by Cara Bristol
The settlement lay far enough away that his keen sense of smell couldn’t detect them and spoil the moment, however, humans were here. Upon entering orbit, the ship’s sensors had detected the colony. That was all the proof the king needed, but Rhianna would require more than a sensor reading.
He had mixed feelings about bringing her here. On the one hand, he needed the stubborn Earthling to see with her own eyes her people had laid claim to Elementa. She believed they were innocent, and nothing less than irrefutable evidence would convince her otherwise. However, there was no greater pain than loyalty betrayed. He couldn’t predict her exact reaction, but knew it wouldn’t go well. He didn’t want to hurt her.
For that reason, he intended to delay showing her the settlement. He had the ship set down a distance away because, before he destroyed her illusions, he wanted them to enjoy the day, to create a pleasant memory to balance out the coming unpleasant one. He wished to share Elementa with her because it was important to him. It nurtured his dragon and stirred his fyre. He desired her to see the real him and not the one filtered through Earth’s prejudices.
When he thought Rhianna could handle it, he would release his alter-self, pick her up, take to the air, and let her see Elementa as he did.
Yesss. Take mate home.
On previous visits to Elementa, he’d identified potential lairs. Elementa had fire and life, and it would sustain them for eons—provided they got rid of the intruders. First, he would give her a tour of the sights, and then he would show her the settlement.
She stumbled a bit as she stepped up beside him, and K’ev steadied her with a hand to her elbow. Her scent, like some sort of Earth flower and her own body’s aroma, wafted up to his nostrils. Unlike other humans, she smelled…enticing. He parted his lips and let her scent wash over the sensor in his upper palate. He could taste her, besides smell her. His blood heated, and his cock swelled. Being on Elementa freed him to express his nature.
His dragon growled.
Rhianna looked at him, but didn’t flinch. The dragon purred.
She returned her gaze to the spires of black rocks jutting from uneven rolling ground where crevices cut deep into the planet’s core. “It’s so…desolate.”
“It’s what I like about it.”
There would always be some open space, but one day soon, Elementa would teem with dragons on land and air. Draco would erect towers and palaces, buildings and spaceports. Designate fly lanes. Mark areas public, private, and off-limits. As a prince, a member of the ruling royal court, he had less freedom than the average Draconian. There would be responsibilities, laws and rules, and protocols. For now, Elementa was his, and only his.
“Let’s walk, shall we? Watch your step,” he said.
Lava from old eruptions had cooled and hardened into a rough, jagged crust. A long, wide riverbed cut a swath across the rocky terrain. K’ev led the way around steam puffing from a vent in the surface.
“This area is still active!” Rhianna said.
“The entire planet is volcanically active, but the ship identified this location as mostly dormant. A couple of eruptions occur every day. The air is continually infused with volcanic particulate matter, which is unsafe for humans long-term,” he said, delivering a less-than-subtle message how unsuitable the planet would be for her people.
“How many volcanoes are there?” she asked.
His heart gave a little jump as she leaped over a fissure. The crevasse wasn’t wide enough for her to fall into, but it plunged straight through to Elementa’s molten core—nothing for her to trifle with. He crossed over and moved closer to her.
“We haven’t mapped them all, but we’ve counted hundreds of thousands,” he said. “Before you leap over any more fissures like the last one, let me check it out first. In fact, be careful of any gaps or holes you see.” There was more on this planet to be wary of than steam and lava.
“What is that?” Rhianna scrunched up her face and pointed.
An ashy-gray annelid wiggled out of a crack. With feelers extended, it inched its way over the rocky ground. More crawled out from the crevice until a whole clew covered a good-sized area.
“Those are the delicacies I mentioned—lava worms.”
“You said they were small. They must be at least a foot long each!” She cut a wide path around the creatures.
“To a dragon, those are small.” He grinned. The way she wrinkled her nose was cute. “We’re headed that way.” He pointed to a rock formation creating a copse of natural statues. Beyond the grove, a wide lava river wound through a deep gorge. Once, he’d followed the river for five hundred miles.
