by Ruby Dixon
He will not win. Never. I bare my teeth in a feral snarl as he blows out a plume of flame in challenge. Too close to Clau-dah and her cloud of soft hair. Does he not realize how dangerous our fire is to her? Furious, I raise my head and bugle my acceptance of his challenge.
We shall settle this between us, the male declares. I will have the female as my mate.
You will have to destroy me first.
Then come!
I tense as my rival uncurls his claws and sets Clau-dah down. She collapses to her knees, her hair falling in front of her face. I growl low in my throat, waiting for her to get up. To get out of the way. To get to safety. After a long, tense moment, she gets to her feet, legs wobbly. Her face is stark with fear as she looks over at me, then takes a few steps backward, retreating.
The moment she’s out of range, I spring, slamming my weight into the body of the other male.
My opponent never stands a chance. Though the younger male is heavily scarred and has obviously survived many battles, it’s clear that I will win. He knows to snap with his powerful jaws, but he’s not nearly as fast as I am. When his teeth lock onto my forelimb, I counter with a heavy swipe of my tail to his head to set him off-guard, and then claw at his remaining eye.
It’s almost too easy.
The male bellows in pain and immediately backs off, hissing. He retreats a few steps, tail lashing in anger and pain, and spreads his wings as if to fly away. He is already done with the fight.
But I’m not about to let him go free. He threatened Clau-dah, and for that, he will pay with his life. I go after his wing, my claws shredding the thick fibers from bone. My opponent screams in pain, and his head thrashes wildly. He lashes out at me, but his blows are glancing.
I move in for the kill, my jaws latching on the soft underside of his neck. With one fierce, exuberant move, I rip out my opponent’s throat. Blood pours into my mouth, and with it comes the madness. Darknesshungerkillanger—
I hear a choked scream somewhere behind me.
I whip about, spraying blood, and the body of my fallen opponent flops to the ground at my feet. I turn to see Clau-dah staring up at me with big green eyes. She leans against a skeletal frame of metal, as if her legs will not support her. Her wide-eyed gaze goes to the still-twitching dragon sprawled on the ground before me.
“Oh my god. You eviscerated him.” Her hands fly to her mouth, muffling her words. “Oh shit.”
I do not understand her words, but her tone makes me frustrated. Why is she upset? Darknesshungerkillanger Did I not show her that I can protect her? That I can care for her? Darknesshungerkillanger That she is safe with me?
Have I not been patient?
Darknesshungerkillanger
I reach out to her with my mind again and find nothing there. There is no connection, nothing to latch on to, nothing to hold to and push away the darkness in my mind that creeps at the edges. It feels like an affront. I have tried so hard to be understanding, but with the blood of my opponent rushing down my throat and the battle-lust coursing through my veins, it is hard to focus on Clau-dah’s green eyes and the calm there.
Darknesshungerkillangerdarknesshungerkillangerdarknesshungerkillanger
I close my eyes, fighting for control. It takes a moment, but I manage to cling to sanity. I open my eyes, slowly, and then catch a new scent on the air—Clau-dah’s fear. Instinctively, I lower my head and approach her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her.
She steps backward, fear in her eyes.
Something inside me snaps. Fury boils over. Not at her. Never at her. But everything else eats at my calm. The dead male at my feet. The stink of this awful place. The lack of a connection to Clau-dah. Because I had to defend her, she fears me again. Why is she not proud of me for defeating the interloper? Can she not see how fierce I am? How utterly devoted to her happiness and protection I am?
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I reach out to her again with my mind, desperate to connect, to anchor myself to her.
But there is nothing to hold. Her mind is closed to me.
All because I have not yet claimed her.
If I had—if I’d given her my fire—the other dragon would have never challenged me. Her scent would be mingled with mine, and unmated, rutting males would not touch her.
But she will never let me touch her. It has been days and I am yet no closer. Now she looks at me with shock and fear in her eyes.
The rage is too much, the need for my Clau-dah too much. It chews up my mind and leaves nothing behind. Must claim her. Must own. Make her safe. Make it so that no one else can claim her.
