Knackered, Nik slipped to the floor and accepted a cup of water as the last of the rocks hiding the cavern were replaced by the men who had volunteered to remain outside.
*The sun is nearly down. Will they have time to find shelter?*
Nik found Pops among those sitting. “Puff is worried about the people outside.”
Pops glanced at the door as the final stone slid into place, cutting them off from the fading sunset. “The old ways are dead, but the heart of the Maori lives on. These mountains are our friends. They will find somewhere to hide until morning.”
Nik supposed it would be easier to hide three men than it would be to hide a dragon. Especially one with a crowd of followers.
*They shouldn’t follow me. They should get as far away from me as possible.*
Buckley’s chance of that.
A little girl handed Nik a flashlight. He flicked it on.
These people love you already, and you haven’t even officially won the Seventeen Year yet.
Puff tossed his mane before wrapping his wing around Anna. *Ask her if she is warm enough.*
The girl was already gazing up at him, smiling. “Thanks.” She drew his wing closer and leaned against Puff’s side. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
“I think she just answered your question.”
Despite being inside the beast’s head and being the first to know what the huge creature was thinking, Nik wasn’t so sure he’d be as cozy as Anna was with a dragon. Was her comfort a natural reaction, or was the dragon doing some kind of magic to her?
Puff’s gaze drifted from the girl, to Nik. *How could you even think that?*
It’s a valid question. I mean, look at her.
She cuddled in closer.
See? This morning she was screaming and clawing to get away from you.
The dragon looked away. *I have not compelled her.*
Interesting. Since you have a word for it, can I assume that you could compel her if you wanted to?
A quiver started at Puff’s nose and rattled along his hide until shaking through his tail. *The gray dragons are masters of compulsion. Taking away another’s free will is a game to them.*
A vision of a young, glassy-eyed, green buck stumbling toward a gray dragon filled Nik’s mind. The smaller dragon jerked as if waking up just seconds before three gray dragons descended on him. The largest tore out the fledgling’s throat.
Nik grimaced. So that’s how they take out their competition. Cowards. But why don’t the other dragons stand up to them?
*The grays always provide justification for their actions. All those who question them tend to disappear.*
That was no way to live. Dragons were supposed to be huge, domineering beasts. How could they allow themselves to be subjugated like that?
“Just how big are the other dragons?
A memory flashed between them. Nik saw through Puff’s eyes as a gray dragon reared up, towering over the smaller dragon like a German shepherd over a kitten. Jesus, no wonder the other dragons were so scared.
“Yet you joined the competition, knowing what they were capable of.”
*Someone had to. The crystal dragon’s next choice would have been my father.*
“You didn’t want your dad flying?”
Puff shook his head. *He is not a fast flyer, and he and my mother are one of only fifteen fertile Draconic pairs left. They are the only remaining pair among the crystal dragons. I couldn’t let him, or my kind, make that sacrifice.*
If the Draconi are really dying out, it’s suicide for the grays to be picking off their competition. Unless their size shrinks their brains, they have to understand they need to increase their numbers.
*They only target young males. The two females that have been born over the past three mating cycles they have allowed to live.*
Nik snorted. Yeah, and I suppose the grays are making a harem for themselves.
Puff tilted his head, but Nik could tell at least part of what he said was true. Crap like that shouldn’t happen anymore. Even though they were dragons, they should have modernized like the rest of the free world. Being killed just because you’ve been deemed competition, or living just so you can breed—he couldn’t fathom any society, or any people in that society, standing for that.
Puff shifted his weight. Nanna and Pops seemed very excited about Puff being a crystal dragon. All the storybooks talk about the celebrated days when the crystal dragons were in power. Maybe they were right. Maybe what the Draconi needed was someone to step up and be brave enough to say no more.
However, if the grays were really as huge as Puff had shown him, this little dragon surviving the ones roaring in the sky last night was nothing less than a miracle. Maybe Aoraki really had smiled on him.
Or maybe he’d been chosen.
Maybe the land had been waiting for the right dragon to be born to bring the world back into balance. It was the basis of a thousand legends.
Puff licked the swollen edge of his stitched wing. He certainly didn’t look like a hero, but some of the best heroes were underdogs. It had been a long time since the world had a David bring down a Goliath. Why not now?
Unease rolled across their bond. Deep down, Nik could tell the little dragon wanted to help his people. Short fantasies of him winning the competition and saving his kind flittered on the edge of his Draconic psyche.
In that, maybe they weren’t so different.
Twelve-year-old Nik peered through the bush he’d hidden behind when the Iculi brothers showed up at his secret hideout in the forest.
The younger brother, Jason, placed a white bucket on the ground. The stench of gasoline filled the woods when the older brother, Mike, poured a clear liquid into the pail. Something moved within, shifting the bucket.
