ANDI

I sip the last of the warm water from my canteen, swishing it around my mouth to make it last. I feel like a baked potato after sitting in the back of the SUV all day…not that I’ve had a baked potato since the Rift hit. Man, I miss potatoes. And sour cream. I really miss sour cream.

My mouth waters at the thought and I sit up, looking around the highway. The sun’s low in the sky, ready to set in another hour or two. Everything’s quiet. The lions left a short time ago, but we’re waiting to make sure they don’t come back and Liam gives the all-clear on the scent. Next to me in the car, he dozes. Or at least he seems like he’s sleeping. He’s got one hand behind his head, his eyes closed, and he looks like the picture of comfort. Me, I haven’t been able to sleep. I watched the lions for a bit, and then I watched him.

It occurred to me after we’d been here for a few hours that I could have shot the lions. I’ve got bullets, and I’m a pretty good shot. If nothing else, the noise would probably scare them away. But…it seems wrong to try to kill them just because they wandered near us. They’re so majestic and fat and happy, lolling atop the car hood in the sun. It seems like a crime to destroy them when they’re clearly thriving in the After.

At least something is. So I don’t bother to get my gun out. I just tuck my legs close, hugging them to my chest, and watch them play until they leave, sauntering off in the grass again. I’m lost in thought, trying not to stare too hard at Liam because if I do, I’ll think about this morning’s hot, sexy kiss or the way he slid me under him so effortlessly, grinding against my pussy. It’s been a long time since I’ve had sex, and longer still since I enjoyed it.

I think I could enjoy it with Liam.

I wonder if that really does make me a tail chaser. Is it because he’s a dragon? Or is it because he’s Liam and the way he touches me makes me feel like the most treasured woman in the world? Or am I just desperate and horny? It’s been a while since I rubbed one out. I squeeze my thighs together, thinking about that. How long has it been? Over a week, I think. Maybe two? There’s been so much going on lately that I’ve just dropped into bed each night and fallen asleep. Jeez, no wonder I’m all over Liam. The guy’s probably thinking I’m so starved for sex that I’ll do anything—

“You look like you’re thinking hard,” he murmurs.

“Me? Pff. I’m just daydreaming.” I hate that my cheeks are flushing. “Thinking about Gwen and wondering if she’s okay.” My “big sis” left a couple of weeks ago because her dragon, Vaan, was being contacted by Salorians. They went to Fort Dallas…and decided to stay to watch over the Salorian and to be a go-between since he’s interested in making peace. I worry about her a lot, so it’s an easy enough answer to say that I’m thinking of Gwen.

I don’t want to tell Liam I’m still thinking about that kiss, or the hungry way he gazed at my nipples earlier.

He sits up slowly, his head bumping against the top of the car as he does, and for a moment I see his horns peek out of his thick hair. “Vaan won’t let any harm come to her.”

“You make it sound like it’s so simple.”

He shrugs. “Drakoni males are very possessive of their mates. He’d bring the entire fort down if someone so much as looked at her wrong.”

Okay, that is pretty reassuring. I want to ask him if he’s ever wanted a mate, but my tongue feels glued to the roof of my mouth. That question won’t come out. I just nod absently.

Liam lifts his head, nostrils flaring, and then moves to one of the broken windows and sticks his head out. I know he’s testing the scents in the air, but when he leans out the window, I get an unimpeded view of his fantastic bubble of a butt and my mouth goes dry again. Sweatpants like that should be illegal. I know he’s wearing them because he’s built bigger than most human men and finding any clothes in the After (much less clothes that fit) can be a challenge. But did they have to outline his ass so perfectly? Aren’t people supposed to look like slobs in sweatpants? Because he looks scrumptious.

“I think we can leave now. I don’t smell them anymore,” Liam says, pulling my attention away from his butt. “If we stay upwind I think we’ll be fine.”

“Sounds good. I’m ready to go when you are.” I pack my now-empty water canteen in my pack, then sling it over my shoulder. I keep my gun out, just in case, and when Liam grabs his stuff and falls into step next to me, we’re off again.

