ASHTAR

This time, when Veronica wakes up, she's yawning and sleepy, but ready to eat. We almost have a pattern, her and I. I haul my mate into my claws and take her down by the stream. I chase off the fanged fish with a breath of fire over the long reed-like poles that jut from the water and are attached to the fish's faces as part of their camouflage. Once they are clear, Veronica takes a quick bath, splashing water on herself to clean off while I extend a wing over her to protect from the wind and monitor the waters carefully for aggressive fish. Once she's dressed and on the shore, she braids her hair and I fish for our meals. I tear the newly caught fish open with my claws, gut and scale them as best I can, char the outside with a low, slow flame, and then we eat together. I shift back to human form, because the longer I am in my battle form, the more I will need larger meals to sustain me. Even now, I feel weak and depleted, and I crave red meat and a fresh haunch of…something. I've seen herds wandering in the distance, but always while she is sleeping.

I can wait a bit longer for food, though. For now, I take my fish and lift it to my mouth, taking large, crunchy mouthfuls of the entire thing. Veronica picks at the flaky flesh, her expression twisting up when I crunch down on a particularly loud part.

"I can't believe you're eating all of it," she murmurs with a wince. "Bones, scales and all."

I shrug and take another bite. "Food is food."

Veronica nibbles at hers, avoiding the choicest bits and opting for the thickest parts of the meat.

"You should eat more," I tell her when she sets it aside. "You need your strength."

"I'm not eating the head or the tail or any of that other goofy crap!" She looks horrified at the thought. "You're lucky I ate it at all, considering it's not in fish stick form!" She wipes one hand on her tunic hem and grimaces. "And now I'm getting scales everywhere. I swear, survival is so gross. Ugh."

I take her fish and finish it off. "You need to eat enough," I chide her. "Especially if you plan on doing more healing."

She wrinkles her nose but gives a little nod. "I'm trying. When are we going back to the others? I like being with you, but I can be with you in a place that has other food options and blankets and shelter. I'm just saying."

I consider this.

Veronica wants to go back. I do not like the idea, but I am realizing quickly that we cannot manage on our own. If I have my wings again, though, I can take her as far away as I need to. I will have more control. "We shall see. First we must discuss things."

"Discuss what?"

"How we will handle your powers." I take another bite of fish, and then add, "And how we will hide them."

"Hide them?" Veronica looks aghast at the thought. "Why would we hide anything? My powers are to help out." She spreads her hands in front of her. "For once, I'm someone important. The tribe needs me. Harlow was saying that there's only one healer in the other tribe, and if we've just added twenty more people, it'll be good to have a second one. They need me, and I want to help."

I grunt, tossing aside the fish head since I know she doesn't like for me to eat those in front of her. She is very squeamish, my mate. "I understand that you wish to help out, but we must be practical about it."

She sputters. "Practical? What exactly do you mean by 'practical'?"

I study my lovely mate. She's angry at me, I realize. Her breath is speeding up, her breasts heaving, her hair tossed back over her shoulders. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes are bright with indignation. My khui's ever-present song increases in strength, noting how arousing she looks right now. She is giving me her fiery spirit, and I love it, even if we disagree. "I mean we must think things through. What if you have healed someone and spent all your strength, and someone comes up to you with a bleeding youngling?"

Her brows draw together. "What kind of question is that? I'd help out, of course."

"And you would help and help without cease, until you wear yourself out. I will not allow you to kill yourself just to help another." I shake my head, getting to my feet. "It is decided. You will run all your healing past me first."

"What the fuck? No, I won't." She jumps to her feet, too. "That's not fair. I don't need a manager. I'm intelligent enough to figure out when I'm too damn tired. But you can't control me like I'm some little woman who needs a big strong man to tell her how to do her fucking job."

"You're the other half of me," I tell her, hands on my hips. "We are a mated pairing. I will die if you die, because I will not want to go on."

Veronica's expression softens. "Ashtar…"

"No. Listen to me." I cup her face in my hands. "You are mine and only mine. I know you wish to heal as much as possible. You want to help. I understand. But I care nothing for the others. I only care for you, and so you will have to understand that I am going to be protective of what you do. I do not care if you heal twenty broken fingers in a row, but I will care if you make yourself sick over it. Do you understand me?"

She puts her hands on my chest. "I understand." Her anger has disappeared, her eyes soft. "You're worried about me. I get that. But I was given a gift. I can't not use it. Not when it will help others. The tribe needs me."

"I need you."

"Damn it, why are you making it so difficult to stay mad at you?" She tilts her head, gazing up at me. A smile plays at the corners of her mouth. "You're being a little unreasonable, Ashtar. I get that you're protective, but you have to let me be free to be me, as well."

