Fire In His Kiss: A Post-Apocalyptic Dragon Romance (Fireblood Dragon Book 2)

by Ruby Dixon

  Oh boy. My face grows hotter. “Um. A mate.” I sip my coffee, letting the cup hide my embarrassment.

  Amy looks embarrassed. “Of course. I should have realized that.”

  “You can’t really realize what it means until you meet a dragon face to face,” Claudia says sympathetically. “Even talking about it doesn’t really do justice to how…intense of a meeting it can be. How singularly focused they are.”

  I nod, because she’s right about all of it. “It was definitely overwhelming. It’s very intimidating at first, but then you figure out that all they want is to take care of you, and the fear starts to go away.” Unless you’re afraid of having sex, which I was. That brought a whole different level of fear to the mix.

  You are no longer afraid, Dakh tells me with a bit of smug pride in his thoughts. You are crawling all over me every morning when—

  “That’s enough,” I murmur, embarrassed. Both Amy and Claudia look at me, and I feel even more silly. “Sorry, just responding to Dakh. I forget sometimes because his thoughts are so clear in my head, it’s like he’s talking to me.”

  “You guys seem happy enough,” Claudia says, her expression guarded. “Are you?” She gives me a thumbs up and then a thumbs down, her expression curious.

  It takes me a moment to realize she’s asking me to give her a thumbs down if I’m miserable and don’t want Dakh to know. I’m both offended and flattered. It’s sweet that she wants to help me, but does she think I’d really betray my dragon?

  I am pleased you think so highly of me now. Dakh’s thoughts are practically a nuzzle all their own. Just a short time ago you feared my touch.

  Of course I think highly of you. I love you. You make me feel safe. You treat me like no one else does.

  His thoughts are full of affection. Do not be upset at your friend, my mate. She wants only the best for you. It is amusing that your small human females think they could fight me to protect you.

  They’d probably just send Claudia’s dragon after you.

  Bah. I would not fight him, and he would not challenge me over a human. We are brothers in scales but nothing more. A drakoni’s mate is sacred.

  “Dakh is great,” I say when I realize they’re both staring at me, waiting for an answer. I give Claudia a thumbs up and a nod. “Like I said, I was scared at first, but I’m not scared anymore. He’s really wonderful. I’m never unsafe with him, and he keeps me well fed.”

  “Someone feeding you isn’t enough to stay with them,” Claudia tells me, a worried look on her face. “Is he…gentle with you?”

  Amy makes an embarrassed noise.

  “Oh come on, we’re all adults,” Claudia says. “Let’s not pretend that we’re saints. Sasha’s had some terrible shit in her past. I just want to make sure she’s truly happy, because she deserves it.”

  I’m touched. “I’m happy, Claudia. Truly. Dakh and I, we’re really good together. I’m happier with him than I ever thought I would be with anyone. And if you must know, the sex is…orgasmic. Nothing like with Tate.” I hear Dakh growl in my mind at the mention of Tate’s name. “He, um, tried to kill Tate, you know.”

  Claudia’s eyes widen. “He did?”

  I tell them how Dakh picked through my thoughts to find Tate and hunted him down and brought him to me to kill. Amy’s relieved that we let him go, but Claudia isn’t as pleased.

  “You should have killed that dickface when you had the chance,” she tells me. “He broke your arm. He hurt you deliberately.”

  I like this one, Dakh tells me. She says smart things.

  Hush, you. “Just because he’s an animal doesn’t mean we have to be. I don’t want to live with his blood on my hands.”

  “Mm. I’d be all right with it. I’ve wanted to kill him a few times myself.” Claudia sips her coffee again. “At any rate, I’m glad you and Dakh are doing well. I was worried you’d gone from one bad situation to another, and when I met Dakh…he wasn’t the sanest of dragons.”

  “He gets better every day,” I say with a smile. “Remember the journal I mentioned to you? I’ve got a fair amount of stuff but I haven’t had a chance to piece it together.”

  Claudia’s expression grows envious. “Kael can’t remember much at all.”

  I glance at Amy, who’s quiet through our conversation. I don’t want her to feel excluded, but she looks lost in her own thoughts. I shrug at Claudia. “I’ve learned a bunch of random bits and pieces, but I don’t know that I have any answers yet.”

