Chapter Two

Nycto

Mine! He was mine and I finally captured him!

He'd given a good chase, but I had him now!

"Careful!" My human beast warned from inside his inner sanctum. "He's soft and fleshy in that form!"

My human beast hated whenever I had too much fun. Well, he called it too much fun and I called him boring. If he had his way, we'd spend more of our time in town, but he didn't get his way often. Besides, the dragons in town were strange creatures with too many rules about what everyone else should do.

Waj climbed up my leg and chest onto his normal spot just behind my head. Mine – wasn't so easy to hold onto. He acted as if he had never been off the ground before. Our game of chase was fun, but I was tired of him sneaking into tiny spots as if he was trying to make me knock down my favorite trees on purpose. Some mates were like that, though, and this dragon that caught my attention wasn't a normal townie. He was one of those Moon-Goons who landed their ocean liner on our planet without proper warning. I might've taken a chomp out of him, if he hadn't been mine.

Lucky for him he was mine.

I smelled him as soon as he entered my forest. His scent came from every direction and even the dragons without skin forms whispered about it in their thoughts. Had he heard them, or did he speak Waj's language? Maybe neither. He didn't really act like a dragon who knew I was his true-mate. Then again, he wasn't from here. Who knew what mates did where he came from? Still, he was mine. I juggled him around until he sat on my foot properly. If he wasn't going to shift and fly with me the least he could do was be a good passenger and stop squirming so much. I didn't want to drop him, after all. Maybe be wanted to be dropped. Who knew what his idea of fun was?

My nest was further out than most skin dragons ever wandered. Every once in a while one of them ate too many mushies and ended up nearby. I hadn't eaten any of them – yet. I tried jabbing at Mine over the flight link they used in the city. If he heard me, he didn't say anything. Did he not speak dragon? A roar crept into my throat, but my human part wouldn't let me blow fire while flying around with Mine.

"Hello?" I tried again over the flight link.

"Hello?" Mine answered.

"You do speak!"

A wave of relief washed over me, and I flew a victory spiral through the sky. Mine didn't like that much, but since he didn't bother to shift, he had to put up with me. That was the cost of a free ride.

"Are you the wildling Bluing and Cevin mentioned, perchance?" Mine asked.

"Haha. That's what they call me. Cevin is a wildling, too, if that's what you want to call us. At least he was. Now he's a townie because of that giant alpha of his."

"Where are we going?"

"Home," I answered.

Where else would I take Mine?

"And that is?" he asked.

"The nest, of course," I shrugged midflight. "Do you want to fly?"

He nodded. His voice barely audible over the flight link. I let go of him and he let out a string of curses that tickled me somewhere deep inside. Mine had a dirty mouth. I watched him plunge toward the tops of the trees. His wings sprang out first with blue and green scales covering them. A second later, the rest of his scales came out chasing away the green star on his chest and gobbling it up. He soared upward as he shifted into his proper form. Mine flew right up under me, until his back pressed against my belly, and we flew together like a beast with four wings, two tails, and eight legs. He guided our path navigating the air currents that carried us away from the skin dragons tripping over their tails to munch down the mushies. I wasn't sure he knew where we were going, but I let him lead the way. I couldn't get lost out here. I was born not far from where I nested now. The forest knew my name before I hatched, and it would whisper it long after I was gone as it did for the unshifters who passed through their portals of life and death.

We flew for a long time. We flew until my human beast demanded that it was time to let him out. Except the wings belonged to me before they belonged to him, and I wasn't done flying with Mine yet. The sun began its descent and eventually I had to think about giving in to him. I was unsure of how long Mine could fly without getting tired. The townies didn't fly the same distances I covered most days for fun. Eventually, I tugged on him over the flight link and led him to the nest. The human beast was right. I had to let him out sooner or later. If I kept him inside for too long his head grew all fuzzy and it was hard for him to interact with skin dragons. It wasn't fair to take the ability to socialize with his own kind from him. We were the same, but he was the weird part of me that was soft and mostly scaleless. He was the part of me most likely to be gobbled up by something out in the wild. So, I had to protect him. Now, I also had to protect Mine.

