Page 1 of Bitten in the Wild

Chapter One

Izora

Casimir and Melon’s egg was black and came up to my navel now. Slim black spikes stuck out in a ring around the egg’s equator. In the right lighting the egg shined like raven feathers. The hatchling growing inside sounded as healthy as any other Moonscale hatchling I ever eavesdropped on inside their egg. Melon tapped her toes against the soft padding of the nest. She wasn’t all that impressed with me. In fact, she only agreed to have me check in on the egg periodically at Casimir’s insistence. Apparently, in the Starscale Flight they only called in the healers if they thought something was wrong with the egg. Her problem was more with Casimir than me.He’sthe one who implied there was a problem. Well, at least that’s what he did in her mind. Iliked Casimir well enough and would check on the egg whenever the parents wanted, but I wasn’t going to bat for him against a nesting dragoness who merely tolerated my presence to make him shut up.

“Perfect eggling,” I stood upright and stepped out of the nest to find my shoes.

“Thanks, Iz,” Casimir nodded at me.

Heavy bags hung under his eyes. Those weren’t uncommon for first time sires, but Casimir was usually cool, calm, and collected. Still, the job was done, and I left them to it. They weren’t a couple. They had been playmates before in the purple district. When they conceived, they decided to co-parent. I didn’t know about a peaceful life, but their kid was definitely loved already.

My next stop was just down the hall inside the Medwin 2, Baby Caxlin. The son of our spaceship captain and his mate. Baby Caxlin was almost a week old now and had already shifted into his furry form a few times. When he did so, his star scale still shined bright on his chest. He was a Starscale just as much as he was a Moonscale. The couple moved back in to the bedroom almost as soon as he was born to avoid the bickering that was Melon and Casimir over their egg.

“Better him than us,”my dragon chuckled into my thoughts.

He wasn’t wrong about that. I knocked on the captain’s door and his mate, Axlin, answered almost immediately. He wore just the cod scale he usually wore on stage and I wondered if I interrupted something more than bonding time with the baby.

“Come in, Izora,” Castor said from the rocking chair in the corner.

It was the only piece of furniture inside the Medwin 2 not made to align with the magical gravity controls of the ship. The chair was an old family heirloom belonging to Axlin’s family. If his family’s lore was to be believed, his ancestors flew away fromEarthside with the chair strapped to one of their backs. Either way, Castor seemed to like it. Castor the carrier didn’t look any less fierce than Castor the Captain. He rocked his baby against his chest, but his eyes were more alert than ever.

“Don’t mind him,” Castor nodded at Axlin. “Remember clothes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be around here.”

“Ah, yes. The nudist dragons,” I winked at him.

“We’re not nudists. We’re naturalists. Actually, we’re more about keeping sovereignty over one’s own form, but that’s just picking apart details,” Axlin shrugged.

“Saves on laundry, I guess,” I shrugged and turned my attention to Castor and asked how he felt.

“Tired. He sleeps well enough, but every time I wake up and don’t hear him I have to check on him. He’s not far away, but still.”

“That’ll pass in time as he gets older,” I said, placing my hand on the baby’s back.

He stirred in his sleep. Over the Moonscale Flight link I saw the baby’s dreams. They were abstract blurs but the voices of his parents came through crystal clear. With only a little coaching, the captain passed him off for me to take a look at.

“What are your plans today?” Castor asked. “Going out, I suspect. Unless you want to hang around and referee those two in the dining room?”

“I’ve got the clearance back from both the medical council and Hush to go out and pick some mushies,” I informed him as I tested his wolf pup’s reflexes.

“Mushies?” Axlin looked up from the book he seemed to be reading whenever I came in to check on Castor and the baby. “You’re going to get high?”

“No,” I shook my head. “You might not know it, but the mushies are already used by Starscale healers in differentconcentrations to treat many things. I’d like to run my own experiments on them. All in the petri dishes, for now, of course.”

“Are you bored?” Axlin asked.

“I’m cooped up. House or no house. Pool or no pool. I need something to do and wandering around the forest looking for mushrooms seems like as good of a way to kill an afternoon as any other.”

“Don’t take the shrooms, Iz,” Castor laughed.

“No plans of it. Just a little change of pace. As you know, everything is flight friendly. So, if you need me, just yank on my tail,” I said, passing his healthy baby back to him.

“So?” Axlin looked up at me.

“So what?”

“The baby?” he arched a brow.

“He’s healthy,” Castor said before I had a chance to speak. “You’re always telling me to learn to use the Starscale link. I think you need to work on the Moonscale link while I do that.”

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