by Cara Bristol
She sighed and scanned the settlement. A short distance from the closest dome, a craggy volcanic formation jutted out of the ground. “See those rocks? How about if you wait there? I’ll explain the situation, tell them you’re with me, you’re friendly, and then you can join us.” Maybe she could borrow a pair of pants for him.
“I guess that would work,” he said grudgingly and dropped his arms.
“Thank you.” She rose on tiptoe to press a quick kiss to his mouth.
K’ev hauled her tight against his body and deepened the kiss. His tongue stroked hers, his taste igniting a hunger for a deeper connection. Her tingling body went liquid in his arms, and her pussy contracted, releasing some serious wetness. No kisses had ever affected her this way.
Her head reeled when he thrust her away from him, stepped back, and shifted.
“No, wait—” she said.
Before she could say any more, he embraced her to his chest and leaped into the air. From the sky, she could see inside the clear domes. People were running around, dashing from building to building. With a few strokes of his powerful wings, he arrived at the rock outcropping and landed. He bugled then shifted, and K’ev stood before her again.
“We were supposed to walk here,” she chided.
“Flying is faster and more efficient.”
“Right,” she said. “Now, are we clear on the plan? You remain here until I give the go-ahead for you to come meet the colonists?”
“That’s your plan.”
“K’ev…” Marching stark naked to the domes wouldn’t make a good first impression. She would need every edge she had to build a rapport to get the information she needed.
“All right,” he agreed with a huff.
Her braid was a mess, but she tucked straggles of hair behind her ears and smoothed her hands down the hips of her jumpsuit, which showed nary a wrinkle, as if she’d just put it on. The air felt hot against her face, yet the fabric remained cool, ensuring her core temperature didn’t overheat. It really was a miracle of technology. If the jumpsuit had been able to stretch over a Cessna, K’ev would still be wearing his.
She straightened the pouch across her chest then stepped out from behind the rock and strode toward the settlement.
Four people in hazmat gear emerged from the dome. Oxygen fed into their facial masks from tanks on their backs. Their hooded yellow suits hissed as one-way valves expelled carbon dioxide.
“Halt! Don’t come any closer,” ordered a man in a gruff voice, raising a compact laser-sighted pistol. The other three were similarly armed.
She hadn’t expected hugs and kisses, but the aggression came as a surprise. However, wariness did make sense. Alone on a dangerous alien planet, the colonists probably didn’t receive many visitors, let alone drop-ins. Leaving K’ev behind had been a wise decision.
She kept her hands in plain sight so they could see she meant no harm. “I know you weren’t expecting me.” She flashed a reassuring, nonthreatening smile. My name is Rhianna Montclair. I was hoping we could talk—”
“We don’t talk to dragons!”
Damn that K’ev! He’d promised to stay in man form and to wait for her signal. Already, he’d complicated things.
“He’s not going to hurt you.” She wanted to check on him, but with the colonists armed and jumpy, she wished to avoid sudden movements that could be misunderstood.
“He? There’s more dragons besides you?” the man said.
Her jaw dropped. “Me? I’m not a dragon! I’m as human as you are! I’m from Earth!”
“You can’t fool us. We saw you fly in. We know you can mimic other life-forms.”
“No. I’m human. Prince K’ev of Draco flew me here.” Where was K’ev anyway? She wanted to turn around to check on him, but feared giving the twitchy colonists the wrong idea. “At the behest of President Marshfield, I’m on my way to Draco to negotiate a peace settlement,” she fibbed just a little. “I’m with the State Department diplomatic corps. I wanted to talk to you about your colony.”
“You lie! We’ve been warned. You’re a dragon! You wear Draconian clothing.” He jutted his chin at her jumpsuit with the Crest of Draco emblazoned on the chest. “If you were human, there’d be no way you could breathe the toxic air—”
“I can breathe because I have a special respirator. Let me show you—” She reached for her pouch.
“Fire!” he shouted.
The blast from four laser pistols hit her square in the chest. She heard a thunderous roar and a crack as she windmilled through the air then came down and slammed against the rocks. Her head smashed against a boulder. Agonizing pain stabbed through her skull, and the world went black.
Chapter Seventeen
Jackson Biggs drummed his fingers on the conference table.
Helena swallowed a lump of dread. No one was cooler under fire than Biggs. The man never so much as broke a sweat. Never blinked. The uncharacteristic tell suggested whatever had gone down had been bad. Very bad. But he wouldn’t speak a word of it until the president arrived.
Her nerves had reached a fever pitch when her father entered. “What happened?” he said.
“Three colonists were killed by a dragon on Elementa.”
Helena’s breath caught in her throat, as her father swore. “Jesus Christ.” He rubbed his mouth.
“Two were ripped apart, another was immolated. A fourth sustained burns but managed to get back into the habitat.”
“Why in god’s name did they leave the biodomes?”
“They spotted a dragon flying in. Then it approached on foot in full human female form. They thought they had it under control. Four armed men against a lone female. They intended to scare her off.”
Biggs’ glance slid to Helena before looking at the president again. “However, reports suggest it wasn’t a female dragon…but Rhianna.”
