Zara fell immediately into deep sleep. She dreamed of nothing. She woke with a start a few hours later by her estimation. The sun was much higher in the sky than it had been. Zara stretched, instantly noting that she felt much better than she had before.
Much better, but also very strange. She felt different. As if her body had come alive. She felt extremely aware of where the sheet dragged against her skin. She lay in a black bra and panties. Whenever the Surgere got close enough to civilization to restock on supplies, Keiko and Zara always insisted on new underclothes. Neither of them minded living in the jungle. But a girl’s got to have some standards. But the familiar underclothes felt different on her body than usual. They tugged and zipped along her skin. Every touch was a zinging tickle that raced through her. Zara moved to swing her feet over the edge of the cot, but instantly froze. There was a new sensation. Down there.
Reaching down, Zara slowly, so slowly, dragged the sheet aside. She hooked one finger into her underwear and pulled it aside. She gasped into the silence of her little secluded hut. Her chastity scales were gone. She was bare. She was open for business, so to speak. She was… pink.
Zara leaned forward and spread her legs to inspect herself and was quite pleased with what she saw. Delicate, smooth flesh peeked out at her. And so sensitive. A zippy feeling whipped through her when she pressed her thighs closed against herself.
Curious, Zara tentatively smoothed one palm over her thigh, skating her fingers over herself. She gasped at the sensation. She had honestly never felt anything like that in her life. It was like electricity. Heat. Tension. All rolled into one.
She teased her fingers over herself again and this time she let herself linger. Explore. The feeling came back again, stronger, licking through her. And this time an image popped into Zara’s brain. A strange image, one she’d never really thought of before. Two people kissing. Pressing against one another in the night. The air was hot around them so they sweat as they rolled over one another, naked skin against naked skin.
Zara’s eyes popped open. Why was she thinking about that? She never thought about stuff like that. She probably should stop. She knew that. She should go find Keiko and tell her that she’d reached her fertility season. But almost of their own volition, Zara’s fingers feathered over herself again.
This time, Zara’s head fell back and she didn’t try and stop the images that popped into her head. She let her hand move over herself. She was surprised when a tingling wetness started to seep onto her fingers, but whatever feeling was rising inside of her was too good to stop and question. So Zara pressed her eyes closed and let the images come. A man in the moonlight. A bare chest. Sheets tangled across him. Her on her back. A man’s hard, heavy hips pressing her into the ground. Soft hair, strong hands. Pressing. Holding. Lifting. Breath on her lips.
Zara rose and rose. Her muscles tightened and she couldn’t stop them. Didn’t want to. In her mind the man grabbed her by the shoulders, pressed her back onto a bed, let his hands wander over her body. He raised his head and looked up at her face. His eyes were midnight blue.
Just like Solar’s.
Zara yelped and whipped her hands away from herself as she realized she’d been thinking about him. While she touched herself. Heat crept up her cheeks and she quickly reached for the canteen. She gulped water, needing to tamp down the racing heat that still zipped through her. What to do?
Zara was practically wringing her hands when the feral, furious roar of a dragon split the silence of her secluded cabin in two. She nearly jumped out of her skin. She knew that roar. That was Solar’s roar. For a split second she had the terrifying thought that he knew about the things she was just thinking about, but she dismissed it. Couldn’t be.
So then why was he roaring in her front yard? Holding the sheet around herself, Zara slinked forward to peek out the front door of her hut.
There he was. Gorgeous and gleaming deep blue in the sunlight. It almost seemed like all the light was drawn to him. She couldn’t help but watch the deep blue dragon that was rearing back and swinging his tail.
At another dragon.
Oh god. Solar was fighting another dragon in her front yard. It was a smaller dragon. She recognized him. Lighter blue, lithe, quick on his feet. It was Rafael.
Zara glanced down at her newly bare self and realized that they must know somehow. They must know that she’d reached her season. Rafael was coming to mate her just like she’d feared. And Solar was protecting her just like he promised. Zara felt something swell inside her chest but she couldn’t say what it was. Gratitude mixed in with fear and confusion.
Rafael feinted from one side to the other, trying to slip past Solar. But the young dragon roared in distress when Solar brought the weight of his heavily spiked tail down on Rafael’s back. Not enough to really hurt him, but enough to bring him to the ground. Rafael slid in the dirt. Solar lifted his tail just a smidge and Rafael immediately flipped on his back, and shifted back into his human form.