I’ve been patient long enough.
Mine.
14
CLAUDIA
That mad black is swirling in Kael’s eyes.
My breath lodges in my throat, and fright makes my legs lock. I stand in the middle of a street, and there are things to hide behind—tipped-over buses, abandoned cars, nearby gutted buildings—but I can’t run from him.
Not when he’s clearly struggling for control.
I know he won’t hurt me. He’s had plenty of opportunities to do so, and he hasn’t before. I know when his eyes swirl black, all it takes is a few murmured words and they’ll go gold again.
It doesn’t mean that I’m not scared shitless, though. I’ve just seen Kael rip the throat out of another dragon. A freaking dragon. Bullets bounce off their damn hides and humans can’t hurt them. But Kael? He’d simply took the neck of the damn thing in his jaws and tore it out. I can still feel the hot spray of blood as it catches the wind and spatters my face, still hear his dying gurgle.
I’d nearly lost control of my bladder at the sight, especially because it happened right in front of my face.
I’m still staring as Kael stalks toward me, blood dripping from his fangs, eyes black as night.
This is not the nuzzling, affectionate Kael of the last few days. This is something else entirely. Looking at him like this, I remember that it only takes one dragon to decimate a city. I squeeze my eyes shut as he storms toward me. He’s dangerous when in a rage, and this is definitely qualifying as a rage. Will he kill me? Slice me in half with one swipe and destroy me as easily as he did the other dragon? It had been one of his kind. I could have sworn that he’d communicated with it on some level, but he’d destroyed it as easily as breathing.
The safety I’ve felt with him over the last few days? It’s a lie. I thought maybe I could be his friend. That I was secure with him. It’s all wrong. Fort Dallas wanted me to control a dragon, but there’s no controlling something like Kael. He’s a force of nature. And like a tornado or a hurricane, he’s going to destroy everything in his path to get what he wants.
And…he wants me.
Kael looms over me, still in enormous, frightening dragon form, the heat from his body radiating off of him and washing over me. I close my eyes, instinctively flinching away as he leans in.
But…the massive head only nuzzles my cheek. His breath, still coppery and smelling of blood and char, rolls over me like a wave. All he does is sniff my hair, then runs his snout along my torn jumpsuit as if reassuring himself that I’m not harmed.
There’s some control in there, after all. Some of the awful tension leaves my body, and I release the breath that I’m holding. “It’s just me, Kael,” I say softly. “I’m here with you.”
He noses me again, and then his claws wrap around my waist. I’m dragged up against him as he launches himself into the sky, and all I can do is hold on for dear life and hope that his madness ebbs soon.
I lose track of how long we’r
e flying. The world seesaws back and forth as Kael rides the currents of wind, and I flop around, helpless, in his claws. My stomach roils with every dive, and it makes it difficult to concentrate on where we are going, because opening my eyes means I want to vomit. But eventually, the jagged, wild flying evens out, and I squeeze open my eyes to see that we’ve returned to the office building with the running water—the building I was snatched from just a short time ago.
It feels like a lifetime ago.
Kael lands, and I squirm in his grasp, trying to get free. He gently unhooks his claws and releases me, and the moment I stumble to the ground, the last of my jumpsuit falls apart.
Freaking figures. This day is just a shit cake. I strip off the remnants and kick them aside, heading toward the bathroom. I want to splash my face with water. I can still smell the blood of the other dragon on me, still smell the smoke in my nostrils. I need to get clean.
I need to get away and breathe for a few minutes.
“Clau-dah,” booms an all-too-familiar voice behind me. Someone’s turned human form again and probably wants to flirt.
But I’m still shaking with shock. I don’t turn around. I don’t want to flirt right now. I want to know that I’m safe. I want to curl up in a ball and hide in a small, cement-cased room where nothing can snatch me again.
“Clau-dah?” This time, Kael’s tone is questioning. I feel his steps as he marches up behind me and touches my shoulder, but the hand that brushes my bare skin is gentle. Just as quickly as he touches me, he pulls away again. “Clau-dah…Kael.”
