Dragon Blood

Chapter 44

They had been walking for over an hour, crossing over three miles and going deeper and deeper into the mountains. To her amazement, Rhia's legs never cramped. Her feet never got tired, she never lost her footing, and her heart rate never seemed to rise higher than a normal sixty beats per minute. Finally, an advantage to the magic.

"How are you doing back there?" Juniper called from a good ten meters ahead.

Rhia looked up at the woman. She was gorgeous. Taller than Rhia at five-eleven and towering over her in the pair of six-inch stiletto boots that she somehow managed to keep her balance in despite the rocky terrain. Her eyes were a bright violet colour, close to the colour of Keoni's. Her blonde hair was made up of messy curls barely contained by an elastic.

"How much further?" Rhia called.

"We keep walking until you're ready to talk."

"Talk about what?"

"Anything you want. I'll answer every question you have."

Rhia caught up to her at the top of the ridge and looked out over the rise and fall of the Californian mountains. "This... heat thing." She said slowly. "How long does it last?"

"About a week. Might be a little shorter since it's your first."

She ran her hands through her hair and chewed her lip. The fire between her legs had lessened, but still persistent. "God, I feel like a fifteen-year-old who just discovered the showerhead."

Juniper laughed. "Your body is screaming for you to mate. It smells a male and sheds all those pesky heat pheromones. Men are stupid. Once it gets in their system, they can't get you out of their heads and they start getting aggressive. Nolan can be forgiven, being a vampire and all. Atticus must be real young to not recognize it. And Dáithí... Dáithí should have known better."

"I was... dreaming about him in his other form. How fucked up is that?"

"You were dreaming about Dáithí in his serpent skin?"

"Is that... uncommon?"

"Heat dreams are common enough," she said slowly, frowning. "I've found they usually happen in humanoid forms. Only the really old kin and the dragons mate in their true forms nowadays. But stranger things have happened."

"Please tell me it gets easier... God it can't always be so... relentless?"

"It isn't. Well, not really. You'll get used to it over time, but the first one is always the worst. Even if you know it's coming. My first heat, I kept fantasizing about making my way through the college football team."

"Don't know about a football team. But a foursome with a vampire, a shifter, and a dragonkin was starting to sound pretty appealing."

"I have to say, you were handling it quite well when I got there." Juniper chuckled. "I was with Dáithí during my first. He had to chain me to the bed so he could get a break."

"Wait... you and Dáithí were..."

"For ten years. Some of the best years of my life right up to the end."

"What happened?"

"I'm sure you've noticed, he's an intense, black and white sort of guy. Unbound good, bound bad, dragons even worse. I grew up unbound. My powers awoke unbound. I wanted to know what the other side was like. He saw it as a betrayal and kicked me out right then and there. He got real nasty when I tried to explain. I took the hint and took off. We haven't seen each other since."

"That's what you meant by closing the door on your past?"

Those golden curls bounced with her nodding head. "Dáithí was... he is the most passionate man I've ever met. He carries all that intensity into everything he does. He made me feel like I was queen of the world right up to that final moment."