And neither of us brings up the kiss from earlier. I don’t know if I’m relieved or annoyed.

We walk for the next few hours. As I suspected, we pass by a highway sign that says “Zoo ahead, next exit,” and I hope Benny was smart enough to avoid it. Liam reassures me his scent continues up the highway, and so I’m relieved. Sure enough, we get to the intersection for Interstate 20, which heads west all the way across the border and right on to Fort Dallas, and his scent turns in that direction.

That little motherfucker. He’s going to another damn fort. My worry abates for a moment and I want to choke the little bastard. Doesn’t he know that that place is dangerous? I grit my teeth as we head west along the highway, and my anger feels as hot and new as it did when I first discovered my missing socks yesterday morning. I’d love to have him back, of course, but he’d definitely get an earful from his big sister for being such an idiot.

The ruins of the old city are dense in this area, and so are the stray animals. As we walk, I see mangy dogs trotting down distant streets, and the occasional cat darting between buildings. I also see rats. Lots and lots of rats. The droppings are all over every bit of debris, and they occasionally scurry under cars as we walk past. Ugh. I rub my arms, glad that we don’t have the rat problem in Fort Shreveport. I remember them from Fort Tulsa, though, and how some of the more aggressive ones, drawn by the stink and filth of people, would climb into your bed and bite you as you slept. Horrible. But Fort Tulsa was nasty, with garbage piled high outside of houses and empty cans and dead animal carcasses lining the roads. I’m glad Shreveport’s much cleaner.

“Lots of small animals here,” Liam comments as we walk.

“Probably a lot more refuse left around.” And a lot more dead people as time passed, but I don’t say that. “There’s a lot of nooks and crannies to hide from dragons with all the buildings crowded together instead of more wide open areas.” I put my hand to my eyes, scanning the ruins around us. Building after building, most of them collapsed. Some are strip malls, some old car lots, and some buildings that are impossible to make out, their signs faded and destroyed from countless fire attacks.

“The sun’s going down,” Liam says, looking over at me. “I know you won’t want to hear this, but I think we should find shelter for the evening.”

“Shelter? But we just started walking.” I look over at him in surprise. “I can keep going!” My feet are killing me, and I’m hungry and thirsty, but I can keep going.

Liam flashes a grin in my direction. “I didn’t say you were weak. I know you’re strong, Andrea. But my concern is the animals. If there are more like those large cats—”

“Lions.”

“Lions,” he continues, “then we will be in danger. You can’t see as well in the shadows, and while I can smell things, the stench in the human-inhabited areas can get overwhelming. I don’t want you to be in danger.”

I look over at him and he’s got that twitchy look to him, as if he’s ready to jump out of his skin. His nostrils flare as I look over, and he’s right, the smells are getting to him. Stopping for the night is probably wise, even if it makes me feel like a jerk with how much I like that idea. I want to sit down, drink a ton of water, and put up my aching feet.

“But Benny…”

“We haven’t lost him yet,” Liam promises me. He puts out a hand. “Come, Andrea. Let’s sleep somewhere safe and rest up, and we’ll make good time tomorrow.”

Fair enough. “I’ll look for a good place to stop, then.”

He gives me a pleased smile, and when I put my hand in his, my skin tingles. Oh man, I have such a bad crush. I know this is going to be so much trouble but I can’t seem to help myself. I smile back.

And we keep walking. Our hands stay joined for a while, and then eventually we part, but I’m still thinking about it for a long time afterward.

Finding a spot to stop isn’t as easy as it originally sounds. As we walk, the buildings all seem tumbled together and worse than the last. I know from prior experience that it’s best to avoid hotels, motels, and food stores. Anything in this city would have been picked over long ago, and those tend to have the worst smells associated with them, from rotting food to rotting corpses. In addition, scavengers and nomads sometimes booby-trap the obvious places to catch other travelers. The trick is to find a decent building that doesn’t look too decent or comfortable.

After passing by a few more places, we find a strip mall that looks mostly intact. The roof is red and the faded red sign is completely illegible, but the few windows in the place seem to be whole. They’re covered in faded posters, which is a bonus because it means no one can see us when we’re inside. “This looks promising. Should we check it out?”

