by K. N. Knight
Bill nodded, not just once but repeatedly, as if he was gradually gathering agreement on the topic.
“But what if we see a dragon ourselves?” I said, fighting a burst of anxiety. Our mission suddenly felt a lot more real. Too real.
“Well,” Bill said slowly, chewing the question over. “If you are near one of these here bells”—he pointed at a huge old bell hanging from a ceiling beam—“you just ring it good and someone’ll set the siren off. But if you’re far away from one and out in the open, try to head to one of the underground shelters you’ll probably see all over town. Or failing that, get down into a basement. Dragons aren’t keen on going underground.”
“But how likely is it that one of them will attack us?” I said.
He chuckled, slightly infuriatingly. “I mean, there haven’t been any actual recorded incidents of dragon attacks. But when you see them, they’re pretty fierce, and I wouldn’t hang around to see what they’re capable of.”
“Thanks for the advice, Bill,” Rael cut in. “Maybe you could show us to our rooms now?”
Bill regarded us shrewdly. “How many rooms will you all be wanting?”
Simultaneously, I said four, Rael and Zain said two, and Oran said one.
Bill chuckled again. “I guess, on average, that’s two rooms. Does that work for you?” We all nodded. He showed us into the lodging house, which was a concrete, single-story building with whitewashed walls and Mexican rugs on the floors. It was nicely decorated with some antique wooden furniture that must have escaped the fires somehow and some quirky knickknacks arranged here and there.
“I’ll give you two rooms at the back next door to each other,” he said and led us to two large rooms that each had two queen beds and smelled nice and clean. They were by far the nicest rooms I’d seen since the fires. The windows were large and had new wooden shutters, and I guessed they didn’t need to be small in this temperate zone. There was some artwork hanging on the walls, kind of random pieces, but they made the place look bright. There were also attractive woven rugs on the floor and white bed sheets with woven blankets on top.
As soon as Bill was out of sight, the four of us automatically congregated in the room that I’d initially been shown into.
“This is…pretty nice,” I said, trying to restrain my excitement.
“It’s fricking beautiful,” Oran said. “It reminds me of this rustic Mexican homestay I did once as a charity thing when I was a kid.”
“Who would’ve thought the day would come when you’d be ecstatic at staying someplace rustic,” Zain said, shoving Oran’s shoulder.
“Let’s just say, my priorities have changed. A lot,” Oran replied. And then he turned his head and gave me such an intense look that my heart seemed to skip a beat. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
If the other two noticed, they didn’t react. Instead, Rael sat down on the bed with a happy sigh. “What do you say we find out from Bill whether there’s any cooked food in town and then we settle in for the night before it gets dark?”
I sat down beside him, also sighing at the softness of the mattress. “But what about the dragons? Do you think we need to be cautious when we’re walking around?”
Rael grinned and shook his head. “If no one’s seen them for two years, I think we’ll need to find them, rather than the other way around.”
“And come on—they’re shifters. They’re not flesh-eating beasts, dying to prey on humans. I think this town has gotten all caught up in hysteria,” Oran added.
“If a dragon gets in my way of a good feed, I’ll take it down with my bare hands,” Zain said. “Now, come on, let’s go. I’m pretty sure I smelled cooking meat when we drove in here.”
We passed Bill’s office on our way out of the building, and he confirmed there was indeed a grill a little further along the road.
It was a Mexican-themed place, and the pork and deer meat, which was slow cooked on a solar grill, was served with corn tortillas and guacamole and salsa.
The owner seemed very keen to say as little to us as possible, but we didn’t care. We sat at outside tables and enjoyed a feast of delicious food.
I ate until I couldn’t eat any more. “This is heaven,” I said when I was finally done. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my stomach. “I wish there was beer to go with it, but that’s literally the only thing I’d change.”
I noticed Zain was watching me with amusement. “What?” I said.
“Nothing much.” He shrugged. “I love the way you’re so feminine and sexy sometimes, but the rest of the time, you’re like one of the guys.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again, not sure how to respond to that.