***

My head was fuzzy when I came to in the nest. My dragon had made good on finally letting me out. It'd been days since he'd taken over. My limbs felt like jelly. The nest smelled different than when I left.

No!

It wasn't the nest that smelled off!

Mine!

It was my mate who had flown partnered with me the entire route home. Now, he checked my pulse. I kept my eyes closed and focused on his fingers pressed against my wrist. It wasn't unfamiliar. They taught us to do that in school. I vaguely remembered fighting off the urge to bite the last healer who'd grabbed my wrist for this reason. My inner beast didn't put up with such nonsense usually. Only, this was our mate. My heart pounded in my ears and my pulse sped up under his fingers.

"You're awake," he announced.

"Halfway," I said, snaking my hand around his wrist and pulling him down onto the soft bed of leaves, grass, and feathers that was the topmost layer of my nest. He laughed and I smiled despite how my head swam. The wind from the sky still echoed inside my ears. He smoothed back my hair from my face. His mind raced with questions over the flight link, but he was civilized enough not to bombard me with them.

"Healer?" I asked, double-checking my instincts.

"Yes, I am," he nodded.

"I'm not sick. Not in the way townies get sick. I'm recovering from being him for days," I informed him, still keeping my hold on his wrist so he didn't squirm away.

"Days?" he asked, sitting back on his heels as if he thought I needed room to breathe.

"Days," I nodded. "Days and days. He seems to think he's a human shifter."

"Well, from his perspective that's probably what it feels like," he nodded. "Take all the time you need."

I took a deep breath and his warm scent wrapped around me. Inside his inner sanctum my dragon paced. The big guy hated my refractory period. I hated it too sometimes, but more than ever right now.

"How are you so calm?" I asked, staring up at the clear sky as Waj sniffed around my feet as if he thought his treats were hidden between my toes.

"I've been to war," he shrugged.

"WAR?" I pushed myself upright on my elbows. "Those still go on?"

I'd read about enough wars in school to last me seventy-thousand lifetimes. Sure, wild dragons fought here and there over territory, food, or mates but never to the level of destruction of the world the Starscale ancestors fled.

"Unfortunately so. Not for a few decades now, but that usually means it's time for one to roll around again."

"I don't think the rules are working where you come from if that's how it's going or maybe they're unfair or something," I stretched back out.

"Want a ham and cheese sandwich?" he asked me.

"A what and cheese sandwich?" I blinked up at him. "What sort of animal is a ham?"

"It's part of a pig."

"Like a parasite inside the pig?" I blinked. "Ummm…. I don't know if anyone told you this, but do NOT eat parasites, okay?"

He laughed and I blinked. Perhaps the dragons where he came from were immune to such things. His thoughts were distant on the flight link now.

"No, it's what we call part of the pig where I come from."

"Are you talking about sandwich pig?" I arched a brow.

"Yeah," he nodded, taking a sandwich out of his bag.

It was pig and yellow cheese.

"Why complicate it and give it a special name? It's pig and cheese," I shrugged, taking it from him.

My dragon had eaten his fair share of wild rabbits, fish, and deer while I was locked away, but every wild dragon knew you didn't say no to food. Besides, for all I knew they had some pig and cheese exchange custom back where he came from.

"That's just what it's called. I think it was probably the way folks differentiated what they were buying from shops or something," he shrugged, taking a bite of another sandwich from his bag.

I took a bite of the one he handed me. It was just okay. He was a very typical alpha in my experience. He didn't bother cutting up any veggies to put between the pig and cheese. I'd have to watch after him to ensure he ate properly in the future. Healers were always the worst about things like that.

We ate in silence and my dragon nudged his horns against my ribs. Food was usually one of his favorite things in the universe, but now his mind was on other things and I wasn't sure how to close the gap to get to where he wanted to be. He let loose a smoke ring inside his inner sanctum and it drifted out of my nose. Mine waved it away and let out a little chuckle. Was his dragon trying to crack through his ribcage too or was that just me? Was it the wildling in me?

