Chapter 1
Cosima
I couldn’t understand what people were screaming about, but I got their meaning just fine anyway.
Nobody shouted like that unless something really serious was about to go down.
Since the arrival of more outcasts, I hadn’t spent much time outside of the apartment caves.
Today wasn’t convincing me to try either but I was curious.
Against my better judgment, I went to the edge of the cave entrance and peeked around the corner; then I really wished I hadn’t.
The handful of outcasts that had shown up so far, all Naga from nearby Clans, were gathered a few hundred feet from the tunnel entrance.
Krashe was especially noticeable with his red scales because he was the only Naga at our strange camp that had that color.
I’d only just returned from escorting Naomi—his mate—to him with Kalani, my one outing for the day.
I was trying hard to push myself with at least one excursion each day and I was grateful I’d already had today’s over with.
A huge shadow was blocking out the sun, and the strange alien creatures that lived on this planet, the Naga, looked tiny in comparison.
They were pointing down the mountain flank, and some were pointing up.
Ah, hell, I was going to have a look too, wasn’t I?
I tilted my head back to stare at the sky, swallowing roughly when I made out a golden shape sailing through the air.
That was a dragon, an honest-to-god dragon!
My heart started racing, my palms went clammy, and fear shot through me, ready to paralyze.
Tears were already springing to my eyes and I squinted them shut as hard as I could.
No, not now! Damn it! I couldn’t freeze up, I couldn’t give in to these silly feelings. I had to be stronger than this.
I trembled as I pressed my back against the stone pillar that framed the cave entrance.
Numbness came next, like I’d exhausted all my ability to feel in a fell swoop, overloaded with fear.
I stared out at the chaos that had erupted further away from where I stood.
At least I wasn’t in the line of fire, I was just an observer. Lately, I always was.
When my mind tried to flash back to the traumatic events that had made me like this, I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning quietly while I bit my lip so hard that the skin cracked.
No, please. I couldn’t face the past and the present at the same time.
I didn’t want to lose myself in the memories of my fiance’s murder.
It was no use, I flashed back anyway to the dark cell I’d spend month after month in.
Even though my feet were firmly planted on Serant’s strange, purple soil, I found myself back on a backwater planet in the UAR in my mind.
The Scrakoid rebels, the endless days trapped in isolation with nothing but the murder of my fiance to occupy my mind.
The torture, and then the relief I’d felt when UAR soldiers had freed me, only for my government to turn around and betray me.
With my fist, I pressed against my forehead, and then I forced myself to look again.
Looking at the now might overrule the past, and that would be far better than what my memories held.
When my eyes sprung open, tears trickled out but at least I was alone in here, invisible to the excitement outside.
The dragon was circling above the Naga, including Krashe’s vibrant form and several of the other males that my fellow humans had ‘mated’ with.
I spotted Zathar, our leader, and I saw Vera right there at his side, staring down the mountain fearlessly.
They weren’t even looking at the dragon, why weren’t they looking up?
My eyes shot back to the agile, soaring form.
Picking out the tiny jewel green shape of Kiwi, Naomi’s miniature pet dragon.
I should have known he’d have bigger cousins, and the tiny creature was joyously circling around that giant shape, greeting it.
If I squinted just a little, I thought that maybe the golden dragon was wearing some kind of black leather harness, and then my breath faltered.
A rider. That huge beast had a rider sitting proudly astride its back.
And here I thought I’d at least identified the major threats and knew how to avoid them.
Like the red Naga that were from Krashe’s old Clan.
Bitter Storm had attacked us the first day I’d woken up here, they’d chased after Kalani, and they’d tried to hurt Naomi.
There were the other Clans too. Basically, nobody liked humans except the guys who discovered some of us were their mates.
For the past two weeks, outcasts had been flocking here, males that had been thrown out of their own Clan for various reasons.
So next to the long list of Clans that hated my guts, I knew those males were threats too.
As outcasts they were branded criminals and Zathar and Vera thought we should be all buddy-buddy with them. No way.
I hadn’t left the caves except for my once-a-day excursion ever since the first stranger arrived.
I was still a little uneasy with the mated males around too, because I couldn’t understand a word they said, but they were starting to grow on me.
Now what? A dragon? With a rider? Was he here to attack?
I was definitely not stepping another foot outside this entrance, who needed sunlight anyway?
I was not getting snatched off the ground by a dragon and eaten in one bite. No thanks.
When I glanced away from the dragon to see what the others were doing I winced.
Kalani had this powerful alien laser rifle, and she wasn’t even pointing it at the beast?
Why wasn’t anyone worried about the dragon over their heads?
That’s when I spotted the mass of red moving up the mountain through the trees, they were only just starting to get out of cover.
The Bitter Storm Naga, they were attacking.
***
Zsekhet
Flying with Sesethul was always a thrill, but after the long journey even I was ready to get my coils back on the ground.
Ahoshaga was a landmark easily recognizable, even if I’d never seen it before with my own eyes.
It matched the drawings on the map my Queen had given me so precisely that I couldn’t help but grin.
As always, the mapmaker’s skills impressed me.
Excitement thrummed through my body as I circled the peak to get a good look at what I was dealing with.
This was it, the strange little gathering of outcast males and even stranger beings from the stars.
