Fireblood Dragon: Fire In His Blood Part 3

"Because we're out of options, and because as a criminal, your life is forfeit anyhow."

"Please don't leave me," I call out again as the captain turns to leave. "I'm going to die if you leave me up here!"

He turns one last time, pausing at the top of the stairs. The look on his face is haunted. "There is a rumor out of Fort Orleans, Miss Jones, that a dragon found a human woman and she..." He swallows. "Well, she tamed it. And rumor has it the tame dragon fought to defend Fort Orleans."

"What?" My breath leaves my body. "T-tamed a dragon?"

"Yes. We've sent a runner to Fort Orleans to find out more, but we have not heard back. We might never hear back. You know as well as I do that runners almost never make it...but we're trying anyhow. It's worth the risk." His smile is thin. "You're as good as dead anyhow. At least this way, you can help those that survive in Fort Dallas. You said you have a sister? Tell yourself you're doing this for her."

"My sister wouldn't leave me up here!" I try to snag a finger under the cuff on my ankle, but it's impossibly tight. "She knows as well as I do that this plan is crazy! You're a monster for leaving me here!"

The captain's face grows cold, and I can tell I've lost him. "You're bait," he says in a somber voice. "If a dragon approaches, try to tame it. There's a large gold in this area. The king dragon. It's strong enough to burn the entire city to ash, and it's not leaving. That's why we need you to tame the thing."

"I can't tame a dragon-it's not a puppy! This is insane-"

"Insane or not, the attacks are growing again. They're killing people now more than ever, and Fort Dallas is not equipped to deal with another year of merciless attacks. We're doomed if we do not find a way to stop them. You're our only hope."

Me? "But you want me to tame a dragon! How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to do that?"

"Figure it out." His face is grave as he stares at me for a long moment, then he turns away. He takes a few steps into the stairwell, following his soldiers. A moment later, his voice floats back to me. "If you can't, then we are all as doomed as you are."

4.

CLAUDIA.

I thought it couldn't get much worse than being abandoned in the midst of the dragon-infested Scavenge Lands. I should really, really stop daring the universe sometimes. Because you know what's ten times worse? Being chained to a pole and abandoned in the dragon-infested Scavenge Lands.

For the hundredth time in the last few hours, I rotate my ankle, trying to squeeze my foot out of the cuff. It's no use, though. I can't get the metal past the bones in my heel, and the constant pus.h.i.+ng and sc.r.a.ping to try to force it otherwise has made the skin on my foot blister up and swell.

Blisters are not my biggest problem, though. If I don't figure out a way to get myself free, I'm dead.

The red banners of cloth flap in the breeze less than a hundred feet away, taunting me. So close and yet so far. Not that it matters how close they are-I'm not going anywhere. I'm chained here like a dog, waiting to be eaten. Desperation and panic make a knot form in my throat, and I choke it down. Now isn't the time to freak out.

I need to think.

I have to get free. Somehow.

And these idiots want me to tame a dragon for them. Somehow.

It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of. It's about as plausible as someone telling me I need to drag the moon out of the sky and park it in the street. I mean, at least the moon doesn't want to eat me. I'm pretty sure dragons eat people regularly. To them we're just small moving bags of meat, like a cow or a sheep. They're not our friends. They're not pets. No one's getting 'tamed.'

And I know for sure that I'm not the expert here. I've never even been close to a dragon, hence why I'm alive instead of being a human piece of toast. The last dragon I saw was coasting high over the city, at least a thousand feet into the air. Even that high, it had been enormous, deadly, and utterly terrifying to behold. If he'd been any closer to the ground, I bet the shadow of his wingspan would have blotted out the sun. I s.h.i.+ver just thinking about it.

And wouldn't you know it, that's when a shadow falls overhead.

My skin p.r.i.c.kles with alarm, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Oh G.o.d. Please be a bird. Please be a bird. Or a cloud. A big, dark, rogue cloud. I squeeze my eyes shut, and wait. Nothing happens, so I carefully open an eye again and scan the sky. There's a gleam of gold that's entirely too close, and I slide down to the bottom of the pole, hugging it close as if it'll protect me.

As I do, the shadow crosses overhead again. I watch, mouth dry, as it travels from one end of the room to the other.

A cloud, I chant to myself. A cloud. A cloud. A cloud.

It glides past again a moment later, bigger and closer...and moving far faster than any cloud should. I can't catch my breath. Panic has set in, and I'm hyperventilating with fear. Please. Please. I grab the chains as quietly as I can, careful not to rustle the links, and give them a fierce tug. Maybe they'll break. Please. I need a shot of luck. The chains don't give, though, so I yank on them again- A roar fills the skies. Trumpeting. Angry. Defiant. It's so loud that the building s.h.i.+vers, and gla.s.s rains down from broken windows. On the far side of the room, an old office chair falls over. Everything trembles, including me.

