To Love A Dragon; Venys Needs Men Read online

  To Love a Dragon

  Venys Needs Men

  Tiffany Roberts

  Contents

  Blurb

  Venys - Land of the Comet

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Venys Needs Men Collaboration

  Also by Tiffany Roberts

  About the Author

  Blurb

  Her scent lured a dragon, yet it is her heart he wants to claim.

  In a single night of terror, everything Leyloni knows and loves is destroyed—her home left in flames, her friends and family dead, her way of life erased. She flees with the only other survivor, a baby named Serek. In a world where males are rarely born, Serek is precious beyond measure, and Leyloni must put aside her grief and pain to take him somewhere safe.

  The only sanctuary she knows of is a friendly village on the far side of the Endless Forest.

  It is a harrowing journey for a huntress to make on her own, more so with a babe. But Leyloni soon realizes she is not alone—she is being stalked by something far more dangerous than any raiders.

  The beast is massive with a scaled hide, wicked claws, and sharp teeth. His eyes are like violet lightning, his roar like thunder.

  He is a dragon.

  And he intends to make her his.

  Copyright © 2020 by Tiffany Freund and Robert Freund Jr.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, including scanning, photocopying, uploading, and distribution of this book via any other electronic means without the permission of the author and is illegal, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publishers at the address below.

  Tiffany Roberts

  [email protected]

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Illustration 2020 by Cameron Kamenicky

  Created with Vellum

  To the dragon I love. Rwar.

  1

  Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the boughs overhead thrashed in the strengthening wind. The small hairs on Leyloni’s arms stood on end. Any hope she might have held that the storm would change directions was gone. The dread she’d harbored for three days took on new weight, sinking deeper into her belly. Such a storm would’ve been punishing even if she were on her own, but she had one-year-old Serek to protect now. His cries were piercing even over the howling wind.

  Leyloni willed her legs to move faster. Her muscles burned, her breaths were ragged, and her throat was raw and dry. She was beyond exhausted, but she could not stop, would not stop. Not yet. Not when—

  Her foot snagged on a root.

  Gasping, Leyloni clutched Serek to her chest with one arm and threw the other out, battling to catch her balance through several stumbling steps. Her momentum carried her onto a patch of bare rock. The impact of her feet slamming on stone rattled Leyloni down to her bones and made Serek’s cries shriller.

  When she finally came to a halt—thankfully still standing upright—she pressed her face into his hair and squeezed her eyes shut. “Shhh. We must be quiet, Serek. Please.”

  He squirmed, loosening the blanket she’d wrapped him in, and cried even louder than before.

  Tears pricked Leyloni’s eyes. Images raced through her mind—flashes of fire, blood, and lifeless stares. She clenched her teeth and squeezed Serek’s blanket in her fist.

  No! Now is not the time to remember, not the time to mourn.

  They needed shelter, a place to hide and rest, a place to be safe, if only for a short while. They could not risk staying in one place for long; there was too great a chance that they were being followed. But with this storm coming…

  She opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. The towering trees, lush undergrowth, and moss-covered rocks around her were being slowly shrouded by deepening gloom. Even on a clear day, it was difficult to see far within the Endless Forest. The storm was only making it harder. The greenery that normally seemed so familiar and soothing had taken on an ominous air. Normally, it would have stood in contrast to the death and destruction she’d left behind her, but now it only served to remind her of it.

  Lightning flashed, and deep, rolling thunder followed soon after, shaking the ground and making Serek start. His cries fell silent for a moment before resuming with renewed vigor. Leyloni slung his blanket over her shoulder and held him just a little closer.

  “Shhh. It is okay, little one. I am here. I will not let any harm befall you,” she soothed, bouncing him gently and stroking his back. She moved a hand to his bottom, meaning to lift him higher, only to find his diaper cloth soaking wet.

  Leyloni cringed and whispered, “I am so, so sorry.”

  She turned toward the stream she had seen earlier, carefully picking a path over fallen, rotting tree limbs and mossy rocks. The wind rustled the undergrowth around her and made her skirt and hair flutter. It carried the scent of rain.

  Fortunately, the stream’s course didn’t deviate wildly from the last point at which she’d glimpsed it, and she soon arrived at its bank. Even this close, the stream was barely audible over the wind and thrashing vegetation.

  She knelt beside the water, which flowed down a gentle slope over numerous dark rocks, and carefully laid Serek down atop his blanket on the soft layer of fallen leaves carpeting the ground. Her fingers felt clumsy and numb as she removed his soiled diaper cloth, unable to match the urgency that had her mind racing. Every moment was precious; she couldn’t waste any time.

  If only she had helped care for the tribe’s children more often. If only she had paid more attention.

  She swung her satchel to her front, opened it, and pulled out one of the spare diaper cloths she’d cut from her skirt two days before. Serek rolled onto his belly and began crawling away from her as she unfolded the cloth.

