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  And, yes, I wanted her. How could I not?

  My hands found her hips and helped her move against me, before rising to drag her leather bikini away, closing over the swell of her pale breasts, finding her nipples hard and waiting. A soft murmur of pleasure escaped her lips which made my own mouth drift toward them, kissing her. Her tongue shot out and tasted mine. She dropped her chin, her lips finding my neck, where she nibbled and then bit. Kind of hard. Not that I minded, because one of her hands had traced a line from my bulging pecs to my stone-hard abs, slipping beneath my loincloth to grasp my shaft. With a swift tease of the strings, my only covering fell away and then I could feel her body against me—at some point she’d pulled off her own bottoms.

  We ground against each other while she kissed my neck, biting every so often, before finally drifting lower to take me into her mouth, her tongue tasting every inch as she moved me in and out, in and out—

  I groaned with pleasure, not wanting her to stop, not ever.

  But then she did, rising so swiftly it took my breath away and left me wanting more as her breasts rubbed against me. My hands drifted behind her and I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my back as she straddled me. I tried to enter her, but she managed to get a hand down to keep me away. “Not yet,” she commanded, and she might’ve asked me to retrieve the silver sun from the sky and I would’ve tried. Why had I resisted her advances in the first place? She was beautiful and clearly wanted me, and I wanted her, so what was the big deal?

  My mind tried to latch onto some reason to stop, but I could barely remember my own name at this point.

  She kissed me again, more urgent now, one of her hands running up and down my penis while the other stroked the back of my neck.

  In between kisses, she said, “Not. Yet. Not. Yet. Not. Yet…now!”

  She squirmed from my grasp, landing gracefully and spun around to face away from me, reaching back to grasp my hips and pull me toward her. Her ass was round and beautiful, her hips as full as an Earth moon. I grabbed them on either side as I entered her from behind. I pumped her toward me and away, repeating the motion as pleasure washed over me. She seemed to be experiencing something similar, a cry of delight escaping her lips as her skin slapped against mine.

  She reared up, throwing her head back so her long red hair brushed my face. Still using one hand to press her against me as I thrusted, I brought my other hand around her to cup her breasts, teasing her nipples. She moaned and I’m pretty sure I was too, the sensations growing larger and larger like the early formation of a tsunami. Blood rushed to all the right places as she screamed, her voice joining mine, half-pleasure, half-effort from the strain, pushing, pushing…

  I released my payload in a burst, and then the rest in slower spurts, bit by bit, thrust by thrust, until I was finished. Her curvaceous body sagged and she sighed. I was panting from the effort. I pulled myself out of her and she turned to press her body against mine, resting her cheek on my chest.

  “I love you,” she said.

  Oh crap. I’m an idiot.

