The Queen's Wings

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “Once you shift, you’ll need to be settled before you can risk a litter,” Niall assured me, but his calming hand on my knee wasn’t settling the jitters in my stomach.

  “So I’m going to be a dragon baby-making machine? I wasn’t hatched. I’m probably not even fertile. How does that even work?”

  “The science of it is fascinating,” Niall said leaning forward eagerly. “The egg gestates inside the womb just as the fetus does, but at a much quicker rate because it has to mature outside of the body.”

  “So I literally give birth to a bowling ball?”

  “Three or four, usually.”

  I blanched.

  “In a row.”

  I reached for the door handle.

  “But don’t worry. You wouldn’t be fertile again for a few months. It will give your body time to adjust.”

  “Adjust?” I had a really vulgar mental image and tried to block it out. “Then what? I have to sit on the eggs?”

  “You’re not a chicken,” Jack said.

  “Bawk. Bawk,” I replied. “You try passing four watermelons out of your ass and see how brave you are.”

  Niall shook his head. “I don’t think you understand the physiology of it.”

  I held up a hand before Niall said the word vagina. I would never recover from that. “I get the gist. It’s unpleasant.”

  “But necessary.”

  “I don’t want to do it.”

  The three men exchanged glances, and Niall cleared his throat before speaking. “It’s understandable that you would be uncomfortable and unused to our ways after being raised a human for most of your life. But as a dragon, a female dragon, you have responsibilities to your race.”

  “Listen, I get the scream sheets. I see pictures of you guys on covers of magazines. I read about the power plays you do. Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I fell off the turnip truck. If I don’t want to be a Brood Mother, me and Iron Britches are going to cross our legs and wait you out.”

  “This is a pointless argument. You are a human. You think like a human, and you’ll always be a human,” Reed said, gripping the wheel until he was white knuckled.

  “When I dreamed of becoming a dragon, it was about flight and freedom. Not being shackled to a bed making whoopee with strangers. Well, there was that one dream…never mind. I figured you’d train me to fight and we’d go on bombing runs or something.”

  “We’re not at war,” Niall said.

  “Tell that to Zhang,” I said, picturing the Red Westerns attacking the embassy again.

  Chapter Five

  Fifth Rule of Dragons: Hell hath no fury like a Queen scorned

  Of course I made the decision to make a run for it as soon as we stopped. I wasn’t going to stay where I wasn’t wanted, just to be poked and prodded and found lacking—again. I’d been through all of this before and it was hard enough without Reed sneering at me.

  Only we didn’t stop until we reached a small village in upstate New York. Once a college town, Paisley had dwindled down to dragons, and the people who loved them when the college lost its accreditation.

  It was a beautiful New England campus. No barbed-wire fences or patrols, but lots of wide-open spaces. No one really came up this far without being spotted by dragon radar, and by that I meant sky dragons that faded so well into the clouds and sky, you would have to be right next to them to see. I’d be like a mouse to an owl if I ran out here.

  Reed and Jack left to report in, and Niall and I were given a tour of the buildings. The labs were converted dorm rooms, the examination room was bigger than my first apartment. Niall left me in the scientists’ hands and went to the library. If I had been smart, I would have insisted on going, too. He’d have been distracted within an hour and I could have slipped away. Instead, I started the first battery of blood work. I peed in the cup. They took all my vitals and then checked me into a room down the hall.

  I could have told them the poking and prodding was useless. The blood tests would come back that I was completely human with a slight abnormality that no one could explain. There were no dragon chromosomes or any other DNA lurking around inside of me. Would they punt me out based on that? Or would I be a pincushion for another go-around?

  When things quieted a bit, I slipped out of my room and down the hall. I didn’t have any restraining devices on me and the nurse at the station smiled as I passed. The problem was I was the only female around. I tended to stick out. I recognized Jack’s voice and followed it. He had his back to the door, looking out of the window in an office while he talked on the phone.

