Karos

by Susan Hayes

  “So, what do I do?” Megan asked.

  “Find your calm. Center yourself. You need to be the one in control at all times, though she will need to be part of everything you do. It is a difficult balance to maintain. Our dragons are our instincts, the wild, dark part of our natures. If you let her take over too much, especially so soon, there’s no telling how much damage she might do.”

  “Calm. Right. Anything else?”

  “When you’re ready, speak to your beast. Call her forward, invite her to manifest. She will control the change. Once that happens, follow my lead. Whatever you think, your dragon will do, so long as you stay calm and focused.”

  “Even breathe fire?”

  “Definitely that. Choose your targets carefully, though. I will transform first, and that way we’ll be able to speak mind to mind once you have done so.”

  Her eyes widened. “Telepathy?”

  “Dragons can’t speak. Mind to mind is the only way to communicate while we’re transformed.”

  Megan nodded. “I think I’ve got it. Stay focused. Stay in control. Telepathy to talk. Oh, can I use my guns while I’m uh…shifted?”

  “No. They will transform with you. Later, I’ll teach you how to conjure clothing. For now, remember to think of yourself dressed when you return to this form.”

  “Or what happens?”

  “You’ll reappear naked, and then I’ll have to kill any male who sees you.”

  “Possessive much?”

  He bared his fangs at her. “Very. And while I’m affected by the rux, it won’t be something I can prevent. I’m riding the edge of my control as it is. Once our friends are free, we need to leave.”

  “We do?”

  “We’ll have time to be sure they’re alright. That’s all. The rux grows stronger every second, and the longer we stay, the greater the risk the dragons take control. No one wants that. A dragon in rux is uh… hard on buildings.”

  “I can imagine.”

  She stood on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Show me what you look like as a dragon, my sodono.”

  It was the first time she’d spoken the word, and his heart thundered with pleasure as he kissed her once more, then walked into the middle of the street. Without a word, he turned to face her and summoned his dragon. It was time to teach these fools who and what they were dealing with.

  Megan hadn’t been sure how Karos would react to her arrival. She’d known it wouldn’t be easy for him, and she’d been prepared for him to be angry with her, pushing her away or even trying to order her to leave. She knew what it cost him to let her stay, and it humbled her that he’d paid that price, and more besides.

  He’d fought his demons for her. She’d seen it happen, the shadows that had chased through his eyes, the way he’d clenched his jaw and flexed his hands as if preparing himself for an attack. Only the attackers had been inside his own head, the voices of doubt, grief, and guilt that had plagued him since the death of his friends.

  She’d wanted to go to him. Touch him. Soothe his pain, but she knew better. He’d had to face this fight alone, but it was the last one. From here on in, they’d always fight together. She knew it in her heart, which raced with joy at the thought. There were other feelings, too. Something that felt like the beginnings of love. It was too soon for it to be real, but she already sensed that in time, love could come. In fact, she was certain of it.

  She held onto that joy and anticipation as he kissed her and walked away, a low growl of sexual frustration leaving her lips as the distance between them grew. He’d been right about the rux. It was getting hard to ignore. Her blood was on fire, and her thoughts were full of sexual fantasies that all featured a tall, redheaded warrior whose touch she craved with every breath.

  She wasn’t sure what to expect when he transformed, and when it happened, she almost missed it. One second her lover stood there, arms at his sides and his eyes on her. The next, he was replaced by a massive creature covered in deep crimson scales that shimmered in the grey morning light. His head was the size of a car, and she took an involuntary step backward as he raised his head and stretched out his wings, putting himself on display for her.

  “Holy shit,” she breathed.

  Karos walked over to her, his footfalls shaking the ground as he moved. His tail swung behind him, lashing slowly from side to side like a contented cat. When he reached her side, he lowered his head, so she was staring into one beautiful golden eye. Despite the changes, his eyes were the same. This was Karos.

  He rumbled deep in his throat and she could feel it vibrate the ground beneath her feet.

  “Later, I’m going to want to get a better look at you, but I guess we don’t really have for that right now, do we?”

  He nudged her gently, though even his lightest touch was almost enough to knock her off balance. Then he moved away from her, giving her space.

  She watched him go, and when he stopped and swung back to look at her, she knew it was time. She kept her gaze locked on him, took a deep breath, and spoke to the beast she could feel pacing within the confines of her mind. “Show me what you’ve got, girl.”

  She’d forgotten to ask if it would hurt, and she tensed with sudden worry as a strange, liquid sensation flowed through her. It was like her entire body had turned to water and was being poured into an unfamiliar container, giving her a new shape.

  “Never hurt you. We are one.” Her dragon’s voice was full of smug satisfaction and the same liquid shift happened inside her mind as the dragon’s spirit took control, leaving her a passenger in her own body. It was a weird feeling, but it passed quickly, and when she regained control, the world looked different.

  For one thing, she was a hell of a lot taller. Her senses seemed sharper, too. She could smell the concrete, still damp from last night’s rain. She could also smell the Pyrosians, and the subtle differences between their scent and Eva’s. Information poured into her-- scents, sounds, colours, and even flavours. She could taste the chemical residue of the fuel their vehicles had burned, the rich salt tang of the sea air, and beneath it all, she caught a hint of something familiar. Something important. Hanna.

