To a casual observer, Zol may appear indolent, but because of the set of his shoulders, muscled slightly tensed beneath the skin and deceptively unaware, and the way his eyes constantly tracked from left to right, Star knew he was ready to pounce and rend in a moment’s notice.
“Wait for what?”
“You tell me,” he paused to roll his eyes at her. “You’re the one who’s suddenly sensing things.”
“Hey.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Well, first you felt the need to mate with Father.”
“Jealous?”
“Only because I can’t whine and cry for it like you can.”
“Zol! I’m still in heat!”
“I wish I had that excuse,” he sniggered, then leered at her. “It took some work to get Kyo to notice me enough to make me feel it was worth spreading my legs to him. And well, you just kind of rolled over and wave your ass in the air.” He smirked when her mouth flopped open in shock. “So,” he added, as she remained silent. “You ready to fuck yet?”
Chapter Nine
Zen returned before she could even imagine a response to that comment and she eagerly turned away from her fellow secondary to find out what he had to say.
“Are you and Zol…”
“Not fighting,” Zol sniffed, rising to his feet and going to a far window, amusement fleeing from his face as he stared out into the darkening shy. “I am simply making her uncomfortable, as usual. Where is father?”
“I do not know.” Zen moved towards Star. “Kyo sent me to follow a scent trail.” He turned his attention to Star, dropping to the pillows beside her and raising one pale hand to caress her face.” How did you know it was there?”
“I—I just…felt it,” she sighed, closing her eyes and leaning into the caress. There was another ache gnawing at her now, and as much as she enjoyed his touch, her body craved something more.
“You are beginning to look.” He waved his free hand in the air as her eyes opened, a yellow fire banked within their depths. “You are….”
“Acting more Dragonish,” Zol allowed, moving back towards them and dropping down beside Star. “I noticed it in the bath house. You even bared fang at,” his words trailed off as he cut eyes at Zen before continuing, “at that disagreeable person. You were really fierce,” he chuckled, running his hands through his hair. “You almost scared me. Almost.” He leaned forward and lapped at her nose, giggling as she wrinkled it and glared in his direction.
“You were fighting?” Zen sounded alarmed enough to take her attention from Zol and concentrate fully on him.
“I was not fighting.”
“More like defending,” Zol laughed. “Being among humans may have blunted her claws, but it by no means made her less Dragonish. She reacted appropriately, Zen, and you know I would not let anything happen to her.”
That said, Zol turned his attention back to the window, trying hard to disguise his worry, but even Star knew enough about the male to know he was trying to hide it.
“Father will return soon,” Star spoke softly, pulling away from Zen to reach out to her fellow secondary. She ran her fingers through his soft hair, her eyes filled with understanding as he sighed and leaned closer into her caress.
“Things are changing,” he replied softly, the usual condor in his voice missing. “And after what we learned about you, about your family…It seems too much of a coincidence, Star. First the Prince and the revelation that your family may have close ties to the Royal one. And that there had to be some kind of corruption or deceit to get your family to flee…and now this. If Zaz can remember your scent, then I am positive that more Dragonish can. Maybe even the one who caused your family’s downfall.”
That gave Star a pause, her hand stilled in his hair and she turned her eyes to Zen. “Could that be true? Could someone still try and…and…”
“We don’t know if that is true or not,” Zen sighed, staring with a reproachful gaze at Zol. “We can only wait until the Prince remembers something.”
“And the Prince is old, Zen,” Zol pointed out. “He had more memories to search through. This corruption that befell Star’s family had to have been fairly recent. And of all the families that have disappeared from our community, I can not recall one who had a child.”
“I can recall nothing.”
“I am older than you, cub,” Zol rolled his eyes and gently pulled away from Star, rising to his feet. “Something is gathering here, Zen. Mark my words in your memory. Someone or something is now taking a lot of interest in our Quad. It disturbs me that someone would be so bold. And right now, when our female is developing…it is too much of a coincidence.”
“Meaning?” Zen moved to take Star into his arms, holding her close as if some perceived danger was running right towards her.
“Meaning that if someone wanted her family to disappear, what makes you think that they will settle for any remnant of it remaining?”
“You are sure?” Zen asked, his eyes narrowed in anger.
“Why would you go through the trouble of making a family disappear and then allow some part of it back? That makes no sense, Zenaxion. And then to allow that one member, the most important member of that lost Quad, to return and restart their line and do it with one of the most powerful Quads in this realm? It would be shear madness.”
“Sometimes I forget that you are intelligent,” Star breathed, a cornel of fear beginning to build in her heart.
“Yes, my intelligence astounds,” he rolled his eyes. “It’s amazing I have made it all of my years and no one is the wiser.” Sarcasm was thick.
“I didn’t mean to insult you,” Star allowed, sighing deeply. “But this is something I never considered. I was only thinking about finding the organs of my family…my Quad. I never thought that someone would want to harm me.”
“We don’t know if it’s harm,” Zol rolled his eyes. “They could be waiting for a chance to breed you.”