  “You cannot just wander off, Serek.” Setting the diaper cloth on the blanket, Leyloni caught the baby, flipped him over, and gently laid him on his back again. “It is too dangerous for one as little as you. I am taking care of you.”

  But Serek continued to cry despite her reassurances. His face was red, his eyes watery, his nose dripping with snot.

  Leyloni frowned. She used a corner of the clean diaper cloth to wipe his eyes and nose, not relenting as he tried to bat her hand away and turn his face aside.

  Once she’d wrapped the new cloth around his bottom, she plucked up the soiled diaper cloth, plunged it into the water, and scrubbed it using the sand and rocks on the streambed.

  Serek crawled to Leyloni, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pinching her arm in his struggle to climb on top of her. Leyloni hurriedly wrung out the wet diaper cloth, shoved it into her bag, and pulled the baby into her lap. His tortured, teary eyes met hers.

  Leyloni’s heart lurched. His big, dark brown e
yes were so like his mother’s. Atalla had been utterly devoted to her son—and she’d been Leyloni’s dearest friend since childhood.

  Leyloni brushed Serek’s tears away with her thumbs. The gesture was enough to quiet him, and his cries finally gave way to soft hiccups. “Everything will be okay, Serek. I…I know I am not your mother, but I will take care of you. I promise.” She cupped her hand, dipped it into the stream, and raised it to his lips, helping him drink. “And when we reach the Snow Tree tribe, they will spoil you because you are male, and that makes you special. You are our hope. Our future.”

  Somewhere close—much too close—the undergrowth shook, and several branches snapped. The sounds came in quick succession and stopped abruptly. They seemed somehow apart from those created by the wind.

  Heartbeat quickening, Leyloni set Serek behind her, drew her knife, and fixed her gaze on the direction from which the sounds had come.

  The forest ahead was much the same as everywhere else—a mess of huge trees, dangling moss and vines, undergrowth so tangled, thick, and tall in some places that it seemed impenetrable, exposed roots and chunks of dark rock. Years of hunting had taught her to spot even the smallest hints of movement amidst the forest vegetation, but the wind had everything swaying wildly now, making it impossible to pick out any specific motion.

  Forcing her breaths to come slow and measured, she watched and listened. As though the attack on her village, her panicked flight through the woods with a baby in her arms, and the imminent storm weren’t enough, was fate about to place some ravenous beast in her path?

  Serek remained blessedly quiet, but Leyloni’s pounding heart filled in for his silence. Her skin crawled, the hairs on the back of her neck rose, and scalding heat built in her chest. She knew this sensation—there were eyes upon her from somewhere in the undergrowth. Predatory eyes.

  She waited, remaining vigilant and counting her heartbeats. When nothing had moved by the time she’d reached two hundred, she released a slow, shaky breath. There had likely been some small, curious creature watching her—and it had likely been even more frightened than Leyloni.

  Glancing at Serek to ensure he was still with her, she sheathed her knife and shifted her satchel to hang at her back. She kept her eyes scanning the forest as she leaned down to drink from the river and wash her face. It was only as she was refilling her waterskin that her tension eased.

  Weariness swept through her on the heels of her fading alarm. She wanted nothing more than to stop here, to sit back against a tree and sleep, but she could not do so. She had to keep moving.

  Leyloni snatched up the blanket and pushed herself onto her feet. Serek was in the process of crawling away again. She bent down, snatched him up, and wrapped the blanket around his lower body. He held a stick in his little fist. Staring at her wide-eyed, he raised the stick to his mouth and bit down on it.

  With a sigh, Leyloni carefully extracted the stick from his grasp and tossed it away. He immediately started crying. Tears flowed down his pinkened cheeks as he reached forward to grab at her top, tugging at the garment in an attempt to reach her breasts just as he had several times before.

  “I know. I am hungry, too.” Cupping the back of his head with one hand, she settled him down against her shoulder and walked along the streambank.

  She lost all sense of time as she trudged onward, using all her willpower to keeping her exhausted, aching body in motion while keeping watch for suitable shelter and something to eat.

  A splash of bright color flitted through her vision, but it took her mind a few moments to catch up with what that meant. Leyloni forced her eyes back toward the color to find several orange sunfruits dangling from a low bough over the bank. Her breath hitched, and she staggered to a jarring stop. Just the sight of the fruit was enough to make her mouth water, even if sunfruit wasn’t quite in season yet.

  When she’d been forced to flee her village, she’d had time only to grab her satchel, and it had not been packed for a long journey. What little food it had contained had gone to Serek.

  This…this was a blessing from Mother Eurynome.

