Coral

I'm flying on the back of a dragon.

Just when I thought nothing else about my new life could amaze me. I am amazed.

It's not like I haven't been surprised in my former life. Or amazed, but maybe with work getting on top of me, all the long hours, the neverending paperwork, the terrible pay, and little chance of promotion to where I wanted to be, maybe I'd let surprise and amazement take a back seat.

I'd stopped trying. I just existed.

This is not existing, this is far from existing. Drasus, my mixed up, growly, grumpy, feral mate is never going to let me simply exist. He is going to make sure I live.

Dragon Drasus dives through the opening in the cave wall, and we're out in what passes for daylight in the Kirakos above an area of the maze which I don't think is the Sarkarnii quarter. Drasus rises higher in the sky, and I can see, way off in the distance the "wall" where the Sarkarnii blew a hole into the Belek controlled area, rescuing me and the other humans.

"Over there." I tap Drasus on his shoulder and point up to where we need to go.

He swivels his great head and sees my gesture. His wings pumping hard, we cover the distance easily. He swings around the main square, and my blood turns to ice as several Sarkarnii rise up to meet us, none of which are the three brothers.

One of which is Daeos.

"Drasus!" He roars out a flame.

Underneath me, my Drasus flinches.

"This is Daeos. He is your friend. He is mated to a human like me. He helped save you when you were injured."

I feel the growl all the way to my fingertips. Drasus is not impressed, especially as Daeos has no sense of personal space and gets as up close as he can.

"Drega says you found the control room. Did you? Do we have access to the star map? Can we leave?" Daeos shouts as Drasus does his best to keep a distance from the scarlet peril who has absolutely no idea who he's currently tangling with.

Eventually, after a couple of sharp turns where I have to grip hard on the spiny protuberances on Drasus' neck, he dives towards the ground, and in a tumble of limbs, I find myself captured in his arms, the arms of his biped form, as he snarls upwards at Daeos.

"Drasus." I put my hand on his face, making him look at me. "It's okay, it really is. These are your friends, your fellow warriors. They don't want me."

He huffs out a steady stream of smoke, clearly unimpressed at Daeos' behavior. But then that's nothing new, for Drasus, or any other Sarkarnii. Fighting each other seems to be a default.

"Warrior!" Drega hails him from where he's exiting the armory, and behind him is Draxx and, unfortunately, Draco.

I had hoped we might get a moment before we had to face the legendary leader.

"You can let me down," I hiss at Drasus.

"No," he says stubbornly. "You are mine."

"They know, Drasus. Believe me, they know." He looks at me, a mixture of anger and love and fear on his face. "I'm not going anywhere, and they won't take me from you, I promise."

With some considerable reluctance, Drasus lowers me to the ground, but he keeps one arm firmly wrapped over my shoulder and across my chest.

Drega scents the air. They all do. He stops, putting out an arm to halt Draxx too. Draco, ever the imposing presence, joins his brothers but does not come forward.

"Warrior?" he says, his voice deeper and darker than ever. "Have you completed your mission?"

Drasus snarls, pushing me behind him. There is a noticeable chill which descends on the assembled company.

"I do not know you," he says to Draco. "You will stay back from my mate."

Draco looks at his brothers, and to my surprise, his lip hitches.

"You are the mated pair then?" he queries of Drasus.

"We are. The star map is unlocked," I call out from behind my big purple dragon.

The noise he makes at all three brothers is somewhere between a roar, a snarl, and a growl. It's certainly bloodcurdling.

It doesn't exactly appear to strike fear into the others, however. They're all grinning like idiots.

And then Daeos lands, and all hell breaks loose. Drasus goes for him, Draxx and Drega attempt to intervene, and my heart beats out of my chest as I look on, helpless at the swarm of scales, colors, wings, and tails, accompanied by multiple growls and snarls.

"You have…as my mate might say…bewitched my warrior." Draco is standing next to me in a move which seems rather bold given the behavior of Drasus so far.

"I have done no such thing," I fire at him. "You should stop this. There was a Rak in those bloody tunnels. Drasus was fighting it and there was a cave-in. He had a head injury and he's lost his memory."

"Not of you, though," Draco says evenly. "He still ruts for you."

"He didn't know me, initially." I don't look at Draco, my eyes on the fight which seems grossly unfair, three Sarkarnii on one (especially as two are well known for fighting dirty), although Drasus is holding his own, given he's presently biting Daeos's tail. "But I think the rut helped."

"It's not exactly helping now." Draco folds his arms and glares at the melee.

"Yeah? And perhaps you of all Sarkarnii should know what it's like to be a male in rut. So, are you going to stop this or what?"

Draco rumbles. I probably shouldn't be sassing the dark golden Sarkarnii, no matter how grateful he was I helped his mate, Amber, give birth. Grateful, in a Draco way that is, involved less snarling than usual and a grudging "thank you" when prompted by her, babe in arms.

He scents the air. "His rut is strange."

With practiced ease, he reaches into the scrum and heaves out first Daeos, then Drega, leaving only Draxx and Drasus squaring up.

"This part'll be interesting," Draco says with an evil grin.

"No, it won't." I take a deep breath and insert myself between the two males.

Because everyone has to die sometime, right?