by Lucas, Naomi
“This is your territory?” he asks curiously as I study him over the flames, waiting for some reaction. Curious is better than disappointment, I note. I don’t know what I’d do if he was disappointed, or worse, disgusted.
“Yes,” I say.
“What about all those other structures we passed?”
“They are the homes of others in my tribe or places for the animals we keep. Come by the fire. You’ll dry quicker.” We’re both still soaked to our bones. I watch as he moves to sit across from me.
“You do not live alone? You do not have your own territory?”
“This hut is my own, and I have lived here alone since I came of age, but no, there are people living in the other structures we passed. Those are their territories. We do not need a lot of space to thrive,” I say, leaving shortly to bring forward some of the hide blankets stacked on my cot, pulling one around me, handing him one as well.
He steps into the room and copies what I do—wipes some of the water off of his skin. His wings shake and water sprays across the space.
His face is dark when he sets the hide down, strained tight, and almost menacing. It takes me by surprise. Is something wrong? “We’re safe. Home. My home,” I say quietly. “What’s wrong—”
The door to my hut crashes open. Kaos is on his feet the next instant, standing with arms spread, claws out, blocking me.
“Issa!” a familiar voice yells. “You’re back…”
22
Kaos Rules
It is another female who stands on the threshold to Issa’s territory. A female, not a male. Not an adversary for me to fight. Her eyes go wide, finding me instead of Issa before her. Baring my teeth, her mouth drops. “You are lucky you are not a male,” I snap, unable yet to break my aggression.
“Tulia!” Issa tries to dash around me but I stop her with an outstretched arm, pulling her to my side.
“Tulia?” I ask, barely holding the snarl back. My gaze has not left the new human. There is a stick in her hand with a curved handle at the top. It is perfect and smooth, unlike any stick I have seen before.
She has not moved during my perusal, even though rain is pummeling her back. Good.
Gaping, this Tulia stammers. “Issa, who is this?”
“Kaos. His name is Kaos. Come in,” she says, tugging toward the woman but my hold tightens, “please, and I’ll explain.”
Tulia takes a step forward using her stick for leverage and I growl. She stops. The hut door rattles from the wind.
Issa pushes me. “Kaos, she is my sister. She is allowed in my home.” Her voice is reprimanding.
Unrelenting to her will, I move to allow Tulia entry, pulling Issa back in the process. Circling around her to close the door, my gaze never drifts away. She stumbles away from me as I corral her to the fire, where she quickly finds a stool and sits.
I notice her tipping, uneven movements, as if she has a problem with her legs like I did not that long ago. She clutches her smooth stick and uses it to help her balance, I realize. She stretches one of her legs out in front of her, and I come to the conclusion that it is hurt. The other remains bent at the knee, fine.
Issa glowers in my direction and settles next to her sister. It takes every ounce of control to not shove them apart and hide my mate away, but I end up allowing her near this new female, if only because I now know she is of little threat. My mate trusts her.
Pivoting back to the entryway, I barricade it with a big wood structure that has things atop it. Some of these human things fall to the floor as I push the wood piece in place. But now no one else will come in, and no one will be allowed to leave, not before I can stop them.
Turning back, the females are whispering to each other.
“Who is he, Issa? What is he?”
“It’s a long story,” she says, rubbing her brow.
“I am a dragon,” I fume, annoyed at this invasion.
Both females look at me.
“A dragon?”
My eyes snap to Tulia. “Yes.”
She glances at Issa. “What’s a dragon?”
Issa sighs as shock zips through me. How could this human not know my kind? We have been kings of this world for thousands of years, ruling all we see or want. How long have I been asleep?
My mate goes into a story that I have not heard myself. Of her brother Leith and going to another territory to deliver him to his mate, of hearing the mating call of the femdragon, being told by another female Aida of rumors of dragons being turned to humans once touched. How all of this has happened under the reappearance of the red comet…
How she decided to travel into the jungle to find me…
She was looking for me. Not me, though, a dragon, any dragon—to see if the rumors her friend told her were real. I find that I am not angry. I cannot even feel annoyance at her small deception. They were real, these rumors, and I cannot fault her for finding out the truth for herself.
But why risk her life for such a rumor? Everything about my mate so far has seemed capable, level-headed. She does not put herself in untoward danger, she keeps a weapon nearby always, and she is always listening and surveying her surroundings.
Issa continues with how our meeting occurred, her fear, her touch on my tail. I can feel it even now without it, as she speaks of it, reliving each first moment together again. She finishes her story with us traveling through the jungle, encountering the femdragon, explaining that the storm began when another dragon rose from the sea, and finally, our trek here.
She does not tell her sister about our mating, or why she chose to risk her life to find me in the first place.
When Issa goes quiet, I step forward. Tulia stares at me now with wonder in her eyes. My gaze tears to my mate. “Why did you go into the jungle to find a dragon?” I ask as anger now begins to build inside me.
“To see if the rumor was true, to discover for myself,” she whispers.
“But why risk your life for a rumor? Why do something so stupid? You are not stupid!”
