by Alix Nichols
When Geru sunk his fangs into her flesh, it hurt for a brief moment, and then it didn’t. He drew, eyelids fluttering shut. Marye found herself moaning softly. When he bit her the first time four weeks ago, she’d had no idea what to expect. She’d even feared for her life. Free of those fears now, she found the experience pleasurable.
Geru raised his head and shoulders off the bed, sitting up as much as his restraints allowed. He drank from her slowly, deliberately. The soft rumble in his chest told her he savored every drop.
It wasn’t just the sound he made. She knew how wonderful this felt to him because… because the rapture engulfing his mind resonated in her. As if the two were connected. Out of nowhere, she had this idea that if she could steady her pulse and focus a little more, she’d be able to hear his thoughts.
But then Geru stopped drawing and licked the punctures he’d made. When he let go of her and pulled away, the wound had already healed. His eyes glowed a fiery gold. His body had changed. Pulling himself up so he was closer to her face, he sniffed her temples, her neck, her hair.
“Hello, Fire Eyes,” she murmured.
He inhaled deeply, and eyelids drifted shut with visible delight. “My mate.”
Mate.
Marye berated herself for having expected this time would be different. That he wouldn’t lose himself to the shifting. That he’d know who he was, and who she was. But Geru was gone, just like before, and the Ra-dragon had taken over.
“Have you been sick?” he asked, eyeing her with concern.
She knew her eyes were puffy with dark circles under them from weeks of crying and bad sleep. “Don’t worry, I’m well.”
“I’ve been trying to come to you.” The Ra-dragon’s mouth thinned. “But I couldn’t. Something pinned me down and held me on that planet. Something prevented me from vaulting to you. I don’t understand—”
She covered his mouth with her hand. “We’ll figure that out, I promise. But right now, we must flee. You can’t stay here. It isn’t safe.”
He knit his brows.
She pointed at the ties around his wrists. “Can you cut these with your fangs, without making noise, if possible?”
He did just that. Then he held his hands up, and Marye watched his nails lengthen and sharpen into claws.
She smiled, giddy.
The thick ropes around his ankles and the robust straps that bound his chest and hips to the bed resisted all of thirty seconds.
He slid his legs off the bed and stood, stretching out.
She took a step toward him. “Can you shift to full dragon and get us out of here?”
“Is someone trying to hurt you?” The fire in his eyes flared. “Can you point them to me? Are they outside that door?”
“There are too many of them outside that door,” Marye whispered. “I don’t want you to fight them.”
His muscles flexed then relaxed.
Marye pointed to the opposite wall. “I want you to shift to dragon, blow this wall out, and fly me away.” She cupped his face. “Can you do that? For me?”
His body began to change before his lips formed the answer.
Having witnessed the process before, Marye knew that when his thoracic ribs began to straighten and extend, it would hurt and he’d groan. She glanced at the reinforced door. It was heavy but probably not soundproof. The cyborgs were bound to hear him and rush in. Geru’s transformation would still be incomplete. They’d overpower him.
She looked around her. There was nothing, not even a chair, she could use to slow the cyborgs down. Not that a chair would be much help, anyway. The metal door had no handle or knob on the inside she could use to jam the door.
The only piece of furniture in the ward the bed.
Marye hunkered down, grabbed one of the rings and tried to pull it out. But it was too sturdy, too well attached to the floor. Dislodging it would be a challenge, even for a cyborg. It required a whole other level of strength.
She flicked a look at the Ra-dragon who’d grown a tail in the meantime and had nearly doubled in size. His head was tipped back, eyes squeezed shut. His face was contorted in pain as his body changed. His clothes were in shreds. She doubted he’d hear her, or even understand her, if she asked for help.
If only he could read my mind!
The next second, he was by her side, tugging at the ring with both hands. It resisted for a brief moment and then gave. The Ra-dragon pulled it out of the ground together with four-foot-long bolts. He yanked the three remaining rings out, piling them on top of the bed. And then he heaved the bed up, bending his muscular legs and using his tail for support, and carried it to the door.
Gently! Marye sent him, but it was too late.
The bed hit the floor with a loud bang. Immediately, voices thundered from the other side. The cyborgs began to and kick the door, call Sir Tolkeet, shout for Marye and Geru to open, or else—
A bullet zoomed a couple of feet from her head. Marye dropped to the floor as the Ra-dragon rushed to cover her body with his.
“You need to finish the change,” she told him. “It’s the only way out.”
He blinked at her. On impulse, she repeated the message in her mind, addressing his mind directly. She pictured him in dragon form blowing a huge hole in the wall. He groaned, letting the shifting resume. When his ribs burst out, he roared, making bearwolves sound like kittens.
More bullets hurtled in through the wall, lodging themselves in the opposite one.
“Stop shooting, you idiots!” Someone yelled outside. “If you kill him, I’ll have you fed to the bats! Use your blasters to melt the door instead.”
“There’s no time,” someone objected. “He’s shifting in there. The TIC must be broken.”
“It isn’t broken!” the first man barked. “I’m commanding him back to Ra-human form as we speak, and his brain is responding!”
