by Pearl Foxx
Something about the human woman had captured his attention, and he couldn’t help but feel protective of her. It was an unusual feeling, and as soon as he recognized it, he clamped down on it, refusing to let it surface.
Despite the death of his mate over five years ago, he still considered himself a mated male. He left no room in his life for new connections or romantic entanglements beyond the occasional need to scratch an itch. He hadn’t found himself thinking about one single woman in so long that the sensation was foreign and unwelcome.
By the time he realized where he was wandering, he’d crossed over the bridge and climbed the rope ladder at the edge of the southern mountaintop. Deciding it was too late to turn back now, he crested the rock and peered down at the ice field where the unmated females were learning to fight.
They worked in small groups, their booted feet sending them gliding over the ice. They sparred with staffs and blunt weapons. It had been ages since he’d watched the unmated women train, but Zayd was pleased to see the precision and gracefulness of their movements, though he’d never admit aloud that Kinyi was doing an excellent job with the women.
As he descended onto the ice field, Kinyi noticed him and threw him a flirty smile. Zayd nodded his hello but didn’t linger near her. She was tall and lithe, muscular and strong. Exactly the kind of mate a Draqon would want to ride with into battle. But the idea of her astride his back made his chest tighten, and his black hole of grief sucked him in a little further.
He took stock of the women as they trained. They all stood up a bit straighter, moving with more speed, their strikes stronger now that he was watching. Toward the back, he spotted a small figure struggling before falling onto the ice with enough force to leave a fantastic display of bruises.
He knew it was Niva, wearing dark-colored leather pants, a leather halter reinforced with shed Draqon scales in blues and greens, and her hair tied up in a knot on the top of her head.
Zayd watched as she lost her balance again and again. Without thinking, he started toward her, but before he got there, Kinyi’s voice shattered the peaceful evening. She’d reached Niva first.
“Niva! What the hell are you doing?”
“I…” Niva tried to stand, but only managed to slip and fall again, cracking her elbow on the ice.
Standing over her, Kinyi scowled down at the young woman. “I thought you wanted to learn? Are you even trying?”
Without help, Niva gathered her feet beneath her and stood. “Sorry. It’s just so slippery.” With a grimace, she rubbed her elbow. “I didn’t realize working on the ice would be this challenging.”
Zayd was about to turn back and let the women sort it out, when Kinyi pushed Niva’s shoulder, sending her windmilling back. She landed on her ass in the crunchy snow. He froze, a growl locked in his chest.
Kinyi’s starkly beautiful face morphed as she leaned in toward Niva with a cruel smirk. “I mean it’s not like any Draqon is actually going to let you ride them.”
“Kinyi!” Zayd was at Niva’s side in an instant, pulling her up by the elbow. “Is this how you train new females? You berate and humiliate them? Everyone else here has been working on this for years. A leader must understand how to inspire motivation in new recruits.”
Kinyi’s eyes narrowed on him, and he swore he saw a puff of smoke come from her nostrils, even though that wasn’t possible. “We generally don’t get new recruits, Zayd,” Kinyi retorted, using his name familiarly despite his public admonishment. “Why don’t you shift and let me hop on your back? We’ll show this human exactly how it’s supposed to be done.”
“I’ve told you before, I don’t take riders.” His voice rang out cold and cruel even to his ears, bouncing off the ice and snow around them. He realized his hand was still on Niva’s elbow and dropped it with a jerk. “If you can’t manage even the most basic of training, I’ll have to bring her up to speed myself.”
“It’s okay, Zayd,” Niva said. Her eyes darted nervously between him and Kinyi, her lip caught between her teeth. “Kinyi was just trying to help.”
“Let’s go, Niva.”
He walked away, leaving Kinyi to stand there fuming. He could feel her anger with such fire that he was sure if he turned around, there would be a hot spring surrounding her where she stood. When he reached the ladder, he glanced behind him to find Niva a few feet back. Relief flooded him that she had followed after all.
“We’ll go across the bridge and to the eastern field.”
She sighed heavily as she climbed down after him. “Is this really necessary? Kinyi is going to hate me.”
“Kinyi hates everybody. Don’t take it personally.”
From her lack of response, he knew she was already taking it personally. But why had he lost his temper with Kinyi, especially so publicly? He’d shamed her in front of the other women, calling her position into question. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper like that. Except he knew that it totally was. It hadn’t used to be like him. He used to be even-tempered and mild in his management of the hive.
Since Sotu had died, his temper had raged. Usually, he kept it aimed inwardly, admonishing and berating himself to fuel the anger that kept him alive, instead of directing it at others. But something about the way Kinyi treated Niva pulled forth a protective instinct that surprised even him. He didn’t like the way she’d been yelling at the human. Niva hadn’t deserved that, she’d been trying, but the thoughts turned sour in his mind. Why should he care how Kinyi treated Niva?
At the bottom of the ladder, he offered Niva a hand to help her across the slippery surface. She stared at him, frowning. “What are you doing?”
Her voice was soft but firm, sweet with an edge of darkness he recognized. Dammit, he liked the sound of it. Because of that, he snapped, “I’m helping you.”
