by Celeste Raye
He moved his thin lips and scraping stubble against my skin, and his face washed over with a dire expression. His eyes flicked back and forth from mine as his brows narrowed into a worried frown.
“What’s wrong?” he asked firmly.
“Nothing,” I said, toneless. “Just, ready to start the day, is all! We have food to find, don’t we?”
“Athena, I wouldn’t hurt you,” he insisted, his eyes still desperately searching mine.
I looked down to his cut chest and dense muscles and began to push him off playfully, pulling my shirt back down uncomfortably.
As soon as he was off me, I made my way out of the tent, doing up my pants and belt as we exited. I began tossing our usual items back into my satchel so we could pack up and leave: make camp somewhere else for the night until we figured out his grand plan to cultivate food on Dobromia and be welcomed back into the arms of the Weredragons.
My body shivered at the thought. I had just been in the arms of a Weredragon.
The thought made me sick. A deep ache of betrayal cut through my body, waves of disgust crashing into my toes and working their way up to my neck so that a stinging pain lingered there. I was just like Marina now. Screwing around with a Weredragon for who knows what reason.
Vaikrand exited the tent and stared at me, bewildered. He set his hands on his hips and stood near the tent, watching me as I cleaned up.
“What’s going on?” he asked with an exhausted tone as he rubbed his forehead.
“Nothing,” I waved him off. “Thanks, for–”
“For saving your life, for giving you sustenance, or for allowing you into my tent?” he interrupted. “It’s a long list,” he mused. “Which is it?”
My eyes drew into a frown, and I grabbed my satchel off the floor, pitching it over my arm. “The tent,” I said decidedly.
“Why are you acting like this? You wanted me; I know you did.” He walked far from me, obviously offended. I followed and watched as he began scanning the skies for signs of prey.
“I’m just not so sure of this whole thing anymore,” I said slowly.
“Because?” he scoffed. “Why did you run out of the tent so quickly?”
“To clean up,” I said and my eyes went comically wide. I gestured around the camp as if he were silly for asking and laughed, “Obviously.”
“Yes, that’s exactly why it’s strange,” he argued. “You hate cleaning up. In fact, I have to nearly drag you out of bed every morning just to help me take the skin off the tent.
“I was just looking around, alright?” I shrugged, twirling my gun around my finger before holstering it.
“I thought I explained to you that there were a host of enemies in these parts,” he said, indignantly, suddenly deciding to go cold on me. His eyes flicked upward, and he scanned the skies, seemingly no longer interested in me.
My teeth scraped against my bottom lip, and I walked up next to him. “I was getting the lay of the land. Am I all done answering questions now, dad?”
He didn’t look at me, still searching the sky for our next meal. There was some kind of bird flying above us, gliding in circles around us. The yellow shifter watched it with such intensity, I wondered if it might swoop down and attack us.
“It would be nice if you just trusted me,” he snapped. “This is getting a little tiring.”
“What’s your problem this morning?” I spat, shoving him on the spot so he would turn and look at me. “I’m used to guys turning into dicks after a relationship is over, but we’re not in a relationship. So what’s your excuse?”
He went to speak but grew distracted once more by the bird. “I feel I have gone through a distinct amount of trouble to try and help you and all you’ve done is test me,” came his absent-minded reply as his neck craned back.
I let out a rattled sigh and took the laser rifle from my side, aiming it up to the sky and shooting the bird dead so that it hurtled toward us and crashed into the ground with a loud thump.
“Why should I trust you?” I seethed.
Vaikrand blinked in surprise and looked at me with some mix of fear and pride. Then he laughed a big, heavy laugh and shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose and walked toward the bird.
“I thought the list I gave you before seemed like a pretty solid reason to accept my help,” he said with a smile in his voice. “But, clearly, you can take care of yourself. So go, if you’d like. I won’t bother you anymore.”
“What did I do?” I asked, now offended by his sudden disinterest in helping me.
“You clearly don’t care about creating a partnership with me,” he shrugged. “So why should I waste my time with you?”
My breath left my lungs and my face flushed. “Fine!” I shouted and marched up, grabbing one of the bird’s legs from Vaikrand’s large hands and tugging it toward me. “Then I’m taking my catch with me!”
Chapter 8 - Vaikrand
Vaikrand
I stormed off from Athena some time ago now, making my way deeper into Westfall by flight. Given her quick hand with her weapon, I knew she would be alright on her own if I were gone for the cycle. I needed to get away from her, just for now.
The breeze crept under my wings as some of the only relief from the immense heat. Some shifters couldn’t even take to the air for long due to the hot air.
I inhaled sharply and tucked my wings back to prepare to land. My eyes focused on a relatively green patch of the Westfall lakes and I descended until my feet hit dewy moss below.
Being with Athena was like being in the air: like trying to catch water. Completely unpredictable. One moment she was sweet and sexy and the next she was a wild beast, ravenously thrashing against me.
But… I liked her.
I enjoyed her company; I enjoyed watching her hunt. Loved her ridiculous insistence that we cook the meat before eating it; loved the way her body looked when she bathed and shook under Dobromia’s storms. I liked the way she felt warm next to me on cold nights.