  She swung her head around and nearly careened into Karos, who had appeared at her side while she’d been getting her bearings.

  “Slow, easy movements. This body is far larger and more powerful than the one you are used to.” Karos’ voice, as steady and strong as always, sounded inside her head.

  “You can say that again. What do I look like? Do I look like you?” she thought back to him.

  “You are as beautiful as a sunrise. Red, gold, and breathtaking.”

  She resisted the urge to preen and tried to focus on getting used to her new form. She flapped her wings a few times, raising her head on her long, sinuous neck to look down at the others. They looked much smaller now, and Eva was grinning like a lunatic.

  “Looking good!” the little blonde called to her.

  “Okay, I think I’ve got the basics. Now what?” She thought to Karos.

  “We fly.”

  Okay. Fly. Sure. She watched as he moved away and launched himself into the air with strong, steady beats of his wings. The downdraft swirled around her, and it was like standing under a helicopter as it lifted off.

  What the hell am I doing? She asked herself.

  “We fly. We fight. We win.” Her dragon sounded downright gleeful as it took over control long enough to send her soaring into the air after Karos. The creature didn’t stay in control for long, but she was in the forefront of Megan’s mind, making small corrections and helping her manage her new body.

  She dipped her head to look back at the others, peering under one of her wings in a move that would have been impossible in her human form. Eva and the others had broken into teams, and they were on the move.

  “Plan?” she asked Karos.

  “We’re the distraction. We’re going to light up the sky with fire, but don’t hit anything with it. We want everyo
ne inside to come running out. The Pyrosians will pick them off.”

  That didn’t sound terribly heroic, but then again, they had no idea where in the building Hanna and the others were being held. They could tear open the building or set it on fire, but they’d risk injuring the ones they’d come here to save.

  “How?” she asked.

  “Visualize. Focus.”

  “Fire! Burn!” her dragon sounded like a child on Christmas morning, and she had to take a moment to tighten her control on the creature. She clamped down too hard as one of her wings fell out of rhythm, throwing her off balance, and she yawed to one side. She squawked in alarm and backed off again, and her dragon took over, steadying her flight.

  “Oops.” She wasn’t sure if the thought was hers or her dragon’s, though she could feel the creature’s consternation.

  Karos swung his head around, his golden eyes dark with concern.

  “I’m okay. Just a brief miscalculation.”

  “Miscalculations can be painful. You might be hard to kill, but we feel pain like every other being.” His voice was gentle, but she could hear the worry in his words, as well as the memory of his own remembered pain.

  “I’ll be careful.”

  His only response was to utter a snort of disbelief and the open his jaws in a grin that showed a mouthful of dagger-sharp teeth before flying off toward their target.

  She fell in behind him, gaining confidence with each stroke of her wings.

  “Follow me.” Karos angled his wings and dropped into a dive, roaring loudly enough to rattle the windows of nearby buildings as he flew.

  She followed moments later, full of exhilaration as the wind howled and she raised her voice in a roar of challenge and joy. As he passed over the top of the building that housed their friends, Karos loosed a jet of flame that seared the air and lit up the area in a blaze of light.

  She copied him, trusting her dragon to do what was needed. All she did was visualize what she wanted, and it happened, though not as elegantly or impressively as Karos had done.

  “Our mate is strong. We will learn. Be like him.”

  “Yes, we will.” Her hearing was acute enough she could hear the cries of alarm coming from inside the building, accompanied by panicked voices and the squawk of radios.

  They swung around for another pass, and as she dropped into her next dive, the first wave of enemies fled the building and were met by a steady barrage of weapons fire from the Pyrosian forces. It was like no other firefight she’d ever witnessed. The aliens fought with energy weapons that made next to no noise, so the only sound came from the unsteady rounds fired back by the enemy.

  The battle below distracted her, and her next bout of flame struck the corner of a nearby warehouse. “Oops.”

  “Oops again?” Karos sent.

  “You can say you told me so later, Big Red. How do I put out that fire?”

  “You don’t. Eva will. I believe Keth sent her along for this reason. Her abilities to manipulate fire are impressive.”

  Eva. She’d forgotten about her in all the chaos. She rose into the air again and looked around until she spotted her. The little blonde was standing at the back of the embassy’s strike teams. She was gesturing with her hands, and it took Megan a moment to realize that the little blonde was summoning balls of fire about the size of a soccer ball and lobbing them into the enemy ranks, creating chaos and carnage with every toss. Karos roared and Eva looked up. When she spotted the fire, she threw out a hand, and Megan watched in amazement as the little blonde drew the fire into her, gathered it between her hands, and tossed it at a group of reinforcements that spilled out the door of the building in a disorganized surge.

  “Protect!”

  The single word tore through her mind with stunning force as the unmistakable roar of a dragon filled the air. Men screamed, and there was a sound of gunfire, panicked and sporadic from somewhere inside.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “Not what. Who,” Karos thought to her. “Vykor. Welcome to the skies. What happened?”

