by Cara Bristol
As she moved around the perimeter to check out the view from all angles, the dragon hopped along as if keeping a close eye on her. There was no getting down from the tower other than how she’d gotten here. If he chose to fly away and leave her, she’d die up here. But he wouldn’t do that. He hadn’t saved her from the creature only to abandon her.
And if she couldn’t get down without his help—nothing could get to her, either. When she’d been threatened, he had flown her to the highest, safest place on the planet.
I’d trust him with my life.
If she could place her life in his hands without reservation, shouldn’t she be able to trust him in other aspects? K’ev had said he didn’t lie—and although he’d sidestepped many questions, she’d never caught him in a falsehood. Her own people, on the other hand, had misled her repeatedly. Her best friend had colluded with her father and tricked Rhianna to get her here. Her government still was withholding information.
Ignorance was bliss. Once the light was revealed, she couldn’t go back to not knowing. Gut clenching, she skirted the truth and edged closer to the precipice to peer at the lava river.
The dragon bugled in warning.
“I’m not going to fall.”
He bugled again, twitching his barbed tail.
“All right. All right.” She moved back.
His roar could cause a person to wet her pants—and that was before you saw the sharp teeth or watched him spit flames. Shaped like an isosceles triangle, his horned head narrowed to a snout. From the back of his skull, a long neck sloped down to a ridged spine, and then to a muscular, powerful tail tipped by a stinger. Venomous, she guessed. Legend didn’t come close to depicting his fierceness.
But, if she wasn’t mistaken, the yellow eyes with the vertical pupils were gazing at her with nothing less than adoration.
“You’re just a pussycat, aren’t you?” she said.
He blinked as if considering what she said. How much did he understand, she wondered? Did he share K’ev’s consciousness? Were they both aware of everything? The duality of being dragon and man, separate yet the same, boggled her mind like a religious koan.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
What is one, but also two?
She continued her stroll around the perimeter, inching close enough to the edge for a good view, but back far enough to not worry her protector. She felt confident if she fell over the side, he would catch her before she went splat, but why test it?
As far as her eye could see, like mini smokestacks, white puffs of steam spiraled upward through vents in the crust. There’s no way Earth people could settle here. K’ev has to be wrong. Under the dragon’s approving gaze, she used the inhaler again before moving on.
A bright light flashed in the distance. Shielding her eyes with her hand, she scanned the horizon. Another starburst drew her attention across the lava river by another large rock formation. The sun glinted off a curved shiny surface. A dome. A series of domes. Six of them, by her count, connected by tubes, like a hamster…colony.
Oh. My. God. Rhianna clapped a hand over her mouth. A settlement.
Sure, there was a chance another alien civilization had staked a claim, or perhaps Draco had erected the habitats, but the odds and her gut said they belonged to Earth. The government had erected a secret settlement on an alien planet. What else had they done?
“I’m sorry.” K’ev touched her shoulder. He’d shifted back into demiforma. He was naked, his clothing having been shredded and abandoned, and despite her emotional upheaval, her stomach fluttered with awareness of his masculinity and state of arousal.
Her estimation of him had grown. His honesty and character made him more attractive in her eyes. He was a man she could count on. Desire kindled in her core, but she forced herself to ignore it and focused on his eyes. Regret glinted. He wasn’t gloating. He felt sorry for her.
She squeezed her hands into fists, prepared to do battle. “I want to go there.” She would confront her people eyeball to eyeball and demand answers—real answers, not the bullshit she’d been fed. “Will you take me?”
Chapter Fifteen
“If you want.” K’ev nodded. The point of bringing her to Elementa had been to prove her people had established themselves. She had accepted the facts now, but victory brought no joy. The scent of rain, mixed with musky desire, wafted off her.
Our mate is sad, his dragon said. And aroused.
“I want to talk to them face-to-face,” Rhianna said.
He motioned across the canyon. “We’ll fly there.” He cocked his head. “If that’s all right?”
“You’re asking me now?” Her lips quirked with trace amusement before she sobered again. “Yes. I trust you. And the dragon.”
Trust was something humans and dragons did not have and was the greatest gift she could have given him. They still had many misunderstandings to clear up, and the conflict between their peoples would continue to cause tribulations, but this meant a lot to him.
“Thank you.” He reached out and fingered the plait resting like a silken rope over her shoulder. He itched to release her hair so it would flicker and spark like flames in the wind. Her eyes flashed with awareness, and an enticing aroma of desire teased his nostrils. The wind caught her scent and swirled it into an eddy.
K’ev wanted to hug her, stroke her, and comfort her until sadness waned and arousal bloomed in full. His dragon’s olfaction was stronger than his own, and during his inspection of her injuries, the scent of her had been infused into his marrow. His fyre had flamed with red-hot intensity in recognition of what she was.
Their mate.
He couldn’t deny the truth anymore. To his credit, the dragon didn’t say I told you so. Acceptance had quieted and calmed his alter-self. They were of one mind again, and their pursuit of their mate would be singular and all-consuming.