Most of all, I enjoyed that she was just as lost as I was.
I rounded a corner of curved stone spires that curved downward like a ribcage to the expansive path before me. Moss and vines crawled over them and draped down like a deep canopy.
Pressing my feet into the moss below, I relished the cool water that still sat on the greenery and reached down to eat some of the moss, since I clearly wouldn’t be getting any of the flyer we killed earlier.
I swallowed the bitter greens and then looked up in the distance with a sinking feeling coming into my stomach.
“What…” I said to no one.
Flapping my wings downward I flew forward until I reached the object I had spotted. Hidden under a deep canopy right next to a wide opening in the rocky spires was a spaceship.
A spaceship in Westfall.
I swallowed hard and inspected the ship. I ducked to the ground and looked around, not sensing any predators nearby.
Running my hand along the metal siding, I made my way to the door and found it unlocked. The ship was empty, though it had several provisions strewn about; including the same food Athena had been carrying around with her when we first met.
My heart sank.
Aurlauc had been here, as he promised.
Aurlauc, she had mentioned one night, was the Weredragon who had helped her escape. I was surprised to learn someone so close to the D’Karr would have risked his neck to save her. But, then I got to know her and realized exactly how worth saving she truly was.
I looked up at the ship: small, but definitely belonging to the D’Karr. It had green oils painted all over it so that it looked like a deep moss. The hull was thin and long, with exactly one door and no windows surrounding it. There were no wings, just a long narrow hull that led into a bulbous front cabin.
I bit my lip at the sight of it and sighed inwardly. I felt ill. My hand grazed the stubble on my skin and I rubbed it back and forth against my lips.
Part of me wanted to destroy it: make i
t so Athena had no way to leave. But it would prove too useful, should things get really bad.
“You just had to be a shifter of your word, didn’t you?” I cursed to the air.
I ground my teeth together and slapped the side of the ship before slamming its door shut.
This was a game changer.
I sat by the ship with my back against the cool metal for half the day, sick to my stomach and furiously angry at the sight of it before making my way back to Athena. My best bet, I thought, was not to tell her about my find. I wanted to keep her for as long as I could, and telling her Aurlauc came through for her would be the quickest way to lose her. But, if I could convince her to take me to Earth with her, then… we’d be in business.
I walked back to her and watched her standing by the embers of what was left of our fire, meat struggling to cook over a makeshift grill. She stood as I approached and began walking, storming off in another direction.
“Athena!” I called to her and she didn’t turn around. I spread my wings far out from side to side and flew forward, landing in front of her in an instant. She slapped me as I landed, scaring her with the sudden movement.
I winced and rubbed my cheek but stayed firm toward her. “Athena,” I repeated, calmer this time.
She smacked me again, fury overtaking her features, and she tried desperately to shove me out of her way.
I bit my lip and let out a long exhale, my rage mounting. She went to slap me again and I grabbed her wrist, squeezing it tightly in my claws.
“Let me go!” she screamed so that her voice cracked with the effort. “Let me go!”
“You need to calm down,” I said through gritted teeth, towering over her.
“What are you going to do, Vaikrand? Kill me?” she said, poison spewing from every enunciated word.
She used her free hand to scratch across my face and I could feel the blood dotting in a line across where her sharp nails had cut.
I grunted out a roar: an echo of two voices overlapping, the human mixing with the beast in me. The sudden outburst caused her body to shake back in fear, but then she stood with her feet firmly planted on the ground, chin raised in a dare.
The movement caused me to release her wrist and she slapped me again, this time across the scratch she had created. I bit my lip and narrowed my glare to her, spreading my wings out in a show of dominance.
“You can’t win,” I warned, cocking my head to the side.
“Get the hell away from me,” she hissed and reached for her gun, aiming it toward me.
I blinked in surprise but didn’t release my gaze. Here I was thinking I would be able to charm her into staying with me. Yet, here we were in a strange battle of endurance. Who could out-hurt who.
“This is more than an overreaction,” I seethed. “I’d hate to play the ‘you’re being a girl’ card, but here we are.”
“You’re using me,” she spat.
I looked down at her gun and then back to her eyes. “How’s that?”
“I don’t know yet,” she said slowly, almost the hint of an embarrassed smile forming in the corner of her mouth. “But you are.”
“You came to me,” I said forcefully. “Naked in the pond. Not the other way around.”
She swallowed and watched me.
I took a step toward her and she cocked the weapon, setting her hand on the trigger. “I don’t want to travel with you anymore. You can piss off and be a rebel, or whatever the hell you’re doing here,” she warned, “but I’m going on my own. Got it?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” I said tersely.
She fired a warning shot into the air, pink and glowing as the laser left the barrel and disappeared into the sky in a fuchsia explosion, drips of light dusting through the air.
I walked up to her and she aimed the weapon at me once more, firing beside my foot. It was so close that I could feel the heat sharply against my skin.