Marye looked up into the dragon’s eyes. Now!
He turned his back to the door and drew in a long breath. She scrambled behind him. Opening his muzzle, he blew. The wall shook. One more gust, and the wall cracked. Chunks hurtled outward, bigger chunks. Suddenly, all there was left of it was just a ragged hole.
Wrapping his huge talons beneath Marye’s arms, the dragon scooped her up and soared into the sky.
12
The dragon flew toward the Iltaqa woods, over the treetops, and on to the mountains in the distance.
Marye’s sides hurt. She was cold and increasingly faint, but she refused to ask him to stop. The farther they got, the safer they’d be, and the more time they’d have to puzzle everything out and decide what to do.
Only… It was the West Rocks they were flying toward. Beyond, lay the contaminated zone. She’d still choose radiation disease over letting those bastards enslave Geru again, but the best would be to land before they reached the other side of the mountain chain.
“Go down!” she yelled. “The woodland below!”
He didn’t seem to hear her.
She tried to send him the same message mentally, but she failed. The connection they’d had in the sick house was no longer there.
Luckily, he began to descend. But instead of alighting, he swooped down on a wild pig, and clamped his jaws around it, snapping its throat. With his kill between his teeth, he flew a little farther, toward a mountain lake. Hovering low above the grassy lakeshore, he gently released her to the ground, and then came to rest next to her, dropping his prey.
With a glance in Marye’s direction, the dragon turned toward the pig.
He must be ravenous.
Considering how thin Geru had been in his Ra-human form, he hadn’t eaten properly in some time. Definitely too long for the huge beast he’d turned into.
Using his claws and fangs, the dragon skinned the pig, and tossed the hide aside. Then he ripped a big chunk of meat out of its back and placed it in front of Marye.
She shook her head. “I’m not hungry. But you should eat.”
His belly rumbled. A shor
t time later, all that was left of the large, well-rounded boar was its bones. The dragon licked his muzzle and flew to the water’s edge. He began to drink directly from the lake.
Inhaling the smell of grass and wildflowers sprinkled over it, Marye watched the sunshine glitter off the water’s surface and off his scales.
When he’d drunk enough, he dove into the lake and disappeared, only to emerge moments later in the middle. His scaly skin glistened beautiful reds and golds. He was the very image of dragonly well-being if she’d ever seen such a thing. He swam back to the shore and started transforming the second his gaze met Marye’s.
Like the previous times, the change from dragon to Ra-dragon was a lot smoother than the other way around. It wasn’t long before he sprinted toward her, his golden eyes ablaze with unmistakable intent.
Planting himself right in front of her, he leered. Marye had no other words to describe it. He was gobbling her up with his hot gaze. It scorched her, sending her heart into a frantic jig and making her want to kiss him, to put her hands all over his gorgeous body, and explore every bump and recess of it.
But one bump—long, thick and so hard it jutted skyward—made her insides flip. Soon, much sooner than she’d like to, he would maneuver her on her hands and knees, and feed all of it into her body.
She craved their mating.
She resented it.
If only… If only he would turn all the way to Ra-human—to Geru—before he entered her!
Geru would do it in a way that would abrade her less and please her more. He’d be gentle. He’d take the time to make her ready for him like Nyssa had said. He’d make love to her the Ra-human way.
That is, if he makes love to me at all.
For all she knew, Geru still believed himself in love with Etana and saw Marye only as a friend. The Ra-dragon, on the contrary, saw her as—
“My mate.” He bent down and licked the side of her neck. “Marye.”
What? “You called me Marye!”
He trailed his hot tongue up, stealing a happy little sigh from her. “Last time you said you wanted me to call you that. I shouldn’t’ve ignored your request.”
She searched his face.
His expression earnest, he added, “If there are things you enjoy—Ra-human things—please tell me about them. If you’d like me to change some of my ways, I will.”
“Goodness, you’ve thought about this,” she said teasingly.
“I have, whenever I had a moment free from fighting or pain.”
She took his face between her hands. “What did they do to you? Where did they keep you?”
“Later.” He eyes burned into hers. “I’ve been craving this so long! Please…”
He cupped her breast through her clothes.
She moved her hands to his chest. “Kiss me.”
When he pressed his lips to hers, she remembered how Nyssa had described real kissing and parted her lips. His tongue flicked between them immediately. She opened wider, letting him push in deeper.
The feel of his tongue inside her mouth surprised Marye. It was novel. It was thrilling. There was something slightly dirty and hugely sensual about the way his tongue stroked hers. Her core responded, growing heavy, pulling.
When she broke the kiss to catch a breath, she found herself less apprehensive. And more daring. All those naughty things Nyssa told her about, things that were supposed to stoke a woman’s desire… What if she tried one or two? What if she liked it?
Reaching under her skirt, she removed her knickers. He watched her keenly. Next, she undid the buttons on the front of her dress, and unclasped her bodice, freeing her breasts.
“Speaking of Ra-human ways, would you like to lick them?” she asked, looking up.
He bent down and closed his lips over her right nipple. It felt good. Very good. When he rolled it with his tongue and sucked it, Marye gasped.
Divine Aheya.
