Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 44148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
It would blink in slow intervals, this cloudy film covering those human-head-sized black eyes before clearing and looking like giant pools of darkness once more.
And then it rested its head on the ground, its horns so massive, so strange and deadly looking, yet beautiful at the same time. My fingers twitched, and the need to touch this beast, to slide my fingers over the scales, to see how it felt, to see if they were as smooth as they looked, rode me hard.
It huffed out a long, hot gust of breath, its nostrils flaring before relaxing once more. That low rumble still came from its chest, and with it being so close now, I felt the tremors more acutely moving through my body from the sound. The scent that came from it was… intoxicating. Sweet yet wild, masculine and untamed.
And then it spread its wings, and I gasped at how beautiful and terrifying the sight was.
Its wingspan was enormous, blocking out every single thing, even the moonlight itself. They were an inky-black color, but the membrane that covered the intricately bone-like structure was thin. I could see the silvery glow of moonlight piercing through. The dragon had a deadly looking talon that tipped the top of each of its wings, that claw as thick as my bicep, as long as my arm.
The beast gently flapped those great wings, and I felt the monumental gust of humid air move over my body, blowing my long hair away from my face. A gasp of wonder left me at the sight.
For some strange reason, I felt like this creature was… showing off for me, as if it wanted me to see how fearsome it was, how big and strong. And having a thought process that went down that route seemed crazier than what was happening right now.
I felt myself reaching out before I knew what I was doing, my fingers moving closer and closer to that large snout. The dragon didn’t move, its body so still it could’ve been made of stone. I was so close to touching the scales on its face that my fingers tingled. I wanted to move my hand up and curl my fingers around one of the massive horns that flared backward, to see if they were smooth or rough.
But the sound of shouting behind the dragon had my entire body tensing. Instantly the dragon turned and took a battle stance. Its tail started lashing back and forth, that gentle purr I’d heard come from it just moments before now changing to something deeper in tenor, dangerous and violent.
I shrank back, the sound of fear leaving me once more. But I was conscious enough to move to the side and see what was happening. That’s when I spotted a flurry of motion coming directly at us.
Bryce had gotten reinforcements… and they had weapons in hand. Did they actually think they could take the dragon down with spears and torches?
“No. Stop!” I was up off the ground and racing around the dragon, my hands out as I screamed at Bryce and the men trailing behind him. I didn’t want them to kill it. I didn’t know why I felt that in me so deeply, but at the very thought of them hurting the dragon, this sickness filled me.
But the men still came, their weapons and torches all ready to take out this magnificently beautiful creature that could’ve hurt me but hadn’t. In fact, I was starting to think it had saved me… protected me from Bryce.
I was about to race to the men to stop them, to explain they didn’t need to hurt the beast, but all of a sudden, something big and warm curled around my torso, and the ground was rushing away for me. My legs and arms hung forward from the force, gravity pulling them down as I was jerked against a hard, scaled chest. One foreleg wrapped around my abdomen in a gentle yet firm hold. I screamed, my eyes opening so wide I felt the air cool and dry my tears.
The ground kept rushing away, getting smaller and smaller until the people there looked like tiny pinpricks. And as nausea rose up, as darkness started to fill my head, I didn’t stop its cold embrace.
I welcomed leaving reality, even if it was in the form of passing out.
7
Azar
Go back and kill them. Rip their heads off their weak bodies. Bathe in their blood. They dared to try to come close to our mate.
The urge to finish those humans off rode me strong, my dragon demanding retribution from them. But my main concern was always my mate. It would always be her. And although I could take all those males out with one breath of fire, the scent of my mate’s tears and her fear had me flying faster to the cave.