Ember (The Dragao 1)

At this height, everything smelled clean and free and warm.

A sound carried in the wind had me opening my eyes, and I blinked back into focus. But glancing around didn’t show anything but the hazy skyscape of this world. And then there was a tingling on the back of my neck that had my attentiveness coming onboard.

I was about to head into the safety of the cave when I saw a flash of something big and dark far too close for comfort.

In the blink of an eye, he was a dark cloud in the distance and then landing on the ledge closer to me than I felt comfortable. Hell, even being on the same world made me feel uneasy. My heart was racing, beads of sweat lining my temples. His dragon form was massive, just as big and intimidating as Azar’s.

Up close, I could see a lot of similarities between the two, but where Azar’s horns curved up and outward, this dragon’s—Draco’s—horns were curved backward from his temples before arching forward so the points were facing me.

His eyes were huge and this startling blue. Like ice. Cold. Hard. Unforgiving and deadly if used the right way. And his focus was trained right on me. I swallowed, my nerves strung tight, this voice inside my head screaming to run, to get to Azar. And then with the next inhalation I made, the dragon shifted to his human form.

He looked much the same as Azar, his skin an olive, tanner color, his eyes shockingly the same blue as his dragon form, with a black ring around the blue irises. His pupils contracted and expanded. Back and forth, over and over again, as if it somehow helped him size me up.

He tipped his head to the side, inhaled deeply, and then retreated a step. I didn’t know how I knew, but I was aware he smelled Azar on me, knew I was my dragon’s mate. And he… respected that?

There was a deafening roar, and I could feel the stirring of Azar’s anger, of his possessiveness as it slammed into me so hard and fierce I sucked in a sharp breath. Although I was human and didn’t experience the Cord, I knew there was definitely something supernatural tethering us, a link between body and soul.

I heard the heavy pounding of Azar barreling through the tunnel to me, and then he was in front of me, his body seeming bigger because I knew he was seconds away from shifting. He let out a low growl of warning, leaned his upper body forward, bent his knees, and took on a clear attack stance. He positioned me behind his back.

I leaned to the side and kept my gaze on the other dragon. But he just stood there, his head still cocked to the side as he looked between me and Azar. It was clear he felt no fear.

“Be at ease, Dragao. I have no interest in your female,” the Draco said in a similar accented and deep voice to Azar’s. But it sounded harsher than my dragon’s, and definitely not as pleasing to my ears.

“Yet you’re in my territory. You’re far too close to my mate for me not to assume you don’t want to take her from me.”

The other dragon didn’t respond, just watched us as if he were curious about how this was all transpiring. He showed absolutely no fear, and in fact I had a feeling he almost found this humorous.

“Your mate is from the weak species,” he commented slowly, his brows lowering as if he were mulling his word choice over in his head.

Azar said nothing, just growled, and he kept his body positioned in front of mine. He did swing one thickly muscled arm out and wrapped it around my lower back, his fingers curling around my hip. Did he actually think I’d move? There was no way I’d draw any more attention to myself. Because although I would definitely stand my ground, even fight to the death to try to survive, that’s exactly what it would be—to the death for me. And I risked getting Azar killed as well with any kind of heroic foolishness.

So I focused on his warm hand on my waist, his reassuring presence. And the truth was, I’d never felt stronger than I did in this moment. Because I had somebody in my corner. I have somebody at my side.

“You will leave now, or I will be forced to defend what’s mine,” Azar snarled out. “And I promise you I will show no mercy.”

His back was rising and falling viciously as his breathing picked up. His voice was grated and low, harsh, a tone I knew was his dragon’s. Azar was a deadly, frighteningly savage creature, and I was in awe.

How could something that wasn’t even human arouse me so much? How could the sound of his dragon pushing through have the danger right in front of us not be the priority?