Dragon

Chapter 23

Make sure the bowl's base stays red at the very least. Jaimin's cautioning words ran through her head as she marched down the tunnel. She still had trouble when it came to measuring the passing of time within the never-changing caverns, but it had to have been hours after when Jaimin said he would be back. No doubt he expects me to pander over the egg until he deigns to return.

A growl rumbled in her throat at the treasonous thought. That was hardly fair on him. He'd all but hovered over their egg during the last month or so, leaving to hunt only at Maay's insistence. Of course, part of that had been due to Milandra, his great aunt, being willing to keep the warming bowl hot while he was gone.

There were plenty of other eggs to tend to now. Jaimin's eyes dulled each time they were mentioned. A clutch of seven, another of twelve and, just this morning, news had come from Hroff that the female sent there with Teero had laid sixteen. Sixteen! And she, the youngest of them all, had given Jaimin one pathetic little – no tiny – egg.

He claimed the amount did not matter to him. Whereas Milandra would only comment on how it was normal for a scaled and that Maay should be pleased they'd an egg at all, given the difficulty her kind had in breeding with the others. She still couldn't shake the feeling that Jaimin was beginning to regret taking her as a mate.

Behind her came a shriek. She dove into the nearest archway, flicking her tail out of the way as one of the females, and her eager snarling entourage, headed towards the clear winter sky awaiting them. The last of the fertile females going off to mate. No doubt she would be laying just as many eggs as the other three had. The thought of it made her sick.

Maay followed them, hoping to find Jaimin before she reached the exit. She had yet to come across a pair in Flight. Given the choice, she'd no intention of ever doing so. It was beyond her how anyone could just sit there and watch a couple perform such an intimate act. Even if it was done out in the open.

Entering the massive greeting cavern, she headed for the lit arc leading to outside. Maybe this last female had enough sense to head for the seclusion of the mountains before allowing her chosen mate to touch her. Though, judging by the roars and squeaks, there didn't seem to be much hope of that.

Head down and gaze resolutely studying the ground before her feet, she slipped through the entrance. She turned her back on the noises high above the snow-covered forests, the form of a steel grey dragon coming into view. Jaimin? Maay swung round to face him. Other figures flittered teasingly on the edge of her vision. She did her best to ignore them. "I thought you went hunting."

He jumped as she spoke, a puff of smoke escaping through his teeth. "I did. I just wanted to feel the fresh air for a little while." His head lowered. "Have I been too long?"

Above them, the dragons roared. Then came a scream. It sent a chill down her back equal to any brought on by the wind. She didn't want to think on the implications of the sounds.

Jaimin's shoulders twitched. Gaze lifting to the display, his wings slowly opened. After nearly three months since they'd been plucked, there was little evidence of Teero's attack. Some of the smaller feathers hadn't finished coming through, but he could fly well enough.

Maay cleared her throat, her cheeks warming, though her mind couldn't yet decide whether it was through embarrassment or outrage at his actions. She'd figured out what a twitch of a male's wings meant, wasn't hard when it happened every time Jaimin looked at her. Now she thought on it, those wings had been twitching practically since they'd met.

His gaze fell to her, the partially-opened wings fast collapsing to once more rest against his sides. "The egg." He shook his head. "The bowl, is it –"