She glanced up to find him grinning at her, and gave him a gentle shove.
A thrill of recognition went through her even at such a casual touch.
Luna had never experienced anything like it.
And the things he’d done to her…
He’d certainly seemed enthusiastic enough. But then he hadn’t wanted to take his pleasure with her.
She wondered if the Invicta guards were supposed to be celibate.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“Um, last night,” she admitted.
“Mm,” he said, nodding. “What about it?”
Good grief.
“You said we would talk about it today,” she said.
He took a deep breath and let it out again without speaking.
Luna waited.
Whatever he had to tell her, she wanted to hear it on his terms.
“Last night, it seemed that you didn’t know much about the people of Imber,” he said. “I wonder how much you know about the Invicta warriors and Ignis-7.”
“Not much,” she said. “Everyone knows the Invicta are the fiercest warriors in the galaxy, rivaled only by the Cerulean mercenaries. But the Invicta fight on the side of right, and they do not involve themselves in other nations’ battles.”
He smiled as if she had just handed him an award.
“That’s very good,” he told her. “We fight for our homeland, and no other. But do you know why we have such strength?”
She shook her head.
“It is because we have an Other, a second self,” he said. “Do you know what shifters are?”
“You mean like… werewolves?” she asked dubiously.
“Ah, yes, from your mythology,” he said with a smile. “It’s a bit like that, I suppose. The warriors of the Invicta are no moon dogs though, we are dragons of the light.”
Dragons…
“So you’re dragons… made of light?” she asked.
“Something like that,” he said. “I hope you will never see me in that form. I’m told it can be frightening.”
“Can you fly?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“That’s why you said you could catch Sol if his cradle failed,” she realized out loud.
He nodded.
“Okay,” she said. “So does being a light dragon mean you can’t have sex?”
His eyebrows shot up.
“You’re the one who brought this up in the context of last night,” she reminded him.
“It’s the opposite of no sex,” he told her.
The opposite of no sex?
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“When a dragon finds his mate, he claims her for life,” Noxx said. “The claiming is complete, and the first frenzy can go on for days.”
“Days?” Luna echoed.
“The bond of an Invicta warrior to his mate is permanent,” he went on. “If you tried to run it would be like trying to outrun a dragon. It can’t be done.”
“I see,” she said. “And why would I try to run?”
“I don’t know,” he said, stopping suddenly, and turning to her. “But I will not claim you until you want it, until you beg.”
His eyes were dark and beautiful and his big body towered over hers.
He was offering himself to her, for life.
Starting with days of claiming.
She was ready to beg instantly.
But then his eyes flashed yellow and he turned away from her, scanning the trees, cutting off their conversation.
“Someone is watching us,” he murmured, drawing his sword.
The laser blade sizzled in the cold air.
Luna searched the trees, but saw no one.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Take it,” he hissed, pressing the hilt of his sword into her hand. “And don’t be scared.”
No sooner was her hand wrapped around the cool titanium than the air around her began to ripple.
No.
It wasn’t the air. It was Noxx.
He was blurring, stretching out and rising from the ground until he was nearly tree-sized.
Gossamer wings of light spread out from his back as the scaly protrusions on his forearms grew out to cover the rest of his body. Searing fire danced in his eyes.
The being that had been Noxx let its head fall back and issued a roar so loud the ground shook.
Luna stepped backward instinctively, stumbling over a tree root and nearly dropping the sword.
The light dragon stalked toward the forest, its massive tail swinging behind it.
Luna followed its course visually and finally saw what Noxx had sensed in the first place.
A young boy peered out from behind a tree, his eyes wide.
He wasn’t too young, probably an older teenager, he just looked so scared and tiny compared to the massive dragon.
The boy wore a simple robe and reminded her of the shepherds in the religious pictures at the Old Terra museum back home. She guessed that a recent growth spurt was responsible for his height and slender frame, along with big puppyish hands and feet.
The dragon-Noxx was almost on him.
The boy moved his hands in graceful signals that Luna could not understand.
Clearly Noxx couldn’t understand them either. The massive dragon appeared to be about to eat the boy first and ask questions later.
“No, Noxx,” she cried, sprinting toward them.
The boy looked up, his eyes pleading, as he turned to her with more hand movements.
It was obviously some kind of language.
But without any sounds to trigger it, her translation chip wasn’t activating.
She flung herself forward, into the boy’s arms, effectively stopping his talking, but hopefully also saving him from Noxx.
The dragon roared in frustration.
On her back, baby Sol laughed and squawked back at his warrior protector, completely unfazed at seeing him in another form.
The dragon lumbered backward and paused, as if waiting to see what Luna would do.
“Are you okay?” she asked the boy, moving out of his arms so that he could reply.
His hands began another dance, but she shook her head.
“I’m so sorry,” she said slowly. “I can’t understand you.”
She suspected he might be deaf. She had a friend back on Terra-4 who used sign language to speak.
She tried a few words in the language she used at home with Ani.
The boy watched her hands with a delighted expression.
But after a moment he shook his head.
His language must be different from Ani’s.
She grabbed a stick and cleared leaves from the ground.
She used the stick to write her name.
“Luna,” she said and gestured to herself.
She handed the boy the stick.
He smoothed the soil with a long-fingered hand and then drew a twisting shape in the soil.
She leaned over it. It didn’t look like letters in any language she had ever seen before. Maybe it was a picture.
He retraced the shape in the ground and then thumped his own chest.
She studied the shape.
It looked exactly like a snake.
“Snake,” she said, nodding and smiling. “Your name is snake.”
“What the hell is going on?” Noxx’s voice thundered.
She turned to see that he was back in his usual form.
“This is Snake,” she said. “He must have gotten separated from his family.”