  “There have been large security breaches in some of the older dragons’ hoards. Powerful magical items have been targeted. Someone is amassing the treasures, but for what purposes, we don’t know,” he said. “I’m glad to hear those two drakes didn’t get your hoard.”

  So Jack was on the phone with Zhang.

  “She’s here at Paisley.”

  And they were talking about me. I hid next to the door so I could eavesdrop.

  “Yes, I read her file. But I also saw what she did to a pistol and a wall. No human can do that.”

  My heart thumped loud. If only Reed could see that logic.

  “Of course this is a secured line. We’re not going to go into lockdown until the lab results are back. Once they’re in, she’ll be locked up safe and sound.”

  The hell she will.

  I made it to the elevator without anyone stopping me. Tucking my ponytail into the back of my shirt, I crossed my arms over my breasts and tried to act like a man—but I don’t think I was fooling anyone. If anyone asked, I’d say I was going to see Niall at the library while we waited for the test results. It was a no-win situation. If the labs came back with the same old, same old I was not going to stay where I wasn’t wanted. I certainly didn’t want to see Reed’s I-told-you-so face. And if they came back positive, like Jack was thinking they would, I didn’t want to be locked up and forced to have babies.

  I was able to leave the building without being accosted. I guess the lab results weren’t back yet, or maybe they thought there wasn’t anywhere I could run. I’d show them. I’d go back to the hangar and stay there. I could jury-rig a cot in my office. Niall could protect me until I shifted—if I ever did. The thought was depressing and I put it aside.

  Walking across the quad, I kept my head down. It was more of if-I-can’t-see-you-you-can’t-see-me defense, and as childish as it sounded, it worked. Until I headed to the parking lot. The campus security drove up as I was sauntering along the cars checking to see if anyone had left their keys in their ignition.

  “Can I help you, ma’am?” the driver asked. He wasn’t blindingly good-looking so there was a chance he wasn’t a dragon; they tended to let humans do the grunt work. I sniffed to make sure. He smelled like tacos. My eyes caught on a bunch of fast-food bags in the backseat.

  “I forgot where I parked,” I lied with a smile on my face, hoping he would move along and take his chimichanga aroma with him. I was getting hungry.

  “What kind of car you drive?”

  “Ford Taurus.” It wasn’t a lie. It just was parked a state away.

  “Who were you here to see?”

  I blanked. “Agent Reed,” I blurted out. Stick with the facts.

  The driver brightened. “Oh, you must have gotten turned around. His building is on the other side of campus. Get in. I’ll give you a lift.”

  “No thanks,” I said, backing away. The smell of Mexican food was stronger now. No human smelled like that, even if they took a bath in refritos.

  “I insist,” he said, getting out of the car.

  I turned to run for it, but he was faster. He literally picked me off my feet and threw me into the passenger seat of the car.

  “Thank you for saving us the trouble of breaking into the lab.” He locked the doors. Up close, his scent hit me like fake a Cuban cigar over enchiladas.

  How did I get into these messes? I just wanted to steal a car and
drive away in peace. What was the world coming to when you couldn’t commit grand theft auto without being kidnapped. “You’ve made a mistake,” I said.

  These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

  He smiled. “Nice try.”

  “I’m Alice. I’m Reed’s housekeeper.” If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

  “I have a hard time believing that. You rode in with three studs. One old fart I don’t recognize and two of the best fighters in the North American corps.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’m number three.”

  “I’m guessing not for long,” I said and peeked out the window. We were leaving the campus and no one had even noticed my abduction. I wasn’t even a Queen yet. Why did he take me?

  “So why are you so important, Alice?”

  At least he didn’t know either.

  “It’s my mad tongue skills,” I said and then winced as he gripped my arm with harder-than-human strength.

  “Rumor has it, they found a Queen. But you don’t smell like one.” He took an exaggerated sniff.

  “Just let me go. I’m human. My house was destroyed by dragons and this is their way of making amends.”

