Page 35

Jaz

Xandros and I sat by the fire as the wind howled.

The big Drake had wrapped himself around me—I sat between his knees, and his powerful arms held my torso against his.

My mind drifted as I sat there, engulfed in his warmth. I’m not sure when it occurred to me that he was no longer shaking.

No sooner had I noticed that, then he said, “We have to get back.”

His head was resting against mine, and the words spoken into my hair. So I asked, “Are you strong enough to brave the wind?”

“Strong enough for wind? Yes.” he replied. “The entire Nirzk army? Also, yes.”

“Okay.” I smiled. “But can you fly through this wind to get us back to the Stardrifter carrying me and two big hunks of metal?”

He laughed, a wonderful, deep rumbling sound. “You ask nonsensical questions.” But his strong arms did not loosen.

“You have to let go of me, or we’ll be sitting here forever,” I said.

Instead of loosening, his embrace tightened. “I do not want to let go.”

“Well, we can’t stay joined at the hip,” I protested .

“Was not thinking of joining at the hip,” he rumbled and offered the tiniest thrust of his hips.

My breath caught. “We can’t spend every moment together.” Then I managed to squeak, “For one thing, I prefer privacy in the loo.”

“What is a loo?”

“The bathroom.”

He huffed a laugh, but still, his arms didn’t move.

I sensed—something. I wasn’t sure just what. “What’s wrong?”

A pause. And then he said, “What—what if you change your mind about us?”

I swallowed. I’d hurt Zyair deeply. I knew that now. My heart constricted, because I’d be lucky if I ever got the opportunity to make it up to him. And now, Xandros was afraid I’d turn on him, too.

Taking a deep breath, I confessed the thing that I would have once faced with dread. “You three are my mates,” I said. “I won’t change my mind.”

It should have been a difficult thing to confess, but as soon as I said it, my heart soared. My hands tightened on his arms. “You are mine,” I whispered. “All three of you.”

As he rose, his powerful arms lifted me to my feet. Releasing me, he bent to retrieve my clothes.

I took them from him. He watched me get dressed with such an odd expression on his face.

“What?” I finally asked.

“You are so exquisite. You are now my true mate. Most of my generation will never have one, or have little ones.”

I’d just given my leggings a final tug, and now, I froze. Little ones. “Am I—did we—” I stammered to a halt.

“The serum—it is still modifying you. You should not be ready to yet conceive.” He sounded very matter of fact, as though we were discussing what we were having for dinner.

“But—if and when I do—am I going to give birth to a dragon or”—I swallowed hard—“ dragons ? ”

All the beggar did was grin.

“And that isn’t supposed to alarm me?”

He tilted his head. “Well, they—they will be very little dragons.”

Fucking hell. He didn’t seem at all concerned about this.

“Raptor Clan runs to triplets,” he added.

My alarm sharpened. Triplets. “I thought the female line dictated that kind of thing.”

“Not in Drakes,” he said confidently. “A chemical in our donations cause the egg to split.”

Splitting eggs? “But you guys aren’t identical twins.”

“Shaftz no. I would not want to look like Rhodes. He is far too rangy.” When he noticed my expression, he elaborated further. “For mates, conception requires donations from all.”

Well, that cleared up very little, and only added more questions. I decided that this conversation needed to be shelved. Preferably permanently, if I could find myself some birth control. I wasn’t ready to be a mother to dragons.

Although the thought of a baby Xandrosling lit a tiny, disturbing flame of warmth…

I squished it without mercy as I shook debris off my cloak and put it on. Then I looked at Xandros, who was gazing at me with a glazed look in his eyes.

“We need your big red dragony body to get back,” I reminded him.

“Oh, right.” The bones began to move beneath his skin, and he grimaced.

“Does it still hurt?” I asked, concerned.

“It always hurts,” he confessed. “A little more than usual now. My bones are not fully knitted.”

I decided that as much as I loved to fly, I could forgo the shapeshifting bit…

The wind was no longer at tornado status, but it was far from a light summer breeze.

Add in the darkness and the rain, and it should have been a miserable experience. Instead, as I sat behind the spikey crest on Xandros’s massive head with my fingers tangled in his hair, my heart was lighter than I could ever remember it being.

We were also synced in a way that I couldn’t quite explain. I imagined that I shared his own joy in the power of his body and the way every wingbeat carried him through the air. My newly enhanced vision deciphered minute details despite the gloom.

It was glorious.

He carried the metal pieces between his front talons. They were heavy—I’d helped pull them out of the broken tree branches—and they did act like sails. Every gust threatened to tear them loose from his grasp.