  I remembered the reason I wasn’t supposed to have sex with her.

  ~~~

  “You did what?” Beat said, the hint of a smile curling the edge of her lips. “Damn, Ryder, you can’t seem to keep it in your loincloth.”

  “It’s this place,” I said. “Everyone is so attractive and I have almost no experience. I’m making up for lost time.”

  “You do realize you broke the first rule of Stalker 101?” Beat said. “Don’t sleep with your stalker.” That didn’t make me feel any better. I had sex with an emotionally unstable, mentally and physically scarred woman. Yes, she had done everything in her power to convince me that it was casual, but deep down I’d known it wasn’t—at least not for her. I’d let hormones decide rather than my small brain.

  “I’m screwed.”

  “Want me to talk to her? Woman to woman?”

  “You’d do that?”

  “It’s better than watching all the improvements we’ve made to this place come crashing down because of a bunch of drama on Big Brother: Monsterworld Edition.”

  It was an extremely generous and tempting offer. I wanted to just say, “Yes! Take care of my shit for me.” But that was wrong on so many levels, and it wasn’t fair to Beat or Belle. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I said. “I’ve got to be the one to tell her.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  SEVEN

  THAR BE DRAGONS

  I waited until after the next Black. It was the quietest night in a while. We heard evidence of monsters roaming, but there were no attacks on our demonfire circle. “Are you going to talk to her?” Beat asked as we walked back. We had the entire new crew for the first time ever. Well, except for Belle, who had yet to leave the ward-shield perimeter.

  “Yes. No. Maybe.”

  Beat snorted. “Good to know you’ve made up your mind.”

  “What if she tries to kill herself again?”

  “Sam, it’s not on you. How many times do I have to tell you that we’re all adults here. We all make our own decisions.”

  Even though I knew my wise friend was right, I still couldn’t bear the thought of any of the newbs dying on my watch. I could finally relate to Protector Kloop and all the Protectors who had come before him. Rationally, I knew saving everyone in this dangerous world was impossible, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to try. I was about to tell Beat exactly that, but a distant shriek cut me off.

  Beat and I turned simultaneously, just ahead of the rest of our crew. “A gargat?” Beat said, although we all knew that was impossible. The winged gargoyles couldn’t survive the sunlight, their wretched bodies shriveling up and dying before turning to dust.

  Plus, we’d all heard the cries of the dark hunters as they soared across the Black enough times to know this sound was something else. “Lace?” I said. Though I was Protector, she was the most experienced. If anyone had heard this particular call, it would be her.

  She shook her head. “None of the day monsters make that sound,” she said, her feline brow furrowed in concentration. “At least none that I know of.”

  “Something new?” I wondered aloud. I’d learned firsthand that the Morgoss played around with dark magic, so it was realistic that they’d find ways to create new monsters to plague us.

  “Not necessarily,” Millania said in her quiet way. “None of us have been here for that long. There could be countless monsters we haven’t seen.” It was true, but not a very comforting thought.

  We stared in the direction the shriek had originated from: the mountains. More specifically, the largest mountain, behind which I knew the demon fortress of Annakor stood. The peaks were still dark, the sun having not risen high enough to shed anything more than a dim glow across this part of the planet. A shadow seemed to detach itself from the mountains, rising up, up, up, higher and higher and then—

  Another spine-tingling shriek.

  From this distance, the creature looked small, but I’d been to those mountains. They were far. If an airplane was flying over them it would look small too. Which meant the creature wasn’t small. Quite the opposite.

  It had to be huge.

  Shadow wings beat against the backdrop of the lightening sky. It was growing larger already, heading right toward us, moving unfathomably fast. A journey that had taken Beat, Vrill and I almost a day walking and several hours running was nothing to this powerful flying creature.

  “We’ve got to get behind the wards,” I said, which felt like the right thing even though I suspected what was left of our magical shields would shatter under the weight of a direct attack by this monster.

  Still, no one needed further urging. We ran toward the visible wards, the edges of their cracks glinting as the morning light found them. A hundred yards away. Eighty. Fifty.

  There was another shriek, so much louder now, and I glanced back. At that very moment the silvery sun breached the horizon, splashing across the winged monster, whi
ch was now close enough for us to feel the displaced air from its beating wings. Its skin was the darkest of dark obsidian, its eyes glowing red coals. Its broad wings were thin, almost translucent, ending in clawed knobs at each extreme. It also had strong-looking legs and smaller arms that reminded me of a T-Rex. Its snout was long and narrow, and when it shrieked again, its multiple rows of dagger-like teeth were revealed, flames licking at the edges. Then I saw something else, the barest glimpse.

  I almost tripped, barely managing to catch my balance as I whipped my head forward, a single word echoing with each beat of my heart.

  Dragon…dragon… dragon…

  Twenty yards. Ten.

  I could feel the dragon’s presence now, like the air itself had weight. My fellow Warriors were already disappearing through the damaged wards. Lace, Millania and Floot were already through, as well as Jak, who moved remarkably well for his size. Which left only Beat and I, and I could tell she was holding back to stay with me. The dragon screamed, an ear-splitting cry that made my body tremble. “Go!” I urged, shoving her with one hand even as I dove for the amorphous wall.

  The wards sucked at me and then I popped free, tumbling across the terrain and smashing into Beat. Behind us, the wards shook from the impact of the dragon as it tried to bash its way through them.

  Still on the ground, I twisted to look, watching as the wards quivered again and again, more cracks forming on the surface, spiderwebbing out. From this side of the shields, we couldn’t see the dragon, but there was no doubt it was there, trying to break through our defenses.

  “Can it squeeze through the breach?” Jak asked.

  Millania answered. “Too big,” she said. “The troll barely squeezed through last time, and that thing is at least ten times larger.”

  I agreed, but it was little solace considering the growing damage to our magical wall.

  “Will it hold?” Beat hissed in my ear, careful not to let her voice carry where any of the newbs might hear.

  I didn’t see how, but I knew little about the inner workings of ward shields, especially ones that had stood unbroken for over a century. Then again, there was already a hole in it, so that didn’t bode well. “I hope so?”

  “Love the optimism.”

  I wished I had more to give her, but my mind was focused more on something else. Or, more accurately, someone else. And this time it wasn’t Belle and how I was going to diffuse her advances without further damaging the emotional leaf she was clinging to.

  No, I was thinking about someone I’d known longer. Someone I called a friend.

  The one I’d seen riding the dragon. Though I’d only gotten a glimpse, I would know that strong, athletic form anywhere.

  Vrill.