Her words strike a chord inside me. Freedom. It is something new to me, and something I cherish. And I have taken her choices from her. I have clung to my freedom and hampered hers. Ah, my mate. She knows just what to say to make a surly drakoni see reason. I sigh heavily and skim my thumbs over her soft cheeks. "I am defeated. You win. I will take you back to the others soon enough…only promise that you will not heal if you are not feeling well."

"I promise I will be careful when I heal," she tells me. "And you have to promise you'll make friends."

What? "I need no friends. All I need is you."

"Wrong again." She taps a forefinger on my chest, right over my singing, thrumming khui. "You need friends."

"Bah."

"You're not in the slave pits anymore."

"And?"

"And so what if I'm in danger and there's too many to fight off?" At my snort of derision, she continues, determined. "I'm serious. You can fight off twenty bad guys. What if there's two hundred?"

"I will use my fire," I tell her easily. Simple.

Veronica rolls her eyes, clearly exasperated with my answer. "Great. And while you're handling those two hundred with fire, how are you protecting me?"

"I…" I pause. I envision a scenario as she has said. I can handle myself against any number of primitive enemies. In the hunt? No creature can wound a drakoni. My scales are impervious to claw and tooth. Fire? Pft. We are creatures of fire. But my Veronica is fragile. She is human and has many weaknesses. It would not take many enemies to separate us, and then I can do nothing. Such a thought sends a tremor of fear through me. I put my arms around her and tuck her against my chest, pressing her cheek to my skin. "No one will ever harm you," I growl, feeling my fires burn hotter with rage at the very thought. "No one."

She caresses my side, doing her best to touch me despite the fact that I'm crushing her against me. "It's all right, Ashtar," she says softly. "I promise. It's just a concept, not something that's going to actually happen. Relax." Her fingers stroke over my skin. "Relax."

I loosen my grip on her after another panicked moment, before admitting gruffly, "I do not like to think about such things."

Veronica looks up at me and gives me a gentle smile. "Now do you see why I say we need friends?"

I scowl. "No."

She rolls her eyes and tries to push away from me. "You are the most exasperating man. What if I'm in danger and you need help? They could come and get you."

I say nothing.

"Or what if I'm dead and you need help to get out alive? It'll be good to have friends."

"If you are dead, I do not care what happens to me."

"Be serious."

"I am."

Veronica goes still in my arms. For a brief moment, she looks angry. Then she pushes away from me again, and I let her. She takes a few steps backward and glares at me. "That's not fair, Ashtar."

What does fair have to do with anything? I shrug. "You wish for me to lie to you?"

She stomps a foot, her hands clenching into fists at her side. "No! But I don't want to hear that you're going to just jump off a cliff if I die."

What a strange thought. "I would not jump off a cliff." When she relaxes, I add, "If you're not high enough, you will simply hurt yourself. That is a terrible death. "

Veronica smacks her forehead. "Why am I even bothering?"

"I would cut my own throat with my claws—"

"Stop," she moans, moving forward and pressing her hands to my lips to silence me. "I don't want to hear anything else like that, all right? You can't talk about dying. I don't want that." She looks upset. "I get it now, all right? I don't like hearing you talk about dying, and that's how you feel when I overexert myself with healing. I understand. You win. We'll stay out here forever and be our own little tribe of two. Just no more talking about throat cutting, okay?"

I have won…and yet I do not feel like I have won. She looks sad, and the sight of her unhappiness distresses me. "I do not want to 'win.' This is not a battle. You and I are not gladiators in an arena. We are together." I move forward and capture her hand in mine. "I have never had to think of another's safety before. It has always been me and me alone. But now there is my Veronica to think about and…it worries me. I am not handling it well."

She gives me a soft look and squeezes my hand. "What am I going to do with you, Ashtar?"

"Anything you like, if I am lucky."

Her hand goes to her forehead again, but she is smiling this time. "Holding a conversation with you is like trying to hold a handful of water."

"And yet I hold a handful of water for my mate every time she is thirsty," I point out. "I take snow in my hands, melt it, and feed it to you."

"You do realize that's not normal, right?"

"Bah. What is normal anymore?" I spread my arms wide, indicating our surroundings. "We are both stranded on a planet of endless winter with strangers who wear animal skins and have been told to mate by a parasite. What in this seems normal in the slightest?"

"You have a point." She sighs and moves forward, her hands sliding to my shoulders. "I'm kind of starting to like abnormal, though. Not this," she says, and waves absently at our surroundings before putting her hand on my shoulder again. "But I like this part a lot." And she lifts her face to mine in a silent entreaty for a kiss.

