“Yes,” I growl.
Red rage tears at my thoughts, instinct screaming for domination. Those males will submit, the female needs protection. My tail rises behind me, stiff, hands clench into fists as my wings rustle.
“No, we have to be smart, careful. They’re armed.”
“I don’t care, they’re going to pay.”
She runs closer, hands on my chest then on my face, pulling me down to meet her eyes. Her sweet, beautiful eyes boring into me, cutting through the swirling red fog of the bijass. A rock I can cling to against the primal instincts urging me to action.
“Drosdan, yes,” she says, “but smart. We have to be smart. Let me go, alone.”
“NO!” I shout, grabbing her arms and shaking my head. “No, you will not go there alone. I let you go before, never, never again.”
She doesn’t flinch, bending her wrists she grabs onto mine, rising onto her toes she kisses me. Her tongue forces its way past my stiff lips as her mouth moves against mine. The bijass, all the noise in my head stops. There is nothing but her, her lips on mine, her hands moving up my arms, across my chest. My primary cock stiffens as desire overrides all other instincts. Dropping her wrists, I grab her ass and pull her tight. Her body molds against mine as our tongues dance together.
“Listen,” she whispers, pulling back just far enough to look into my eyes. “They’ll shoot you on sight. Let me slip in, find out what’s going on.”
“No,” I shake my head. “It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you.”
Thoughts of those monsters harming her consume me.
“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” she says. “I’ll tell them I escaped from you. They’ll believe it. They think you’re a monster anyway. It’s what they want to believe. That all the Zmaj only want their women. You can sneak in close and do that thing where you hide in the sand. You’ll be close if I need you that way. Let me at least try.”
“If they harm you…”
She cuts me off with her lips. Her hand drifts down to my pulsating cock crushed between us. She slides her hand into my pants and grips it, stroking lightly while her tongue explores my mouth.
“I know,” she says, gasping air then resuming the kiss.
“I love you,” I break the kiss to say. “You are my treasure.”
“And you are mine,” she replies.
Sliding her hand out of my pants she takes a step back, placing both her hands on my chest.
“I don’t like this,” I say.
“I know, but it’s the only way,” she says. “If you go down there, they’ll shoot on sight, no questions asked.”
“I can handle them,” I say, squaring my shoulders.
“Yes, I know, but how many people would be hurt in the process? What if they manage to hit you? We have to be smarter than this, Drosdan. Some situations take more than muscle.”
My cock and anger pulse in time with each other. Turning back towards the ship, I force the red tide down and consider what she said. The anger, rage, base instincts have been how I’ve survived for as long as I can remember. The Edicts of the Tribe are the only control I’ve ever needed, often more than I’ve wanted. They don’t allow for a female. There haven’t been females among us since the devastation. There something deeper about a female, she touches something so deeply buried, so long gone it’s not even a memory.
It’s new. Different.
She’s right.
I have to let her be headstrong, I can’t control her. I can only love her.
I touch her face and trail my fingers down her jaw. Her lips curl up into a perfect smile. Losing myself in her eyes, I know what I have to do. Cold fear creeps in, trying to find purchase, but I know what I must do.
“Okay,” I say.
Inside it feels as if something breaks. I give up control, and no matter I know it’s the right thing to do, it hurts. Her eyes widen, her hand cups my face, and moisture forms in the corner of her eyes. Her mouth opens, but no words come out, and she snaps it shut. Nodding she wraps her arms around me and I hold her, locking onto this moment, willing it to stretch into eternity, for in the next, everything will be different.
When she loosens her arms around me, the sensation of falling apart hits me, assailing my certainty, but I know this is what I must do. Letting her go, only so that I may truly have her. The suns are just over the horizon as we turn, holding hands, and look down on the ship. No one is outside that we can see from here. It’s the perfect time to move closer. Inhaling deeply, I push aside the fears, concerns, worries, and the anger that lies beneath all of it.
“We’ve got this,” she says with a heavy exhale, gripping my hand tightly.