“What?” Both Star and Zen yelped at the same time.
“Well, if I wanted to get rid of a Quad and not cause a major issue with the royals, I would simply breed them out. Death is such a violent and public thing.”
“That makes sense,” Zen growled. “But Star is already marked.”
“And if you get her when her spine is ready to drop, she would fuck a Skab and not care, so long as the pain stops.”
“And you know this because…” Star was pushing out of Zen’s hold, trying to get closer to her fellow second.
“I am old,” he again repeated. “I have had my cycles many times, though none as great as what is building now.”
“And you did what?”
“I took relaxants that healers provided and tried my best to screw Father and Zen into powder.” There was no shame in his response. “And I know now that this Quad is nearly complete, the urge is growing so powerful that I am sure that even the strongest relaxants will not stop the urge. It is growing in me and it is growing in you.”
“How can you be so sure,” Star snipped. “I find it inconceivable that I would stoop so low as to sleep with someone who is trying to rid the world of my presence.”
“Sleep has nothing to do with it, Star,” Zol growled, his eyes flashing red as he turned towards her. “It has everything to do with the mating urge and the fact that you are more Dragonish than human now.” He moved closer to her, stalking, his hips swaying, his long dark hair shimmering around his naked body. “The urge to mate is what keeps us united, Star, that desire to ensure that our bloodlines are not lost. It is what forged us into Quads, the desire to keep our offspring safe. It is what shapes us at the core, defines who we are as a people. You feel it when your eyes spark yellow, or when you sweetly submit to the Alphas, or when you nearly tear the throat out of a male who has offered you insult towards your Quad. You have always been more Dragonish than human, you just no longer have that weak polite façade to hide behind.”
“I..I…” Star stammered as her mind absorbed what Zol had said.
The spark of their eyes excited her, the feel of their rough skin dominating her…it thrilled her. The sight of them transforming was not abhorrent, but something to be looked on with a great amount of awe and a little envy.
“Be that as it may.” Zen inhaled deeply, making no move to pull Star closer. “That is not what is important at this moment, the amount of Dragonish Star is exhibiting. I am more concerned with her safety.”
“As am I.” Zol tore his eyes away from Star’s and turned back towards the window, seeking the horizon.
“Father will return.” Zen rose to his feet and enveloped the older Zol within his arms. “His job is to see to the safety of us all, and he is probably checking something out, something that he recently has thought of.” He gave his secondary a squeeze. “Father is among the oldest of us all, and I trust his instincts a far sight more than mine when it comes to staying alive as well as protecting us at the same time..”
“I know that, cub.” Zol again rolled his eyes, the redness fading, as he seemed to revert to his usual snarly self. “But it is a bonded mate’s prerogative to worry about their partner. As you should be worrying about our female.”
“I am worried.”
Star yelped, “I can take care of myself!”
“And,” Zen rolled his eyes, “You don’t have to worry alone, Zol. Come back to the pillows.”
“I am not a child seeking comfort.”
“But you are a worried mate,” Star pointed out. “And it is insane to worry alone, away from the arms of your Quad. I am still learning the Dragonish way and even I know where my safety and joy can be found.”
“Your words…they make sense,” Zol muttered, then allowed Zen to pull him back to Star and their comfortable sex-scented pillows.
“What a way to deny the afterglow,” he grumbled, but made himself comfortable beside Star once more.
“We can recreate it any time,” Zen snickered, walking around their aerie one more time before sinking into the pillows between the two, pulling them both to his body. “That is the wonder of having your own Quad.”
“Like you would know, cub.” Zol sniffed before squirming around until his head rested against Zen’s chest, his arms flung across his body to touch Star, his long dark hair blanketing them all.
“I know where my comfort and joy abound.” Zen snuggled them closer, making sure Star was roughly in the same position as Zol, watching as her breathing slowed and she began to succumb to sleep. “And I know where I am safest,” he grinned at Zol. “Between your sharp wit and her sharp tongue, only a fool would desire to invade his aerie.”
Star snorted and Zol rolled his eyes, but both were proud and amused to be seen as such formidable foes.
“Everything will work out,” he added, while keeping his mind and body in alert. “It has to. We have found our Quad and nothing,” his eyes glowed red before the bright color faded, “nothing will separate us.”
Chapter Ten
By the time Father returned, the sun was on the rise and both Star and Zol had calmed considerably, enough to succumb to a deep sleep.
Zen was still alert when Father made his entrance, his huge red form landing lightly on the tiled floor of their aerie. “Have you found the source?” he asked more calmly then he felt.
In an instant, Father’s tall dark secondary form had taken the place of his primary, and he faced his Alpha partner. “No, but it is familiar, very familiar,” he groused as he walked over to the pair on the pillows. “How are they?”
“Worried, especially Zol. But he managed to put some things into perspective.”
“My bonded mate is wiser then he appears, Zen,” Kyo grinned.
“This I know, Father,” Zen smiled, ruefully. “But it appears that sometimes I need a reminder.”
