Maud gripped her sword, unsure if it was over. She had to make sure. She started forward, aiming for its face.

Arland rose out of the gore, jumped up onto the dragon’s head, and raised his mace, gripping it with both hands. They hit it at the same time. She sank her blade as deep as it would go in its remaining eye, while he crushed its skull with repeated blows.

They stared at each other, both bloody.

Helen hugged Maud’s leg, her lip trembling. Arland slid off the dragon’s ruined head and clamped them to him.

His voice came out strained. “I thought I lost you both.”

Maud raised her head and kissed him, blood and all, not caring who was watching or what they thought.

18

Maud knocked on the door separating Arland’s quarters from the passageway leading to her rooms. Yesterday she would have hesitated. Today she didn’t even pause.

The door swung open. Arland stood on the other side, barefoot and out of armor, wearing a black shirt over loose black pants. His hair was damp, and he’d pulled it back into a loose ponytail. He must’ve just stepped out of the shower. The afternoon had turned into evening, and the light of the sunset tinted the room behind him with purple, red, and deep turquoise.

His gaze snagged on her. She was wearing a white robe of fonari spider silk, its fabric so thin and light, she barely felt it. The wide sleeves fell over her arms like a cloud. She’d cinched the robe at the waist with the belt, but it was cut so wide that the voluminous skirt swept the ground behind her, the gossamer silk swirling at the slightest breeze. When the light caught it just right, it shimmered, nearly translucent.

The robe was a Christmas gift from Dina. Her sister had handed her the gift, smiled, and walked away, giving Maud her privacy. Maud had opened the gilded box and stared. At the time it seemed like an unbelievable luxury. On Karhari it would have paid for a year of water for her and Helen.

She’d touched the robe, feeling the delicate fabric, and it stirred something inside her, something gentle and fragile she had hidden deep within her soul to survive, the part of her that loved beautiful clothes, and flowers, and long soaks in the bath. Something she’d thought she lost forever that first night on Karhari, when she cut off her hair and sat alone on the floor among the dark locks and cried. Now, that part came awake and it hurt, and she’d cried again from pain and relief.

She wished so much she’d had her hair now.

Arland opened his mouth.

Nothing came out. He just looked at her. An exhilarating flash of female satisfaction surged through her.

Silence stretched.

“Arland?”

He closed his mouth and opened it again. “How is Helen?”

“Very tired. We washed all of the blood off and she fell asleep.”

“Understandable. She was fighting for her life.” His voice trailed off.

“Arland?”

“Yes?”

“Can I come in?”

He blinked and stepped aside. “Apparently, I lost my manners somewhere on the hunt. My deepest apologies.”

She swept past him into the room.

He shut the door and turned to her. “Have you sustained any inju—”

She put her arms around his neck and stood on her toes. Her lips met his, and he held very still.

Does he not want me?

Arland’s arms closed around her. He spun her, and her back pressed into the door. His rough fingers slid along her cheek, caressing her skin. She looked into his blue eyes and caught her breath. His eyes were hot with lust, need, and hunger, all swirled together and sharpened with a hint of predatory anticipation.

His lips trembled in the beginning of a growl. He smiled wide, showing his fangs, and lowered his mouth to hers. Her instincts screamed in panic, not sure if she was mate or prey, but she had waited so long for this and she met him halfway.

They came together like two clashing blades. His mouth sealed on hers and she opened for him, desperate to connect, to feel him, to taste…His tongue glided over hers. He tasted of mint and warm spice. His fangs rasped against her lip.

Her head swam. She felt light, and strong, and wanted…

He kissed her deeper, his big body bracing hers. She nipped his lip. A snarl rumbled deep in his throat, the sound a predatory warning, or maybe a purr, she wasn’t sure. He kissed the corner of her mouth, her lips, her chin, her neck, painting a line of heat and desire on her skin. She was shaking with need now.

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” he groaned.

“So have I.”

“Why now?”

