To Touch A Dragon (Venys Needs Men)

by Naomi Lucas

  A giant eye snaps to the opening, peering inside. Kaos tightens his hold, barely allowing me to breathe. The eyeball roams the hollow, searching—for us.

  Pushing as much as I can against him, Kaos doesn’t make another sound, but his hold on me is fierce.

  The giant dragon eye vanishes but then appears again outside a smaller gap farther along the hollow.

  If she sees us, there’s no place to go. Tearing my eyes from the femdragon outside, I stare at the gap I crawled through last night. A taloned foot blocks it. No escape. My heart thumps so hard I’m fearing the femdragon will hear it.

  Her sharp black talons slowly scrape over the ground, closing into a fist. Shutting my eyes, focusing on my thundering heart, praying to calm waters, I feel Kaos’s breath fan the back of my neck.

  She jerks back, hearing it more than seeing it, and the ground shakes, rustling everything. Her screech fills the air, the yowls sound after, and streams of light flood through the gaps of our hollow. I hear her violent retreat and the breaking of more trees soon after.

  I exhale hard, but neither Kaos nor I move for a time, waiting, just in case the femdragon decides to return. When the noises of the jungle return, his grip loosen. Before I can leave our hiding spot, he shifts atop me and moves out first. Lifting up on my elbows I watch as he peers out of the crawl hole and looks around. He raises his hand and indicates I can come out.

  “We need to leave,” he mutters. Nodding, I grab the satchel and follow him out of the den and join him at his side.

  My mouth opens when I see what we’ve been sleeping in. Backing up several steps, a giant skull—lying partially on its side—fills the entirety of my view. The hollow we were lying in was the long snout, and I… I just climbed out of an eye socket.

  Distracted, trying to see where the skull ends, I hit a tree but still see the beginning of a rib-cage curve and a spine disappear deep into the overgrown brush of the jungle. So big… Bigger than Kaos was, nearly three times so.

  He must notice my awe because the next second, Kaos blocks my view of the dead behemoth with a scowl.

  “A dragon?” I whisper, though my mouth remains parted, as if the beast will suddenly return to life if I talk too loud.

  “An ancestor,” he snaps. “One who was allowed to live out its elder life fully and choose its end from this world without interference.”

  Flinching, guilt snags me. “I’m sorry.” My hands curl into fists, and I look down. I truly am sorry. But his large, warm hand cups the back of my neck and forces my gaze back to his.

  “He is large. I would have been as large as he someday,” he tells me, dark black-green irises scouring my face.

  “You were large too. I thought your tail was going to crush me.” My voice is barely above a whisper.

  “But not as large as he.” Kaos’s hand shoots out to point at the skeleton.

  I gulp, squinting in confusion. Does he want me to apologize again? “You were close,” I say. “In size.”

  His sharp lips pull back. “You should not lie to me.” His fingers wiggle through the strands of hair at my nape, touching my skin.

  “Does it matter? He is dead, and you are not. You win.”

  Fingers squeeze me. “Is that all you need?” Another snap. “A living mate, even if he is a smaller one!” Kaos drops his hand and growls.

  Oh.

  My eyes widen. Ooh. My gaze trails over his body from head to toe. Kaos, even human, is the largest human I have ever laid my eyes on, a giant compared to any male in any tribe I’ve met.

  “If…” I begin but swallow. “If you were as big as this dead dragon… you would be too big for me.” Thinking back of his finger inside me, blushing. “You may already be too big for me.” My eyes drop to his stiff cock. “You frighten me,” I murmur, swallowing again.

  He goes tense all over, and I know he gets my meaning. My cheeks burn.

  “Yes,” he hisses, staring at me, all of me, with all of his raw male potency and furious heat. I feel it slice through me to my very soul, and my body responds. My core flutters and leaks. His nostrils flare. “Perhaps you are right. A dragon that large is wasted on someone so small and delicate as you.”

  “I’m not nearly as delicate or small as you think.” Frustration laces my voice.

  He takes a step forward, trapping me against the tree trunk. “Delicate, small, and easily corralled.”

