by Lizzy Bequin
She would need to see about getting her man a loincloth or something.
“Skal, say hello to Blair and Nora,” Katrine said.
“They won’t be able to understand me.”
Katrine looked at the two women and saw that they both looked totally perplexed.
“Can you really not understand him?” Katrine asked.
“You can?” Blair answered. “All I heard were some grunts and growls.”
Skal placed his hand on Katrine’s shoulder.
“You can understand me because you are my atma. We are psychically bound by the powers of Fate.”
“Oh…I guess that means I’ll be doing a lot of translating then.”
“Yes.” Skal raked his eyes over the horizon. “But that is something we can deal with later. For now, we need to free your friends and get out of here before there is trouble.”
Right. Mordragg.
Katrine nodded to Skal, and he set to work. He started with Nora’s chains. The blind woman flinched and shivered, sensing the presence of the dragon man’s massive, dangerous body.
“It’s okay,” Katrine said. “Skal is going to help.”
Skal took hold of the chains binding Nora’s hands to the wooden post. He pulled, and the iron links stretched like taffy under his strength before finally breaking. Katrine rushed forward to steady her injured friend. Next, Skal broke Blair’s chains as well.
“Holy shit,” Blair muttered in amazement as she stared at the broken chains dangling from her wrists.
“We can remove the shackles when we get back to Skal’s mountain,” Katrine said. “There are tools there. Weapons. All kinds of stuff.”
Nora moved her hand over Katrine’s metal shoulder pads and armor, feeling them out.
“What is this?” Nora asked.
“It’s alien armor. I found it in Skal’s mountain fortress too.”
“And what happened to your hair?” Blair asked.
Katrine touched her curls, suddenly remembering that she had chopped them short with a dagger in an attempt to turn off the persistent dragon. A lot of good that had done. Heat flushed her cheeks.
“It’s a long story…”
Blair’s eyes had drifted down to Katrine’s midriff, which was bare below the chestplates of her alien armor. When Katrine saw how the other woman was staring so intently, she glanced down at her own belly and realized how rounded it had already become.
“Katrine,” Blair gasped. “Are you…”
Even more heat surged into Katrine’s face.
“Even longer story,” she muttered.
“What?” Nora whined. “What are you talking about? What’s happened to Katrine.”
Blair just shook her head in astonishment.
“Katrine, but…it’s been like a day…”
“What’s going on?” Nora almost shouted.
Skal stepped forward and put a scaled arm around Katrine’s shoulder, pulling her close. His other clawed hand lovingly rubbed her rounded belly.
“They are curious about you,” Skal said. “Even though I cannot understand them, I can tell that they are wondering about your belly. Why don’t you tell them?”
“Tell them what exactly.” Katrine hissed under her breath.
Skal growled proudly.
“Tell them how I implanted my egg inside your incubation chamber, little atma.”
In that moment, Katrine was supremely grateful that her friends could not understand what her dragon mate was saying. In fact, she realized, her role as translator would probably come in handy. She would need to filter Skal’s messages from time to time.
But even though Blair and Nora had not understood Skal’s words, the way that he was embracing Katrine and smiling at her pregnant belly spoke volumes.
Blair’s eyes darted back and forth between Katrine and the dragon man. A quizzical grin quirked at the corner of her mouth.
“You mean…you and the dragon…”
Katrine was certain that her face was as red as a boiled lobster at this point. The tips of her ears felt nearly hot enough to ignite her curls.
“Look,” she stammered, “could we discuss this later? Right now we need to—“
Her words were cut off by a piercing screech in the distance. The sound pealed across the open, twilit plain, and all four of the figures standing upon the dais froze. It was Skal who moved first, turning in the direction of the awful, avian scream.
Katrine followed his gaze. She saw something coming toward them in the distance, like a giant black bat gliding across a bloody sky.
“What was that?” Nora asked in a trembling voice.
“That,” Katrine answered breathlessly. “is Mordragg.”
