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5
MOHLAD
The warmth in my core fills my heart and my limbs. Joy such as I have never experienced. She is all I can think of. She is not only beautiful, but she is smart. I knew, the moment I ran into her, she was the one.
My brothers who have found their mates spoke of it, but in truth I didn’t believe them. The Order was all I have ever known. My earliest memories are of it. Training, drilling, preparing for the coming disaster. Which came just as the Eye had predicted.
The previous Eye. Not Kirmanda.
I suppress a growl. Kirmanda was evil. I saw it now, how he had perverted the Order to his own ends. Used us, all of us, to some nefarious purpose of his own that was not the intended purpose of the Order.
Still, in all my training, there was nothing about this. Nothing about the certainty that came when I saw her. The knowing that she was the one. My treasure. The almost overwhelming urge to grab onto her and protect her. To fight the entire world if needed to make sure she was perfect and happy. And safe.
Angota had coached me on this though. Guided me through those strong emotions and reminded me that the lessons learned in the Order still applied, no matter that Kirmanda had come and twisted them to his own ends.
I have been doing all the exercises and now the urges are under control. It is just as I was taught to keep things before. My mind ordered, to not give into the base instincts of the bijass, that primal fog that can cloud a Zmaj reason and make him little more than an animal.
Under control does not mean gone, though. Every time I look at her they surge, vying to seize control. When she fell from the guster and was in my arms, I had to hold her high enough to hide the arousal I had felt.
My cock was throbbing so hard I thought it might explode. I had struggled to not kiss her because Angota says the humans do not share the same mating customs we do. They do not know their mate on sight and often take time to understand what they want and what they feel.
How strange it must be to not know. Riley says that most humans do a ritual they call ‘dating’ which is seeing many people until they find one they feel is compatible with them. And even then, she said, they often get it wrong.
What an inefficient, silly way to find your mate. I suppose that is part of them being aliens. They did not have Tajss to love and care for them as we Zmaj have. Tajss provides, guiding us to where we need to be. Another thing that I have been dwelling on of late, at least since leaving the Order behind.
This must be where I need to be, but I had been wondering to what end. What my purpose in life was going to be now that I had left behind all that I knew. Now, now I know. Her.
She is my purpose. She is the reason Tajss guided me to this place, to these people. She is the missing half of my soul and even now, riding side by side, I feel more like I am whole. A piece of me I didn’t know was missing had been found and I am more than I was before.
The suns rise high above as we travel. We make small talk though I am not proficient in her language it seems to be passable enough for her to understand. When I ask about her family and the children I met in passing, she lights up. Seeing her so fills my heart to bursting. I had often dreamed of having a family of my own, one day, when the Order had restored proper life to Tajss.
As she tells me about each of them in turn I feel as if I truly know them myself. She has a large family and I want, with all my heart, to be a part of it. I was an only child. My parents were arrested for sedition when I was young which is how I ended up in the Order. They had sent me with instructions to the Eye who had taken me in.
That was so long ago that I can no longer remember what they look like or their actual names. Sometimes I think the fog of memory is the only healing we can count on.
“What colored is?” I ask her to clarify a point in her story she is telling.
She smiles but I don’t miss how red her face has become and she is no longer shedding water the way the humans normally do in the heat. She has been talking fast and now seems breathless.
“Colored is…” she starts but she trails off and her eyes drift closed.
She slumps in the saddle then the guster takes its next stride and she flops to the opposite side and begins to fall.
I jump and land on top of my saddle then leap up and over her guster using my wings to aid my flight. I land on the opposite side and grab her before she can fall. She’s limp in my arms, her breathing shallow, and her skin feels as if it’s on fire. The warmth of it radiates into my scales and though humans are usually warm to the touch, this is clearly way too much.
“Margaret,” I say, her name as I lay her down on the sand.
I press my hands to her face but she does not respond. I do not know for sure what is wrong but I can guess it is the way her body wastes moisture. Our packs are on the guster which have continued meandering along the path they were on.
I run to catch up to them. The alpha I was riding hears me coming and bursts into a run too. I curse and lean forward, opening my wings to catch the breeze as I pour on the speed. When I judge that I’m close enough I leap and glide.
I wanted to land in front of him but I misjudge the distance and know I’m not going to make it. I swing my tail and adjust my trajectory coming down on the saddle instead. I don’t bother trying to get my feet into the stirrups but lean ahead grasping for the reins. He bucks and I’m almost thrown, grabbing onto one of his spikes to keep myself on.
My legs slide with lack of purchase and I’m left clinging to the side of the beast while it snorts and tosses its head. It continues bucking trying to claim its freedom. Anger hits as fast as an oncoming sandstorm. I do not have time for this, Margaret needs me.
Balling up a fist I punch the guster in the side of its head. I hit it hard enough that the beast is stunned, stumbling to a stop. As it does so does her mount. I pull myself back up on top and grab the reins as I do.
I pull them back hard as I slip my feet into the stirrups. Tugging on the reins I get the guster turned back towards her then slap my heels against it until we’re galloping across the sand. I leap off and immediately dig into the packs. I pull out both a water bottle and a bound piece of leather.
