Tyler dragged his fingers through his bangs. “You grandmother wants to let the dragon bite her.”
“What?”
Nanna stuck out her chin. “To make a bond that will allow me to speak for him. Our family has held this station for generations. Kotahi means One in Maori. As in two minds, one voice. Kotahi Reo, the voice of the dragon.”
“You are not letting that thing bite you.”
The dragon straightened and bumped her back. When she turned, it shook its head like a giant puppet saying ‘no’.
That did it. Nik had to be dreaming.
“Dragons have venom, like a snake,” Tyler explained. “It’s written that the bite of a dragon, on the right host, creates a connection, and yes, the Kotahi have been dragon speakers in all the Draconic histories, but Carol, with your heart, and your age…” He placed his hand on her arm. “You can’t.”
“I must.” She turned to the dragon. “We can’t help each other with yes and no answers. We need to talk to you.” She rolled up her sleeve and reached her bare arm to the beast.
Nik bat her arm away. “Like hell. You are not letting that thing bite you.”
“There is no other way.”
Nik turned to the dragon. “Do you want to bite her?”
It shook its head again.
Yeah, damn, this had to be some kind of freaky dream.
“Good.” He turned to Nanna. “See? The dragon doesn’t even want to do it.”
Tyler narrowed his eyes, staring at Nik. “You can do it.”
Nik retreated, before realizing he nearly backed into the dragon. “What?”
“You share the same bloodline. You have Kotahi blood, too.”
Nik’s eyes widened. “You want me to let the dragon bite me?” He looked at each of them. “You people are all certifiable, you know that?”
Nanna pushed him. “Then get out of my way.” She held out her arm to the dragon, again.
The creature looked from her, to Nik, before shoving her to the side with its snout once more.
“It knows you won’t survive, Carol,” Tyler said. “The Great Ones care about humanity. They always have. That’s what made them such accomplished rulers. If he were a gray, you’d probably be dead already.”
She shoved her arm closer to the dragon, but it snorted and turned away.
The voice within the beast’s folded wing fell to hysterical sobs.
Nik stepped toward the dragon. “Okay, listen, you can obviously understand what we’re saying. How about you take your sentient badass comprehension for a ride and let that girl go before she has a heart attack.”
It shook its head for the third time.
“Great.” Nik turned to Tyler. “How about tranquilizers. Can’t you just shoot the damn thing?”
The dragon roared.
Tyler held up his hands. “I would never think of it, Great One.”
“P-p-please,” the voice sobbed.
“Enough,” Nana said.
Nik stepped between her and the dragon, and took a deep breath. “So, is this true? If you bite one of us, we’ll be able to understand you?”
Smoke whisked from the beast’s nostrils before it looked down.
For all Nik knew, the dragon-whisperer portion of the Maori legends was the only part of all this insanity that wasn’t accurate. But as he took in the solid, determined profile of the woman who raised him as her own, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe all of their stories, all the myths, all the bedtime tales they’d shared with him were true. What if there really was a way to communicate? This could be the start of an incredible journey— or a damnable end.
Either way, this lovely, wonderful woman who’d given up so much for him was not going to risk her life. Not while he was still breathing.
“Take me,” he told the dragon. “I’ll be your guinea pig.”
The beast snorted as Nik rolled up his sleeve.
Nik glanced at the vet. “How bad is this going to hurt?”
Tyler shrugged. “I have no idea. No one has seen a live dragon in a thousand years.”
Great. Just great.
Nik held out his arm. The dragon stared at him, then Nanna, then the vet. It took in a deep breath, then released it. If Nik didn’t know better, and he probably didn’t, he’d think that was a sigh.
The beast head-butted Nik in the chest, sprawling him into the dirt with a thud.
“What the hell, you…” Nik forgot what he was about to say as the dragon took his sneaker in his mouth, and dragged his body closer. It nosed his leg twice.
“The femoral artery,” Tyler said. “Your leg is probably a better conduit for the venom.”