CHAPTER 28
“Stay back,” Skal growled at Katrine. “I will handle this.”
Truthfully, however, Skal was unsure if he would really be able to handle Mordragg. The black-scaled stormdragon was bigger, older, and more powerful. Skal was not afraid of him. He would gladly lay down his own life to protect his atma.
But there was one problem with that.
If Skal died fighting Mordragg, then Katrine would be next. And not just Katrine, but also the precious egg that now resided in her belly. Skal’s dragon spawn.
Mordragg screeched again as he flew toward them across the darkling sky, and blue lightning crackled around the stormdragon’s outstretched wings. A chill wind blew across the plain, prickling the scales on Skal’s arms.
“Skal,” Katrine said, raising her tiny hand-held weapon. “Let me help you. I can shoot him with this thing. I mean, I zapped that scimitar cat with it, right?”
Skal stooped, picked up Katrine’s dropped helmet.
“Listen to me, atma,” he growled. “You must stay back. Stay safe.”
The whump-whump-whump of Mordrag’s wings grew louder.
“But Skal, I—“
“No buts, Kat.” He pressed a searing kiss to her lips, then fitted the helmet onto her head. “This is not just about you, anymore. You must think about the other life inside you. Keep our child safe.”
Through the visor slit of the helmet, Katrine’s gray eyes were churning with concern.
“Protect your friends, atma.”
Gently, he pushed her toward the other two human females, then turned to face the oncoming Mordragg. The black dragon was close now. Skal could see the blue sizzle of electricity in the beast’s eyes.
Skal had made his decision two days before when he stole the offering. He knew that this showdown would come sooner or later.
He had made his nest, and now he had to sleep in it. He just hoped that he wouldn’t die in that sleep.
“Halt!” Skal bellowed.
Skal shifted.
Muscles bulged. Wings stretched. Horns lengthened.
Within a matter of seconds, he had morphed from a large man to an absolutely enormous red dragon. But the approaching black dragon was even bigger.
Mordragg braked with his wings, sending up a miniature sandstorm as he landed. His clawed feet touched down so heavily that the ground trembled like an earthquake. He screeched again, loud and sharp as thunder.
“Skalamagdrion. What a surprise finding you here.”
Mordrag’s eyes tilted down toward the three women huddled on the dais. Black lips peeled back from white fangs in a sinister grin.
“Oh my. Three little morsels. The villagers must be feeling especially contrite after I expressed my discontent by smiting their village.”
His eyes singled out Katrine, and his slit pupils widened.
“Hm, but one of these soft little creature’s is not like the others, I see.”
With a heavy, lumbering movement, Mordragg approached the dais, and the women huddled closer together. Skal immediately charged forward and spread his wings, blocking Mordrag’s path.
“Don’t come any closer, Mordragg.”
Bolts of rage crackled behind the stormdragon’s blue eyes.
“Are you challenging me, young one
?”
“I do not wish to challenge you Lord Mordragg.”
The black dragon chuckled cruelly.
“You don’t wish to challenge me? And yet here you are, standing between me and my offering. You know, Skalamagdrion, I’m beginning to think that you were not entirely forthright with me about my previous offering. The one that went missing.”
Skal tensed, digging in his hind claws in preparation for a fight. But Mordragg remained calm and merely peered over Skal’s outstretched wing at the dais again.
“I caught the scent of my missing offering, Skal. The stink of it was all over this altar when I arrived to find my breakfast had been purloined.” The dragon’s black nostrils flared, drinking the air. “Now I smell that reek once again, mingled with the others.”
Skal felt a scorch of rage inside his chest. His scales seemed to bristle with aggression.
“Why so protective, Skal,” Mordragg snarled. “Ah yes, I think I see…the one in the armor has a bump in her belly. That wouldn’t happen to be what I think it is? Skal, have implanted your egg inside that weak little animal?”
Skal snarled and swept his body more directly between Mordragg and his mate.
