by Naomi Sparks
Besides, I’m in no hurry to return Kyra to her brother. Dez doesn’t seem to mind using a gun at all. And I’m certain that he’ll not view his sister kindly after she stood by me when he tried to get her to leave. Or even that she went on a date he didn’t want her to. Kyra might not think her brother will hurt her, but I am not so certain.
"I don't like it," Jerrick says, standing up from his camping chair. "There's already a bunch of humans looking for you because of this girl. If we have to take her to town first, fine. But we should still get out of Dodge."
Bren frowns. "It isn't like anyone's going to believe that she actually saw a dragon. You didn't let her videotape it, right?"
I just laugh, the very idea of allowing myself to be recorded is so ridiculous.
"So we take her to town, drop her off somewhere safe. I don't see the downside here," Bren says.
"What you think, Faris?" Lex asks, his gaze a little too curious for my liking.
"No," I say. The truth of the matter is, I don't think I could leave her behind right now even if Lex ordered me to. Even if Kyra’s asshole brother actually represented a real threat. “I’m not taking her back yet. And I’m certainly not leaving her here alone.”
Lex meets my gaze, and I hold his for a long moment. Finally, he says, "We’ll stay. Unless the risk proves too great."
A couple of grumbles are the only indication the others aren’t happy with the decision, and a short time later most start heading for their tents. After an hour, only Lex and I are still out by the fire.
I watch the flames and absently stroke Kyra’s raven hair lightly while she sleeps, hoping that it will provide her some comfort in her dreams. My relatively straightforward existence had twisted into something far more complex so quickly. All because of this small human in my arms.
Looking at her now, it’s hard to imagine that she could have changed so much in so little time. My arms tighten around her, and even now, I’m loathe to let her out of my sight. It feels right, holding her. Like it was what my arms were made to do.
Lex approaches where I'm sitting on a big rock holding Kyra in my arms as she sleeps.
"Are you feeling the mating lust?" Lex asks, bluntly with his voice pitched low.
"I think I am." I try not to lie to my comrades, especially not to Lex. Omitting the truth while I figured things out in my own head is one thing, but I am loathe to lie when being asked a direct question like that.
"It will only get worse," Lex says. "If you were in the full throes of it, you wouldn't be able to just hold her like that." He nods to Kyra. "You'd need distance to control yourself. Moreover, if things get really bad, you sure as hell won’t allow the rest of us male dragons to hang around so close to her until you’ve claimed her."
I think about what he said for a long moment. About how difficult it is not to haul Kyra off to a cave somewhere right now away from everyone else. About how the idea of letting her go in this moment makes my dragon want to rage and fight. "Does this mean that Kyra is supposed to be my mate?"
Lex crosses his arms and leans back. "I don't know—not for sure. But it does mean that Kyra must have some dormant powers, at least enough for your dragon to sense and respond to it."
"But that doesn't mean it's a fated match," I say, and I look down at Kyra’s beautiful face. Even while sleeping, her brows and nose scrunch occasionally. As if she's disapproving of my dragon even in her sleep.
Damn, she’s going to be pissed when she wakes up. The thought shouldn’t make me want to smile, but it does. I adore her fierceness.
"I'm not sure if it makes this a fated match. Although it certainly did for Hannah and me." Lex shrugs, but his expression remains serious. "I was fairly certain that Hannah was my mate from the first night I met her. The connection was immediate. Strong. I’ve only felt something like it once before with…well, you know."
“Siobhan,” I answer.
Lex looks emptily across the desert and nods. “I wanted to make her my life-mate. I knew Siobhan was the one. The feelings were the same. But that bastard Amasis took her away from me forever.”
I shudder at the name of The Clutch’s leader and look back down at Kyra without saying anything. The feelings that Lex is describing sound exactly like the way that I'm feeling. But the certainty of it still eludes me. And I can't bring myself to voice my suspicion aloud until I know it's true.
