Red blood sprays everywhere.
A cacophony of sounds joins the constant thunder and my blue dragon rears up and drops down on the smaller one. The black one tries to climb out but is stopped, grabbed by something I can’t see, and pushed to the sand. It doesn’t try to escape.
I don’t see the smaller dragon at all.
This is your chance! I glance to either side of me but only see the storm’s waves to my left and falling rocks to my right. With no other exit, I give into the chaos, the inevitability, and stumble forward, raising my free hand to place it on the large dragon’s back.
An electric shock rips through me, pushing my eyes to the back into my head. Dropping my spear, I place my other hand on the dragon, suddenly needing more contact, finding a ridge on his wing to clutch. Without deciding what I should do, I press my whole body against him, shaking with bliss.
It’s the last thing I know before I’m shoved to the ground and my world goes dark.
5
Zaeyr Loses All
Pinning the femdragon to the ground, my mind roils with mating heat. She sinks her talons into my hide, through my scales, and rends my chest, my shoulders. “Submit,” I demand, growling down at her, snapping my jaw.
But her eyes are wild and all she wants is the human woman behind me. Her pheromones surge off of her in devastating plumes, only to be swept away by the wind and rain. Though they fill my nose, I retain clarity.
I do not want her to hurt the mortal woman, I realize as I continue to keep the femdragon away. At first, I thought I did not want her to touch the human, for fear of losing her, but the longer I protect the woman… now I do not know.
It is the human woman in my head, the way she stood up and faced me, the dark of her eyes as she looked at me head-on with nothing but a stick in her hand.
The femdragon screeches and a lick of fire hits my neck. “Submit!” I order, needing time to understand what is happening.
Why am I not satisfied to have the femdragon beneath me? Why am I not biting her flesh, laying my claim, and turning her over to mount her from behind?
“They stole my mate. A human stole my mate—she stole my mate!” the femdragon hisses and screams.
“I am your mate,” I growl.
“My mate,” the femdragon cries, slashing and twisting to get out from beneath me. “I burn! She stole him from me!”
My anger turns to fury, jealousy.
The human female is Kaos’s? It cannot be. I did not smell him on her.
Anger builds within me. It is the human female with long, dark hair—wet and curling in the rain—blustering in the wind that steals my thoughts. I did not move when she reached for me. I did not swallow her whole or burn her with fire…
He is not even here! Has he taken all from me before I even escaped my watery cave? Blood red thoughts rip through my mind. I thrust the femdragon down with one claw as she tears back into me.
Flaring my nostrils, I do not even smell him on the femdragon.
Nothing is stopping me from laying my claim…
I allow the mating heat and her pheromones to build, to take over the rest of my thoughts—forgetting all else—even Kaos… when something touches my wing.
Leaning over, I open my jaw, ready to force the femdragon to finally submit, thinking nothing of the touch. Instead, I focus on the feel of her serpentine body loosening.
Yes. This is right. This is my prize.
But the touch on my wing grows almost immediately, stopping me right before my teeth descend. Something presses on me like a warm sea flower.
My body stills, my talons curl. The femdragon beneath me begins to fight again, wailing her anger.
I no longer care. Not certain I ever cared.
My wings tighten, I shake them, and my tail lashes out to remove the thing on my wing, dislodging it in one swoop. The feeling remains. And to my shock, it spreads up the nerves of my wings, to my spine, down it and over my tail. Every muscle clenches, stimulated by the strange sensation.
Hot and cold, zips of fire and threads of ice. I try to shake that off too but my body disobeys, weakening. Devastating pain slices through me, everywhere, from my soul outward, from my slashed chest to my head drumming with electric shocks.
Lifting my head to the stormy sky, I bellow as lightning rains down around me. It strikes me, igniting my insides with world-fire.
Losing my hold on the femdragon, she swipes at my neck and hisses, getting out from underneath me, and ascends into the sky.
With one last bout of strength, I slam my wing into her and slam her into the cliffside. Howling in pain, she quickly rights herself and flees from the spears of lightning trying to zap her down like a bug. I lose sight of the femdragon in the clouds and collapse to my side.
Thoughts of the human woman return.
And it is with those thoughts my body begins to twist and break.
My spines fall off, falling out of my skin like needles, leaving holes in my flesh. My hide shrinks and my bones splinter, popping out, only to diminish and fall from me. I cannot roar anymore; my throat is closed. I try and flap my wings, but they are cinched and weak.
My head hangs heavy, and I drop to the sandy beach, paralyzed with shock as the ocean crashes over me.
I remain awake, forcing