“Leave now, Mordragg. These women are coming with me.”
Mordragg shaped his black, scaly face into an expression of mock surprise.
“You’re getting a bit greedy there, Skal.”
Mordragg took a step back, but Skal recognized it was not a retreat. The stormdragon was digging in his claws, preparing for a charge.
“No,” Mordragg hissed. “You won’t be taking all three of these women with you. In fact, you won’t be taking any of them. They belong to me, Skal. My offerings. My sacrifices. You’ve already stolen one from me, but I’m willing to forgive that transgression, if you hand her over now.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Very well,” Mordragg hissed. “You remember the rules of dueling?”
“Of course. There is only one. No magic.”
“That’s right. That means I will not use my lightning magic and you will not use your fire breath…”
“Agreed.”
Mordragg lowered his head, eyes fixed on his opponent.
“Skalamagdrion, think about what you are doing. This is a no-win situation for you.”
For a moment, Skal did think about it. He knew what the elder dragon was referring to when he said it was a no-win situation. If Mordragg won the battle, then Skal would be dead. But if somehow Skal did manage to defeat Mordragg, he would eventually have to stand trial for the killing of a higher ranking dragon.
No matter what, the outcome would be bad.
So what was he supposed to do? Stand aside and let the cruel ruler of this territory devour his mate and her friends? Devour the newly planted egg that was growing in his atma’s precious belly?
Fuck that.
“My atma and her friends are coming with me,” Skal snarled. “I will protect them with my life.”
“So be it.”
The dragons charged. The scale-armored bodies clashed with a sound that quaked the ground and threatened to shake the very stars from the night sky.
CHAPTER 29
Darkness had fallen on the land.
The rumbling of the ground threw Katrine off balance and she had to lean against one of the wooden pillars to steady herself. Blair did the same. Nora, unable to see what was going on and with one bad foot, fell to her butt as if a rug had been pulled from under her.
“Nora!” Katrine shouted.
As soon as the minor earthquake ended. Katrine and Blair rushed to their fallen friend and helped her up. They all moved to the nearest wooden pillar for support just as another hard vibration rippled through the stones beneath their feet.
The dragons were slamming into each other with such force, it threatened to crack the very ground apart.
Katrine watched through the slit of her helmet, eyes wide with concern for her mate.
Both dragons backed up, dug in their hind claws, and charged a third time. The bodies crashed together with a sound like a bomb exploding. They roared and snarled. Claws raked across armored scales. Mouths bristling with fangs snapped like gargantuan fighting dogs.
Katrine’s chest tightened with anxiety.
With perfect timing, Mordragg managed to clamp his jaws around Skal’s red muzzle. The black dragon’s fangs squeezed down like an enormous vice. Katrine could almost feel the pain of that bite in her own face.
“Skal!” Katrine shrieked.
The sound of her voice ignited something inside her dragon. It flashed like fire behind his yellow eyes.
With a skillful twisting motion, Skal threw Mordragg to the ground. The impact knocked the wind from the stormdragon’s lungs, and his jaws opened, releasing Skal’s snout.
But the fight wasn’t over yet. The two dragons tumbled like giant wrestlers. Their bodies shook the earth as they clawed and bit and pummeled each other.
“Look out,” Katrine cried.
The fighting dragons were rolling toward the dais. Holding Nora between them, the women fled down the stone steps and across the sand.
They escaped just in time.
Behind them, the dais and its wooden pillars were crushed beneath the tumbling dragons.
Katrine’s heart was pounding like a drum now.
Yes, she was worried for her own safety, and that of her friends. But her biggest concern was Skal. Only one dragon was going to come away from this fight alive, and Katrine needed it to be her mate.
The baby in her belly needed that too.
Katrine wanted to help by using her alien pistol, but she couldn’t tell where to shoot. After smashing over the dais and its columns, the fighting dragons had kicked up another massive cloud of gritty sand, which now stung her eyes and left a dry taste in her mouth.