I'd left society after I finished high school. I found the quiet in the buzzes and the lulls of nature. I found peace in the sky and on the ground surrounded by mushies. I found everything society couldn't give me only a few miles from where I'd originally hatched from my egg. My parents still lived in that nest. Every time the hot season rolled round, she laid a clutch. She hadn't laid another one like me. I checked every time because if the day came, I wanted to guide my sibling through the crazy world the others called society.

"You alright?" Mine asked.

"My dragon isn't polite," I shrugged.

"Most aren't," he laughed for real this time and the sound wiggled under my scales.

"Society," I shrugged again, finishing off my sandwich.

"What about it?"

"Dunno."

"You're not a dragon of many words, are you?" he arched his brows.

"I know plenty of words."

"Maybe we got off on the wrong wing," he said and extended his hand.

I shook it like I learned from the townies, but I held onto it, unwilling to give up the connection to my newly met mate. His eyes dropped to our fingers as they entwined, and he asked my name.

"Nycto," I said. "Named after the night. My mother gave it to me. Before you asked, yes, I know my scales are brown. She named me that so she could hide me, and it worked for a while."

"I think most carriers would like to hide their newly hatched babies," he said. "I'm Izora."

"Iz-sor-a," I rolled his name around on my tongue, testing it out. "What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure. My parents never told me, and I don't think I ever really thought to ask them about it either."

"Did the war eat them?"

"No, it did not. Their door showed up before that war."

"I'm sorry. I'll introduce you to my parents eventually. I go over every Tuesday night for dinner and before you ask, yes, they are aware of when I'm coming over. They don't call it Tuesday, of course. That's a townie word. They know it by how many times the sun comes up and goes down."

Izora didn't say anything for a long second. My dragon snorted another smoke ring out of my nose. Maybe he was right. Maybe there was only one way to get past the awkward stage of meeting this alien dragon from a whole other world. It was the way dragons had been doing it since the first two mates met in the dead place. So, I dived in head first. Well, lips first.

Mine - Izora - didn't mind at all. I tossed his name around my brain again as our lips met. I couldn't call him Mine forever. He had a name after all. His hands roamed up and down my sides. I wasn't wearing a shirt. No one really wore a shirt around here. They were for decoration mostly. I wasn't really wearing pants either. My dragon never let me keep much on when it was his turn to take over. So, Izora's thumbs played at the waistband of my boxers as our tongues licked and danced between our mouths. He pulled me closer, nearly onto his lap, his fingertips digging into my hips as if he meant to leave behind fingerprints to mark his territory.

As we kissed, I wiggled out of my boxers and shoved them through the trapdoor down into the house underneath my nest. I lost enough clothes because of my inner beast. Soon, I'd have to go to town again to get more and I wanted to put that off for as long as possible. Maybe going to town with Izora wouldn't be so bad, but town was town and a handful of strange dragons wasn't going to change it all that much.

His eyes raked down my naked torso to my hard dick. The pressure had been building inside me since the moment I smelled him in the forest. Our game of cat and mouse only made me want him that much more.

"Like what you see?" I asked and his eyes flickered back to mine.

"Uh-huh," he said, the syllables morphing into a growl on his lips.

The sound wrapped around me and I kissed him again. My dragon ran his horns along my ribs, forcing me closer. Our chests touched and my heart skipped a beat. The air hung heavy with impending rain which made the whole forest hotter than normal. Still, I pressed myself against him reveling in the heat as he licked circles around my tongue. His nipples were hard, but not as hard as his muscles. What did a healer do to be so fit?

"His dragon is fit," my inner beast roared into my thoughts, sending another smoke ring out of my nose.

Izora didn't bother to stop kissing me long enough to swipe this one away. Instead, his hands slid from my hips to my naked ass and massaged my flesh under his fingers. Clouds drifted over us, heavy and dark. The rain was coming in, but I didn't want the kissing to stop.

