by Lucas, Naomi
Delina falls to Leith’s side, crying over him.
Curling into Zaeyr’s side, he wraps an arm around me, and it’s all I can do to not cry as well.
“This way,” one of the scouts says to us, and they shuffle us toward a corner. In my periphery, I see the elders relax where they stand by the wall opposite us. His tail comes up to curl around my leg.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him quietly. “It happened so fast. I didn’t think much of it after you began pursuing me. It meant nothing, nothing.”
His fingers slide into my tousled hair. “I will not kill him… as long as it is nothing.”
“Kill him!” Delina snaps, sniffling. “You’re the one who should die.”
I snarl at her. It’s been years since our last squabble, and I’ve grown so much stronger.
“Stop!” Father yells. Delina clamps her mouth shut. Zaeyr holds me back from attacking her. “We are not acting civilized.” He slides back into his spot at the table, palming his face. “Delina, take Leith away and make sure he gets what he needs for his throat.”
“But—”
“Go!”
I watch as she helps Leith to his feet and they quickly leave the room. The tension recedes once they’re gone. Taking my first full breath since entering, I pull back from Zaeyr, just enough to glimpse his face.
He stares at the door with barely contained murder in his eyes. Swallowing, reaching up, I cup his cheeks and pull his face down to mine, telling him all the things I need to say in my eyes.
When he finally looks at me, he softens, but his words are laced with warning. “You are never to be alone with him again. If he attempts to touch you, he will die. I may not be a dragon anymore, but once we have nested with a female, we are not bothered. Once the seeding has been accomplished, we are left alone. Honor,” he hisses. “Honor is lacking in this room.”
Before he lifts his eyes to the elders, I lean up and kiss him. Zaeyr melts in my hold as he groans and kisses me back—as if everything that had just happened were a bad dream. Soft and desperate and possessive, the kiss is more than just our lips wetting and rubbing against each other. We speak with our motions and so much is said with such a simple action.
Love. My heart expands. I convey it as I did with my eyes, needing him to understand, needing it in return just as much.
Does a dragon love? Does he even know what it is?
Silly questions. I know the answer; I sense his affection and admiration. The warmth of our bond pulsates, grows. My knees weaken. He tangles his hands into my hair and grasps my head. I need our connection as much as he does.
This time together and these moments.
Father coughs and Mother sighs. We finally separate.
Turning, I find them staring at us. Mortification hits and I blush, wiping my lips. But I’m not sorry.
I’ve never given myself away to affection easily, and here I am… Hard Aida falling. Pulling away from Zaeyr’s grasp, I move to the table and sit awkwardly. He joins me at my side completely nonplussed and I kind of hate him for it—jealous of his coolness.
Silence falls as everyone resettles at the table. The two scouts with their spears move to stand stiffly by the door. My heart thunders in my ears.
But my spine straightens, and I level my gaze at those sitting across from me.
Mother eyes Zaeyr questionably.
“You summoned us,” I snap when no one speaks.
Nata frowns. She looks at Zaeyr. “Can you assure us that you will not attack anyone else in this room?”
“Unless you try to harm Aida or take her away from me, I will not hurt you,” he mutters.
Mother coughs. Nata licks her lips.
Father’s brow furrows. He looks directly at me. “Aida, are you safe?” he asks.
“Yes. Yes, I’m safe.”
He turns back to Zaeyr. “Then we will not take her away from you at this time.”
18
Mine
“Delina has accused Zaeyr of assault.” The male elder says this, and I scoff. He is Aida’s father, I know. I can smell the similarities between them.
Tabach is his name, I remind myself.
He studies me. “Do you deny this accusation… dragon?”
Aida mumbles angrily beside me.
Taking her hand, I stop her from coming to my defense. “I deny it.”
“Can you prove you did not do this?”
“She’s lying, Father,” Aida snaps anyway.
My human, who does not even take commands from me. If I did not still smell the other male’s scent in the air, I would smile. My instincts urge me to chase him down, punish him, but it is Aida and her clansmen who convince me otherwise.
There is also a more pressing need to slam Aida to the floor and mount her in front of everyone, show them who she belongs to, who I belong to. My shaft—though ever hard under the comet—grows harder at the thought.
But logic tells me that will not go well. Not with humans, anyway. Especially not in front of her sire and mother.
If we were dragons, it would be different…
Young femdragons in heat were given to the strongest male dragon by her sire and mother to seed, to learn the proper course of mating. I am that strong male here—the strongest perhaps in all the wilds.
“Can you prove you did not do this?” Tabach asks, breaking my thoughts.
“Prove?” I ask, snorting out a wisp of smoke. “Can you not smell her? If I had assaulted her, my scent would be all over her.”
Aida tenses beside me, and like a wave, I sense her unease at my words. “I was there,” she says. “Though I could not see, I could hear. Delina said since she was the elder’s chosen female, she should be with the mightiest male.”
Tabach sighs.
“Your sister would not do such a thing,” Aida’s mother—Shyn is her name—says. “Delina has Leith, and by being chosen, she was chosen to be with him and no one else.”
“You don’t know your youngest daughter well enough,” Aida mutters.
