Page 25

I hugged the furry body close while her owner fixed me with a stern eye. “I am going to run a systems diagnostic while you tell me what happened on that bridge.”

I swallowed again. And then, I told her.

Afterward, she stayed silent while she worked on the main engine core .

“He told me that we’d mated,” I said. “I had no idea that was what was going on. I—I really wanted him. Was that the serum?”

She met my gaze. “I don’t know. I don’t know what the serum does. It’s a very well-kept secret among the scientists.”

“Do you think he’s right? That we mated?”

She hesitated, and said, “I am not a Drake. But I have heard that they only lock when they mate. Nowadays, it is a rare thing for them to find someone to mate with.”

My mind spun with questions, but it settled on, “Is mating as permanent as it sounds?”

Her mouth straightened. “You don’t want it to be?”

I exhaled. “I don’t know what I want. Or if it is the serum making me want it. So, I can’t answer that.”

She rubbed her temple with stubby fingers. “Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Zyair from talking to you.”

I shook my head. “No. I need space to think. We have plans, and I intend to follow them. But first, we have to figure our way out of this mess. Or none of it matters.”

Her expression was distinctly odd as she handed me a tray filled with relays. “Open that panel, and replace every one with those, would you? I’m going to start running diagnostics with Zyair.”

While I replaced the relays, she opened a comm channel to Zyair. His deep voice rumbled through the engine room, and my heart ached with every syllable.

Was it just the serum speaking? Or did I really feel something for this guy? Would have been better if I’d had this self-reflection before I’d screwed him.

I finished replacing the relays, and hung around while Yani ran diagnostics. She gestured to me and said, “Call Xandros and Rhodes into the kitchen. I have news.”

The grim tone to her voice didn’t bode well to the state of Stardrifter’s engines or power core. Handing Sookie back to her, I headed out of the engineering bay and to the ramp.

Wind blasted up it, tugging at my hair, and the rain was gusting almost horizontally. It contained the odd bit of hail that stung my skin.

At the top of the ramp were two sets of coveralls.

I stared down at them as I passed by, but didn’t fully register just what that meant until I got to the bottom of the ramp and looked at the path of destruction the Stardrifter had plowed through the forest.

There were broken branches lying in its wake, but many of those still attached to trees had already sprung back from the impact. Unless someone flew directly overhead and looked down at the right moment, the ship would not be seen.

Movement made me turn, and I squinted through the storm.

Considering that Earth had been conquered by them, we very seldom saw our overlords in their beast forms. I’d witnessed them as silhouettes, flying like giant birds against the clouds.

It was a very different thing seeing them up close.

I stood frozen for a few seconds before my brain kicked in to catalog the basics.

Forty feet from tail tip to snout, with a wingspan at least as wide, a dragon was stretching up to wedge an entire uprooted tree over the top of the Stardrifter .

He was clothed in scales that gleamed in brilliant shades of red as the rain cascaded over them.

The wings themselves were orange, like the sky above a dying sun.

But it was his head that captivated me. Framed in a crown of spikes, it had a broad brow and prominent jawbones that tapered to long jaws. Ruggedly beautiful, my gaze traced the features and the stunning blue gaze that gleamed sapphire…

Xandros. As clear as day, I knew it was him.

All around him were the bright yellow, feathered bodies of what looked like birds—but when one landed on top of his head and pecked it, I saw scales in places on its body and a long, whippy tail.

There must have been a hundred of them, dipping and swirling around him with very annoyed sounding squawks.

The red dragon ignored them, even those daring enough to land and peck.

While I stood there with my mouth hanging open, a shadow passed overhead.

Another dragon coasted in on the gusting wind, deftly ducking the trees to land gracefully beside the ship.

He balanced on his hind legs—his fore were loaded with broken branches.

He was dark, much darker than the other, with scales that were deep crimson to black, and auburn wings. His head was narrower, and his eyes shimmered a deep garnet.

Rhodes.

They were huge, and should have been terrifying.

I thought they were magnificent.

The dark dragon snapped at the lizard birds.

“Hey,” the red one rumbled. “We are clearly in their nesting grounds.”

“Are we nesting in their shaftzing grounds?” Rhodes snapped.

“We are here. We are gathering trees. To them, that is exactly what we are doing,” Xandros said calmly.

“Um…” I began unintelligently.

Both dragons turned to stare at me. For a moment, all three of us were like statues in the storm.

I spoke loudly into the wind. “Yani needs to talk to us. In the kitchen.”

As they writhed their way back to their humanoid state, I retreated up the ramp, out of the worst of the rain. I wanted to look away, but just couldn’t. The transformation looked torturous, but neither Drake uttered a sound.

In moments, they stood before me. As humans. Naked.

Cinnamon and auburn, they returned my stare. One a mountain of muscle, the other lean and graceful. Their bodies were different, but both were gorgeously—perfect.

I swallowed and turned away. These Drakes were getting under my skin.

My skin didn’t worry me nearly as much as my heart…