by Selena Scott
To O’s credit, he hadn’t wanted to intentionally read Solar’s future. “Things get lost in translation when I intentionally seek them out, Solar,” he’d said. “Everything’s clearer if the prophecies come to me on their own.”
But Solar had insisted. The Oracle had prophesized and now Solar had to live with that knowledge.
The Oracle caught up with Solar and clapped a hand over his shoulder. The river rushed past them. The sun, caught behind a rain cloud, seemed to come from every direction, not just the sky.
“Look,” O began. “I’ve been thinking more about that prophecy and-”
The Oracle cut off talking as the jungle breeze shifted directions and a scent blew across their path. Solar simultaneously felt every muscle in his body freeze and catch fire at once.
What was that scent? Flowers and woman and long, clean hair and woman and sweet, dark sleep and vanilla and woman. His body cried out for it. His voice ripped out of his chest. Suddenly his vision was tunneled and spotty.
Solar’s hands became claws, his teeth lengthened in his mouth. His tongue flicked out and was forked, like a serpent. The scent. The scent. He was shifting before he could stop himself. His clothes exploded off of him and his body quadrupled in size. Midnight scales ripped out of his skin and sliced through the air.
Solar’s reptilian tongue licked out at the air, as if he could taste the scent on the air. He was too far from camp. Why had he walked this far? If he could smell it, then so could the other unmated males back at camp. Fuck. That.
They didn’t call him the fastest dragon in the realm for nothing.
Solar ducked his head and tore the air in two as he raced over the jungle canopy. The scent was leading him straight to her. It was a week before her birthday still. She was a week early. But the scent on the air couldn’t lie. It was the most enticing, mouthwatering scent he’d ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
As he winged through the air like a madman, he had only one thought in his mind.
Claim Zara.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zara woke with the sun that morning. Half of the sky was still the turquoise-lavender of the nighttime’s last fight before the day takes over. She was out of bed in an instant, tiptoeing to the door of her hut, sliding it open just a silent inch, and peeking out.
But he was gone. Just like the morning before. And the morning before that. She sighed and got her things to wash herself up in the river.
As she walked back to the hut, her hair in a wet, swinging braid down her back, the sun was all the way up and her stomach growled for breakfast. She wouldn’t kick a cup of coffee out of bed either.
Speaking of bed. Zara tossed her soap and towel on the small table of her hut and looked longingly at her cot. She was never someone who wanted to get back into bed once she got out of it, but strangely, this morning a nap sounded delightful.
But, in the Surgere camp, there was never time for indulgences like that. There was always a task to be done. Zara would bet everything she had that Keiko had already been up for an hour and gotten at least four things off her list. So Zara dressed quickly and headed to the kitchen hut where she knew Keiko was putting in her morning shift.
She half-heartedly returned the waves and greetings of the unmated males as she hurried through the camp. But honestly, all the attention made her a little sick. Actually, she might have just been feeling a little sick in general. The jungle was warm enough by itself and when Zara stepped into the kitchen hut, the heat from the cooking fire swamped her. She pressed a hand to her forehead and steadied herself against the wall.
“Zar, are you alright?” Keiko asked, rushing over to her, half an orange in one hand and an uncracked egg in the other.
“I’m ok,” Zara waved her off. “Just feeling a little woozy this morning.”
“You look flushed. Are you overheated?”
“No, I don’t think so. I just cooled off in the river.”
“Here, drink some water.” Keiko divested herself of the orange and the egg and fixed a cool cup of water for her friend.
Zara drank deeply, but it didn’t help. Her vision swam, doubling and tripling the images in front of her. “I think I’m gonna go home and lie down.”
“That’s a good idea,” Keiko said, taking the half empty glass of water out of Zara’s hands and steering her out of the hut and back through the camp. “I’ll walk you home, in case any of these sailors get any ideas.”
