Obsidian Embers Read online

  He pressed an insistent kiss again her lips, and she opened her mouth to him, letting him plunge his tongue inside, tasting her sweetness. She moaned as he nibbled at her lower lip, tugging lightly at it in a way that sent bolts of lust coursing through her veins.

  She returned his tight grip, wrapping her arms and her legs around his powerful body with all her strength. He took her by the hair and pulled her head to one side, biting her neck in a way that she knew would leave a mark. But she didn't care who knew that she was his.

  And she felt safe like this, in spite of – or perhaps even because of – his dominance. There was no chance for escape, but Olivia wasn't frightened. She had been waiting for this for a long time, even if she had never really dreamed that it would happen.

  In the next instant he pushed hard into her body, claiming her from the inside, too, moving with short, fast, hard thrusts that left her breathless and gasping from the sudden climax that racked her body.

  But Kushanu wasn't through with her, no matter how she keened with overstimulation. It was just on the edge of being too much as Kushanu continued to hold her tight and move back and forth within her until at last he, too, threw his head back and cried out as his own climax shuddered through him.

  Yet even then, he did not stop, still rocking his hips recklessly into her body despite his softening length. Olivia felt as though her body might combust, pleasure spiking higher and higher despite the powerful finish that he had already given her.

  Eventually, they both shuddered to a stop, and Olivia couldn’t keep the smile from her face as he pulled her close. She pillowed her head against Kushanu's warm chest, and the man lightly stroked her hair with his long, talented fingers.

  She knew that no matter how many times they mated or how powerful their orgasms were, they would never quite be able to wipe away all the years of aching emptiness that she had suffered – and that The Obsidian had suffered, too, she realized now.

  But now, away from those echoing caverns, able to touch one another at last, they were both more than willing to try. As the moon rode high above them, Olivia thought, continuing to hold her chosen mate close to her, that they just might succeed after all.

  8

  Very slowly, Olivia began to float back to consciousness. It was as if after all the years of deprivation, emptiness, and cold, she was finally getting what she needed to actually feel warm and alive.

  Lying motionless in Kushanu's arms, she was at first aware only of the heat of his body and of the warm breeze that blew over them as the sun rose. It was good to have these walls of volcanic rock, but they would need a roof soon. She seemed to remember that it rained quite often on the eastern coast of Hawaii . . . rained nearly every day . . .

  Right now, though, she was conscious only of how good she felt, all the way through. She felt ravaged, thoroughly worked over, as only a man with Kushanu's strength and power could do to her. And she had loved every moment of it. At last she felt warm and alive, and she wanted this to continue forever.

  She lowered her head a little to burrow into Kushanu's chest and breathe in the hot, spicy scent of his skin. He seemed to burn from within and always smelled of sweet and hot sunlight, or fire, or lava . . .

  With his eyes still closed, Kushanu slid his hand down her arm and pulled her even closer against him. She turned her face up to his, waiting for him to kiss her once more –

  And then there was a loud noise and commotion outside on the plain. It came from the other side of the walls of their shelter. Men shouted ferociously at each other, roaring with anger, and then Olivia realized it was not the human men who were facing off.

  It was the Dragonmen.

  By the time she could sit up, still languid from their love-making and the good night's sleep she had, Kushanu was already on his feet and racing outside. He was entirely naked – and so was Olivia as she ran out after him – and so were Cutter and Speedy, facing off in human form, and so were Karen and Julia as they stood behind their Dragonmen pleading with them to stop.

  It was clear that Olivia and Kushanu were not the only pairs who had spent the night together at last. But the trouble was, there were only three human females to go around. And right now, the remaining Dragonmen weren't happy about that. By now, it seemed like everyone who had come with their group, both Dragonmen and humans, were gathered together, and it would take very little to spark a huge brawl.

  Three groups – one led by Cutter, one led by Speedy, and one led by Kushanu – glared and shouted viciously at each other. Olivia felt something like real fear when Kushanu, naked and shining in the early morning sunlight, went striding out to stand in the middle of thirty-two furiously angry Dragonmen.

  They all looked just like Kushanu of course. All large, handsome, muscular men with straight black hair and those dark eyes. Olivia could instantly spot Kushanu, though, for he was the tallest and strongest of all of them. She noticed that each of the others already wore something that set him apart from the rest – a braid at the front of his long hair, or a belt or sash made from the long dry grasses of the plain, or a thick grass necklace with a shell or stone woven into it.

  But they were still a strange and fascinating sight as the three groups faced each other down among the high grass and loose volcanic rocks of the plain, all of them spoiling for a fight.

  "We should have been allowed to choose!" shouted one of the Dragonmen.

  "We should have been allowed to fight for the women if we wished!"

  "We should fight for them anyway!"

  "Stop this! Stop this!" roared Kushanu, and to Olivia's great relief the Dragonmen fell silent – still glaring, but silent.

  Then, before anyone else could make a move, Olivia was astounded to see Karen and Julia walk together into the center of the group even though they were entirely naked. They stood right in front of Kushanu, whom they obviously recognized as the leader.