“I didn’t ask for your help. I don’t want to risk being alienated from the other women. I want to belong.”
“You’re not being alienated. You’re being honored.” He felt his anger rising to the surface again and stamped it down with a frown. “You do realize I’m the leader here.”
“I understand that. But I just want to be treated like everyone else, not as a pity case.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and Zayd had to keep himself from staring at the swell of her breasts in the tight halter she wore. The dark leathers she’d been given to wear fit her like a dream, conforming to her gentle curves perfectly. And those eyes, bright and shining, green like nothing he’d seen before.
He wished it were his scales reinforcing her halter top and not some unknown male’s. But the thought was unbidden and wrong. Who cared whose scales she wore?
“This is a hive, my orders aren’t questioned, and my demeanor isn’t up for your approval. If you don’t want to be trained—”
“No, I do!” Niva said in a rush, reaching out, but her fingers stopped short of making contact with his skin. “I just don’t want to be an outsider here. I was an outsider on Earth and then with the Vilkas, and I’m tired of it. If I’m going to live here, I want to pull my weight. I want to fit in.”
“Then you need to train.” Zayd turned and strode quickly toward the eastern field. They crossed a bridge over a deep cavern with a waterfall rushing by. The sound of the water soothed his nerves, and by the time they reached the training area, he found he was looking forward to working with Niva. His shoulders relaxed, and he took up a fighting stance on the ice, which was lightly covered in a fine dusting of snow.
Niva tentatively crossed to him, her eyes wearily taking in his stance. “We’re going to fight?”
“No, you’re going to try to hit me,” he said, shifting his weight back and forth, the familiar energy of sparring bringing him to life.
Niva raised her eyebrows and looked at him. “Just like that? Just hit you?”
“If you can.” Zayd couldn’t help but notice the way Niva’s cheeks flushed ever so slightly beneath her dark skin and her pupils dilated. He stared at her for a moment, struck by ju
st how beautiful she was, her sparkling green eyes a breath of spring air during his eternal winter.
As he stared at her, Niva crouched and rushed forward to deliver the first blow. Before she even reached him, she fell on the ice.
“Fuck this ice!” she said, cursing creatively.
His eyes widened as the vile words fell from her pretty mouth.
She glared up at him and instantly scowled when he didn’t hide his grin quickly enough.
“I didn’t even have to move to beat you,” he said, tucking his smile away. “You have to learn the ice. Think of it like the current of air flowing around you as you sit astride a Draqon’s back. We train here so you can learn balance. You need a strong core and soft hips in order to move as the wind forces your body around. To ride your mate, you’ll need to adjust your weight on his back to match his movements. You’ll have to connect through more than body language, knowing where he intends to go and accommodating or signaling a different flight path with your body.”
Her face shuttered with sadness, her previous anger burning out like a forgotten ember. “I know I’m new here, and I’m not trying to assume anything of your people, but would a Draqon male ever take a human mate?” She bit her lip, her eyes slipping away to stare at the snow beside his feet. “Would they ever take me?”
The words “they would be stupid not to” almost fell from his lips before he held them back. But Kinyi might have had a point. No Draqon he knew would ever allow a human to ride them—except for possibly Maxsym. He would let anything with two legs ride him, but Zayd would have to be long dead before he allowed Maxsym to take Niva as a mate.
He carefully chose his words to keep her hope at bay. “You may find someone to love here, even someone to bear children with, but the chances of you ever riding into battle are slim.”
He thought he’d picked the right words, but her face fell with disappointment.
“Oh,” she said.
“You don’t want to ride in battle, Niva,” he said a bit too softly. “It’s dangerous. You’re too delicate.”
Her eyes locked on his, and that ember of anger flared back to life. “I’m not delicate. I’m small, but I’m not fragile. I could do it.”
For a moment, Zayd imagined what it would be like to have her small body astride his massive second form, how their bodies would move and flow together in unison. He shook his head, dismissing the thought but not before a swell of excited anticipation bloomed in his chest.
“Possibly,” he allowed. “But first you must train. We start with the ice. Now, hit me.”
Niva bent her knees and moved forward, but she was tentative, slow.
“Caution won’t get a blow in. Caution will just make it easier for me to knock you down.” He moved quickly, letting his feet glide over the ice as he glided around her too fast for her to follow. Gently, he pushed her on the back.
Niva lurched forward but regained her balance quickly. She threw him a broad smile over her shoulder. “I didn’t fall.”
“Congratulations. You can now keep up with the toddlers. Now, hit me.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he could see his insult had landed precisely the way he had planned; she had a fire in her even if it was a slow-simmering burn, but it was far hotter than just a mere ember. It lit beneath the surface like the magma that heated the hot springs, bringing beauty and life to the valley, but deadly if someone fell into one of the caverns and got too close.
Niva slid around for a moment, using her hips and thighs to gauge how the ice adjusted to her weight. Furrows lined her brow, and she chewed her lip in concentration, her eyes locked on her feet. While she figured out how to move her body over the slippery surface, Zayd watched.
He was transfixed, unable to tear himself away from how she maneuvered her body. Her strong stomach was on display thanks to the low leathers and high-cut halter. He stared at the strip of flesh as her muscles flexed. Up higher, a bead of sweat rolled down from her collarbone, sliding over her dark skin and straight down between her breasts.
