Page 10 of Surrendering Her Heart (Red Planet Fated Mates #10)

9

AVA

M y legs are so heavy that every step forward feels impossible.

We’ve been moving as fast as possible without breaks. The Zmaj stays at my side. Wearily, I think again how I should know his name, but I’m too tired to hold onto the thought of asking. It comes and goes just as fast.

We caught up to the group without the scouts of the Order ever coming close enough to bother us, but they made sure we know they’re there. Dan and Nyanna kept the group moving along with the rest of the Zmaj, but this journey has not gone anywhere near according to plan.

My throat is dry and raw. I would kill someone for water and some hydration tablets, but we don’t have enough to go around. Reaching the top of yet another dune, I stop, bend over and rest with my hands on my knees.

“I could carry you,” the Zmaj says.

Panting, I look at him through my damp, fallen hair, with my face showing what I’m sure must be the disbelief I’m feeling in my head. I blink, thinking he must be joking, but nope. He’s serious.

“No.”

“You are tired.”

“Yes.”

“I will carry.”

“No, you will not,” I say, straightening myself, taking a deep breath to get my panting under control and letting it out slowly.

He frowns. The moonlight glints off his scales and gathers in his eyes making them look like silver pools. He shakes his head.

“You are stubborn.”

“And?” I ask, arching an eyebrow. He growls, his tail twitching across the sand and throwing bits of it up and around. I stare him down for several heartbeats, waiting for him to give in but he’s not backing down. I point to the stragglers behind us. “They need help. Carry them if you want to carry someone.”

A few of the older people are really fighting to make it. The line is much longer than anyone would like, but we only have so many ways we can help. Several of the other Zmaj are aiding them as well as other humans, but we need the sleds.

“I must be free to fight,” he says.

“And you can do that carrying me?”

“I could.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head.

“You’re impossible.”

“ We are.”

Something in the way he says it makes me stop. It slices through my resistance like a sharp knife through paper. It pulls me towards him, not physically, but in my heart. I don’t understand why or even what this is but it’s undeniable.

I blink, my eyes are dry and some sand grit is in them. I wipe away the moisture that is forming, trying to clear them. That’s all it is. Grit.

“We need to keep moving,” I say, but my voice is much tighter than it should be.

I turn away, unable to keep looking at him. Blinking, I clear my vision and see our goal. The small mountain range fills the horizon. We’re close.

There’s a vibration in my bones. I spin a circle and see them. The Order scouts. They’re using some kind of transports to herd us. Zipping in close, but not so close we can do anything about them.

“Move!” the Zmaj shouts. “They are closing in!”

Murmurs of fear and pained groans greet his order but no one protests. My heart beats faster looking back. So many humans. The last of our species, struggling across the shifting sands of this hell hole of a planet. I swipe my sleeve across my forehead.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Huh?” he grunts, looking away from the stragglers.

“Your name,” I say.

“You want to know this now?” he asks, a smile forming.

“Seems as good a time as any,” I say, then sigh. “We’re probably going to die. Figure if I’m going out, I should know who’s name to curse for not saving me in time.”

I smile, wryly, hoping he gets that I’m joking. The way his smile spreads, lighting up his face, and his tail patters on the sand, I think he does.

“Zamis,” he says, lowering his head.

The light of the moon glints on his horns. An impulse comes so fast and so hard I act without thinking. I grab onto his horns. Their thicker than a lot of Zmaj and I pull him lower. Tilting my head back until our lips meet.

He gives to the kiss, immediately. Without hesitation. There is nothing held back. His lips meld to mine. But when he tries to close his arms around me I step back.

“Save us first,” I say and laugh.

The confusion on his face shifts quickly to amusement.

“As you command,” he says, bowing with a flourish.

I spin on my heel and take off, feeling refreshed. The Outpost is right there. All we have to do is make it.