by Maia Starr
Scashra leaned into my height and pressed his lips against mine, taking all of the breath out of me. He pulled my body even closer, and our lips started moving in unison, dancing together in something that started out as curious and sweet and quickly turned into something far more passionate.
“What was that?” I asked, pulling away from the kiss.
“I need you,” he said, moving his hand over my breast, keeping the other firmly on my lower back. “I’ve needed you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Funny,” I said in between kisses, “I didn’t think I was that charming.”
“Your body,” he moaned, touching me and pinching my nipple between his fingers. He kissed me and breathed hard into my skin. “You’re so beautiful.”
His tongue moved inside my mouth, flicking and rubbing against mine like a preview of what was to come.
Soon he laid me flat on the mossy ground below us and started undressing me as quickly as I began to undress him. He pulled off my sticky, wet blouse and I struggled with his armor, trying furiously to get it undone.
Eventually, he took pity on me and undid it himself.
His body was amazing, cut and toned. He laid on top of me until my breasts just grazed his chest: wet skin against wet skin. I held his face in my hands, feeling him stroke himself up and down against my most sensitive area as I studied him.
Scashra’s face had such beautiful features: a strange kindness in his eyes I hadn’t seen before.
I pulled his face closer and desperately wanted to lick up his cheek or bite his lips: tell him to pound me and revel in the sexiest encounter I had ever had, but instead, I kissed him softly and let out a small moan.
If we were going to be screwing at any point, it wasn’t going to be tonight.
He pushed inside of me, thick and filling, and there was a warming sensation that I felt pulsing through him—something unique to the Parduss.
“Mm,” I said and raised my hips up to me him: let him in deeper.
His hands searched my breasts and found their way up to my hair, seeming more enticed by the dark red stands than any other part of my body. He studied it curiously as he slid in and out of me.
Scashra leaned down and kissed me again, breathing harder.
“I’ve waited so long to have you,” he whispered, and the hot breath against my ear sent goosebumps down my arms.
I writhed against him. “Then why’d you wait so long?”
He grimaced at the question but didn’t respond, instead letting out a guttural groan and continued to explore my body with his hands.
His eyes found mine, and I could feel my face going red. I’d never been with someone who would watch me during sex. And now I was hooked.
“I’m gonna cum,” I whispered, unsure if he even knew what it meant.
The heat from him was too much, enhancing all my senses until I couldn’t control myself anymore. I pressed my fingers into his back and could feel my body contracting around his as the friction between us intensified. I was letting out deep moans like I’d never heard from myself before as my orgasm washed over me with intense waves.
Once my climax was over, he began to pound into me, no longer politely waiting. My body sank into the soft ground under me at the force of it: my legs splayed out and wrapped around his back for stability.
I could tell Scashra was going to finish when I started to hear his voice sound out through his breath. Little grunts of pleasure followed by a long, deep sigh.
My body filled with him and I could feel it, wet, down my leg as he pulled out.
We both laid on the edge of the forest, naked, staring up at the strange bulbous trees.
Scashra laid his head on my breasts and ran his hand down my stomach and thighs, up and down.
“What happened?” I asked, stroking his hair and feeling his heartbeat finally begin to slow down. “When you left?”
“I was…” he moved slightly, but I continued working my hand through his curly, wet strands. “Betrayed by somebody,” he concluded with no sign that he would expand on the story.
“A friend?” I asked.
He shook his head against my chest. “Not anymore,” he enunciated.
My eyes went wide at the statement and, though he couldn’t see it, I nodded.
“I know the feeling,” I said.
He looked up at me then, resting his sharp chin in between my breasts and catching my eyes. “Then I’m sorry,” he said.
“Me too,” I said.
He watched me for a long time before turning his profile back to my breasts and settling there.
“I’m sending all of your people to Renden for good, to live by the Dendren. The researchers and the breeders.”
“I thought the researchers were supposed to be shipped off to the mainland to get eaten?” I teased.
He smiled, and I could feel it against my skin, which made me smile stupidly.
“That’s never what I said,” he lamented.
I laughed. “Could have fooled me.”
We laid there in silence. In this new… connection we had made, and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone anymore.
“Strange day,” he breathed out, melancholy.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Strange day.”
Chapter Eight
Scashra
The breeder ceremony was the first thing to bring morale to Cadir since the passing of my sister. We gathered in the council room, a place I had avoided since that night, and the breeders were all assigned mates.
I watched them with excitement as their paired off in the room and heard chatter within the room of a fertility celebration to be thrown in the days to come.
There was an abundance of officials who wanted my attention, but I could only focus on Chloe. I watched her from the council room as she conversed with her team and smiled as she did.
I thought about her constantly. While I had gone to see her many times since then, nothing had happened since the night in the woods. I wanted to feel her body again and, as ridiculous as it sounded, to forget my problems.
She had that effect on me. To make me forget. Her presence was so consuming, it was like an addiction just to be near her.