She jerks but settles quickly. The orange and yellow glow of the fire sharpens her features, ignites her eyes, and makes her glorious long blond hair glint with a myriad of warm colors.
“I needed,” she begins, “to do it for my tribe… and for me. For the possibility of a future for me, for my people.”
A future for her people? I glance at Tulia for a second. “Why do you not have a future?”
Issa’s brow furrows. I would love to lick the crease on her face away, but Tulia reaches up and places her hand on my mate’s shoulder. Snarling at her, she looks at me but does not take her hand off Issa. “We don’t have a future because our males are gone, dragon. Well, not completely, not in every tribe, but here, we have no more. Issa is our youngest, and because of that, she will someday lead our people but we have no children and the rest grow old. She is doomed to watch her people die without ever seeing a new generation born. That is why we have no future.”
Looking at Issa, I see the truth in her eyes.
She licks her lips. “Leith was our last, and it was my honor to protect him until he came of age to mate with a female of another tribe. But no tribes along the coast have born a male in the past ten years. And those that have are promised to others. I am to be the last of my people, and for that…” She steals her blue eyes on mine. “I ventured into the jungle on rumor alone.”
The last. I can not imagine it, to be the last dragon of my kind, or of my sex, in all the nearby lands. My mate carries a heavy burden on her shoulders.
“That is why,” Tulia interjects, “seeing you is such a shock. You should not exist, dragon man. Witnessing your existence is a marvel to behold.” Her voice ends on a whisper.
“Why did you not tell me?” My gaze is still fixated on Issa.
She frowns. “We had other things on our mind.”
It is true. Huffing, and settling finally beside the fire myself. “Yes… other things.”
Silence falls between us, and the only sounds
to break up our thoughts belong to the storm raging outside and the snapping of flames.
I do not know how I feel, feeling Issa so thoroughly inside me—knowing she is burdened and stressed—I cannot help but feel a sense of selfish relief that she is mine, completely, and there is no male who could try and steal her away from me. My dragon rejoices while my human emotions numb.
Her people are my people now. Her burdens are mine. And if we have children, I do not want them to see their people come to an end. I do not want this stress on their shoulders.
“We will bring a new generation,” I announce, my vision sharpening with lust, staring at my female. “We will have many children, and they will have dragon blood running through their veins, making them strong. There will be many sons and daughters, and they will go to every tribe until your human kind rises again.”
Her lips part.
“You are seeded, even now, my female. Your burden is gone, replaced with the constant heaviness of my seed,” I growl, rising to my feet.
Watching Issa stiffen, straining her neck to look up at me, I approach her, standing inches from her form.
“Leave, Tulia,” I order the other woman. “There is much Issa and I must do.” Desire crashes through me, and the subtle scent of my female’s arousal begins to bloom the air. The scent of her alone has the power to send me into the abyss.
Tulia nears the door but lingers as she shoves the wood piece away. “It will not be enough,” she says before opening the door.
“It will be a beginning,” I say, keeping Issa pinned with my gaze, hearing her heart thundering anew. For me. “Tell the others—if there are others here—to prepare for the next generation. They will come sooner than later. Very soon.”
I hear Tulia leave but never look away from my mate.
She is perfect. Mine, completely. I never understood how lonely my life was before, not until she came into it, never thinking there was more to existence then protecting my lands, surviving, and waiting… Waiting for what?
For her.
Thunder booms outside. Rain drives down on my new home with force.
“No more secrets,” I mutter, kneeling at Issa’s side.
She licks her enticing lips. “It was never meant to be a secret. Males of my kind, of many species, have been dying out since the first comet arrived. I didn’t think…”
I cup her cheek, turning her head to face me. “Is there anything else I should know?”
Her beautiful eyes go wide. “Know?”
“Before I claim this place and your people as my own, my territory,” I state.
Could her gaze go wider? Her mouth part anymore prettily? “Kaos…” Her voice is soft and wondering. It pleases me. “They will need to accept you,” she pauses, swallowing. “But they will accept you if you accept them. They will be confused and will ask many questions.”
I nod. That is understandable. I myself have many questions too. “All right.”
“Do you really think we can turn the tides?” she asks.
Staring deep into her eyes, I take her hand with my free one, settling my brow upon hers. “Are you up for the task?” My voice lowers, deepening of its own accord. The task is something I am greatly looking forward to with Issa, and only Issa.
“Yes,” her voice a breathy whisper.
Heat unlike any other explodes in my heart. In spite of the rain, it is like the sun is careening to the land, aiming directly toward me: magnificent, bright, pure, and gorgeous. I take her hand and press it to my chest. “Issa,” I say. “My heart burns for you.” I do not know how else to describe this feeling. This feeling only she gives me.
I watch in heady wonder as her eyes soften and the sweetest smile lifts her mouth. In her home, in this world, there is nothing that could tear us apart. The feeling inside me grows stronger as I sense it coming from her too.
She nuzzles my face and turns her hand into mine. “My heart burns for you too, dragon.”
“A touch.”
“A simple touch.”
