GWEN

Panic has been slowly rising in my chest with every step we take outside the protective walls of Fort Shreveport. Andrea's all confidence as she shakes her flashlight every so often to turn it on, and the constant tak tak tak tak of it grates on my nerves. I want to pull out my pepper spray to hold it and reassure myself that I'm safe, but then I remind myself that the biggest problem out here is a fucking dragon, and pepper spray isn't going to do shit.

That doesn't help my nerves any.

"We're out," I whisper to her. The suburban streets surrounding Fort Shreveport are eerily quiet. Once upon a time, the fort itself was a school in the suburbs. Now, we've turned the school into a makeshift fortress, and the streets surrounding it have been abandoned. Litter covers weedy yards, and cars are parked scattershot on and off the roads. Some of the houses are intact, while others are little more than fire-gutted shells. It all screams abandonment, though, and that we shouldn't be here. In the distance, there's a square-topped water tower that went dry years ago. "What's the plan now, Andrea?"

"We should move out a bit farther," she tells me, but some of the confidence in her voice is wavering. It's like she's realizing how open and vulnerable we are out here. What are we going to do, run and hide in a house? The dragon can raze it to the ground with the swipe of a claw.

"What we should have done is told someone what we were planning," I point out. I'm always the nagging voice of reason, and sometimes I resent it, but we need to be cautious, too. "If he kills us, no one knows we're out here."

"He's not going to kill us," Andrea says hurriedly and shakes her flashlight again. Tak tak tak tak. "We're just going to say hello. Open up a line of communication. That's all."

"You make it sound so simple," I tell her wryly. "As if he's not a dragon." I know that Amy trusts Rast implicitly, but there's still a wildness to him that makes me think he's not entirely tame. I also look at these streets and see houses that are newly burned to the ground mixed in with older ruins. Whatever Andrea thinks of this dragon, I'm not entirely sure we're on the same page as he is. He could kill us both without a second thought.

Just as it has with every step taken outside of the safety of Fort Shreveport, crippling fear clenches through me. I should have stopped her. This isn't like dropping in on an old friend. This is a dragon. A people-eating, fire-breathing, apocalypse-making dragon. If she's wrong, he's going to kill us without a second thought. I should have stopped her.

But…I know Andrea. She's stubborn. Once she gets an idea in her head, she won't shake it off. If I'd refused to go with her, she'd be out here on her own, alone. I failed Daniela…I don't want to fail Andrea, too. So even though I feel like this is a huge mistake, I have to go with her.

I just hope she's right.

Andrea pauses at the end of the street, standing in the middle of the road. The moon's out this night, bathing her in moonlight and making her blonde braid shimmer. I remain a few steps behind, crouching next to the side of a car. It's far too open right here. The survivor in me is terrified of wide open spaces and clear skies. Metal walls are safety. Concrete bunkers are safety. This is a beautiful night…but it's not safe.

"Don't stand out there," I warn her. My hand goes to my pepper spray after all, and I feel a little better pulling it out and readying it. Just in case. I flick the safety off of it and clutch it close to my chest. "You're making yourself a target."

"He doesn't want to kill us," she tells me, scanning the skies and standing out at the end of the street like a beacon. "If he did, he could have torched the entire compound twice over."

She's got a point. The school has been reinforced with metal sheeting on every available surface and the walls are concrete, but it's still no match for a dragon's claws. Plus, we have carts of vegetables we wheel in and out to protect them from regular dragonfire attacks. If this one really wanted to fuck us over, he could lay siege to the fort and force us to keep our precious plants inside until they died. Then it'd be a choice between a fast death by dragon or a slow death by starvation.

Andrea's right. He wants something. Still… "We should have talked to Amy and Rast. Have them open a friendly dialogue with the dragon on our behalf."

"You're so cautious," she tells me, her voice teasing.

"Yeah, well, caution's kept you and me and everyone else in the fort alive."

"Aww, big sis," she teases, turning back to me and giving her flashlight another shake. Tak tak tak tak. "Don't be so scared." “Big sis” is her jokey nickname for me. We look nothing alike—I'm biracial with thick, dark curls and she's about as Nordic looking as you can get—but she calls me her big sister because I take care of everyone. I know she's trying to put me at ease. It's totally not working, either.

"I'm just saying, there are smarter ways to do this, and if you hadn't dragged me out of bed, maybe I'd be thinking clearly enough to suggest one. You have ten minutes and then we're going back."

She makes a face at me but nods, shaking her flashlight again before it can go out. "Fine, fine. You're such a mom."

