Dakh settles gently on the ground and then releases me. I wobble forward, getting my balance. My legs always feel a little bit like butter after we land, no matter how long or short the flight. In the next moment, Dakh drops Tate onto the ground, far less pleasantly than the way he handled me. The soldier lands on the concrete with a mild splat, groans, and slowly picks himself up.
Dakh, naughty boy.
I am not killing him. That does not mean I have to like him.
I bite back my smile even as I move to offer Tate a hand up. He gives me a scathing look and pushes off the ground, battered and bruised. There’s blood in the rents on his uniform, and I’m sure when he goes back and tells the others, it’ll be all about how he fought the dragon valiantly rather than the fact that he pissed himself.
“I don’t want your help,” Tate snaps at me as he straightens. “You’ve got one last chance, Sasha. You can return with me to Fort Dallas and share your intel.”
“Share my intel?” I echo, baffled. “What are you talking about?”
He glances up at Dakh, who’s hovering protectively nearby, and takes a step farther away. “I mean exactly that,” Tate hisses. “You’ve been living with this thing for days now. You already know more about him than the rest of us. His strengths, his weaknesses, how you get him to communicate, everything.”
I feel my cheeks turning red. If he found out how the mind link was established…yeah, no. “Dakh’s not a bad guy, Tate. They’re victims of the Rift just as much as we are. Being here makes them crazy, I think. He’s better now that he’s linked with me.”
“Then come back and share what you know, Sasha. I am sure the new mayor will be quite interested to hear what you have to say.”
New mayor? I want to ask what happened to the old one, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going back to Fort Dallas right away. Not after I’ve promised Dakh we’d have sex again in exchange for Tate’s life. “I can’t. I made a promise.”
His lip curls. “You know I have no choice but to tell them that you’re whoring for a dragon. You’re a traitor to your own kind, filth.”
Even though I know Tate’s just trying to hurt me, I still recoil at his harsh words. Whoring was the one thing I never wanted to do, and yet he’s right. In a way, I’ve been selling myself out to everyone for safety. It hurts, mostly because it’s true. But I’ve never thought of myself as a traitor.
The air suddenly smells like smoke. Dakh’s big head lowers, and his eyes are completely black. Tate takes a step backward even as Dakh takes another step forward, and it’s clear the dragon’s about to lose his mind.
“Dakh,” I whisper, putting a hand on him. “Don’t, okay?”
He is going to die. He hurt you with his words.
“He’s doing it on purpose because he’s a little bitch,” I say aloud, giving Tate a deliberate look. “He’s not worth it. And I don’t want you picking him out of your teeth.”
Tate’s pale face flushes, and he sneers at me, obviously sensing that he’s safe. “If you’re smart, you’ll never show your face in Fort Dallas again.”
“I guess I won’t,” I say, keeping my voice calm. I stroke Dakh’s scales. Like it or not, it seems I’ve made a decision. I’m a little terrified of what it means, but I won’t worry about it right now. In this moment, I need all of my strength to make Dakh uphold his end of the promise and not eat Tate. The dragon’s thoughts are black, and I’m getting the image of ravens again, which means he’s hanging on by a thread. “You might want to go before he loses control,” I tell Tate, and stroke Dakh’s scales again. “I don’t know how much longer he’s going to hold out.”
Tate blinks and then turns and runs, heading to the south and in the opposite direction of the fort.
I don’t correct him. Let him get lost for a few hours. Asshole.
Dakh’s muscles bunch in his shoulders, as if he wants to go after Tate. I keep my hand on him and lean in and press a light kiss to the scales on his cheek. “Remember what you promised,” I murmur.
I remember, Dakh tells me, his thoughts murky. He’s struggling.
Tate’s not worth it, I repeat, continuing to stroke at his scales. His threats are empty. So I’m exiled from Fort Dallas? I would have been anyhow, because I would never tell them about you. And I had nothing left there, anyhow. Not if Claudia and Amy are gone. I don’t want to go back to a life of starving…or worse. I let my fingers trail down his nose. You said you’d protect me, remember?
The glittering eyes focus on me. Gold flashes in them, albeit briefly. I remember.
Then let’s leave here, okay? You need a distraction, and staying here isn’t good for you. I give him a smile. I can feel your thoughts and how tangled they are at the moment.
They get better the more you talk. His thoughts are halting, but he’s right, they’re clearer. He gently scoops me up in his claws again and brings me to his scaled breast. You are right. This place is not good for me, or for you. And you have promised to mate with me again.
“I did promise that,” I say faintly. My heart’s fluttering at the thought. I don’t know why I’m panicking. I’ve had sex before. I’ve had lots of sex. It’s just that this is sex where I need to do more than expected.
I need to enjoy myself.
It’s the most ridiculous problem, and yet…
Dakh takes to the air. I’m not paying much attention to where we’re going until I notice that he’s heading directly for one of the tall skyscrapers in the remains of Old Dallas. Surprised, I watch as we move in on the old building. I know this place. It’s where he first kept me when he stole me.
A little flutter of alarm moves through me. We’re stopping here? We’re not going back to the store?
The dragon sets down on the ledge and carefully puts me on my feet. I can feel his thoughts, still murky and touched with chaos. Too far away, he tells me. I am filled with too much anger. The dark eyes focus on me. I want to return to the human hive and burn it to the ground.
No, you don’t, I soothe. That’s not you. That’s the madness you talked about. It’s trying to get you to do bad things.
How do you know it’s not me? I do not remember who I was.
You’ve been nothing but kind to me. If you were truly that cruel and uncaring, you wouldn’t be so careful with me. You wouldn’t care what I thought about sex. You’d just touch me and take what you wanted.