"I can't release Kyra until I'm sure she'll be quiet." As good an excuse as any, and not quite a lie.
"It's impractical to kidnap a human and drag her along the road," Lex points out. “And I don’t see her coming willingly, not with how she reacted to you revealing your dragon to her.”
"it was simpler when I was a young man. The Parthian civilization was still going strong, and I could have any woman I wanted." I tuck a sheaf of Kyra’s hair behind her ear. Would she have been swayed by my wealth and power back when I was a bastard prince? Something inside of me tells me that she wouldn't have been easy for me to win, not even then. "And if my status didn't sway them, I could have just taken her."
Lex lets out an amused grunt. "Would you really want a mate that you would have to hold captive?"
"No," I growl out. I wouldn't keep her captive—I don’t even want to—but I also can't imagine letting Kyra go. Allowing her to return to her life as I ride away without looking back. Never knowing for sure if she was okay, or if her idiot brother had finally done something to really hurt her. No.
I don't think I could drive away. And I don't think I could let her go back, either.
Lex doesn't comment further. Instead, he merely nods and heads for his own tent, where his pregnant mate waits for him. He's the kind of man who says what he thinks and that’s it. He isn’t going to try to convince me of anything. But he has given me information, and he has asked the right questions. His goal is obvious—to get me on the path of figuring this out for myself.
Holding Kyra close, I carry her into my tent and lie down with her on top of my sleeping bag. I hold her warm body against mine and throw an extra blanket over us. It isn’t cold enough to really need the sleeping bag, and I don’t want her waking and feeling as trapped as she might while confined that way. But lying next to me she can't escape if she wakes in the middle of the night before we've had a chance to talk. I don't want her running to town screaming dragon before I get a chance to talk her down.
But mostly, it just feels right to hold her.
6
Kyra
I wake feeling better rested than I have in ages. But I don’t open my eyes right away. Instead, I enjoy the feel of the sunshine coming through my curtains as it warms my face. I don’t want to get up right away.
Did I overdo it with the alcohol last night? My first clear memory is of sitting across from Faris at the bar as we drank. There was dancing—I remember the dancing. I’ve never dated a man who actually enjoyed dancing before—they’ve all had to be dragged out with me, which kind of killed the fun. But Faris didn’t have to be dragged. And moreover, dancing with him was so sexy. The way he moved, the way we moved together, well, I didn’t have any doubts about how much I’d enjoy going to bed with him.
I smile at the naughty thought and turn over to get more comfortable when I run into a hard, naked chest. My eyes fly open, and I see Faris beside me. We’re in a tent—Faris’s tent, I assume. The tent is dark green that fades to lighter greens as it moves to the bottom of the tent, but the sunlight is coming through an open, screened window-area. The tent is bigger than how large I’d imagined one would be—large enough that half a dozen people could probably fit if they were close enough not to need personal space. In one corner, there were bags stacked—maybe from his bike?
Holy crap.
Did we have a one night stand? How could I forget a one night stand with Faris? Screw that. How could I forget my first one night stand ever?
Damn. What was in that beer? I’d only had three. If three beers had made me blackout drunk, I would completely redefine
the term lightweight. Besides, I feel amazing. Well rested and ready for the day. That isn’t how hangovers work.
Unable to resist, I reach up and start tracing his jawline with my fingertips. The man is beautiful. Strong jaw, full lips, and dark hair so thick and wild that it would make any woman jealous. His skin is scruffy with a beard trying to grow in, and rough against my fingertips. The poor man must have to shave twice a day to keep a dark beard from growing in.
We danced… God, we danced a lot. I remembered that clearly. And we talked. I remember that—remember telling him how I wanted to travel so clearly. Remember listening to him wistfully when he mentioned traveling throughout the world. And I’d wondered what it would be like to travel the world with a man like Faris.
Then—my brother. The gun. Holy shit, he'd shot Faris. But… Had he? There hadn’t been a wound.