“Right,” I say, pushing down doubt and fear.
I am in control, I am myself.
She inhales deeply, squeezes my hand again, and then takes her first step forward.
“You’ll be close?” she asks over her shoulder.
“Always,” I say.
She takes her next step, then the next. Each one is a stabbing pain deep into my chest. Primal instinct screams at me to stop this madness. I’m sending her into danger, alone, and it goes against every fiber of who I am. She glances back once more, eyes locking with mine, uncertainty in her gaze. Nodding, I give her all the encouragement I can. She nods too, then she turns back towards the ship, stands straighter and walks forward, alone.
When she reaches the bottom of the dune, I move myself, heading to the right. Once I’m out of the line of sight of the opening into the ship, I move towards it, hunched over to make a low profile in case anyone does happen to look. I’m able to move faster than Sarah, so I should be in place before she arrives.
They’ve ringed the ship with a makeshift barrier of crates and pieces of metal. In minutes, I reach that without an alarm being raised and lie down on the loose sand. In a crawl, I move back towards where the opening is. I strain my ears to pick up any sounds of motion from the other side. The sound of a human crying drifts out of the ripped-open ship, a sad wail of despair. It’s the only sound I hear. As I crawl forward, I spot Sarah approaching. Maneuvering my way to a position where I have a view of the opening through their makeshift wall and can still see Sarah, I bury myself in the sand and wait.
Dusk and shadows stretch across the sand by the time she is close to the wall.
“Hey! Hold it!” someone yells out of the shadows of the ship itself.
Two figures emerge, armed, probably the same men from before.
“Hey!” Sarah cries out, holding her arms up over her head. “Don’t shoot!”
The two men approach, guns at the ready. My hearts pound in my chest, and every muscle tenses as they approach her. It will take me thirty seconds to close the distance between us. Thirty long, impossible seconds.
“Hey, you were kidnapped, what are you doing here?” one of them ask.
“I escaped,” Sarah lies, arms still over her head.
“Right,” the speaker says. “You don’t look like a prisoner.”
“I wasn’t, he wanted me for…” she trails off, looking at the ground.
The two men look at each other, and one of them grins broadly.
“Oh yeah? Well, did you? Not sure we’re going to want used goods here,” he says.
My vision turns red as anger rages through me.
Breathe, I am myself, I think, struggling to control myself.
“What’s happened here?” Sarah asks. “Where are the others? How come no one is out here working?”
“We’re asking questions, not you,” one of them says, motioning with his gun. “So answer us, did you?”
“Did I what?”
Too far. I’m too far away. I crawl forward, moving slow so as not to attract attention. Buy time Sarah, keep them talking.
“No!” she exclaims. “I would never, ugh, I couldn’t let that… monster touch me.”
Ignore her words, she’s playing a role. Get closer.
“How did you escape?” the same man asks.
“Where is Tessa? Caleb? Jackson?” Sarah asks. “How bad has it gotten? Where’s Gershom?”
The two of them exchange another cryptic look. The one who has spoken the most shakes his head when the other shrugs.
“What’s happening?” Sarah asks.
“Nothing,” the main speaker says, raising his gun to be level with her head. “You need to answer our questions.”
“Sarah?” a female voice from inside the ship. “Oh my god, Sarah?”
The female we saw earlier, Tessa, emerges. She’s skeletal and obviously not well, in sharp contrast to the two men interrogating Sarah.
“Tessa?” Sarah asks pushing past the two men.
“No!” the one who’s been speaking yells, swinging his gun around and driving the butt of it into Sarah’s stomach.
She yells, doubling over in surprise and pain. The rage claims me.
17
Sarah
Stars dance in front of my eyes as air whooshes out of me, and I double over, covering my stomach. Gasping, I try to pull in air, but nothing works. Gray edges my vision, tears well in my eyes, but air won’t come.
Yelling, loud, can’t make sense of it. Vision blurs, lungs scream, burning. Must inhale. Air. Must have air.
