To Tame a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,17

the sky told her there were only a few hours before dawn. She’d been awake for a long while.

She glanced in the direction of her male when he roared again, wondering whether she was only imagining the faint vibrations in the ground. He couldn’t possibly make the earth shake from so far away with just a roar, could he? Regardless, if he wished to continue his tantrum, so be it. She’d sleep here for the rest of the night, and if—or when—he had need of her, he could come to her himself.

Her dragon’s roars finally fell silent, reminding Elliya again of a child—this time one who’d tired himself out during his little fit. She smiled and shook her head. Perhaps after he’d slept, he would be in a better mood.

When another faint tremor rumbled through the ground beneath her feet, unaccompanied by the dragon’s roar, Elliya’s heart skipped a beat. If not him, then…

A patch of sand mere paces away from her shifted, collapsing into itself as though being sucked into a hole. Elliya snatched up her spear, which had been standing beside her, and leapt backward as long, thin, segmented legs emerged from the sand, and the creature that had been buried beneath dragged itself to the surface.

Sand poured from the top of its carapace, which was about as large as Elliya’s torso and had several erect spines protruding from it. The creature’s spindly legs were nearly as long as her own, jutting out from the sides of that bulbous, spiked head. A pair of smaller legs flanked its mandibles, each tipped with broad, flat claws. The creature’s long tail emerged last, sending up a fresh spray of sand. That tail was lacking the armor of the creature’s front, and sand clung to its smooth, pale flesh.

A shorelurker—and easily the biggest one Elliya had ever seen. From its chittering mandibles to the tip of its tail, it was nearly twice as long as she was tall.

The shorelurker turned toward her. All six of its dark, beady eyes gleamed with tiny reflections of the Red Star. The creature spread its mandibles, parted its claws, and released a high-pitched shriek that sent a chill up Elliya’s spine. It launched itself at her with its tail undulating wildly and its head curled down to angle its spines forward.

Elliya leapt aside. The shorelurker darted through the air within arm’s reach of her. She raised her spear as she pivoted to face the creature, which came down on the sand and skidded to a halt, its gangly legs pumping furiously.

This was not normal. Shorelurkers were ambush hunters—they waited under sand or mud near bodies of water for unsuspecting prey to approach, shoving themselves up out of the ground to drive those venomous spines into the feet and soft underbellies. They did not attack prey in the open.

And dragons swooping down from the heavens to mate with human women is normal? This is the Red Star, the Blood Moon. Everything is different for now.

The shorelurker turned around and charged at her again, this time keeping its belly on the ground. Its tail lashed back and forth with rapid, hypnotic rhythm, spraying sand in its wake.

A single prick from one of the shorelurker’s spines was all it would take to seal Elliya’s fate. The venom wouldn’t kill her—at least not immediately—but it would slow her down enough to effectively end the fight.

She would not allow the night of her greatest triumph, the night when the tribe had gained its first dragon member in untold generations, to also be the night of her death. She would not perish here—not while her dragon had yet to accept her. Not while everything she had hoped for was just within her grasp.

As though in response to her thoughts, she felt a little flare of heat in her heart. The feeling was faint, barely perceptible, but there was a whisper of alarm, pride, arrogance, rage, and possessiveness within it. Though the sensation was but a flicker, it was powerful.

Something roared in the distance, but the sound was obscured by her pounding heart.

Was that him, or was it simply a ghost of what she hoped could be?

It didn’t matter; he wasn’t here now. Elliya had only herself to rely upon.

A huntress is strong and selfless.

Elliya thrust her spear at the charging creature. The stone head struck the shorelurker’s carapace dead center, between its six eyes, with a resounding clack that resonated up the spear shaft and nearly made her lose hold of