  “I don’t believe you, chica. Tell me the truth. What were you doing in the lab? Is there a Queen inside? This doesn’t have to get ugly.”

  “I’m thinking it does,” I whispered and concentrated on the churning my stomach had been doing since I’d gotten into the car with Reed back in Connecticut.

  “I first thought you were a whore, but Reed hates humans. He wouldn’t touch you with that idiot Jack’s dick and that old fart pushing.”

  Bitter acid filled the back of my mouth.

  “You’re not going to hurl are you?”

  “Worse,” I warbled and let out a belch that shook the windows and streamed a noxious vapor right at him.

  He cradled his face and hollered. Yanking on the wheel, I made us swerve into a ditch.

  I banged my head on the dashboard when we hit, and I sat dazed for a moment. His choking sobs were growing into growls as his skin started flaking off into feathered scales. Quetzalcoatl. If I could get to the forest before he got into the air, I could manage to get away.

  Quetzalcoatls didn’t have any feet and relied on their heavy jaws and tail to take down prey. I unbuckled the seat belt and hit the unlock button on the keys dangling from the ignition. Getting out of the car was tricky with the door wedged, but I was able to squeeze through. At the last minute, he grabbed my ankle and I squealed in terror. His body was changing inside the car and he would bite my foot off if I didn’t get free. Screaming, I burped another blast at him. It was loud, even for me. And he let go, taking my sneaker with him. I ran as fast as I could.

  The windows of the car shattered and the dragon screeched as he powered out of the car. It forced my feet into higher gear. My bare foot hit twigs, rocks, and leaves. I stumbled, but I didn’t dare glance back. If only my body would explode into a glorious Western dragon. I tilted my head back and roared, willing my wings to sprout forth. A talon snatched me from the Earth and in seconds I was surrounded by sky.

  “I’ll kill you!” I thrashed, but then realized the dragon’s body was scaled and red instead of feathered peacock greens and blues. “Unless, of course, you’re Jack. And then I’d just say thank you.”

  He let out a loud huff between his nostrils, and I decided not to glance down, which was a good thing, because gravity asserted itself when he let me go. Stomach flipping, my shriek cut off when I hit the ground five feet later. The huge, red-scaled body drifted over me and landed like a graceful cat. Folding his massive wings back, he nudged me with his tail until I was face to face with him. Only his face was as long as my whole body and nearly five times as wide.

  “Some douchebag kidnapped me,” I said.

  Jack huffed again and smoke curled out of his nostrils. I gaped at him. This was as close as I’ve ever been to a dragon, other than Niall.

  “Can I touch you?” I asked reaching my hand to his face.

  He slowly opened his mouth wide and while I was distracted with his very large teeth—seriously they were as long as my arms—I missed the big red tongue as it knocked me on my ass.

  “Gross,” I said. But because I burped up acid, I really couldn’t point fingers. I settled on running my finger over the tops of his hands, where seven talons dug into the ground. “I suppose you guys are kind of pissed at me.”

  The sky darkened, and I peeked up to see a large black dragon soaring toward us. I panicked and scrambled to my feet, but Jack was too quick with his tail and tripped me. He laid the damn heavy thing across my butt so I couldn’t move.

  The ground shimmered when the mighty black hit the earth. At the second thump I rolled over and saw Reed had dropped my kidnapper in a snaky heap on the ground.

  “Is he dead?” I asked.

  “No,” Reed rumbled, his voice deep and angry.

  I blinked in shock. I didn’t think the big dragons could talk in this form.

  “He works for my mother. Her spies have been telling her there’s a new dam in the country. She wants to meet you.”

  “Iron Britches wants to meet me?”

  Reed lowered his head so it loomed over me. I pressed down into ground and tried to remember what breath weapon blacks had.

  “Poison,” he said. “Yes, you said that out loud. You best practice referring to her as my Queen.”

  “But she’s not my Queen.”

  “No, but she may decide to kill you before you come into your power.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “She’s a bitch,” Jack said, his age sounding in his voice while he was in dragon form.