I bite my lip, contemplating my options. How’s he going to act if I ignore him? Not well, I suspect. So I turn back to him, arms crossed, my body locked with tension. “What do you want?” The moment I see him, though, I gasp in shock. Blood flows from a corner of his mouth, and there’s a long gouge down one of his arms that’s dripping blood. All over, his chest is splattered with dried blood, and he looks like he just emerged from a slaughterhouse. “Oh my god! You’re hurt?”
“Clau-dah…Kael.” This time, when he says it, there’s no mistaking the possessiveness in his voice. He gestures at his arm, then makes a clawing motion, mimicking the other dragon pulling me from his grasp. “Clau-dah.” He bares his teeth, showing his long fangs. “Kael.”
Even though we only have two words in our shared vocabulary, I know exactly what he’s saying. The other dragon wounded him when he snatched me from his grip. And Kael had gone after me, because in his eyes, I’m his.
I don’t know how I feel about that. Part of me is irritated that I’m thought of like a possession. And another part of me is thankful as hell that he’d decided that I’m his and thus saved me from the other dragon. I’m a little horrified that I’m happy about that. I’m also a little flattered. Just a teeny, tiny bit, but I squash that feeling right away, aware of the guilt it causes. “Serves you right for kidnapping me,” I tell him, but the words feel rude the moment they come out of my mouth. He didn’t have to save me.
Maybe it’s my tone of voice, but his eyes narrow. He glances at his arm, then back at me. His eyes are still swirling with black, but the gold flashes more often, letting me know he’s close to returning to himself. As my eyes lock with his, he straightens and makes a low purring sound in his throat. I drop my gaze and…yup. Kael’s turned on again. His cock stirs and lengthens, hardening as I watch.
“Does that have to happen every time we talk?” I ask him, strangely breathless.
As I watch, he lifts his arm and licks the wound, but his gaze is still firmly focused on me.
That’s almost…sexy. God, I should not be fascinated by that. “No, Kael,” I tell him, using my firmest voice. Anything to distract me. Er, him. “I realize you’re just as much dragon as you are human, but that’s not how you clean a wound.”
“Kah-leeen,” he mimics, reaching out and brushing his fingertips down my arm. HIs eyes swirl darker, and he moves forward, and his skin brushes up against mine. “Wwwwound.”
As he moves closer, I realize just how big he is. Dappled skin and muscular chest fill my vision, and I put my hand on his wounded arm. I can’t help but notice that both of my hands can’t circle one bicep. Shiver. “Maybe more dragon than human,” I mutter to myself. “Come on. Let’s clean you off, at least. I realize you’re all turned on, but you’re also covered in blood, and I’m hoping not all of it is yours.”
“Bah-luhhd.” He cocks his head, watching my mouth, then tries to brush his thumb—his bloody thumb—over my lips.
I jerk away. “No!”
“No?” His brows draw together, and he gazes at the red smears on his skin.
“Yes, blood,” I repeat, exasperated. My fingers brush over his, and I touch the sticky blood drying on his clawed fingertips. It smears the dark red between the pads of my fingers, and I show him. “Blood. And it’s all over you. So come on.” I take his hand in mine, ignoring how big and familiar, yet alien, he is to me. His hand is large but masculine, the skin warm, but just a little too warm. The fingers strong, and five in number like a man’s hand, but tipped with claws instead of fingernails. He’s human, but not quite.
I’ll just ignore that ‘not quite’ for now. He certainly doesn’t seem to find me lacking, after all. He wants me just as I am—dirty, naked, and unable to speak a lick to each other.
Leading my dragon-man by the hand, I head back to the bathroom I’ve claimed as part of our new digs and peel off another stack of weathered paper towels. I run the water, then pry open one of the soap dispensers to dig out a chunk of dried soap. It’s the only thing I’ve got, so it’ll have to do. I rub it on a wet paper towel and glance over at Kael as I make a lather. “I realize you’re all frisky at the moment, but I’m not going to sit here and try to talk to you while you’re wounded and covered in blood.”