  Leyloni glanced back, scanning the woods for any signs of pursuit, for any movement beyond that which was caused by the wind. Satisfied that there was nothing there, she hurried over to the sunfruit and set Serek down at her feet. She stood on her toes and stretched her arm as high as possible to catch hold of one of the hanging fruits. Carefully, she pulled down, bending the laden branch to which the fruit was attached. She held the branch in place and used her other hand to pluck several of the sunfruits, building a respectable little pile on the ground.

  As soon as she released the branch, it sprang back up, shaking hard enough to shed a few leaves. Leyloni sank into a crouch and stuffed several of the fruits into her bag. Serek sat down beside her, picked up a sunfruit in both hands, and lifted it to his mouth. He gnawed at the tough rind, but he didn’t make much progress with only four little teeth—two on top and two below.

  Leyloni chuckled and drew her knife. She sliced open one of the sunfruits, split it in two, and removed the pit. A few practiced cuts whittled the halves into shapes that would be easier for Serek to bite into.

  With an impatient cry, Serek slammed down the fruit he’d been gumming, his face screwing up in frustration.

  Leyloni offered him a slice of sunfruit. Milky juices dripped from its soft, spongy meat. “Here. Eat this one.”

  Serek dropped the fruit he’d claimed and took her offering. As soon as he had his first taste, he stuck his whole face into the shell to eat.

  A small, sad smile curled on Leyloni’s lips as she watched him. It was her own fault that he’d gone so hungry. She’d been too focused on getting away, on getting to safety. Serek was too young to understand what had happened to their tribe. He had no idea why they needed to keep traveling. He knew only that he was tired, or hungry, or in discomfort. He only knew that he’d not seen his mother’s face for three days.

  Another peal of thunder rattled the trees, snapping Leyloni out of her thoughts. A cold gust of wind blew around her, making her skin break out in little bumps, and a few tiny raindrops fell on her bare forearms. She glanced skyward to see the sky even darker than before, dominated by angry gray clouds.

  She looked down at Serek again and frowned. He’d already finished his sunfruit and was chewing on the thick rind, face and hands sticky with juice.

  Was my mind wandering for that long?

  Leyloni took the rind from him and prevented another fit by handing him the other slice. She cut into another sunfruit for herself as he ate, devouring her portion with haste. She allowed herself no time to enjoy the taste of the semi-sweet fruit and ignored the pang in her belly.

  A few heavy raindrops hit the nearby vegetation in an irregular drumbeat, quickly gaining speed and number. Within moments, it had built to a downpour. The boughs overhead offered little shelter. Stinging raindrops pelted her skin, easily as cold as the stream—if not colder.

  Thunder again boomed across the heavens, rumbling right down into Leyloni’s bones. Serek dropped his sunfruit and screamed. The storm swallowed most of the sound, but Leyloni felt the baby’s fear in her heart.

  “Oh, Mother Eurynome,” Leyloni groaned, pushing her soaked curls away from her face and rubbing her tired eyes, “what else must we endure?”

  The rain was fast becoming unbearable, and if it was already that cold and uncomfortable for Leyloni, it must’ve been tenfold more so for Serek. They needed shelter. Shelter and a fire would’ve been even better, but she’d not complain if all she could find was the former.

  Leyloni wiped her knife on her short skirt, cleaning off the sticky sunfruit residue, before returning the weapon to its sheath. She leaned forward to gather Serek and his fallen blanket.

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end again. A piercing chill crept down her spine, pooling in her stomach to turn the dread already gathered there to ice.

  Leyloni released a sharp breath and froze.
The rain’s drumming was nearly as steady as the beating of her heart, but something subtle had changed—a new tone had been added to it. Not the patter of droplets upon leaves, wood, stone, or dirt, but upon something else.

  Mouth dry, Leyloni pressed her lips together and risked a glance over her shoulder.

  Her frantic heart stuttered.

  A large creature was lowering itself from a tree behind her, its countless legs clutching the trunk as its long, segmented body flowed with smooth, terrifying grace. It was a treestalker. The creature was easily twice as long as Leyloni was tall, and its sharp mandibles were equal in length to her forearms.

  The change in the sound of the rainfall had been caused by water hitting the treestalker’s carapace. The creature’s dark, beady eyes, of which there were at least a dozen, fixated upon Leyloni.

  Without wasting even an instant on conscious thought, Leyloni turned back to Serek, scooped him and his blanket off the ground, and was upright and running before she’d even drawn the baby fully against her chest.

  Roaring thunder shook Leyloni’s world. She didn’t know if Serek was still crying, and she was only distantly aware of his hand tugging her hair and the pain it produced on her scalp. Much more immediate and pressing were the sounds of thrashing vegetation and snapping branches behind her.

  The treelurker was giving chase.

  Fueled by fear, desperation, and something deeper—defiance—Leyloni poured all her focus into moving. She had not escaped death at her village only to succumb to it here. She would not allow her tribe’s defenders to have perished in vain.