As Karun eased away from me and turned to walk back to camp, I couldn’t help but feel the skin of my neck, my chest, where the heat of him still burned. I had never experienced such a visceral response to a mere kiss. My senses begged for more, and from the pressure I had felt against me, it seemed like his had too. Still, he had walked away, regret in his voice but determined nonetheless.

I dated, but a place like the Outpost didn’t necessarily bring a lot of eligible bachelors to town, and being one of the few female militia members with a family full of pulsor-toting survivalists didn’t exactly bring the boys a-calling.

My experience was admittedly limited, but I knew enough to know that the tension growing between us wasn’t going to just dissipate, especially not after a kiss that hot and explosive.

What would it be like to sleep with a dragon-man? Aside from the incredible olive green of his skin and the surreal silver pools of his eyes, he felt and seemed like a human man. Was that the problem? Was I too human for him?

Jennifer had confided that there wasn’t a physical compatibility problem, that Dragselian men were still men, just with enhanced abilities. That certainly sounded intriguing, but maybe I wasn’t enhanced enough, myself, to arouse a reciprocal intrigue.

I had never considered myself particularly beautiful, at least not in the ultra-coiffed, polished way that seemed to be fashionable. I was strong and athletic, with some slight curves, maybe, but growing up, I had never felt particularly girly.

Still, the way he had melded against my body, the hard, taut lines of him, it hadn’t seemed to bother him that my typical beauty routine consisted of a clean face and a neat braid.

Caught between excitement and self-doubt, I found my way back to my tent for a night of restless sleep. I lay awake in the glowing white dome, imagining his silhouette at the door, his broad frame walking toward me in long, purposeful strides. Sleep barely came, and when it did, it was plagued by haunting silver eyes.

* * *

Cold and clear, the morning finally came. We decamped quickly, and I was checking over the supplies in the rear of my mecharover when I heard Ragal’s voice just outside. He had made a quick flight to survey our way back to the road, checking for signs of an ambush, and seemed to be going over his aerial recon with someone else. Dragon form had its advantages.

For a moment, I wistfully wondered what it would be like to feel so free, so powerful. Ragal’s voice broke through my momentary daydream.

“He is in love, surely, but what will this mean?” I heard him say.

Karun’s deep baritone answered, “Zaruv tells me he means to request permission to bring Jennifer with us to Fyrelord Ishtun’s base on Bezrah, but failing that, he will stay here on Vaxivia with her.”

“Jennifer would leave this place?” Ragal sounded surprised.

“Truthfully, I don’t know. I’m not sure Zaruv wants to ask her until he knows whether she will be allowed.” Selfishly, I hoped that they’d be forced to stay here. Jennifer was a valuable asset to the Outpost and a good friend.

“Humans are permitted in the outer colonies. I see no reason Jennifer would be rejected,” Ragal countered.

“True, but I think he also means to link with her.” I didn’t know what linking was, but it sounded kinky and just a little hot. “He is, after all, heir after Mulkaro. Though it is unlikely, if Mulkaro should fall with no begotten heirs, Zaruv will ascend, and there has never been a human consort. It will be a scandal, or worse, it could give rise to an attempted coup.”

“Unless he abdicates. Then you will take the throne. You would be happy, would you not, to return to Vahakun once more?”

“I don’t know anymore,” Karun said hesitantly. “I am not who I was before our exile. The idea of returning to countrymen and kin who had so happily cast us out . . .”

“And it has nothing to do with any human interests of your own?” Ragal asked, making my stomach feel just a little fluttery.

And, of course, this is when Hardin had to join the conversation because . . . Murphy’s Law.

“We ready to roll or what, boys? I don’t like sitting pretty, waiting to be a target.”

He sounded impatient. Hardin was a good guy, but he was a little too gung-ho sometimes. We’d been on recon missions together that went from recon to engagement with the enemy thanks to his energetic attitude.

“Indeed,” Karun said, sounding clipped.

“Well then, gentlemen, let’s get ‘er done.” At that, he banged on the truck. “You ready, Andie?”

Just great. Now they knew I was a lousy eavesdropper on top of not finishing that last, particularly interesting part of the conversation.

Feeling my cheeks flush, I hollered back, louder than necessary as I was ridiculously hoping to make it sound like it was harder to hear through the thin metal of the truck’s walls. Then I braced myself for one awkward rover ride.

Heading out toward the main road, having assumed the same passenger designations as the day prior, our cab was suspiciously silent.