It was a gamble, but I was certain she wasn’t going to hurt me. I walked back up and she went to smack my face again and I grabbed her wrist, flying backward quickly with her in my grasp so that she fell forward. I pulled her arm up before her face hit the ground and she tried to scramble back. She kicked at my leg and struggled against me.
I pulled her arm forward and then grabbed her hair, pulling it back until she dropped her weapon to the ground.
“Let go,” she enunciated.
“Not a chance,” I snapped.
We stood there, her neck craned to my sight and suddenly my breathing slowed. I swallowed and moved my hand quickly to her neck, releasing her tresses from my grip.
“I’m not using you,” I said firmly. “You are having a meltdown and I gave you space. Now I’m done giving you space and you will speak to me about what’s going on. Now.”
She swallowed, and I could feel the lump of air and spit against my palm as it passed by her throat.
“I care for you,” I said and she speared me with a hard gaze.
“Okay,” she said slowly, her resolve cracking.
“And I think you care for me,” I said, raising a brow. “I’m rarely wrong about these things.”
“Questionable,” she teased, still looking as serious as ever.
“I want you,” I said, suddenly feeling a throbbing throughout my body just from being close to her. The thought of losing her suddenly warping my thoughts into an undeniable lust.
“Okay,” she said, just as crisply and businesslike as before.
I released my grip on her throat and we stood silent before one another for just a moment before I leaned in and kissed her. The fiery blonde went to slap me once more, but her hand fell before she could fuel her resolve. Instead, she hooked her arm around my neck and pulled closer to me, grazing my tongue with hers in a wet and inviting kiss.
Within an instant she was running her free hand down my legs and tugging my pants down, gripping at the hardness that had formed there.
She let out a breathy moan when she felt me that made me tear at her clothes with haste, pulling her pants down and running my fingers inside her immediately.
I continued against her mouth, leaning down to kiss her and feel her soft lips dancing against mine. She kicked her pants off the rest of the way and I pulled her hips against me so I could slip inside her wetness. She wrapped her legs around me and held on to my wings for balance as I thrust inside her.
With a free hand she pulled her shirt up and exposed one breast out of her bra so I could suck it, which I eagerly obliged.
We grinded against each other in perfect unison with such a desperate lust it felt as though the world were about to end. Her breathing quickened and I let her ride me, holding her up by her backside with ease as she used me to pleasure herself.
Her pace quickened and I resumed inside her, bringing both of us to climax.
She breathed and squirmed against my chest before collapsing against me, her fingers twitching against the slope of my wings. She set her head against my chest like a tired child might and lay still for a moment.
When her breathing steadied, she widened her eyes and looked up at me, inspecting the scratches with guilt.
“I’m sorry,” she said slowly.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. She kept looking at the marks and with less compassion; I repeated, “It’s fine.”
“Okay,” she whispered, pushing away from me as a signal for me to let her down.
I watched her pull her pants from the sandy ground below and fix them on her body as I did the same. “So you’ll stay?” I asked coolly.
“For now,” she said with a slight smirk. She looked around for her weapon and quickly set the safety on and holstered it back in her pants, looking at me as though making sure I knew she was still armed.
“And us?” I asked.
“Well,” she stared at me in a deafening silence for but a moment before a smile leapt to her face. She shrugged, “I like you, too.”
“Then I have something to show you.”
Athena
Two more weeks passed before Vaikrand was able to set up this big reveal he’d been teasing since we met. The thing that would surely change my mind and give me a sympathetic heart toward the Weredragons. I nearly laughed every time he said it. Clearly, he didn’t know what kind of girl he was dealing with.
But then he would kiss my neck and push himself inside me and there was no laughter to be had. Only screams of pleasure.
It turned out that once we got used to one another’s bodies, my little mistake became incredibly easy to duplicate.
This morning he finished inside me while I writhed on top of him. It was the only time we had ever had sex that was sweet and calm. He used his hands to explore my breasts as I grinded against him and reached in for kisses, touching the back of my head and pulling me in so that our breath collided in a sweet humidity.
Then he told me it was time to get to work.
I grabbed onto his body as he flew us across the continent. It didn’t take long before we ended up in a familiar territory. Graynar.
We edged by the side of the pit, the crevice where the hole began that led to the D’Karr’s kingdom below. I looked over at Vaikrand with a scowl and lowered my voice as I condemned, “Why did you bring us here? Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Just trust me,” he smirked and took me further away from the entrance. We flew farther east until we reached another opening.
“The underground is connected by tunnels,” he explained. “I intend on getting us around privately.”
“Joy of joys,” I breathed and we descended down into the depths of the pit.
We sunk deeper into the pit, traversing the intricate series of caverns until we made our way to the very bottom of the inverted spire. I couldn’t believe how cool it was down below.
I marveled at the sparkling gemstones that peeked through the crust of the earth and reached out to touch one. It was sharp and jagged, like crystal.
After hours of walking through the mines, we reached a fork in the stone road.
He took me right and I watched as a female shifter stood watch at an expansive, oval-shaped door. I backed away in surprise and moved behind the ridge of the wall, dragging him back toward me.
