Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Drakoni, Jurik corrects. And no, he wants an army to rule. He wants nothing good for anyone. Trust me when I say that.
I believe you, I tell him. But the explanation doesn’t fit as neatly as it should. There’s some key piece of information we’re missing. It’s a lot of effort to go to when he already has a bunch of dragons and the entire Fort Dallas militia at his beck and call. I don’t argue, though. I think he’s partially right and I’m partially right and the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I smell your hive, Jurik tells me. We are almost there. His thoughts are unpleasant, as if the stench of humanity is suffocating him.
Does it smell that bad? I ask, curious. Nothing in the After smells great, given that working toilets and fresh water are rare, and deodorant is pretty much gone. I’m used to it at this point, but I can only imagine how it smells to someone with as sensitive a nose as him. Do I smell bad, too?
You smell like my fires, he tells me, and his thoughts turn more pleasant. My fires and my seed.
Yeesh. The man—drakoni—has no filter. Then breathe deep of me and ignore everything else. I bite back a gasp of surprise when he lifts his claws to his nose and inhales deeply of my scent. I push at his muzzle, chuckling. Wiseass.
A dragon bugles a warning nearby.
My playful mood vanishes and a shiver of old fear rushes through me.
I have you. He cannot touch you.
Is it one of Azar’s dragons? I ask.
It must be. I will not touch his mind for fear of being trapped myself. But no others are at your hive. His steady flight wobbles in the air, and his mind feels…oddly pressured.
Are you okay? I ask, worried. What's wrong?
I feel the Salorian's presence. He has not tried to steal my thoughts but…he will.
The thought fills me with panic. Then concentrate on me. Concentrate on my smell. My presence. My touch. I tap a finger on one scaly claw in a pattern. Concentrate on how it felt when we held each other this morning.
When I buried my cock deep inside you and filled you with my seed?
If that helps you concentrate, yes. Think about that. And think about us touching again. And again. Because you know we’re going to want to do it again. Last night wasn’t enough for me. Even now, I feel this strange craving for him, and I’m not sure if it’s because of our bond or because I’m new to having sex and never imagined it could feel quite that good. That it could make me feel so utterly cherished and sexy and alive all at once.
So yeah, I don’t mind encouraging him.
I rub my hand on his scales as I watch us fly over the barricade that surrounds Fort Dallas. The gray-eyed dragons barely look up, their expressions calm. Of course they’re calm. Azar’s expecting me. After I didn’t come back the first night, he must have known that I was successful.
Somehow the word “successful” sits wrong in my belly. As if this is nothing more than a calculated plan. It doesn’t feel like that. Not at all. Maybe it started that way, but it’s entirely different now that our minds and our hearts are connected. He’s mine and I’m his, and it’s terrifying and breathtaking to think of how quickly everything has changed…but it also feels like everything is settling into place.
Like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
Between my claws? Jurik asks, his sly self returning.
Right there, I agree.
As we circle the fort, I point at a clear, open area near the barracks. As I do, soldiers file out, holding assault rifles. The sight of it worries me a little—I know from past attacks on the fort that a gun won’t do much to dragon-hide, but I’m absolutely vulnerable as a squishy human. The guns are pointed down, though, not at us, even though the soldiers watch Jurik fly overhead.
Let’s land, I tell him boldly. They don’t want to hurt us. They’re just waving their dicks. They need us more than we need them.
Waving their…?
Figure of speech, I promise.
I am the only one that should be waving my cock at you, Jurik agrees. He moves lower, folding his wings in. He settles heavily onto the ground, making a loud, obvious thump. His long tail lashes out against a fire barrel nearby, smacking it with a resounding bang that makes the soldiers jump.
I can feel Jurik’s smug pleasure at their reaction.
Don’t make them any jumpier, I chide him as he sets my feet on the ground. The last thing I want is someone shooting me because he’s nervous.
You’re staying behind me at all times, Rachel, Jurik says in a voice that brooks no argument.