Would she have let me, if she found me on top of her?
Watching my human sleep was as comforting as it was painful. I had never wanted to engorge myself on another like I had then. But I could not move. I had this feast of flesh—my mouth salivating for a taste—and I could barely flop to my side and lift my hand. This blasted poison! If I could kill that poison dragon all over again, I would.
He has made me a weakling. Hundreds of years as a weakling.
He has made me weak in front of my mate.
My tails thump. The tips of them harden to points. I bare my teeth, hissing between them.
Milaye stops in the distance, and I notice her peer my way before turning back to the shadows.
Come back to me, human. Once she is near, I will grab her and not let her go. I will take hold of her and show her who is the alpha of this union.
It should be me finding fuel for the fire, not her. My jaw ticks. I press my palms into the ground and lift myself, sitting straighter against the boulder.
It will not be long now.
I test my legs, bending my knees. I bring my feet closer to my chest and dig my soles into the ground. Pressing my weight down, I raise my hips off the ground, just for a moment. My tails press into the rocks, giving me more leverage.
My recovery is quickening.
Soon my human will see a strong dragon as her mate, and I will be so ferocious she will forget all about my shame.
I glance in at her direction, but she is no longer in view.
She is gone.
I drop to the ground and search, finding I can move my head.
My heart thunders. No matter where I turn, the glow of her torch has disappeared—her body is gone. She has vanished out of sight, and I did not even notice. A growl tears from my throat. I could forgive myself many things, but this? If something were to happen to her?
I try to rise but am unable to. My elbows catch me. I stop to listen for her, for her footsteps, for her breaths.
The cave is silent, deafeningly so, like it has been many of my long years. I do not even hear the hissing of the naga. Am I alone? Again?
To have a female so near, only to lose her?
A shriek fills my ears.
It sounds human.
“Milaye!” I bellow, but my voice does not carry. Worry careens through me, and my vision goes dark. I clutch my chest, sensing our bond. My fear surges, knowing it is not just my fear anymore, but hers too.
She is afraid. My teeth grit. I must go to her. I listen for another shriek, another sound, but there is nothing. A single shriek. Would that be the last noise I ever hear from her?
Using the rock, I palm my way up. My tails balance me. It only takes a minute for me to stand, but it seems like an eternity. Finally, I bear my weight on my two feet for the first time, and the sensation is strange. Gone are my scaled toes and claws. Instead, my feet are soft and sensitive.
Every part of this human body is sensitive. Tingles shoot up my nerves as I rock back and forth. Balance does not come easy, and my muscles spasm. I lock my knees when they buckle. Luckily, I have my tails.
“I am coming, female,” I grunt as my hand claws the rock.
I jut out my jaw and shuffle one foot forward. Relieved that I keep myself upright, I lunge it forward with courage.
I topple over, the ground smashing against my knees. I howl, grunt, and snarl. My hands flatten, catching me, and I dig my claws into the rubble, furious. Red fills my vision, a dirty, dark red that blends in with the deep shadows of the cave. I smell my blood.
Prove your worth, you wretched beast. I smash my teeth. My anger grows and bleeds out. I’m furious with my human for making me feel so. Our fire might be dying, but I can see in the dark.
Once my full strength has returned, we will not need light to survive! She will need nothing but me!
One of my claws breaks against the rocks.
Shifting my tails, I brace to stand again. Taking my time, I rise to my full height and steady myself. I grunt in triumph. Keeping one tail behind and the other ahead, I slide my foot forward again. This time I stay upright.
Three slow steps later, my lips twist into a smile. I pull my eyes from the ground and toward the direction where I’d heard my human’s screech.
With each step, my confidence grows. My tails swipe the cave floor, and with only the occasional wobble, I make progress.
The firelight fades behind me, and I inhale, searching for my human’s scent. Fear has a powerful smell. Catching a whiff, I shift slightly to the left, but there is another familiar smell in the air: the naga’s. I thought it was the aroma of the cave—the undergrowth and soil and faint petrichor—but I know now that it is him as well.
He has been living in this cave with me for a while, I realize. He came with the rain.
The smell of Milaye’s fear deepens and my chest constricts, but she is nowhere to be found. Relief and annoyance fill me. She is not hurt. Wherever she is now, she did not come to harm. But I hate that she is not here at all.
Where the skies has she gone to? I narrow my eyes and glare into the shadows.
Then I see it, the faint orb of golden firelight.
