Page 10 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

“I do not want two or three others. I have chosen you.”

“Why?”

“I like your hair.”

“You—like—myhair?” Her tone drips with incredulity. “We can find you someone else with red hair.”

“Red hair in a braid?”

“Yes, yes, red hair in a braid.”

“With a blue dress?”

“Why not? We can find her a blue dress, or I’ll give her mine.”

“And with eyes like dark honey, and a mouth like a red flower, and skin pale as sea foam?”

“I… um…” She shifts astride my neck. “I’m sure there’s someone else. A replacement.”

“She will not smell the same,” I say, low. “She will not have the same light of pain and defiance in her eyes. She will not be so fierce and so beautiful.”

She’s silent again as we soar through the darkness. My vision is good at night, and I can discern the shapes of the other dragons flying around us. They are distant, yet part of the same formation, with the same unshakeable purpose. The rest of the males carry the humans in their claws. No one else’s woman is riding them.

Once again, I feel less powerful than I should be.

The girl speaks so quietly that I have to swivel my pointed ears backward to hear her. My ears look very similar to my spikes, and I think their movement startles her, because she jumps a little and her voice trembles.

“I think it’s safe to say that I’m your type, if a dragon can have a ‘type’ among humans,” she says. “So maybe a replacement isn’t possible. But you seem reasonable enough, capable of understanding family bonds, so I’m going to ask you one more time to take me back. Not for my own sake, but for the sake of the children I left behind.”

I miss a wingbeat and we drop a little. The girl releases a faint, surprised squeal, and her legs tighten around my neck.

“You have offspring?” I ask.

“They’re not mine, they’re my niece and nephew, but they rely on me.”

“Is your sister still living? And the children’s father, is he alive?”

“Yes.”

“And are both parents with them?”

“Yes, but—”

“Hatchlings are precious indeed. These little ones you speak of are in the care of family, so they will be safe and well. My clan has not had any offspring in twenty-five years, and we must have a brood this season, or our kind will perish from the world. Do you understand?”

“Youdon’t understand!” She kicks one foot against my scales and yelps with pain immediately afterward. “Fuck you, fuck! If you won’t listen to reason and take me back right fucking now, I’ll have to kill you.”

“Kill me?” I snort, and a dark chuckle rolls through me. “How do you plan to accomplish that? You have no weapons. Even if you did, they wouldn’t be of much use against me.”

“You must have a weak spot,” she mutters.

“You’re welcome to try to find one,” I reply. “As for you—you’re a walking weak spot. Soft skin everywhere. So tender, so… lickable.” I hum deep in my throat after the last word. “When we reach my cave, you will remove your clothing so I can see all of you.”

“I willnot,” she replies. “Perverted dragon.”

Perhaps I am a perverted dragon. I’ve always known that there is something odd about the way humans affect me… especially the reaction I have toward their females.

The first time I saw a human female was with Hinarax and Aidrek, when the three of us were about seventeen years. We had flown to the coast by ourselves, without a prime or an elder, andwe saw three human women lying naked in the sun on the sand. When they saw us, they screamed and ran away.

---