She arched up into his mouth, feeling her nipples harden. He cradled her other breast in his palm, and then switched his full attention to it, sucking it wet. His blazing eyes flicked to hers while his hands hiked up her skirt and cupped her bare backside.
Sweet mother of all!
The force in his big hands, the heat of his touch, the contrast between his rough and her soft… it was… it was… titillating.
She wasn’t of slight build, far from it, yet his body dwarfed hers. Marye loved that. She loved his big hands on her, squeezing, pulling her closer to him.
A deep, primal need stirred inside her.
Her courage doubling, she reached down and took hold of his manhood. He growled. She tightened her grip and stroked up and down his length. His rumble deepened.
Suddenly, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.
“Marye, my mate,” he rasped against the top of her head, pushing her down to the soft, grassy ground.
When she was on her hands and knees, he shoved her skirt up to her waist and loomed over her. She stiffened a little, feeling his broad crown prod her folds. Was she lubricated enough, to borrow Nyssa’s word? Was she ready to receive him? He sure as hell was ready to plunge inside.
“Wait!” she gazed at him over her shoulder. “Can you pet me first?”
He knit his brows.
“I need you to touch me, to rub my…”—she struggled to say the salacious word—“there, before you enter me. It’ll make the mating better for me.”
He reached down, slid one hand between her thighs and started rubbing. Mustering her courage, she guided him, telling him exactly where and how to “pet” her. His member throbbed against the back of her thighs, and she suspected that the man in him was battling the dragon for control.
Gradually, the heat she’d felt when he suckled her breasts returned. His ministrations drew out her feminine juices, and soon she was slick under his fingertips.
She gazed over her shoulder. “I think I’m ready now.”
He leaned forward, spreading her sex and pushing his manhood into her one thick, slow inch at a time. When all of his impossibly hard length was inside her, filling and stretching her, Marye let out the breath she’d been holding.
Unbelievable!
Her only response to his intrusion was joy. Her body wasn’t bristling like the previous times. It was welcoming him, cheering him on. She ached for more.
Bracing her forearms against the ground, she squirmed and gyrated her hips. She arched her back to let him seat himself in her even deeper, touch more of her secret places. The lust… She’d never felt anything like this before. It drove her wild.
But it had been nothing compared to what she experienced when he began to move. He pulled halfway out, slipped his palms under her arms to grip her shoulders, and drove deep. She cried out with the delicious shock of it.
He gripped her waist to hold her steady, and began to pound into her, his thrusts unrestrained. Savage. Again, and again, and again, and again, he bucked his hips and plunged and plunged. Hard, to the hilt, to the very heart of her.
The force of his thrusts sent her forward across the grass, her elbows and knees unable to keep her anchored. Her spectacles flew off. She trembled. She moaned and begged for more.
As he drove into her, she throbbed with a deep, greedy craving. Thank Goddess he had what she needed! The size of his shaft was no longer scary, no longer a predicament that required a solution. It was the solution to her current predicament.
Her vision a blur of green and blue, pinned on his member and shaking, Marye felt herself nearing something… a peak, a deliverance. Blood rushing, roaring in her ears, she was close, so close!
He tensed and bellowed behind her. She felt his member pulse and grow bigger inside her, if such a thing was possible. Then came his seed, gushing out, hot and abundant as he quaked behind her, his fingers digging into her hips to hold her in place while he thrust one last time.
When he was spent, the Ra-dragon pulled out and let go of her.
Marye straightened her skirt a
nd stretched out on the grass. He collapsed next to her, facedown. She thought about how different this time was from all their previous matings, how good it had felt. Even if she hadn’t peaked like he had, she’d still loved every moment of their joining. Who knew, maybe next time…
She turned to her side, propped herself up on her elbow and began to caress his broad, powerfully muscled back.
“What is this?” she asked when she noticed a small beetle-like object latched onto his neck.
He drew away, lightning fast. “Don’t touch it!”
“Why? What is it? Is that the ‘tick’ the men in the sick house were shouting about?”
“That’s what Chev and the cyborgs call it, yes.” There was an edge in his voice. “It stabs my head, from inside, if I touch it, even inadvertently.”
She jerked her hand away.
He scooted back to her. “Once, I tried to rip it off.”
“And?”
“The pain was so bad I couldn’t bear it.” Defeat mingled with shame in his eyes when he repeated in a subdued murmur, “I couldn’t bear it.”
She cupped his cheek, not daring to imagine the kind of pain that a hard-bodied dragon shifter who’d blown Father’s sturdy summer house to rubble couldn’t bear.
Suddenly, the Ra-dragon tensed and looked around, his expression alert.
Following his gaze, Marye saw a dark dot in the sky. It looked like a mosquito. Then she spotted another one, and then many more. They grew bigger.
When she realized what they were, it was too late to run.
13
Cyborgs.
Dozens—no, hundreds of them—were crowding the sky above Ra-dragon. His tick awoke, lancing spears of indescribable pain into his head. The pain commanded him to stand still.
How did they find us?
Some of the cyborgs came down, others circled over his head. Surrounding him, they pointed their blasters at the Ra-dragon. And at Marye.