  "If it will help," Julia said, "we will each agree to take more than one Dragonman as a mate."

  "We don't want to see them destroy each other," said Karen. "We will do this in order to keep all of them alive and well."

  Olivia's mouth dropped open. These two quiet, mousy controllers were volunteering to do – this? To take on fifteen, sixteen Dragonmen as mates, just to keep the peace? Olivia wondered why, with determination like that, those two weren't already ruling the world.

  But she also realized that she was not willing to do the same herself. Kushanu was all she wanted, and the thought of having any other man touch her was unbearable, not even Kushanu's clones.

  They were not him.

  All of the Dragonmen had fallen silent at hearing what the two women had said. Then Kushanu grinned, his teeth white in the sunlight, and shook his head.

  "You are brave women, both of you, to make such an offer," he said. "But no Dragonman will ever share his mate. Not when he is human. Not when he is dragon. Never."

  Julia and Karen glanced at each other and nodded. It looked to Olivia that they had probably suspected as much, but even so, she was willing to believe that they would have gone through with their offer if it had been accepted – if it meant keeping all of the Dragonmen from fighting to the death.

  The two women nodded and then walked away from the group to stand with Olivia. All she could do was look at them with genuine admiration for their courage . . . or whatever it was.

  But then the three women screamed and leaped back as the outraged competition between the Dragonmen, still unresolved, suddenly flared into a full-blown battle between all of them.

  All that the women could do was try not to get caught up in the terrible melee that now surrounded Kushanu. Olivia finally saw that the human men had come over, too, and watched from the edge of the open field; but they didn't join in. They would not stand a chance against the Dragonmen and they knew it.

  It occurred to Olivia that maybe those men, the human men, the former controllers, would simply bide their time and watch the dragons kill each othe
r off . . . and then this part of the world, at least, would belong to humans once again.

  But for now, the three women clung to each other and tried to see what was happening out there in the cloud of dust and dead dry grass thrown up into the air by the fighting Dragonmen. Olivia could only pray to whatever gods might be left that she had not seen Kushanu for the last time.

  Then an earth-shattering roar came up out of the cloud of battle, followed by a great gout of flame shooting straight up into the air. Instantly all the Dragonmen fell back as The Obsidian rose up in the middle of them, enormous and exhaling smoke after the fire breath he'd thrown at his attackers.

  He looked left and right with those huge and glittering black eyes, and then swung his head back first over one shoulder and then the other as though trying to decide whether anyone else wanted a fountain of fire thrown his way.

  But the other Dragonmen continued to back off. Then, finally, they all knelt down in silence to The Obsidian, their leader.

  Olivia had never seen anything so utterly terrifying and so absolutely magnificent, all at once.

  And it was only the morning of their second day in Hawaii.

  9

  Under extreme duress, Kushanu had changed from human to dragon in a matter of seconds. No doubt all of the Dragonmen would learn to do that before long. It was a survival skill, and Olivia was sure that no creature was better at surviving than a dragon. Their ancestors, the Lizards, had survived down in their frozen caves – in part by using their own primitive shape-shifting abilities to change color as needed – for untold millennia until finally being discovered by humans just a few short decades ago.

  And now they had given rise to true dragons with true shape-shifting abilities.

  Kushanu gave them all time to cool off, and even though Olivia waited for more fights to break out … they didn't. Everyone waited, seemingly out of respect for Kushanu.

  Perhaps an hour later, after he had shifted back to human form again, Kushanu walked back out to the center of the plain. He stood in the flattened grass and kicked-up dust where the battle had erupted just a short time before. He was naked and tall and proud,

  and this time, instead of challenging Kushanu, the other Dragonmen slowly walked towards him and gathered together in three very separate groups.

  Ten of them stood with Cutter. Ten more stood with Speedy. The remaining ten gathered beside Kushanu. All of them stood in silence and waited for him to speak.

  Taking his time, Kushanu looked slowly around at each one of them. "I think," he said at last, "that three are missing." Gazing out at the women, he said, "Olivia. Julia. Karen."

  The three women glanced at each other. By now, they had put on the clothes they'd worn under their Warmsuits for the journey here – their simple workout pants and cotton t-shirts – and after just a second of hesitation, they all raised their heads and walked straight out to the gathered Dragonmen. Julia stood with Speedy, Karen with Cutter, and Olivia with Kushanu.

  "Now," said Kushanu, "we have found the ideal place for those like us – and for the humans who live among us – to make a home. There will be no difficulty here with water, shelter, or food, for dragon or human."

  He began to pace, looking closely at each of the Dragonmen. "But we have one problem that is quite different. One problem that could actually cause our colony to destroy itself. It is the problem of mates. What we need most of all, now, are females to take as mates for the times when we are in human form."

  They all stood in silence. Kushanu glanced at Olivia, and she raised her head and stepped forward.

  "Kushanu is right," she said, looking closely into those near-identical faces. "There were no female war dragons created. All of them were male. It was always planned to simply clone any needed replacements or additions. But with the world mostly destroyed, we don't have the resources to do that any longer . . . not even if we went back to the base in Antarctica."