"I thought I was your big sis," I tease as she smirks over her shoulder at me.

"Sometimes you're both, you pain in the ass," Andrea says, flipping her braid over one shoulder before striding forward. "Come on. Let's see if we can't flush out my dragon and say hello. He's a dragon, after all. He can't be hiding in too many places, can he?"

I know she's being flippant to relax me, and I get to my feet, ready to tell her such a thing when one of the shadows ahead shifts.

I stop. Every hair on my body prickles and stands up. A pair of eyes—bigger than headlights—gleam in the darkness. I tell myself that I'm imagining things. That there's not enough room between those houses up ahead for a dragon to wedge himself between the crumbling walls and hide there. But when those gleaming eyes blink and the shadows shift again, I know it can't be anything but that.

Andrea's oblivious. She glances over her shoulder at me again and gives her flashlight another shake when it flickers out. "This piece of shit is useless. Doesn't need batteries my ass. I don't suppose you brought a light with you, did you?"

Words die in my throat. I open my mouth but nothing comes out but a squeak.

The shadows shift again, and then a massive, golden head emerges from the darkness. Moonlight glints off of scales, and my mouth goes dry as he slowly, silently comes into the light. I was expecting to see a dragon, but expectations and reality are two different things. It's the biggest damn creature I've ever seen in my life. I've glimpsed dragons in the skies before, of course, but always from a safe distance and always while I was running for cover. I've never had a chance to really, truly look at one and I'm not sure I want to now.

But I can't stop staring.

It looks like something out of the storybooks. The enormous head is wedge-shaped, narrowing down to a snout lined with sharp, glistening teeth. Each of those fangs has to be as big as my hand, nostrils as big as…well, bowling balls. The mental image is so absurd that I want to laugh hysterically, but I don't have the breath.

I don't dare even breathe as the swirling black-and-gold eyes blink and focus on Andrea, who's shaking that damn flashlight like I want to shake her right about now. I've never seen anything so overwhelming and menacing as the dragon. Every part of him seems unpleasant, from the bristling crown of horns at the apex of his head to the jagged teeth in his mouth. Even his golden scales seem brutally hard for all their beauty. He moves forward another slinking step, and there's no doubt in my mind that this is a predator.

I know in this moment that we're going to die.

Andrea looks over at me. "Are you coming…" Her words trail off and she goes pale. "Gwen?"

I clutch my pepper spray in my hand and manage to wave at her, a squeak rising in my throat. Fuck. I wave again, this time making the movement urgent.

She sways on her feet. Her eyes get wide. "Is he…behind me?"

I nod. Just once. Just a tiny movement of my chin. I don't think I can do more than that because he's staring in my direction again.

Andrea blinks twice and then crumples to the ground. Her flashlight goes out.

Fuuuuuuck.

The dragon slinks forward a step. Then two. He moves closer to Andrea, lowering his head as he approaches my fallen friend. I hold my breath, waiting. Is he going to eat her? Snap her up like she's human kibble? Or is she right and he's going to recognize her as his girlfriend like Rast did Amy? The dragon's nostrils flare and he moves his head ever so slightly, sniffing her.

Then he looks up. His gaze flicks over me, and his eyes are so dark they're almost black. Everything in me tightens at that dark, soulless face and I realize belatedly that I'm panting despite not moving an inch. I'm still where I was a few moments ago, crouching next to an abandoned car. I can't make myself move. There's no way anything is going to work right now. Except maybe my bladder, because it feels like it's ready to give out on me.

The dragon looms over her for a moment, his gaze on me. Time feels like it's standing still.

Very slowly, very deliberately, the dragon moves past Andrea and takes another step toward me.

Gasping, terrified breath explodes from my lungs. I have to move. I have to move now. I lean heavily on the car, pushing to my feet even as the dragon sinuously moves toward me. I thought something so big would lumber through the streets like Godzilla, but his movements are graceful despite his enormous size, and that makes him all the deadlier. He's quiet, too. It occurs to me that no one is going to hear anything as he eats us.

Oh god. Oh fucking god. This is bullshit.

I stumble backward, rolling my body along the length of the car for support as I try to back away. The dragon's still approaching me, careful step by careful step, his tail flicking back and forth. It feels like he's a cat stalking a mouse—and I'm the mouse. My knees feel like water and I can't push away from the car to run for it. I can't—and I won't, because I won't leave Andrea behind. Wake up, I mentally scream at her even as the dragon heads toward me. Wake the fuck up!

