“You do not wish to go?”
“I do. It’s just…it feels a little weird being carried around by a dragon.”
“Weird?”
I attempt to send a mental picture down the pathway. My eyes are squeezed almost shut as I stare at Dragix’s head, and he snorts.
I ignore his obvious amusement. Not all of us are used to talking with our minds.
Those gold eyes widen and then narrow on my face, and I know he’s picked up the image of Godzilla with a person clutched in one hand and a car clutched in the other.
“This creature is not of this world.”
I laugh. “It’s not of any worlds. It’s made up.”
He blinks. Twice.
I wave a hand. “Let’s not go into that now. Anyway, it’s fine; let’s just go.”
I walk toward him, the breeze rustling my hair. He’s silent for a long moment, and then he moves his foot away.
My heart sinks. I really, really wanted to fly. Now that I have a pretty good feeling Dragix isn’t going to drop me for funsies, I think I’d actually be able to enjoy it this time.
For some weird reason, I trust the guy—dragon—not to hurt me.
For now.
“You may ride on my back.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously?”
He nods, and from the look in his eyes, the fact that he’s allowing me to sit up there is a pretty big deal.
“Are you sure?”
“Get on my back before I change my mind.”
I burst out laughing. That’s the closest that Dragix has come to sounding almost…human.
But he’s not human. And his ideas about personal freedom are probably the least human thing about him.
I can’t forget that.
He offers his foot again, and this time, he holds it up to his shoulder.
I scramble up onto his back, careful not to impale myself with the horns along the back of his neck.
“Okay, maybe I was overly confident about this.”
Dragix snorts again, a curl of smoke rising toward me. Then he gets to his feet, and I clutch uselessly at the horns.
I wrap my legs around him—in the spot where his shoulders meet his neck.
“Wait,” I blurt. “This was a bad idea.”
That rumble sounds again, and then I’m shrieking, screaming, hollering curses at the dragon as he shoots into the sky like a torpedo.
“You motherfuckerrrrrrrrr.” The wind steals my words, but I know Dragix can hear me from the way his shoulders shake. I switch to our mental pathway.
“I changed my mind. I changed it, Dragix. Go back!”
“You are fine. I will not let you fall. Relax and enjoy the ride.”
Dragon humor.
“I’m not fine! I feel like I could slip off at any moment.” He banks right, and I curse, holding on to his horns for dear life. “This isn’t funny, Dragix!”
“If you fall, I will catch you. Enjoy this moment, Charlie. Never have I allowed another two-leg to sit where you are.”
I blink at that. “Never?”
He flaps his wings once and then ducks his head, angling us slightly downward. I can feel when we hit a warm current, and he keeps his wings spread, gliding through the air.
“Never has a two-leg ridden any dragon on this planet. You are the first.”
Well, hot damn.
I don’t know what to say to that, so I clutch his horns tighter and blow out a long breath. Now that he’s not shooting into the sky or tilting his body so far that I feel like I’ll roll off, I can actually lift my head.
My eyes stream, but it’s worth it. It’s more than worth it for the way the clouds part for us, for the way Dragix slowly angles downward until I can see the tops of trees. It’s a completely different experience sitting on his back. It feels almost like I’m flying myself, and I can’t help the delighted laugh that escapes my chest.
If I get off this planet and back to Earth, I’ll be returning to a life of living in my car and picking up waitressing jobs as I move from city to city, state to state. That’s if my car hasn’t already been impounded. Riding a dragon? This may be the most exciting thing I ever do in my life. When I’m once again tying an apron around my waist in time for the second part of my split shift, I can think back to this moment.
So I open my eyes, and I lean forward—still clutching onto Dragix’s horns for dear life. But I bask in the wonder as the wind snatches at my hair, my eyes drip tears down my cheeks, and I shoot through the sky on the back of a dragon.
Dragix
Never did I imagine that I would allow a two-leg to ride me the way that the Braxians ride their beasts. But where this two-leg is concerned, I find myself bending my own rules.
Her laugh of wonder earlier…it was reward enough for the breaking of my people’s traditions.
I think that if my mother met this two-leg…if she saw the inner fire that makes all Charlie’s moments burn with intensity…she would forgive me.
I stretch my right wing downward, and this time, Charlie lets out a delighted whoop behind me.
If I were in two-leg form, I might smile at that. And it has been a very long time since I have had the urge to smile.
I tuck my wings close, arrowing down toward the trees below us as Charlie shrieks. Then, at the last possible moment, I open my wings once more, and we shoot back up into the sky.
“You—you…”
Charlie’s voice trails off as I check that she is holding tight. Her legs are clamped around me, her hands clutching at my horns.
So I roll.
We’re only upside down for a moment, and a scream rips from her throat. When we’re soaring again, she growls behind me.
“You asshole!” A long silence. “Do it again!”
My urge to smile has deepened into an urge to laugh as I comply, and she screams again but also roars with laughter as we once again turn upright.
I am…showing off for her. And I’m not quite certain
