Page 39

Nala

I did not like leaving Artek’s side, but when the women invited me to come sit by the tent while we waited, he left to help the dragon.

Already, he was slipping into his role as a shaman, pulling his healing device over his hand and calling out questions to the beast’s handler.

I couldn’t recall the gold Naga’s name, but Kalani called the dragon Sesethul.

It sounded regal, and that seemed fitting for such a beautiful, majestic animal.

“They won’t be able to understand them,” I said as I lowered myself onto the grass, relieved to get off my tired legs.

I was a little sore between my thighs from last night’s activities, and all the running and hiding over the past hour hadn’t helped.

Huddled inside my leather coat, I tucked my hands beneath it to curl them around my belly.

“I told Jasmine Artek is a friend, an ally, but a whole horde of Naga might be too much for them. Especially after the dragon.” I eyed Sesethul’s bulky shape and couldn’t quite wrap my head around his size myself.

“Reid is with them,” a voice said, soft and friendly.

It was a new voice, and I turned to meet the eyes of the speaker.

The Naga female. She was azure, like the Naga I’d seen at the Thunder Rock village.

Her hair was also a bright, astonishing blue, and she had a very small, delicate horn jutting from her dainty chin.

She looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Regardless, she was my first female Naga, and I took a moment to catalog her appearance.

She was muscular but refined at the same time.

Many scars bisected her chest and arms, while her breasts were small and firm, tucked behind a leather band.

She also wore a colorful pink and yellow robe, and a ring—glittering on her ring finger—was her only adornment, almost like a wedding band.

After all the warnings and descriptions of the fierce nature of Naga females, I struggled to reconcile her almost nervous hover behind Kalani’s shoulder.

“Who’s Reid?” I asked. The name was human and vaguely familiar.

Had Artek talked about him? The women hurried to explain it to me: how Reid was a human ex-soldier, Sazzie’s mate, and that he’d make sure the humans knew it was safe and that they could trust them.

I hoped that was true because I was pretty sure Jasmine was the suspicious kind.

“We think others escaped during an earlier attempt yesterday,” I said when their explanations died down. “Did you find them?” I cast my gaze about the camp, but saw no sign of others. Kalani was solemnly shaking her head in answer.

The dragon took up most of the space in the clearing, and the tent we were sitting beside was nearly impossible to see.

I had no idea how big or small it was, but Cosima had ducked inside to fetch blankets and warm mugs of tea.

I was grateful for both those things and still felt guilty because I didn’t yet know what had happened to the others.

The one woman who hadn’t introduced herself yet was a brunette with a pretty gold nose piercing.

She sat down next to me and, in a motherly gesture, began tucking the blanket more snugly around me.

From her brown curls peeked a pair of amethyst eyes and a tiny purple snout.

I said nothing, but I was pretty sure that was a miniature dragon riding on her shoulders.

“I’m Farah,” she said, “and Zeidon is my mate.” She pointed into the woods.

“He’s really good at breaking things. If anyone can get into that ship, it’s him. ”

That made me laugh, and I felt a rush of warmth for these ladies. I barely knew them, but they’d come when Artek needed them. Them and their mates.

When the trees parted a short while later and a crowd of Naga and humans began streaming into the clearing, I leaped back to my feet.

They halted at the edge, arrested by the sight of the dragon’s sprawled form.

Jasmine was at the front of the group, and a human in leather pants—and nothing else, despite the cold weather—stood at her side.

He was tattooed, and odd, geometric shapes pressed beneath the skin of his shoulders, chest, and belly.

That had to be Reid, because I would have remembered someone who looked like that .

“Jasmine!” I shouted, and began to hurry her way.

She broke out into a smile, and the two of us hugged tightly.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is anyone hurt?” I asked, stepping back so I could get a good look at her and then at the group with her.

A dozen humans: four girls and eight guys, not counting Jasmine.

They all wore the same gray shirt and pants, worn, dirty, torn.

Their faces were tired, wary, and one of them was cradling an arm against his chest like it was broken.

“We’re fine,” Jasmine said. “We will be fine.” I eyed the men again, not once forgetting how threatening it had felt to walk into that hold and be surrounded by so many of them.

Out of the several hundred present, only a handful had decided to harass and threaten me, but it could be one of these guys.