Shyn scowls. “Delina may be spoiled, but she isn’t stupid.”
“She also has not been raised for the duty she’s been handed! She doesn’t fully understand the importance. When we were growing up, you and the tribe gave all your attention to me, letting Delina get away with whatever she wanted. Now she’s making bad choices because she doesn’t fear there will be repercussions.”
“You said so yourself, daughter—you didn’t see what happened! How can you go against Delina so? When you should have been there to protect her?”
Aida’s jaw ticks. “Because I was recovering from mating with Zaeyr,” she gripes. I watch Shyn’s face void itself of color. “I rose within minutes of the interaction. Zaeyr had his hand on Delina’s shoulder. And though I didn’t know what occurred, he told me he was pushing her away for being touched unwantedly. Considering the things she said, if anyone assaulted another, it was Delina who assaulted him!”
The females glower at each other.
But before they can continue, Tabach interjects. “Did she touch you first, Zaeyr?”
“Yes.”
“What happened after?”
“Aida ran, and I chased after her.”
Tabach nods. “And you have brought her back to us. Thank you.”
“Only for her safety—assuming this place is safe for us. She is mine. We need a place to nest.”
“She’s yours?” Aida’s mother asks.
“Nesting? What is nesting?” Nata adds.
“We have not accepted your claim on my daughter!” Tabach stammers.
I growl. “You have no choice in the matter, old one! She is mine regardless—not yours, not anymore.” Aida shifts uncomfortably next to me. “If you knew anything about dragons, it is that once we mate, we remain with them until our dragonling is raised, protecting them, caring for them, nesting with them only. No female, femdragon or otherwise, could come between that. Even if she seeks the protection of an alpha male too, there are
no others. I seeded Aida—chose her to carry my young—Delina wanted that as well. I denied her, pushed her away.” My voice darkens. “She is not honorable for coming to me when she reeks of another.”
Silence falls again between the humans. I find I do not like this or them, wanting to take Aida away, understanding now why my little human did not want to face her tribe. They ask inane questions. I have never been accused of such a thing in my life.
If I assaulted a femdragon, she would kill me. If not her, others.
“And nesting?” Nata asks again.
“A place to stay during gestation,” I snap.
Aida buries her face into her hands.
Shyn gasps. “She is pregnant? How can you know such a thing? It’s only been days!”
“If she is not yet pregnant, she will be within days,” I warn. “That is how I know.”
Some of the elders gaze at me in disbelief, some shake their heads.
“Aida… you are… you know what this means?” Shyn turns to her daughter, saying her name softly. Her face falls. “What are we going to do about your sister? Leith?”
“I don’t know,” Aida says, raising her face.
“Are you—are you happy?”
Aida smiles at her mother. “Yes.”
Tabach, still stammering, flares his nostrils. “We still have not accepted your union.”
I snarl. “Do you not listen, human?”
“Father!” Aida snaps. “Enough. We will leave if you don’t accept us.”
My heart warms at her words. She chooses me over her people, just as I choose her, humanity and all. Taking her hand, I stand, helping her rise with me. My human does not need this, these people. “You do not deserve her,” I tell them.
If her people worried about their future, they would not let us walk away. I could help them. I could extend my protection to them, for Aida’s sake, for our future offspring.
But no one says a word.
“Come,” I tell her. It is time for us to go. Any longer and I may go back on my own words and harm the others. Aida nods, and we head to the door. “We will leave.”
With silence behind us, we walk out together.
19
The Final Night
“Wait!”
Hearing my mother run up behind us, I turn and she envelopes me in her arms. Tensing, she holds onto me tighter, and I slowly ease in her embrace. Zaeyr never lets go of my hand. “Don’t go,” she begs. “Your father will come around. He… he—”
Pulling back. “He what?”
Seeing Mother cry makes me want to cry. I hold my tears back. She’s a tough woman, one of the toughest. I’ve watched as over and over she’s held Sand’s Hunters together through her grit alone. I realize I’ve already forgiven her… Was there anything to forgive in the first place?
My heart sinks.
“He thinks you’re too good for another, Aida. That there is no male the world over that deserves you.”
I stiffen at her words, at her touch. “Why would he think that?” Father and I barely have a relationship.
“He sees himself in you. He loves you.”
My anger returns and I pull out of her embrace. “Tabach only cares about the tribe.”
Mother wipes her tears away. “No, Aida. He may be a hard man, but he is not without softness. All he does is for you and his family, so you may have a home—a place to be proud of.”
I finally dare to ask the question I had been wondering all month. “Did he… did he choose Delina for Leith?”
Zaeyr growls at the mention of Leith’s name.
Mother’s eyes drop for an instant. It’s all the answer I need.
Father was the one who broke my heart, not the tribe.
I gulp, pain zipping through me. “Why?” I whisper. After everything, after spending my whole life proving myself…
“Last season,” she swallows, straightening, “when we traveled to Shell Rock for the oyster harvest. He had Leith—” Zaeyr growls again “—come to him after seeing the young male kissing mermaids. They spoke at great length.”