  “Anything would be more than I have,” Claudia tells me, and the frustration is apparent on her face.

  “Because of…the baby?” When she looks shocked, I add, “Dakh says he can smell it on you. That’s one thing I’ve figured out. They can smell everything.”

  “Boy, no kidding,” Claudia mutters. She looks over at Amy and gives her a wan smile. “Surprise.”

  Oh no. I look over at Amy, horrified that I’ve spilled the beans. Amy’s mouth is open, but she recovers quickly. “I figured something was up. You’ve been a little stressed over the last few days. I thought either you were about to have your period…or it wasn’t coming at all for another reason.” She wraps her fingers around her mug. “Guess I wasn’t far off the mark.”

  “I’m a little stressed, yeah.” Claudia straightens and puts down her mug, grimacing. “I don’t know anything about babies. I don’t even know if I should be drinking coffee. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m having an egg or a baby.” She looks ready to burst into tears, which is surprising given how strong Claudia normally is.

  “Dakh told me it’s a baby,” I tell her. “If that helps things.”

  Claudia’s eyes go wide. “Seriously? He remembers that much?”

  “Well…yeah. Kael doesn’t?” I’m genuinely surprised at that. She’s made mention of how “crazy” Dakh was before, so I thought for sure Kael’s mind would be “stronger” than Dakh’s. It made me a little defensive on behalf of my poor dragon. But I can’t help but feel a little bit of pride for him that he’s got more under the hood than Kael does.

  It’s a small, silly thing to be proud of, I guess. And I feel petty for even making things a contest. But it’s still nice to know we’re not totally behind the curve.

  “I’ve asked Kael and he never has answers. His memories are pretty faint.” She puts a hand to her abdomen. “Does…does Dakh remember anything else? Can you ask him?”

  “He told me earlier that it’s a baby. Not an egg. And he’s told me in the past that there’s no fire-breathing until they pass a rite of passage into adulthood, so you don’t have to worry about that, either. And, let’s see…” I think for a moment. “Something about the fire in the blood being passed along to the baby? But it was vague.”

  She slumps, visibly relieved. “That’s all right. As long as I know I’m not having a flaming egg, that takes a lot of the worry off of me.” Her hands tremble as she presses them against her stomach, and then she exhales deeply, as if releasing all of her tension and stress. “You have no idea the nightmares I’ve been having.”

  “I can imagine.” I don’t know how I’d feel being the first one to have a half-human, half-drakoni baby.”

  No? You do not wish to carry my young? Dakh’s thoughts press into mine.

  You would pick up on that, wouldn’t you?

  Of course. I hear all your thoughts. I enjoy them.

  I didn’t say I don’t want a baby. I just don’t want to be the first one to figure things out.

  What is there to figure out? You are my mate. His thoughts are full of affection and lust. It is all very natural and right.

  I’m sure it is. But until you remember a bit more about being drakoni, I would rather let someone else play guinea pig first.

  Our child would never harm you. I would not let anything harm you.

  I know. And it stands to reason that if you can make me pregnant, it can’t be a bad thing for me. It’s just…a little scary to think about.

  Do not fear. I am stro
ng and can keep both you and our young safe.

  I’ve no doubt about that, babe. I promise. I send him warm thoughts to appease his feelings, just in case.

  “Well, I’m really glad you came by,” Claudia tells me, and the worry seems to have smoothed away from her brows. “I’ve been wondering about you for weeks now. I felt guilty that I couldn’t save you both.”

  “It’s all right,” I tell her as I take another sip of coffee. “I feel silly because it never occurred to me that Dakh could reach out and say hello. He mentioned it yesterday and it was a real forehead-slapping moment.” I grin at them. “The moment I realized we could get in touch I came by. Having a dragon as transportation and communication is still pretty new to me. I didn’t think about it, and I feel like we’ve lost out on weeks.”

  Claudia gives me a rueful smile. “The important thing is that you’re happy and healthy. And you can come visit us regularly! Or we can visit you!”

  “One of us can, at least,” Amy says gently.

