I lost sight of it as the snake led me around a collection of boulders piled high, and it didn’t take much to deduce that this was the dragon’s den. It had created a cave, which it clearly usedfor more than sleeping if the nest of bones surrounding a clutch of eggs was any indication.
I shared a look with Snake Man, both of us understanding the gravity of what we were being forced to do. The dragon was a mother, and we were about to kill it before its eggs could even hatch. We were dooming the babies.
Or… maybe not. Maybe we didn’t have to kill it, just incapacitate it.
A plan started forming in my mind, and I grinned at Snake Man, eager to share. I didn’t dare speak in the silence and waited for the next round of distractions before I opened my mouth.
‘Can you shift back?’ I asked him, and he did.
It was horrifying to watch the way his bones broke, limbs growing out from his slim-lined body, but I forced myself to keep my eyes on him. He deserved enough respect not to have anyone make him feel like a freak simply because of what he was. I may have found it disturbing, but there was a strange beauty to it, too. A magic I could never touch.
Soon enough, black dreadlocks cascaded over dark skin that, in the light, I could now see was a deep shade of mahogany. Thickly corded muscles led the way to a narrow waist, which pointed directly to two (two!)very large, very thick, and very erect cocks.
When I dragged my gaze back up his body and settled on his glowing yellow eyes, he was smirking at me.
‘There are two of them.’
‘I’m a serpent,’ he said in a deep, husky voice that travelled straight to my core, like that was the only explanation needed. I was extremely relieved that we could understand each other now.
‘Right.’ I cleared my throat, forcing my brain to switch back on.Blood flow back to the head, please.‘I have a plan.’
‘Go on.’
‘We can’t kill her,’ I said, gesturing to the eggs.
‘That would be unfortunate for the hatchlings,’ he agreed, which undid a bit of the contempt I felt towards him from his previous behaviour. At least he wasn’t a heartless beast.
‘What do you think are the odds that she’ll kill her own babies?’ I asked, and it didn’t take long for my plan to hit.
‘You want to use them as a shield?’
‘Do you think it could work?’
He hummed. ‘Perhaps. It’s worth a shot. Think we can carry them all?’
It was my turn to smirk as the memory of binding him in my vines settled between us. I released them again, though this time I curled them gently but firmly around the eggs, one at a time, to prevent accidentally smashing them together.
‘I think I’ve got it.’
He surprised me when he grinned, stunning me with a gorgeous smile that lit up his face and brilliant white teeth that gleamed despite dust clouds blocking the sun. ‘So you do.’
‘Huh?’
The knowing look he shot me sent fire burning through my body that was so hot it rivalled the dragons’ flames. Then the guilt hit. Once again, I was thinking about another man while I had the most incredible one risking his life to get me to safety. I had to stop this.
‘Come on,’ he said, plucking one of the eggs from my vines and clutching it to his chest. ‘Let’s test out this theory of yours.’
And then he walked away without a backwards glance, the perfectly round globes of his ass disappearing behind another pile of rocks. I shook my head to clear it when he was no longer in sight, and berated myself for so many things. But there was no harm in looking… right? The man was sculpted like a piece of art, and he hadtwo cocks,for fucks sake. I was only human.
But this wasnotthe time.
Gods, I felt like that was my new mantra. I had never had to tell myself to get it together over a hot guy so many times in my life. I blamed it on the stress.
I quickly caught up to him, though this time I made sure to keep my eyes firmly on anything that wouldn’t turn my brain to mush. It worked. Mostly.
‘So, how are we doing this?’ he asked as we watched the dragon twist in circles, searching for the threat.
‘We need to get to the portal, so we need to get the eggs somewhere she can sense them, but far enough away from our exit that we can get through before she notices.’