“Has given me life,” I add. My lips brush her cheek.
We will rule these lands together, and I will ensure she never has to see her people end. Now that I am here, extinction is an old nightmare.
Dragons are the most powerful beings. Why not use that power to make my mate happy?
“I love you, Kaos.” Her mouth catches mine.
Love.
That’s the word. The burning sensation in my chest explodes.
I love you too, Issa.
Epilogue: The Beginning
The rain continues into the next day, though the thunder and lightning have long since vanished. We’ve been cooped up, and one thing I have learned about living with a dragon man is that they do not like tight, confined spaces. They hate it.
But there has been no sign of the femdragon or the alpha dragon from the sea, and Kaos assures me we have seen the last of them.
“Venys is a huge world, after all,” he tells me. “They will not nest near humans.”
Still, I worry for Leith, Aida, and Sand’s Hunters. And though I am forced to wait until the storm passes before I can seek them out, the weather doesn’t stop me from preparing for the journey. Keeping my hands busy is the only thing I can do, the only thing that Kaos will allow me to do—when I am not being seeded by him again and again.
And apparently, seeding is hard work for a body like his, for he’s already eaten through half my salted meats and dried fish rations.
Seems like fruit doesn’t do it for dragon men, I note. Meat does.
This task is going to wear me out. I smile. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Settling my bone-knife aside—I’ve been sharpening the tip of an old spear—I press my hand over my belly instead. I can’t wait until the day Kaos tells me with all certainty that I’m with child. I dreamed of having a family of my own, and I can scarcely believe it’s actually possible now—though Kaos reminds me as much hourly… in a very physical way.
He’s pacing around me. And when he’s not pacing, he’s eating or touching and asking about everything in my hut, testing them, using them in his hands. But he’s pacing now as the day lengthens—waiting for action—and it’s making me anxious.
And as I grow anxious, he gets even more apprehensive. Our emotions bleed into each other. I take a long breath and force myself to calm, calling for patience. Also to stop myself from rising to my feet and kissing him again.
The elders of the tribe know of his existence by now. Father promptly knocked first thing in the morning, waking us from slumber, Tulia and several of my half-sisters flanking him.
His shock—their shock—was a thing to behold. My half-sisters argued and traded items, having placed bets on Tulia’s insanity.
“So, you’re a dragon?” Esteus, my father, asked as he eyed Kaos warily. “A male from the jungle?”
“I was a dragon. Not anymore. You may have heard my roar several days past, deep and terrible. I was not always human.”
“But you’re a human now…”
Kaos huffed, annoyed. “Yes.”
“And those things on your arms, what are they? Why are you green, young man?”
It was an interesting morning. I told my story again, and Kaos was bombarded with questions. Father did not understand Kaos’s existence, but by the end of the morning, he came to understand what Kaos meant to me, and that we could not be parted. That we refused to part ways. That if he were not accepted in the tribe, they would lose me… because I would not leave his side.
Father and my sisters left us knowing this.
They left to prepare our defense in the coming discussions with the elders.
At one point, Esteus came back with a gift of hide pants for Kaos, made of crocodile skin, to replace the scant covering of his netted wrap. They fit poorly, but it didn’t take me long to add strips of hide along the sides, improving the fit. Still, they only came down to mid-shin. A problem for a later time.
And still,
the rain kept us from escaping, it keeps us from escaping now. I’m eager to show him the beauty of my home, the crystalline lagoon and the mermaids near us. To hunt with him. To share my life with him.
I’m also curious if Elae, Jye, and Yda returned before the storm hit. I wonder why they did not answer my singing the morning I left Sand’s Hunters.
But no, the rain and wind continue.
And the weather isn’t entirely why I’m anxious, or why Kaos is pacing, sometimes growling.
No, the elders are discussing Kaos and his inclusion into our tribe, my father heading the charge. We’re waiting to be summoned.
So when there is finally pounding on the door later that evening, we’re both on our feet in an instant—and again Kaos moves to stand in front of me. He goes to the door and opens it. A gust of rain and wind comes in.
Father stands at the entry. He’s come to collect us for the elders. “It’s time,” he says.
Kaos and I follow him to the central community hut at the shallow edge of the lagoon, it’s built over and through nearly a half-dozen trees, some of it overhanging the water. Being near the water eases life for the merfolk we consider part of our tribe.
It was built long ago but is maintained, like every building within Shell Rock, even if they’re not used. There are more huts than we need nowadays, but perhaps… we’ll fill them once again. I glance at Kaos.
The community hut is a staple in our tribe. Celebrations and meals happen here, important conversations, and it’s where the elders gather and meet messengers and travelers from other tribes. It’s round, with multiple rooms branching off of a large middle one, where stores, medical supplies, and guest cots are kept. Once, it was used daily—as a gathering place—but now it’s mostly only occupied by the elders, infrequently.
There’s a large bonfire pit beside it, along the lagoon’s beach, but no fresh wood has been placed on it in months. It’s not like a fire could happen now anyways, I note. The old wood still in place is drenched.