“It’s a good thing, Ranger,” Rael said, squeezing my knee. “Maybe Zain didn’t put it in the most eloquent way, but it means we all appreciate the fact that you’re so strong and determined, and you have abilities we don’t.”
“You complete us,” Oran cut in.
“Really?” As I gazed from one to the other, I still couldn’t quite accept that I’d bonded with these three very different men so closely and equally, and that they were all so eager to be with me they were happy to share me.
I pursed my lips, full of a wicked urge to test them.
“What if a dragon lady walked in here now?” I said. “The kind of shifter you were trying to force me to become.” I leaned forward in my seat so all four legs crashed back to the ground again. “Wouldn’t you go with her instead?”
Three almost identical expressions greeted me, so earnest and shocked I clapped my hand over my mouth to suppress a laugh.
“Ranger.” Zain reached for my hand and clasped it in his huge one. “Shifters mate for life. You must know that.”
I blinked. “I do. Kind of. I mean, my mom told me that’s usually how things go. But my dad left my mom, and I don’t know what happened to him.”
“I’m sure he didn’t leave because he didn’t care about your mom anymore,” Zain said, squeezing my hand.
I gave him a small smile, shocked at how much it still bothered me. My dad’s absence had formed my opinion of shifters more than I had realized. I was only beginning to appreciate that now.
“I can see you still have a lot to learn about shifter nature,” Rael said in an unusually gentle tone, “but there’s plenty of time for that. The most important thing is to know the shifter bond is unbreakable. And you’ve already tested it by trying to escape from us.”
I grinned. “That’s true. But what if it only works in one direction?”
“We felt it, too,” Oran cut in. “Both times you walked away from us. The first time was agonizing. There was a stabbing pain in my chest, and I could hardly stand up straight. The second time I was indescribably sad, and all I wanted to do was run after you.”
I stared at him, unused to hearing such unguarded proclamations from his lips.
“Our life has been so much better since you’ve been in it,” Zain said. He was still holding my hand, and the way he was looking at me gave me butterflies in my stomach. “It’s brought us all closer. We can’t wait to see you every morning when we wake up.”
I gave a dry laugh. “What, my sarcastic, embittered self?”
Rael grinned, his eyes soft with affection. “You have your moments of sarcasm, true, but they’re usually funny. You have a very sunny nature, Ranger. I know you’ve needed to hide it all this time to protect yourself. But with every day that passes, I can see you unfurling a little bit more, and it’s beautiful to watch.”
I blinked back a wave of emotion. “Thanks, guys!” I said too flippantly. “You’re going to make me well-up here.” I waved my hand in front of my face.
Oran got to his feet abruptly. “Shall we go back to the hotel?” he said. “It’ll be sundown soon.”
He was sick of all the emotion, I deduced, and I got to my feet as well, suddenly glad to break the tension.
I felt like a queen as we walked along the dusty roads that led us back to Bil
l’s Inn. The guys were surrounding me, protecting me, and I felt their attraction to me almost as keenly as the desire that was building up inside me. We had a big bed, a comfortable room, and a long night to spend together. By the time we arrived back, we were almost running. No sooner had Oran closed the door of our room than we were stripping off, and suddenly three unbelievably sexy, muscular male bodies were pressing against mine, hard and hungry, eager to satisfy me.
We had sex for hours in every possible position and permutation until I couldn’t take anymore and collapsed, sated, in a tangle of bodies.
I awoke the next day blissfully relaxed. The guys had moved during the night, and I was only sharing the bed with Rael whose arms were wrapped possessively around me, his breath coming in a gentle in-out purr as he slept.
We had breakfast in the lodging house, mainly because we wanted to ask Bill some more questions about the dragons. He was grouchy and less chatty at that time of day, but as we munched on our oats, he told us the most recent sighting of a dragon had been up in the mountains, about five hours’ ride south. I could see them in the distance, glimmering in the hazy, early morning light, and they seemed impossibly far away.
