by Hope Hart
I can feel Charlie flinch as I pick off a beast from the back of its herd.
“What is the matter?”
“Nothing. I was just remembering following the Voildi with the other women. I was the sick, injured human at the back of the herd. I kept thinking that it was only a matter of time before I was picked off by a predator.”
I flinch internally at that. I was the predator who took her.
“Charlie—”
“It’s okay, Dragix. It’s the way the universe works. The weak are always the first to die. It’s for the good of the herd. If predators targeted the healthiest animals or the youngest, whole species would die out.”
I turn my head to see her staring down at her hands, at where they’re clenched tight around two of my horns.
“I didn’t take you because you were the weakest. I took you because you smelled like something I hadn’t smelled in centuries.”
She looks up at that, meeting my eyes, and I return my attention to our flight, angling us back toward the mountain.
“What did I smell like?”
I’m silent for a long moment. “You smelled like home.”
She says nothing until I land and shift into my two-leg form. Now that I have seen how much Charlie has enjoyed the heated water in my lair, I have decided to try it myself.
“Dragix?”
“Yes?”
She chews on her lip, and I have a sudden, strange desire to replace her teeth with mine, nipping at her soft mouth and soothing with my tongue.
I step away.
“Do you think the other women are okay?”
I study her face. I could lie to her now. Could tell her that the other female two-legs are likely scared. Perhaps even hurt. I could let her think that she was the lucky one. That I am her light in the darkness. That on a planet full of monsters, she was taken by the one least likely to kill her.
But her anxiety is still wafting toward me, and she has a line between her eyes as she gazes toward the ship. If I lie to her and allow her to believe that her friends are in grave peril, I will be the worst type of monster.
“No,” I grit out. “Braxian males do not hurt females.”
Her eyes widen, the anxiety replaced with a hint of hope. I like this scent better, I decide. I like her eyes on me, large and trusting. Even if it means that she will likely be more determined to return to those females.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Nothing has changed. She may wish to leave, but she cannot leave me. Strangely, the thought does not soothe me as I stalk away to bathe.
Chapter Six
Charlie
I fly with Dragix almost every day. Sometimes, he points out different types of animals or tells me a little about the history of this planet. Other times, we fly in silence. When he’s behaving—and not performing barrel rolls in the air—I occasionally take my hands from his horns, raising them high as I tip back my head, my grin so wide that my cheeks hurt.
Now that I know that the other women are okay—Dragix insisted that the Braxians would have easily killed the Voildi and taken the women back to their camp—I feel much more relaxed.
Oh, I’m still planning to escape when Dragix lets his guard down. But from the look of that ship, the other women can’t go anywhere yet. For the first time in years, I’m not taking as many waitressing shifts as I can. I’m not hoarding money and wearing clothes that are little more than rags so that I’ll be able to afford gas and maybe a motel next time I move. I’m not deliberating whether to eat a meal now or save that money to put toward my emergency fund so I can run the next time Ben finds me.
Dragix makes sure that I have more than enough food. When I explained to him that I can’t live off meat and meat alone, he took me to Maez’s small vegetable patch and then showed me which trees in the forest had the sweetest fruit.
Here, I can sleep for as long as I like, without the fear of someone tapping on my window—either ordering me to move my car or seeing me as their next victim.
The other women…they probably have real lives on Earth. Lives with careers and families.
Me? I have no one. Nothing. I know I can’t stay on Agron forever. But for now, when I know that the other women aren’t going anywhere without me?
I’m being selfish. I’m in no hurry to find the other women, to help them figure out how to get off this planet. To be fair, Dragix watches me constantly, and when he’s not watching me, Maez is. I have such a small chance of escaping that I haven’t even tried yet. And while I may feel that small trickle of guilt, I’m enjoying hanging out in Dragix’s lair.
“What are they?” I return my attention to our flight.
Dragix glances down at the furry creatures below us.
“They know better than to come into my territory. They are Zintas, and they believe they can kill me, take my scales, and sell them.”
Wait. What?
“You’re being hunted?”
Dragix turns his head. “My people have always been hunted.”
Who would be stupid enough to hunt a dragon?
Although, since Dragix is now living without his family, I’m guessing that at least some of those assholes were successful.
Dragix turns, then he jolts, and a roar leaves him.
“What is it?” I scream, and then I see it.
The Zintas are shooting at us. And one of them just hit us, an arrow sliding straight through Dragix’s wing.
Oh God. “Are we going down?”
A snort. And then he deftly shifts to the side as another arrow flies past.
“Let’s get out of here, Dragix.”
“No. Their arrows could have killed you. I am going to show them the error of their ways.”
“Huh?”
Dragix turns, and I get a better look at the Zintas. There are so many of them. All I can tell from up here is that they’re bulky and furry as bears.
Dragix lets out another roar of retribution, and then I hold on tight as he tucks his wings close, heading toward the forest.
“Dragix. Dragix. Dragix!”
