“Shit!” one of the men yells. I hear the sound of scrambling coming from the stairwell.

The dragon hefts to his feet, roaring again. I’m clutched fast in his talons, and they dig into my skin as he extends his wings. I bite back a yelp as we lift into the air, just as the men run onto the ruined floor that’s been my home for the last day. We go higher and higher into the air, Kael roaring fury. I cling to him, terrified he’ll drop me far below. We’re up so high, and I’ve got nothing to hold on to except for a slippery dragon. All I can hope is that he won’t drop me in one of his less lucid moments.

As we rise, the building below us gets smaller, and I see the men stop and raise their guns. What the hell are they doing? Guns are useless against dragon-scale. That was one reason why humanity hadn’t stood a chance against the draconic invasion.

Shots ring out, the quick rat-tat-tat-tat of automatic rifles.

I scream, ducking my head and trying to protect it with my hands. Something hot scorches a path on my arm - I’ve been hit.

Are they firing at me and not the dragon?

A terrible roar sounds through the air, so loud that I feel as if my ears might explode from the thunder of it. It rips out of Kael’s throat, so forceful that I can feel it in his claws, and then we’re turning suddenly in midair, diving back toward the men with guns.

Oh no. No no no no.

I squeeze my eyes closed as we dive, helpless. I can feel the wind shift as Kael swoops low. More bullets ring out.

There’s an awful scream and the crunch of bones, and then the air changes again. We’re rising. More gunfire whizzes past. I squeeze an eye open just in time to see Kael spit out half of one of the soldiers, the body tumbling through the air. He begins to whirl around again, ready to dive on the remaining soldiers.

My stomach clenches in horror. “Oh no,” I moan. “Please, no.”

The dragon abruptly changes directions.

One moment, we’re diving at the remaining soldiers. The next, Kael’s wings are beating hard and we’re soaring back up into the air. He gives another trumpeting warning and blasts fire at the building. Not enough to hit anyone, just a show of his wrath. I watch the building get smaller and smaller as we go up, and the soldiers turn into ants. The lone red banner flaps in the breeze, and I feel odd leaving it behind.

Kael stopped his attack. He heard me say no and he stopped.

I don’t know how to react. I’m relieved, of course, but do I praise him? Thanks for only chomping one soldier in half? Talk as if it’s nothing? Don’t mention it at all? I stroke his scaly skin, a jumble of emotions tearing me up inside. He’s just killed a man. Bit him in half. But he didn’t attack first, either. He had just tried to leave with me, and he only lost his shit when they shot at us.

Shot at me.

Bile churning in my throat, I gaze down at the landscape below. We’re high in the air, Kael circling over the ruins of Old Dallas. From up here, the crumble of buildings is peaceful and pretty, in a disorganized sort of way. They look like children’s blocks that have taken a tumble, not a scattered ruin of a city. Greenery snakes over the jagged edges of the streets, crawling over railings and filling in cracks, messing up the perfect lines of the old highways. From up here, it’s kind of neat…if you ignore the fact that I’m dangling—naked—from the claws of a killer dragon over a thousand feet into the air.

As it is, I just want to know where he’s taking me and how I’m going to get home again.

We fly for a while, until my empty, churning stomach starts to protest. I look up at Kael’s draconic face, trying to gauge his mood. His jagged teeth are still curled in a half snarl, as if ready to attack. His eyes are still fully black.

So we’re still not good…but my stomach is also not good. I think of the soldiers, and the way he’s treated me in comparison to them. He’s been nothing but caring to me, even when his eyes are black.

I pat his foreleg, deciding to take a chance. “I need down, Kael. Please.”

He glances down at me, dragon eyes whirling with emotion.

“Down, please. I know you don’t understand me, but I want down.” I point at the nearest building down below. It’s busted up and missing a lot of windows, but I don’t care. It’s a place to set down.

He begins to circle it, descending, and I feel a surge of relief. I glance up, and it seems like his eyes are leaching slowly to gold, and so I stroke his scales and murmur about how happy this makes me, keeping my voice soothing as we move closer to the building. It’s a mess, of course. Just about every building in Old Dallas is. The top floor has caved in, revealing a maze of walls and a suite of rooms and desks, all destroyed and overgrown with vines. Some sort of penthouse office? I don’t care. I just want down.

Kael picks a spot and descends, flattening out his wings to ease our landing, then tucks them against his body. There’s an enormous hole in the roof, and he moves down into it. We thump onto the office floor a moment later, my head bouncing against his chest scales. He extends his foreleg and ever so gently releases me.

I wobble for a few steps. Okay, more like stagger. But I’m on solid ground, and that’s something. I can breathe easier. I look over at Kael, and his eyes are still swirling too close to black, his triangular ears pricked alert, teeth exposed in his snarl. His tail lashes wildly.

Still furious.

I have to calm him before I can relax. I raise a hand and slowly move closer to him again. “You can relax now, big guy. No one’s here. I promise.”

His black gaze focuses on me, and his tail lashes a little less roughly than before. The big head lowers toward my extended hand, as if seeking my touch.

“I’ll touch you,” I say in a soothing voice. “But I need that black to leave your eyes. Can you do that?”

He butts his head against my hand, movements jerky.

I pull back, alarmed. “Calm, okay?”

The eyes focus on me again, and then, as I watch, they flick to the gold-on-gold. Just briefly, but I know it’s in there.

“Good,” I soothe. “That’s real good. You don’t want to hurt me, right? Claudia’s your friend. You’re just a little wigged out that the others came after us with guns.” Well, came after me with guns. “You thought they were going to hurt me and so you went into protection mode, which is great. But now we’re safe and you can relax, I promise.” I know he can’t understand what I’m saying, but the sound of my voice seems to be helping. His eyes are flicking between black and gold still, but now they’re more gold than black. “We’re okay. Claudia’s safe now. Kael’s safe.”