Calm? I immediately peer around in the direction he’s looking, alert. Why? What’s wrong?
Nothing is wrong. But we will soon have a visitor. And he flashes a mental image to me that matches the skyline to my left.
I turn, scanning, and see a speck on the horizon. The speck grows steadily larger, and I suck in a breath as I watch it veer around one tall building lazily and then swoop back around again, heading in our direction once more. Sunlight glints off of golden scales.
Oh shit.
I stiffen in my seat, clutching my handlebars as if they’ll somehow protect me. That’s another dragon! Another male! I tell him, panicking.
Calm, Claudia. No one will hurt you. You are with me, and you are my mate. You are safe.
Is he coming after me?
He is…but once he smells that you are mine, he will lose that idea.
You sound so certain.
I am. You smell of my scent. My fire is in your blood. He will know you are claimed. His thoughts carry an unmistakable, languid caress. Hearing it makes me feel a little heated and achy, thinking about what’ll happen when we land and we’re alone again. Now’s not the time to think about that, though. There’s a dragon heading right for us.
There was not an ounce of nervousness in Kael’s thoughts, though, and that makes me relax a little. If my dragon isn’t worried, then I’m not.
My dragon. Strange how natural that seems now.
Kael’s wings tilt, the left one dipping low, and we make lazy circles in the sky, heading slowly downward to the ground. I crane my neck, hands tight on the harness as I peer over Kael’s great scaly shoulders to search the air for the other dragon. It circles nearby, and Kael trumpets a call that is quickly answered.
Neither one sounds pissy, which means this is pretty much different than any other dragon interaction I’ve ever seen. Kael turns his head, and I see that his eyes remain amber, not the black of high emotion. He’s not troubled at all, and I relax a little more.
The new dragon glides to the ground and tucks his wings in, settling on his haunches as he takes a few steps forward. He gazes around, head swiveling, and I see his eyes whirling with black and gold—though more black than gold. He’s still caught up by the madness, and that makes me skittish, but he’s not attacking.
Kael says he’s here to talk, so I have to trust him.
You do. I am right about this. I would never put you in danger.
I smooth a hand over his neck. Sure, sure, I grouse playfully. You were right and I was wrong.
We alight on the ground a fair distance away, amidst a scatter of old cars in the middle of a street. Kael tucks in his wings and then immediately peers over his shoulder at me. Unstrap your harnesses. You are my mate and you are safe with me, but that does not mean I will tempt him by shoving you under his nose.
I hurriedly unbuckle straps, a bit anxious at hearing that. I thought you said I was safe?
You are, he replies calmly. But he is still caught in the madness. You are safe, but it does not mean I will risk you.
Fair enough. I finish unbuckling the straps, and he bends a shoulder low to the ground so I can slide down. I do, and the moment my feet touch the ground, I nearly fall to my knees. I’m as wobbly as a fawn after that long flight. “I’m down,” I tell him. “I’ll wait here.”
He turns and blows a breath against my neck with his enormous snout. I will not be long.
He steps away, heading toward the other gold, and I notice that he’s remaining in dragon form—excuse me, battle-form. His tail lashes back and forth like a cat’s, the only outward sign of agitation.
I wring my hands, trying not to worry. Be safe, okay?
His mental reply is a soothing, wordless burst of emotion.
The other dragon trumpets as Kael approaches. He springs forward, and instead of heading for Kael, he heads for me. Just as quickly, Kael cuts him off, moving smoothly between us. True to his word, he won’t let the stranger close.
I can’t stop wringing my hands, watching as the other dragon gazes in my direction. His eyes flick constantly to black, and it’s like I’m watching him flip between madness and sanity, over and over again.
Be calm. He is an old friend, Kael tells me. I remember his name. Dakh.
An old friend. Lovely. Tell him I said hello.
I will not. Dakh struggles, Kael tells me. This place is bad for our people. He cannot maintain his grasp on what is happening. Sometimes he does not even remember his own name. There is so much sadness in Kael’s thoughts. I was like him once.
And you changed…because of me? Is there something we can do for him?
A possessive surge is my answer. I will not share you.
That wasn’t what I was offering! But maybe we can find him a mate? Then again, what am I saying? We’d have to find a human woman ready to take on a dragon and hope for the best. Just because I found a dragon that treats me right doesn’t mean another will. Or that she’ll ever be able to get past the whole ‘murdering monster’ thing.
Dakh covets you.
I slide a little closer to an abandoned van with the door hanging open and step behind it. Tell him I’m a one-dragon kind of girl.
He will not touch you. He can smell that you are claimed. He is asking me to tell the other males that I have a mate. He thinks it will give them hope. Pull them from the madness.
You think it can really pull them from the madness? The hope of a mate?
I do not know, but I am not going to try. You are mine. I do not flaunt you in front of others. Dakh is sane enough, but I do not know how others will react.
This is sane? I peer over at Dakh and watch his giant jaws snap wildly at the air, as if attacking invisible bullets. His eyes are totally black again, and his tail is lashing so hard that he’s raising a cloud of dust. If this is sane, I’d hate to see crazy.
Agreed. The others could be too far gone.
Like the reds that constantly attack Fort Dallas.
They are the reason for our madness.
They are? I knew all dragons were mad, but I didn’t know one was the cause of the other.
Yes. This world makes them go into heat constantly. We males smell the heat, and it makes us insane with lust. A female in heat in nearby territory will drive all males wild and feral with the need to mate and procreate. But here, in this world, no young are born. The reds remain in heat, and crazed. We golds remain crazed because of the reds.
And that’s why you’re not crazy like him any longer? Because you…aren’t attracted to the heat?
I am mated, Kael explains. There is no one for me but you now. I am the fire in your blood.
It’s silly to be flattered and pleased at his thoughts, but I am. I’m glad you’re sane. Even if it means I can never leave him. Every day that passes, I move a little further away from that idea anyhow. We’re connected, he and I. And I…I don’t hate it.
I might love it.
I might love him.