Veronica's Dragon (Icehome, #2)

by Ruby Dixon

As a gladiator, I have been sold to many different masters over the years and held in many different types of pens.

My wings are clipped, of course—courtesy of my first master—but I am still fast on four legs. And I can eat anyone that stands in my way. I can do anything I want if I am not collared.

I wait. After all, another master is just another master. But if they are going to give me a female… I would stay for a female, I decide. Being chosen as a breeding slave is a great honor, in a way. It means you are valuable enough that they want more of you. It means you are the best of fighters, the strongest, the fiercest. I know I am all these things, but I have never been chosen for breeding before.

Ah, I like this one. So bold. I send a mental feeler to her, but it attaches to nothing. She is not psychic. Not yet. But if I give her my fires, that changes everything. I spread my arms wide and grin at her, letting her get a fine look at my naked form. "Shall you come claim me for yourself then, pretty one? Shall we battle?"

I listen absently, making note of the big details. Khui for survival. Ice-world. No rescue. Freedom from slavery. That last part I will have trouble believing. Slavers are one of the few sureties in life.

"If we are claiming females, the clumsy one is mine," I say quickly. "If another male so much as looks at her, I will rip his throat out with my fangs." And I display them just so they know I am not joking.

"What if the females invite us to mate them?" "Then you may mate them." He rubs his brow. "What if…" one of the a'ani begins, sitting up straighter. "What if one trips and falls and lands upon my cock? Can I mate her if she is on me?" This seems like a valid question. I look at the leader. For some reason, he has both of his hands over his face. "No," he says flatly. "No one will trip and fall upon your cock." "They might," I add. "You never know."

"I am doing this wrong, am I not? You are the first female I have ever met. I do not know how to talk to you." I prop up on my elbows, surprised at this admission. "You what? I'm the first girl you've ever met?" "Yes." "But you met the others. You talked to Liz and Harlow—" "Bah. They do not count." Well now, I feel oddly flattered. "Pro tip for you, then, buddy—you don't go up to women and tell them you want to mate them. That's not how it works." "I am being patient, though. I'm wearing a loincloth and asking."

"You need to leave the females alone, golden one." "It's okay," I say quickly. "We're just sharing body warmth. Nothing sexy." "We are not mating yet," Ashtar reassures him loudly. "I am wearing a loincloth."

"Jesus, if she doesn't want to mate with you, I will," Bridget mutters. "Just stay under this blanket." I reach out to smack her hand in the dark.

"Oh no," I moan. The expression on his face can only be called “utterly delighted.” "Oh yes."

"I am told your people do not battle to show mating urges. This is true?" Erm? He's giving me an intense look, and I realize he's utterly serious. "Battle? No. If we want to mate we show it in other ways. Nice ways." "Nice ways?" "Kissing. Flowers. Gifts. Things like that." He looks intrigued. "Gifts. I can do those. Tell me who your enemies are and I will bring you their heads."

"You do know back on Earth I'm not special to anyone, right?" "Ah, my Veronica," he murmurs, voice low and just a little bit rumbly with the force of his cootie. "You do not have to be special to everyone. Just to me."

As a gladiator and a slave, I had to adapt quickly. There was no time for me to adjust to things. I simply learned or died.

"I'll be your friend." He just pulls me closer. "You are my everything."

There's nothing sexy about survival, I remind myself. Lots of necessary things, but not many sexy things.

Perhaps that is why the khui gave her to me—I can be the protective, fierce one. She can be the nurturer, the sweetness to my rage. I like this.

"You're the other half of me," I tell her, hands on my hips. "We are a mated pairing. I will die if you die, because I will not want to go on."

I get that you're protective, but you have to let me be free to be me, as well."

"What am I going to do with you, Ashtar?" "Anything you like, if I am lucky."

What is normal anymore?" I spread my arms wide, indicating our surroundings. "We are both stranded on a planet of endless winter with strangers who wear animal skins and have been told to mate by a parasite. What in this seems normal in the slightest?"

"I just…when I see another arrive, I think they will take you away from me. That all I have been given on this world will be ripped from my arms." "You're breaking my heart," I tell him softly. "No one's going to separate us. I won't let them." "Sometimes you do not have a choice."

"You are perfect in my eyes, my fires," Ashtar says calmly, his cootie singing to me the moment he touches me. "But your feet are graceless blocks."

"There are things that happen in a drakoni mating that are not…usual." "What, like anal?" I'm not sure I'm down with the brown hole, but I love him so much I'm willing to give it a shot. "No, I…wait. What is anal?" He tilts his head and looks so curious that I'm torn between laughing and crying. "It's sex in the wrong hole. That's not what you meant?" He looks shocked. "Humans do that?" Then his eyes flare a deep gold of arousal. "Would you do that with me?"

Best day ever? I tease. No. He looks up at me. That was when I met you. Mine, too.