She tilted her head, blue eyes filled with curiosity. “What do I call your dragon? Does he go by your name?”
“K’ev ulu K’rah Qatin.” He enunciated each syllable. “He goes by my full name.”
“K’ev ulu K’rah Qatin,” she repeated.
The pronunciation wasn’t exact, but his fyre flared in a burst of heat to hear his sacred name on his mate’s lips. The urge to possess her would intensify until he claimed her and marked her. Burning need throbbed, urging him to mount her atop the cliff caressed by thermal winds and the sultry atmospheric vog. He couldn’t ask for a more perfect setting…
Her fragile body couldn’t sustain a coupling on rocky ground so he could wait for a venue more comfortable to her. They would put her people’s perfidy behind them first, achieve closure—another apropos Earth idiom—before moving on to mating. Her thoughts and emotions should be focused on him and only him. The seduction would be so sweet…the conclusion, explosive.
Her scent wafted across the receptors in his mouth. He couldn’t wait to bury his face between her thighs and drink his fill.
Later. For now, he needed, needed…a sample…
Tugging her braid, he drew her closer. Her eyes widened, and she tipped her head back and placed one palm on his chest. Human body temps ran tepid, and her hand felt cool against his skin.
He bent his head and covered her mouth with his own. Her lips parted without coaxing, and he slipped his tongue inside. Her taste filled his mouth, flooded his senses, heated his blood. He grabbed the ass that had teased him all morning with its sultry sway, and hauled her against his hardened shaft.
Her fragility was so different from a dragoness’ rough edges and even more prickly manner, yet the way she relaxed against him felt so right. He shifted slightly, softening his scales to avoid scratching her. Her breathing hitched, and she uttered a low moan as she wound her arms around his neck in a sweet act of submission and desire. He growled in satisfaction.
He could not give her the gentleness he’d intended. The flame burned too hot. He plundered her mouth, his to
ngue sparring with hers as he kneaded her magnificent ass, squeezing hard, trying to draw her closer, trying to draw her in, to merge and become one.
Glands inside his mouth secreted the essence of his fyre, initiating the merging of the flame, which would be completed once they mated for the first time. His dragon had been correct. She did have fyre. He didn’t know how it was possible, but it was not for him to question. Her kisses became more frantic as her body reacted to his essence.
He needed her. Kissing had been a miscalculation. He should have waited. Tasting worsened the craving.
Dredging up willpower, he buried his face against her shoulder. He wound her braid around his fist, tugged her head back, and she arched, granting him access. Her pulse thrummed against his lips. Where neck met shoulder, he would mark her with his bite. She would bear his claim for all to see. He licked the spot and shuddered.
“What are you doing to me?” she moaned. Her heart fluttered almost as fast as his.
He brushed his lips up her neck to her ear. “The same thing you’re doing to me,” he whispered. He allowed himself one final lick, and then he released her braid and set her away from him.
She swayed. Her tongue appeared, and she wet her red, swollen lips.
“Don’t do that,” he growled.
“Do what?”
“Tease me,” he said, nostrils flaring. Her natural seductiveness was lethal. He detected no trickery or slyness, only the full bloom of arousal. With a groan, he grabbed her and devoured her mouth once more.
His dragon bugled, urging him to forget the colonists, to snatch up their mate, fly back to the ship, and claim her. He shook with the need to do so. This time when he thrust her away, he stalked out of range. He had to get himself under control. If he shifted now, the dragon would rush her back to the vessel.
Tail twitching, he raked his hands over his head and horns, sucking in the smoky air, hoping it would clear the bouquet of her musk from his senses. Impossible. Her essence had mixed with his. He couldn’t be unaware of her anymore.
“Um…are you all right?” Blue eyes narrowed with concern. Wisps of hair had come loose from her braid to fly around her face. Every single luscious curve of her body was outlined by the jumpsuit, her nipples two hard beads jutting against the fabric.
“Yes.” He shot her a reassuring smile.
Our mate.
Yes, their mate. But, let me handle matters right now, he thought. For her, he would control himself because, for her, he would do anything.
He strode back to her. “If you’re ready to see the settlement, I can take you now.”
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin in that pugnacious way she had. “I’m ready.” She took a couple of hits from the respirator.
“When you see them, what then?” he asked.
“I’m going to demand answers. I want to know who sent them. Are they multinational or from a single country? Why are they here? What’s their purpose?”
They were humans, that’s all that counted. However, the answers to the other questions might prove useful. “Does it matter which political faction sent them?” he asked.
She hesitated, biting her swollen bottom lip with her tiny, white teeth. His cock jerked. He wanted to nibble on her delectable mouth. Focus. He had to focus. He shifted his gaze to her eyes where indecision warred with residual desire.
She exhaled. “To me it does. If my country had colonized Elementa, I would have known. Everyone would have. Even if it wasn’t announced to the public, Helena would have shared it with me on the hush-hush. So, I have to believe another country is responsible.”
So, what she wanted to learn was if her country and friend had misled her. Pondering his options, he said, “I thought your nations were allied and worked together.”