I am all too happy to comply. I put my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. She is small and fragile, my mate, but there is a core of strength in her that I cannot forget about. If she wants to return to her people, we will. Perhaps if there were sixteen drakoni on the beach I would feel differently. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters right now except my mate and that she wants to be kissed.

I lean down and brush my mouth over hers even as our khuis sing in unison. She presses up against me as I let my tongue tease against her parted lips, and when she lets out a soft little moan, I claim her mouth. My mate. My female. I love the little gasps she makes as I plunge my tongue into her mouth, stroking deep as I want to stroke my cock into her tight channel. Every day that passes, I grow more desperate for her. Every time she bathes, or licks her lips, I imagine touching her where she is touching herself.

It is torture not to reach out and grab her. I want her, constantly. I tell myself that I must go slow, though. That I cannot rush my mate. Veronica is fragile. She is human, and they have different mating customs. I remind myself of this as her hand slides down my chest and her fingers trace over my belly. She needs me to go slow. She needs time to adjust to this bond between us. She—

She is grabbing my cock even as our mouths mate.

A low groan escapes me, and I snare her hand in my own as she wraps her fingers around my length. "Veronica, what are you doing?" My voice is more growly than it should be.

"Touching you," she answers playfully. "Can I?"

She needs permission? "I want to go slow," I tell her. "I do not want to alarm you with my lusts—"

Veronica giggles and strokes up and down my cock with her hand. "I assure you that I'm not alarmed by your lusts, Ashtar. But if it'll make you feel better, we'll only go to third base." She flicks her tongue over my lips. "Deal?"

"It is a deal," I agree, and then ask, "What is third base?"

That brings a delighted smile to her face. "Seriously? I guess that's a human thing, but…they let you play with the girl gladiators, didn't they?"

"Never. We were only promised a female if we were chosen as a breeding pair."

"Aha." Her eyebrows go up and the expression on her face is thoughtful. "It's wrong that I'm both thrilled and sad at that statement."

"Thrilled? Why thrilled?"

Her hand tightens on my shaft, giving it a playful squeeze. "Because I think I'm the only one that's ever tried to touch you like this."

"Others have tried," I admit. "They ended up a charred mess for daring."

She flicks a teasing look up at me. "Am I going to be a charred mess for daring to touch you?"

"I am yours," I tell her, and I mean it. "Touch me all you like."

"Mmm, well. Let's get back to third base. As for what it is…it's most fun if I show you."

"Then show me." I am utterly fascinated at this bold turn to my Veronica. When she is confident, she is bewitching. Right now, she is very, very bold and flirty, and I have never seen anything sexier in all my days.

"Oh, I plan on it," she whispers, and slides her hand up and down my shaft. "You're so naked," she murmurs, her lips playing against mine. "I can't help but notice how hard you are all the time."

"Because of you. Always because of you." I try to claim her mouth with another deep kiss, but she takes control, nipping at my mouth and teasing before I can.

"Well, don't think it didn't catch my attention," she whispers, then licks my lower lip with a sultry little swipe of her tongue. She squeezes my cock. "It's taken some getting used to, but staring at all this cock doesn't make me shy anymore. It makes me wet. Are all dragon-men made like you?"

"I imagine they all have cocks, yes." I close my eyes as she handles me, because it feels so good I want to blot the world out and focus on this touch. On the thought of her getting wet because she likes looking at me.

"No, silly. I meant as big as you," Veronica tells me. "You're quite the big guy." And her fingers lightly move up and down my shaft, as if she has to trace my length to believe it. "I bet this feels…mind-blowing inside a girl."

My shy Veronica has disappeared in the face of a temptress. I nearly lose my balance as she nips at my lower lip, her thumb swiping over the head of my cock. I'm wet there, the crown beaded with precum, and she drags the pad of her thumb through it, teasing me. "When I put my hands on you for healing, it makes me feel…things."

"Things?" I echo, my mind lost to sensation. All I can think about are her incredible hands on my cock, milking it.

"Lots of things. It makes me very aware of your body…and your cootie. And how much it wants me."

I groan again.

"And it turns me on. A lot."

With a flare of my nostrils, I can tell that she speaks the truth. The juices of her cunt are perfuming the air and it fills me with need. "Let me touch you," I demand. "Please you."

"Soon. It's my turn to play right now." Her fingers tease up and down my length and then she moves closer. Her teeth score at my chin in a tiny love bite, and then she moves lower, kissing at my collarbone and flicking her tongue against it. All the while, her hand moves lightly over my cock, petting and stroking.

