bonded to me and the feeling was mutual. His eyes lifted from the map to stare directly at me. I looked away quickly feeling embarrassed to be caught so openly. Thankfully, Yeosang's voice eased the tension a bit.

"It'll take us a couple of days to reach Kriton. When we get there we'll discuss our next steps, but for now the plan is to keep the two of you safe."

"It would be so much faster to fly." Hongjoong grumbled.

"The whole point was to keep a low profile while we were in Tregeron. That's a little hard to do in our dragon forms. Besides, we have two extra passengers now that I don't think would appreciate flying." San chuckled casting a look my way.

That had everyone else looking at me too. I felt tiny under their gazes. The feeling wasn't a good one. I cleared my throat looking everywhere except their eyes.

"Um, yeah. Riding sounds good."

Yunho scoffed followed by a giggle from Wooyoung behind me.

"I don't mind. Two days with Y/N on a horse doesn't exactly sound like a bad thing." Wooyoung's grip around my waist tightened, pulling me even closer to him.

"We'll swap between breaks to give the horses a rest and everyone time to stretch. Besides, she's not just bonded to you, you know." Yeosang rolled his eyes looking at Wooyoung.

He waved him off, "Yeah yeah. Don't remind me." He sighed.

With that, we were back on the road leaving Tregeron behind us as we trekked further into the woods towards Kriton.