"Do you always wear pants?" I asked him, playing with the metallic do-hickey on his belt.

"As opposed to what?" Izora asked.

Only he kissed me too quickly for me to answer. I let go of the belt piece and grabbed lower. He was hard and thick. He grunted and opened his eyes now that I had him in my palm.

"Nothing," I answered.

"Ummm…" he searched for his words, and I almost loosened my grip, but being this close to him made me want to be wicked. "My job usually requires them," he said a second later, his voice low and throaty from my grip on him.

"Are you at work right now?" I asked and he shook his head.

"So, we can take them off?"

The claws of my free hand tickled my fingertips. Nope. That wasn't happening. Townies acted strange when their clothes were messed up. I wanted Izora to feel at home in my nest – not torn asunder.

"We can," he nodded but kissed me again instead.

I wasn't about to bother with the belt and its metal do-hickey for more than a few seconds. Belts always seemed like overkill to me. So I skipped straight to his zipper to free his dick from its fabric prison.

"Give me a second," he said, shoving his hand into his pocket.

"Not trying to rob you," I laughed and swatted his hand away.

"Ouch!" He laughed and shot me a bemused look. "I need to get my phone out before it falls to its death."

"Drop it down the hatch," I said, scooting back and opening the trapdoor.

Waj took advantage of the wide-open trapdoor and jumped in, landing with a soft plop at the bottom of the slide.

"I'd rather not commit phone murder. It has all my contacts from back home in it."

"How much does it like to swim?" I asked him.

"It's sort of waterproof. Sort of."

Thunder cracked in the sky above us and I grabbed it from him and slid it down the slide after Waj. A second later came the downpour. Somewhere in the distance another dragon grumbled about the showers, but I used it as an excuse to slide all my mate's stuff down into my house. While I did that, he undid his belt and shed the rest of his clothes along with his shoes. Those went down the slide too. Hopefully neither of us landed with a boot up our ass later when we went inside.

"What's down there?" Izora shouted over the rain beating against every surface the forest offered.

"Show you later," I shook my head.

I wasn't ready to go inside yet. Inside was drab. It had all the trappings of a townie house, but it wasn't outside, and I liked outside best. Outside with its fresh air and cool rain. Outside with its sky and now with Izora. I captured his lips in another long, hard kiss and his hands refound my ass cheeks. Izora's body heat spread over me until it was impossible to think of anything else other than him. I leaned into him, using his warmth to soothe my eager inner beast.

Hungry? Angry? Horny? Sometimes it was hard to tell with dragons. All of the above maybe. He was always one of those things. Except now, he was also delighted at the rain cascading over us and the feeling of Izora's heart pounding just as hard and fast as our own. My desires all curled into one tangled ball as I struggled to focus.

Lightning struck overhead and we both ducked. My dragon chuckled and cursed the sky fire under his breath. I kissed Izora again. He took my hands and put them on his chest as we kissed. I explored his firm and now slippery, wet muscles. His breath hitched in his throat every time my palm inched close to his dick. Teasing him was nice. Maybe if I teased him enough Izora wouldn't think straight either.

Leaning my head down, I traced the outline of his green star scale with my tongue. The one on my own chest burnt hot, keeping me warm against the rain. Izora ran his long fingers through my hair as I licked lower, tracing the lines and muscles of his abs. I licked my lips, imagining what my mate would taste like. My dragon bumped his horns against my ribs again. He didn't like putting things off unless it was his idea, and he was more than ready to be back with the green and blue dragon who lived inside Izora. Still, my mate was stroking my cheek with his thumb now and I wasn't ready to give up that sensation.

Thunder cracked above our heads and I startled again. Storms weren't uncommon in this season, but my eyes weren't on the skies right now. All my attention was focused on my mate. He ran his fingers up my cheek and cradled my face. I leaned into his warmth, savoring the connection. My dragon roared, filled with urgent need inside me. He snorted out another smoke ring. The rain gobbled it up before it could float away.

"Is he okay in there?" Izora asked, leaning down to whisper in my ear over the pounding raindrops falling everywhere.