Keiko had an idea herself of what Zara was going through right now, but she kept it to herself. She didn’t want to freak the girl out. She knew how much Zara had been stressing about it.
Once they made it back to Zara’s solitary little hut, Zara let Keiko tug her dress over her head, leaving her in her underclothes, and steer her into bed. Keiko unbraided Zara’s hair and left a canteen of water by her cot. She slipped out the door, wishing her friend silent luck with this next phase of her life.
Zara fell immediately into deep sleep. She dreamed of nothing. She woke with a start a few hours later by her estimation. The sun was much higher in the sky than it had been. Zara stretched, instantly noting that she felt much better than she had before.
Much better, but also very strange. She felt different. As if her body had come alive. She felt extremely aware of where the sheet dragged against her skin. She lay in a black bra and panties. Whenever the Surgere got close enough to civilization to restock on supplies, Keiko and Zara always insisted on new underclothes. Neither of them minded living in the jungle. But a girl’s got to have some standards. But the familiar underclothes felt different on her body than usual. They tugged and zipped along her skin. Every touch was a zinging tickle that raced through her. Zara moved to swing her feet over the edge of the cot, but instantly froze. There was a new sensation. Down there.
Reaching down, Zara slowly, so slowly, dragged the sheet aside. She hooked one finger into her underwear and pulled it aside. She gasped into the silence of her little secluded hut. Her chastity scales were gone. She was bare. She was open for business, so to speak. She was… pink.
Zara leaned forward and spread her legs to inspect herself and was quite pleased with what she saw. Delicate, smooth flesh peeked out at her. And so sensitive. A zippy feeling whipped through her when she pressed her thighs closed against herself.
Curious, Zara tentatively smoothed one palm over her thigh, skating her fingers over herself. She gasped at the sensation. She had honestly never felt anything like that in her life. It was like electricity. Heat. Tension. All rolled into one.
She teased her fingers over herself again and this time she let herself linger. Explore. The feeling came back again, stronger, licking through her. And this time an image popped into Zara’s brain. A strange image, one she’d never really thought of before. Two people kissing. Pressing against one another in the night. The air was hot around them so they sweat as they rolled over one another, naked skin against naked skin.
Zara’s eyes popped open. Why was she thinking about that? She never thought about stuff like that. She probably should stop. She knew that. She should go find Keiko and tell her that she’d reached her fertility season. But almost of their own volition, Zara’s fingers feathered over herself again.
This time, Zara’s head fell back and she didn’t try and stop the images that popped into her head. She let her hand move over herself. She was surprised when a tingling wetness started to seep onto her fingers, but whatever feeling was rising inside of her was too good to stop and question. So Zara pressed her eyes closed and let the images come. A man in the moonlight. A bare chest. Sheets tangled across him. Her on her back. A man’s hard, heavy hips pressing her into the ground. Soft hair, strong hands. Pressing. Holding. Lifting. Breath on her lips.
Zara rose and rose. Her muscles tightened and she couldn’t stop them. Didn’t want to. In her mind the man grabbed her by the shoulders, pressed her back onto a bed, let his hands wander over her body. He raised his head and looked up at her face. His eyes
were midnight blue.
Just like Solar’s.
Zara yelped and whipped her hands away from herself as she realized she’d been thinking about him. While she touched herself. Heat crept up her cheeks and she quickly reached for the canteen. She gulped water, needing to tamp down the racing heat that still zipped through her. What to do?
Zara was practically wringing her hands when the feral, furious roar of a dragon split the silence of her secluded cabin in two. She nearly jumped out of her skin. She knew that roar. That was Solar’s roar. For a split second she had the terrifying thought that he knew about the things she was just thinking about, but she dismissed it. Couldn’t be.
So then why was he roaring in her front yard? Holding the sheet around herself, Zara slinked forward to peek out the front door of her hut.
There he was. Gorgeous and gleaming deep blue in the sunlight. It almost seemed like all the light was drawn to him. She couldn’t help but watch the deep blue dragon that was rearing back and swinging his tail.
