harm me or mine once the creatures know my scent.
Drazak teaches me more every day how to be a dragon. There is much to learn.
I swing my tail out and snap two jungle bushes in half. Then I crush them into the ground as well. Birds flutter into the sky, and I lift my neck, gazing down the path towards the sea.
“Is it clear?” Drazak asks beside my wing.
I shimmy. ‘Yes.’ It’s easier to have him read my body’s language than to talk in a tongue that twists my mouth.
“Good.” His voice is deep and filled with appreciation.
It makes me preen.
He is my male, and he has won the right to rut me. Now that I am a femdragon, it makes perfect sense in my head. When I needily bare myself to him, he just laughs, ordering me to reshape into my human form for that. He runs his hand over my wing and steaks his fingers through my feathers, telling me how beautiful my dragon form is, and that there will be plenty of time to rut later… when I am truly ready.
Which relaxes me because I don’t want to release this ball of fire burning within me. Two weeks have passed since I transformed, and I’m afraid if I let the fire go, returning to my human form, that I might not be able to experience this again.
Not only that, but the sun is blissful on my scales.
Besides, I am much more useful as a dragon right now. I can help my sisters and brothers at Sand’s Hunters rebuild their huts, the ones I accidentally destroyed. It is much easier to gather wood, to drop them off a tree in this form. I have done it many times now, foraging for other resources in the process. I can access places I couldn’t as a human.
Rocks. Reeds. Even mouthfuls of fish. I load my body, carrying everything I can between the other tribes along the Mermaid Coast. Granted, most of the other tribes fled when they saw me, and I’ve learned to remain away from the villages between trips. But they know me by now.
They know Drazak too.
A new surge of supplies isn’t the only change to the tribes my new form has brought.
Not all the changes are good…
There’s been a resurgence of huntresses questing for dragons. I told them there were none nearby—I don’t sense any but Drazak, Zaeyr, and Kaos—but they would not listen. My words have only led the larger hunting groups to travel farther afield.
I know some will never return.
All I can do is scent my tribe sisters, to keep them safe during their journeys. Each member of Sand’s Hunters now wears one of my dragon feathers in their hair for protection. I will not stop them searching for a mate of their own. If they are willing to face danger for the hope of a family, who am I to stop them?
“I have finished clearing the hole,” Drazak says.
I twist my neck to the cave entrance.
The tree that once hid the hole from view is partially fallen over. It fell when Drazak turned human, causing the hole to fill up. I ripped out the broken roots, and opened it up enough for Drazak and I to dig. He did most of the digging since I had enough to do: exploring all that is now ours, gathering everything we will need for our new home.
The familiar scent of the cave’s cool darkness releases into the air, pulling me from my thoughts, and I am eager to feel it upon my human skin. My nostrils flare. Excitement fills me.
I am desperate to be back in Drazak’s arms again. Not everything about being a dragon is great. I cannot be as close to my mate as I want. As I need. But will I be able to change again?
Ugh.
At least I am comforted that Drazak remains with me always, that our child is nestled safely inside me.
Drazak wipes his brow.
The smell of his sweat spreads through the air. My wings flutter. I miss having him inside me. Tonight, I want to sleep nestled in his arms, in our cave. Soon it will be a homey den for us and our younglings. I want to journey into it with him. This first time, together.
It is time.
Drazak straightens and steps away from me. Tense, he pins me with his dark eyes. He knows. I see the anticipation on his face.
The need.
I reflect it back to him.
Shaking my sleek frame,