Between the sandstorm and the darkness, Katrine could hardly even see the fight. Now and then, a whipping tail or webbed wing emerged from the cloud along with the awful sounds of snarling rage.
Why didn’t Skal use his fire breath?
Katrine’s mind went back to what Skal had told her before, after they had made love. He said that following the collapse of the Arcturan Empire, a new law had been made forbidding dragons from using magic against one another. If his fire breath counted as magic, then that would explain why he was sticking to his teeth and claws.
Katrine just hoped it would be enough to defeat Mordragg.
The cloud began to settle. Katrine’s heart felt like it rose physically in her chest.
He was winning! Skal was winning!
Her mate was battered and marred from the fight, but he was on top, pinning Mordragg to the ground. Skal’s fangs were digging into his opponent’s scaly throat. The black dragon’s eyes were rolling madly with fear, and its wings were beating at Skal, trying to fend him off like a frightened goose, but to no avail.
A cheer burst from Katrine’s mouth.
“Yeah! Kick his ass, Skal!”
Even just a few days ago, when she was back on Earth, Katrine would never have figured herself for the kind of girl who would be cheering on her man in a fight. Once or twice she’d even had to talk down a belligerent boyfriend to keep him from getting into a drunken bar brawl.
But this was different. Now her boyfriend was a dragon, and he was fighting to save her life and the life of her unborn baby. Hell yeah, she would play cheerleader to that.
Mordragg’s movements grew weak and sluggish. His tail flopped against the ground like it had a mind of his own. He was defeated. A few more seconds and he would be dead.
But at the last moment, Skal released his bite.
“I don’t want to have to kill you, Mordragg,” Skal roared. “We are brethren, dragons of Arcturus. Submit, and I will let you live.”
Mordragg glared up at Skal, eyes burning blue with hatred. He said something in dragonspeak that Katrine couldn’t understand, but based on the tone, she assumed it wasn’t a surrender.
The black dragon opened his jaws wide. From between his snaggled, white fangs there arced a white bolt of lightning.
A screech of high-pitched thunder stabbed Katrine’s ears. For an instant, the nightscape strobed bright as daylight, the air reeked of ozone, and a shower of glowing sparks sprayed from Skal’s chest like pyrotechnics.
The red dragon’s body went rigid and toppled sideways, stunned.
“Skal!” Katrine screamed.
The black dragon Mordragg raised himself off his back and flapped the sand from his wings.
Again, Katrine remembered what Skal had said about dragons not using magic against each other. Well, she was pretty sure that shooting lightning out of one’s mouth counted as magic.
That meant this fucker had just cheated.
But this scaly asshole wasn’t the only one with lightning around here. She rushed forward.
Mordragg was towering over Skal, who was just coming out of his stunned daze. The evil black dragon was preparing to pounce and finish his opponent off with claws and fangs, but he paused when he heard Katrine’s furious voice.
“Hey shithead!” Katrine roared. “How about a taste of your own medicine?”
Katrine pointed the alien gun at the dragon, not even bothering to aim properly. Mordragg made such a big target, there was no way she could miss.
She pulled the trigger.
A jagged red bolt crackled from the muzzle of the gun, striking Mordragg directly on the tip of his tail, which was instantly vaporized, leaving behind a charred stump at the end.
Mordragg tossed back his head and let loose a high-pitched wheezing screech that chilled Katrine’s intestines and made her skin crawl with fear and disgust.
She pointed the gun again, this time drawing a careful bead on the dragon’s head.
Before she had a chance to pull the trigger, Mordragg’s wounded tail swiped at her. The scorched tip slammed against her shoulder pad. The alien armor absorbed the brunt of the impact, but Katrine was still knocked to the ground.
Skal bellowed at the sight.
In a flash, the red dragon was back on his feet, jaws wide and eyes glowing with rage.
He was no longer stunned.
Skal stretched his neck, tensed his throat, and blasted Mordragg with a stream of fire that engulfed the black dragon’s body.