At another dragon.
Oh god. Solar was fighting another dragon in her front yard. It was a smaller dragon. She recognized him. Lighter blue, lithe, quick on his feet. It was Rafael.
Zara glanced down at her newly bare self and realized that they must know somehow. They must know that she’d reached her season. Rafael was coming to mate her just like she’d feared. And Solar was protecting her just like he promised. Zara felt something swell inside her chest but she couldn’t say what it was. Gratitude mixed in with fear and confusion.
Rafael feinted from one side to the other, trying to slip past Solar. But the young dragon roared in distress when Solar brought the weight of his heavily spiked tail down on Rafael’s back. Not enough to really hurt him, but enough to bring him to the ground. Rafael slid in the dirt. Solar lifted his tail just a smidge and Rafael immediately flipped on his back, and shifted back into his human form.
The ultimate show of submission. Rafael didn’t want to fight his leader. And he certainly didn’t want to fight a dragon with hard-won combat skills like Solar.
Solar’s dragon form stepped away from Rafael, lying prone on the ground, with a footstep that shook the earth. He slightly bowed his head to the boy and Rafael took the sign for what it was. He hopped to his feet and disappeared into the jungle, back toward camp.
Solar reared back and roared again. A tree shaking roar that had animals scurrying and leaves falling like rain around them. Zara squinted into the dim light between the trees that surrounded her hut, and she saw shapes moving away. Other dragons shifting back into human form. Other men. Other Surgeres, shifting into their human forms and heading back to camp. Away from her. And away from Solar.
He was protecting her from all of them. It was working. She was free of them. And no matter what Keiko had said, now that she’d reached her season, she didn’t magically want to mate with those men. She still wanted her space. Her freedom. She didn’t want to be lashed to anyone but her own self. And that was a relief too. She was still herself. Just fertile now.
Zara breathed a deep sigh and leaned her head against the door jamb as she let her eyes wander over the midnight blue scales of Solar’s back. She was just so unbelievably grateful to him. But she froze in place when his giant, magnificent head swung back and looked at her. She was completely pinned. The gaze was reptilian, but it was still completely Solar’s. And she couldn’t look away.
The great dragon’s scales began to shimmer and quake, his arms raised and his shoulders came up, a half growl, half roar erupted from him as he took one step, then another. Zara gripped the sheet over her breasts and gasped when she realized he was shifting. Back into his human form. He took one step and his shoulders came back. Another and his legs were Solar’s own, long, striding form. He gave a shake of his head and the scales gave way to his glossy black hair. He didn’t pause as he crossed the clearing. His hair was messy and a light sheen of sweat showed over his skin. And his eyes burned as they stared into her.
Zara had seen Solar naked before, from a distance. It was very common in the dragon realm, where they all shifted between forms so much. But she’d never been this close. Seen in quite this much detail. Because suddenly he was standing directly before her. Not more than two feet from her.
Sunlight dappled his skin, deepening the shadows between the muscles on his stomach. His chest was muscled and wide, a light sprinkling of dark hair across it. Zara’s eye followed that trail of hair down toward the narrowing of his hips and down further. To something that Zara had never really had much reason to look at before. Solar’s cock. Long and thick and seeming to reach out toward her.
Zara found herself licking her lips and pressing her thighs together as she surveyed him. She felt something she’d never felt before. A slow uncurling of heat inside her. The wetness she’d felt before on her fingers was now creeping down the inside of her thighs.
What was happening to her?
“Zara,” he said, his voice a low, husky rumble.
She dragged her eyes away from his cock and up to his face. A stunned little gasp escaped from her lips. Either she was seeing him through new eyes or he was wearing an expression she’d never seen before. Or both. His eyes were burning with intensity, the lines of his face set in extreme tension. Zara found herself wanting to lean in, smooth his brow.