Head spinning, darkness closes in, going out. Fight it. Stay here, can’t pass out.
One of them pushes me, and I try to straighten but my muscles are locked, not responding.
“Answer us!”
Suddenly there’s a release, and air rushes in, bringing welcome relief. Chest burning, wiping tears from my eyes, gasping gratefully, I shake my head, trying to compose myself.
“Oh shit!” one of them exclaims, then he disappears out of the corner of my vision, screaming.
Shots fire, and I drop to the ground out of instinct, crawling across the loose sand. Something roars, a deep, guttural sound, accented by the staccato of rapid-fire electric bolts from a gun. Cold races down my spine, every nerve alight as adrenaline dumps into my body. Have to get clear. Shit, why isn’t Drosdan here? Where is he? I know he’s close, I need him. This is bad!
Sand gets in my eyes and up my nose. Sputtering, I keep moving. There is more screaming behind me and another roar. Something has breached the barrier. It could be one of a dozen or more monsters that call Tajss home. I should look. I can’t. Look—no, escape.
The ship is close. Tattered plastic sheets flutter in the hot breeze. Close. Almost there. A sense of the familiar that somehow feels like it will be safe. It doesn’t matter that it’s an open wreck with nothing to stop the monster behind me. It’s home, or was.
Clawing forward, I reach the edge of the plastic. Only now do I glance over my shoulder. Gunfire roars, bright flashes of light in the dusk making it hard to see, I can’t tell what the monster is. Heart pounding in my throat, I gasp, cold freezing my veins. It’s huge. It grabs one of the men, lifting him over its head, and throws. He screams as he flies through the air past the makeshift wall. The other man struggles to his knees. I’m blinking fast, trying to see as he brings his gun up and fires.
Rapid shots, buzzing electrical bolts cut through the air and slam into the back of the shadow. Its body reacts, jerking with each hit, but it doesn’t drop.
That should have dropped anything, but not this. It roars and limbs spread wide as it turns.
My vision clears. What can’t be happening is happening.
“DROSDAN!” I scream his name.
He doesn’t look. His wings spread, his knees bend, and he leaps into the air, gliding towards the remaining guard.
The guard continues firing, but is shooting wild and missing. His eyes are wide, and he’s blubbering like a baby.
Drosdan lands in front of him, sand exploding up, blocking my view for an instant. The guard rises into the air. Drosdan has him by the front of his shirt, holding him inches from his face.
“MINE!” Drosdan bellows.
The guard makes a fist, pulling it back, but before he swings, Drosdan tosses him. A casual flick of his wrist, and the man flies through the air past the barrier and lands outside it in a hump.
Drosdan throws his arms wide, tail standing straight upright, and wings spread, he hisses loudly, turning a slow circle.
No one and no thing challenges him. He hisses once more, then his body relaxes.
Every breath I take is a sharp stabbing pain. As the adrenaline runs out, awareness of it comes. It’s not as bad if I breathe shallowly. Moving slowly, I get to my knees, then stop to breathe.
“Sarah,” Drosdan calls.
“Yeah,” I reply, gasping at the end as a sharp pain hits me.
Before my vision clears, I’m in his arms. He lifts me up, cradling me against his overly-muscled beautiful pecs.
“You’re hurt,” he says.
“It’s fine,” I whisper.
Tears run down my face, but not only from pain. Relief. He has me. The fear is gone. I’m safe.
Touching his face, trailing my fingers along his cheek, a light dances in his eyes, then he kisses me. Giving myself over to the kiss, all the pain fades before it.
“Shouldn’t have let you go alone,” he says.
“It’s fine,” I say. “I’m okay.”
He squeezes, and I gasp.
“You are hurt,” he says.
“Yeah,” I agree. “I don’t think it’s… too bad.”
The stabbing pain is worse. I can’t take a deep breath—it hurts too much. Nice, shallow breaths, those are okay. Focus on that.
Gently he sets me onto my feet then kneels in front of me.
