Ember (The Dragao 1)

His words were so cold, colder than anything I’d ever heard or felt. “You have enough women to keep you company,” I finally whispered. “I don’t understand why you need me. I don’t understand why you want me.”

I expected him to grin, to show his disgusting lust, but all he did was sigh as if my words annoyed him. “Just because I fuck those women doesn’t mean I want anything from them.”

His crassness was nauseating. And when he let his gaze move up and down my body, I felt like covering myself despite being fully dressed.

“It’s you I’ve always wanted.” This gross sound of need left him. “It’s you I think about when I fuck those other women.”

The fear pulsed through me as he advanced. I’d never seen Bryce look at me like this, never seen him be so brazen and obvious. But then again… we’d never been fully alone, not like this, where we were blocked out from the caves, out here in the open where there were no witnesses. Not like the latter would have helped me anyway, but this situation clearly gave Bryce a power trip and head rush.

I wished I had a weapon, a shard of that stone-like bark so I could defend myself, so I could plunge it into his heart. I glanced to the side at the creeping branches of those dead-looking trees in the distance. Go there. Break off a branch. Use it. Use it on him.

I was breathing harder the closer he got.

“Stop retreating.” His voice was harder, angrier.

Is this how my life will end? Was this how things ended before a new, more horrifying chapter in my life started?

Run!

I didn’t think, just did the only thing I could as a weaponless, threatened female.

I ran away from the safety of the Pit, knowing I’d rather take my chances out there in the desolate, dangerous, dragon-filled world than with the evil men who called themselves allies.

5

Azar

It was this prickling on the back of my neck that roused me, this tightening of my skin that had me rising. It was a single word moving through my mind over and over again with such force and jealous rage and possessiveness that had me walking down the tunnel and out into the heat of the night before I understood what I was doing.

Mine. Mine. Minemineminemine.

I was flexing and relaxing my hands at my sides, my claws elongating, my dragon rising with such a startling force I was having a hard time controlling him from bursting free and causing my human form to shift into the fucking beast.

There was something wrong, and it had to do with my female.

Without thinking, I let my dragon come forth, my human body contorting as I shifted into my monstrous creature and took to the air, lifting my head back and letting a fierce roar spill from between my massive jaw and serrated teeth. Something was terribly wrong, and this panic seized me like nothing I'd ever felt before.

I should have taken my mate right away. I should’ve had her with me so I could keep her safe.

I let my senses spread out to pinpoint where she was, and when I heard a soft whimper, my sensitive hearing able to push through every minute sound, I headed in that direction.

I flapped my wings and glided, moving faster to get to her. Possessive rage coursed through me at the very thought of something or someone hurting her. And then I scented her, the mating scent spilling from my dragon form to saturate the air around me, a threat and warning to any other Dragao that was near. But then I scented something else, a sour, rancid aroma that poured from a human male.

Desire. Lust.

I roared out again, knowing they’d be able to hear my warning sound, hoping the male ran fast and hard, because the chase would be all the sweeter.

He means to hurt what’s ours. He means to harm our precious mate. I’ll kill him, my dragon seethed. I’ll tear his limbs from his body. I’ll use my teeth to peel the skin from his bones.

Yes, I responded, feeling the bloodthirsty intent move through me. It felt good… really good.

I flew fast and hard, and when I cleared the spindly, claw-like trees of my world, I could see two small forms racing across what I knew the humans called their fields. I dived lower, stretching my wings fully. She was the one in front. The smaller form was running from a male. I bared my teeth and growled, and when the male tackled my mate, I let out a thunderous crack of noise from my throat.

The very thought of him near my mate, let alone touching her, had red rage filling me. I felt violent, saliva dripping from my fangs, my vision a haze of crimson as my inner beast rose up with a vengeance. The fire I housed in the pit of my gut rose up my throat, coming to me strong.