  She took a deep breath, glancing back at Kushanu again. He smiled and gave her a small nod, apparently satisfied with what she was saying. "But if you were to take a human woman as a mate, there is no reason why she should not bear children to you . . . and if your dragon shapeshifter traits prove to be dominant, those children would be shapeshifters, too, just like their fathers. Just like you."

  They all turned and murmured to each other. It was a little disconcerting, but at least they were not snarling at each other any longer. And Kushanu was still smiling as she stepped back again.

  "I have decided," he said, addressing the Dragonmen once more, "that the search for human women to live in our colony will solve two problems at once for us. First, of course, is our simple need for mates and, eventually, offspring.

  "Second is deciding who will rule our colony. You have already challenged me today. I prefer not to battle each of you and possibly destroy my own kind. There are not many of us and I have no wish to kill any of you.

  "We are already divided into three groups. The group that brings back the most mates for us, by the next full moon, will be the one to rule the Obsidian Dragons."

  The women looked at each other. All the Dragonmen stared hard at Kushanu. But everyone kept silent and still. It appeared they were in agreement.

  "We will begin exploring the rest of these islands tonight – these islands which are, in part, our birthplace," Kushanu continued. "Cutter will take his ten followers and go to the northernmost island – the one that was known as Kauai.

  "Speedy and his ten will go to the island just north of here, known as Maui.

  "And I and my ten will go to the center of this chain of islands to the one known as Oahu.

  "We fly tonight at moonrise! Human mates are what we want and need the most. They remain our first priority. And we will stop at nothing to find them!"

  That evening, as the glare of the full white moon drowned out the fading twilight in the west, thirty-three dragons gathered on the southern edge of the plain and again formed three groups around Kushanu, Speedy, and Cutter.

  The three women stood near to their chosen mates, those three leaders. Olivia stayed very close to The Obsidian, for she could see, and feel, that the thought of finding more mates was agitating all of the dragons and sending their competitive rage rising higher with each passing moment.

  Finally, much to her relief, The Obsidian stretched out his front foot and allowed her to step up on it. He lifted her onto his neck and the instant she was settled, he beat his great wings, leaped off the edge of the cliff, and rose up into the air. His own group followed him as he turned to the north, keeping the blinding moonlight on their right for their journey.

  Olivia could only hope that the other dragons would follow the orders Kushanu had given them. Looking back, she saw Cutter leap off of the cliff with Karen on his neck. Then Speedy did the same while Julia held on tight, and they, too, turned to the north with their followers close after them.

  The three women knew very well that they'd been brought on this mission in hopes of persuading other women to come back with them and live as mates for Dragonmen. Of course, there were human men at the camp, too, and some women might consider them if they could not bring themselves to accept a Dragonman.

  All of those men had remained behind at the camp, since there was nothing they could do on this trip and, in any case, they were valuable in their own way to ensure that the dragon colony would survive. Olivia knew that it would be a mistake to disregard them, and if mates could be found for them too, they would surely be much more willing to stay with the dragons and help them.

  No resource could be disregarded in the world in which they now lived.

  The Obsidian and his dragons swung out over the sea, while the other two leaders and their followers stayed over the land with plenty of space between the groups. Olivia could just see the gleam of the moonlight on the other Glassies, black as pieces of the night, as they flew away and became one with the darkness.

  The speed of a dragon in full flight was quite lit
erally breathtaking. Olivia clung tight to The Obsidian's smooth, slippery neck and was quite happy to see that the trip did not take long, even though they had traveled all the way to another island.

  As with all of these islands, most of the towns and cities on this one had been along the coastlines on the beautiful beaches; but of course, that was where the tsunamis had done the most damage. Eventually the dragons came to what seemed to have been a large city on the southern coast of this new island, judging by the scattered torches and campfires that burned there in the darkness.

  The Obsidian circled far around this city, staying well to the outside of it. Olivia realized he did that so the people down there would not see the telltale gleam of the moonlight on the glassy obsidian scales of the dragons, or hear the distinctive whistling, shearing sound of those same scales as the creatures flew through the air.

  At last The Obsidian came down to earth on the low hillsides just outside the town. His ten followers did the same. They landed under the cover of night just out of the sight and sound of the people of this place, though still close enough that the dragons could watch the people from their hiding place. Olivia slid down to earth and, after a long look at The Obsidian, knew what she had to do.

  She'd worn her same workout pants, t-shirt, and boots that she'd brought with her from the base. No Warmsuit and certainly no nakedness or grass skirt. Waiting until a few women were in sight, Olivia left the dragons hiding in the deep shadows of the hills and walked down the roadway to the edge of the settlement.

  This had once been a wonderful city, she could see, probably one of the most famous. But now the people lived in large buildings – which had probably once been high-rise hotels and condominiums – that had been hollowed out by the great destructive waves.Any other buildings, and any people inside of them would have simply been washed away and never seen again.

  A few young women stood near the end of the roadway where a makeshift barricade had been set up. The women stood talking and laughing with a few men who seemed to be guards posted to watch the road – the men had rifles slung over their shoulders – but right now they had their backs to the road and saw only the pretty girls who passed the time with them.