by Ruby Dixon
With a roar, I release my seed into my mate, letting the satisfaction of claiming her again wash over me.
My Sasha. Mine.
25
SASHA
Oh, sweet Jesus. A dragon’s boned me to death and I’m not even mad.
I lie with my cheek pressed to the concrete floor of the empty building. I’m pretty sure there’s a pebble under one boob, and I’m pretty sure my back’s at a weird angle with my butt still in the air. I’m also pretty sure I’m too boneless to move at the moment. Dakh pumps into me one last time as he climaxes, and then I feel sticky and hot as his semen washes over my insides. That’s definitely a…different experience than sex with a human guy.
I don’t even care. I never had an orgasm with a human guy. I just had two with Dakh, and I’m still reeling from them.
Dakh grunts as he slides off of me, and then a moment later, he pulls me against him as he lies on the floor. I let him arrange me against him like the boneless orgasm-noodle that I am, and try to sort my thoughts.
That was…yeah. I don’t even have words for it.
I told you that you would enjoy mating with me. Dakh’s thoughts are smug.
I reach up and push a hand over his mouth, as if that will somehow silence him. You be quiet. I need to process.
Your thoughts are amusing. He rubs my back, letting his claws drag up and down my skin in the lightest of scratches. It’s soothing. Our minds are connected now. Did you truly think I would mate with you and not care if you enjoyed yourself or not?
I don’t answer. I’m still getting used to the whole mental connection thing, and I feel like it was used as another sense in sex—not only were we tasting, touching, feeling, hearing and seeing each other, but he was in my head, directing how I should think. He kept me spinning off-balance, and as a result, I came harder than I’d ever imagined.
Still not mad.
I know some of it is the post-sex glow and that good sex doesn’t solve all your problems, but it definitely helps. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m probably exiled from Fort Dallas and can never go back, or that I’m cavorting with the enemy. But it makes the cavorting a heck of a lot more fun.
Dakh rumbles with amusement at my thoughts, and he slides a hand over my butt. We can cavort more, if you like.
I pat a hand on his chest. “Let a girl catch her breath,” I tell him sleepily. Then I sit up as I realize something, touching my neck. “You didn’t bite me this time.”
No need. I already gave you my fires. As long as you take my seed regularly, my scent will continue to mark you as claimed. No other can take you from me.
Well that’s a relief…I think. “So wait, I was in danger of another dragon snatching me? As a mate?” I’m freaked out by the thought.
Your scent will call others no longer. Now you smell like you have been thoroughly mated. He inhales deeply. And it is the most delicious of scents.
Oh jeez. I can only imagine what that smells like, and I blush again. “That’s a weird thing.”
It is drakoni ritual.
“Is that what you are? Drakoni?”
His thoughts are full of assent. I do not remember much from the time before, but it is trickling back now that I have you to anchor my thoughts, my Sasha.
I worry that he might remember something that will make him abandon me. “What about family? A wife? Kids?”
No mate before you. I can only give my fires once. It is a sharing of my spirit.
Oh. “And you saved up all this time for me?”
When I am around you, my thoughts are clear. You are fertile and young. They are all good reasons to choose a mate.
I shouldn’t be offended, but I’m a little hurt. “So basically any girl would do? Don’t I feel special.”
He caresses my cheek with those deadly claws. Do not be upset, my Sasha. I have had many opportunities to replace you with another, and I decided to keep you.
“Wow, you’re really giving Prince Charming a run for his money, aren’t you?” I say dryly. And because I’m feeling feisty, I give him a light punch in the shoulder. “That’s for considering other females, by the way.”
His lips twitch with amusement and he pulls me back down against him, ignoring my wiggling attempts to escape his grasp. I never wished for another after I saw you. The ravens tried to make me hurt you, but I ignored them.
The ravens? That’s what he means when he’s suffering from madness.
Yes. There is something in this world that makes it impossible to think straight. The ravens make me want to harm, to destroy. They get into my mind and feed me anger. I think they do so to others of my people. That is why they attack the human hive—they want to destroy it.
I shiver at the thought. I remember so many dragon attacks and the fear of wondering if this one would be the one that leveled what was left of the city. “Is there a way to get them to stop? The other dragons?”
If there is, I do not know it…other than to get them all mates.
I remember Claudia and how the militia sacrificed her to the dragon. Someone else out there knows that dragons want mates. I’m uneasy at the thought. Do the people running Fort Dallas know more than we think they do? It’s always been a mystery to people why dragons constantly attacked the city. We knew the how, but not the why. Dakh has the answers.
I just have to unlock them.
Of course, I don’t know what I’ll do with the information once I get it, since I’m now an exile, but there are people in Fort Dallas—good people—that still deserve saving.
I do not wish to save any of them, especially the one who hurt you.
“It’s a problem for another day, I suppose.” I pat his chest. “We’re not going to argue about this.”
There is nothing to argue over, he agrees, and pulls me against him so he can bury his face in my hair. Dragons sure do like sniffing, I realize. And not any female would do, he tells me. I am certain other females have crossed my path, but only you calm my thoughts.