The dragon approaches and I squeeze my eyes shut, gasping. I wonder what it's going to feel like to die. Is it going to hurt? Will someone still rescue Daniela? Take care of Fort Shreveport? Handle the Brothers of Ash? The weight of responsibility feels almost as heavy as the realization that I'm going to die. I can't, I think with panic. I can't die. There's too many people depending on me.

Hot breath fans over my face like a furnace blast.

I suck in and go completely still. This is it. I brace myself, waiting for those sharp teeth to tear me apart. For my skin to be fried off my body.

Nothing happens.

I squeeze an eye open and the dragon runs his nose over my torso inhaling my scent. I don't know what to do. Every nerve is locked up in terror. Even when he noses me between my thighs and inhales deeply, I can't find the strength to budge.

I don't understand. The words run through my head over and over again. I don't understand. I don't understand. IdontunderstandIdontunderstanddontunderstand…

Why am I not dead yet? Why is he just sniffing me?

The dragon's big nose pushes against my chest and a sob escapes my throat. "Just get it over with," I grit out. "Fucking do it."

He doesn't, though. Instead, the dragon buries his nose in my thick curls, as if drinking in their scent. I stand very still. My entire body is shaking with fear, but I still can't bring myself to run away.

"Gwen," a voice whispers off to the side.

The dragon stills. His eyes flare from gold to black and he inhales a deep breath that sounds terrifying.

"Andrea," I murmur back, not taking my gaze off the dragon that's inches away from my face. "Run."

"I won't leave you," she says, inching into the edge of my vision. "I'm sorry I passed out. I don't know what happened. I—"

"Run," I tell her again. "I'm going to be two steps behind you. I promise."

"But—"

I hold up the pepper spray, my gaze locked with the dragon's. He watches me lift my hand and the canister—and then buries his nose in my hair again. Another rumbling growl starts in his throat and makes me break into a cold sweat. It's now or never. "He's not attacking," I tell her, doing my best to remain perfectly still. "Go. I'll follow. If I don't make it…" I swallow hard. "Watch over Daniela, okay?"

"Gwen, no!" Andrea sounds on the verge of tears. "I'll get help. I'll go get Amy and Rast."

"Whatever," I say, keeping my voice even as the dragon moves closer to me. Any closer and he's going to smother me against the hood of the car. "Just go now, okay? I swear I'll be right behind."

She hesitates, and then with another flip of her braid, races like a madwoman back toward the fort.

The dragon stiffens and I reach out and swat his nose. "Hey. Over here."

I'm terrified as the big head swings back toward me, the huge eyes focusing on my face and flaring to a bright gold. I don't know what that means other than I'm about to get eaten for sure. But he only waits, watching me closely. I edge away to the side by a single step, and the growling increases.

Fuck. I don't know what to do.

There's a crash in the distance, like a rock being thrown into garbage cans. The dragon's head whips around, even as the scent of smoke fills the air and fire plumes briefly from his nostrils. He stares after the sound, and as he does, I see Andrea out of the corner of my eye. She's behind a car a short distance away, throwing rocks to distract the dragon.

It doesn't move, though. His eyes narrow and he swings his head back to me, the growling increasing.

No time to wait—this is my only chance. I grab my pepper spray, raise it high, and spray him right in the face.

The dragon flings himself backward, roaring with pain. There's a crash as the enormous body hits the concrete and then flails back and forth, scrubbing at his eyes. He thrashes on the ground in pain, and I'm so startled that I fall backwards onto my ass.

Dragons can't be hurt by guns or fire or bombs…but pepper spray worked?

"Come on," Andrea shrieks from her hiding place nearby. "Gwen!"

Numb, I scramble back to my feet and then race away to her side. Neither one of us stops until we get to the fence, and there's no careful lifting of the chain link to crawl under. We both fling ourselves through, and if the chain link tears our clothing and scratches our skin, it doesn't matter.

We're alive. Somehow.

VAAN

My eyes burn and I toss my head back and forth, trying to get rid of the stinging itch in my nose and burning at the edges of my eyes. I was so entranced with my mate that I did not pay attention to her movements, and she caught me unawares. There was no time to lower my protective third eyelid and whatever she spat into my eyes burns and throbs. I take to the skies, into the air and soaring upward, hunting for the nearest cloud. The vapor high up and the cool air helps the stinging end in a matter of moments, and all that's left is a bit of soreness…

And amusement.

My little mate has challenged me. Not only did she slap my muzzle, but she spat her poison in my eyes. While it is an unusual mating challenge, it does not matter.

A challenge is a challenge, and I am pleased.