I was hyperaware of him, considering I had spent most of the night before imagining his body and all the naughty things I’d like to do it. We made some brief small talk, but it was awkward and full of nervous pauses. Finally, I put us both out of our pain and put on some music.

I felt like electricity was coursing through my body. I just wanted to reach out and touch him, feel his skin, the warmth of it. I wanted his slightly rough hands on me again.

Periodically, I’d glance over and catch him looking at me. He’d look back out the window, and the tension just hung there in the air between us, questions unanswered, desires unfulfilled.

We rode like that for two or three hours before the dust started to kick up. I heard Hardin’s voice loudly in my brain.

“Hey, girl, this doesn’t look good. Pulling over to wait out the winds.” EE would be hell for someone with schizophrenia, I realized.

I followed Hardin just a bit off the road. The terrain had started to slope and roll as we approached the crags.

Human manipulation of the landscape was not without a downside. In an attempt to create the postcard-worthy canyons of some Earth deserts, waterways were introduced to both create habitat for marine life that could be utilized as food sources for Vaxivia’s eventual human inhabitants and to carve scenic vistas. Instead, they had led to cavernous cracks in the crust that were scenic in the sort of I-survived-this kind of way, not the postcard, fuzzy memory kind of way intended.

Earth proper and many of its closest colonies were massively overpopulated, and there was essentially no land left that was undeveloped. Scenery like this only existed for the rejects of society who were forced to survive or the very, very rich who could pay to enjoy the harshness of wild spaces with none of the drawbacks.

Unfortunately, I could not name a single member of that privileged group. Rejects that we were, we had learned to survive the tumultuous dust storms that could kick up at any time with virtually no warning. The Hub had allocated a few pieces of dust gear, but not enough for the whole of our party, so we would wait it out and hope that it didn’t last days, as some had been known to.

I turned to Karun as we pulled to a stop. “We can’t drive through this, especially not through the crags. Most likely, we’ll be back on the road in the next hour.”

He looked at me, his jaw clenched. “Well, hopefully, we’re not stranded too long.” The way his eyes had lingered on my body, I almost hoped the opposite. Stuck in a rover alone, with nowhere to go—sounded kind of promising.

Before I could dwell too long on that thought and the tingly feelings it was giving me, I saw a mental flash of Hardin drawing his pulsor as I heard Jennifer scream in my head.

“Raiders!”

Instinctively, I drew my weapon and yanked hard on the body armor behind me. Karun reacted almost as instantly to my alarm, tensing and reaching for his pulsor.

“Storm raiders. They’ll attack and recede, picking us off and drawing back, using the dust to disorient you. If you get a hand on one, try to engage in hand to hand. It forces them out of their comfort zone,” I said, tossing him goggles.

“If I get my hands on one, there won’t be anything left of them,” he said darkly.

Storm raiders were nomadic clans of thieves who survived by hanging close to heavier use roadways, like the ones to Steel City, or just outside towns like Outpost. They had heavy-duty dust gear and could move about in the harsh, blinding weather with relative ease. At their core, though, they were cowards.

We waited in silence for the attack. It didn’t take long. The driver door to the mecharover yanked open and I felt several pairs of hands grab at the left side of my body, tearing me out into the dust.

I landed hard on the packed ground, registering the pain only slightly thanks to the adrenaline that had kicked in. I saw very little through the goggles. They weren’t great, but they were better than nothing. Being out in a storm like this with no eye protection was a good way to go blind for a few days.

Whoever had pulled me out had, in true cowardly fashion, withdrawn. I knew they were sizing me up, waiting to strike again. They favored taser rods. They’d strike you, shocking you, and then withdraw, over and over until they’d worn you down enough to rob you or kill you.

I couldn’t see anything, but in my mind, I was hearing Jennifer and Hardin chaotically. I EEed them both, letting them know I was out of the rover. They’d been hit too—windows shattered and ripped off in unison, letting the dust flood in and blind them all momentarily.

Hardin and Jennifer had found their dust goggles, but I had no idea how Zaruv, Pavar, or Ragal were doing. I knew Pavar was still not in great shape, definitely not fighting shape, and Zaruv still only had one hand, putting him at a significant disadvantage.

I crawled, low to the ground. The raiders could see better through the dust, but I knew they wouldn’t be looking at the ground. Hearing shouts and the noise of battle, I tried to make my way to the rest of the group.

I snaked my way over to Hardin’s rover. A short distance in front of me, I spotted a pair of boots I knew couldn’t be from our party. Aiming as carefully as I could, I sent three charges at the son of a bitch.

