There is only one kiss I’d like to enjoy.
I’d never thought I would yearn for the press of another’s mouth against mine. It is not something my species are wont to do. But when the showed us a highlight reel of another human and her draegon partner at their new home on Sueva, they pushed their mouths together. I have been fantasizing about doing it with Lily ever since. It’s not that I haven’t seen a kiss, it’s not that I haven’t been kissed, but it was never anything as enticing as what I saw the pair of them do.
It’s all I see now when I close my eyes, bathing in the sun’s warmth, my wings spread, taut behind me as I glide along a warm air column. Her face turned up expectantly towards mine, the sweet smell of her heat in my nostrils. Her soft, pillowy lips pursed, her eyes closed, long lashes still, warm breath gusting across my face. Unfortunately, when I open my eyes it’s the breeze against my skin, not her.
No, Lily is back on the ground on this god-forsaken former colony, trapped in a heat she did not desire with a partner she desires even less—me. And despite all of my ovations to win her affection, or at least the mildest of her regards, she has screamed for me to leave her alone, even though she is certainly going to face extreme danger which she is not prepared nor experienced in handling.
I turn left, the thought niggling at my head and grind my teeth together in frustration, the tendon in my neck jerking at the force. My tail whips behind me as I fly over the spot where I last left my mate, my Lily, because she forced me to.
My sweet Lily, with a name that connotes soft petals and a delicate nature, is anything but. She is thorns, leeches venom from her tongue instead of sweet words. But her fragranceis better than any flower I’ve ever presented. My cock throbs painfully, and I grit my teeth harder before winging right again, making slow, huge circles over the spot. I cannot bear to leave my mate far below on the surface.
She may say that she does not want me around, but I am the one with physical prowess. I am the one who conscripted in the King’s Army at the mere age of 14—leaving all I ever knew behind to serve on the front lines with my Draegon commanders. I am the one with the battle experience, the one with as many kills as I have scales on the colony planets, defending our home against the Roth, and aggressive alien species that looked to expand everywhere, even Earth.
My Lily has none of that. When I was telling her about all of my skills, all of the fights and medals I had won, and valor, she simply looked at me and said something that sounded like “Pinus Mightier.” I don’t know what she means, but considering she hasn’t bothered to even glance down at mine, I do not think she is discussing my penis. It is quite upsetting. I wonder who it is with a mighty penis that she thinks of.
I sigh and despair, winging left again.
Something large tears through the forest below, sending a flock of reptilian-looking birds into the sky, screeching in disapproval. I heave another sigh, exasperated, wishing things were different between Lily and I.
The only reason I joined the so-called reality show was for the parcel of land promised on Sueva. I thought not at all of the mate that might accompany it until Lily picked me as her partner, her mate. Still, her actions bewilder me.
Something below roars, and I scratch my chin, tail whipping lazily against my leg as my wings flop, keeping me aloft in the air as I circle.
My gaze drops, eyes widening in horror as it dawns upon me that my mate is finally crying out my name because I was stupid enough to leave her...
CHAPTER
FOUR
LILY
“No freaking way,”I say out loud, then immediately clamp my mouth shut, because the last thing I want to do is draw attention to where I’m dangling overhead like a piece of meat on a spit.
Thankfully, there’s no fire. I screw my mouth up to one side. On the other hand, maybe the smoke from the fire would get this over faster.
It’s taken some time for my brain to catch up to what it is I’m actually looking at.
My first thought was a dinosaur.
My second was that was impossible.
My third was that chickens are in fact dinosaurs, and this is without a doubt the largest chicken I have ever seen.
Not that I’ve seen many. I didn’t grow up on a farm, and being a personal assistant to the city’s most notorious personal injury lawyer didn’t exactly put me in a position to handle a lot of chickens. But I am in fact a human, which means that I spent a lot of time identifying barnyard animals as a toddler. And thisis, without a doubt, a chicken. Thank you very much to Old MacDonald and his farm.
A chicken roughly the size of a tank.
Its beady little dinosaur eyes look at me, and I swallow, all too aware of the fact that I’m still dangling overhead like some sort of yummy treat.
Or worse, a piñata ready to be burst open. I wince. That mental image did not help my mental state.
Fuck.
Chickens are omnivores, and judging from the way this chicken’s looking at me I’m definitely on the menu.
“BAAAWK,” the chicken thunders loud enough to make the tree tremble, which in turn sends me shivering as the rope jostles on the branch above. Blood floods loudly back into my ears, and I wince, slightly horrified by the indignity of my inevitable demise by chicken beak.
Didn’t have that as a possible death scenario I played on repeat before bed after the Roth invaded.
