I can envision a future, one that I like.
Kaos swats his hand again, grumbling in his sleep, and it takes everything in me to hold back my mirth and not laugh aloud. Nothing can take away my joy, not even if he gets broody again.
Broody he is, my dragon male.
But I don’t want to wake him. Who knows what he’d do if he saw me so gleeful at his discomfort? I’m endeared,waters, what is happening to me…
Awhooshingnoise assails my ears, and the rustling of the branches above cracks the air. Still smiling, I glance up, thinking it’s a flock of gulls landing. Kaos’s body vanishes from my side, and he’s on his feet within an instant.
My smile dies. Grabbing my arm, he pulls me to my feet.
“She is here,” he roars over the growing noises. “Run, Issa!”
Leaves and tree matter begin to fall all around us. Thewhooshingbuilds, eclipsing everything. Then large black dragon claws appear, tearing through the canopy above.
The femdragon’s yowling bursts from her, dropping my heart into my stomach. Kaos pushes me towards the ledge. I grab my sandals and slip them on. Right before I jump down, I glance back at him. He hasn’t moved.
He’s snarling, his weight lowered as he braces for… anattack?He’s watching the femdragon fighting her way from above, sounds of her heavy flapping wings filling the air.
“Kaos, we need to leave!” I yell at him. “Before she lands!” His eyes snap to mine. I reach for him, shaking now with panic.Why isn’t he moving!?
“She will not kill me. Go, Issa!” he snaps. “It will not be long now.”
“Long for what?! You can’t know that,” I beg, seeing the femdragon getting closer. “Please, we can get away. The jungle is thick.”
“Issa,” he says muttering, turning back to look at the dragon. I see his eyes narrow, his body going rigid. “If she sees you, she will kill you, if only because you touched me and denied her what she wants most.”
“Kaos—”
“GO!” he roars, making me flinch. The femdragon is nearly through, and my whole body recoils at her massive size. Her tail lashes out, and Kaos ducks. “Now! Think of the child growing inside you!”
The femdragon’s head pops through, long and windy, curving to stare directly at him. She shrieks in his face, and everything gusts away. Lowering to the ground, tears fill my eyes, and Kaos glances at me.
We share a final, desperate look. He’s pleading with me as I’m pleading with him.
I can’t leave you.
“I will follow,” he says, a whisper.
I don’t want to go, don’t want to leave him, but lowering slowly over the side—so as to evade the femdragon’s notice—I keep my gaze on Kaos the whole time, even as tears blur my vision.
Ripping our eyes apart, dropping down, pain erupts through me at losing sight of him.
Shrieking from above makes me wince, makes me lose my footing, and I flop, sliding down a slope. The river emerges through the thick foliage of trees.
Another screech, it sounds like the femdragon is right behind me, like she knows I’m here and fleeing, and she’s furious because of it. A breeze whips at my back. I get up and push through the final vines and rush to the river’s shore.
When my feet hit the water, I twist back around, sobbing Kaos’s name, seeing the canopy high above me now shuddering wildly. No birds, no jungle creatures. Nothing else moves—and I realize they all left long ago, knowing the danger.
Think of the child growing inside you.Wiping tears from my cheeks, I turn and run, begging the waters the whole time for his life.
My moment of happiness was torn away.
19
Another Alpha Rises
Staringinto the femdragon’s black eyes, I feel nothing. Her steam blasts my face, covers my body, and if any water from the basin—any of Issa’s essence remains on me—it quickly evaporates away.
