by Lucas, Naomi
“Wait here,” he says when he is done.
“Okay.” I allow him to leave because there is no way he’ll be gone long. I listen to his quick steps fade. Our bond pulls tight and uncomfortable, and I inhale from the pressure. I shake out my limbs and busy myself with positioning the hide and looking around.
The cave is as it was several weeks ago. Nothing has disturbed it since, not even the naga boy.
The naga boy… I have not seen him since the day we escaped together.
Though he remains nearby. I can sense him, and when I was a dragon, now and then I would smell his scent. He lives here; he’ll be back one day. And when he returns, I’m going to offer him an alliance. I would offer him his den in the back of the cavern, but Drazak would never go for it. An alliance is enough though. Nagas are primal creatures, and living with humans wouldn’t be easy for him.
Now and then, I’ll leave a gift for him outside. A feather atop my dragon’s crown. Protection within my territory.
I hear the crunch of footsteps and turn to see Drazak. His arms and tails are full of some of the supplies we brought with us. There’s firewood, baskets filled with fruits and dried meats, more hides, and several spears resting in the crook of his arm. He sets his procurement on the other side of the campfire, taking a grouping of branches after and placing them atop it. I lower and make myself cozy, watching him.
He reaches into a pouch at his waist and pulls out fire moss. I smile as he starts our fire.
“Now you are the light dragon,” I tease as the flames rise between us.
His eyes twinkle dark and mischievously. My body warms, making me very aware of my nakedness, of the wetness gathering between my legs, and the scent of arousal coming from the both of us.
“I will be everything for you, light or not. You are my female.”
“Milaye,” I correct with an arch of my lips.
“Milaye,” he says, his voice honeyed and low. My heart quickens.
He pins me with his eyes, prowling toward me from around the fire. The flames dance over his long form and honed muscles, his frighteningly sharp horns. He unties his loincloth and lets it drop. Dripping dragon prick fills my vision. My mouth waters when a droplet of his seed beads at the head of his cock.
“Milaye,” he rumbles again, standing over me. My palms drop to either side of me, and I lean back. “Milaye.”
His voice saying my name forces a blush to my flesh.
My lips part to say his name back when his tails curl around my ankles and jerk my legs apart. I gasp as he lowers over me, holding me open and prone. I dig my nails into the hide. On his knees, he looks to the wet core of me and licks his lips. My whole body shudders.
I slowly lie back, keeping my eyes on his face.
“I have smelled your arousal for weeks, endured its torture, and have been denied the ability to mount you, my little human, my sweet femdragon. I will not wait any longer,” he growls.
His tails spread my legs out a little wider.
His nostrils flare.
“Don’t wait,” I whisper, clenching.
His hands spread over my inner thighs. He pushes several fingers into me.
I arch back and moan. “Don’t wait!” I scream, jerking my hips.
Drazak roars and traps me, pressing forward. His tails force my knees to bend, and his fingers slip out, leaving me dripping. The next moment his prick takes their place and thrusts deep.
My hips rise into the air, into Drazak’s pelvis, from the stretch. Two weeks… and my core forgot him. A thrill goes through me at the thought of having to relearn my male again. I try to close my legs around him but his tails keep me taut. He thrusts like a crazed man, and each rough stroke makes me scream.
Each stroke plays my inner flesh, rubbing and ruining my sensitive spot. Deep darkness steals my vision, his darkness pooling over and into me. I grip the hide hard as it bunches under me. Drazak claims me vigorously, harshly, like his two weeks of torture demands aching retribution.
I need it, holding on, tense and open to him. My body jerks with each rough thrust. This is a dragon’s rut. And my femdragon starves for it.
He says my name again, and my bliss comes hot and fast. I cry out as every nerve ending seizes. I don’t know how, but my legs clamp around him. “Drazak!” I shriek.
If his rutting couldn’t get more brutal, it does.
He covers every inch of my body, using it to show me how much he craves me—this—and my bliss shocks me with wave after wave of his possession. My body eagerly takes everything he gives. I need him as much as he needs me.
He roars, and hot liquid pools into me. I cry out again as he goes rigid, his thrusts now short and hard, each with more seed. When he’s done sometime later, I’m nothing but a sated mass sprawled across the hide.
Drazak lifts up on his elbows and meets my gaze.
He’s no longer pumping, but he’s still hard inside me.
“I will take you many times tonight,” he warns. “Do not think you will be allowed to rest long.”
I grin.
We greet the next morning still awake, exhausted and relaxed. Hides are strewn around us, and the fire blazes. Drazak has his back to me as he stokes the flames. Yawning, I watch him, petting one of his tails.
Already, this cave feels like home.