  His face leans toward mine and—stilling in shock—I think he’s going to kiss me.

  A branch cracks and falls beside us, and he stops, startled. Ruining the turbulent moment. He takes a step back, his focus tearing toward the direction the femdragon went. “We should go.”

  I lick my lips wistfully. “Yes,” I agree, moving to his side, both sad and thankful for the loss of his attention. Knowing next time, when it’s directed so fiercely on me again, I will have to fight to survive.

  His fingers wrap around my wrist. And without a backward glance, we quicken our steps.

  13

  The Forbidden Jungle

  The cries of the femdragon, always far away, keep our pace as fast.

  Once we make it to the river, I take the chance to wash the worst of the dirt from my skin as we go, only dipping my hands into the shallowest parts, and check my body for cuts and scrapes that may need to be cleaned.

  I notice that I’m banged up but not badly. I have a few scrapes and some of my muscles are sore, though nothing that would hinder my step. Being hurt much worse in the past, my aching body will be fixed by a little ointment and some rest later on. Taking the medicine from our satchel, I slather it on, using it up.

  Soon after, I find a long, sturdy branch. Snapping it off from a tree, I wipe the moss hanging from it off. Testing it in my hold— though it’s not entirely perfect—it’ll still serve as a walking stick, a weapon.

  Kaos keeps his eyes on me the entire time, hurrying me along, cocking his head this way and that as if he’s listening for more than the femdragon. He’s listening for any predators that may be nearby.

  He takes in my walking stick with his gaze but says nothing.

  Surprisingly, no predators do appear. No apes, no nagas, not even the deadly blue-tailed raptors that travel in packs. Occasionally, a snake will make its appearance, and once, a Titanoboa slithers through the river water to our left—but they leave us alone as long as we leave them alone.

  It doesn’t stop me from being alert as well, watching each step in front of us and being as quiet as possible.

  I don’t dare grow complacent.

  Especially not with the burn of Kaos’s gaze on me—threatening me—roaming my skin and observing every little thing I do. He’s behind me, letting me take the lead unless he wants to check something out ahead of us, or prefers a parallel path to traverse. Those are the only times I’m reprieved from his blistering intensity.

  He bumps his large shaft against me when he trips—because he still hasn’t fully figured out his new legs—but I’m beginning to think he’s doing it on purpose.

  Bump. Slide. Prickles rise across my skin. Turning around sharply and narrowing my eyes on his, I push him away. He doesn’t budge. “Stop that.”

  A smile tilts his lips, nearly stealing my annoyance. The dragon knows how to smile. “Stop what?” he asks.

  “Stop pushing your cock against me. It’s distracting and dangerous—”

  “Dangerous?”

  “I’m without my weapons, proper weapons, and if something hunts us, I may not realize until too late because my mind is on that.” Fuming, I point toward his cock without looking at it.

  “You’re in no danger while with me.”

  Huffing. “You can’t be certain of that.” We hear the distant cracking and rustle of trees. “There’s her.”

  “Besides her. The beasts of this jungle, the ones that live within my territory know my scent like they know how precious their short lives are. They will not bother me. Nor you, as long as you are with me.”

  “I didn’
t know your scent,” I shoot back. But I remember a mossy smell erupting from the bubbles of the river. Even now, standing so close to him, I smell it faintly on his skin. Breathing it in, I give myself away, leaning a little bit closer, wanting more.

  His smile dies but he notices, puffing out his chest. He leans toward me a little as well. “You have a point.” His words come out slow, deeply.

  His shaft hits my belly and I’m no longer minding. I press my brow to his chest, inhaling, needing more of him. I want all of him in me. His fingers tangle in my messy hair and force my head back. In the corner of my vision, the wings on his arms straighten outward.

  Parting my lips, I hope that he closes the distance and takes them. But all he does is roam his eyes over my face.

  “I’ve never been kissed,” I whisper.

  “What is a kiss?”

  “Lips touching between two people, caressing and rubbing each other. I’ve seen kisses, but I’ve never experienced one.” Kiss me.

