by Lucas, Naomi
I frown, a little disoriented in the darkness. There’s nothing around us but more darkness. “I know, but he’s not ours to care for. He’s a dangerous creature of the jungle, one that could sooner hurt us than accept our help, and from the looks of him, he didn’t want our help. He wouldn’t have run otherwise.” Part of me fears running into the dragon with Haime in tow. It’ll just dredge up old memories and wants again, and I don’t want Haime to see it.
My gut churns at the thought.
Haime’s half-dragon. I don’t know what it would do to her if she saw one of her kind, and in such a state. There’s no precedent for it. No one in the tribe—not even Haime’s father—thought we’d encounter another dragon once the red comet left the sky.
But it wasn’t only that, the dragon is mine. Something in me claimed him. It seems ridiculous but I felt that way. Like an invisible string attached itself from my soul to him.
“I thought a Sand’s Hunter protector was always to help those in need,” Haime argues.
“Those, meaning humans,” I correct. “Nagas aren’t human.”
“My dad isn’t human.”
I stop and face her. “Haime, that’s different. Your father is an intelligent creature, an ancient, and one able to bond with a human. He may not have been human once, but he is now. He is family.”
Haime pouts.
“No more arguing. At this rate, we won’t be back to the tribe until well after dark.”
“Then we should camp here and maybe—”
“No.”
I lead her further in the direction I think the exit is, but only darkness greets us. A chill dances across my skin. At first, the cave didn’t seem like it would be so big, but now I’m not sure…
When we reach a rocky wall, I nearly sigh in relief, but soon realize there’s no ledge above, and when I look down, my feather isn’t there. I glance to either side, no idea which way to go.
“Haime, do you see anything nearby?” I ask.
She peers around. “Big shadows and rocks.”
“What about the ledge we came in by?”
She shakes her head.
“Alright,” I keep my voice calm. I pick a direction and follow it.
Haime tugs my hand. “There’s something over there.” She points ahead of us and slightly to the left. “I think I saw it when I was looking for the boy.”
I inhale and nod. “Good.” Good. Hopefully that means we’re still close to the ledge, that we haven’t accidentally gone deeper. I swear this cave seemed much smaller. I move us from the wall, in the direction Haime pointed.
“Why aren’t my eyes adjusting?” Haime asks.
“I don’t know. Perhaps it’s how deep the cave is.”
I recall the inky black smoke that came from the dragon’s scales and jewel. Could it be…? I shake my head, pushing the thought away. I don’t want to know if this darkness is something more than the absence of light.
“I can see in the caves near home.”
I fail to respond. Something appears before us, glistening and filmy. It catches the flames, and glittering light purple streaks fill my vision. It takes me a moment to realize… it’s part of the dragon’s wing.
“What’s that?”
I grab her and turn her away. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Waters, no. Please no. I try to lead us back the way we came.
But Haime tugs free and pushes past me. She rushes past the torch and I fling it away so it doesn’t harm her. I lose my footing and trip.
“Milaye?” she cries, and I hear the horror in her voice as I fall.
Dizziness fills me. My heart drops into my stomach. I caught myself with my palms—but my hands aren’t pressed against stone or dirt. I’m touching something smooth and silken. I look up to see Haime is touching the dragon too.
My fingers curl inward.
“It’s a dragon!” I hear her scream.
My dragon.
Heat shoots up my arms.
6
Bonded
I’m frozen, staring at the purple sheen of wing under my hands. It twitches and then moves. My arms grow hot, burning, and I jerk back, grabbing my fallen torch and Haime at the same time.
It’s alive.
I force Haime away, and for once, she doesn’t fight me. But even though I’m no longer touching the dragon, the heat in me grows, expanding from my arms to my chest. A blast of air strikes us, sending our flames dancing. Something crashes nearby, and I grapple with Haime. Another crash, and then I hear it.
A low, echoing growl. It should’ve been lost among the falling rocks, but it’s not. The growl fills my ears, and I’m pierced with another jolt of warmth.
