AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He had not asked for a mate - had never wanted one, in fact. Kian was duty-bound to the Invicta, and his current mission was of the utmost importance.
When it came to protecting the tiny Nova, the slightest distraction was unacceptable in Kian’s eyes. And yet, in this moment, all his senses were lost in her mother, making him feel like an adolescent dragonet, ruled by towering cravings, answering only to the whims of the dragon whose power grew within him.
But those days were long behind him - at least he thought they were. Kian had been a full-grown warrior for many years now, and this off-balance feeling was not welcome.
“It’s true,” she murmured, her voice touching off sensitive places inside him. “You’re Invicta.”
He nodded, though there was no need to confirm. She had working eyes.
For a moment, she looked like she might be about to explode.
Since that was unlikely, he wondered instead if her expression indicated that she felt the nascent ties of the mate bond tightening around her.
The dragon unhelpfully showed him an image of her beneath him, dark tresses spread out on the frozen lichen below, her eyes closed and mouth open with moans of ecstasy.
“What color is your dragon?” she surprised him by asking suddenly.
“Green, I’ll bet,” she answered herself excitedly, nodding, with a self-deprecating smile. “So, what do you breathe when you dragon out, then?”
He blinked at her, wondering what was happening.
“It’s a poisonous vapor, isn’t it?” she asked. “Because you’re a green dragon? That’s just so amazingly cool and powerful. I’ve never met a dragon before. Gosh, it’s so amazing to talk with you.”
Kian frowned. He hadn’t talked at all.
But the girl had already turned her attention to their transport.
“Wow,” she said, her voice filled with delighted wonder. “Are those dogs?Sleddogs? Do they have names?”
Something about these relentless questions that allowed no time for answers reminded him of the archaic, rapid-fire bullet weapons still used on some of the lower planets.
He decided that she didn’t really want answers to her questions if she asked them so quickly.
Instead, he took the opportunity to watch her.
She moved quickly and gracefully around the sled pack, making him wonder what she might look like under the enormous fur she wore.
And, little as he liked to admit it, even to himself, he was getting curious about what she might ask him next.
But she surprised him by flinging herself to the ground among the dogs instead. Nova was still wrapped securely in her left arm as she patted the canids with her right hand and redirected her stream of questions at them.
“Are you the best dogs in the whole system?” she asked them.
In this case, it was good that she didn’t expect an answer. Canids could not speak. Though a poor Terran girl who had never traveled before might not know that. Did they have dogs on the Terras?
“Are you going to pull our sled all by yourselves?” she was asking the dogs. “Is it hard work, or do you love it?”
Several of the creatures were now whining and yapping back at her, as if her deranged speech patterns were contagious.
One of them leaned over and licked her cheek.
The girl merely giggled.
Another licked Nova, which Kian did not like.
And then the rest of them took up the senseless barking, making him feel like he was trapped inside an arbistle’s nest at daybreak.
He yelled out a command in Invicta, his patience breaking.