Oh God, we’re going so fast. I know he’s trying to make us a smaller target, but what if we crash?
I should’ve known better. He lands in a clearing so small the tree branches almost brush his wings as he opens them to slow our flight.
It’s a rough landing, and I almost fall. But Dragix snatches me off his back, already crouching.
“Run,” he says. “I will find you, but you need to run.”
I swallow. Half of me wants to beg him to take me back to the mountain. But I get it. They came for him in a pack and attempted to shoot him out of the sky. They’re in his territory. If he doesn’t take care of the problem now, they’ll think they won. They might bring more people next time, might come deeper into his territory.
The thought of his huge body falling from the sky makes my stomach twist, so I nod.
“I’m going,” I say as he tilts his head impatiently. When I turn, a gust of wind hits me as he shoots up into the sky.
I almost feel sorry for the Zintas.
But he’s right. If they saw where he landed, they could head toward me.
I bolt through the forest so fast that I’m almost flying. As worried as I am for Dragix, now that he doesn’t need to protect me, he can sure as hell handle himself.
And if a dragon tells you to run…you run.
I jump over tree branches, crying out as I land on a sharp rock. I’ve been walking around the lair barefoot, and I forgot to check if Dragix’s sister’s shoes would fit me.
Idiot.
I sprint until I’m so out of breath that I’m forced to stop, and then I lean over, hands on my knees as I suck in air. I have no idea where I am, no idea where Dragix is, but I can hear water pounding against rocks somewhere close by.
Once I catch my breath, I head toward it. Dragix made it clear that he has my scent that first day when he took me off the mountain. That means he’ll be able to find
me.
I don’t quite know what to think about that, so I push it aside, keeping an eye out for anyone who could be looking for me as I head toward the river.
This doesn’t look like the part of the river that Dragix usually takes me to, the water rushing past much faster here. I walk along the water’s edge and then stop, my mouth dropping open.
Is that a…ship?
It can’t be. I’ve seen our ship, and this isn’t it. I shake my head. Maybe our ship wasn’t the first to crash-land on this planet.
Whatever it is, it’s dangling half in and half out of the river. It’s shaped kind of like an hourglass, and it looks utterly out of place in this otherwise peaceful and completely natural scene.
Movement draws my eyes, and then I’m hit with another bombshell. Two people are standing near the ship, and before I know it, I’m running.
“Alexis?”
“Charlie?”
I laugh. I remember this woman. And who wouldn’t? She’s gorgeous. So is the guy standing next to her, who examines me with cool eyes. He looks similar to the men who appeared in that clearing when the Voildi were leading us to the slaughter. Braxians.
Alexis slaps her hands over her ears, and I sigh as Dragix’s enraged roar practically makes the ground shake.
Maybe he wasn’t expecting me to get this far?
The Braxian next to Alexis shoves her behind him, a sword in his hand as he bares his teeth at us. Dragix lands in a crouch next to me, his complete attention on the two people across from us.
His voice snaps like a whip in my head. “What are you doing? Who are these people?”
“Calm down. Alexis is one of the women who were taken with me.”
Dragix snarls at that, stepping forward slightly as he tucks his wings close to his body. He shows them his teeth and decides that this is a great time to let a flame escape his throat.
Even from here, I can see the color drain from Alexis’s face. I get it. I was so scared that I nearly peed my pants the first time I saw Dragix do that little trick.
I throw up my hands, hoping she’ll see that I don’t approve of Dragix’s particular brand of crazy. But her eyes are on Dragix as he steps forward again.
I let out a growl of my own. “What are you doing? You’re scaring them!”
“They’re too close.”
“You’re being completely unreasonable. We’re going to talk about this.”
“Are you okay?” Alexis asks, and I take another step toward them. Dragix roars, making her slam her hands to her ears again, and I grit my teeth as I draw even with Dragix.
“You’re being a complete bastard,” I snap. “And it’s embarrassing me.”
He stares back at me silently, unrepentant, and I smack him on the snout with my fist. He narrows his eyes at me, and I turn back to Alexis and the silent Braxian at her side.
“I’m fine,” I call to Alexis. “But—”
“Enough,” Dragix seethes. His foot flies out, scooping me up, and I land on my butt. I probably look like a complete fool as Alexis’s mouth drops open. I wave at her so she hopefully won’t think that the enraged dragon is about to eat me.
Dragix is silent on the way back to his mountain. I don’t even try to communicate with him, and he turns into a man as soon as he lands before stalking past me toward his lair.
“Oh, the silent treatment?” I throw up my hands, attempting to keep my gaze on the sloping muscles of his back and not his toned butt. “Real mature.”
He glances back at me and bares his teeth, and then he’s gone.
“Asshole,” I mutter.
“Dragix allows more from you than I have ever seen him allow from anyone.”
I whirl, finding Maez sitting in my shady spot.
“Well, since you’re his lackey, you’d know.”
She gazes at me steadily, and I sigh.
“That wasn’t fair. I’m sorry.”