“We do…mostly. It’s complicated,” she hedged, fiddling with the end of her braid.
Meaning they cooperated with one another if it served their self-interest.
Perhaps it would be better if they didn’t go. It didn’t matter which nation had established a colony. He hated to see her hurt.
Kill whoever hurts our mate.
“You’ve seen evidence of the settlement. I think we should return to the ship and not confront them,” he said.
“No. I want to meet them. You promised.”
He sighed. No good could come of the confrontation, but reneging on his word wasn’t an option. “All right.”
He had her use the respirator once more for good measure then moved a distance away and shifted.
Rhianna ran to him, and the dragon gathered her up, tucked her securely against his underbelly, and launched into the air.
They crossed over the river of lava. Small fires burned on the surface. Through cracks in the crust, puffs of scalding steam spewed.
“Oh my god, this is amazing!” she exclaimed, her excitement and pleasure obvious. The dragon’s happy bugle echoed off canyon walls.
Too soon, they arrived in the vicinity of the habitat, where transparent domes connected to one another by clear tubes. Inside the protective barriers, humans scurried like insects among privacy structures—probably residences—science stations, and recreational facilities. The dragon landed a safe distance away, and K’ev assumed control.
Shaking her head, Rhianna stared at the domes and curled her lip. “I’ll be go-to-hell…”
K’ev scratched a horn and looked at her questioningly.
She pointed to the central dome. Atop the curved structure, a swatch of tattered fabric flapped in the breeze. Grayed by smoke, the flag’s colors were still discernable: red, white, and blue.
Chapter Sixteen
Rhianna would always recall this day when everything she believed flipped upside down. Mindset and point of view shifted, not as dramatically as K’ev morphing into a dragon, but no less powerful. Nothing would ever be the same.
Draco wasn’t the villainous invader they’d been painted to be. She was quite possibly in love with a dragon prince. And Earth wasn’t the white-hatted innocent, besieged victim.
Beyond the hamster-tube habitat, she spied mining machinery, robo workers, and piles of rock and ore.
She’d bet the next flight back to Earth, this operation had been the shot across the bow that had incensed the Draconians. Not that she would go back to Earth when she won the bet because she had every intention of staying and exploring this thing with K’ev.
That kiss.
Desire had detonated like a cluster bomb, heat blazing down to the marrow of her bones. Her blood heated and thickened like the lava flowing in the rivers. Every caress, every whip of his raspy tongue, sent need arcing through her. Her core had drenched with readiness.
She couldn’t get enough of him. His burnt-cinnamon taste had driven her wild. She’d clung to him, pressing closer, immersing herself in his musk. He tasted even better than he smelled.
If he’d stripped off her clothes and mounted her right there atop the rock tower, her only response would have been to scream, “More.”
She was no inexperienced virgin confusing desire with love. She and K’ev shared something deep. She felt it, she sensed it—like hearing the dragon’s whuff in her head. They were like two inert substances turned combustible when mixed.
She couldn’t walk away. The attraction wasn’t volitional. Something in her soul reached for him. He was good, even if his people were threatening to destroy her people.
Draco had been provoked. Her government had incurred their wrath through their disingenuous actions. A near-trillion innocent, unsuspecting people now faced annihilation. She couldn’t abandon them; she might be the only one who cared. She’d been sent here, instructed to put her diplomatic skills to work—well, that’s exactly what she intended to do. Starting with the colonists. Had they been duped, too?
She needed to find out their reasons for being here, what they’d been told.
Ironically, the irrefutable evidence of the s
ettlement gave her hope. She couldn’t figure out how to use the comm device to contact Earth, but she was certain they would have a means. She could get them to call the president maybe, and she could impress upon him the exigent circumstances and ask him to extract the colonists and remove the settlement.
She straightened her shoulders. Next, she’d ask K’ev to intercede with the king of Draco to buy them some time. It felt good to have a plan. Now that she and K’ev were kind of a couple—
Not couple. Mates!
She looked at K’ev. “Did you say something?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“I thought I heard something.” She shrugged and removed the respirator from the pouch then fortified herself with a couple of hits. The necessity of a breathing apparatus demonstrated the ludicrousness of colonizing Elementa. Humans would have to live in hamster tubes their entire lives. Wait until they ventured out and encountered a tetrapod!
She squared her shoulders. “I don’t know how long I’ll be—”
“I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t. You don’t have any clothes on.” His tattered garments had been abandoned somewhere near the Grove of Silent Sentinels when he’d saved her from the tetrapod. “And…you have a hard-on. You can’t greet the colonists naked and packing wood.”
“You could give me your suit.” He leered.
She laughed. “That’s not going to happen, either.”
“Then I’ll shift into dragon form.”
She touched his arm. “I need to talk to them alone. Human to human. Your dragon would scare the crap out of them. I hope things will go well, but the conversation could get heated.” She could predict how the protective, possessive dragon would react to that. “I don’t want him toasting them like he did the tetrapod if they start yelling.”
He crossed his arms. “I’m going with you one way or another.”
“K’ev…”
“I’m going.”