  There was no answer, at least none she could hear, but a few seconds later there was a thunderous noise and one corner of the building buckled outward and gave way. Metal screeched, masonry crumbled, and a massive form stepped through the hole.

  Vykor was the colour of storm clouds, dark blues and purples that were both lovely and foreboding. Behind him walked two figures, their arms wrapped around each other’s waists as they helped each other through the debris left in the wake of Vykor’s self-made exit. Hanna and Jet. Relief filled her, but she kept looking, trying to catch sight of Lily.

  She caught her scent first. Lily was bleeding. Badly. She roared in denial and dove, desperate to get to the ground and her friends.

  “Slowly. Landing isn’t easy.” Karos murmured, his words a gentle whisper in her mind.

  “I have to find Lily! She’s hurt, and I can’t see her.”

  “Look again. Vykor carries her on his back.”

  She eased back on her dive and took another look. There. Karos was right. Lily lay across the new dragon’s back, not moving, her face pressed to his scales. She could still smell her blood, though, blended with the acrid scent of fear, fire, and gun smoke.

  Worry for her friends overrode everything else, and she raced for the ground.

  “Megan, slow down!” Karos barked the order, and she belatedly realized she had no idea how to land. She’d been so focused on returning to the ground that she had pushed her dragon to the back of the mind, and as the ground rose to meet her, she stretched out her wings and allowed her other half to take control.

  It was too late.

  She hit the ground hard, talons carving gouges in the concrete and her wings flapping furiously. Her momentum carried her across the open space in a blink of an eye, and she could only watch in resignation as she hurtled out of control, straight into the steel wall of the neighbouring warehouse.

  Everything went dark for a second, her senses to scrambled to make any sense, though she didn’t think she was badly injured. At least, she didn’t feel more than slightly shaken, and mortified at her inept attempt to land.

  “Are you alright? And do not even think about saying oops again,” Karos sent to her.

  “How about ow?” She shook her head, trying to clear it and get to her feet at the same time. She wasn’t one hundred percent successful at either goal, but she did manage to untangle herself from the wreckage of what had been a wall and stagger back a few steps.

  Karos appeared at her side, one of his wings extending over her back, his head level with hers. “Are you hurt?”

  “Just my pride, I think. I’m starting to see why you didn’t want me along for this adventure.”

  He snorted, the sound echoing off the nearby buildings. “And I am starting to realize I should have never tried to keep you away.”

  “Partners?”

  “Yesterday we were partners. Today, we are mates.”

  There was an underlying tone of possessiveness and contentment to his words that she wanted to savour, but there were other things they needed to be doing now. Friends they needed to check on. An enemy to be vanquished. She listened for a moment, noting the lack of gunfire.

  Hanna called out. “Oi, Romaki dragonmen, Lily needs help over here.”

  Right. Hanna had no idea Megan was a dragon now. Nor did anyone else in their group.

  “I need to change back,” she told Karos.

  “Visualize your other body, and don’t forget your clothes.”

  “Clothes and guns. Got it.” She did what he said, and after another disorienting shift of perceptions and that strange, liquid feeling, she was back on two legs again. And dressed.

  Phew.

  Karos had already finished the change by the time she got herself together, and they raced toward the others.

  As she ran, she heard Hanna’s normally calm voice break into a squawk of surprise. “Megan. That was you? What the hell is going on, a
nd why can you turn into a dragon?”

  Chapter Nine

  Karos stood with Megan as the embassy’s medical staff assessed and treated their injured. A medical team had accompanied them but stayed out of range of the fighting until hostilities had ended. Law enforcement was now on the scene, and several media vehicles were already on site.

  He wanted to take Megan and be gone from this place, and it was taking all his will to resist the demands of his body and wait for news about Lily.

  The rux was making it hard for him to think clearly, and he was too agitated to stay still, so he paced. Megan walked with him, her lush mouth pressed into a tight line, and her fingers flexing in time to her steps. She was feeling the same need he was, and she had less than a day’s experience with her new condition. Over time, the dragon’s spirit could be tempered, but in the beginning it could be overwhelming. He had to get her away from here, soon. For both their sakes.

  Jet and Hanna were being treated for minor injuries, and several Pyrosian officers were having their wounds healed. All the Pyrosians would make a full recovery, which was more than could be said for the enemy. The anti-alien movement was shattered; what was left of their leadership had been killed or captured, including the male behind the abduction. He still had questions about Lily’s possible involvement , but he would have to wait until he saw his friends again.

  Keth had set more plans in motion, and soon, Earth’s media would broadcast a carefully crafted version of events that would maximize support for Earth’s visitors while casting the Humanity First movement as violent extremists with no regard for the lives of anyone, human or otherwise, who might get in their way.

  The few hostiles who had surrendered had been petty thugs and criminals who had done it for the pay, not the cause. They’d been handed over to local law enforcement, who had been credited with the rescue of the kidnapped victims.

  All in all, it had been a success…except for Lily. She’d been wounded, but Vykor had been too distressed to say more than a few words to anyone about how it happened. He was with Lily now, refusing to leave her for even a moment.