I feel a little more flattered at that. “Why do you suppose that is?”
Perhaps we have a strong mental connection, and it only grows stronger when I anchor my spirit to yours. He rubs my backside again. Or perhaps I just liked your scent.
I yawn, considering. I don’t suppose it matters as long as I’m special to him in some way. For some reason, it’s important for me to matter. I guess because I’ve been abandoned by everyone for so long. Even Claudia and Amy had a bond that I didn’t. I’ve always been the third wheel, the extra. It’s nice to think that I’m first in someone’s eyes.
Even if it is just because I smell good.
If it makes you feel better, you did not smell good when I first snatched you from the skies. He nuzzles my hair. But I kept you anyway.
A muffled laugh escapes me. “No, actually, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
You are and will always be first in my heart, my sweet fires. Dakh holds me tighter. Never doubt this.
And for some reason, I believe him.
26
SASHA
I nod off at some point during our post-sex snuggling, I think, because I wake up a short time later to find that Dakh’s back in his dragon form and we’re flying through the nighttime skies. I send a sleepy thought up to him, and he coaxes me to go back to sleep.
We are flying home. Rest. I will keep you safe.
I trust him—either that or I’m exhausted—because I fall back asleep and I don’t wake up until he’s carrying me into the store.
Sleep, he tells me.
I shake my head, rubbing my eyes. I need to bathe. I’m sticky and sweaty, and I don’t want to get into the blankets like this.
He changes course and instead of taking me to my blankets, he takes me to the kiddie pool I’ve got in the break room. The water’s from yesterday and still relatively clean but cold. Dakh takes care of the cold thing while I wait, and then I slide into the pool, and he holds me and washes every inch of my body with intent con
centration. When I’m done, he towels me dry and then scoops me into his arms again, carrying me to bed.
“I’m able to walk, you know,” I tell him, and ruin my strong statement by yawning.
You can walk, but it is my pleasure to carry you. And his eyes gleam with the thought.
By the time we get to the bed, though, I’m pretty awake. It’s not that late in the day after all, and there’s still plenty we can—or should—do. It feels strange to spend all day lounging about, but there are not really many chores to be done. In Fort Dallas, there was always work—laundry, cooking, cleaning, or mending. Here, I have an endless supply of clean clothes, and I’ve got ready-made food. There’s really nothing for me to do.
You could read your story, Dakh tells me, climbing into bed and tugging me down against him. I would like to hear more.
“You would?”
He nods and pulls me so that my back is flush with his belly. His hard cock presses against my hip, and his hand goes to my breasts. I enjoy hearing of Dirk and Ophelia.
“I finished that book,” I tell him, picking up another romance novel. “But we can read this one?”
Do the humans mate in this one? Does he make her a picnic?
I giggle and show him the cover, with its passionate clinch. “This one is about a cowboy who rescues a woman from bandits. I’m almost sure there will be mating, if this picture is any indication.”
Then let us read on. He presses a kiss to my shoulder. I wish to learn more of human customs.
“Not sure a romance novel is the best way to do that, but we’ll go with it,” I tell him, and open the book to chapter one.
“I don’t know that we should stay in bed and read all day,” I tell Dakh when he puts another book into my hand the next morning. “It feels wrong.”
Why? He pulls me against him and rests his head atop my hair. His hands slide up my nightgown, and it’s pretty obvious to me that “reading” the book will involve more than just reading. You are fed. What else is there to do?
Oh, to have such a simple life where I don’t have to worry about anything except eating. I already feel lazy for spending most of the day yesterday having sex and reading.
Here at the store, I can relax. Here, I’ve got clothing by the truckload that doesn’t need repairs or even laundering. Here at the store, I’ve got all the food in the world that I want to eat. Granted, it’s all stale, but that doesn’t matter. It’s still edible. It won’t last forever, though. I need to start thinking about the future. I don’t know how cold it’ll get in this big, drafty store in the winter. I also don’t know how much longer the emergency lights will remain on, or if the water will continue working when it gets colder.
I don’t know if anyone’s going to come by this place and force me to defend it.
I need a plan. This place is nice, but I don’t know that it’s long-term nice. Not with a front door that anyone can open and me sitting on a vast fortune of food and clothing supplies. There’s even a ton of batteries in the electronics department, and hunting stuff in sporting goods. There’s so much stuff here that someone would easily kill me for any of it.
I will destroy anyone that tries to harm you, Dakh tells me with a fierce mental surge.
I pat the hand he puts on my stomach. “That’s sweet, but what if you’re not here? What if you’re flying off to get yourself breakfast? Or what if someone gets mad that we’re here and tries to torch the place? There’s a million scenarios, none of them good. We need to start thinking long term. And this stuff,” I say, picking up a box of musty crackers that I’ve been snacking on despite the fact that they’re hard as bricks. “Some of it needs to be eaten ASAP because it won’t last much longer, but there’s other stuff that can last indefinitely and we need to think about hiding some of it for emergencies and figuring out how to stretch more of the rest of the food to make it last. Just because the urgency to our survival is gone doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be practical. Even if it means we don’t get to lie in bed and read stories.”