“As does our female. She is a match for Zol, Zen, remember that. In order to mate successfully, they must be well matched. And it appears that they are.”
“And the scent?”
“Always one to cut to the point, Zen.”
“I find that cutting to the point makes life more bearable in my case.”
“In any case, Zen.” Father stood and observed the two, watching as Star moved into the spot that Zen once occupied, gravitating towards the heat of her secondary partner. He ran a hand over his face, his whole attitude screaming tired but content, as he watched Zol make room for her, holding her close.
“And the scent?”
“It almost appeared…royal,” Father sighed, moving away from the tempting warmth of their bodies, moving back towards the large windows of the aerie.
“Royal?”
“Nearly there, but not quite.”
“Nearly? Does such a blood line exist?”
“There have always been claims and rumors,” Kyo allowed “But what was once royal does not necessarily mean royal in this time.”
“True.”
“So. This scent that speaks of somewhat royal blood…and the one you followed—”
“There were two?” Zen looked shocked, his voice rising in his agitation.
“As if I would send you off alone without me to defend this Quad,” he scoffed. But it only showed in his voice. As usual, Kyo appeared to be a mountain.
“I apologize.” Zen bowed slightly, but stood to his full height and began to deliver his report. “The scent I followed was familiar as well. And I scented no royal blood in the taint. I believe you had caught the scent that I am ashamed to admit that I lost. It was almost as if the scent was left there—”
“As a decoy,” Father finished the sentence. “In this vulnerable time, this mating time we find ourselves in, most Quad leaders would not allow their secondary Alphas to go off at all. And if they did, they would expect the submissives to be scared and frightened. What scents were our submissives sending out?”
“Defensive anger.” Zen smiled.
“From the beginning, our submissives, especially our female, displayed none of the usual submissive traits. Star has been taught to fend for herself, my son. And Zol has never been unconventional. I believe that whoever planted that scent moved on when they could detect no fear here, only danger.”
“Star is beginning to behave as a brooding Dragonish,” Zen chuckled. “It is amazing to see.”
“She is displaying?”
“Not as if she were carrying,” Zen was quick to explain. “But she definitely has the eye flashes of yellow and the fang bearing attitudes.”
“Then our offspring will be exceptionally strong. I have never heard of another female displaying so soon, but it must be a product of her bloodline. And in my training and dedication to the King and the royal family, I never paid much attention to bloodlines. Maybe this is a clue that will assist Prince Zaz in discovering Star’s origins and explain the disappearance of her Quad.”
“Perhaps.”
Father smiled, his bright red eyes reflecting the rising blood red sun over the clouds and peaked roofs of the many areas that speckled throughout their territories. “The rest of the day will take care of itself, Zen. For now, let us bask in what the Ghods have seen fit to gift to us.”
Nodding, Zen followed as father turned and made his way to the tangle of bodies on their sleeping pillows, silently positioning his large body behind his secondary without separating the female and the dark haired submissive. Zen followed and soon they were both lost in a light sleep that would allow them to instantly awaken if the odd scent should return.
Someone was attacking their Quad, and until the culprit was caught, they would exercise extreme caution in all of their dealings.
“Zol?”
“What?”<
br />
Silence, then…
“Zol?”
“What Star?” Zol looked up from his beadwork, his eyes narrowing as he stared at his female. Then he sat back, one eyebrow raised as he took in her condition. He had never really seen her like this before, her eyes glowing yellow, her lips parted, her bare breasts quivering as she stared at him.
“I think…I think it’s time.”
“Sweet Ghods above,” Zol groaned. “It would be right in the middle of a commission!”
“Are you complaining?” she asked, her voice dropping into a low growl.
“Yes!” he retorted, his own eyes flaring yellow as he carefully placed the necklace he was working on aside. “I was seriously single-mindedly attempting to complete this commission, and now you have me all distracted with sex!”
“Like that is a hardship,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “And it’s not like you haven’t been waiting for this.”
“I have been.” Zol frowned a little. “But I have a deadline and I was concentrating, and I know that when I start breeding with you,” he paused, his eyes narrowing, his nostrils flaring as he pulled in the scent of fertile ripe female. “This could last for days.”
“Days, huh?” Oddly enough, she didn’t sound too concerned.
“Days, Star. And this commission was a special piece.” He sighed heavily, but rose to his feet, running his hands through his hair. “Days of hot sweaty, biting, growing sex, Star. So much so that you won’t be able to move for days.”
“Days?” she berthed, moving in closer, running her fingers over his chest. “Can you handle it?” She smirked.
He broke. With a growl, he wrapped his hands around her waist and hefted her over his shoulder. “Handle this,” he all but snarled as he crossed over to their pile of pillows and tossed her deep into the center.
Before she could squirm away, he gripped both of her ankles and spread her legs wide. “I’ll start where I am most familiar.”
“But…”
“You are not ready, Star. If you were, there would be no way I could even think about completing that neck ornament and both Zen and Father would be beating down the door. You are getting closer, but the time is not right yet.”
Dragon’s Weir Page 6
