My chest explodes and I slam myself into him, curling my arms around his large form. He picks me up and takes my mouth. His primal taste fills me to the brim.
This, I realize, this is what we both have been waiting our whole lives for. No one can take this away. No one can take us away.
21
A Future Full of Dragons
The tribe’sabuzz by the time we’re pulled up the lift. Several rafts are docked on the beach, half unpacked with supplies.
If my heart couldn’t thunder anymore with contentment, it still does, knowing those rafts are from Shell Rock.
Issa!
I’m nearly bouncing on my soles by the time the lift tops the rocks. Strangely though, Zaeyr goes rigid beside me, and when I glimpse his face, his cocky smile is gone. He took me again against the rocks outside the cave, quick and loving, whispering the word against my skin like he was branding it to me, unto and into my flesh.
But any happiness is gone.
Then I see Issa. Beautiful, dear Issa, my truest friend and huntress soulmate laughing with Leith by the central bonfire. Her long braided blond hair shining in the sunlight, her gold-kissed skin dressed in nets and white shells.
“Issa!” I yell, catching her attention as I rush forward and envelop her in my arms. She’s tense for a moment, and I wonder if I’ve ever given her a hug in the past.I’ll rectify that.“I’m so glad you’re here,” I cry.
“Aida,” Issa muses. She eases into my embrace and hugs me back. “I was so worried. Waters, I am relieved to find everyone okay. I could barely sleep with worry.”
We grip each other once more tightly before pulling back. I’m taller than her by several inches, but Issa knows how to use her shortness to her advantage, especially when we wrestle. I know to never underestimate her.
“You were worried?” I ask, finally registering her question.
“I saw the alpha dragon…” Issa’s blue eyes trail behind me and she stills. Turning, Zaeyr is as tense as ever standing nearby. Leith is several yards away looking on worriedly, having backed up, but as I glance around, I find what Zaeyr is staring at, it’s another large male.
A large green male.
My mouth drops.
A large green male with wings on his arms, emerald and jade scales covering portions of his body, and long snake-like black hair. He’s looking at Zaeyr the same way my dragon is looking at him: with blatant suspicion.
“Me,” Zaeyr says. “She saw me.”
I turn back to him. “You?”
“When I emerged from the sea, I sought him.” He points to the dangerously ripped green male behind Issa. “And saw her instead.”
“Yes,” Issa whispers. “You’re him, the alpha dragon from the ocean…” She shivers. “The one in the storm.”
The other male finally speaks. His voice deep and gravely. “Where is the femdragon?”
We all turn to him at once.
“I pushed her against the cliffs, forced her away. She fled into the clouds. She has not returned since, near mad with unrelieved heat,” Zaeyr tells us. “And since she has not come back I can only assume she has taken a lesser beta or omega draconid to nest, or that her heat has passed and she slumbers. I do not sense her.”
“Nor do I,” the other male grumps.
“And if she comes back?” I ask. I hadn’t thought about that happening, not once. My palms slicken.
Zaeyr finally drops his eyes from the other male. “We will send her away or help her find a mate nearby.”
“Yes,” the green one agrees.
A cough has the four of us turning again. Mother is standing off to the side holding a platter, eyeing all four of us, and it’s then I realize the buzzing tribe has stopped to watch our exchange. Half I know from Shell Rock, and they gaze at Zaeyr with wonder, while my tribe watches the other male.