Even now, watching her across the room, I could feel my entire body pulling me in her direction.
Fenris was watching, too. We hadn’t spoken since the night Amlodesh died, weeks ago now, and had not seen one another since the river pyre funeral for my sister.
Everyone had turned up: even the Parduss from the mainland that we never approached. That was how much respect Amlodesh had.
Now my father was sick. I watched him from the council floor talking to his advisors, coughing into his hands.
“Hey, you,” Chloe said, raising a coy brow at me.
Her tall friend, the pilot, gave her an odd look and then glanced over at me curiously.
“Hello,” the friend said formally, nodding in my direction.
I nodded back but only spoke to Chloe. “What did you think of our… formalities?”
“Very formal indeed,” she said, sounding mock-militaristic. “Good job.”
I laughed. “Well… thanks?”
“I’m sure these
“Odd celebration,” the pilot piped up, her lips curving into an unsure smile. “I mean… right?”
Chloe laughed and offered a half shrug. “It’s why we came here, so best to get it started.”
“Harper,” the pilot said, extending her hand to me and giving a sort of curtsey-bow.
“Scashra,” I said and took her hand, unsure what she wanted me to do with it.
“So, Scashra,” Harper began. She rested her palm on her chin and kept tapping her nose with her finger. “This contract isn’t forever, right? So, what happens when the girls have a couple of kids each and then the contract is up?”
I cocked a brow, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” she explained, “can she go home?”
“Oh,” I smiled, looking between
her and Chloe. “I suppose she’s free to do as she likes.”
“And if she wants to stay and say,” Harper teased, drawing out her vowels on the last word, “continue being with the Parduss she was paired with? That’s cool, too?”
“Harper, seriously?” Chloe chided, nudging her friend. Her face went a deep shade of red as she awkwardly folded her arms, now unable to look at either of us.
The smile stayed on my mouth, and I looked directly at Chloe then. “She is welcome to stay,” I offered. “Always.”
“Huh,” Harper piped up, looping her arm through Chloe’s and starting to drag her off. “Good to know!”
“I’ll speak to you later?” I asked, and Chloe turned around as Harper continued to march them toward the exit.
“Later!” she affirmed, and I could feel my body come alive at the thought of it.
“How did you enjoy the ceremony?” came the familiar voice of Pash as she saddled up beside me. She sounded friendly and graceful, like always. I could see now what an excellent liar she was if she could come up that casually and pretend everything was fine.
“Mm,” was all I said.
“What was that about?” she asked, gesturing toward Chloe, who was now disappearing into the hall.
“Assignments,” I dismissed, not looking at her.
She smiled and tried to step in front of me to make eye-contact, but I looked away. “Nothing that would make me jealous, I hope?”
I gritted my teeth. Nothing makes you jealous, I wanted to say but kept my mouth shut.
If she still thought we had a future together, she was sorely mistaken. I would show her due respect for all she had done for my father, but that was the best she would get out of me now.
She swallowed, and I heard her exhale with irritation. “I take it from your curt, cold responses that we’re not speaking?”
“My mouth is moving; I’m hearing sounds come out,” I snapped.
“We’re not talking like friends?” she specified.
“No,” I said evenly, not giving her the satisfaction of my upset. “I think we’re through with that, don’t you?”
A long, uncomfortable silence loomed between us and for a moment I actually wondered if I’d managed to hurt her feelings.
“The Dendren wishes to speak with you.” Her tone was all business now.
“Alright,” I said, “When?”
“Now.”
I met her eyes for the first time in forever and then quickly bowed my head, taking my leave of the council room.
My father was just outside his massive palace, down by the river. The sky was an effortless blue with just a few clouds passing by us, filling the air with a white mist and then disappearing just as quickly as it arrived.
“Dendren,” I said and knelt down before him.
He was entirely shifted into a deep navy and gray dragon. His posture looked tired, laying on the ground and only propping himself up on his front legs.
I watched as his tail swayed from side to side in an unsure dance.
“I wish she was Parduss when she passed,” he said evenly of my sister. “She was so elegant when she had wings.”
“She was always elegant,” I said softly and stared out into the abyss, looking at the next plenk over. I stared at the massive array of water and how it spilled out at different spots, running off the edges. I looked at the scarce buildings and their purple glow and overall, just how green everything was here.
My father nodded and then set his long neck down on the grass.
I walked alongside it, running my hand along the scaly base and finding my way to his face. His giant, red eyes followed me and seemed eerie in their silence.
“Join me,” he said, and I shook my head.
We could hear the cries of some Parduss who were flying off in the distance, their low, gurgling roars that seemed to vibrate into the air.
Both of us looked up at the sound, and I was happy for the distraction.
“Join me,” my father said once more, not as a suggestion but a command.
I followed his direction, my body throbbing as I stretched into my full form. It felt good to stretch my wings out and catch the wind underneath.
Another low roar echoed in the distance, something playful, and my father pressed his eyes shut.