“Rhianna? What the fuck was she doing on Elementa?” the president asked.
“We’re trying to figure that out. The surviving colonist is under sedation while being medically treated for severe burns. Before they put him under, he said Rhianna got shot during the dragon attack.”
Helena felt the blood drain from her face. She jumped to her feet. “Rhianna was shot?”
“Accidentally,” Biggs said. “Got caught in friendly fire.”
She pressed her fingers to her temple. “H-how is she? Is she alive?”
“We don’t know. After killing the colonists, the dragon grabbed her and flew away.” He paused. “She got hit by laser pistol blasts.”
“Oh my god.” Helena collapsed into her chair.
“You’re sure it was Rhianna?” the president asked.
Helena held her breath, hoping against hope. Rhianna shouldn’t have been there at all. Maybe it wasn’t her? But, other than a colonist, there wasn’t a single other woman in the entire galaxy who could have been on Elementa.
“She had identified herself to them. Mentioned you by name, Mr. President.”
“You say a dragon attacked, but the colonists came out of the habitat when Rhianna approached on foot. So where did the dragon come from?” Helena asked.
“She was with him. We have reason to believe it was Prince K’ev.”
“Prince K’ev attacked the colonists?” Helena squinted at Biggs. “I don’t understand. The colonists thought they had the situation under control because they believed they were dealing with a lone female. So, at what point did Prince K’ev appear and attack?”
Biggs jerked as if she’d pointed out something he hadn’t considered, but his eyes narrowed. “We don’t have all the information yet. As I said, the sole survivor and eyewitness has been sedated. The medical team got as much information as they could before they put him under.”
“Well, this is a fucking mess.” The president pressed his lips together. “What do we do now?”
“That’s the open question.” Biggs leaned his elbows on the table and steepled h
is fingers. “We don’t even have the body.”
“She’s dead, then.” Helena choked.
“I didn’t say that,” Biggs said.
“You said body.”
“Let’s not get distracted by semantics.”
Helena wanted to leap across the conference table and strangle him. “This isn’t semantics. This is my friend we’re talking about! What are we going to tell her family?”
“We’re not going to tell them anything because she might not be dead,” he replied, his expression contrary to his words. “If she lives, we’ll use her as planned.” His gaze hardened. “You’d better prepare yourself because, as you’re well aware, she’s not coming out of this alive in any case.”
Chapter Eighteen
K’ev held Rhianna’s cool, limp hand.
“You haven’t left her bedside for almost two days, Your Highness,” said the physician. “I’ll stay with her. Why don’t you get something to eat? I’ll come get you as soon as she wakes.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“I can order some food and have it brought in, then.”
“I’m not hungry.”
The physician hesitated. “You’ve been in demiforma for two days. Under the stress of the situation, you need the release of a shift.”
“Don’t tell me what I need!” he snapped. Every muscle had coiled to the point of pain, and his head pounded, but he feared what his enraged, vengeful dragon would do if he released him.
“Begging your pardon, Your Highness.” He backed off immediately.
“I’m sorry,” K’ev said. The physician didn’t deserve his wrath. If not for him, Rhianna would have been dead. She lived, but K’ev needed her to wake up. “You go on. I’ll stay with her for a while longer, and then I’ll take a break.”
He could smell the stench of his lie and was sure the doctor could, too, but he nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”
The physician left, and K’ev smoothed a clawed thumb over the back of Rhianna’s hand. Her skin was so soft, so delicate—as she was. If not for the jumpsuit, she would have been killed outright. While clothing had saved her body from serious injury, it couldn’t protect her head, and she’d suffered a concussion and bleeding on the brain. The physician had treated her, reducing the swelling and stopping the bleeding, but her physiology differed so much from Draconian, she hadn’t reacted to the drugs as expected. She should have awakened by now!
My mate! My mate! Kill. Kill.
K’ev would never forgive himself for letting her face the colonists alone. But she’d been so adamant. How could either of them have foreseen she’d be attacked by her own people? From now on, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight—whether she liked it or not. She had to awaken!
Sacred Fyre. He’d watched as they shot her with their weapons.
His dragon had burst forth. If he’d wanted to, he couldn’t have contained him. However, K’ev’s rage had been just as great. He’d swooped down on the colonists. They’d shot at him, but their weapons were ineffectual against a full-shifted dragon. He hardly felt a sting as the blasts bounced off his scales.
He’d torn one yellow-suited man apart with his claws, bitten another in half, and engulfed a third in a fireball. The fourth, his clothing set afire, had gotten away. He would have gone after him and destroyed him and the entire colony except for Rhianna.
She’d lain so still. Broken. The rocks beneath her stained red.
Crying tears of blood, the dragon had gathered her up and flown her to the ship. He’d shifted into demiforma to fit through the tight corridors and ordered the ship to summon the physician. Carrying her, K’ev had run to the medical bay.
For two days, he’d waited for her to rouse. Clinging to her hand, he bowed his head and prayed to the Eternal Fyre. “Please, Rhianna. Wake up!”