She nods, getting to her feet.
“Why is he like this?” I ask.
“It is his story to tell.”
“He doesn’t share anything with me. And then he acts like a complete jerk when I finally get the chance to talk to one of the other women.”
Maez is silent for a long moment, and then she steps closer, her purple skin gleaming in the sun. “Dragix has been alone for a very long time.”
“How long?”
She shrugs, the movement elegant. “Centuries.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dragons are very long-lived. After he lost his family, he was all alone. I don’t know why he took you. He may not know himself. But consider what it must be like to be the only one of your kind. Always alone.”
“He’s not alone. He has you.”
She shrugs again. “My people have always served the dragons. My mother served Dragix and her mother before her. My people swore to serve his people when they saved us from certain death.”
“And then they were the ones who died.”
Maez nods. “I am a reminder of his people. A reminder of a debt that was formed before he was born.”
I turn away. “So what, just because he’s lonely, he gets to treat me like a prisoner?”
Maez tuts. “My people were prisoners and slaves for centuries before Dragix came to be, but their stories were passed on from generation to generation. You are not a prisoner.”
I whirl on her. “I can’t leave.”
“And perhaps that is for your own protection.” I open my mouth, and she waves a hand. “Dragix is not innocent. He takes what he wants because no one has ever told him that he can’t. Or proved otherwise. I’m not going to try to change your mind about him. I just hope you have some room for understanding.”
She turns and walks away, and I sit in the sun, staring up at the sky. Until I landed here, I’d never realized that there were so many shades of green. The fern green in the early morning, the bright emerald in the midday sun, and the golden-hued jade of the late afternoon combined with every shade in between.
What must it be like? To be so incredibly lonely that you steal someone you don’t know and take them to your lair, just to have them around? And then keep them, even knowing they loathe being kept?
I know loneliness. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“Consider what it must be like to be the only one of your kind. Always alone.”
I can’t imagine centuries of being alone. Centuries without anyone who truly understands you. I wonder if that’s why Dragix stayed in his dragon form. If that’s why he forgot that he could shift back, that he could communicate. Maybe it was easier to stay the huge predator who could do whatever the hell he wanted than it was to turn back into the man who would always be alone.
I sigh and get to my feet. Then I head down the stairs until I’m finally hesitating at the entrance to the hot pools.
He’s in there. Naked. So naked. And wet.
“I can smell you,” he says mildly, and if I didn’t know how pissed off he was, I’d think he was bored.
I go through the open door, finding him sprawled in the pool closest to me, gazing out at the lush forest.
No matter how much my greedy eyes want to explore the parts of him that lie beneath the water, I keep my eyes on his face.
“We need to talk.”
He turns his head, and his eyes are pools of liquid gold. “I don’t want to talk.”
“Fine. You can listen.”
I step closer, and then I’m in the air, falling as his hand snakes out and grabs my arm.
I shriek, but in an instant I’m underwater in the hot pool. With Dragix.
Chapter Seven
Charlie
I gasp as I clear the surface.
“What the hell?” I demand, my clothes sodden and heavy on my skin.
“I do not wish to talk, and you do. You do not wish to be in here with me. And I wish you to.”
I grind my teeth. Dragon logic. Even worse than male logic.
“Okay,” I snap. “Now that
I’m in here with you, why don’t you tell me why you lost your mind today?”
He snarls at me, and I simply stare at him, waiting. Then his eyes drop to my chest, where my shirt is clinging to my nipples, which have hardened beneath it.
The look he gives me is pure satisfied male.
I scowl at him and sit on one of the rocks in the pool, ensuring that the water covers me up to my shoulders.
His smile is slow, wicked, and so hot that I have to look away.
“I had just killed the Zintas that fired at us. They would have slaughtered you. If you were lucky. If you weren’t, they would have taken you back across the Colossal Water and sold you to the highest bidder. And you would have wished you were dead.”
I shiver. “The Colossal Water?”
He ignores that. “And then, when I came to find you, you were attempting to talk to my greatest enemy.”
My eyes jump to his face. “Your greatest enemy?”
He shows me his teeth. “The Braxians killed my people.”
“The Braxians?”
He nods, and I do the math.
“Are they as long-lived as dragons?”
“No.”
It was their ancestors that killed his family. But he was around when it happened. Each time he sees a Braxian, he must remember.
I’m surprised he hasn’t killed them all.
I must say that thought aloud because he tilts his head.
“I have thought about it. Their people landed on our planet using technology that they no longer have. Their swords are barbaric in comparison.”
“How did they lose that technology?”
He gives a disinterested shrug of his shoulders and moves closer to me. I shiver at the look in his eyes.
“So why didn’t you kill them?”
His jaw tightens. “Because they have females and younglings. My mother—” He breaks off and shakes his head. “My mother would be ashamed if I killed younglings.”
I blink at that. The only thing stopping this giant predator from burning this world to ash, from ripping everyone apart…is the thought of his mother.