“Even on your knees, you’re almost eye-level with me.”
I can’t stop the laugh, or the gasp of pain that follows it.
“Be still,” he orders.
Starting at my neck, he runs his hands across my shoulders and down my arms then back up. As he passes my armpits onto my sides, I cry out when he reaches my ribcage. Slowly he lifts my shirt up. My right side is a dark purple from the middle of my chest around as far as I can see. His hands on my waist, he turns me to the side, inspecting the bruise.
“It’s just a bruise,” I say.
He glances up, his lips a hard line, then shakes his head.
Rising to his feet, he looks off into the distance. Not towards our new home, but towards the City.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “We can’t, we have to save them.”
“They don’t matter,” he says. “You need care.”
“It’s not that bad,” I say.
“Sarah?” Tessa’s voice comes from behind me.
Holding my side, I turn around to see her emerging from the wreckage. Several others come with her. All of them look terrible, well on their way to starvation. Skeletally thin and weak, skin bright red and blistered.
“Oh, god,” I whisper, pain shooting through my chest, not from my wound.
“You’ve come back,” Tessa smiles, then she’s sobbing without tears.
“It’s one of them,” someone says from behind her, pointing at Drosdan.
“He’s come to finish us,” another voice whispers. “Where are the guards?”
The crowd of survivors talk over each other, espousing their wild theories.
Drosdan and I look at each other. He frowns and shakes his head.
“Help us,” Tessa says. “Please, help us.”
Silence falls over the dozens of survivors at her words. The sight of them is heart-wrenching. Gershom’s experiment is a failure. They won’t last another week without us. Meeting each of their eyes, there is a gamut of emotions, but mostly I see resignation. They’ve given up. There is nothing left to hope for.
Forcing a smile on my face, I reach out and take Drosdan’s hand.
“Survivors,” I say, raising my voice to be heard. “I can see how hard the past few weeks have been for you. I don’t know what’s happened here since I left, but it doesn’t matter. You followed Gershom into the desert. It should be obvious to everyone here where that has left y
ou.
“So I bring you a choice.
“Will you follow a Zmaj into the desert? We’ve found a place you can call your own. A small village, abandoned, it needs repairs, yes, but there is water and there is food. The choice is yours. Do you continue to follow Gershom’s mad vision, or will you choose a new path?”
“He’s just going to lead us to our doom,” a male says.
“We’ve already found our doom,” a woman responds.
They argue amongst themselves. Tessa comes over while they debate to stand with Drosdan and me.
“Are you okay?” she asks, glancing at Drosdan.
“Yes, I am,” I tell her, smiling.
“He’s not… making you?” she asks, hesitant.
Shaking my head, I chuckle and instantly regret it, wincing at the stab in my chest. Closing my eyes, I breathe through the pain with short, shallow breaths.
“No,” I say, opening my eyes once it’s passed. “Believe me, he’s not. If anything, I’m making him be here.”
“Oh,” she says, looking between the two of us. She meets Drosdan’s eyes, frowns, then shrugs. “I’m sorry.”
Drosdan tilts his head to one side, arching an eyebrow.
“Why?” he asks.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she sighs then her body shakes with dry sobs.
Dropping Drosdan’s hand I take her in my arms and hold her, ignoring the screaming pain in my side. Tessa breaks down, crying silently without tears.
“It’s fine,” I say, stroking her brittle hair. “Everything will be fine.”
Drosdan shifts, uncomfortably looking around, obviously feeling out of place.
“I’m… sorry… so… sorry,” she says.
“Drosdan, they need food. Can you go get something for them?”
Relief and concern mix on his face. He looks the crowd over with a critical eye, frowning.
“No,” he answers at last. “This isn’t safe.”
“Get me a gun,” I answer, nodding out towards where he threw the guards.
His frown deepens, but he leaves without another word.
I hold Tessa until she’s cried out, and she straightens. As she does her hand grazes my right side, and I gasp in pain.
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