Staggering, I drop my torch again and clutch my chest. My heart is on fire. In my haze of shock, Haime picks up our light—and a rock crashes beside us. We both jump.
“Milaye, it’s waking up,” Haime yells.
“Run!” I scream.
Our fingers intertwine, and we surge into the darkness. Despite the warmth bursting through me, I search wildly for the ledge, desperate to find the exit as Haime waves the torch. She tugs me to the left just in time when another boulder falls. We dodge the impact and—I see my feather. It flutters on the ground.
I’ve never witnessed a more beautiful sight.
“Here!” Pulling Haime after me, I run to it, and the dark line of the ledge appears.
I waste no time and grab Haime’s waist, lifting her. She drops the torch above and climbs up. A second later, she turns around, watching as I reach up and grab the ledge.
“Run! I’ll be right behind you.”
She hesitates. Tears are falling down her cheeks.
“Go!” I scream. “Don’t wait for me!”
Dust litters the air, rocks are raining everywhere, but it’s the growling roar that sends terror through my bones as it grows louder and louder still. The dragon’s too big for this cave. I knew it upon first sight of him. We’ll be crushed if we don’t make it out before he awakens. The cave will be destroyed.
There’s another crash, and Haime flinches. I slip from the ledge. This one was right behind me, and far too close for comfort.
“Go!” I shout again, and she finally disappears, taking the torch with her.
The light vanishes in moments. I pray that the way ahead of her is clear.
Pressing my foot to the wall, I use it as leverage and jump up. But my arms are still burning, they’re shaking and won’t take my weight. I slip back down. I do it again, harder this time, and miss again. Worried now, the heat building inside me, I try a third time and manage to fling one arm over to hold me up. A cacophony of noises blasts my ears as I climb my feet up the wall.
“Human!” a deep, guttural voice bellows. A deeply angered male voice. It fills the cave. It slams into my soul.
Stunned, I lose my footing and fall. My head slams into the ground. Searing pain darkens my mind.
Everything falls into the abyss.
I awake sometime later.
I don’t know how long it’s been. But time has passed because I’m surrounded by silence. Not even the shudder of pebbles reaches my ears. There’s nothing but darkness and pain radiating from my head. For a while, all I can do is open and close my eyes, checking that my eyes really are opening because it’s dark either way.
I lick my lips. I need to move.
I need…
Haime? Is she okay? I groan.
I manage to lift my arm and press my fingers to the back of my skull. My fingers come away sticky and I smell the blood. Tentatively, I return them to my head, trying to learn how badly I’m wounded. Wincing, I shut my eyes and discover a cut, nothing more. My hand drops and I smear what I can of my blood onto the ground, wiping the last of it on my top. When it’s as clean as it’ll get, I pull my legs into me and brace my elbow on the ground.
Pain like lightning shoots through my head, and I cry out. But I remember the dragon and I hush.
I wait, listening, wonderin
g if he’s still around, if he even heard me, but as nothing tackles me, I start to calm. The more I calm, the more tired I become. Part of me wants to curl up and sleep, hoping I’ll wake up later, pain-free and back in my hut. If only life were that easy.
Move, Milaye. You can’t stay here. You’re not safe.
Clenching my teeth, I fight the exhaustion and rise into a sitting position. My head clouds. Luckily, I still have my supplies with me, and I tug forward the satchel strapped to my back. Digging through it, I feel for my bag of herbs and pull it out.
One by one, I sniff them until I find the one I’m looking for. Crushed Mermaid’s Breath. A strong underwater flower the merfolk brings us that dulls pain. I gather saliva in my mouth and pinch some of the herb onto my tongue. I squinch, swallowing it.
It leaves a bad taste behind, but that’s the least of my concerns.
By the time I put the herb away and strap my bag tight to my shoulder, my head and bruised body have already numbed out.
Now, it’s time to move.