She is a tease, my Veronica. I'm fascinated by this new side of her. Here I thought we needed to go slow because she was shy and inexperienced, but she grips my cock and pleasures me as if it is all she has dreamed about for days. She truly is the perfect mate for me.

Veronica kisses lower, dragging her tongue across one pectoral and then scraping her teeth over my skin. "God, I love these muscles. All of them. They're so hard and yummy." Her mouth moves even lower, and then she flicks her tongue over my nipple.

And then moves even lower.

I can't hide the surprised breath that huffs out of me when she drops to her knees in the snow before me. One hand is still on my cock, teasing me, and the other goes to my thigh. She continues to kiss me, moving over my stomach and down my thigh. "I also find it fascinating that you're completely hairless," she murmurs between nips at my skin. "And that you don't feel scaly at all."

Her words barely register in my mind. All I can think about is that playful, teasing mouth so close to my cock. Something…something about scales. "You…" It takes me a moment to think. "You thought I would be scaly?"

"I wasn't sure. These patterns look like scales." Her tongue flicks over one bit of shadow on my skin. "But you don't feel strange. You feel good. All of you feels good." And she circles her thumb over the head of my cock again. "It's just crazy how big and scaly you are as a dragon, but like this…you're just delicious."

Her mouth moves closer to my cock, so close that I can feel her breath against it. I hold still, not wishing to distract her. Even if this is nothing but a tease, I don't mind. I've stroked my own cock to nothing but my imagination hundreds of times, and this is better than any of that by far. I'll take any touch she wishes to give me and be glad for it.

Veronica chuckles, and her breath feels like bliss against my skin. She's not as hot as a drakoni female would be, I think, but it doesn't matter. I prefer this, because it's her. She did not challenge me to indicate that she wishes to mate, but every kiss and caress tells me how she feels. Her cunt is so wet with need that her scent is heavy in the air, and it makes my mouth water. The moment she gets up, I'm going to have her on hands and knees so I can put my mouth between her thighs and taste those sweet juices for myself.

But then her mouth goes to my cock and I am utterly lost. Her lips brush against the head, and she jerks back in surprise. "You're spicy—"

Oh no.

I have to pull her away from my cock. "Wait," I tell her, panting. I don't know if she can ingest my seed if she doesn't have my fires. I don't want her to burn herself. A moment later, she grabs a handful of snow and rubs it against her lips, moaning.

"It's my fires," I tell her, going to my knees. "If I have not given you my bite, my seed will scald you."

She presses her fingers to her puffy, bright pink mouth. "Well, that's a real mood killer," she tells me with a muffled sigh. "I thought it was hot against my fingers, but I also thought it was my imagination." Her eyes widen and she moans again, then faceplants into the snow. "S'getting hotter!" she wails, rubbing her face into the cold powder. "Thith thucks!"

"My poor mate." I rub her back, full of regret. "I did not think…I did not realize humans did such a thing. I was too distracted to realize what it would mean for you."

"Th'okay," she says, and then lifts her head a few moments later. Her fingers are pressed to her lips, but the redness is receding, and I realize the hum of her khui has changed to that of the healing song. "Lucky for us I can fix it," Veronica tells me with a sheepish little smile. "You okay?"

"Me?" I am puzzled by her question, and touched that even when she is in pain, my mate thinks of my comfort. I am not worthy of such sweetness. "The heat of it does not harm me."

"I mean, you know." Her cheeks flush and she lowers her fingers to brush them over my arm. "Me teasing you and then not following up. Are you okay?"

I shake my head at such a question. The moment she was in pain, my erection died an instant death. "My only thoughts are for you, my mate." I tilt my head, studying her as she pushes on her lips. They are still puffy and she flicks her tongue as if testing it, but otherwise, she seems healed. "This does not happen with human males?"

Her eyes narrow and she gives me a sideways look. "I feel like that's a loaded question."

"Loaded?"

"Like if I answer and say, 'No, I've blown plenty of guys and it's never happened,' then you'll think I'm a whore, but if I say I've never done it, you'll think I'm lying."

I'm taken aback. "Why would I be angry over such a thing? That is your past." I crouch on my haunches and wiggle my claws at her. "Shall I tell you how many men and women I have defeated in the arena? How many throats I have ripped out? How many begged me for mercy that I did not give?"

Veronica goes pale. "No," she says quietly. "I don't think I want to know."

"And why?" I press.

She hesitates. "Because…it doesn't matter. Not really. That's who you were before and not who you are now." Her words are thoughtful, even. "It feels like everything's started over now that we're here, doesn't it?"

