Page 69 of The Lost Child

I lunged toward her, afraid she wasn’t real.

An angry, snarling beast dove between us, growling and baring his fangs at me. He was golden all over his upper body with long, matted blond hair. His scales faded to black below the waist.

Another male draken!

And he was going to flay me alive.

“Nasi, no! He thinks I’m his mother!” The female smacked the male playfully, but her hand grabbed a wing joint and squeezed slightly.

The male grunted, but took a step away from me and toward her. “He is an unmated male. I do not like it.”

The female rolled her eyes and pushed the male away, holding out one clawed hand to me.

They weren’t beasts. They were drakens. Somehow I’d found them. Or they’d found me. Either way, I had succeeded. I’d done it!

“Mother, you must come quickly. My mate is dying and—”

“Careful there, settle down, sweetheart. I’m not your mother.” The female sat by my side, one hand resting on my bare chest. The male growled again, but she ignored him.

“This grouch is my mate, Nasi,” she said, pointing one claw at him, then back to herself. “And I’m Kaida. What is your name?”

“The master has always called me Canavar,” I admitted. I wondered if it was a name he gave me or not.

Kaida winced slightly, then smiled. “Canavar it is, then. Now, I’m certainly not your mother, but I think you may be the brother I’ve been searching for.”

My heart sank. Not my mother … wait. Brother?!

“Our mother was sold as a prisoner of war while pregnant with me. The man who came to own her said a young boy was with her. I think … I think that boy might be you.”

She said it so earnestly and stared at me with such hope that I almost believed her. I eyed her white coloring, something so familiar about it in my mind’s eye that I closed my eyes and tried to think back.

“I … don’t remember being a child,” I admitted, flushing a bit. “I only remember the master. I just left him.”

Nerissa’s face popped back into my head, unconscious and bleeding. I grasped the female—no, Kaida—by the arms, even as her mate bristled with anger.

“I left the master for my mate! She is wounded and the witches said only I could help her, but I don’t know how, so I came looking for you and—”

The enormity of my situation hit me all at once, frustrated tears gathering in my eyes. Kaida looked at me with such care and tenderness that it left me breathless.

“A mate?” she asked. “Oh goodness, there are more of us out here than anybody thinks.” She shot a look at her own mate. “Come, we will leave immediately.” Her hand shot out to feel my brow. “Are you feeling recovered?”

I waved her concerns away. “I am fine. My mate is not.”

The male called Nasi snorted with amusement, approval glowing in his eyes. I stood and stretched, trying to shake the lethargy from my legs and wings.

Kaida wrapped her arms around me. I jerked at first, unsure what she was doing. I had been quite clear that I already had a mate, and the grumpy male draken would hurt me for touching her. I had seen other pirates bump chests briefly, but never had they lingered on each other like Kaida did to me.

She pulled my body against hers, her arms grasping tightly around my neck as if I was the one who was likely to disappear, instead of her.

And it felt suffocating, a bit threatening, but also … nice. I remembered Nerissa doing this, and relaxed. It was a sign of comfort.

I carefully raised my arms to rest on her delicate shoulders, unsure if I was doing it right. To my horror, this only made tears well in her eyes.

“It’s called a hug, Canavar. It is a sign of affection.”

She drew away, wiping her eyes. I blinked, nodding slowly as I remembered Nerissa doing something similar on a few occasions.

Something inside of my chest ached and burned at the realization I had gone from no one caring about me to having a mate and now asisterin the blink of an eye.

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