Out of sight on the other side of the gorge and the river lay the settlement. An easy fly. But that would come later.
Rhianna marched toward the spires, and he let her get enough ahead to enjoy the view of her buttocks, revealed to perfection by the body-conforming Draconian jumpsuit. Two rounded globes. Two perfect handfuls.
He spied a suspicious alcove beneath a stony outcropping and jogged up beside her to steer her away without alarming her. To survive, life-forms had evolved to become as dangerous as their environment. Lava worms secreted venom to deter predators. Other creatures could burn with a touch. Some were savage night hunters. None of them posed a risk to dragons who crowned the food chain. But, to soft-bodied, thin-skinned humans who ranked near the bottom? Extremely dangerous. Her people didn’t belong here.
“This is stunning,” she gasped as they neared the stone formations. Dark as tar, hundreds of natural lava sculptures frozen into contorted shapes reached for the sky. She pivoted as she trod along a natural path. “These are amazing. They remind me of mutant animals or monsters. They almost seem alive—they’re not, are they?”
“No.” He chuckled and then spoke in Dragonish. Translating, he said, “We call this area the Grove of Silent Sentinels.”
“I can see that.” She nodded. “That one is a cyclops.” She pointed to a more-or-less humanoid shape with a small roundish hole in the top. “Tree monster, stallion on two legs, tarantula, cobra.” Her whimsy influenced him, and he began to recognize shapes in the contortions. She would not know any of the creatures he saw.
He allowed her to wander, enjoying her wonderment and the graceful way she moved. Before they emerged on the other side near the gorge, she veered left and circled back the way they’d come. She halted before a tall spire. “This one looks like an obelisk,” she panted.
Her breathing labored more than it should, considering how slowly they’d wandered through the copse. Her pale skin had grayed. “Use the respirator,” he said.
She extracted it from the bag and placed it to her lips. After a couple of puffs, her coloring improved, and her chest no longer heaved. “That feels better. I didn’t realize I needed to use it until you said something.”
“The planet’s effects can sneak up on you.” He needed to be more vigilant. He knew the dangers; she didn’t.
She tucked the respirator back into the pouch. The strap cut across her rounded breasts, molded by the jumpsuit, revealing she was all woman, although a different kind than he was used to. Female dragons had hard, conical, horn-like breasts even in demiforma. Rhianna’s looked soft and bounced entrancingly when she hopped over rocks.
K’ev adjusted his stance. Although his clothing had adapted, his erection had gotten uncomfortable. Once, he would have rejected coupling with a human. Since Rhianna had come on board, she had become an obsession. Fortunately, a remedy existed—take her as many times as required to douse the fire. They might have to orbit Elementa for a month, and the king would be irate when they arrived, but K’ev would cool the heat.
Cannot cool. She has fyre. We are one.
Bedding her would prove the dragon wrong, too.
Not wrong.
A long plait of hair draped over her shoulder to graze her left breast. Although he preferred her hair loose, he appreciated how the braid pointed the way to those enticing globes. It also exposed her small
, shell-like ears, from which golden hoops dangled and caught the light. She would look good in jewels. He would enjoy adorning her body with bracelets, pendants, ear bobs, and rings.
His dragon purred. It is how we treat our mate.
Nothing afforded a man more satisfaction than serving his mate and fulfilling her every wish. But a female didn’t have to be a mate to be presented with gifts. As his father had pointed out, he’d sampled a few. He’d treated them all well, bestowing them with bejeweled trinkets, although giving little thought to the gifts. He would enjoy giving Rhianna presents. Aquamarines like her eyes. Bloodstones to go with her hair. Moonstones as pale and smooth as her skin. He would dress her in the finest silken robes then shred them with his claws, necessitating more.
She would not want for anything. And when he left her bed, she would be sated and complete, marked by his scent, and his essence. She would be his, albeit temporarily.