It's not a cloud. It's a dragon. A f.u.c.king dragon.

I bite back the whimper of panic rising in my throat and let go of the chain to clamp my hands over my mouth. It's either that or I'm going to scream and give away my location. I'm halfway hidden in the ruins of this room, and maybe the broken cubicle walls that are scattered all over the place will disguise the fact that there's a small, vulnerable human crouching here. The walls and windows are broken memories of what they used to be, but I'm tiny, and this skysc.r.a.per is so very large. Maybe it won't see me if I don't make a sound.

A moment pa.s.ses.

Two.

Three.

The wind is picking up, and I slide a hand over my loose hair, trying to keep it from blowing in the wind. No movement. Nothing that will cause a dragon to look in this direction- The trumpeting returns, this time louder and far, far angrier. The flash of gold returns in the sky, not the peaceful pale gold of sunrise, but a deep, smoky amber. That strikes me as a far more dangerous shade of gold.

Suddenly, one of the red flags rips away from its moorings and flutters in the air, caught in the breeze.

My entire body freezes. I can't move.

Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. I press my fingers to the edges of my lips, pinching them together to keep from making a noise. Don't scream, Claudia. Don't scream. Dontscreamdontscreamdontscreamdontscream. The golden shape in the sky circles the building, and I can hear the distant flap of wings.

I close my eyes again. If I keep them open, I'm going to see the dragon circling closer, chasing after those red flags. I don't want to look at it when it eats me. I just want to go fast. Please, please let me die fast and without too much pain. I think of my sister. Amy, I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I hold my breath, and as I do, the ridiculousness of the situation loops through my head, over and over again. They wanted me to tame this thing. It's the size of an airplane, and they want me to tame it. Tame it. What the f.u.c.king f.u.c.k? Are they insane? I'm small, even by human standards, and underfed. What am I supposed to do? Ask it nicely to stop burning cities to ash? Hit its nose with a rolled-up newspaper when it misbehaves? Hysterical laughter bubbles in my throat.

To think that fencing a few old batteries earned me this. h.e.l.l, if I'd have known I was going to end up as dragon bait, I'd have stolen something really d.a.m.n good.

The wind changes, and all of the laughter in my throat dies. There's a new scent in the air, the faint smell of char that's far too familiar, mixed with...something else. Something sweet, almost spicy, and definitely not human. The scent grows stronger, and I realize with horror where it's coming from. A shadow falls over the broken, open room, and I squeeze my eyes shut.

This is how I die.

A bone-jarring thump shakes the world.

I open my eyes and scream.

The dragon has arrived.

It crouches on the ledge of the building, framed between broken walls. It's a terrifying glory to behold-a ma.s.s of amber wing, vivid scale, and a ma.s.sive, gaping mouth. The creature is enormous, easily the size of one of the broken city buses that scatter the streets below. The gargantuan wings beat twice, then fold in as it sinks to the floor on catlike haunches. A tail slithers back and forth, batting at rocks and bricks in agitation. A thin scar cuts across the long snout, and the dinner-plate-sized eyes are a beautiful, vibrant ringed gold with a black pupil. They're eerily human. The head of the dragon is triangular and bigger than a car, and the horned frill behind the head trails down to the mouth filled with sharp teeth as long as my hand, and nostrils that flare to catch my scent.

He can smell me, somehow. I know this even as the big head swivels and scans the room.

Oh f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k. I'm going to die, and it's not going to be quick or painless, after all.

There's a living, fire-breathing, man-eating dragon less than fifty feet from me, and I'm chained to a pole like a bad, bad dog. The urge to shriek with fear rises in my throat, and I clamp harder on my mouth, the inside of it filling with warm, bitter saliva.

The creature's nostrils flare again, and the long, sinuous tail behind it flicks, knocking down the remainder of a broken window. Crouched on all four legs, wings folded in, the creature lifts its head and takes a step forward, toward my hiding s.p.a.ce.

I try to bolt.

Instinct and adrenaline crash through me, and I fling myself out of my crouch and race for the stairs. There's no coherent thought left in my head, just fear.

It takes about two seconds for the cuff to bite into my leg, and another half second more before the momentum jerks me to the ground and I smack against the concrete with a loud, jarring thud. The breath is knocked out of me, and I flop onto my back, stunned.

There's a subtle sound on the wind, like an exhale.

