She glances at Issa. “What’s a dragon?”
Issa sighs as shock zips through me.How could this human not know my kind? We have been kings of this world for thousands of years, ruling all we see or want. How long have I been asleep?
My mate goes into a story that I have not heard myself. Of her brother Leith and going to another territory to deliver him tohismate, of hearing the mating call of the femdragon, being told by another female Aida of rumors of dragons being turned to humans once touched. How all of this has happened under the reappearance of the red comet…
How she decided to travel into the jungle to find me…
Shewaslooking for me.Not me, though, a dragon, any dragon—to see if the rumors her friend told her were real.I find that I am not angry. I cannot even feel annoyance at her small deception.They were real, these rumors, and I cannot fault her for finding out the truth for herself.
But why risk her life for such a rumor?Everything about my mate so far has seemed capable, level-headed.She does not put herself in untoward danger, she keeps a weapon nearby always, and she is always listening and surveying her surroundings.
Issa continues with how our meeting occurred, her fear, her touch on my tail. I can feel it even now without it, as she speaks of it, reliving each first moment together again. She finishes her story with us traveling through the jungle, encountering the femdragon, explaining that the storm began when another dragon rose from the sea, and finally, our trek here.
She does not tell her sister about our mating, or why she chose to risk her life to find me in the first place.
When Issa goes quiet, I step forward. Tulia stares at me now with wonder in her eyes. My gaze tears to my mate. “Why did you go into the jungle to find a dragon?” I ask as anger now begins to build inside me.
“To see if the rumor was true, to discover for myself,” she whispers.
“But why risk your life for a rumor? Why do something so stupid? You are not stupid!”
She jerks but settles quickly. The orange and yellow glow of the fire sharpens her features, ignites her eyes, and makes her glorious long blond hair glint with a myriad of warm colors.
“I needed,” she begins, “to do it for my tribe… and for me. For the possibility of a future for me, for my people.”
A future for her people? I glance at Tulia for a second. “Why do you not have a future?”
Issa’s brow furrows. I would love to lick the crease on her face away, but Tulia reaches up and places her hand on my mate’s shoulder. Snarling at her, she looks at me but does not take her hand off Issa. “We don’t have a future because our males are gone, dragon. Well, not completely, not in every tribe, but here, we have no more. Issa is our youngest, and because of that, she will someday lead our people but we have no children and the rest grow old. She is doomed to watch her people die without ever seeing a new generation born. That is why we have no future.”
Looking at Issa, I see the truth in her eyes.
She licks her lips. “Leith was our last, and it was my honor to protect him until he came of age to mate with a female of another tribe. But no tribes along the coast have born a male in the past ten years. And those that have are promised to others. I am to be the last of my people, and for that…” She steals her blue eyes on mine. “I ventured into the jungle on rumor alone.”
The last. I can not imagine it, to be the last dragon of my kind, or of my sex, in all the nearby lands.My mate carries a heavy burden on her shoulders.
“That is why,” Tulia interjects, “seeing you is such a shock. You should not exist, dragon man. Witnessing your existence is a marvel to behold.” Her voice ends on a whisper.
“Why did you not tell me?” My gaze is still fixated on Issa.
She frowns. “We had other things on our mind.”
It is true. Huffing, and settling finally beside the fire myself. “Yes… other things.”
Silence falls between us, and the only sounds to break up our thoughts belong to the storm raging outside and the snapping of flames.
I do not know how I feel, feeling Issa so thoroughly inside me—knowing she is burdened and stressed—I cannot help but feel a sense of selfish relief that she is mine, completely, and there is no male who could try and steal her away from me. My dragon rejoices while my human emotions numb.
Her people are my people now. Her burdens are mine. And if we have children, I do not want them to see their people come to an end.I do not want this stress on their shoulders.
“We will bring a new generation,” I announce, my vision sharpening with lust, staring at my female. “We will have many children, and they will have dragon blood running through their veins, making them strong. There will be many sons and daughters, and they will go to every tribe until your human kind rises again.”
Her lips part.
“You are seeded, even now, my female. Your burden is gone, replaced with the constant heaviness of my seed,” I growl, rising to my feet.
Watching Issa stiffen, straining her neck to look up at me, I approach her, standing inches from her form.
“Leave, Tulia,” I order the other woman. “There is much Issa and I must do.” Desire crashes through me, and the subtle scent of my female’s arousal begins to bloom the air. The scent of her alone has the power to send me into the abyss.