Venom. Dammitall. This was insane. Letting this thing bite his arm was one thing, but bite his leg? There was a hell of a lot more flesh to gnaw on down there.
Behind the vet, Pops slipped his arm around Nanna’s shoulder. She leaned into him, but her eyes were on Nik. A smile beamed from her face.
Nik had struggled through school and sports and life in general. He’d been such a burden on them. But he owed them so much for taking him in after the accident. They’d showed him love when there was no one else in his life left to give him that comfort. They’d been so patient with him through every pitfall. They always encouraged, rarely scolded. But it occurred to him now, taking in her expression, that he’d never seen pride in her eyes.
As terrified as he was, his heart lifted.
Tyler pointed to Nik’s belt buckle. “You’re going to need to take off your pants.”
“I know where the femoral artery is.” I’m not a total idiot.
He shifted out of his pants, thankful for choosing a nondescript pair of boxers yesterday morning. The dragon loomed above him.
God, he had to be out of his mind. This was stupid. Dumb. Insane.
The dragon lowered its head and took Nik’s leg into its mouth. Coarse teeth dragged across his flesh. A damp heat swathed his skin.
This was it. He wiped the sweat from his brow.
What was he thinking by agreeing to this collective insanity? How was he going to… He winced and dug his fingers into the dry, trampled grass as two simultaneous pricks entered his skin.
7
Nik clamped his jaw shut, determined not to scream as the bite deepened. He grunted, taking shallow breaths, until the dragon abated, easing away from him.
That was it?
He puffed out a laugh. “That wasn’t so bad.”
A pencil appeared in front of his face. “Bite on this,” Tyler said.
Well, it was a little late for that.
His grandmother came into focus behind the end of the eraser. She gestured to the pencil. “Do it, quickly.”
“Okay, but it’s over. It hardly even hurt.” He shoved the pencil between his teeth, just before the world spun. He dug his fingers further into the earth, but his nails broke off and bled. He screamed as the soil boiled, dragging his hands into its depths before he yanked them free and jumped to his feet. Night had fallen like a thick mist around them. The world became a blur of dark, slow moving shapes.
A shadowy figure wrapped around him, dragging him back to the rolling terrain. Nik kicked and spat, jerking free as he jammed his knee into the shadow’s groin.
Somewhere in the distance, a man grunted and cursed, but Nik sprinted toward a bright beacon shining over the horizon. The light was warm, safe, he needed to get there before… A giant, winged creature reared up before him, shimmering in the darkness. Nik fell, and a thousand hands grasped his arms, yanking him back and holding him to the ground. He screamed and kicked as two huge, glowing eyes materialized in the endless night sky. A hot puff of smoky breath wafted over his face.
Wait. There had been a dragon.
No, but that was ridiculous. Dragons weren’t real.
The hands around him tightened. He twisted and kicked as he sunk deeper into the earth. The soil bubbled up and over his head, churning as it dragged him down. He screamed, but dirt filled his m
outh, silencing him as the darkness covered everything.
“Nikky.” Nanna’s voice, a fleeting call from a time long gone, beckoned in the distance.
He was far away. Floating.
Blue sky and clouds shot past his face. Wind whipped through his hair as he soared through the sky. He laughed as the mountains passed far below. But man wasn’t meant to fly. He couldn’t be up here. It was impossible. Inconceivable.
A burst of wind hit his side. His stomach dropped out as he fell. The peak of Mount Cook came rushing toward him— merciless, unrelenting earth waiting to squash him on impact.
“Nikky!”
He lurched, lost in a world of pitch black. He screamed, fighting a grip far stronger than his own. A deep, pressing weight crushed him, drilled him back into the soil, and he squeaked out a dry scream as his eyes shot open, blinded by a blazing sun filtered through the creases in the thick canvas and silhouetting the outline of…
Oh God, it hadn’t been a dream.
The three-inch claws of a dragon held him down while a gray-haired woman slapped his face.
“Nikky!”