My breath catches in my throat.
The dragon.
I gasp and jerk away, but Faris’s arm around me holds me tighter, preventing me from fleeing the tent.
I struggle against him. "Let me go!"
Faris opens an eye and looks at me. "Relax and go back to sleep."
He sounds grumpy, and in any other circumstance, I would've thought it cute he wasn't a morning person. But no. That thing I saw last night wasn't cute. It was big and scaly and had sharp teeth for days.
Not as big as I would have thought, my brain adds, unnecessarily. It was big enough to eat me, and that all that matters.
Fear arches through me as I struggle. I kick one of his shins and he grunts, but pain arches from my toe, so I struggle hard. And I manage to slip a couple of inches away from him before he drags me right back.
Finally, he opens both of his eyes and glares at me. "I'm trying to sleep here. It’s early."
I can't believe he's worried about sleeping in. When I’m worried about being eaten by a damn dragon. For a moment, I’m almost more irritated by him than I am afraid. Stupid. Stupid and irrational.
"Then let me go!" I say again. “You can sleep all you want.”
Faris sits up and shoots me an irritated look, with bed head to boot. “Fine. I’m up.”
His chest is just as muscular as I had imagined, not big like a fake wrestler, but lean and strong. With his hair all mussed from sleeping, and his jeans low on his hips, he looks sexy as sin.
Noticing my appraisal, he grins at me.
I jerk my attention back to getting away, but the second I start to get up, he reaches out, so fast I barely see the movement, and grabs my arm. I try to get my arm away, but he maintains his hold. Somehow his grip is gentle, even though no matter how hard I try, I can’t get his fingers to open an inch. That is somehow even scarier than if he were gripping me hard.
How strong, exactly, is a freaking dragon?
Then he stands up, pulling me with him. We step out of the tent, and I blink at the sunlight. He’s right—the sun is still low in the sky, putting it fairly early in the morning. None of the other men—dragons?—are out of their tents yet.
Maybe all dragons like to sleep in? The thought almost pulls a hysterical laugh from my throat, but I swallow it down.
Still holding onto my wrist, Faris drags me behind him. I don’t fight that hard, because yanking on my arm seems to do nothing but hurt me. Then it hits me where we’re walking.
To the place where he turned into a dragon.
“Where are we going?” I demand, even though I’m already certain.
He pitches his voice low. “Somewhere we can talk without waking the whole camp.”
“Fine,” I say, lowering my voice. Not out of respect, but out of the idea its best to only piss off one dragon before breakfast. “I’ll walk with you. But let go of my wrist. It hurts.”
It didn’t hurt that bad yet, but Faris releases me quickly, a pained expression touching his face. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“I’m fine,” I say, rubbing my wrist. I don’t want to, but I follow him quietly after that. I don’t know anything for sure yet, but I’d imagine one dragon biker travels with other dragon bikers.
But… Dragons? There must be another explanation.
It has to have been a hallucination. Something caused by my reaction to the beer. Mushroom spores in the air. Something. Anything.
How could it have been real?
But no matter what explanation my mind reaches for, I know it isn't true. I know what I saw. I saw a damn dragon.
Finally, we get out a distance away from the tents. Even farther than we did the night before, I think. But I can’t be sure. The darkness made it difficult to be sure, and most of the campground and surrounding area looked alike. Acres and acres of green shrubs and cacti, interspersed with wide areas of flat, cracked-mud playa.
Will you give me a few moments to explain?" Faris asks.
I glare at him, but then wait for him to talk. What choice do I have? The man has the grip of an iron vice—no matter that he’s let me go. If I try to run when he’s this close, I won’t get far. And no matter how much I fight him, it doesn't seem to do anything.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try. Just not yet.
"I'm a dragon like I showed you. I’m a man, too. This is real." He touches his chest. “But I’m also what you saw last night.” He pauses as if waiting for me to have another breakdown.