“Elementa to K’ev! Elementa to K’ev! Are you listening to me?” Hands on her hips, Rhianna stared at him.
K’ev blinked. “Did you say something?”
“Three times! You kind of zoned out there.”
“I’m sorry. I was thinking. What did you say?”
“I said, all of this is very nice, but aren’t we here to search for that mythical settlement? We’re not going to do it on foot, are we? There’s an entire planet to cover.”
“We don’t need to do it on foot—or at all. It’s already been done. Sensors have already located it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“Besides the fact we do not tell untruths, only a fool would lie about something so easily proven.”
“Then prove it. Show me the settlement.”
“I intend to. But I’ll have to fly you there.”
“Fine! Let’s do it, then.” She stomped out of the grove.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to the ship,” she tossed over her shoulder. “So we can go to the settlement.” She sashayed away, her buttocks shifting.
K’ev crossed his arms. He needed to call her back, but he appreciated the view too much. Female dragons in any form didn’t move the way she did. They lumbered. Rhianna personified grace, even in anger. Heat blazed through his blood. His cock ached with need.
Claim. Time to claim our mate.
He could watch her all day, but he needed to stop her. Shaking his head, he called, “Rhianna! Wait! Listen to me.”
She halted. “What?”
“First, you’re going the wrong way. The ship is that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction. “Second, when I said I’d fly you there, I meant my dragon would take you.”
Her eyes got big. “You mean fly?”
A shadow flashed in the periphery. “Rhianna, don’t move!”
“What? Why?” She did the opposite of what he told her to do and stepped back.
Bones cracked, and his dragon roared as he shifted.
A massive tetrapod shot out a tentacle and grabbed Rhianna’s ankle. The creature yanked her off her feet, slamming her against jagged rocks, and dragged her as it scuttled for its tunnel. Rhianna fought, screaming and twisting, clawing at the ground. She swung her arms, aiming a punch at the tentacle wrapped around her leg. The suit protected her body and her leg from the digestive enzymes secreted by the tetrapod, but her hands were bare.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Before she could touch the tetrapod, the dragon sprang at the creature, latching onto the tentacle with its jaws and severing the limb. It squealed but snagged the dragon’s leg. The dragon tore off the tetrapod’s limb and, with a shake of its head, flung it through the air and into a crevasse.
With her other foot, Rhianna kicked at the thick, heavy tentacle still wound around her ankle. The bleeding end writhed and twisted as if alive. He grabbed it in his front claws and unwound it, flinging it away. Rhianna was making terrified chuffing noises, the smell of her terror almost as strong as the putrid odor emitted by the hemorrhaging but aggressive tetrapod.
His dragon tossed its head and snarled. Rhianna hurt. Rhianna scared. Kill.
Even after losing two limbs, the tetrapod wasn’t giving up but continued to advance on Rhianna, who scrambled backward on butt and hands. Nearly sightless, tetrapods hid in old magma tunnels. Vibration-sensitive tentacles alerted them to the presence of prey. They were the largest, deadliest predators on Elementa—but no match for a dragon.
Roaring, he spit out a fireball and engulfed the tetrapod in flames. The creature screeched, the smell of its charring flesh a satisfying aroma. The dragon didn’t wait to enjoy watching the creature die. He jumped over the sizzling tetrapod to land in front of a shuddering Rhianna. Gently, he picked her up in his claws. Cradling her securely, he leaped into the air.
Chapter Fourteen
Omigodomigod. Don’t drop me. Don’t drop me. Please, don’t drop me.
Hot thermal wind and the breath from the flap of wings blew in her face. Clutched to the dragon’s chest, Rhianna flew high over jagged and scarred rock. Being snatched up to scale the sky was almost as terrifying as being attacked by an alien tarantula-like thing. Almost.
If the dragon hadn’t saved her, she would have been eaten alive. A dark blob, all mouth and tentacles, the creature had been camouflaged by volcanic rock, and she hadn’t seen it until it had grabbed her and dragged her toward its massive maw.
