Dragon Heat by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 9

Ice flew as fast as his wings would take him. His muscles burned. He gritted his sharp teeth, his tail flicking in irritation as he pushed on. A thousand thoughts were spinning through his head. What if he was too late? He slowed, hovering for a few seconds. Of course, he was too late. It’s not like Azure and that Earth male would sit and have a chat or make themselves a nice breakfast. They’d gone to the ‘heat cave’ to rut…to breed. That’s what they were doing right then. That’s what the cave was designed for…fucking.

No!

There was this clench deep in his gut. This burning inside him told him to keep going. If they were rutting like he suspected they were, he’d leave. If not… If not, what then? What would he do, knock and enter? Have a chat with them? With Azure?

Ice had no idea why he was there. Why he was flying to see a female who had chosen someone else to spend her heat with. Ice flapped his wings and kept flying, anyway. All he knew was that something drove him to keep going. Something drove him to check up on Azure. Yeah, that was it. He needed to make sure that she was okay. Not physically. He knew that no harm would come to her. There were patrols in the area, and Azure was with a dragon shifter. No harm would befall her. He needed to make sure that she was okay with the situation and to help her out of it if she wasn’t. Ice was going to tell her what he thought of Kikalla. He’d help her stand up to Thunder. This was utter bullshit! He knew Azure, and he knew that she was upset about this.

His gut churned. He didn’t want to find them rutting, though. If watching them fly away together made him jealous, what would hearing them rut do to him? What if he caught the scent of her heat? It might enrage him. It was a natural instinct for dragons to fight over females in heat.

Fuck!

Ice liked to think that he had some sort of control over himself. He wasn’t going to be a yellow-bellied pussy; he was doing this. Not for himself, but for Azure. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed him. He was going to suck it the fuck up and help her. She’d probably laugh in his face. Or tell him he was an idiot. Then again, she probably would never know he had gone there today. She’d be too wrapped up in her heat…in that male. Fuuuck! He was jealous, right to his core. What if the real reason spurring him to that cave was jealousy? What if it had nothing to do with helping Azure? There was no real way to truly tell. He was such an asshole for doing this, and yet he kept on flying. His mouth tasted bitter. It was fear of what he would find. He’d fucking kill that male if he was touching her… His… Azure was—

Holy shit!

He pulled up, giving his head a hard shake. So hard that his whole body shook. From his snout to the tip of his tail. It would be better once he was back in his human form. His dragon was base. It wanted to mate and breed. It wanted…Azure. Her heat was messing with him big fucking time.

Ice took a few deep breaths and carried on flying. He could see the mountain. He could even see the entrance to the cave. If he listened carefully, he might already catch the sounds of them rutting.

Nothing.

He couldn’t hear a damned thing. Ice slowed his flapping, wanting to be quiet. He felt like the biggest prick. Like a voyeur. It didn’t matter; he was doing this. Once he was satisfied that she was okay, he’d leave. If she wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable, he was leaving with her. That Earth prick could go to hell.

Ice moved closer. He thought he heard a rustle and a hiss but from deep in the cave. Perhaps it was the wind. He couldn’t hear rutting. In fact, there was an eerie silence. His scales prickled.

Ice landed on the rocky ledge, being as quiet as possible. He shifted, still on high alert. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up the instant he did. There was something very wrong. Ice moved quickly and quietly, stopping just short of entering the cave. He heard water dripping and someone gasping for air. He listened, but all was quiet.

Ice walked into the cave. All of his senses were on high alert. He scanned the area. The bed was still made. Aside from indents on the comforter, all was well. He could smell the sweet scent of Azure’s heat. His cock filled. He could also scent seed. He couldn’t smell the deep musk of rutting. Perhaps they hadn’t— He pushed the thought aside. He also scented the coppery scent of blood, but perhaps it was just the minerals in the cave. No one was bleeding, surely?

He heard a whimper from the rear of the cave. Were they there? Fucking? It didn’t sound like it. What the hell was going on?

“Azure!” He was done messing around. His voice was a harsh growl.

“Ice.” He could hear the barely contained panic. Her voice was small and choked. It made his adrenaline surge.

He rushed to where her voice had come from. Azure was striding towards him. She was deathly pale and soaking wet. Her eyes were wide and fearful. “Skarn,” she muttered, looking behind her. “He…um…they took him. I think they have him.” She gave a sob. “We have to try to save him.”

Ice grabbed her hand to stop her. He gently gave a tug, keeping his fingers wrapped around her icy hand. “Take a deep breath. You’re not making sense. Where is the Earth male? Who took him?”

“The creatures…they’re not human. They speak this strange language. They’ll get us if they come back.” She pulled in a deep breath, looking back into the darkness behind her for a second. He could see her working to get herself together, trying to slow her breathing. Her eyes fluttered closed and her throat worked. All he could do was stare at the trail of water droplets as they trickled down her skin. Her nipples were tight, pink buds. The scent of her heat had his balls pulling tight. He felt like the biggest prick alive. Azure was in trouble.

