by Lucas, Naomi
He has made me a weakling. Hundreds of years as a weakling.
He has made me weak in front of my mate.
My tails thump. The tips of them harden to points. I bare my teeth, hissing between them.
Milaye stops in the distance, and I notice her peer my way before turning back to the shadows.
Come back to me, human. Once she is near, I will grab her and not let her go. I will take hold of her and show her who is the alpha of this union.
It should be me finding fuel for the fire, not her. My jaw ticks. I press my palms into the ground and lift myself, sitting straighter against the boulder.
It will not be long now.
I test my legs, bending my knees. I bring my feet closer to my chest and dig my soles into the ground. Pressing my weight down, I raise my hips off the ground, just for a moment. My tails press into the rocks, giving me more leverage.
My recovery is quickening.
Soon my human will see a strong dragon as her mate, and I will be so ferocious she will forget all about my shame.
I glance in at her direction, but she is no longer in view.
She is gone.
I drop to the ground and search, finding I can move my head.
My heart thunders. No matter where I turn, the glow of her torch has disappeared—her body is gone. She has vanished out of sight, and I did not even notice. A growl tears from my throat. I could forgive myself many things, but this? If something were to happen to her?
I try to rise but am unable to. My elbows catch me. I stop to listen for her, for her footsteps, for her breaths.
The cave is silent, deafeningly so, like it has been many of my long years. I do not even hear the hissing of the naga. Am I alone? Again?
To have a female so near, only to lose her?
A shriek fills my ears.
It sounds human.
“Milaye!” I bellow, but my voice does not carry. Worry careens through me, and my vision goes dark. I clutch my chest, sensing our bond. My fear surges, knowing it is not just my fear anymore, but hers too.
She is afraid. My teeth grit. I must go to her. I listen for another shriek, another sound, but there is nothing. A single shriek. Would that be the last noise I ever hear from her?
Using the rock, I palm my way up. My tails balance me. It only takes a minute for me to stand, but it seems like an eternity. Finally, I bear my weight on my two feet for the first time, and the sensation is strange. Gone are my scaled toes and claws. Instead, my feet are soft and sensitive.
Every part of this human body is sensitive. Tingles shoot up my nerves as I rock back and forth. Balance does not come easy, and my muscles spasm. I lock my knees when they buckle. Luckily, I have my tails.
“I am coming, female,” I grunt as my hand claws the rock.
I jut out my jaw and shuffle one foot forward. Relieved that I keep myself upright, I lunge it forward with courage.
I topple over, the ground smashing against my knees. I howl, grunt, and snarl. My hands flatten, catching me, and I dig my claws into the rubble, furious. Red fills my vision, a dirty, dark red that blends in with the deep shadows of the cave. I smell my blood.
Prove your worth, you wretched beast. I smash my teeth. My anger grows and bleeds out. I’m furious with my human for making me feel so. Our fire might be dying, but I can see in the dark.
Once my full strength has returned, we will not need light to survive! She will need nothing but me!
One of my claws breaks against the rocks.
Shifting my tails, I brace to stand again. Taking my time, I rise to my full height and steady myself. I grunt in triumph. Keeping one tail behind and the other ahead, I slide my foot forward again. This time I stay upright.
Three slow steps later, my lips twist into a smile. I pull my eyes from the ground and toward the direction where I’d heard my human’s screech.
With each step, my confidence grows. My tails swipe the cave floor, and with only the occasional wobble, I make progress.
The firelight fades behind me, and I inhale, searching for my human’s scent. Fear has a powerful smell. Catching a whiff, I shift slightly to the left, but there is another familiar smell in the air: the naga’s. I thought it was the aroma of the cave—the undergrowth and soil and faint petrichor—but I know now that it is him as well.
He has been living in this cave with me for a while, I realize. He came with the rain.
The smell of Milaye’s fear deepens and my chest constricts, but she is nowhere to be found. Relief and annoyance fill me. She is not hurt. Wherever she is now, she did not come to harm. But I hate that she is not here at all.
Where the skies has she gone to? I narrow my eyes and glare into the shadows.
Then I see it, the faint orb of golden firelight. It glints off the dull and dirty rocks in the distance. It is nearing.
The outline of her body appears next as she ascends an incline.
“Milaye,” I breathe her name as her features come into view, but she is too far off to hear me. She is carrying a load of roots to her chest, her eyes flicking about as she waves her torch slowly.
I move to the wall. She does not see me. The dark pulls itself toward me and like my old self; it absorbs into my flesh and feeds it. My scales get harder, and my horns bulge. My nostrils flare. She gets closer, not seeing the predator I truly am.
I thrive in darkness. There is nothing like a giant monster with teeth the size of small trees hunting you down in the dark.
Her sweat blooms the air. My shaft tightens and rises, chafing upon the rough cloth tied around me. She is all I know. My prey.
Almost upon me now, I ready to strike. If she thinks she will leave me again…
Her torchlight glimmers over me, but I consume it, repelling the glow. Her eyes go through me as if I am not there.