  His brow furrows. “What is the point of kisses?”

  Pushing closer to him, forcing his shaft between our flesh. “To show affection.”

  He releases me suddenly and growls, taking his warmth and heady smell with him. “Do not force your weak human ways on me, female. We may be bonded, but I will never be human—never! Let’s go,” he says, pushing past me to take the lead. “Only the most ignorant and weakest of predators can not smell territorial markings,” he mutters intentionally loud enough for me to hear.

  I almost forgot he hates me. Part of me wants to yell out that he is human now, and embracing it is the only way to survive. I can help him survive. I grab his arm anyway, stopping him from stalking off. “Wait!”

  “What?” he pivots back, fury lining his features.

  Pulling off the net I saved last night, I swing my arms around his middle, draping it over his hips and covering his cock. His long black hair tangles within the net but I tug it out. His body goes rigid but he lets me do this. Bunching it in the front, I tie it there, shielding as much as I can. “Good,” I mutter.

  Kaos peers down at himself and touches the material. It’s made of threaded seaweed fibers and the longest of grasses that grow around the lagoon of my home.

  “I hate it,” he grumbles.

  Glowering, I push past him this time, returning to the front. “Consider it a bonding gift. It took me days to make it.”

  Kaos doesn’t say another word, thankfully, and we continue on our way.

  Hours go by as we follow the river, and even though the femdragon hasn’t made a noise in a while, we don’t stop. Now and then, I hear Kaos curse and stumble. When we have to follow the river closely, we’re up to our shins, he falls completely, soaking himself. Using my stick, I slash through the shallow water, scaring off any serpents that may be lurking. It stops me from laughing as he rises with a scowl.

  Serves him right.

  The morning comes and goes. I’m watching the way the sun falls through the openings in the canopy above us to tell the time. Eventually, the side of the river turns to steep rocks, and we’re left with the choice of wading through to the other side or going deeper into the jungle where we could follow from above.

  Not trusting the crocodiles to be gone, I move us upward. Kaos grabs hold of me again after the first steps, and I’m not sure if it’s for balance or for keeping me close. But the net stays in place, he doesn’t bump his shaft into me again.

  The rocks get harder to climb, driving us further and further into the jungle to find purchase, slowing us down to a snail’s pace. It gets to the point that Kaos has to haul me up over the worst ledges as we get closer to the top.

  I miss my raft, I can’t help but think when the cliffs level out. With sweat slicking my skin, there’s one last cliff to climb ahead of us.

  I know Kaos is feeling the exertion too, and his scent blooms in the air everywhere. It’s doing weird things to me the heavier it gets.

  As I watch, standing still from exhaustion, he climbs over the ledge behind me and moves to the next. I hate that he’s not out of breath while I’m wheezing.

  “Come, human,” he orders.

  Climbing to my feet, he grasps my waist and jerks me up into the air, hands sliding over my hips and legs as I pull myself onto level ground. Even at the top, the canopy of the jungle remains thick overhead.

  But a bright flash of light and the comet’s glow pierces through to glisten a small basin of water.

  Hitching, my eyes widening, my vision is filled by a trickling waterfall and crystal clear pool. I moan and crawl toward the edge, already tasting the water in my mouth. Its much-needed invigoration slices through me. Hearing Kaos pull himself up behind me, I can’t take my gaze off of the potential haven.

  Dashing forward, cupping my hands, I lift water to my mouth.

  I hear heavy footsteps and the sound of crushing grass. Two big hands grab hold of me, lifting me from the ground. Water falls from my fingertips. I make a noise of displeasure—but the sound cuts off when I’m thrown into the pool.

  Splashing wildly, horror-stricken, and fully shocked, I find footing beneath and emerge from the water, furious.

  I twist to see Kaos wading toward me.

  “We’re going to die making so much noise!” I shout.

  “I could not bear the smell of your pheromones any longer.”