The figure dropped. It was a raider, of course. I heard Pavar’s voice shouting from the inside of the truck. I scrambled up and saw Pavar struggling with a raider. I tried to aim but he was too close. I jumped at the raider, who fell backward, knocking us both out of the truck and back into the thick of the storm.

Not letting go, we grappled, I almost had him in an arm bar submission when another raider started shocking me with his stun prod. My body went limp as I was hit with the sensation of every muscle in my body contracting painfully. I screamed out, but the sound died almost instantly in my mouth as I was hit again. As soon as the second stun was over, I tried to roll, only to see Asshole Raider number one had regained his footing and had his prod aimed at me.

Before he could strike, he flew backward out of my sight. I jumped back from Asshole Raider number two, and as he started forward, a massive gust of wind rushed forward, followed by a surging stream of dragon fire that melted him where he stood.

Turning around, I saw the most fantastic sight of my life. A glorious, shimmering silver dragon stood. My heart raced to behold such a beautiful, majestic creature. His silver eyes met mine and I knew instantly that it was Karun. I could barely breathe, a combination of awe and dust.

He rose and disappeared back into the dust. I heard a few more great whooshing sounds and flashes of light in the brown haze of the storm. Several shouts followed before the sound of a dust tank raced away.

I EEed Jennifer. She was safe, and so was Hardin. I saw flashes in my mind’s eye of them both in the back of the mecharover.

Making my way over in the dust, I heard raised voices.

“I didn’t know it was her!” Hardin’s loud voice came through.

“Zaruv, just let it go. It’s over. I’m alive, you’re alive. We need to find Ragal and Karun.”

“They’ll be fine. What I am far more concerned about is the fact you could have been killed because Officer Hardin can’t control himself in battle.”

That didn’t sound good, so I jumped in.

“Karun chased them off, the lot of them, I think. Is Pavar okay?”

Jennifer spoke quickly, “Yes, he’s okay. We’re thankfully all okay. Let’s just hunker down until this storm passes so we can get back to our main focus.”

She turned to Zaruv who, from what I could tell, was glaring intently at Hardin. Covertly, Jennifer sent me a snapshot of what had happened. She and Zaruv had been pulled out one side of the truck, Hardin the other. Fighting their way to the back to get to Pavar, they had run into Hardin, who, not paying attention, had used a stun prod he had wrestled from one of the raiders on Jennifer.

Having been hit by one twice myself, I winced for her and sympathized with Zaruv’s frustration.

For his part, Hardin looked defiant and defensive. Pretty much what I would expect of Zach since that was basically how most of our missions together ended.

“Hardin, come help me secure the rover,” I said to him, hoping to defuse the situation. We had enough people gunning for us. We didn’t need to be fighting each other.

The dust storm was starting to die down, and as we walked around the vehicles with our pulsors drawn for safety, I found scorch marks speckling the ground. Where Karun, and possibly Ragal, had hit the raiders with bursts of dragon fire, the dust and sand had melted into iridescent pools of glassy rock, making the ground look even more alien than I knew it to be.

The dust finally died and Ragal was the first to return.

“They won’t be bothering us further,” he said quietly as he walked back to his brothers.

Behind him a few paces, like an avenging god, came Karun. His strides were long, purposeful, intense.

He didn’t stop until he was a breath away from me. Gripping my arms, he looked desperately into my eyes, and then scanning my body, he asked, “Are you wounded?”

I couldn’t speak at first, just reveled in the sensation of his hands on me again.

He looked even more alarmed. “Are you okay? Andromeda?”

“Yeah, yes. Yes, I’m fine,” I managed, breathing heavily and taking in the glorious heat of his nearness. I didn’t know much about Dragselian physiology, but I would bet heat didn’t bother them much, since he seemed to be perpetually several degrees warmer, which just made me want to feel him wrapped around me, in me, all the more.

He relaxed, just slightly. “Good.”

“That was amazing. You were incredible,” I started, but he immediately seemed to fluster and stepped back.

“Let us just hope the few who escaped took notice.” He started to walk back in the direction of the first rover, where everyone was congregating.

Jogging up to him, I grabbed at his arm. “You saved my life . . . thank you.”

He still looked uncomfortable. His dragon form was the most breathtaking thing I had ever witnessed, but for some reason, it seemed to make him shy. I wasn’t quite sure what to say to put him at ease.

Instead of heaping on the exclamations as I was inclined to do, I said simply, “I’m really glad you’re with us.”

He nodded and kept walking, and I stood there kicking myself. For a minute, it had seemed like we were going to repeat that incredible kiss. Now, having seen him in full dragon glory, I wanted that even more.