I slowly pull myself to my feet, keeping my arms forward to search the area directly around me. Dust and dirt fall off my skin.
I fell by the ledge. If I can find it again, maybe I’ll discover my way out.
A groan reaches my ears, and I stiffen.
It’s so quiet, had I actually heard something? I wait and am about to move forward when I hear it again. It’s low and short and makes my chest constrict. My skin rises, and I take a step in the sound’s direction before I realize what I’m doing.
It’s him. Instinctively, I know it’s him.
My dragon.
I picture his giant body, purple and black with scales like jewels, and my heart races. Beautiful, enchanting, and deadly.
He wasn’t dead though.
A touch couldn’t bring something back to life. As a huntress who has taken much life and seen my fair share of death, I know this.
But I did touch him and know what that means. Anxiety and excitement fill me. I touched him. Even if it had been by accident. Haime touched him too.
Though I know I’m the one who’s bonded.
He’s mine. He’s alive, and he’s mine. All that I’ve heard from Aida and Issa about their dragon bonds comes crashing back to me. That the dragon no longer exists, but a male does in its place. If I die, he dies, and if he dies, I die. That there is no way to sever the bond, and we’re now mated for life, whether we want to be or not.
I could have a family. My body shakes. I could have the adoring gaze of a child looking up at me. Me. Because I would be its mother. I could be wanted, truly wanted, and not just another female of the tribe, a woman to be overlooked because she’s only as good as what she can provide for others.
I’m almost stupefied into excitement, hope—and a fair amount of renewed worry—when another one of my dragon man’s pained groans reaches my ears. My hand clutches my chest where the heat within builds.
I—I can’t leave him behind.
I physically can’t. The thought disturbs me. All I want to do is journey deeper into this dark, dangerous hole and find him, even if I die in the process. I take a step forward, now that I’m paying attention, I know exactly what direction he’s in. It must be the bond.
Zaeyr and Aida are never more than thirty feet away from each other, and only when one of them is chasing after their children. They told me once that it’s unnatural to be any farther apart, like a deep, uncomfortable coldness takes hold inside. And that pain has only worsened over the years.
Spanning my arms out, I partially crouch and make my way deeper, listening intently for more groans.
I come across rocks and boulders and stub my foot numerous times with pieces that have fallen. The ground is no longer level. I slide my feet forward carefully so as not to accidentally trip into a gap.
Another groan reaches my ears. My heart quickens, and I struggle to keep my safe, slow pace. An aroma fills my nostrils, heady and wild. Like what a midnight storm might smell like, if it had a smell. I breathe it in and nearly moan from delight.
His scent is intoxicating.
The warmth in my chest descends to my sex. I clench. It does so with every inhale. My mind muddles. I shouldn’t want to mate right now… but I desperately do. I press my hands to my pelvis, eager to reach under my skirt and seek relief—but I stop myself.
What’s wrong with me? I breathe in the male’s midnight storm again, unable to do otherwise. I grow wet, and my arousal slickens my thighs. In moments, I’m dripping and ready.
He could be grotesque—a monster—and I’d still want to mate him, just from the way he smells. As if his male spice was created for me and me alone.
And as if he knows what’s happening to me, he groans again, and this time it’s long and winded. His breaths have quickened like my heart. I listen to him as I drop to my knees and crawl forward.
My hands find him, and I stop.
His groans have stopped too.
7
Drazak Succumbs
Pain rips through me as I lie in the dark, still unable to move. Recalling the human’s touch is the only thing that brings my mind respite.
Because I moved. Her touch changed me but it also powered over the strength of the poison.
I lost my majestic body, but for a short time, I moved. I felt again. Any misgivings that I had about dying paralyzed in an unknown body are gone. I will gratefully be human if I could move freely again.
My wings shifted, my legs stretched out, and for a glorious second, I thought I might rise from this dark prison and ascend into the sky. Retake my territory. Reclaim my land and reek terror on all within.
I tasted blissful freedom.