  Scowling, I push against his chest when he gets right up in front of me. “My pheromones? You’re the one who reeks like moss—you’re the one the femdragon is sniffing out! Who knew dragon men have such terrible survival skills?” Finding my walking stick-spear off to the side in the water, I grab it and make for the shore. “Did you even think that maybe there would be leeches?”

  His hands on my waist stop me, and before I can react, he’s pulling me against him. “The water is crystalline. Look,” he snarls in my ear.

  Breathing harshly, I look, but not because I want to. The waves of the pool calm while scanning the water, and my frustration builds knowing he’s right. I knew he was right since the moment I kneeled down to drink.

  There’s only a few water flowers and frogs. The basin is so small it’s barely big enough for our bodies lying across it twice. There’s nothing but cool, sleek stones beneath and around us, the trickling water from a ledge above, falling down a rocky alcove from which the water must drain toward the river.

  “If I reek so much, then stopping to wash it off is a good thing, is it not?” he muses, annoying me further. I jerk out of his hold, and when he actually releases me, I’m slightly disappointed.

  Moving to the opposite side, climbing out of the pool, I only turn back after scoping out the journey downward, gritting my teeth the whole time. The shells sewn into my clothes clink when I sit on the edge and finally get that drink of water I’m craving.

  I’ve craved it since he refused to kiss me. When I glance up, he’s just standing in the pool staring daggers at me. My skin heats.

  “Clean yourself,” I grump, reaching for the spear at my side and gripping it. I’m trying not to let him get to me.

  “Come here,” he orders.

  “No.”

  His eyes darken. “Now, Issa.”

  Rising up, I pull my spear closer, even though my belly jumps and my core flutters at his command. The way he says my name… “I won’t follow the orders of someone who hates me,” I snap, pulling my legs under me and turning away, though my curiosity protests greatly. I don’t need to sit with him while he bathes. I don’t need to see that and have him know how much he affects me.

  A sudden sharp intake of breath and a deep, terrifying growl sounds the air. A splash of water. Don’t look. Don’t give him the satisfaction. But I twist back anyway, finding Kaos directly within the stream of sunlight with the red comet glow beaming over him like a lover’s cape.

  Whatever I was about to say is lost because it’s not a human male’s gaze piercing me with his ferocity, but a dragon hellbent on only one thing… Me.

  His d
ark eyes flash green, muddling with the red. Sucking in my stomach, my senses shout: something is wrong! The glow blends with the pale green of his skin, darkening its shade but also lighting it up. It gives his long black hair glints of ruby, the ends floating in the water where they twist and dance like eels.

  But my gaze stills on his body in its entirety. Having never seen his muscles so strained before, so tense that veins nearly pop from the surface, like something is trying to escape from him.

  He’s fighting to keep it contained.

  His hands wrench closed at his sides, and his wings go ramrod straight, spiking outward dangerously. Having felt them brush against me before—soft and sleek—they now have the appearance of weapons.

  And his eyes—devilish and keen—serrate my soul, making me breathless. Hungry. Weak.

  Wet, quaking, cold for his touch, his taste, his everything. The rich and musky scent of moss, so much more powerful than before, fills my nostrils, quickening my breaths. I need more.

  Whatever is happening to him, is happening to me.

  Shivers wrack my body. “Kaos?” I say his name hesitantly, hotly.

  He takes a long stride toward me—all while staying within the red light. I scoot back, not because I want to, but because I’m fearing what’s about to happen.

  “Come. Here. Or I will make you,” he says, low and hollow, his voice different and harsher than minutes ago; it eclipses my want and fills me with more fear, I don’t move. My palms slicken with sweat, and the spear shakes in my grip.

  I can run, my mind roils. I can get down the cliff face—remembering what lays behind me. My mouth waters. Shaking everywhere now, my flight instincts begin screaming.

  Rising to my feet, his gaze flares with passion, his muscles bunching even more. I take a slow step back and that cutting stare of his snaps to my feet. He releases a roar and lunges for me—and my stuttering instincts kick on. Pivoting around, I rush for the ledge.

  But he’s too fast, too honed on his wants that his arms band around me right as I jump, yanking me back.