And in the weeks and months after, Drazak proves to me he can provide me anything I could possibly want or need. I do the same for him… when he allows it. Each day our cave becomes a sanctuary. Each inch has been touched by us, and together we take what was once Drazak’s prison and turn it into his quiet haven.
Quiet, for his mind. He needs time to adjust, and I want to make sure he has all the time he can get before his youngling comes. He thinks I'll be laying eggs, and I laugh. There’ll be a surprise in store when I don’t.
The urge to unleash my dragon comes daily, and with each transformation, the shift becomes easier. Drazak and I practice together in hopes that one day he’ll be able to shift back too, and we can fly the skies together. I know it will be soon now; I can sense his dragon strengthening in our bond.
Though it is many weeks yet from this night.
“I love you,” I say, listening to the crackle of the fire.
Drazak turns to face me. His tail curls around my wrist. “You do?” he asks, hesitantly.
“Yes.” I will tell him it every day if it gives him peace of mind. “I love you.”
He smiles. I sprawl back and pull him down to me. He captures me against him.
“I can prove it,” I tease.
“You can?”
I nod.
“How?” There’s a hint of curiosity.
“You’ve got me tucked away in your cave. You’ve got me tucked away, and I have no qualms about it, and nor do I wish to leave.”
“How is that proof, human?”
“If I didn’t love you, I would never settle in such a place,” I continue to tease. “I hate bugs. I love you more than I hate bugs. That’s proof.”
He goes quiet, and I wonder if I said something wrong. I bite my lip.
“Ah, but that is not proof.”
My brows furrow. “It’s not?”
“No, because you are now part dragon, and dragons all settle in places like this.” This time he teases me. “And there are ways to banish bugs.”
“It’s proof for me.” I pout.
Drazak twists to his side to face me. It reminds me of when he first began moving not all that long ago. “I do not need proof.” He brings the back of his finger to my cheek. “I feel it,” he says.
I curl my hands up at my chest. “I feel it too.”
“I love you too, Milaye, my protectress, my huntress of the Mermaid Coast, my beautiful femdragon, and mate. I loved you the moment I heard your voice and I was not sure if it was in my head or not. From the moment I laid my eyes on you in the darkness, and again in the light. I once thought all I had left to look forward to was the smell of petrichor invading my cave,
but now there is everything and more. Your silken raven hair, your gold and white scales, your fear of these bugs… I have it all. This feeling is my proof.” He places his hand over the ones curled into my chest. “I never want to sleep again. Tonight or ever. I will miss you if I do.”
“Then we won’t.” I smile, rising to push him onto his back and lean over him. “Not tonight at least. Perhaps not tomorrow night either.” I press my lips to his.
It is a good feeling, this one we share. This thing between us. It is everything I could have ever wanted, ever desperately pined for, and so much more. Drazak puts his arms around me. Now, I’m finally finding peace in our cave.
I’ll never tell him, but I’m thankful he survived for me. That fate—poisonous as it was—bit him and he was here, waiting for me all along. I just had to find him.
Touch him.
And wake us up.
I cup his cheeks and kiss him deeply.
Epilogue
One Year Later
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I hear the snap of a twig and the rustle of leaves. Looking up, eyes squinting, I peer into the brush to my left. There’s nothing but foliage, though it’s settling from whatever disturbed it. I stare at it for a while in case whatever disturbed it decides to show itself. But nothing does.
Eventually, I turn away and head back home.
Haime is waiting at the entrance, sharpening arrowheads.
I sigh. “Does Aida and Zaeyr know you’re here?” I ask, walking up to her and setting down my basket of fruit.
“Has he come back?” She doesn’t even look at me. There is only the grating sound of her work.
I glance behind, my gaze returning to the jungle path I just crept out of. “No, he hasn’t.” I turn back to scold her, “You shouldn’t be out in the jungle alone.”
Haime shrugs. “Why does it matter? I have your feather with me, I’m safe.” She sets a sharpened stone aside. “Can you help me find him?”
“My feather won’t protect you from the many beasts that don’t care about markings. It won’t protect you from tripping or falling, or drowning.” She shrugs again, I’m not answering her question. “Besides, finding him isn’t the issue, I know exactly where he is.”
“Then take me!” She leaps to her feet, finally meets my eyes.
“You know I won’t.”
He won’t be in his den anyway. The naga boy always leaves when Haime is nearby. I don’t understand why, and he can’t tell me with the few words he knows. My guess is that Haime is a lot to handle, and if he doesn’t like her presence, I can’t blame him.
“Milaye!” she cries, throwing her sharpening blade to the ground. “I just want to see that he’s okay.”