Instead of breaking through the ground, roaring to the heavens in triumph, my body convulsed in on itself, my wings folded into my skin, and my teeth fell from my mouth. Pain came next, unlike I have ever known, breaking my mind, and through it all, I could hear the human… Humans, I correct, through it all. There were two. And though one smelled enticing, the other was strangely scented of my kind.
They ran from my torment after causing it, leaving me to my fate.
They had run, but first, one of them bonded with me. I hope it is the one whose smell I’d dared enjoy.
Luckily, the cave fell apart without killing me. If I could move once, I can do so again. Perhaps the venom will not affect me as a human the same way it had as a dragon.
Once the pain of my transformation is gone, I will my new limbs to tense. And for a moment, they do. I continue, even when my new body tires.
Eventually, the last of the rocks fall, and the cave grows quiet as I work my muscles. I do not know how much time has passed since my change, but I know I am no longer as strong as I used to be. I stop straining and listen to the last bits of dust and dirt drop from above. Some of it lands on my new, naked flesh.
I am cold, I realize. I have never felt cold before.
But I am hot as well. Inside—where my fire used to blaze—is an inferno. The heat does not rest in one spot like it used to, but rushes through my veins to every corner of my new human body. Worst yet, it pools into my shaft and…to my sudden excitement, hardens it.
My mind temporarily blanks. I am overcome with lust.
Lust!
A dragon’s lust is feverish—or so I have heard—and hard to master. It comes on hot and quick when a femdragon’s heated pheromones bloom on the air, and all dragonkind who smell it succumb to its effects.
But I am a dragon no more. Yet, the ache in my shaft threatens to steal my mind and take control of me. I try to grasp it, but once again, all I can do is strain my muscles and twitch my puny human toes.
Skies!
My mind reels. My body seeks to mate when it cannot even move! Just like how I feared it would! Anger and shame mixes with keen desire. The desire to have something hot, tight, and willing to take my shaft, to alleviate it for me.
Move, dark skies. Move, you petrified weak body! My nostrils flare. A
throaty groan rumbles from me.
I smell a familiar scent.
Sweat and sea salt, jungle lilies and spice. My thoughts turn to it though my prick jerks. I know this smell. It is the human’s scent. Was it the one who touched me?
My… lips?… ease open, and I groan again. Inhaling—my chest rises and falls with the effort. It is stronger and clearer this time. She is to my right—I know because I sense her. She is the human who touched me, who bonded me to her.
She did not leave me.
She is nearing. The reason I am in this predicament. A fresh burst of excitement assaults me. I hear her now, her slow, shuffling movements in the dark, coming ever nearer.
I would forgive her touch, if only I could move.
She is close. Are human senses this keen? Or is it the bond? If I were facing her way, I would be able to see her in the dark. Instead, all I can see is the shadowy grooves of the broken and tree-root clogged ceiling above. I have not lost all my dragon’s gifts.
I hope.
I know much about humans, as I do all enemies of my kind, but it has been a long time, and I never sought to gain knowledge from those of my dragon kin who have bonded to humans.
Anticipation builds as the shuffling noises stop.
But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this human is only here because she is trapped here, like I am. Is she here for me or because she has no other choice?
Why do I care?
Her scent thickens, and I am overwhelmed. Gone are the flowers and sweat. They have been replaced by sweet, mesmerizing ambrosia. The inferno in my body explodes, sizzling every fiber. I want to bathe in it, bask in her sweet scent, find the spot where it is coming from and bury my snout… nose?… into it. My mouth waters to bring that smell to my tongue so I may taste and drink it down.
She is in heat. She must be. My shaft grows harder. All I want to do is squeeze and pump it in my hand.
If I did not think I was cursed before…
There is movement beside me. Something touches my skin. I quiet my groaning as my need detonates. The female gasps, and her warm touch stills. It is her fingers, I realize, up against my side. They are on me. The female is touching me. Awe clouds my mind.