The storm seemed to be building again. It was a relief when Xandros finally hovered, and lowered himself to the mound of trees and foliage that covered the Stardrifter .

As the lizard birds renewed the battle, we noticed that the ramp was down.

Yani had raised it right before we’d left. I sensed the Drake’s concern as he lowered his head for me to slide off. His speed in shifting to human reflected his worry.

I looked around as I handed him the cloak. “Maybe she had some work to do outside?”

“Then where is she?”

My gut clenched. Xandros strode up the ramp, and I followed him.

The aft storage bay door was open.

Xandros was already through, and I heard him growl. I hurried in…

The cage was empty, and the key to the lock lay on the floor.

It wasn’t alone. Kurt lay there with the loose- limbed sprawl of someone dead. But when Xandros buried his fingers in the human’s shirt and lifted him off the ground, he groaned.

Semi-conscious, then. Soon to be dead, judging by the look on Xandros’s face. The Drake shook Kurt, hard. When his eyes blearily blinked open, Xandros pushed his face right into the human’s.

And unleashed the stare.

“What have you done?” he hissed.

The neck of the human’s shirt was tight around his throat, and there was the sudden, sharp scent of urine.

Not water. While the Drake stare had reduced me to dampness of another sort, Kurt simply peed himself.

I put a hand on Xandros’s arm—it was like touching steel.

“Put him down before you cut off his air completely,” I suggested.

Xandros snarled. “I should cut it off completely.”

“Not until we know what’s going on.”

The Drake grunted, but he lowered Kurt to the floor. The human’s gaze rolled to me. “I did what needed to be done,” he muttered sullenly.

“Where is Senaik?” Xandros demanded.

Kurt glared at him. “I don’t know. He promised that he’d fix this. When I let him out, he clobbered me.” His voice rose in outrage.

“You fucking idiot!” I accused. I was so angry I could kill him myself.

Kurt’s face contorted. “You’re the one who farked this up. These Drakes are criminals, being taken to the Nirzks for trial.”

Xandros snarled. “Senaik told you that?”

“Yeah. He said he’d bring someone back to fix the ship. But when I let him out, he attacked me.”

I was so angry I shook. On the stupidity level, Kurt was king. I turned away from him, to the Drake. “What will Senaik do?”

“He will go to the Nirzks.” Xandros was breathing hard and his eyes were glowing sapphire. Kurt had backed a few steps away, finally sensing his life might actually be hanging in the balance. When the Drake struck like a snake and snagged Kurt’s shirt again, the human yelped and flailed.

Xandros tossed Kurt into the cage, rewound the chains, and snapped on the lock. I bent to retrieve the key off the floor.

“Hey! I’m not the farking criminal here,” Kurt protested.

“Did you tell Senaik where Zyair and Rhodes went?” Xandros’s voice had dropped.

“He needed to know.”

“How long?” Xandros snarled. “How long has Senaik been gone?”

Kurt frowned. “How would I know? He knocked me out. But I’m glad he’s gone to get help. You’re criminals .” He spat the last word.

“They aren’t criminals. But you truly are an idiot,” I snapped. “Senaik is in the wrong, here.”

“You would believe that. I know you screwed one of them.” His gaze moved to Xandros. “Did you screw him too? Didn’t know you had such a thing for animals.”

How did he know about Zyair? And Xandros? He was poking a hornet’s nest with a very big stick. Xandros grabbed the bars, his lips pulled back from sharp teeth.

I wrapped fingers around his arm as I addressed Kurt. “Where did you get the key to the lock?” Last I knew, Yani had kept it with her.

A wary look came over his face. “Yani,” he said.

Damn it. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. She’s fine. I put some sedative in her tea. Then I took the key.”

That wasn’t nothing. I turned and ran for the engineering bay.

Yani was sitting propped up against the power core containment, rubbing her eyes. I crouched down beside her. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“Kurt—that is what happened.” Xandros rumbled as he entered .

“Kurt?” Yani’s eyes widened. “He didn’t?—”

“He did, after he slipped something into your tea,” I said through gritted teeth. “And we don’t know how long Senaik’s been gone.”

Yani’s eyes rose to Xandros. “Zyair and Rhodes…”

“We’ve got no way to warn them,” I said.

“I—I will go to them.” Xandros sounded as desperate as I felt.

Yani looked at her watch. “I think I drank the tea about two hours ago.”

Two hours. I exchanged a glance with Xandros. “If that’s where Senaik’s going, he might already be at the town.” I swallowed—my gut was twisting painfully.