One more step, female, and you are mine. She steps into my reach—I grab her.
Her body jerks, the roots falling from her hold as she reaches for her weapon. Her eyes widen in shock, in recognition soon after, but I already hear her blood rushing through her veins.
“Human,” I rasp, pulling her to me and knocking her dying torch. It falls to the ground and rolls away, throwing us back into shadow.
“Drazak,” she stammers.
I lean into her, swing my tail around, and push her against the cave wall, trapping her there with my body.
“You can move.” She is nearly breathless. Her hands come between us, pressing into my chest.
“I can move,” I warn. “You will not leave me again.” I pull her from the wall so I can look at her and steal her eyes. Now that I am no longer prone on the ground, I discover she is much smaller than me.
This is good. I hear her heart thrumming wildly.
“I didn’t leave you,” she whispers, finally lifting her chin, meeting my eyes.
I snarl. “Going out of my sight is leaving me, human. You do not know…” I trail off. She does not know how messed up I am from all the years alone… I snarl again.
“Do not know what? That the bond becomes uncomfortable the farther we are away from each other?” She removes one hand from my chest, placing it over hers instead. “You’re not the only one bound by invisible strings.”
Some of her hair falls into my hand. I wind my fingers through it, luxuriating in its silken feel. “What we have is called a curse for a reason,” I say, my voice softening.
She flinches.
“It is a curse,” I continue, “because whether you like it or not, this is final. It is the sacrifice for stealing my immortality and might. The red comet has never given something without first taking something away. You and I will be together until one of us dies, and even then… the other will follow.”
My human licks her lips, it makes me hungry. I wish I was licking them myself.
“No wonder your kind avoids us,” she says with a hush, her eyes lowering. “I should have done more not to… fall upon you. I’m so, so sorry.”
She so
unds sad? Why does she sound sad? What in the skies is she saying?
I bristle. So she is unhappy to be with a disgraced creature such as I. Is that it? Any female would be. My hand grabs her hair and tugs, making her look up at me again. “I am more than what you have seen,” I growl. “I will prove as much to you. You. Will. Never. Leave. Me. Again.” I do not care if she is saddened by our circumstances; I’m the one with the right to anger here.
She is mine, and that will never change. Not for all the world, my wings, my body.
A glistening drop forms on her lashes and falls down her cheek. I cock my head, studying it, knowing what it is without ever experiencing it, this is a tear. Dragons do not cry. They do not show sadness in such a way.
But I have not had water in so long… and I now find I am thirsty, aching for it on my tongue.
Shaking, I dive in. I lick it from her face but miss. My head falls besides hers as my knees give out. Fury—shame—unlike I have ever known erupts while I fall, sliding down her body, dragging my claws, scraping the wall as I go.
“Drazak?” Her hands come up to catch me.
I roar against her stomach and frighten her away, feeling her body going rigid. I slam my fists into the rock, again and again, needing the pain from their impact.
“Drazak! Stop!”
I do not hear her, pummeling the wall.
The next thing I know, my hands are covered in hot blood, and Milaye is next to me, trying to lift me up. I push her away. “Do not help me!”
“You’re hurt!”
“Skies! I want the pain,” I rasp, clenching my fists. If I cannot have her, at least I can have this.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snaps. Her arms come around me again. “Let me get you back to the fire.”
“I said don’t!” A bark leaves my throat. “Leave me.”
“No.”
“Leave! I will not have you see me like this!”
Suddenly, warmth cups my cheeks, a soft heat that forces my chin up. My human is on her knees in front of me, cupping my face. The faintest of lights halos her face.
For a brief moment, her eyes flash with white light. I blink and her eyes are back to normal.
“I get it,” she says. “You’re struggling, dragon. We both are. I did not come into this cave thinking this would happen, and you did not…” She shakes her head, and I see her flinch. Her head still hurts her. “But we can’t let these changes defeat us.”
“I have already been defeated.”
“Have you? Really? You don’t look defeated to me.”
I bare my teeth. “What do you know of defeat?”
Her eyes glaze over as she looks towards the darkness. “More than you can know. Haime…” She turns away, her face falling into a look of grave concern.
Haime? She said that when I could not understand her.
Then it occurs to me… The other human. The other one she was with before I turned.
Where is the other human?
But before I can ask, she faces me again, the graveness now gone. “In the time I went to collect roots, you’ve managed to rise and walk—you trapped me. If you’ve done so much in such a short time… Think of what you can do a day from now, or even two. This isn’t defeat. This is just the beginning, and beginnings are always the hardest.”
“Such wise words from such a young creature.” I cannot help being snide. She has offered wisdom I know is true, but they are words I do not want to hear.
“Wise words? Common sense. That’s all it is. Now let me help you back to the camp so we can rest—” She starts to brace under me.
“No. I will do it.” Though I do not push her away.
I could never willingly push my mate away.
“Are you sure?” she asks, hesitating.
“Collect the kindling.” I untangle my arm from hers. “I will make it back myself.”
She moves away, and I almost grab her back to me but clench my bloody hands away from her.