But I'm done with breakdowns. I need to get the hell away from Faris, and falling apart won't help me do that. Staying strong. Planning. Looking for an opening. That’s what I have to do to get out of this alive.
So I wait. I cross my arms against the morning chill and wait.
"Dragons aren't out in the world, as you know. So what I'm about to tell you has to stay between us. There are not many of us left, and if humans knew that we existed, they would obliterate our kind." He arches a brow at me as if daring me to argue.
Curiosity starts to dig into my panic. "With what I saw last night… I can't imagine humans would be much of a threat to you." I certainly didn’t feel like a threat.
Faris gives me an arrogant smirk. It shouldn't make him more attractive, yet somehow it does. "There are less than a thousand of us left. So humans and their technology would overwhelm us if we actually came out of the dragon closet, so to speak. Sure, we could take out plenty of humans before we were eliminated. But not in the numbers we’d need to in order to ensure our survival.”
“I don’t know. You had some awfully big teeth.” Am I teasing him? Crap, I think I am. Annoyingly, even though I’m as afraid of Faris as I have been of anything in my life—afraid of the dragon I’d seen him turn into, anyway—I’m still freaking attracted to him. I’ve made some poor choices in my life, dating AJ being a notable one. But the fact I still want to taste Faris’s lips after seeing what lies under his skin takes the stupidity cake.
“All the better to eat you with, my dear…” he says in a seriously good grandma voice. “I’m kidding. We don't eat people if that makes you feel any better. We actually feed off of gold and other precious metals for our powers. And, you know, hamburgers and other normal food for basic biological reasons."
I blink. "Is that why dragons are depicted as hoarding treasure? Because you actually do?"
He lets out a short laugh and leans against a rocky outcropping. "Apparently that's a little secret that got out. But so long as everyone thinks it's just a fairytale, it doesn't matter."
"I can see why you'd want to stay a fairytale," I say, carefully. But secretly, I’m wondering what other fairy tales could be true. I almost ask if mermaids are real. If he’s met Red Riding Hood. Where all the unicorns are.
I swallow down my hysterical questions.
He glances up at the top of the outcropping, and I look up, too. There’s a bird, hopping around and tending a nest inside a little bush. I immediately move my attention back to the damn dragon in front of me.
"Like I said, there aren't many of us left. And those of us who are left have no desire to fight with billions of humans.” He looks
back at me. “Which is why I need you to stay silent about what I've told you. About what I've shown you. I need you to promise me that you can keep this a secret."
I open my mouth to tell him yes. It’s the smart thing to do. Maybe he’ll actually let me go. But then I hesitate. I don't want to lie to Faris. And I’m not really much of a liar. And I suddenly wonder if dragons can sense lies. That seems like something a book would say that they can do. "I'm not sure I can keep a secret this huge."
I tense, immediately ready to go on the defensive. Ready for Faris to threaten me or dispose of me or just change into a dragon and jump at me. Because of my own damn innate honesty.
Instead, he shrugs. And unless I'm totally misreading him, he looks cheerful. "Alrighty then."
Cautiously, I ask, "Why are you so happy?"
"Because I can't let you leave until I know you'll be discreet." He winks, then grins. "That means you get to spend more time with me."
When he smiles, all I can see is those big dragon teeth. And yet… I also want to curl up against him and bask in the glow of that smile. And that feels far more dangerous all of a sudden than his dragon.
I run.
Instead of heading back toward the camp, I speed as quickly as my legs can carry me in the other direction. Panic has its claws in me, and I keep expecting even more real dragon claws to appear in my flesh as well. But when I glance nervously over my shoulder, I see Faris in his human form just a few feet behind me. I run faster—wishing more than anything that we weren't in such a flat area that had been cleared for nearby campgrounds. There's nowhere to go. Nowhere I can hide or slip away from his sight.
I keep running and running and running until my brain can do nothing other than navigate and help me breathe. And still, the damn man doesn’t lose ground. I run for what feels like miles.