“You’re the expert,” he says easily.

I don’t know if that’s the case. Liam’s proved that he can survive with the odds completely stacked against him, in an unknown world. I don’t know that I’d be able to do the same. And he’s been to many forts before ours, so I bet he knows just as much about traveling as I do, maybe more.

But I like that he lets me lead.

So I unholster my shotgun, check the safety, and tuck it under my arm as I head forward across the small parking lot toward the building.

It looks completely deserted on the outside. That’s a good sign. That means that whatever they’re selling in here, it wasn’t a hot commodity in the After. I’m guessing something with cars, or sporting goods. No one gave a shit about baseball when the dragons arrived. The door itself is heavy glass, and while it looks fractured, it also looks whole. I give it a tug, and it doesn’t respond.

Locked.

“Give me a second,” I tell Liam, glancing down at the sidewalk I’m standing on. It’s covered in more rat droppings, so I kick them aside to clear a spot and then get on my knees. I pull out my lockpicks and get to work on the door itself. “Lucky for us, any security system they would have had is long dead. If this doesn’t work, we can try busting down the door, but I prefer to leave it whole in case we need the protection.”

“Very wise. And sticking those little metal things in the handle unlocks it?”

“If we’re lucky.” I grin and jiggle one of the bent metal picks, then put in my bogus key and turn the lock. It’s rusty and slow to respond, but it works. “Success,” I announce and the door swings open in a cloud of dust.

We both cough, waving a hand in front of our faces before we step inside.

“Hello?” I call into the darkness. “Is anyone here?”

“I don’t smell anyone,” Liam says behind me, but there’s an odd note in his voice. “Not anyone…recent.”

“Dead bodies?” I ask, turning to look at his silhouette, outlined in the fading light as he stands in the doorway.

“No.”

“What, then?”

“Nothing.” He coughs again and rubs his nose. “It’s nothing.”

“Liam,” I call warningly, my hands ready on my shotgun. “If there’s something dangerous—”

“Seed,” he admits after a moment. “I smell a lot of old…seed.” And he swipes at his nose again, making an unpleasant noise in his throat.

Seed? This is a feed store? Gardening? I look around, but it doesn’t look like any feed store I remember. There’s a row of doors in the back of the building, and one wall covered entirely with boxes that are too dusty to make out. There are a few short rows of shelves, but I can’t see what’s on them from my vantage point. Off to one side is a glass case and the cash register, both of which are covered in another layer of dust.

With all this dust, it’s clear to me that there’s no one around. Frowning at Liam’s reactions, I move to the case and swipe my hand over the glass, peering at the objects inside. At first I think it’s jewelry, evidenced by the large strings of beads. Then I see a strangely shaped glass object next to it, pebbled with little bumps, and off to the side of that…a gigantic dildo.

I skitter backwards in surprise.

“What?” Liam’s immediately at my side, his arm at my waist. “What is it, Andrea?”

For some reason, I smell smoke. I jerk away from him, and even in the shadows, I can see a curl of smoke escaping one of his nostrils. “Are you okay?”

“What is it? What’s wrong? What are you afraid of?” He moves closer to me again, and his eyes are dark as pitch. “Liam?”

“Andrea,” he warns, and his voice is thick with frustration. “Tell me what frightens you so I can fix it.”

I’m utterly shocked by his appearance. Did I ever think Liam was benign? Invisible? Good at hiding? Because clearly I’ve been wrong all this time. The man at my side is all threatening menace, smoke wisping from his flaring nostrils. His eyes are black, his big hands curled at his side in fists. His shoulders are hunched forward, as if it’s taking all of his energy to hold back from losing his shit.

He looks…scary. Gone is low-energy, easy-going Liam. In its place is a drakoni warrior.

And for the first time, I realize just how alien he is.

“Liam,” I say, keeping my voice soft as I put a hand in the air. “Everything’s all right. I was just startled.”

“By. What.” The words are gritted out through his sharp teeth.