"It does. Nothing else matters but you and me and now. Your sexual past is only interesting to me in a biological sense, because I am curious about our two species. I have never mated another female, and certainly never had another put her mouth on my cock to make me come."

Her mouth crooks in a half-smile. "I've, uh, mated before, yeah. Ex-boyfriends and all that. Thought I was in love and turns out, not so much. Haven't had anyone in my life for a while, though. My dad passed, and then I just got busy with life." She shrugs. "I didn't miss it, which tells me it wasn't really true love."

It's clear that love is important to her. I test the thought in my mind, weighing it. It is a human concept, I think. Amongst the drakoni, my memories are of mated pairings and their little touches and caresses and exchanged looks that said they were sharing thoughts for no one else. There was never a declaration of “love.” With the mental link and shared fires, it was never needed.

I'm filled with longing for such a connection with my Veronica. I send a mental pulse to her, but it meets with nothing, and I feel wordless frustration. I want to be tied to her at the deepest level, as all drakoni mates are. But pushing her to take my fires? After I have already hurt her once this day? It would be the most selfish of actions.

And yet…her juicy cunt's perfume still fills the air around us, and when she smiles at me, my need returns, blasting through my body. My hand will suffice for myself, but I think of her need. I want to pleasure her like she did to me. But I want to make sure it won't harm her. "Humans do not burn when sharing the seed of an unmated partner? What about a female's cunt nectar?"

"Her what?" She looks utterly scandalized, my Veronica.

"What do you call it?"

She sputters. "Not that!" When I keep waiting, she blinks rapidly, and the high color in her cheeks and her inability to make eye contact tell me that she is embarrassed. "We, um, just call it getting wet, I guess. Nothing special."

"So I can taste it and there will be no problems?"

Veronica still doesn't look me in the eye. "That really isn't necessary, Ashtar."

I snort at her prim tone. "Necessity and want are two very different things, my sweet mate. Are you telling me no because you do not like it, or because you are shy? Do your human males never put their tongue between your thighs?"

Her hand presses to her forehead. "Oh my god, please stop talking," she whispers. "You're killing me here."

"Should I not ask?" I move a little closer to her, touch a lock of her soft, soft hair. "Because it is something I would like to do, very much. But I will not if you find it inappropriate or revolting. You know my only goal is to please you."

My beautiful mate moans and closes her eyes. "I…uh…it's not inappropriate. Not between lovers, no."

"Revolting?"

"No…kind of the opposite." She lifts her gaze to mine, her eyes wide. "I'm totally not asking, just so you know."

"I wish you would. Your scent is maddeningly delicious."

She sucks in a breath, her eyes growing heavy-lidded with desire, and her scent drenches the air once more. "I forgot you can smell that."

"I can smell everything, my sweet fires, and you smell incredible." I move closer and run my nose against one cheek, pressing my face to hers. "Shall I lick you clean?"

"Oh god." She shudders hard. "Why is that so nasty and amazing all at once?"

"Nasty?" I raise my head, surprised.

"Good nasty," she amends quickly. "I promise it's good."

All right, then. "So are you telling me you do not hunger for my touch?"

Veronica leans into my touch. "I didn't say that."

But she won't admit that she wants me, either. Curious. I rub my face against hers and then pull back, and see that her eyes are closed, her expression one of bliss and contentment. She likes my caresses. Craves them, even. I want to hear her say that she wants me.

That is my new goal, then. To make my mate scream to the world that she wants me. So I grab a fistful of her tunic and tug on the front of it. "How does this come off?"

Veronica giggles, as if I've said something hilarious. "It's got laces, silly. I mean, most of it slips over the head, but there's laces in the middle so you can fit it around you better."

"Good. Take it off."

She sputters, laughing and smiling all at once. "That was very bossy of you."

"I am bossy when it comes to my mate," I tell her, and slide to my knees on the snow in front of her. I press my face against her chest and belly, my hands sliding up and down her backside. "I want to taste all of her and she is delaying."

A little moan escapes her. "Taste all of me, huh?"

"All," I agree thickly. "You can take it off or you can let me rip it off—"

"No ripping," she retorts, and tugs at the laces hidden under her arm and doing a shimmy to undress. "I don't have anything else to wear, you bossy jerk."

"Then you can be naked with me and I can lick you at my leisure."

She shivers again but pulls her tunic over her head. "Lick a freaking popsicle, you mean. I'd freeze to death."

That makes me pause because she is not wrong—humans get cold easily. I snag the tunic where she tosses it to the ground and then gently spread it out on the snow. "Lie here then, my cold, delicious human mate."