Page 141 of Pets in Space 10

Hazel

Iwoke to warmth.

Not the flickering heat of firelight or the faint breath of morning sun filtering into the cave – but the deep, steady warmth of a body curled beside mine.

Fallin.

His arm was heavy around my waist, his breath soft and even against the back of my neck.

One of his wings lay half-draped over us like a blanket, the edges twitching slightly with each exhale.

His tail curled behind my knees. His presence was enormous, and yet I felt…

safe. Cradled. Like the world outside didn’t matter so long as he kept breathing beside me.

My body ached in the best possible ways.

I didn’t move right away. Just stared at the cave wall and let it settle over me – what we’d done. What it meant. What it might mean.

No regrets. None. But my thoughts spun anyway.

Were we together now?

Was that what this was?

We’d fallen asleep tangled in each other, his arms around me like he’d been afraid I’d vanish if he let go. But we’d not talked about what had happened. No declarations had followed. No promises.

Was I his girlfriend now? No, I hated that word. Partner was much better.

Could he come to Earth? Would he even want to?

A huge, scaled alien dragon-man walking through Glasgow in a leather kilt probably wasn’t going to go unnoticed. Assuming we ever got off this bloody planet. Assuming I even wanted to go back. Assuming… assuming so many things.

I sighed, soft and long. His arms tightened slightly, and I realised he was awake.

“I can hear you thinking,” he murmured, voice still gravelly with sleep.

I smiled. “That loud, huh?”

“Like thunder.” He shifted behind me, pressing his face into my shoulder for a moment before slowly propping himself up on one elbow. “Want to tell me what’s making your mind race before it explodes?”

I rolled onto my back, staring up at the uneven ceiling. “Just… everything.”

His gaze was steady. “Us?”

“Partly.” I met his eyes. “I don’t regret it. Any of it. But I don’t know what comes next. I don’t even know what’s possible, Fallin. We’re on a wild alien planet, your people are scattered, the game makers are still out there, wanting to kill us – and I’ve got no shoes.”

That made him huff a quiet laugh. “The last part is most urgent, clearly.”

I smiled, but didn’t look away. “Are we… together now?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he reached for my hand, bringing it to his chest where his heart thudded strong beneath scale and skin.

“I don’t know your species’ word for what I feel,” he said. “But I know I want to stay close. Wake beside you. Walk beside you. Fight and fly and burn beside you. If that means we’re together, then yes. We are.”

My heart did something strange and fluttery.

“I like that answer,” I said.

“Good.” His voice dropped, almost shy. “What do you want to do today?”

“Survive,” I said dryly. “Make a plan. Figure out if we stay on Kalumbu or try to find a way off. If we help more tyvarin or try to find allies.”

“We start small,” he said. “We hunt. We feed the black one again. We check his wounds. Then we find higher ground. I want to see the sky.”

“Your sky?”

He smiled faintly. “One day, maybe. But for now – this one.”

His wing unfurled and curled gently around me again.

“Come,” he said. “The world is waiting.”

This time, we went hunting together. If you can call collecting berries and nuts hunting.

I picked as many as I could while Fallin was searching for game nearby.

I heard the fight from afar, but before I could get worried, he flew into my field of vision, holding a small, bloody carcass.

I didn't look too closely at what kind of beast he'd killed.

"Will that be enough for us and the other tyvarin?" I asked when he landed in front of me.

"I'm hoping that the tyvarin will be well enough to fly to my cave today.

He is in constant danger if he stays that close to the lab.

Once we're back at the cave, I'll go hunting again.

I know that area much better than this. It won't take long to find a beast big enough to sate the tyvarin's appetite and our own. "

Instead of returning to our temporary cave, we had breakfast in the forest, munching berries and nuts.

Ruby surprised us both when she dropped some nuts on a flat rock in front of her and blew fire on them.

They cracked in the heat, releasing the scent of roasted cinnamon.

She nudged my hand as if to offer me to try her creation, pride glimmering in her eyes.

I bit into the softened nut and could barely hold back a sigh of pleasure.

"That is utterly delicious," I said. It almost sounded like a moan. "Thank you, Ruby."

She chirped, looking very pleased with herself. Tyva- no, Fallin laughed and snatched one of the toasted nuts before the little dragon could devour them all. Ruby chittered happily and exhaled a burst of fire on the last remaining berries.

"Ruby, no!" I shouted, but it was too late. Only a smouldering mess of charred berries and sticky juice remained.

"I guess that's breakfast over," Fallin said with a chuckle. "Are you ready to head back up the mountains? I should be strong enough to fly us all the way today."

I wiped my sticky hands on a leaf and stood, brushing crumbs from my makeshift skirt. “Let’s do it.”

Fallin wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chest firmly pressed against my back.

His tail snaked across my waist for safety.

For a moment, I imagined what else this tail could do.

I was glad he couldn’t see my face. His wings flexed, testing the wind, and then we were airborne.