I grimace, because I’m going to have to explain it and then be embarrassed, but it’s better than watching him Hulk out. “By a dildo. I think this is a sex shop.”

Some of the fury shuddering through him bleeds away, and the smoke stops curling from his nose. His nostrils twitch. “A what?”

“It’s, ah, a big fake dick that you can fuck, if you’re so inclined.” I wave him forward and then point to it through the glass. “And call me crazy, but I think that other junk is stuff you shove up your butt.”

My face feels like it’s never going to stop burning from the awkwardness of this conversation.

Liam peers at the objects through the glass, and then he sets his hands down, palms flat. I’m relieved to see that, as well as the easing of the tension in his shoulders. “That would explain the smells,” he says, voice oddly calm.

Smells? Oh right, he mentioned seed. Stupid me, I’d thought he’d meant for growing crops. He meant jizz. Ugh. I wipe my hand on my jeans, a little horrified at the thought. “You smell seed?”

“A lot of it. From many different males.”

“Oh, that is so gross. Here?” I snatch my hands back from the counter and wipe them on my clothes again.

He lifts his head, and his eyes are bleeding back to gold, slowly. Liam waves a hand toward the back of the store. “Moreso in that direction. You…you frightened me, Andrea.” He runs a hand down his face. “I thought…never mind. It isn’t important.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I was just startled by the sight of that big thing in the glass. I didn’t realize how you’d react. I’ll try not to flip my lid next time.”

“Next time?” he asks, and his voice is full of amusement.

“Well, I hope we don’t run into a lot of dildos in the future, but you know what I mean.” I move toward the back of the store and use the hem of my shirt to turn one of the doorknobs. I peer inside, and there’s an old couch in front of a projector screen, and a sink against the back wall.

Fucking gross. I shut the door again. I don’t care how bad the apocalypse is, I am not touching that couch.

Liam’s still standing by the counter, a curious expression on his face as I check each of the other doors and yup, each one is another private movie room and I’m not going anywhere near them. Liam smelled seed, after all, so I’m guessing cleanliness wasn’t high on the list of chores at this place. Nasty, nasty, nasty. I check out the rest of the place and it still has running water (which is nice), but the bathroom is a pit. Luckily there’s a small employee breakroom that looks cleaner than the rest of the place, and when I poke around under the counter, I find a few old bottles of water. You’re not supposed to drink them after the expiration date, but fuck it. I break the seal on one and chug it down. If I live through an apocalpyse and bottled water kills me, I figure I was done for anyhow.

The breakroom seems the cleanest option, so I grab a broom out of the closet and sweep up. There are two flimsy plastic chairs that wobble when I try to sit on them, but we’ll need someplace to sleep. I eye the floor, then go scavenging again. I find a roll of black trash bags and some masking tape in a supply closet. Score. I tear the bags open and make a hasty tarp of sorts, then tape it down to the floor. When I’m done, I’ve got an entire corner covered up and it actually looks fairly clean. Pleased, I go and sit down on the ground and cross my legs, pulling my bag into my lap.

Liam wanders in, leans against the doorframe and gives me an odd look. “Do you want to leave this place, Andrea?”

“Leave? Why?” I shrug. “It’s gross, but it’s a roof and we’ve got running water. Like you said, we can stay here and then be on our way in the morning.”

“You seemed…uncomfortable, that’s all.” He moves into the room and heads toward me, sitting down next to me and leaning against the wall. “Are you new to the ways of mating? Is that why you got shy?”

I blink at him and at the curiously gentle tone in his voice. Does he think I’m a fragile flower because a glass buttplug and a big purple dildo startled me? “I got shy because it was unexpected and weird, not because I’m new to this sort of thing. I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No?”

There’s something odd about the way he says that single word. I look over at him as I pull out a saran-wrapped corn cake from my bag and begin to unwrap it. “Yeah, no. That ship sailed a long time ago.”

He’s quiet for a long moment, even after I break the cake in half and offer him one part. He doesn’t eat it, though. I nibble on mine, waiting for his eventual response, and he finally says, “Is there another male competing for your affections, then?”