“We’ll leave this morning,” Rael told him. “Can we have two horses ready?”
“Sure can,” Bill replied, coming to life a little. “Come see which ones you want.”
We all went to the stable, and Oran picked out another black pair with white markings on their faces. They were chunky and steady and had big, broad hooves covered in long strands of fur.
“Good choice. They’ll be strong horses to take you up the mountain,” Bill agreed, stroking the pink nose of the nearer one. “They’re not so fast on the open road, but you can drop them off on your way back if you want.”
Before we left town, we stopped at the restaurant from yesterday and bought some food. They only had the previous day’s leftovers, but it still looked good, and they packed it all up for us. We also bought a lot of amazing-smelling fresh fruit from the produce store.
Bill had explained the route we needed to take to the mountains, which was a detour from the main road. We headed out, taking a while to get used to the horses’ slower, heavier pace.
Chapter 13
Within half an hour, the landscape changed again to a series of jagged peaks and crags, a little like the land I’d glimpsed yesterday, and it had a barren, alien quality to it.
“I feel like we just landed on Mars or something,” I said.
“Yes, there are some very unusual formations here, mostly created by the wind,” Rael said.
“But there’s hardly any wind here,” I said. And as if it had heard me, the wind started up. It was a constant, hot draft, coming diagonally toward us, throwing dust in our faces and whooshing past my ears.
Oran brought the horses to a stop, then he climbed into the back of the wagon and rummaged around for something before emerging with two pieces of fringed leather, which he attached to the horses’ head collars. “They’re for flies really, but I think they’ll keep the dust out of their eyes,” he explained.
We kept walking, and I pulled my tanktop up high over my nose. I cupped my hands around my eyes, but the dust was still bitter and stinging.
It was hard going, and every so often, the wind changed direction, almost as if it was playing with us. We began to ascend, and our pace slowed further. The horses were strong, though, and didn’t seem to be struggling with their load.
It was a long day. We stopped for an hour at lunchtime to give the horses a break, and I was grateful for a rest as well. It was very hot, and the ascent was unrelenting. We’d been going for way more than five hours, and the camping spot Bill had mentioned was still nowhere in sight. We continued as the afternoon heat softened, and I got more and more worried. Bill had assured us the camp had a water source. If he was mistaken, or we failed to find the camp at all, we’d have no other option than to retrace our steps back to the town, which would be dangerous in the dark.
The sun began to dip behind some of the peaks, the shadows becoming long and cooling, and at last we turned yet another sharp bend and found the promised place. It was a lush oasis in the midst of desert. There was a fresh stream that widened to a pool in the middle of a wide, flat tract of earth, and beside it were some alpine trees and a big patch of wild grasses. We all whooped, startling the horses, who snorted loudly. Oran and I unyoked them as fast as we could and led them over to the pool where they drank greedily.
Then we all stripped off and jumped in the water. It was cool, not cold, and incredibly refreshing. My skin seemed to sizzle as I ducked beneath the surface. Treading water, I gazed at our surroundings. On all sides were narrow, jagged peaks turning flaming red and gold as the sun set. I could see why people believed dragons lived here. Could these vivid flashes of color have been mistaken for swooping wings?
We got cleaned up and then played for a little while, splashing each other, until my foot brushed against something soft and slimy, and I started to freak out there might be water snakes living down there.
Undecided who was going to sleep where, we set up both the tents in a spot that seemed to be protected from the winds by high peaks surrounding us on three sides. Then we sat down together and had dinner. I felt kind of safe here. But I couldn’t help wondering if it was a false security and what would happen if a bunch of resident dragons decided to come and check out our food. The reality of what we were doing here hit me. What if we found dragons, but they were aggressive? How would a fight between a dragon and a bear, a tiger, an eagle and a wolf go? What if a whole bunch of them ambushed us?