She remembered the images in her head from moments ago. The two people kissing. Sweaty. Rolling over one another. One of her hands flattened against her belly and dragged over her sensitive skin. Her pulse was still racing toward something but she didn’t know what it was. She didn’t know how to find the release she needed. She imagined leaning up and kissing Solar. Or him pressing her into the floor like he had the other night in his hut. A little moan escaped her lips.
She remembered what Keiko had said about being able to be physical with another shifter but not having to be mated to them. Maybe she could touch Solar’s face? Feel his chest under her fingers? Maybe it would be possible to drag her tongue along the scar on his cheek? All that and still be free?
And then Solar was leaning in. He tangled his fingers in her hair and held her head in place. “Now,” he said.
Zara blinked up at him in confusion.
“Tell me to go right now, Zara. Or else I’m going to fuck you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Whatever voice had been calming the beast inside Solar for the last four years had completely left the building. He’d just fought one of his own Surgere, completely threatened the rest of them. Shifted, then stood completely naked and aroused in front of Zara. And now he had his hands on her and was demanding things he had no right to demand.
And he didn’t give a flying fuck.
Caring about that was over for him. It was over the second he smelled her fertility scent on the wind. The only thing that could stop him now was her. If she told him to go, he would. He’d have found some sharp stick to dig under his fingernails just to make this arousal go down. But he would do it. He’d turn around and walk away from her.
He tightened his grip in her hair just slightly. He couldn’t help it. Her hair was so silky. Her scalp so warm. Her breath had her chest rising and falling. Solar didn’t let his gaze fall from her face. He needed to read what was in her eyes. But it was basically killing him not to look at her body all wrapped up in this sheet.
“I-” she cut herself off and leaned forward ever so slightly. Was she… smelling him?
Fuck. Her eyes were on his lips. She was gently dragging her tongue over her full bottom lip. Her cloudy gray eyes were heavy with something that looked suspiciously like lust. Jesus Christ, she was killing him. A man could only take so much.
Solar gripped her scalp with one hand and her shoulder with the other. “Tell me to go,” he said, his face just a scant inch from hers.
His eyes searched hers. And he felt a jolt as he realized hers were searching his right back. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked at him so boldly. Not since th
ey were children. Her gray, gray eyes were gorgeous, reflecting the world in them. They were the lavender of the shadows around them, the green of the leaves above them, the blue of the sky. They were, quite simply, his whole world.
She lifted one hand, almost like she was going to touch his face, but she snatched it back at the last second, dropping her eyes.
Solar’s heart sunk to his toes as he realized she was about to tell him to leave. Everything had shifted, become painfully clear for him, but nothing had changed for her. She didn’t see him that way. She didn’t want a mate. She wanted solitude and peace.
He’d give her anything she asked for. Even if it was absolute and total space from him. He took a deep breath, preparing himself.
“Stay,” she whispered and his heart stopped in his chest.
Maybe he’d given her the choice, but that had taken everything he had and he didn’t have anything left to check and make sure she meant it when she asked him to stay.
He immediately picked her up by her ass and strode into her cabin, slamming the door shut behind him. He walked them right to her cot and he set her down on it.
Solar took a step back from her. He tried to calm his racing heart. She was his for the taking. Tilting his head, he caught her scent on the air again. So strong. It filled the hut around them, made him dizzy with need for her.
She was breathing fast, her hair spilling over her shoulders and her breasts heaving against the sheet she had pulled tight around her small frame. He could see excitement, slight panic, and nerves take their turns on her face.
He fell to his knees in front of her and was pleased when surprise took the place of nerves in her expression. He wanted to surprise her. Delight her. Please her. Explosively.
Tentatively, she reached a hand out as she had before. But this time she made contact with his cheek. She stroked her hand over the stubble on his chin and he leaned into it. It was taking everything he had not to jump on her right then and there. He needed to make sure she was comfortable. And that included letting her touch him a little. But then he caught the scent on her hand.