  ~~~

  “You call them…drag-oons?” Jak asked as we sat around the fire, a row of leafrats wrapped in their own ruffage roasting on a spittle. Hunch scurried here and there, preparing our daily meal. I thought I could detect a hint of an accent, though I knew some kind of magic was translating his language into English, just as my words, to him, were translated into his language.

  “Drag-uns,” I said, emphasizing the second syllable.

  “And you have faced such a monster before?”

  Beat and I exchanged a look. “Yeah. Of course. Many times.” Only none of them were real. Video games hardly seemed like relevant experience handling winged reptiles. I didn’t bring up the fact that I’d seen an ex-Warrior riding the dragon. As far as I knew, no one else had noticed.

  A few hours earlier, we’d waited helplessly as the wards had trembled, again and again and again, until…

  Nothing.

  The dragon had apparently grown bored and flown away. We waited about half an hour to be sure, but when I finally poked my head through the wards the terrain and sky were empty all the way to the mountains. The reprieve was temporary, I knew. The dragon would return.

  And yet that wasn’t what scared me the most. No. It was the look I’d seen on Vrill’s face as she’d ridden the dragon bareback.

  Rage.

  She looked like she wanted to murder and burn and tear down the very essence of the world. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I’d never seen that look on her face before.

  What did they do to you, Vrill? I thought, feeling a swell of guilt in my chest. We’d abandoned her and now she’d been brainwashed by the Morgoss. Or they were controlling her with dark magic somehow. The real Vrill was trapped in her own body, chained and helpless. It was the only thing that made sense.

  The others had continued talking about the dragon while my mind had drifted. “It’ll be back,” Lace said. “We need to come up with a plan.”

  Belle, who’d been listening without speaking the entire time, finally piped up. “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “Protector Ryder will slay the monster.”

  With her accent, her words sounded lovely, but they were miles away from the truth. I was bigger and stronger now that I was Level 3, but that dragon was more than a single Warrior could handle. Hell, even if we had an entire army of Warriors I wasn’t certain we’d have more than a fool’s chance.

  We needed more. We needed magic.