Ruby followed us with joyful chitters, clearly excited to be joining us on this adventure.

The flight felt different this time. Easier.

More controlled. He was stronger now, steadier.

I could feel it in the way he moved – confident, graceful.

Like the skies were truly his again. The wind brushed through my hair and I was almost glad it was not as long as it used to be.

More practical. Yes, that was the way to think about it. Be positive.

The sun hadn’t risen far, but the mountains shimmered gold and red beneath us. The view stole my breath, even as my thoughts turned heavier with each beat of his wings.

I wasn’t sure what we’d find. For some reason, I suddenly had a bad feeling about it all.

The slope came into view. The place we’d left him – the other tyvarin. My stomach twisted.

Fallin landed softly, releasing me from his secure grip. Ruby darted ahead, chirping once, then falling silent.

He lay exactly where we’d left him, but something was changed. The fire was out. The moss around the tyvarin was cold. And his chest no longer rose.

Fallin reached him first. He knelt beside the other dragon, laying a hand on the scaled neck. No pulse. No glow. No warmth.

“Too late,” he said quietly.

I didn’t know what to say. We’d tried. He’d tried.

“We freed him,” I whispered. “And then he died. Why? That shouldn’t have happened.”

Fallin’s wings drooped, the weight of the moment settling on his shoulders. He examined the dragon, running his hands over the obsidian scales. Yesterday, they had been shiny, filled with life. Now the spark of life had been extinguished.

Fallin suddenly snarled. “Look here. It wasn’t the injuries that killed him.” His eyes were ice cold as he looked at me. “He was murdered.”

I looked at where he pointed. A thin line sliced through the tyvarin’s throat, barely visible, stained with dried blood. His throat had been cut.

I sucked in a sharp breath. My eyes burned. We were too late. While we’d been sleeping safely in our cave, then having a leisurely breakfast in the forest, this dragon had been attacked.

“He died alone,” Fallin whispered. “I wasn’t here for him. I didn’t defend him. I didn’t share his last moments. I didn’t listen to his final breath.”

I crouched beside him, brushing a hand gently over the tyvarin’s shoulder. “You had no choice. If we’d stayed here, we may be dead as well. The game makers clearly know what you’ve done. They will be coming after you.”

He rose to his feet, his jaw set, determination shining in his eyes. A solitary tear ran down his scaled face. “Let them come.”

I took his hand and together, we looked upon the dead tyvarin. I felt like I should say something, mark his passing in some way, but I knew nothing about the dragon. He had been strong and formidable when he’d fought Fallin, but we didn’t even know his name.

“May you rest in peace,” I whispered beneath my breath. “And may you be the last tyvarin to ever die alone.”

Fallin squeezed my hand. “The masters will pay for this. I swear it.”

A ray of sunshine burst from the clouds, bathing the obsidian dragon in warm light. It was as if the universe marked our words.

I breathed in deep. “We will make sure no one else ends up like this. I will be by your side every step of the way.”

He glanced up towards the distant cliffs, where the sky turned pale blue behind the broken horizon.

“We’ll go back to the lab. Use the network again – but this time, we use the collars to call them.

Show them how I was changed by the machine.

Offer sanctuary. A choice. To use the machine themselves, if they want it.

Or freedom in their current form. And then, war against the masters. ”

Fallin exhaled, slow and steady. “Before I call them, I need to know if I can change back into Tyvaron. To battle the masters, I need to be at my full strength.”

“Are you sure about this?”

He nodded grimly. “There is no other way. I had hoped to wait with this, but I cannot. If I offer the others the choice of using the machine, they must know all potential consequences.”

Before I could say another word, he took a step back. His hand brushed mine briefly – a silent goodbye, or maybe a promise. Then he moved away from me, into the open space where the wind tugged at his leather belt and the sun glinted off the scales that shimmered across his skin.

I held my breath.

He closed his eyes. His whole body stilled.

And then it began.

The change rippled through him – scale and flesh, bone and light – his outline blurring into something vast and winged. His back arched, arms extending, wings unfurling like sails catching a rising wind. The air around him shimmered, charged with something ancient and powerful.

No pain. No struggle.

This time, it was his choice. And he was victorious.

I took a step closer, shielding my eyes as his dragon form solidified – familiar now, but still magnificent. The turquoise and aquamarine scales caught the sunlight like gemstones, every motion fluid, natural. His horns swept back elegantly from his brow, his eyes glowing with quiet resolve.

He was still him. Still Fallin.

But now… all of him.

And I couldn’t stop staring.

“You did it,” I whispered. “Did it hurt?”

“No.” His voice boomed with the strength of Tyvaron, but held the warmth I’d come to know of Fallin. “Hop on. I will fly us to the lab.”

“To call your kin?”

He shook his head, smoke rising from his nostrils. “To call our kin. The lost. The broken. The waiting. If we move fast, we can reach them before they’re hunted again.”

It was time to begin something new.