He runs a gentle claw along the shell of my ear. We can skip the story and just mate instead.
I slither out of his arms with a tiny chuckle. “Somehow I knew that would be your suggestion. And that puts us back in the same situation that reading does—it doesn’t help us prepare for the future.”
Though after last night’s revelatory sex, it’s a whole lot more tempting now. I’m still reeling from the fact that I had not one but two intense orgasms. Exhausting orgasms, but amazing in every single way. I’m continually surprised by Dakh, not only that he’s more human than I thought, but he’s kinder and far cleverer, too. And he’s really, really great at sex.
I like these thoughts.
And nosy, I mentally add. Really, really nosy.
You think loudly.
I should, it’s my own damn head.
Why does it surprise you that I am good at mating or that I am more like you?
Oh, I don’t know. Because you’re a gigantic telepathic scaly creature of legend that breathes fire and has a huge crazy streak? Your kind completely destroyed our world, Dakh. I’m not saying that to be cruel, just pointing out the fact. I don’t think most people realize that you have another form, or that you can speak. They just look at you as giant, angry predators.
We did not choose to be here. He nips at my ear, sending shivers down my body. I care nothing for any of the native people here or their hives. I would conquer all of them if I needed to and take their corpses as spoils of victory.
Jeez, that’s a bloodthirsty, warlike thing to say. I slide out of Dakh’s arms, a little uneasy that that’s his idea of whispering sweet nothings in my ear. “Where did that come from?”
He tries to pull me close again. There is nothing wrong with being a conqueror. It is the preferable side of a war.
“Is that what you view this as? A war? It’s more like genocide to me.” I pluck his hand off of me and get to my feet, a little sensitive about the subject. “But maybe I’m touchy because I’m on the losing side.”
Dakh bounds to his feet and wraps his arms around my waist, dragging me against him once more and burying his face in my hair. Man, this guy loves touching. You are no longer on the losing side—you are on my side.
And I’m not sure that makes me feel better, because he’s the enemy, and if I’m now on his side, that means I’m turning my back on humankind. And while humankind hasn’t done much for me lately, it still feels wrong. I wonder if Claudia suffers these kinds of thoughts when she kisses her dragon or snuggles into bed with him at night. Or is mine the only warmonger?
Then again, I glance up at Dakh. “You compared this to a war. Is this a battlefield to you?”
He shrugs. Sometimes it reminds me of one.
My eyes widen. “Is that a memory? Of battle? War? From before you came through the Rift?”
The dragon-man’s eyes flare black. I…I do not know. If I try to think about it, I hear nothing but the call of the ravens.
I stroke his arm, worried about how dark his eyes are right now. “It’s all right, Dakh. Don’t think about it if it’s going to bother you, okay? Think about things that make you happy. Like…picnics.”
His eyes immediately flare golden, and the look he gives me is full of appeal. You wish to have a picnic?
“Maybe later,” I tell him, and can feel a blush rising. I’m still a little curious about his war thoughts and make a note to write them down in a journal to ask about in the future. Maybe at some point his mind will settle more and we can talk about such things. For now, we can focus on the smaller, day-to-day stuff. “Today, let’s think about our future, all right? If we’re going to stay here through the winter, I want to see about making the doors a little more defensible. There are the big glass ones in front, and the ones in the receiving bay, and the emergency exits on both sides of the store, as well as the garden center.” Just thinking about all those doors makes me feel a little more unsafe. I know Dakh will protect me, but I do
n’t want to get to that point. “I’d like to make those a priority, okay?”
Whatever you like, my mate. He grazes his knuckles over my cheek. As long as I spend the day with you, I do not care what we do.
“My dragon’s a romantic,” I whisper, teasing. The little caresses make me melt like butter and make parts of me feel like they’re about to turn to mush.
I only want what pleases you. What is so strange about that?
I laugh to myself. “Sometimes, I think ‘everything’ is strange about that. But I’m not going to complain. Let’s go check out the front door and get ideas, okay?”
He follows me as I head to the front of the store, and I keep my thoughts calm and pleasant, even though I want to think about what he said about war and conquest. I’m still not good at hiding things, so I’ll have to focus on that next time he goes hunting or he’s distracted. I eye the big dirty windows at the front of the store, wondering how I can possibly make an entire wall of glass safe, when I notice that my envelope is disturbed. The “EMMA” I scrawled on the front is now facing the inside.
Someone’s flipped it over.
My heart pounds, and I race for the door, then burst outside. As I do, I see that SASHA has been written neatly on the back of the envelope and it’s been flipped over so I’ll see it.
I have mail.
Dakh moves protectively to my side, his nostrils flaring. I smell the little human female. I recognize that foul stench.
Foul stench? I have to admit that I’m not-so-secretly pleased by that. I want my scent to be the only female scent he likes. Weird that I’m feeling possessive about a dragon, but I can’t help it. After last night, a lot has changed. I can feel my pulse starting to race just by thinking about that, and I know Dakh’s going to use it as an enticement to go back inside and “play picnic” some more.