He watches me, curious, as I head toward him with the wet paper towels. His nostrils flare, and he grabs my hand as I reach for him, and he sniffs the soap on the towel, wrinkling his nose.
“It’s for washing.” When he continues to scowl at it, I change the tone of my voice, making it soft and soothing. “I’m going to clean you up. Get rid of the blood.” I wipe my fingers on the towel to demonstrate and then gesture at his face and arm, smiling. “Wouldn’t you like to get clean? Clean off all that blood?”
“Clean off…blood,” he repeats, gaze on my lips. It’s the best sentence he’s made yet, but I can’t shake the suspicion that it’s not because he’s learning. More like he’s trying to impress me.
I’ll take it. “Yup. I prefer clean skin.” Plus I can tell the wounds from the splatter. I decide to start with his arm first, since going for his face might make him wary. I take his hand in mine and use my other to carefully mop at the wound, glancing up occasionally to watch his reaction.
He has none.
I dab at the wound again. Still no reaction. If it hurts, it doesn’t hurt much. That’s good, at least. The gash is long but shallow, and already crusting over with blood. He bleeds like a human—I suppose I should be glad for that. And he’s not reacting negatively to my attentions. Instead, his eyes are flicking between gold and black, and he’s making low, pleased rumbles in his throat.
And for some reason, those sounds make me blush.
“Cool it, Romeo,” I murmur, giving his arm a final swipe before moving to his chest. “I want to get this done.” I’m relieved to see that all the blood washes right off his chest and he doesn’t have more than a few scrapes. It’s occurred to me that I’m completely dependent on him at the moment, and if I plan on getting back to Amy—or heck, just staying alive—he needs to stay whole and in one piece.
I should be thinking about Amy more, I realize guiltily. How I’m going to get back to Fort Dallas and my sister. Instead, I’ve been focused on Kael and today’s scary kidnapping. If I think about what might have happened…
But no, I’m not going to fall down that rabbit hole. I can’t get to Amy right now. The problem of the other dragon has be
en fixed, and so now I just need to focus on what I can handle. And right now, I can handle Kael. So I press wet napkins at the corner of his mouth, noticing how full his lips are despite the sharp teeth that threaten just behind them. If he kept his mouth closed to hide the fangs and shut his eyes, he’d look human enough, I think. His features are strong, but not too inhuman or unappealing. He’s pretty handsome, actually. At first I thought he was startling-looking, but now I find that I can’t stop looking at him. He also has the longest lashes of any human man I’ve ever seen. Long and thick, just like the thick waves of amber hair on his head, I imagine.
He’s big and scary and over the top, but I’m kind of used to it. And he’s not scary to me. If anything, he’s utterly focused on me. I think about his reaction when the other dragon snatched me. Kael had been incensed, but he’d stayed back in case the other dropped me. It was like he truly was more concerned with my safety than the fact that his favorite toy was taken from him.
I gently clean his cheek, glancing up at him as I work. “I don’t know what I’d have done if that other dragon carried me off and you didn’t come after me.” I don’t like to think about that, but it’s a very real thing. I almost died today. Or…almost ended up as someone else’s pet human. Kael wants me—he’s made that very clear—but he’s also patient, attentive, and kind in his dragon way. It’s like my happiness really matters to him.
Would another dragon have been like that? Somehow, I doubt it. I can picture the scarred golden male chomping my head off. But…maybe not. He’d snatched me away and tried to keep me instead of just taking a big bite out of me. That must mean he’d wanted something similar to what Kael wanted—as in, me, physically.
And that would not have been good.
For all our differences, I feel like I have a connection with Kael. We communicate—sort of—and there’s affection between us. Again, sort of. A weird attraction for sure. The other dragon was not nearly as patient as Kael. And then it’s strange to think of ‘dragons’ and ‘patient’ in the same sentence, which makes me ponder. I finish cleaning the blood off his face and then smile up at him. “Like it or not, if I had to be stuck with a dragon, I’m lucky to have you, Kael.”