I was here for one job, to discover if they were a threat or not, and for that, I had to gain their trust. Not exactly easy when I came riding in on my faithful friend, Sesethul, but a task I was going to relish.
I saw my opening at a glance. A mismatched crowd of Naga males in various shades, the outcasts, facing off against an advancing force of Bitter Storm warriors.
I had never met anyone from Bitter Storm myself, but their reputation was legendary.
The one Clan that abhorred any of the Relics we scavenged from the ancient ruins and caves.
A secular Clan so zealous in its beliefs that it destroyed anything that fell from the skies or came from the ground.
It was hardly surprising to think that they would take issue with beings from the skies setting up camp in the neighboring territory.
“Come on, Ses. Let’s crash this party, shall we?
” I smirked, and laughed out loud when Ses turned his long agile neck to regale me with a one-eyed golden glare.
The single slitted eye I could see, languidly blinked when his nictitating membrane slid out from the corner.
I mimicked that wink and then my faithful friend dove to the ground, wings spread like the giant sails the Water Weaver Clan produced.
Under the sound of shocked shouts and some bodies quickly diving out of the way, Ses landed right between both parties.
I only needed to click my tongue while pressing a thick coil of my tail against a particular spot on the flank facing the Bitter Storm warriors, and Ses swiveled his long head.
He opened his maw and roared at the Bitter Storm males, the sound thundering down the mountain, rattling bones, and shaking trees.
“Heyo, what the fuck is going on here?” I said by way of greeting.
Then I tilted my head away from the Bitter Storm warriors and sought out the face of the prince that supposedly led these outcasts.
Zathar’s features had been described to me and I had no trouble picking him out.
It was the small being that stood next to him, curled beneath his arm that shook me up but I didn’t let it show.
Pale round face, hair that wasn’t quite gold like that of many from my Clan. Soft features and scaleless flesh, she was so small next to her mate, but the overabundance of her teats, her shape, all of it screamed female. I instantly saw the appeal.
So that was a being from the skies? No wonder my kin had gathered around them, doing what had never been done, and striking alliances with outcasts from many different Clans.
Or at least, offering acceptance into their group should they come here, because so far I saw only blue Thunder Rock or purple Copper Tooth bodies, and one shocking red male with another of those strange but pretty beings in his arms.
“These Bitter Storm goons bothering you lot? Shall I have Ses flame broil them for you?” I asked cockily.
I was pleased to see that the stories of my Clan had reached these outcasts, they looked wary of Ses and me, but that prince, he wasn’t scared.
He moved to the front of the warriors, his mate striding along at his side.
She didn’t show any fear either, I was impressed.
“Let’s see what they want first. Krashe?
You recognize any of them?” This Zathar said as he slithered right up to Ses’s flank so he could look up at my face from nearby.
“You are Serqethos, aren’t you?” While the one red male from the outcast group ducked to look at the Bitter Storm warriors from underneath Ses’s belly, I watched everyone around me.
Zathar had sounded a little awed as he said my Clan name and I wanted to preen, I liked the respect that being Serqethos brought me. A dragon rider, the Clan who dug gold up from the deserts of Serant, supplying Clan queens everywhere with their beloved jewelry. Then I shut those thoughts away.
“Not anymore. Say, you think you have a spot for one lonely male and his dragon?” While I put on my nicest smile, carefully not looking at the strange, pretty female next to Zathar, this Krashe fellow started talking.
He wasn’t directing his words at me though, but at the red fellow in the lead for Bitter Storm.
A male who was missing his front teeth, shameful, and wearing an odd brown robe with a red sash. Didn’t much look like a warrior to me.
I felt a surge of anxiousness that I quickly squashed when Zathar seemed to need to think about my request. Come on, a guy with a dragon, this had to be a no-brainer, right?
When he tilted his head down to his mate and she shrugged he finally nodded.
“Sure, you can stay with the aspirants. If you prove yourself to be a good fit, we will let you join.”
That was all I needed, I’d be with the in-crowd in no time.
I smiled and dipped into a bow for him, all the while having my ears focused on the talking those Bitter Storm guys were doing.
Something about a disposed Queen, food shortage, but more importantly, a truce.
So not a war party after all. I relaxed the press of my coil against Ses’s flank and the dragon lowered his head and sank to the ground, a barrier to keep them out, but no longer threatening them.
I unhooked my riding harness from his and slid to the ground in front of the former prince.
“I’m Zsekhet, and this is Sesethul. I’m sure we’ll fit right in!
” I still didn’t let my eyes linger on any of the strange sky-beings, well aware that they all had a protective mate.
But my sharp eyes couldn’t help but glance up at the carved cave entrance to Ahoshaga’s ancestral secrets.
Noting the pale figure with the flaming hair standing there, everything in my body seemed to light on fire, though my sigils remained unlit.
Yes, I was going to fit right on in. I opened my mouth and flicked out my tongue to draw in scents, searching, filtering. There it was! Even from here, I could taste her foreign notes, her silky scent, and it only stoked the flames roaring through my veins. I knew her and I would have her.
New mission target acquired. My primary mission now became secondary, this flame-haired beauty had instantly become my priority, no matter what. And I knew in my bones, she always would be.