Xandros had a funny look on his face. “We could try?—”

“Try what?” I eyed him.

“My brothers’ mate, Amelia—she links them.” He gestured as if he was having troubles explaining.

Linked? “You mean they’re telepathic?”

He shook his head. “But they can see through each other’s eyes. It might be a talent only she has. And you have not mated Rhodes…”

Yani’s gaze widened as she looked at us.

“But you and I and Zyair—” I said.

Xandros’s eyes lit up. “Yes. You could warn him—give him an indication that something is wrong.”

It sounded unlikely as hell, but it was also worth a shot. “What do I do?”

He seemed uncertain. “I—I am not sure. Amelia described it once. She thinks about them, and it links her. Think about Zyair.”

“Why don’t you send mental images of Senaik walking off the ship?” Yani suggested. “Use lots of emotion. That might help.”

“Okay.” As I closed my eyes, Xandros gathered me against his hard body. Encased in his warmth, I was suddenly filled with a terrible, tearing kind of fear—his fear for his brothers. It flooded through me, and gave me hope that I might actually reach Zyair.

I tapped into that, and then imagined Senaik running away from the ship. Changing into a dragon—he’d be black, blacker than Rhodes in the gathering darkness. I wrapped the images in emotion—fear and warning.

I don’t know what I expected, but there was no response. When I opened my eyes, Xandros was watching me closely. “I didn’t feel a damned thing.”

He was quick to school his features, but I saw the flash of disappointment.

“We have to move the ship,” Yani said. “Right away. If they find us, it’s game over.”

Xandros’s conflict showed in his expression. His instincts were to assist his brothers, but Yani was right, and he knew it.

“We won’t get far,” she warned. “We have repulsorlifts, and I’ve got the engines running, but without a power core, they can’t do much. Our battery is only one-quarter charged.”

“Whatever we can manage will have to do.” I looked at Xandros.

He nodded. “I will pull the trees off. You locate where we can hide the ship. But then, I must go.”

As he strode off, Yani straightened and swayed. I reached out to steady her, but she waved me off. “Get the navcube.”

We’d left it in the galley. By the time I returned with it, the Drolgok had brought the main control panel to life and was flicking switches on the power containment unit.

“There is enough in the batteries to ignite the engines and take us for a short cruise—but we will not be able to get much lift, so the repulsors will have to do that.”

The thumps and scrapes from outside indicated Xandros was hard at work removing our cover. After I activated the navcube, Yani and I peered at the terrain around us.

“Senaik knows we can’t get far,” I murmured. “They’ll be searching all over this area.”

We panned the navcube around, but there was nowhere to hide a ship from a determined search. There weren’t even that many places where we would be able to land it .

Then I stared. Not enough land…

“We can put her under water,” I said.

Yani’s eyes widened. “Not with that rift in her side.”

“We’ll repair that first. Let’s find water deep enough—we’ll need to work fast.”

I found it—ten miles from our current location. The area was dotted with lakes, but this one offered a rocky outcrop that stretched out over the water. Once we were submerged, it would help shield us from prying eyes and scans.

When Xandros entered the engineering bay shaking long yellow feathers out of his hair, I turned to him. “We’re submerging. So we need to get those panels welded on right away. And we’ll need your dragon to manipulate them.”

His mouth pulled straight—his every instinct was to fly to his brother’s aid. But we couldn’t do this without him. So minutes later, we were outside—his dragon was holding the metal in place while Yani and I spot welded it, after which he switched to human to help us finish.

I met his tortured gaze. “You want to go,” I said.

“Not until you are safe,” he ground out, working along the seam with the laser.

I flinched with every gust of wind, expecting to be descended upon before we could complete our task. We ended up using both panels to fully close the gap.

I ran my fingers along the joint. “Is this good enough?”

Yani waved her hands at me. “I’ll spray it with atmospheric sealant, just to be sure.”

At the top of the ramp, Xandros stopped moving. My heart was in my mouth as I looked up at him. He was gazing at the sky.

I reached up to pluck a stray lizard-bird feather from his hair. “If you’re going, I’m going with you.”

“You can’t come with me.”

I planted fists on my hips. “Are we, or are we not, matebonded? Or did that not mean what you said it did? ”

His lips quirked in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You are even pushier than Rhodes.”

“We have to hide the ship first,” I said. “Or we have nothing to bring them back to.”

“Get us to the lake,” Yani disappeared into the engineering bay while Xandros and I pointed ourselves for the bridge.