“I think I’m figuring it out,” she said, surprising him with her words, so he ripped his gaze away from her chest.
Heat rose to his face. He shouldn’t ogle some human he’d just met. “Good.”
Before she could smile at his approval and further distract him, he rushed her again, but this time, when he went to push her, she ducked and spun around on one foot, pushing him back in the chest just hard enough to force them to slide apart. His body burned with the imprint of her hands on his skin.
“It’s kind of like air skating,” she said, eyes bright. “Earth used to have a thing called ice skating, but then there was no more ice and no more electricity to make artificial ice. But in the space station, we had a sport called air skating where they would change the gravitational field in a ring, and you could glide around on special shoes. One time, I went—”
Zayd struck her on the front of her shoulder. She landed in a lunge, smacking one knee on the ice.
She scowled up at him. “That wasn’t fair.”
“Draqons don’t care much about fairness.”
“You spit acid and fire at your enemies from the air. That definitely doesn’t sound fair.”
“Fair no, but it does win. Now less talking, more fighting.”
She came forward, faster this time, rushing toward him and lunging at his shoulder. He pivoted out of the way, but she didn’t skid off uncontrollably as expected. Instead, she pivoted back and smacked him in the shoulder. She dove under a gentle punch he threw toward her face and came up standing behind him. She placed a hand on his back, and a shiver ran through his body that he couldn’t control.
“I could hit you now.” Her voice whispered across his skin like a caress.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I just wanted to prove that I could.”
Zayd turned around and stared at her hard, his heart hammering much too fast in his chest. “That proves nothing. It only shows that you could have and didn’t. Next time, hit me.”
Niva moved her shoulder back, signaling that she was about to throw a punch as he had suggested, so he backed away and stepped to the left—right into her trap. She dropped to her knees and slid around him, coming up behind him. When he turned, expecting her to be slow over the ice, she slammed her fist directly into his face, crunching his cheekbone and making his teeth throb.
He blinked at her.
“You said to hit you,” she said, shaking out her hand as he brought a finger to his smarting cheek. Her self-satisfied grin eased the pain of the punch.
“I did.”
The punch hadn’t been harder than what he’d taken before, but it had been unexpected, and something about that not only impressed him, but also fueled the part of his brain that had been shut down for over five years. The part that wanted to take her right there on the ice and show her exactly what a Draqon male was capable of. His cock awoke, screaming its agreement with that idea.
As he struggled against his warring emotions, Niva placed a hand on her hip, accentuating her curves and bringing his eyes back down to her taut stomach.
“I think you should be a little more impressed,” she said. “I don’t think you thought I could hit you. And I did!” She slid around on the ice, a smile blooming on her face as she danced around him.
Zayd couldn’t help the grin that cracked through his stoic resolve and took over his face at her exuberance. She had more than just a good left hook in her; she also had spirit and fire and compassion and resolve, and so much more he knew likely lay just beneath the surface.
“Maybe one day I could ride a Draqon in battle.”
Zayd’s mind went black, and he lashed out without thinking. “That will never happen. Ever.” His voice was a growl, and in the back of his mind, he knew his anger was unwarranted, but he couldn’t stop it from mounting, overpowering his reason. All he could see was Niva falling off a Draqon male who wasn’t fit for her, who wasn’t the right match, and falling i
nto the fire, burning alive.
“But you said—”
He didn’t care what he’d said before. Now, he’d seen her move. Seen her triumph after hitting him. She had the right instincts and skill to learn to ride a Draqon. And if she took a male who fought well, she might just end up in a battle.
His mind rioted with fear.
“No Draqon will take you. You’ll never ride. Training for you is about as useful as teaching a Katu how to swim. But you wanted to be here, so you might as well do what everyone else does.”
As he spoke, her eyes filled with tears, but he couldn’t feel bad. If his cruelty kept her safe, then that was enough for him. He didn’t need her to like him. He only needed her to stay alive.
Before he had to watch her first tear fall, he strode back toward the central valley. His mood was foul and dark, and he had to force himself to tread lightly across the wooden rope bridge. His fists clenched and unclenched, his heart pounded in his ears, and his mind obsessively repeated simulations of ways Niva might die if she rode into battle.
The woman had gotten beneath his skin, something no one ever did. Not since Sotu.
Lost in his thoughts, he stomped back toward his dwelling.
“It looks like you’ll have a dark one tomorrow.” Maxsym’s voice interrupted his reverie.
Zayd spun around, assuming he meant Niva.
But his Swarm Master merely pointed to his cheek. “That’s quite a bruise. Did the little girl get you hard?” Maxsym let out an obnoxious laugh that, if he wasn’t careful, would lose him some teeth.
Whirling away and stomping toward his quarters, Zayd poked at his cheek. He relished the pain as it brought clarity as well as the memory of Niva.
Chapter Four
Niva
After her disastrous training with Zayd, Niva stayed away from the Draqons. She returned to her dwelling and, even though it was still early in the morning, crawled back into bed to hide beneath the heavy fur blanket.