Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“What happened? Are you alright?” Luka demanded, hurrying over to Vasily’s side.
Vasily wrapped an arm around Luka’s shoulders, gathering him in close. “We’re fine. Everything is fine. Only a boitata.”
Luka jerked his head back to get a good look at Vasily’s face before gazing over at Dimitri and Samuel. “A boitata? Are you sure? Here?”
Free of the strap, Samuel jumped from his perch, landing beside Dimitri. “I have no idea what a boitata is, but it appeared to be a giant snake with red eyes. It spat fireballs at us.”
“You’re right. That’s a boitata,” Luka murmured, rubbing one hand through his hair. “It’s just that they typically live in caves and stick close to them. They are incredibly territorial. The sight of dragons must have made it think we’re planning to move into their area so it was trying to scare you away.”
“We didn’t see any caves,” Dimitri said, and Samuel jumped at the sound of his voice. It was back to sounding human. He twisted around to see Dimitri in his human form, looking powerful and impressive like always. But there was this secret, hidden allure to him now that Samuel had seen his dragon.
Samuel forced himself to turn toward Luka and forget about Dimitri in human and dragon form. Unfortunately, Dimitri didn’t help matters by loosely draping his arm across Samuel’s shoulders and leaning against him. It was all done so casually, but there was a possessive feel to it. He knew he should say something or at least push Dimitri off, but he let it go. The man did allow him to ride his dragon. That had to earn him a few friend points, right?
“With as close as we are to the mountains, there might be some caves we couldn’t see through all the trees,” Samuel pointed out.
Luka grunted. “Good to know. Boitatas are known to be protectors of the forest and countryside. If you happen to see one, don’t run. Your best option is to stand perfectly still. Close your eyes and don’t even breathe. The boitata will pass you by.”
“Got it,” Samuel agreed. That did not sound like an appealing option, but the information was useful since he was pretty sure he’d run otherwise.
“Or you can just not be out of my sight while we’re in the forest,” Dimitri grumbled. He tapped Samuel under the chin, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze. There was such a look of protectiveness as well as possession in his eyes, it wiped out Samuel’s ability to think clearly. “I will keep you safe.”
“Speaking of safe,” Gregori interjected while Samuel was trying to remember how to breathe. “Did you find a path through the forest? What are we facing?”
Dimitri gave Samuel a wink, as if the bastard knew exactly how he was frazzling Samuel’s mind, and turned his attention to the others. “West is not good. South has the boitata lurking about. Northwest appears better. Forest is thick so we’re on foot. That means we’re against the usual jaguars, ocelots, pumas, and wolves. There’s also a pretty wide river running between us and the mountain, so possibly caimans and anacondas.”
Luka sighed. “Not to mention the chance iara.”
“What’s that?” Samuel asked, his brain flipping semi on again.
“River mermaids—and not the sweet, singing Disney type,” Gregori said.
“The iara seduce men with their beauty and singing. Once they capture you, they drag you to the bottom of the river,” Luka explained. “Sometimes they will take human form and wander on land to get human victims, but they will stay relatively close to the river.”
Dimitri leaned his head close to Samuel, bumping against his temple. His voice was almost hypnotic it was so low. “You are not allowed to go near the river without me. No mermaids for you. I’m the only one allowed to sex you up.”
Samuel gave up on trying to think. There was no point when Dimitri was hanging on him, whispering words that made him remember their very hot, very satisfying morning.
This dragon was going to be the death of him.
His trainer was a liar.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be in great shape for scaling a mountain. You won’t have any trouble at all.”
Todd was a buff liar who had clearly never climbed a fucking mountain in his life.
If Samuel wasn’t sure he was going to die up here, he’d go straight home and kick Todd’s ass.
But it wasn’t just the dense foliage, rocky terrain, and deadly spiders that didn’t give a shit about dragons. It was the unrelenting heat and humidity. The only time Samuel wasn’t swimming in his own sweat was at night when he wrapped himself around the air-conditioned body pillow named Dimitri.
Sadly, there had been zero fooling around since their one hook-up, and it was all his fault. Each night, he crawled into his tent, body full of aching muscles and bug bites, and collapsed. He was unconscious the second his head touched the pillow. In the morning, he woke to Dimitri shaking him, whispering the world’s sweetest words: “Coffee’s ready.”