I tried to keep my misgivings to myself, and when Oran picked me up after dinner and carried me into the wagon in a comical imitation of a caveman, it helped me forget. We were alone for a while, and then he left and Zain and Rael joined me. Having their bare skin on mine calmed me somewhat. I sensed the connections between us were deepest when there was nothing at all separating us—either thin air or clothing. We were all too tired to go on for long, but I came at least once with each of them before snuggling into Zain’s arms while the other two stretched out in the tents. It was chilly in the valley after dark, and I was glad for the warm, enveloping press of his body.
“What happens now?” I said as we ate our breakfast the following morning. The fruit we bought from the previous town was delicious. We had peaches, passion fruit and melon, and we ate them with oats mixed with yogurt and water.
Rael flashed me one of his charismatic half smiles. “We wait,” he said.
“But shouldn’t we go look for the dragons?” I said. Waiting at the end of this epic journey felt underwhelming.
“I see it this way,” Oran said, clanking his spoon against the side of his bowl. “If there’s a dragon, or dragons out here, we need to encounter them together to maintain our elemental balance. And we can’t leave the horses, in case—”
“In case what?” I said.
“In case they wander off, or the sun moves quicker than we expect and they end up getting overheated,” Rael said quickly.
I squinted up at the sun, predicting its path based on the shade I’d seen yesterday. I didn’t think it would be a problem to keep the horses in the shade or tie them up so they couldn’t wander off, but I chose not to voice my opinion.
“If there are dragons here, we’ll see them, I’m pretty sure,” Zain said. “And I’m not keen on the idea of approaching them. I think it’s better that we either see them from a distance, which will give us a good idea of where they live, or they find us by themselves.”
I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging myself. “Let’s hope they’ll be pleased with what they find,” I said. I was shivering a little. It was still cool in the shadow of the mountain this early in the morning, but that wasn’t the only reason.
“If things go according to plan, and one of the dragons is compatible with us, it will naturally be to drawn into the group. According to my book,” Rael said.
> “Does your book suggest any other scenarios?” I asked.
“No. You can read it yourself if you want,” he answered.
I fell silent. I couldn’t help wondering what relation our reality would bear to those old, handwritten words.
Since we had nothing to do but wait, we spent most of the day in the pool. As as there was nobody else around, we stripped off and allowed the sun to warm us all over. By midday, the pool was half in the shade and half in the sun, and I loved sunbathing on the rocks until I got too hot, then plunging into the water to cool off. The sight of the three men lounging around naked was very arousing, and I spent the day hot and flustered. Luckily, they were as hungry for me as I was for them, and we had sex more or less all day long, either in the water or on dry land.
I loved teasing them, watching the desire in their eyes as they gazed at me, spread out on the water’s edge. Then, when they made a move for me, I’d jump into the water and try to escape them. It always ended with them catching me and claiming me, while my body was suspended in the water.
I’d been worried that I’d get worn out by them. But my appetite was insatiable. It was very sexy being taken from behind by Rael, while Zain and Oran watched, stark naked, their erections huge. Then I’d beckon them over and take one of them in my mouth while the other one watched, burning with frustration. The combinations were endless. And I loved the way they all felt so different. Even if I’d been blindfolded, I would’ve known which one was inside me at any time.
We had so much fun that day, not only mating, but also chatting, joking, and bonding with each other in a way we hadn’t when we’d been so focused on the journey.
It was only when the sun dipped behind the tallest peak, bringing the chill to the surface of the water, that we realized the day had passed and we hadn’t sighted any dragons.
The next day was more of the same. I woke up full of a mixture of hope and apprehension, but we spent the time splashing in the water and satisfying our carnal desires. When dusk fell yet again, we all became a little subdued. I wondered whether this long journey had been for nothing and the plan to find a dragon had been a crazy idea from the start. Zain and Oran became irritable with Rael. It wasn’t his fault, though. He’d just come up with the best idea he could. And if it didn’t happen, I guessed we’d just continue with our day-to-day lives. That night I slept with Rael. We had gotten on a nightly rotation, which suited me just fine.