“Another?” I choke on the dry cake.

Liam’s eyes narrow. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?”

“Nothing.” His mouth flattens and his eyes seem darker than before. “Just answer the question. Is there another male?”

I make a faintly scoffing sound. “No. Who would I be hooking up with? There are no men at Fort Shreveport other than you and a few kids. And Grandpa Steve, but he’s definitely not my type, the old perv.” I shake my head. “Don’t be weird.”

“I’m not being weird. There are many females with young back at your fort. It stands to reason that even if there are not males there now, there were some previously.”

Oh. Okay, so that logic doesn’t sound totally crazy. But I know some of those are rape babies, and some are orphans, and some are just products of selling your body in an apocalypse where condoms all expired years and years ago. Shit happens. “No one left behind a husband when they came to the fort or they never would have joined us. We’re more of a haven for people that are sick of fort shit. And forts come with a lot of shit.” I gesture at the food he’s not eating. “Eat your cake. I don’t have many.”

He hands it back to me. “You eat it, then.”

“What are you going to eat?”

Liam shrugs. “I can hunt. I did so before I arrived at your fort.”

I think of Rast and his big golden body sailing through the skies as he hunted. “Um, I thought you said you couldn’t shift forms?”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to eat. A male can hunt even in two-legged form.” The smile he sends my way is slightly arch, as if he knows a secret I don’t.

I’ve never seen Liam use a weapon, though I know he carries them. Something tells me that it’s another “blending” thing he does to fit in. I try to imagine Liam hunting, crouching and leaping in his “two-legged” form as he calls it. And for some reason, I think of the enormous vermin crawling all over the city. I look over at him in horror. “Please tell me you didn’t eat rats.”

He snorts with amusement.

“We can’t be friends anymore if you’re a rat eater.”

“I ate no rats.” His mouth curves in the barest of smiles and he leans in closer to me. “Is that what we are, then? Friends?”

Tension practically swims in the air around us. I feel strange, like I’m standing on the precipice of a dangerous cliff and I should step back, when all I really want to do is fling myself over. “I thought we were friends,” I whisper.

“Do you kiss all your friends?” His eyes are still whirling so dark.

“I haven’t kissed anyone but you,” I admit quietly. “Not in years and years.”

The darkness bleeds out of his eyes almost instantly and a hint of a smile touches his face, a real smile. “Eat your food,” he says. “I’m not hungry. Drakoni can go days without eating and we prefer meat.” He leans in close, and the playful look returns to his face. “If I never have to eat another bowl of that oatmeal slop they serve at the fort, I’ll be a happy male.”

I chuckle, giving my head a small shake with amusement. The oatmeal isn’t my favorite either, but while we have it, it feeds people. Unfortunately, we ran out last week and are forced to spread thin the few eggs we have…and corn cakes, of course. There’s tons of corn. I take another bite and sigh when he gets up and walks away.

Being here alone with Liam is…confusing. We’ve been doing this push-pull dance for months, it seems. He got to the fort and skated under the radar for a long time. Then, we got close when Gwen left…and then I was the one that did the pushing away. Now we’re alone together and just when I think he’s going to kiss me, he gets up and walks away. His eyes were dark, which I’ve been told means that he’s feeling intense emotion (and not good emotions) and so I don’t know what to think.

Is he jealous? Does he think that’s why I pushed him away at the fort? Because there was someone else?

I haven’t wanted anyone to touch me in years. But with Liam… I eat the corn cake slowly, even though it doesn’t do much for my hunger, and then brush my fingers over my lips, remembering how his mouth felt. I want him to kiss me again, but maybe I shouldn’t.

Maybe a drakoni is just too different from human. Ironic, because Amy and Gwen are mated to drakoni males, but Liam’s not like their men. He’s different. Sometimes he seems like any other man in the After, and sometimes he seems like he’s about to lose control and go wild.

It’s a mystery…and one that I hate I’m totally attracted to. I should like simple, easy things. I should like being solitary and single after the hell of Fort Tulsa, but…I like being with Liam. I like being with him far too much. It makes me want more.