He was kissing her neck again, each touch of his lips a burst of pleasure. She could barely think, but she answered anyway. “We almost died today. I can’t wait any longer. I don’t want to be careful, I don’t want to think about the consequences or things going wrong. I just want you. I want you more than anything.”

“You have me.”

“Always?”

“Always,” he promised.

Maud stretched, sliding her foot along the heated length of Arland’s leg. He pulled her tighter to his body. Her head rested on his chest.

“What were they? The creatures.”

“The closest thing to Mukama in my generation. On the vampire home world, there were predatory apes, like us, but not quite us. A distant relative, less intelligent, more feral, more vicious.”

“Primitive?”

“Yes. The Mukona, the creatures that attacked us, are the Mukama’s primeval cousins. They are to the Mukama what feral apes are to us. An earlier evolutionary branch that didn’t grow. Daesyn is the birth place of the Mukama, after all. The Mukona possess rudimentary intelligence, more of a predatory cunning, really, and inhabit caves deep below the planet’s surface. When we took over the planet, we had hunted them to extinction, or so we thought. Apparently we were mistaken.”

“There were three of them,” Maud said. “A mated pair and an offspring?”

“I don’t know. Possibly. I’d never seen one before today. I’d heard stories.” He made a low growl. “Once this damn wedding is over, we’ll have to send survey drones into the caverns. Find out how many of them there are, and if any are left, we’ll have to take measures to preserve them.”

She raised her head and looked at him.

He smiled at her. “Today we are legends. We killed a Mukona, the next thing to the Mukama, the ancient enemy, the devourers of children, the cosmic butchers who almost exterminated us. Once the word gets out, every House will be beating on our door for a chance to hunt one. They really are magnificent beasts. We have to protect their future and manage their numbers. I have no idea what brought them to the surface for this hunt, but whatever it was ensured its place in history. Oh well, at least something good will come out of this wedding.”

“It was Helen,” Maud said.

He frowned.

“When I was a little girl, a Mukama came to stay at our inn.”

Arland jerked upright in the bed. “A living Mukama?”

“Well yes, it wasn’t a dead one that somebody brought with them. No, he was very much alive and wanted a room. They are out there somewhere, Arland. Think about it. They were an interstellar civilization with an armada of ships. You didn’t really think you got them all, did you?”

“Yes, I kind of did. What happened?”

Maud sighed. “I was very young, so I only remember bits and pieces. My brother told me most of it. He is older than me by three years and he saw the whole thing. He had nightmares for years after. The inn had lain dormant for a long time and my parents had just recently become its innkeepers. They were not in a position to turn down guests, and when the Mukama came, he was brimming with magic. The inn desperately needed sustenance and giving him a room would go a long way to restore the inn’s strength.”

“I understand,” he said. “That’s why your sister agreed to host our peace summit after everyone else turned us down.”

Maud nodded. “My parents offered him quarters with a separate exit, completely away from all the other guests, on the condition that he refrain from harming anyone. Supposedly, I had walked into the garden at this point. I was maybe five. I should remember it, but I don’t. All I recall is a monster chasing me through the garden. And then there were teeth. Really scary teeth.”

She slid deeper under the blanket. Arland lowered himself back down next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“I was running for my life and then my father stepped onto the path in front of me. His robe was black, and his eyes and his broom were glowing with blue light. I ran behind him and kept running, and then there was this awful roar. My parents had restrained the Mukama. It had taken all of their combined power and everything the inn had. When my father demanded to know why he shouldn’t just kill the Mukama now, the creature told him that it couldn’t help itself. That I was full of magic and he would do anything to devour me. He offered them a fortune. He told them they could always make more children, but it was vital that he be allowed to eat me.”

Arland swore.

“He raved about it. My father was worried that they wouldn’t be able to contain him, and he appealed to the Innkeeper Assembly. They sent the ad-hal and the ad-hal took him away. That’s why the Mukama are barred from inns.”