“How can anybody sleep with all this chatter?” croaked a rusty voice.
His head snapped up.
Blue eyes were open.
“Rhianna!” He touched her face, her hair, released from its braid. He pressed a kiss to her lips. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been shot.” She rubbed her chest. “My head hurts more though.”
“Your chest is bruised, but the suit protected you from the brunt of the blast. However, the force of it threw you into the air, and you crashed on the rocks and hit your head.” He held up his hand. “How many fingers do you see?”
She squinted. “Six?”
“Perfect.” He kissed her again.
She turned her head on the pillow. “You mentioned a doctor. I’m in the hospital, then?”
“The med bay of the ship. We’re in orbit around Elementa.”
“How long have I been here?”
“Two days.”
“Two days?” she gasped.
“You were badly hurt.”
She bit her lip. “What happened to the colonists?”
“The dragon and I destroyed three of them and injured the fourth who fled into his glass habitat.”
She took a deep breath and then exhaled. He smelled traces of regret.
“You can’t feel sorry for them,” he said. “They tried to kill you. They almost succeeded.”
“They were scared. They thought I was—”
“What?”
She shook her head.
“What did they think you were?”
“A dragon in human form.” Her wince revealed she was thinking exactly what he was thinking. When it came to dragons, her people followed a policy of shoot first, ask questions later. “They shot me when I reached for the inhaler. They thought I was going for a weapon.”
Her eyes watered, her tears smelling of rain and salt. He had cried tears of molten blood that seared his flesh. Very little could scar a dragon except tears for his mate or his child.
“You cry for your people. I have caused you pain.” K’ev’s heart contracted. How could he not have exacted revenge on those who had tried to kill her?
“No, that’s not it.” She brushed at her wet cheeks and grabbed his hand. “You defended me. If they’d been threatening you—I would have tried to save you, too. I cry for us. For all of us. For dragons and humans and the misunderstandings and distrust that will lead to destruction. How does it stop?”
“I don’t know,” he said. He doubted it could stop. They were fighting for their lives. It had taken hundreds of thousands of years to find Elementa—they couldn’t relocate anywhere else. When Draco went extinct, so would their race. They had followed the rules. They’d discovered Elementa and had claimed it in accordance with galactic law.
And then, greedy for metals, the humans had raced in and set up a colony. They seemed to think they had squatter’s rights. Well, they didn’t. Draconian justice would be swift and harsh. He still needed to apprise his father of the situation. But how could he tell the king the truth when it meant the destruction of his mate’s people? How could he do that to her?
K’ev slipped into the bed beside Rhianna, pulled her onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around her. With a sigh, she rested her head against his chest. He kissed her crown and tangled his fingers in her hair, breathing in her fragrance.
“Where does it end, K’ev?”
“I wish I had an answer.” Putting off the inevitable, he had the ship still in orbit around Elementa.
Once, he would have supported retaliation, but Rhianna had changed everything. His mate was honest and true. There had to be other humans like her.
“Maybe I should go back and talk to the colonists,” she said.
“Absolutely not! I won’t allow it. Have you lost your mind? They almost killed you.” He would never permit her to go there, no matter how much she begged or cajoled. Even if she hated him. He would bear her hate before he jeopardized her life again.
“They know I’m not a dragon now.”
“Don’t assume. And I killed three, possibly four of them.” He didn’t kn
ow if the fourth man would survive his burns. “They’ll retaliate at the first opportunity.” He tilted her chin and stared into her eyes. “I’ll never put you at risk again. As it is, I’ll never forgive myself for not accompanying you.”
“Will you always be this domineering?”
“To keep you safe? Absolutely.”
His dragon, which had been observing in silence, grunted in approval. Protect mate. Keep Rhianna safe.
“I guess it’s two against one, then,” she said.
K’ev cocked his head in surprise.
“Yeah, I heard him.”
“You can hear him all the time?”
“I’m not sure. How much does he talk?”
Say something, he told the dragon.
Mate grow tired. Need to rest, continue to heal, before the claiming.
K’ev almost choked, but his cock twitched and hardened. His dragon kept tabs on things. Rhianna had called him domineering. He was also possessive. He kept what was his. He would claim Rhianna and mark her so everyone would recognize she belonged to him. Keeping his face neutral, he asked, “Did you hear that? What did he say?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
So, it wasn’t all the time. He had a feeling once their fyres merged in mating, she would hear him more frequently.
Soon. He would claim her soon.
Chapter Nineteen
“Here we are.” K’ev stopped alongside a solid grayish-green wall.
“This is my cabin?” Rhianna frowned. It kinda, sorta, maybe looked familiar, but she wasn’t sure. She could no more figure out the layout of the ship now than she could on the first day of arrival. It didn’t help that doors blended into walls to be invisible.
Fortunately, she had K’ev to escort her. He hadn’t left her side since she’d awakened yesterday, and as soon as the physician had pronounced her fit, he’d whisked her away.
“No, it’s my quarters—your quarters, now. I had all your possessions moved over.”
Well, that was presumptuous.
Or, no harm, no foul?
