Shitty human. Thinking he could beat us. Now for the hunt.
The dragon laughed and then pulled their large body around to face the direction of Maddie’s scent.
Yes. Let’s go find her.
Using the power of their rear legs, they shot up into the darkening sky. Kal allowed the dragon to take over as they searched the darkening streets. He needed to find her. How many hours before he had to report back? Not like he would report back without her. No. Kal refused to step back on that damn ship without her.
Kal could sense his brothers, all different directions. They needed to focus on the mission.
He wondered how the rest were faring, although right now he couldn’t deal with that. Not until he found her. This was more than saving his own soul.
The dragon soared through the air. Not even the freedom of the skies could distract from the gnawing ache he’d never felt. Not until Maddie.
His dragon kept their senses open. She wasn’t far.
Soaring above the humans, they tried to remain far enough as to not attract attention. Streets emptied as the darkness grew. If they didn’t need to worry about the IGF, Intergalactic Force, finding them on an unsanctioned mission, they had to worry about mass hysteria breaking out on the planet. Shitty choices. Kal had to worry about space police that thought a lot about themselves or his soul bursting into flames. Just another fun week.
The wind parted around him as he searched for her. His dragon sniffed the air, and snorted out. Not the same as home, so many new scents and not all good. A faint trail caught their attention closer to the ground. They could feel her, but now they could see a trail of her own magic. So many threads here. But this was Maddie.
A pulse within his head had his dragon squeezing their eyes shut. His powers grew every day, as they should. The problem was, if he had no balance to his fire, someday he’d burn too bright to exist outside his dragon’s form.
Yes, time was running out for them all.
Time was the enemy.
She was close, her presence the only thing breaking past this new pain. He glanced down, trying to make out her figure, the tattoos visible from his vantage point.
He wouldn’t worry about anything but her right now. The Amit goddess’s gifts were both a curse and a blessing. If they found their mates, the curse wouldn’t matter anymore. Maddie would balance out power, help him control his curse.
Swooping down as he spotted the invisible trail, she was so close he could practically feel her in his arms again. What should he do though?
Kal was supposed to get what he wanted. Earth woman should have worshiped him, and instead, Maddie seemed immune to his charms. He thought back to his own mother and tried to envision how his father had acted around her. It had been a few too many years. His father, killed in one of the many battles that raged through the solar system. A great reminder they weren’t gods. Right. Way to see the world as a half-full glass.
Kal turned towards the ground. She sat in a small park. He wouldn’t blend in here, not well, hopefully he could reach the ground before anyone noticed. Thankfully, there were no lights. Maddie was the only beacon he’d need.
Straining his hearing as his massive paws hit the ground, Kal could make out her voice.
Kal crouched forward, not willing to shift yet. Not until he knew there were no new threats.
The air smelled of wood. He slid a paw through the loose chips at his feet and sniffed the ground. Odd that they put wood on the ground. He took a step closer. A small bug flitted around his head. He snorted at it and paused as he heard her speak.
“Mother, where are you?”
Watching, he stood still. She twirled around in a circle and yelled to the air.
There was no one. Who was she talking to?
The dragon’s eyes looked for heat signatures. Nothing. Narrowing his eyes at a sparkle of magic within the air, they stepped back again. Odd planet indeed.
He wanted to shift back, but this place confused him, and Kal would be damned if he let something unseen get the best of them.
Maybe though, staying in this form would have him screwing things up less too. The dragon chuckled. Remaining in this form, he couldn’t say anything to piss off Maddie.
They lowered themselves down, crouched on their front paws and waited. The dragon strained his neck further, curious at the sparkling in the air. What was it?
Maddie turned around again. She wiped at her face and finally stopped talking, her focus on the same spot he studied. This magic was different from Maddie’s.
They waited
The dragon enjoyed this game. He enjoyed being out and free. Kal didn’t like it though. The only thing this dumbass dragon did was act on instinct and right now, instinct had done nothing but screw up something with their future mate.
Shit.
5
“Mother? Where the hell are you?”
The pain in her chest twisted like a rubber band around her rib cage. Too tight.
The emptiness. God, the emptiness. She’d run far away, or as far as she could before her body protested. The emptiness had dulled, or maybe the pain from her body and the unexpected exercise overpowered it.
Maddie gulped at air like a fish. She couldn’t get it in. “Mom?” She screamed. Nothing. So much nothing. Who knew silence could be so deafening? Her mom was here somewhere. She’d called her here.
Just like her, make her daughter come, and then be cryptic.
Her mom would come though. Any minute now. Because she always came. Why wouldn’t she? The hope that, at some point, Maddie wouldn’t feel this stab of pain and sadness died as she stood here realizing she’d never lose the hope to see her mom. The pain of