“Even if I take you, he won’t be there. You know this, seashell. You’ve tried tracking him, and he has never made himself known to you. And I’m sure he would if he wanted to see you.”
“You’re so mean!”
I sag a little. “I know.”
Her chubby face reddens. “You could just force him to show himself with your dragon.”
My lips flatten. “You want me to upset him?”
“No!” Haime flings her arms out, growling. “No, don’t upset him.” She runs past me and down the path. I twist to watch her go, waiting until her little form pivots out of sight as she reaches the beach. Beside me, branches rustle.
“She’s gone,” I say. “You should go after her.”
Iskursu answers with a hiss. The branches dance again, but he slithers away. If I had to guess, he’s going to follow her until she’s safely back at Sand’s Hunters. Which is why I don’t think he actually dislikes Haime…
I have a feeling nothing will harm Haime while he’s around. Even if she didn’t have my marking to protect her, Iskursu will keep her safe. And despite her age, Haime is becoming a fierce huntress in her own right. One day she will outpace me and every female in the tribes along the Mermaid Coast.
That will be a good day.
I crane my neck and glance at the bright noon sun. The light soaks me.
After a moment, I shake my head, pick up my basket of fruit, and walk into the cave. In the past year, the entrance has been widened, the ledge has been reworked into a rockway of stairs, and torches now line the walls. And those same walls have been draped with hides and flowers that dispel bugs.
Most bugs at least.
The other exit is barred off. It’s easier to protect one cave opening than two. And in the past year, Drazak found the water source and dug us a pool at the back of the large cavern where we reside. Once I saw how easily it was for his tails to crush rocks and cleave stones, I vowed never to underestimate his strength.
I’m nowhere near as strong as him while I’m human. I can’t wait for the day he turns again, when he relearns how, and I can find out who really is the stronger dragon.
I will enjoy being the mightiest one while it lasts. My lips twitch into a smile.
I head for the central fire where he and my daughter rest. Drazak raises his finger to his lips. My daughter is asleep in the basket next to him. I set down my fruit.
My heart warms. I kneel at her side. She coos in her sleep. She has the peakings of both purple and white scales on her neck and hands. I reach into the basket and gently lift her into my arms, hide wrappings and all.
I take my daughter to our cot and lie her down beside me. She stirs but doesn’t wake. I curl myself around her.
Drazak walks over and wraps himself around me. I settle into his embrace as I gaze at my little girl.
I’ve never been happier.
Later, Drazak will chastise me about Iskursu and Haime, but for now…
For now, this is all that matters. I close my eyes and this time, I let Drazak win.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading To Wake a Dragon. The last book I plan on writing in the world of Venys. Though there will be a very short piece about Haime and Iskursu later this year! If you liked the story or have a comment, please leave a review. And if you haven’t already, keep on going with Tiffany Roberts, Poppy Rhys, and Amanda Milo’s amazingly sexy dragon books in the Venys Needs Men series.
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If you love cyborgs, aliens, anti-heroes, and adventure, follow me on Facebook or through my blog online for information on new releases and updates.
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Join my newsletter for the same information.
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Naomi Lucas
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Turn the page for a sneak peek at Hysterian’s story, Cyborg Shifters Book 8.
Dark Hysteria
Cyborg Shifters Book 8 (Coming 2021)
Alexa has one purpose in life: to take down the war machines called Cyborgs. Specifically the one known as Hysterian, also known as the Torturer, the Twitch, the Jumper. The Cyborg killed her father in cold blood, and she’s determined to see the same thing happen to him.
* * *
First, she needs to get close to Hysterian.
* * *
Second, she needs to get him to trust her.
* * *
But the closer she gets, the stranger and more fascinating he becomes. She finds him watching her every move. He’s in every shadowy corner. He’s in her dreams. He’s even stoking a desire in her that she’s long kept buried. There’s no turning back while stranded on a ship in the middle of outer space.
* * *
There’s nowhere to run.
* * *
There’s nowhere to hide.
* * *
He’s her father’s killer.
* * *
Whatever happens now, however the Cyborg makes her feel, she’s determined that only one of them will make it off the ship alive…
Also by Naomi Lucas
Stranded in the Stars
Last Call
Collector of Souls
Star Navigator
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Cyborg Shifters
Wild Blood
Storm Surge
Mutt
Ashes and Metal
Chaos Croc
Ursa Major
Dark Hysteria (Coming 2021)
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The Bestial Tribe
Minotaur: Blooded
Minotaur: Prayer
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Venys Needs Men
To Touch a Dragon
To Mate a Dragon
To Wake a Dragon
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Valos of Sonhadra
Radiant
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Standalones
Six Months with Cerberus