“This is gonna be good.” Mike pulled a lighter from his pocket. “You ready?”
Jason kicked the bucket over, and a black and white cat, paws bound, spilled out.
Nik tensed. They wouldn’t.
Jason clipped a lead onto the cat’s collar. “Hold on. It’s more fun when they run around.”
The cat howled as he cut the bindings on its hind legs. Once the front legs were free, the cat bounded away, only to be stopped by the lead. The animal howled, pulling against the tether.
“You can run, but you can’t hide.” Mike flicked the lighter. A yellow flame mirrored in the kid’s psychotic eyes. “Show time.”
“Stop!” Nik jumped out from behind the bush. Taking advantage of their surprise, he grabbed the cat. The creature clawed and hissed, scratching his arms as he pulled the cat free of the collar and threw the gasoline-soaked animal into the trees. The cat landed on its paws before bounding out of sight.
“Stupid fuck.” Mike raised the lighter. His scowl turned into a smile.
“Wait!” Jason screamed.
Nik gasped, realizing that the struggle with the cat had left his own clothes drenched in gasoline.
Grown-up Nik ran his fingers over the burn scars on his wrists. Mike and Jason were so much bigger than him. Teenagers. He could have been killed.
Younger Nik sniffed. “I was stupid. I should have run away as soon as I saw them.”
Pops placed a cool cloth over the burn.
“What would running have accomplished?”
“I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Tears welled in his eyes. “Sorry I was so dumb.”
Pops cocked his head. “I think there is a cat out in the woods who is happy you were so dumb.”
Nik looked up from his wrist to the dragon’s wing. They’d both be scarred for life for doing what was right.
However, little Nik had acted on instinct. If he’d had time to think of the possible outcomes, he probably wouldn’t have saved the cat.
Pops’s words stuck with him, though. He’d gone from feeling like a fool, to feeling like a hero. That day had been a turning point for him. He was no longer the orphan kid, hiding in the corner fearing ridicule. He stood up for himself. More importantly, he stood up for others.
He couldn’t begrudge Puff his fears, though. Those dragons were a hell of a lot bigger than Mike and Jason.
An asshole was an asshole, though. The bigger they come, the harder they fall. If Puff wanted to win this thing, he needed to believe in himself. Moreover, he needed to believe that he could make a difference.
“You’re going to change things.” Nik said. “You’re going to make everything right again.”
*I hope to, if I live long enough.*
Pessimism wasn’t going to help this situation. Did Puff really believe, deep down, that he was sacrificing himself for the greater good? Did he really expect to die last night?
The dragon locked gazes with him. Guilt swept along their bond with a deep, twisting pain in the chest.
Shit. He really did expect to die.
*Better me than my father.*
“How can you say that?”
Puff held up his good wing. *Look at me.*
Anna blinked, her eyes heavy, before Puff covered her again.
*I am small even among the crystal dragons. My father is large, strong, and most importantly, virile. If he fell during the competition, it would have been catastrophic to the crystal dragons.* He looked away. *My loss would be inconsequential.*
“That’s why they left you alone. They didn’t think you were a threat.”
*They were right.*
“Yet here you are, with a beautiful girl under your wing.”
Puff fluttered the thin membrane concealing Anna. *I got lucky. I wasn’t even… I didn’t…* He closed his eyes and lowered his muzzle.
A memory skidded along the edge of their bond. The essence of the dragon within Nik fought, toiled, and rolled as if trying to pull the recollection back before solid figures took shape. The dull fog around the vision faded into the depths, leaving Nik high in the night sky with frigid air chilling his face.
Puff flew far behind a gaggle of multicolored dragons. The blue, gold, red, and green dragons glided in a clump to the right, leaving the grays in the distance to themselves. Puff wasn’t the only dragon to know it was safer to leave some contenders at the head of the flock.
A large dragon, so deeply green it was almost black, broke from the front of their group and dropped to the rear beside him, blocking the light of the moon.
“You shouldn’t be back here with me, Quenor,” Puff said in Draconic. “You are fast and strong. You could be king.”
The green twisted his wings, causing the huge beast to roll playfully through the night sky. “Except I don’t want to be king.”
“Then why are you flying?”
“The same reason I always fly. So I can find a beautiful, young girl to lose myself inside for a few hours.”
“You are incorrigible.”
“Of course I am. I’m a green.” Quenor arched his wings, gliding through the starry night. “And what about you? You can fly much faster than a gray. I’ve seen you.”
Nik concentrated on the memory and realized Puff wasn’t even winded, as if he were out for a slow stroll, rather than flying through the air.