  Claudia winces. “Okay, yeah, one of us can. Though I can’t exactly leave you behind…” She looks at me, a helpless question in her eyes.

  “We can visit,” I assure her. “I might even be able to convince Emma to come along at some point, but she’s still not used to dragons. I’ll just have to figure out a better method of flying.” I shudder, thinking about repeated trips in Dakh’s claws.

  “Aha.” Claudia gets a triumphant look on her face and sits up straight. “Now that, I can definitely help with.”

  36

  SASHA

  A short time later, Dakh’s on the concrete floor of Claudia’s apartment, his tail lashing back and forth with impatience. Amy sits nearby on a chair, stinking of rose perfume, her face turned up to the fresh air as Claudia and I argue over the saddle buckles.

  “You have to knot it here,” Claudia tells me.

  “But wouldn’t a cinch be better? I don’t want to pinch Dakh’s skin.” I stroke a hand over Dakh’s scales, worried.

  “He’s a dragon, you dork. You can’t pinch him.” She gestures at the ropework criss-crossing his torso. “And you need to make sure your knots will hold or you’ll slide right off the side. Not that you have any experience with that, right?”

  “Oh, sarcasm. How I’ve missed you,” I tease, and do the knots as Claudia shows me. To Dakh, I send, You okay, babe? Not too tight?

  Not at all. Tie it tighter if you must. I do not want you in danger of falling.

  Don’t you worry. We won’t lift off if it’s not safe. I take another set of cords and look to Claudia for instruction. We’ve been practicing the saddle rigging all afternoon, because I’m going to have to learn how to do it on my own. The moment Dakh changes to human, it doesn’t matter how tight my knots are, because they’ll all fall off of him. So I need to make sure I know how to put things on and take them off easily. Claudia’s been patient with me, demonstrating on Kael how she has her saddle contraption set up, and then removing it, over and over again, so I can practice on Dakh. She’s given me her back-up saddle gear, promising that we can get more in a few days.

  I’m pretty excited at the thought of flying on a saddle, but I’m also worried that I’m going to mess something up and careen right off the side again.

  I will watch for you, Dakh promises. And I will not let you hit the ground. I will catch you long before you even get close.

  That’s thoughtful of you, babe, but I’m not sure I even want to get to the “falling off the side” part at all. I need to get this right. I concentrate on the series of cords and winches, the belts and stirrups. It’s a tangle, of course, but Claudia’s methods make sense. I can see why she did things this way.

  Eventually I’ve triple-checked all my straps and adjusted the body harness I’m wearing. Claudia tells me it’s from a bungee-jumping platform that she raided. All I know is that they hook into the saddle, which is strapped onto the dragon, which makes me feel a heck of a lot safer. “I think I’m ready to give this a shot.”

  “It’ll be fine, I promise.” Claudia gives me a cheery look. “And Kael and I will be right beside you.” She pats her dragon’s flank and shoots him a happy smile, sharing a conversation I can’t hear.

  Oh sure. She makes it seem like no big deal.

  It is no big deal, Dakh reassures me, nosing my hair. Kael tells me he and his mate fly daily. She loves it.

  Yeah, but Claudia’s always been a lot braver than me. I tighten the straps across my chest one more time. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  “Here,” Claudia tells me, and holds out a pair of swim goggles. “You’re going to need these. And keep your mouth shut, because I have swallowed far too many bugs.”

  I smother a laugh at that and put the swim goggles on. My hair’s braided tight already, and I turn to glance over at the others. “How do I look?”

  “Stylish,” Amy calls out as she gets to her feet. “If you guys are heading out, I’ll go downstairs.” She limps to my side, eyeing the dragons nervously, and then gives me a hug. “It was wonderful seeing you again, Sasha. I’m so happy you’re safe.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, and give her an enthusiastic hug back. “I’ll come back and visit very soon, I promise.”

  She nods and then heads back to the door on the far side of Claudia’s apartment, heading back toward her bunker. I want to help her. It’s clear she feels trapped, not just by her situation, but by everything. The sad look never leaves her eyes.

  Dakh noses me. I can hear your thoughts, my infant. You cannot fix her problem. She is safe this way.