“I’ll meet you back there… then.”
I watch as she quietly collects the fallen roots and gathers them under her arm. She picks up her torch, which is now little more than burning embers. She stares at it for a moment before waving it before her. The light is pitiful, but she takes a cautious step away.
I grab her ankle. “Wait.”
She stops.
Pressing my hand to the wall again, I rise. It is easier this time, this new body is becoming more familiar. Once I am standing, I take a moment to steady myself before reaching for her burnt-out torch. I hate that she sees this side of me. But she cannot move around in the dark. She is human.
I will lead her back to safety.
She gives me the torch.
In silence, we head back to the campsite. It is slow going, but she remains with me the whole time, not once complaining. Not once mentioning my weakened state.
When we arrive, it is to find that, like the torch, the fire has nearly died out. Milaye makes her way towards it.
The scent of the naga fills my nose.
“Stop,” I order, stiffening. She stills, stiffening as well, glancing back at me.
“Something’s been here,” she says more than asks.
“Yes, the naga.”
“So that’s where he’s been…”
“You know it?”
“Yes. Well, not really. I found his den when I was searching for kindling. He lives down here. Though, I don’t think he means to harm us.”
I shake my head. This is vital information. “Perhaps not, or perhaps he is biding his time. Is anything lost?” I ask, nodding to the pile of supplies on the ground.
Milaye takes the torch from me and checks, kneeling. I scan our surroundings. I think I see something shift behind a rock, but it is far away and I cannot be sure…
“My shells are gone.”
“Is that all? Are they important?”
“Nothing else has been taken, and no, they’re not… Apparently he likes to collect pretty things.”
My eyes snap to hers, but she is not looking at me. Instead, she takes an oddly foamy item from a pouch and crushes it over the meager fire. It flares back to life, but doesn’t grow until she adds the new roots. Then it blazes, drenching everything in light.
I wince. I do not like light, at least not so much of it, but I do not tell her this. The more light I am in, the more darkness I crave—though the effect is slow, and I can handle it for a while.
But my human is a light bringer.
I will always crave the darkness near her. In all ways…
“You went into his den?” I bark. I dislike this far more than the light.
“I did.” She nods, sits back, blinks her eyes away from the flames, and grabs another thick leather pouch, raising it to her mouth. She gulps from it then turns, handing it to me. “It’s water. Old water at this point, but it’s something.”
Moving to her side, I take it, swallowing some down. Heaven. It’s delicious and fresh. Old is the last thing I would call it, considering I have not had water in ages.
I take another swallow and scan the area again. “Do not enter a single male’s den again,” I tell her. “You are mine now.”
Her eyes slant. But she hands me a small cloth. “I won’t.”
“Good,” I growl. “What is this?” I ask, peering at the cloth curiously. Humans are curious.
“Something to wipe the blood off your hands.”
Once again, she is taking care of me, I realize with a glower. I wipe my hands anyway, satisfied to find the wounds are small and already healing, and toss the cloth into the fire. “Now, you should rest.”
“There’s—”
“No. I sense you are tired, and unlike you, I am not openly wounded. I will watch over you while my strength rebuilds, as I should have been doing all along.” Her face hardens, but it does not last, her tiredness returning too quickly. I hand her back her water pouch. “Finish this. You need it more than I.”
“We should save
it. We may not get anymore.”
“I will not have you go without!” I will force it down her throat if I have to. My frustration can only be pushed so far.
She glares at me as I meet her head-on, and we enter a battle of will. My female is stubborn and wants to be in charge, but that will not happen, not anymore.
Eventually, she sighs and drinks another sip of water, but takes something from one of her pouches first to dab on her tongue. With a huff, she lies down by the fire, facing away from me, her body tense. I am temporarily mesmerized, pulled from my brooding by the glow of the light that falls upon her curves.
And the way her skirt rides up slightly, tempting me with what is waiting underneath. My shaft jerks, more pained now than before. There, I will dominate. There, I will rule.
Soon.
I lower myself to the ground and slide the dagger from her belt. She twists back to gaze at me angrily.
“You are right, female, I am not defeated,” I say. “But I will take this and remain so. You need it no longer.”
“Someday, dragon, you will realize that human women are nothing like the females of your kind. We do not have alphas. Take my dagger. You’re right. I don’t need it.”
She turns back around and settles.
And leaves me in silence with my angry thoughts.
13
Alpha’s Claim
Once again, something is tugging on my hair, but this time it hurts.
And I know who it is.
I stiffen. He must be behind me because I’m still facing the fire. I squint my eyes as they adjust, but only a little because the flames are already beginning to die. My throat tightens. Already? It frightens me. The fingers in my hair distract me though.
Something cool drenches my head, and I jerk, flinging my hand to protect my wound, but it’s caught in a firm grip before it can land on my head. “What’re you doing?” I twist to face Drazak.
His dark pupils reflect me and the flames. His scales twinkle a deep purple. “I am cleaning the wound. You will not touch it while I do.” He keeps my hand hostage. “Lie back down.”
