Page 26 of Red Marked

I need to find a way to stop them before they kill me.

I shift.

My skin meets open air, human and exposed, and I’m on my knees in the dirt when they land around me in a loose but tightening ring.

“I’m a Draiger.” My voice comes out in a rough rasp. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

One of them is already moving, breaking from the ring and stepping toward me. She snarls at me. Her eyes are red, and deep crimson markings run down her scales in dense, overlapping lines. She looms over me, teeth bared for the strike, weight shifting back.

I stay on my knees, looking up.

A silver dragon lands next to us. Red edges her horns. She’s easily the biggest female in the gorge.

I stare. I can’t do anything else for a few seconds.

Red runs along the line of her throat and traces the edge of both wings when she folds them in, faint but there, marking her as one of them. She stalks toward me with eyes narrowed to slits, studying me the way you’d study something you’re about to take apart piece by piece.

Then she shifts.

She’s tall with long, toned legs. Every inch of her is toned. Her skin holds a deep, sun-warmed color, and her black hair falls loose past her shoulders. Her breasts are full. It’s her eyes that make me grateful I’m already on my knees. They’re a vivid blue and slanted in a catlike way.

Fuck, but she’s beautiful.

“Stop!” she yells as the red-eyed dragon takes a step toward me, snarling.

This one still wants to kill me.

Everything in me wants me to shift and fight, but I can’t. I force myself to stay calm and not to move a muscle. I shake with the need to protect myself.

“I said stop! Back off, Scarlet! Do it now!” Her voice is booming and filled with such authority that the female over me pulls back mid-strike. Every muscle in her body strains against the retreat, as if her instincts are screaming at her to finish what she started, and something stronger is making her stand down instead.

Thank fuck it does, or I’d be done for.

The blue-eyed beauty walks toward me, pulling her shoulders back. I’ve never seen anything so sexy in all of my years.

My balls pull tight. Shit! Fuck! If I get hard right now, I’m dead, and I’ll deserve it.

I force myself to keep my eyes on hers. Her mouth is lush and pink.

Holy shit!

“Who are you?” she says, “and why are you here?” Her voice comes out low and rough.

I was wrong about all of it. These females don’t need saving.

“Think before you speak, Draiger.” She crouches, bringing those blue eyes level with mine. “What you say next will decide whether you live or die.”

I catch her scent and almost groan; it’s so good.

Shit!

I need to get it together, or I’m dead.

10

Star

The male is on his knees in the dirt, bleeding.