“What in Cadir are they doing?” he groaned in annoyance, refusing to open his almond eyes until the noise had stopped. “’Lings,” he spoke begrudgingly of the young dragons off in the distance.
I stomped around the water, lowering my mouth in to take a drink.
My father had great horns on his head, twisting like branches, and spiky thorns that lined his jaw. Same as me. We were not elegant, smooth dragons like some of our contemporaries. We were jagged and hunched: terrifying.
And as a warrior, that suited me just fine.
I looked over at my father, watching him breathe and seeing the jerks in his movement, trying not to cough.
“Why have you called me here?” I finally asked.
He didn’t look at me. “You know why.”
“To become Dendren?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Pash told you?” he asked.
“Yes.” I paused. “And what if I said I didn’t want it?”
He turned to me then, giving a curious, if blatantly offended question. To my surprise, he laughed. “Then I’d say that’s too bad, Scashra.”
I looked up at him and smirked. “Alright,” I said, wanting to ask him if he’d be so eager to give me his position then. “You may recover, you know,” I suggested with a hint of optimism. “Then this conversation could be for nothing.”
“Perhaps,” he enunciated and then looked at me, his expression reading clear that he would not.
“Then… I accept,” I said, not sure what else to say.
“Watch out for Fenris,” he said slowly, still looking out over the busy water.
I swallowed. “Alright.”
“He has eyes for your position. I’ll be announcing it at the breeding ceremony,” he explained. “He’ll be after you then.”
“Thanks,” I griped. “And you can’t speak to him on the matter?”
“I won’t,” he said. “Not after Amlodesh.”
“Because he didn’t go to her?” I asked.
“Love of power,” he said with painful slowness, “Will drive a man to madness.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. To tell my father to speak to me like a son, instead of in riddles. But in my heart, I already knew what he was saying. He had the exact same suspicions I did, and I had only one person I was willing to talk to them about.
My father excused himself shortly after and I watched, disturbed, as he struggled to make it to his feet.
I pulled my wings tight to my body, listening to the vibrating echoes of shifters calling out to one another, a dragon’s cry, and made my way skyward toward Chloe and the mainland.
I didn’t like going there since it was where the rouge dragons loomed: some who had fallen sick but lived—diseased ones. It was also home to a host of other dangers I wasn’t fond of.
But it was diversely rich with lifeforms, which is exactly what the humans wanted. So, there they were sent.
I walked into the lengthy retreat we’d built for them: hard, reinforced walls with lookout stations and a variety of tech for them to do their research with.
I found Chloe at a long desk, hand curled up in waves of deep crimson hair as she stared down at her notes: checking measurements and statistics against one another in a mess of digital frames.
Her body was curved awkwardly in a small swivel chair as she busied herself at the desk and it was all I could do not to spin her around and take her.
“Take me away from everything,” I groaned as I slumped into the chair next to her.
My entrance made her jump, but she quickly settled and offered me a playful smile.
“Why hello, Scashra!” she announced, spinning her chair. The tone was full of levity, but I knew her
sarcasm would quickly follow. “Why, yes, I’m doing well. Thanks for asking.”
I squinted my eyes at her and then laughed. “How are you?”
“As you can see I’ve got a lot of fascinating research done for the sake of your people. Did you know you have the ability to process information through unique cells in your tongues? Your tongues!” she bounded and then took a breath. “Now, how was your day?”
“My family is a nightmare,” I breathed tiredly.
She quickly raised and lowered her brows before turning back to her microscope. “Everyone’s is,” she laughed.
“Not like this,” I said.
“Alright,” she said, looking down into the scope and tapping the buttons on the side, imputing numbers to change the machines functionality. “You’ve got my interest. What’s going on?”
I set my jaw and looked around the room, ensuring no one else was around. We were completely alone, but I still felt like the information was too private to say out loud. I moved my chair as close to her as I could and lowly announced, “My father is dying.”
Chloe took her eyes away from the microscope and turned them to me: jazzed lines in a cloud of a light brown gradient.
“I’m sorry,” she said genuinely, “That’s terrible. Is there anything I can do?”
I inhaled sharply. “I think my brother is the one trying to kill him.”
Her brows shot up in surprise, and she scraped her bottom lip with her teeth. “Wow, I…” she paused and shook her head, pressing her eyes shut and quickly opening them. “Don’t know what to say to that.”
“And my sister,” I said.
“I’m going to need some clarification on that one. Your brother and sister were trying to kill your dad?”
I shook my head. It was worse than that. “No. My brother, Fenris, is trying to kill my father. He did kill my sister.”
It was so hard for me to say her name these days. I could vividly see her body: consumed by blackness, burning in the pyre as we sent her down the river toward the waterfall—one that would take her down to the murky below, far away from the plenks.
“How? Err-why?” she stammered. “Sorry. I’m not sure the protocol of questions for this scenario.”
Her adorable demeanor was enough to force a laugh from my stubborn mouth, and then I was sullen again. “He wants the Dendren.”
