Your speech is…charming. He slowly licks the ticklish skin of my inner thigh. We do not use physical speech as often as your kind. It is not convenient.
I shiver at his touch, nerves jolting in response. “Am I…very different than your women?” I brush my fingers through his wet hair. I feel extremely touchy-feely at the moment. Who wouldn’t be after the kind of attention I’d just received?
The rumble of his amusement vibrates through my legs. In many ways.
“How?” I’m genuinely curious…and a little miffed. Is it bad that I’m different? “I’ve never seen one.”
You have. Have you not seen the red dragons in the skies?
I go still. “The reds? The reds are female?” I knew they were smaller, more plentiful…and extremely aggressive. Most of the dragon attacks that decimated the cities were done by hordes of red dragons. I never thought they were the females, though. The idea is staggering with its implications.
They are. Red is a mating color for the drakoni. They turn red when they wish to attack a male. Aggression is a sign of mating.
If that’s the case, there are a lot of dragons looking for a mate. “They always attack in patterns. They wait a few days… Do you know why?”
The madness is worst when the mating heat is upon you. This world makes them constantly aggressive.
“I don’t understand… Why not take one of them as a mate? They’re your kind. You didn’t have to steal me.”
The females are…changed by this world. They will not let a male close enough to fight for dominance. If they are not conquered, they cannot change to their two-legged form to mate. We do not mate in our battle-form, and females do not carry young in their battle-form.
“Battle-form?”
He shifts his weight suddenly, and the sun is blotted out as the massive dragon-form moves over me, dwarfing my body. This is my battle-form.
“Your dragon form,” I say, understanding now. I’m relieved when he shifts back, returning to his—mostly—human form. “Why such a difference in sizes between your two-legged form and your battle-form?”
He shrugs, the movement fluid and graceful. I knew once. I do not know it any longer. It has been lost to the madness. I have lost much of my mind to this world.
Such a terrible thing. And yet…I can’t help but ask. “Did you have family back on the other side of the Rift?”
I do not remember. He watches my face. This troubles you?
I flick a few grains of sand off my belly and try to pretend confidence. “And a mate? Did you have a mate?” It shouldn’t matter to me, but for some reason, it really, really does.
Never. You are the only mate for me. I do not remember much, but I remember this. My venom will only produce for one female. You are her for me.
I hate that I’m absurdly pleased. I hate that I’m also pleased that our minds are connected and I know he’s telling the truth. Still, I worry that he might not be better with a drakoni female. If he only gets one mate, it kind of sucks for him that he’s stuck with me. “I don’t understand why you picked me to be your mate. You should have found a drakoni female.”
I will take no one but you, Claudia. His grip tightens around my hips, and he leans his mouth against the vee of my pussy. Shall I convince you that you are the one for me once more?
I protest…but only a little. And after a moment’s persuasion, I don’t protest a bit.
24
CLAUDIA
Cooking’s definitely easier with a dragon around, I decide that evening.
I yawn as I turn the spitted chunk of cow haunch over my campfire area. I’m burning some old papers I found in the office, and Kael makes it easy to get a fire. It’s not a great fire because I don’t have real fuel, but it’s a fire. I toss another technical manual onto the fire itself, and the flames flicker low, so I gesture for Kael to fix it. He immediately changes to dragon form, tilts his head low, and blows flame on the fire, and then switches back to human form and puts his arms around my waist, pulling me into his lap. We’re getting better at cooking as a team, I think. Kael’s learning not to char my food while it’s still running away (bonus!), and I’m learning not to freak out at his hunting methods. Earlier today, he listened when I told him not to kill the cow messily, and he let me butcher my chunk before he ate his portion.
Progress. Small, but progress.
I curl up in his arms while my meat cooks, and he strokes my hair and runs his claws up and down my arm, making a contented rumble in his chest. This? This is not so bad. This is actually kind of delicious—I have a hot guy, lots of food, and an awesome new room. I don’t have to worry about where I’m sleeping, if there’s enough food to last the week, or if someone’s going to break in and try to jack our stuff. My biggest worry is whether or not I can ever get Kael to wear pants, and if I even want him to, because he’s warm and snuggly with all this hot, bare skin against me. I’m getting kind of used to his nakedness, just like I’m getting used to his possessive, savage nature.
I’m…happy. For the moment. I know this won’t last. I know none of this can last. There’s still Amy and Sasha to worry over, and the future. There’s biting and sex. There’s Fort Dallas and what to do if they never let me back. There are a million things niggling at me.
But for tonight, I’m just going to enjoy the scent of my roasting meat, snuggling in the lap of my guy, and later, I’m going to sleep on my awesome new bed.
When my stomach is full of roasted meat, I lean back against Kael’s big, broad chest and lick my fingers. “We’re going to have to hunt down a spice rack,” I tell him. “And maybe a garden somewhere.”
Whatever you wish. He rubs his nose along the shell of my ear.
“I knew you’d say that.”
Because you know I would do anything for you.
I smile, because it’s true. It’s weird to feel so oddly…happy after being exiled from Fort Dallas and the only life I know. I feel a little guilty that my stomach’s full, my surroundings are luxurious (compared to the old broken school bus I’ve lived in for the past five years), and I’ve had really great orgasms several times this afternoon.
It’s growing harder to find fault with being Kael’s mate.
Everything I’ve ever known has taught me that dragons are the enemy. They murder and destroy. Millions—no, billions have died to dragon attacks. But the one holding me in his arms right now is nipping at my ear playfully and takes care of me better than I could ever imagine. He’s sweet to be around, and I like his sense of humor. I keep mentally trying to prepare myself for what’s going to happen when life gets back to normal. When I return to my sister and he goes back to the skies.
Because this can’t work. Dragon and human can’t be happy together, just like a shark and a seal. One’s a predator and the other one’s a snack. Something will happen, and this house of cards will come tumbling down.
Every time I think about that, though, the ache in my breast grows a little bit sharper.
I can’t be falling in love with a dragon. I just can’t.
25
CLAUDIA