  Reed snarled at him. “I will take Carolyn to meet my mother. If she sees you flirting with her, it will only exacerbate the situation. You’ll be staying here with Niall trying to find a common link to the thefts.”

  I reached out to hug Jack’s tail. “Don’t leave me alone with Iron Ass.”

  “I won’t bite,” Reed said and stretched his jaws so my entire body was under his gaping maw. I saw the poison sacs up close and while the scientist in me was fascinated, the human in me was terrified. He backed off after a moment and rumbled by my ear. “Remember that fear. It will keep you among the living until you’re more use to us alive than dead.”

  Chapter Six

  Sixth rule of dragons: Make the first strike and make it count

  I’ll say one thing about flying in an airplane with a dragon. They go first class and they pay. The seats in first class were like La-Z-Boy recliners. Normally, I’d snuggle in with a good book, but my eyes wouldn’t focus on one object for long. Reed was the only dragon onboard and he was doing a good job of staying incognito. It helped that everyone else appeared to be Very Important and had their noses in their laptops or smart phones.

  I settled my gaze on Reed. He was easy on the eyes. Today, he wasn’t in a suit, but his casual dress was ironed as if wrinkles were an abomination. He wore a silk shirt, which matched perfectly with his black linen pants, while I decided to be a schlub in yoga pants and a scoop-neck tee. Comfort over style, that was me. Reed sniffed at my appearance, but didn’t say anything. This proved he was beginning to like me, even though he barely said two words to me. He just sat there and checked his messages, resembling a more dangerous version of Jonathan Rhys Meyer’s Henry the Eighth. Only Reed had better eyes.

  After we were in the air and he pretended to read a newspaper, I gave him a half hour of hope before I started in on him. I had a thesis to write, after all.

  “Reed?” I watched him sigh inwardly. “Even before the curse, there weren’t that many Queens. Why do you think there are only a few female dragons?”

  “Genetics. Females are the weaker species and thus do not survive to hatch.”

  That pissed me off, but as he could probably bounce me around the airplane, I decided discretion was the better part of
valor. “And the shifting? It’s not like there are women dying from the transformation. Maybe there’s a bunch like me around. Burping toxic gaze or sneezing fire.”

  “Flight attendant? Two vodka screwdrivers.”

  “Oh, no thanks,” I said and then watched as he swallowed both of them in a few gulps. “Is it me, or are you lightening up?” I asked.

  “The thought of more of you drives me to drink.”

  “And we’re going to visit your mom. You know I don’t think a man ever took me home to meet his mother.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  I glanced away. “You sound like my brother.”

  In the silence, I figured he went back to his newspaper but when I peeked up at him, he was still staring at me. That connection hit again. With Jack it was like a flush of lust, but when I held Reed’s eyes, something shifted in my soul and said, him.

  “I believe you,” he said.

  It shouldn’t matter, but it did.

  “The scientists don’t have their results yet.” For once I was glad the lab reports were late. It was one more day I wasn’t going into “lockdown.” Still, it was good to hear he believed me. I hadn’t realized it meant so much to me, but when he said it, my heart went pitter-pat.

  “I’ve seen what mustard gas does to human flesh. Your kidnapper’s face was a classic example.”

  I flinched. “I belch mustard gas?”

  “No, mustard gas is odorless. Your breath weapon is similar to what I’ve seen a Green Western dragon launch.”

  “My tail is green. At least it is in my dreams. It’s beautiful.”

  “Your kidnapper’s never going to be handsome again,” Reed said.

  “He wasn’t to begin with,” I said. “Besides, can’t he just magic himself to look like Don Juan or something?”

  “Not if you are a Queen. The marks will be permanent.”

  Suddenly, I wanted one of those vodka screwdrivers. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. He was threatening me, kidnapping me…”

  Reed held up his hand. “You have good instincts. You hit and you ran. If you were a man, I’d enroll you in my operations.”