It's seen me. My body locks with fear, my mind wild. I need to get up. Find a weapon. Protect myself. Instead, I lie frozen on the floor, waiting. Waiting for the d.a.m.n dragon to toast me alive, waiting for it to snap me in half with its frighteningly powerful jaws. I've seen so many people killed by dragons in the last ten years that I know this thing won't hesitate to rip me limb from limb like the predator it is.

I wait for the end. For the enormous, serrated teeth to clamp down on my flesh and rend me to pieces. This is it. I close my eyes.

And wait.

And wait.

I hear it lumber forward. The building shakes with each prowling step, and I remain utterly still. I can feel it close in on me. Thump. Thump.

Thump.

Oh s.h.i.+t.

The scent of char and spice grows stronger. I feel the air s.h.i.+ft, indicating something big is standing next to-or over-me.

This is it, then. I clench my fists and remain still, praying it'll be swift.

Hot breath wafts over me. My skin p.r.i.c.kles, and I stop breathing, stop thinking, everything. The dragon is right over me. I can feel his muzzle move over my head, his breath tickling my hair.

And stupidly, I've forgotten my clothing. My dress that the captain tore off of me is several feet away. I dropped it when I tried to run, and now the dragon's going to see me naked. Which is dumb, of course. The dragon's going to eat me the same, naked or clothed.

The muzzle moves down over my face and neck, and I turn my head aside. My hands are so tightly clenched I can feel blood seeping under my fingernails, but I don't dare move. I should attack him, force him to get this over with, but now that the end is here, I'm terrified. I can't do a thing.

The dragon's breath blows over my naked belly, and then I feel it nose me lower.

Between my thighs.

Something in me snaps. My eyes flick open. I slap at the enormous golden head, trying to push it away from my crotch. "No!"

It shouldn't work. The thing's the size of a car. But the head lifts up and the ma.s.sive gold eyes meet mine. My skin p.r.i.c.kles again, and as I watch, the dragon's pupils dilate. As they do, they change from deepest, darkest black to...gold. More gold, a deeper, more burnished hue than the golden irises.

Oh s.h.i.+t. I've f.u.c.ked up bad now. I put my hands over my eyes and curl up into a ball, tucking my legs up against me. I wait for the snap of the jaws. I can hear my raspy breaths-the only sound in the room. I'm hyperventilating. Not that it matters. I'll be dead in moments.

...Any moment now.

It's quiet. Too quiet. Nothing's happening. Still not dead. s.h.i.+t. I...I'm going to have to open my eyes and look. I part my fingers and peek out from between them.

I don't see the dragon.

What I do see startles me.

There's a beautiful man standing near me, with his back to me. His hair is tawny and wild around his shoulders, his skin a lovely golden bronze. He's as naked as I am, and I can't help but notice he's got a very tight, firm, equally tanned a.s.s. He's got one hand stretched out in front of him and is wiggling his fingers like he's never seen them before.

I make a strangled noise of surprise. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but this isn't it.

He turns to look over at me. His expression is rapt with wonder, his lips parted. He studies his spread hands again and then gazes down at me once more. There's something odd about his appearance, and I realize that his eyes are ringed gold with an even deeper gold pupil...just like the dragon's.

The dragon...is human?

5.

CLAUDIA.

Clearly I hit my head when I went down. Either that or the dragon incinerated me so d.a.m.n quickly I haven't yet realized I'm dead, and this is my brain making some sort of s.e.xy afterlife for me. Maybe that's it, because this guy is the stuff of dreams. Dirty, dirty dreams.

He's almost too beautiful to be real. His face is as chiseled as a museum statue, cheekbones high and jaw strong. He has no beard or facial hair to disguise the clean lines of his mouth and the straight plane of his nose. Overall, his features are big, almost overwhelming his face but leaving me with an impression of intense masculinity. The hair on his head falls in thick gold waves below his shoulders. A small white scar bisects one golden cheek, and his skin is mottled with shadow in an unusual pattern, like scales.

He leans over me once more, and the scent of smoke and spices returns, and with it, the horrifying dragon-fear. At the same time that it sinks in that he's a dragon, I realize again that he's super naked. His muscled, bare shoulders flex, and I notice they're covered with more small scars, and his skin has an almost iridescent glow to it. When our eyes meet, I see hunger there.

Super naked.

And I'm super naked.

We're super naked together. And I'm trapped.

Yeah, this isn't good.

I gasp and scoot back across the concrete floor, the chain snapping around my ankle once more. Pain shoots up my leg. d.a.m.n it. I bite back a whimper of pain and try to scuttle to the side. Anything to get away.