Ice let go of her hand and concentrated on breathing through his mouth. He could do this. Azure was afraid. Something had happened. He needed to stop this. He looked at her face.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “I’m…I’m in heat. You’re uncomfortable… I…” Her gaze dropped to his very erect cock.

“Ignore it! Ignore me! It’s just a reaction. I’m fine.” He shrugged. “You’re safe with me.” He wasn’t sure why he said it. Perhaps because she needed to hear it.

“I know.” Azure burst into tears. She put a hand over her face. Her shoulders shook. Shit! He touched her arm. “Hey.” He tried to sound calm and soothing, but his voice was too deep of a rasp for that. “Whatever happened, it can’t be that bad. We’ll figure this out.”

She cried harder, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I’m not normally this emotional.”

“It’s okay. It’s fine. I know you’re not. This isn’t a normal situation.”

“It’s really not fine…not at all.” She sniffed, wiping her eyes.

He stroked her arm one more time, stopped himself from pulling her into his arms. That would be too much. Instead, he let his hand drop to his side. “You’re scaring me…and only because you’re one of the most badass dragons I know. What happened? You said that something took the Earth male.”

She wiped her red-rimmed eyes and nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t see it properly. There were a couple of them. They didn’t speak English.”

He frowned. “What do you mean? What language did they speak?”

“I don’t know. They hissed and rumbled. They spoke strangely. They weren’t human.” She shook her head.

He frowned. “Shifters? Not dragons?”

“Possibly shifters. I don’t think they were dragons, but I can’t be sure. I saw one up close, but the light was bad, and I was under the water, so my vision was blurred. It was big, Ice…really big. I don’t think it was a dragon, I didn’t see wings. Its face was elongated. I think I saw scales, but I can’t be sure.” She shook her head, lifting her eyes; it was clear that she was trying hard to recall. “It wasn’t like any dragon I’ve ever seen. It didn’t sound like any dragon I’ve ever heard. All that hissing.”

“You’re saying they took Skarn? Where did they take him? I didn’t see anybody when I arrived.”

“Further into the cave.” She looked into the darkness. Her eyes were wide. “Down there.” She pointed. “That’s where they came from.”

“You’re right. We need to try to get him back. I’m sure you’re worried. One more question…” He frowned. “Why didn’t they take you?” Why was she dripping wet? What the hell had happened that she wasn’t telling him? There was definitely more to this.

Her throat worked. “Skarn got angry when I said I couldn’t go through with it.”

Why did hearing her say that she didn’t want to go through with it make him happy? It shouldn’t. Not when she looked distraught. It did, though. Something eased inside him. “What happened?” he urged her when she chewed her lip instead of speaking further.

She cast her gaze to the stony ground. “He tried to force me.”

“The Earth male?” His voice was soft, although everything inside him raged. Scales popped out on his chest, and his teeth sharpened.

“Yes,” she practically whispered. “He chased me, tried to…” She bit down on her lip so hard he thought she might bleed. “I fought and ran. I hid in the pool.”

“We’re going,” he told her, gripping her hand.

Azure didn’t step forward. “We have to help him.”

“We don’t have to do shit. He tried to rape you. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

She looked him in the eyes for a long moment, and then she nodded once. “Yes, but I fought him off. He didn’t—”

“We’re not risking our lives for a piece of shit like that.” His voice was a low growl. “That prick tried to force himself on you. Wait a minute…blood! I scented blood when I arrived. Are you hurt?” He looked her over. Were her knees scraped? No. Her face? He tilted her chin up. He turned her around, checking her from behind. Her elbows?

“It’s not my blood. It’s his.” Her voice got deeper, and sure enough, when he turned her back around, her eyes were narrowed with anger. “I kicked him in the face and threw a rock at his head. It hit its mark.”

“You don’t miss very often.” He had to bite back a smile, since it wasn’t appropriate in a situation like this. Even though he felt proud of her.

“I never miss.” Her mouth twitched. “I ran away from him. He was just so strong…so damned fast. Not listening to anything I had to say.” She told him what had happened. “I ran deeper into the cave and slipped into one of the pools. That’s when I heard them with Skarn. They didn’t know I was there. When one of them came over to the pool, I sank down beneath the surface. I was on the verge of passing out, but thankfully, by then, they were gone. I waited a few seconds, just to be sure, before easing myself out of the water. Soon after, I heard you call my name.”

“Let’s go. We’re getting out of here before they come back.”

“What about—?”

“I’m not risking anything for that Earth male. As far as I’m concerned, they can have him. We’ll talk more about this when we’re safe.” He pulled on her hand, trying to urge her to go with him.

Worry bled into her expression. “I think they’re going to kill him.”

“He deserves to die. If he gets out of this, I will kill him myself.”

“You’d have to stand in line.” Her voice was cold and hard.

That was the female he knew and…liked. “Let’s go.” This time, when he gently pulled on her hand, she allowed herself to be led. A couple of strides later, and she was letting him go and walking ahead of him. Anger churned in his belly. That fucker Skarn had better stay right where he was. If he put so much as a scale above ground, he was dead.