He puffed out a breath. “I’m here.” He blinked against the light. “I’m here.”
The dragon removed its foot, and Nanna pulled Nik into her arms. Nik heard Pops whisper, “Thank you, Great One.”
Thank you? The goddamn thing bit me!
Shit. The girl.
He pushed out of his grandmother’s arms. And took a stumbling step.
Tyler grabbed him. “Take it easy. You’ve been unconscious for nearly an hour.”
The dragon rumbled a challenge deep within its throat.
But Nik was tired of bowing and scrabbling at this creature’s scaly feet. It was nothing more than a winged alligator, and if they had to make this stupid animal into a suitcase to save whoever this thing was holding, then so be it.
“All right, you sack of shit. I let you poison me. Now give up the girl.”
Mine. Need. Find.
Nik’s head spun, and Tyler grabbed him again.
What the hell was that?
Home. Hurt. Pain. Take.
Nik’s stomach churned. He leaned over and heaved. His dry throat rasped as a cough overtook him.
Nanna placed her hand on his back. “You need to open yourself, Nikau. Let the dragon in.”
Let the dragon in? Had this woman always been certifiable? What in God’s name was she talking about now?
Another rumble, and the huge nostrils appeared by the side of his face again. Respect.
Nik turned away. “Great. Now I’m hearing things.”
“Do you hear him?” Nanna asked.
No. It wasn’t possible.
Nik gulped, and looked down the snout of the looming beast. “Did you just say something?”
Insolent. Ungrateful.
Nik grabbed his temples and leaned over. Those weren’t his words.
But that was impossible.
Nanna placed her hand on his back. “What does the Great One say? Will he let us see the girl? Tell him we mean no harm.”
Nik concentrated on the new sensations whirling through his mind. “It’s not like that. He doesn’t talk. It’s more like emotions. Feelings. Well, no, it is words, but emotion words. He’s not really talking. It’s more like he’s thinking what he feels.”
Nanna took his face in her hands. “You are still fighting it. Open yourself to your Kotahi heritage. Be one with the dragon.”
One with the dragon. Great. Were we going to start yoga chants now?
The dragon snorted.
Wait, did that thing just laugh? He hadn’t said that out loud, right?
Another whimper from within the creature’s wing. The beast lowered its head. Its eyes seemed sad.
She afraid. I afraid.
“Holy shit,” Nik whispered.
“Yes,” Nanna said. “Open yourself. Allow the dragon to flow through you.”
Flow? He didn’t know jack shit about flow, but his blood tingled, sparkling through his veins.
Nik straightened. A sense of power coursed through him, a power he knew wasn’t his own. As insane as it all seemed, Nanna was right. He could feel the dragon, and the emotions streaming through him were not the senseless thoughts of a wild beast, but the rational, discerning thoughts of an intelligence that matched— hell, probably surpassed his own.
This wasn’t an animal that they were dealing with, not in the sense he’d thought. As the essence of this creature surged through him, he had to admit, this was something more. It was time for him to step up and take the reins.
Nik held out his hands to the dragon. “We get that you’re afraid. But so is she.”
This was crazy. Stupid. He was talking to a lizard. His mind whirled, struggling to come to terms with what his rational brain saw, and the swirl of clear, analytical thought and emotion coursing through him. Animal, yet not. Uncanny. Strange.
Biped talk stranger. The words loomed in his head, as if they rose up from a space deep within him, hovered, and slipped away as quickly as they’d manifested.
Shit. That was enough to drive anyone nuts. But if Nik was hearing the dragon’s thoughts, could the dragon hear him?
Some. Erratic. Hard. The dragon shifted, and the girl screamed again.
Nik raised his hands higher. “Then search my mind. Know that we wouldn’t hurt her.”
That was the truth, at least. He needed to get her free if they had any chance of smuggling her off this mountain.
The dragon growled deep within its chest.