"He's needy. He's always needy and in a rush when he really wants something," I admitted on my dragon's behalf.

"And what does he want?" Izora asked, his voice deep with desires of his own.

"You," I growled out the word.

Izora's fingers entwined in my hair, and he pulled me in for a long, hard kiss. Reaching between our bodies, I took his dick in my hand again. There wasn't any fabric to get in my way this time. I squeezed and stroked the object of my desire while imagining how it might feel if I sat on it and tucked it away inside me. He growled into the kiss and I smiled against his lips. I was hard and slick and needed him – all of him.

Izora's other hand found the small of my back and pulled me closer until I straddled over his thighs. I opened my mouth to ask a question, but the words fled my tongue as lightning struck the ground not far from the tree. I waited for the acrid smell of a fire starting to reach my nose, but it didn't. The rain had saved the forest from the sky fire again.

Izora pushed me sideways and then I was off his lap and sliding into my house. I grunted as I landed with a soft thud on the pile of stuff we'd tossed down. Izora came down feet first a moment later as the trapdoor slammed shut before too much of the rain got inside.

"What?" I asked, scooting back out of his way.

"That was a little close for comfort," Izora said. "You're supposed to go inside when lightning's that close, mate."

"It's more dangerous to the trees than us. I've been truck before. Lost a few scales and have a weird pattern on the skin under them whenever I shed them now. It happens, but it's not the end of the world."

"I've treated patients who've been struck by lightning. It's never that cut and dry."

"Maybe not in this form," I said and ran my hand down my chest and stomach to my dick. "It's all fleshy and soft skin. Scales are fine."

"Ummmm….. We're all fleshy right now, mate," he laughed.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" he asked, arching his brows.

"Make it hard to think," I rubbed my palm against my forehead.

"Hello? Hello?" A tiny voice sounded somewhere nearby. "Izora? Iz? Are you okay? Are one of the mushie munchers giving you a problem?"

I glanced around. Waj didn't speak. Not like that anyway.

"Who's there?" I asked, sniffing the air.

"No one," Izora sighed, digging through the pile of stuff. "All the jostling around must've called someone."

A second later he raised the phone to his ear and said hello. He listened for a second, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes, Teddy. I'm fine." Another pause. "In a dragon's house." He nodded along with whatever this Teddy guy said. "What sort of warning?"

I leaned close trying to hear what was said on the other side. Izora put the phone on speaker and laid it on the pile of clothes between us.

"A lightning warning. They made everyone leave the mushie forest," Teddy said. "We've been trying to call you. Then you called and it was a butt dial. Are you okay? What's going on? You need to get out of there or find a cave to wait it out."

"I'm inside," Izora said.

"Where?" Teddy asked. "Castor's not happy. He's about ready to come out and get you himself against the lightning warning and advisory."

"Tell the captain to calm down and stay with his baby," Izora said, his voice taking on a strange calm tone. "I have a development that may keep me out here for a bit longer."

"A lot longer," I cut in, unable to help myself.

"Who's that?" Another voice cut into the conversation.

"Who are you?" I asked, annoyance tickling under my scales.

"I'm Sunny, diplomat of the Moonscale Dragons."

"I'm Nycto of the Wildlings and Izora's mate!" I snapped back at the unseen dragon.

The other dragon made a weird oooooooooo sound over the phone and Izora picked it back up. I tried to grab it from him ready to tell the alien townie a thing or two, but Izora batted away my hands.

"Yes," Izora said. "Teddy push Sunny out into the hall until he remembers he's a diplomat in more than name while we're on Starscale 1. Yes, I'll wait. Thank you."

"Sunny sounds like an ass weasel," I muttered under my breath.

"Only sometimes," Izora said. "He's young-ish and his wasn't an unusual reaction to a friend finding their true-mate."

He wrapped his arm around my middle and pulled me in close. I kissed his cheek and wrapped my hand around his dick again to mark my territory.

"Give me a second, mate," Izora laughed as his eyes flooded with pleasure.