I wouldn’t know; I hadn’t seen their faces in the dark.

But then I glanced at the Naga males who surrounded us, so many different types, but all big, muscular, and armed to the teeth.

They wouldn’t dare try anything with that kind of muscle around.

We really were safe. I just wished more than a handful could have been rescued. “What about the others?” I asked.

It wasn’t Jasmine who answered. She seemed uncertain and a little upset, but she didn’t speak.

It was the azure male I remembered from the dragon’s previous visit outside Artek’s greenhouse.

He spoke with authority, and he was very clearly the one in charge.

“We cannot get to them right now. Zeidon and Shaman Levant are investigating whether there is a way in, but they have sealed off the ship. Even the party at the back building walls retreated into the hold, then into the ship, and they sealed the door to prevent access.”

Oh… This was like trying to crack a metal egg; every path was cut off. That wasn’t good. It was going to be a siege until those inside were out of food and water. My stomach twisted with unease, with anger. Damn it! We’d failed Jolene, and now she and the other girls were trapped in there.

Artek was suddenly at my side, catching me around the waist and hugging me to him. “It’s okay, mate,” he said. “If they are holing up in there, they will put everyone they can back into stasis to preserve food and water. Your friend will be all right—for now. And we will be back to save them.”

My stomach twisted again, much more wildly, and I winced.

That wasn’t nerves or sadness; that wasn’t my belly gurgling.

“Artek!” I called out, and I yanked his hand from my hip to slide it beneath my coat, desperately searching for the feeling again.

“Come on, baby, you can do it!” And she did, kicking hard inside my belly and right into Artek’s palm, as if she’d sensed his nearness.

He gasped in shock, eyes growing wide, and then he lowered himself onto his coils at my feet and, with reverence, peeled open my jacket.

“She kicked, Artek! You felt it, right? She kicked!” He nodded, eyes still huge, and inhaled deeply before laying his jewel-studded hand over my baby bump.

Immediately, the little one kicked again, and we both cheered.

“I love you, mate,” I said to him, because there was no one I would have wanted to share this moment with more than he.

He lifted his eyes from my belly—huge and radiant—they glowed with happiness.

“And I love you, my Shavire.” Around us, the crowd collectively sighed and awed; there were even a few inspired souls who started clapping.

I shot Jasmine a glare, and she only clapped harder.

Then, even though I wanted to keep staring into Artek’s eyes, I stepped away so I could begin introducing everyone.

It wasn’t until several hours later that a dejected Zeidon and Levant returned to our camp.

By now, more tents had gone up, and I’d watched Artek heal anyone injured in the fight.

There was another Shaman here too, yellow with orange speckles, his hair white as snow, and he had only taken care of the Naga who looked exactly like him.

They had made their own, separate camp a little distance away, but they had not left.

I had learned they were a delegation from the Sun Fang Clan.

I rose when I saw them and joined Kalani and the males who went to greet them, reaching them just in time to hear their verdict.

“The ship’s impenetrable. We’ll need aid from the Shaman Council to get in.

” That was Levant. He seemed angry about this, but considerably less so when he discovered that five human girls had made it out.

Zathar, Haven’s leader, had to warn him sternly not to go around touching anyone.

Zeidon said very little, only that he was willing to go back and try again.

When the males began to disperse again, I turned to Levant.

We hadn’t met, but I felt like I knew him, and I’d learned from Artek that he had only been supposed to get help from Sun Fang, which was nearby.

He had gone through the trouble of reaching Haven with his communication tablet, and Haven had sent everyone they could on the dragon.

Without that dragon, we never would have gotten out, everyone knew that.

“Thank you,” I said to him. His dark scales gleamed with hints of gold and green; proud horns rose not just from his chin but also from his forehead, marking him as different from the other Naga, while the green streaks in his black hair made him look exotic.

Then he grinned, an eager, boyish expression that made him seem less like a forbidding, serious Shaman and more like a hopeful male searching for his mate.

He spread his arms as if to invite me for a hug, and then Artek was suddenly between us. He snatched me into his arms, twisting out of Levant’s reach. “Don’t even think about it. She’s mine!” he growled. Yes, I was, and I couldn’t be happier about it.