Nik pushed his thoughts away. This was going to be harder than he thought. “Okay, let’s agree not to trust me.” He pointed to the Maori around him. “But you can trust these people. They want to help. They may all be certifiable, but they are along for this crazy ride. They’re going to do everything in their power to do what’s right by you. All they want to do right now is make sure the girl is all right, and then give her right back to you. Okay?”
The dragon craned his neck. She will run. She is afraid.
Damn, its sentences were getting clearer by the second. Nik sighed. “Do you blame her? God knows where you grabbed her from, and you’ve had her tucked in your wing all night.”
Safe.
“Yeah, maybe, but terror can really mess a person up in the head.” He shivered, remembering the small child trapped in the car seat as he took a step toward the beast. “Just let us take a look at her. I promise I won’t try to take her away.”
Not yet, at least. One step at a time.
The dragon growled again.
Dammit, Nik needed to keep his thoughts in check. He stared into the beast’s eyes. If he was going to be his grandparent’s Kotahi, he was going to be the best damn Kotahi that ever lived. He wouldn’t let this dragon manipulate him.
The creature hobbled to the left on three legs, one still holding the girl within its wing. If its muscles were anything like a human’s, the dragon had to be hurting after clutching someone for so long. And the angry red swelling around the stitches in its wing had to ache.
All that aside, if the lizard didn’t drop the girl, they would be at a stalemate, and if what he remembered about the Seventeen Year ritual was true, this thing only had a few days to return to its lair, or wherever the hell dragons came from; and that wing looked pretty screwed up in his uneducated opinion.
Nik furrowed his brow. If the dragon was as smart as he seemed, he knew his limitations, and he knew better than anyone how hurt he was. No matter how proud this creature might be, he needed help.
Nik glanced at the creature’s primary caregiver. Tyler was a human being before he became veterinarian to a mythical beast. Nik was fairly certain that he could coerce the man into not treating the dragon unless their demands were met; and right now, they needed to convince this thing to drop the girl. Period.
He opened his mouth to say as much, when the dragon blinked, puffed out a hot breath, and unfurled its left wing.
8
<
br /> Anna gasped as she tumbled into the cool air and slammed into the dirt. Sand kicked up around her face, and she coughed as someone threw a blanket around her shoulders.
An old woman wiped her forehead with a cool, damp cloth. “Shhh,” she said. “You’re fine. Everything is going to be fine.”
Fine? She’d never be fine again.
Anna drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Those had been dragons last night. She’d witnessed an entire hoard of fairy-tale beasts fighting in the middle of town. If she hadn’t been there, she’d never have believed it.
The old woman pulled her closer, cooing something in her ear and rocking her like a child. She trembled, relishing the warm, gentle touch of a human being.
This was real, right? She wasn’t dreaming this time; she was actually here with this lady, wherever here was.
Last night was real too, no matter how hard she tried to discount it.
Anna had run into the alley with Sybil. Something grabbed her and she’d lifted into the sky. The houses and shops had looked so small, like they shrank before her eyes.
She shuddered. Anna could have been something’s dinner right now if it hadn’t been for… for who?
It seemed like hours of frigid air chilling her skin and a thousand beats of massive wings before they were attacked by another group of dragons. During the scuffle, she’d dropped from the creature’s talons. A terror worse than being snatched by a mythical beast lashed through her as the wind, so loud and cold, whipped past her in the night sky. Endless darkness had spread out below. She could sense, more than see the Earth as she careened toward her death, until a roar filled the sky, and a large hand wrapped around her arm.
She blinked away the horror of the memory.
It hadn’t been a hand. Claws had wrapped around her arm, but they didn’t dig into her flesh like the other dragon’s. They’d grasped gently, despite the creature’s haste.
Leaning away from the woman, Anna took in the wafting, tan tent walls around her.
When she’d been plucked out of the sky, she’d been shoved inside some kind of sack, and they’d continued to fall. The warm, soft bag whisked away the night chill, until it constricted, clamping around her as they crashed to the ground. She’d blacked out, and woke with the warm fabric still swaddling her.
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