I remember the harvest; it wasn’t that long ago. Issa and I had roamed the isles by her home for pearls—pearls to add to my mating dress. The dress Delina wore instead…
We only procured a dozen, but it was a great day regardless, having encountered a lusty merman who followed us, bringing us the prettiest shells from beneath the waves. In the end, he’d been driven off by a sea snake. So Issa and I killed it, bringing home its glittering pink and blue skin to make coverings for her.
It was one of those rare days Issa was allowed to be free of her ward, of Leith. I recall because I wanted him to join us…
He had no interest in hunting pearls. Instead, he chose to sit by the lagoon and sharpen his spear.
“They spoke?”
Mother shakes her head. “I don’t know what they said, but his opinion of Leith fell that day. The male is young, fairly untried, and Tabach could not see you with him. That does not mean he will be a great male one day, but today, he has much left to learn.”
Confused by the omission, it is not a side of Father that I know. But I know Mother, and she doesn’t lie.
I exhale, and with my breath, it feels like all my confusion finally goes with it. All that remains is…
Relief. I didn’t know how badly I needed that answer.
Zaeyr grunts, pulling me back under his arm. “It does not matter. Leith is nothing to us. Aida is with me now. If he kisses her again—”
I circle my arm around his waist. “I’m with Zaeyr,” I declare.
Mother’s eyes finally go to him, and all her softness fades. I hold onto Zaeyr harder, uniting our front.
Relief or not, it’s not enough. My thoughts are jumbled.
After Delina was chosen over me, I never thought I’d have a partner of my own. Dreams of having young dashed to pieces. But it’s not only this… Zaeyr is a mighty male. Any tribe would fight to have him.
And here we are, possibly leaving.
He’s done nothing to deserve this treatment.
“Delina is my daughter too, dragon. She is Aida’s blood sister,” she says stiffly. “But I will have you stay if it keeps Aida here where it is safe. This is her home. And you, you are just one male. If she is with child, she needs to be with her people.”
I glance around and for the first time, I notice many of my tribe looking upon us from the shadows. Above, the moon rises, and the eerie glow of the comet rubies the land.
I love them. I love this place.
“Your people do not deserve her,” he fumes.
“That may be so—”
“Mother,” I intervene, unable to go through another fight, not tonight at least. They stop to look at me. “We will go to the caves tonight and tell you our decision on the morrow. It has been a long few days, for all of us.”
“Daughter…”
“Tomorrow,” I say, my voice lowering.
She slowly nods. “Tomorrow then. Take this.” She hands us a bag strapped to her back. Inside, I find food and dried meat. She steps back and gives us room to leave.
I swallow hard, holding the bag to my chest.
Zaeyr practically pulls me to the lift and lowers it down for us. He leads me to the caves. We light a torch and head deep within, procuring hides from one of the stashes and setting up a cozy camp by the water.
When we finally settle, I glance at him. He’s staring at me with an unreadable expression.
“I do not like it when you hurt,” he says, reaching out and tugging me into his arms.
Lowering my head against his warm chest, I let him hold me.
“What do you want to do, little human?” he asks.
“Nothing, not right now. Nothing but lie with you.”
“That,” he exclaims, holding me even closer, “I would be happy to oblige.”
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we will choose to leave or stay.
“Do you forgive me?” I ask. “
Can you forgive me?”
“There is nothing to forgive.”
There is everything to forgive. I brought him into this mess, into humanity, into our looming extinction, into my family…
But his hands go to my hair, his fingers caress my scalp, and with nothing but the sound of his heart beneath my ear and the crackle of torchlight, I push all concerns from my mind and fall asleep in my dragon’s arms.
20
Loving a Dragon
I wake to find Zaeyr between my legs, licking my sex. A shocked moan escapes me, and I spread my knees. Long fingers slide up and through my private place, where he explores and plays.
I don’t know what time it is, whether it’s morning or still night. All I know is his sharp tongue ramming into my deep place and his dark groans. He spans his hands and gropes me everywhere.
“Time to breed,” he groans, rearing up like a wild beast over me. I lift my hips as he spreads me out and open. The hard tip of his thick prick nudges my opening. His eyes glow bright upon me, lighting the space with blue.
I’m barely ready, but he thrusts, pinning me to the hard ground with his hips. I scream, stunned by being spread so abruptly.
Gasping, he slams slow and rough, each shunt a beating of my body to his—to the floor. Slower still, I’m fluttering and clenching, pushing him out as much as trying to keep him rooted.
I hook my legs over him, once again finding my feet unable to connect. I strain my neck to look upon his face.
But he’s over me, his huge body not even arching so our lips can meet. I kiss his torso and chest to get his taste in my mouth.
Thrusting faster now, he snarls like an animal. My dragon. And with a roar blaring out, he shoots his seed.
Heat pools into me—so much heat—and I clamp my sex around him. My thighs grab what they can while I cry out. His seed spreads slick between us as he forces me to take everything. And when I’m about to wilt with exhaustion, he releases me.
“Zaeyr,” I moan, curling to my side, the sensation of his cum spreading throughout my body. Like the first time we mated, my body shudders, paralyzing me on contact. But I remain conscious this time.
