Amy

The cyborg patrol had captured us, stuck their car on our car, and wouldn’t let go. Now we descended toward the station. My mind ran a mile a minute, thinking of what I’d say and how I wouldn’t implicate Nentres. I’d say I’d found the car abandoned and driven it back to the habitat like a good citizen. And the invitations? I’d figure something out when I got inside the station.

A screech sounded.

Cindy and I looked up at the same time to see a red dragon flapping his wings over the habitat. People screamed, cars rushed past us, and in a matter of seconds, the habitat appeared empty. The cyborg patrol slowed down. They must’ve communicated, because moments later, the four cars flew up to meet the dragon, but the bottom one remained attached to us and kept descending.

The dragon opened his mouth, but fire didn’t blow out of it. The dragon coughed several times, but nothing happened. Ha! I had imagined it. He spun around and smashed his tail over the plasma.

The cyborgs began firing back, which only pissed him off more.

“Open the roof, Amy,” Cindy said.

“What?”

“The roof!” Cindy banged it, ran her hand over it. “There’s no fucking latch.”

“Whatever for?”

“To get out. Duh!”

“Oh, okay. Go on.” I found the manual emergency latch, and the roof opened. She climbed onto her seat, then onto the roof. The bottom car had slowed down for landing at the station. The dragon kept attacking. Military patrols engaged their pods and flew up to defend the habitat.

A hand came into my view. Cindy’s. I took it, and she pulled me up onto the top of the car. “Oh my God.” My body couldn’t move, and I couldn’t think straight. The enormous red dragon circled the habitat, its tail whipping back and forth, scattering the patrols at his back while he chewed and spat cyborgs out of his mouth. Smoke rose from his nostrils, but there was still no fire.

Cindy gripped my hand. “Okay, Amy. On three.” She stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled. The dragon whipped his head around and gunned for us.

I was going to die. “It’s coming for us!” I prepared to jump onto the station’s platform. I’d take cyborg interrogation, hell, even jail time over the dragon, thank you very much. I bent my knees.

“One, two, three,” Cindy counted and jumped.

She pulled me with her.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and closed my eyes. Then thunk. We landed, and I rolled. I snapped my eyes open and touched the ground. Scales. Red scales. I tapped the ground again just to be sure. But yes. Dragon scales. Cold wind whipped my hair, and under my feet, his body shook as he let out a screech and burst through the plasma. Farther up his body, Cindy crawled and reached one of his horns. She hugged it and laid her cheek on it.

“Are you crazy?” I shouted.

She smiled the entire time the dragon flew. I lay plastered against his big body where I’d landed, wondering where he intended to take us. A cave. Surely a cave existed out here somewhere where he would have us for dinner. I peeked below, oh, about a thousand feet, and my stomach rose.

From the corner of my eye, I caught something. Nentres’s mansion, with probably about two hundred people standing in his front yard. As the dragon descended, multiple torches flared, the fire reaching impossible heights. Surely Nentres would come out and try to chase this thing away. Surely these people knew better than to come out in the open.

But no, I realized something was amiss when the dragon landed and the crowds cheered. Cindy slid down and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me alone. I sat back and gulped, feeling a little bit like a non-virgin sacrifice.

The dragon curved his long neck and rested his jaw between his wings. My heart couldn’t beat any faster. My knees shook, and even if I wanted to run, I couldn’t. My body locked in place, I stared at the dragon’s face.

Fire slithered around vertical pupils the size of my body. A row of smaller horns the size of my arm ran from his nose all the way to the top of his head, with two large straight black horns sweeping back and away from his face. More small horns adorned his cheeks and chin.

The creature stuck out his forked tongue and licked my hand. It was tasting! The dragon huffed out a breath and yellow smoke came out. Okay, so I was not tasty? I batted the smoke away, sulfur making me cough. As the smoke cleared, I expected him to make a meal out of me. But the creature simply stared, then inched his giant head toward me until his bottom jaw reached my feet.

We stayed looking at each other for what felt like forever, and when my shaking subsided, I looked around for a way to climb down. Under my feet, his body shifted, and I stood. Something thumped behind me. I spun around to see he’d lowered his tail. I crawled over his back and down to the tip of the tail, then finally touched ground. I wanted to kiss it, but the people stared at me.

I searched for Cindy and found her coming out of the mansion with a pair of sweatpants, which she handed to me. I took them, not knowing what to do with them. Her gaze rose, and so I turned back around.

The dragon sat on his back legs, his tail swinging back and forth. He spread his wings and stared at me. The rumble from his chest alone made me want to run, and I was pretty sure he was simply breathing. If he screeched right now, I’d take off and never return. Those red eyes on me? They froze me in place. If I ran, I’d fall on my face because my feet didn’t work.

“Aww, he’s showing you how big and strong he is.”

“Awww,” I echoed, thinking I was crazy, and yet I was the only sane person left standing. “How big is he exactly?”

“He’s fifty-eight feet from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.”

I stared at her. “And you measured this?”

“Nah, not me. The dragons get themselves measured to see which one is biggest. They’re exceptionally vain creatures.”

Huh. “So is this one the biggest?”

“Knight is the biggest. He’s a white dragon. Don’t tell him I said it, though. It’s a sore spot for the vainest of them all right here. He has the biggest wingspan, though. Seventy feet. This is why he’s showing you his wings.”

“He nearly fried me yesterday. Why does he feel he should show me anything?” There. I’d mentioned the fire.

Cindy gave me a look as if I’d said something so obviously dumb, it hurt to have to correct me. “Because you are his mate, of course.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Cindy frowned. “I thought you knew.”

“No.” I shook my head. “His mate? Mate implies…mating. We can’t mate, and not just because he doesn’t have a penis.” I pointed at the length of his belly. “See? No organs. But also because he’s a dragon and I’m…a human.”

Cindy giggled. “Oh, he’s got organs. You gotta trust me on that.”

“What do I do now?” If I thanked the dragon for saving me, maybe he would go away. Better yet… “I’m impressed!” I shouted, hoping he would take the compliment and fly away.

White light burst and cleared in a second. Nentres stood in the middle of the yard. I blinked as he walked toward me in all his naked glory.

Heat radiated from his body when he stood before me. Speechless, I handed him the sweatpants, and he dressed. It was then that I saw not one but two cocks curved up and touching his navel. He was definitely a male with the ability to reproduce.

“Amy?” he said.

“Mm-hm?”

“Look at me.”

I forced my gaze away from his crotch and up to his eyes, where angry flames blazed.

“Your spoon is in the kitchen, on the wall of fame. You can’t miss it. Go and get it and meet me in our bedroom.”