  I chuckle to myself, as I always do when he calls me “infant” instead of “baby.” Fine, fine. We’ll solve one problem at a time. He lowers his shoulder, and I put my foot into the stirrup, grabbing at the straps hanging down from the pommel to help me mount him. A moment later, I have a leg flung over his back and I’m seated in my saddle. I test the bicycle handlebars screwed into the leather, and then get to work adjusting my leg straps as Claudia gets on Kael’s back and does the same. She’s made things as easy as possible. Each strap is a different color, and so it’s easy to figure out that the red strap ties to the red strap, the green buckle goes to the green buckle. By the time I’m done, I’m a little mentally exhausted by all the buckling and harnessing, but I also feel very secure.

  Test it, Dakh tells me. Try to fall off.

  I do, bouncing in the saddle and then leaning over heavily. I pull on the straps, and move wildly in the saddle, seeing if anything budges. Nothing moves. I’m solid. “I think we’re good.”

  “All right!” Claudia gives me a thumbs up and then pulls her goggles down over her eyes. “Let’s take a turn around the building, shall we?”

  I nod and put a pair of gardening gloves on, then grip the handlebars. “Let’s go once around the building, Dakh.”

  As you wish.

  Maybe I’m expecting him to gently ease forward, or for things to be slow, but my dragon flings himself into the air. My head snaps back, and I let out a screech of surprise. I cling to the handlebars and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for certain death.

  You are safe. Nothing has shifted. Dakh’s tone is amused. You can open your eyes.

  And you can quit laughing, I tell him primly, and force myself to look out. The world is spread open before us, Dakh’s wings open wide to catch a breeze. He dips his head, and my view is clear. It’s…breathtaking. From up here, Old Dallas is green and gray, concrete and overgrowth, and being on top of Dakh instead of flung about in his claws feels powerful.

  Well? What do you think? My dragon asks.

  There’s a lot less jostling, I tell him, and dare to lift my hand long enough to put it on his neck. And you? You’re comfortable?

  I am. Even if I was not, if it was what you needed, I would endure.

  You’re sweet.

  You are my mate. Why would I not want the best for you? He sounds puzzled.

  It’s just nice to hear, I tell him.

  Then I need
to tell you such things all the time.

  You already do. I send him a burst of affectionate thoughts and then take a deep breath, gazing out at the horizon stretched before me. Funny how perspective changes when your ride does. Here on top of Dakh’s back, I feel like the world is open to us. Maybe it’s not a crazy thing to fly away from Fort Dallas and see the world. Maybe we could search out other cities, nicer places to live, places with more survivors… Maybe we could see the world, or what’s left of it. The Grand Canyon would still be there. Yellowstone, too. Niagara Falls... The possibilities are endless. Heck, the beach. I love the beach. Just the thought makes me wistful. I went there on vacation with my family only a few weeks before the Rift struck.

  Memories hit me like a wall, and I suck in a breath, blinking back tears. I can’t cry. It’ll fog my stupid goggles.

  Do you wish to go to the ocean? I will take you. Point me in that direction and we will go. I will leave this instant. Dakh’s thoughts are full of comfort and concern. Only do not be sad, my sweet fire.

  I love you, babe, I tell him. I’m not sad, I promise.

  I am in your head. I can sense your sadness.

  Just thinking about the past. I lost my parents when the Rift tore open. They died in one of the very first dragon attacks.

  I am…sorry.

  I’m not blaming you, sweetie. I stroke his neck scales again. Whoever attacked couldn’t help it. I’ve felt your thoughts. I know they’re overwhelming. It’s not just me who suffered. Everyone did. You did, too. I send him comforting thoughts. Did you lose anyone when you came through?

  There is a long pause in his thoughts. He tilts his wings, and we turn a corner around the large building. Nearby, Claudia gives me another thumbs up, Kael flying a short distance away. I give her a little wave to let her know I see her. Then Dakh answers. Yes…I think I did. I do not remember a name, but I seem to recall…a sibling. A brother.

  Oh my goodness. And he’s here? Or back on the other side?

  He came through. I do not know what happened to him after that. I do not even know what happened to myself. His thoughts are wry. And the more I try to think about it, the harder it gets.