Page 5 of Accounting for Drakes

“Do it?”

“Yes. He showed me how.” She smiled calmly. “He didn’t mean to, but I understand it now.”

Mbrak looked at her seriously, and she could see the icy green glow from her skin. “Run, Abil.”

She nodded and ran. The sprint took her through sparsely populated areas, and when she got to the outer ring, she opened the airlock and stood inside. One last breath, and she hit the outer door release.

She fell out of the station, and the companion in her thoughts was delighted.We will be so pretty.

Another figure loomed, and she scowled. She was going to transform, and another stupid drake was getting in the way. He grabbed her and hauled her toward a small debris field left over from station construction.

He threw her toward the debris, and she felt the energy building. Remembering what she had learned, she let her attachment to her human form go and welcomed weightlessness. Her drake did the rest.

The wings were wonderful. They took in the light from stars and suns and let her move. She swept along, and the other drake was pacing along with her.

She curled and flexed, stretched and flew through space. This is what she was for. She didn’t need a mate. She was fine to be on her own. Now, her grandfather didn’t need to worry. She was finally whole.

Abil turned and flew back toward the station, snagging a small object in her claws before building up speed and going through the magnetic defenses of the dock in her human form.

She was naked. That wasn’t mentioned in the other drake’s thoughts.

The footfalls behind her made her turn, and she frowned. “How do you keep the clothes?”

He smiled. “If you come with me, I will tell you.”

“Come with you?”

“To my home. Come with me.”

She frowned. “I will take it all.”

He grinned. “You can try.”

“I will succeed.” She was trying to warn him.

He walked up to her. “I have worlds upon worlds.”

He grabbed her biceps and lifted her. When there was a centimetre between them, she whispered, “Not an efficient storage arrangement. I will do better.”

The kiss surprised her. It roared through her system and flared along her nerve endings.

She heard Mbrak calling, but the kiss went on and on. The taste of him was something she couldn’t describe, but it was comforting. She clutched at the embroidered tunic that he was wearing and felt him smile against her lips.

She backed up. “Laughing at me?”

“Happy to have found you. I have dreamed of you but never guessed that the old blue bastard had someone like you hidden.”

“I have never been hidden. I have always been right here.” She pulled up her clipboard and stepped away from him. “And he is not an old blue bastard. He is my grandfather and my friend.”

Mbrak sighed. “I have a wrap for you, Abil.”

She walked toward her kin, and he put a blanket around her shoulders. “Thank you.”

Mbrak smiled and put his palm on the top of her head. “Your language is better.”

She pointed back toward the other drake. “He linked to me first. I didn’t do it.”

“I know you didn’t, little girl. Go shower and head to bed.”

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