The dragon had set that thing on fire. She’d never forget the shrieks of agony or the horrible stench. Then he had picked her up and launched into the air. His grip seemed solid, but what if he dropped her? She clung to his claws for dear life.
She stifled a scream as he dove straight down before leveling out to glide between towering canyon walls. What’s next, a loop the loop? His bugle sent a triumphant echo reverberating through the gorge. He dipped lower until they were practically skimming the molten river. Her face warmed from heat rising from the red-hot lava. Her jumpsuit began to cool.
Tricky. Her palms burned from the scratches and scrapes she’d acquired, but the rest of her body had sustained no injury, thanks to the suit. It had lived up to the hype.
All in all, he’d taken good care of her.
It wasn’t his fault that thing had grabbed her. And the dragon had handled it, practically ripping it apart before toasting it. The ferocity should have terrified her, but instead she found it reassuring. He’d protected her.
Rhianna relaxed and patted a claw. “Nice dragon,” she said and hugged his feet.
He trumpeted, sounding almost happy, and then arced out of the canyon. Flapping his wings, he headed for a vertical black promontory, a towering monolith. He circled the skyscraper of rock before landing atop it in the center. He released Rhianna from his grip.
The dragon scrutinized her with a steady stare before his head snaked so close, his breath wafted across her face. Whuffing, he sniffed her hair then nosed her neck with his snout before moving over her torso, prodding her breasts then nudging her crotch.
“Stop that!” She grabbed a horn and shoved his head away.
Nostrils flaring, he opened his mouth and purred, and she recognized the sound she’d often heard in her head. It was you, all along, wasn’t it? The growls, the purrs—she’d been hearing the dragon!
Bowing his head, he checked out her legs, paying particular attention to the ankle the creature had grabbed.
“My leg is fine,” she said. “The clothes worked. The only parts that got a little banged up are my hands.” She turned over her scraped and scratched palms.
He growled as he examined her injury. Then he nudged at the bag containing the inhaler. It was amazing she still had it after being dragged by a tetrapod and then taken for an acrobatic flight. He poked the bag again.
“You want me to use it?” she asked.
The dragon whuffed.
She removed it from the bag and took a couple of puffs. Breathing got easier, and the stinging and redness in her palms subsided. The inhaler obviously had healing pr
operties beyond repairing lung function. “Thanks,” she said. “Gotta remember to use that.”
Conscious of his close scrutiny, she moved away to check out her surroundings. The spire seemed to be composed of porous matte-black rock. Upon approach, she’d noticed striations suggesting the tower had been built over the eons with layers of ash and other volcanic material compacting to form a flat-topped spire. Several stories high, it afforded an impressive panorama.
“Is this your aerie? Your…lair?” Did dragons have lairs? Or was that part of the lore? She no longer trusted anything she’d been taught in her Draconian Relations classes. “You have the best view in the entire neighborhood,” she joked.
From here, she spied the lava river snaking through the gorge where they’d flown, the copse of contorted rock formations, and the ship. Yep. K’ev had been right. She had been headed in the wrong direction. Although the air had appeared clear, from high up she detected grayish smog hovering over the ground. I’ve been breathing that. She sucked on the inhaler again and replaced it in the pouch.
As she moved around the perimeter to check out the view from all angles, the dragon hopped along as if keeping a close eye on her. There was no getting down from the tower other than how she’d gotten here. If he chose to fly away and leave her, she’d die up here. But he wouldn’t do that. He hadn’t saved her from the creature only to abandon her.
And if she couldn’t get down without his help—nothing could get to her, either. When she’d been threatened, he had flown her to the highest, safest place on the planet.
I’d trust him with my life.
If she could place her life in his hands without reservation, shouldn’t she be able to trust him in other aspects? K’ev had said he didn’t lie—and although he’d sidestepped many questions, she’d never caught him in a falsehood. Her own people, on the other hand, had misled her repeatedly. Her best friend had colluded with her father and tricked Rhianna to get her here. Her government still was withholding information.