  “I’m going to go speak to the Three,” I said. “We need their counsel.”

  ~~~

  Beat caught up to me halfway up the hill.

  “I saw her, too,” she said, taking me by surprise. “Vrill.”

  My heart sank. I was hoping my eyes had played tricks on me. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “I don’t want you to say anything, Sam. But you haven’t been talking to me the way you used to. You’re doing that thing where you close yourself off because you’re planning to do something crazy. Alone. Remember what happened the last time?”

  I did, all too well. “You followed me.”

  “Damn straight. And I’ll follow you again. If you’re going back to Annakor, I’m going with you.”

  “I’m not. Well, not right away. But if I do, I want you with me.”

  “I swear to the Three that if you’re lying to me…”

  “Truth,” I said, stopping to look her in the eye. “And I’m sorry for keeping so many of my thoughts to myself lately. I’m feeling the pressure, but I should talk to you. I always feel better after I do.”

  “You make me sound like a therapist, or a priest,” Beat said with a wry smile as we continued trudging up the hill. “Now tell me: What the fuck is going on?”

  “I don’t know exactly. That wasn’t Vrill riding the dragon—not the real Vrill. She’s been brainwashed or mind-controlled or something.”

  “Because of the collars?”

  “What?” I stopped, scrunching my face. “What coll—” I remembered now. Something had glinted on the dragon’s neck, wrapping around. Everything had happened so fast I hadn’t given it a second thought. The dragon had been wearing a collar. But Beat had said collars. Plural. “Vrill was wearing one too?”

  “No, she was wearing two collars,” Beat said. “The dragon had one, she had two.”

  “Dark magic,” I said. “I need to speak to the Three.” We started walking again.

  “You think they’ll know how to reverse whatever freaky spell the Morgoss have cast?” Beat asked.

  “I don’t know anything. But I’m hoping they’ve got something for me.” I rattled off the list I’d made previously in the dirt and committed to memory, holding up a finger for each one. “One- train the newbs. Two- repair the ward shields. Three- grow our Warrior numbers. Four- get better weapons. Five- connect with the tribes. Six- find Vrill.”

  We’d reached the top of the hill. “It’s a good list, but not all of those things are on you. Number three is all Eve. And I can take the lead on training the newbs.”

  I nodded. It felt better having her point out the obvious. The weight of the list had been growing in my mind day by day. “Thanks. Now I need to go visit the Three. Alone. They seem to respond better that way.”

  “Don’t tell me—you’re
going to sleep with our bosses to get another promotion?”

  “Hey, I’d already gotten the promotion when I slept with—” I stopped trying to defend my prior actions when I realized she was joking. “Ha ha. Funny.”

  “I thought so. Give my regards to the Three. Tell them to give us some fucking weapons and tell us how to repair the ward shields and save Vrill.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “That’s been good enough so far, Sam Ryder. And I’ll make sure you’re not interrupted by your southern stalker.”

  With that, she started back down the hill.

  ~~~

  The air in the gully was cool beside the still pond. As before, there was no sign of the goddesses. Minertha’s usual rock was empty, and there was no evidence of Persepheus in or out of the water. Airiel, of course, was absent as well, though that was typical of the sky goddess.

  I hadn’t ever explored the rest of the canyon. All the action had always happened in this main part. Now, however, the time had come to explore.

  I didn’t feel great about it, almost like entering someone’s house and looking at all their stuff without being invited.

  I reminded myself that I was the Protector and had to get stuff done. If that meant invading the goddesses’ privacy, so be it.

  The main area was surrounded on three sides by rock walls, two of which were mostly covered by the glowing vines we used to climb in and out of the Three’s domain. The other side was open, stretching the canyon lengthwise for a distance I estimated at three football fields placed end to end. Three hundred yards. Not particularly far, but not short either. Who knew what mysteries the goddesses had hidden throughout the canyon?

  I steeled myself and exited the main area, which was blocked in by several large boulders, including Persepheus’s usual mossy perch.

  The first thing that surprised me was that the pond extended well beyond the edge of the main area. Though its width grew smaller and smaller until it was more a river than a pond, the telltale sounds of moving water was pleasant, like I was walking around the inner workings of a spa retreat. More boulders blocked my vision forward, and I was forced to clamber over and around them. I could’ve just jumped in the water and swum, but I didn’t like the idea of not knowing what might come up beneath me.