“If they see me as a threat, I’m dead.” Puff snorted. “I can outfly one, but all seven?”
“You are a good friend, Joesephutus. But you’d be an even better king.” Quenor reared up before he banked down, careening toward the glistening lights in the town below.
King?
The notion that any of them could stand against the grays and survive was a foolish dream. They were all safer keeping their heads bowed.
The older dragons held too many dreams of past glory. The life they remember probably never even existed.
They all whispered in the shadows of the proud days of the crystal dragons, but those whispers were dealt with harshly.
Puff fluttered his wings as the wind pushed him higher.
The crystal dragons have always been small, and the grays have always been massive. Domination by the strongest is the only life Puff knew. Being ruled by the smartest, it made no sense.
You are a good friend, Joesephutus.
But you’d be an even better king.
The words hung in the air. Every young buck dreamed of taking the crown. Puff was no different. But reality showed him the strength of the grays. There was a reason they were in power, and an even bigger reason not to oppose them.
Still hovering, Puff squinted into the night sky as the last of the flock faded into the distance. It would take some time to catch up, but he needed to convince Quenor to return to the air, as well.
Puff drew his wings back, pointed down, and followed his friend to a grassy patch in a large deserted courtyard outlined by several human buildings.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Hunting.”
Puff cocked his head. “This isn’t where the sacrifices are.”
“No, but there are human females here. Pretty, ripe, plump females fresh for the plucking.” Quenor stretched his neck and arched his wings. His colossal form faded into that of a man before he drew human clothing from a pack he had held in his rear talons.
Nik shuddered. So they really could shift into human form. They could be anyone, anywhere, and no one would have any idea.
“You always ask where I disappear to every few weeks.” He held up his arms. “This is one of my favorite places”
Puff shrank down to a similar height. “You hunt outside of mating season? Why?”
Quenor pulled on dark jeans. “Because mating is fun. Greens have always played mating games between seasons.”
Puff dragged his fingers through platinum blond, nearly white hair. “But this actually is mating season. We’re supposed to pick from the women offered.”
“What fun is that?” He pointed to the rear of one of the buildings. “Have you ever been to a tavern, my friend? They are a great place to find companionship, or maybe, in your case, a place to nest quietly with your nose under your tail for a few hours.”
“I’m not sticking my nose under my tail. I followed you down here, my friend.”
Quenor pulled his shirt over his head and tugged the hem down over his waist. “Then leave, stay, I don’t care. I, personally, am looking for a nice warm human girl to spend the rest of the evening with, and unlike the rest of you, I don’t care if she can carry my child.” He turned away and headed for the bar on the right. He pointed toward the rear door of a different building. “That place is always quiet. Hide there for a few hours and I’ll come back for you when I’m done.” He turned the corner and disappeared.
He was actually serious.
Quenor had no intentions of competing in the hunt.
Then again, neither did Joesephutus.
He took in the wispy cloud bank hiding a stretch of twinkling stars. The other dragons would be half way to Aoraki by now. If either of them had a chance in this competition, it was gone, now.
His gaze carried over the weathered wooden door behind the tavern. If he’d already lost, a short rest and a drink or two certainly couldn’t hurt.
He yanked the pack from his shoulder and pulled out a shirt, pants, and shoes.
Nik folded his arms. “You were hiding.”
Puff balked. Anna stirred, but didn’t wake. *I was not hiding.*
Sure he wasn’t. “So this extended break, is this where you found Anna?”
The dragon nodded. *I was seated at the bar, and she just walked in.* His gaze fell to the ground. *I felt drawn to her, even before I realized she was compatible.*
“You’re an incredibly lucky dragon.”
*That’s what Quenor said.* He preened his injured wing. *But I was foolish to think I could protect her long enough to get us back to Dragon Mount.*
“But that’s why we’re here helping you heal, so you can get back to your mountain.” This wasn’t just about Puff. The horrors the little dragon had shown him had to stop.
*Yes, they do.*
But trepidation skidded along their bond; fear not just of dying, but the horror of the consequences of failure.
Puff shivered, and a vision of two silvery-white dragons lying in a pool of blood winked out as quickly as the image appeared. Not a memory, but a fear of what could happen if Puff challenged the ruling dragons and failed. They wouldn’t just kill Puff. They’d punish his parents and maybe all the crystal dragons.
Nik ran his fingers beneath Puff’s chin. “I’m here for you. We all are. Once you are king, no one will hurt your people.”
Puff’s neck rolled in a gulping motion.*I’m not sure if that will be enough.*
“Maybe not.” Nik looked over his shoulder, where Nanna and Pops seemed to be making plans for exiting at first light. “But they believe it’s enough. Maybe you need to believe in yourself as much as they do.”