I Married A Dragon (Prime Mating Agency)(48)

I all but dove inside the room, slamming the door behind me. Without pause, I slipped my feet inside the legs of my pants, yanking the waist up to close the magnetic clasp. Thankfully, years of practice made it easy, despite the blaster still clutched in my right hand. I was stuffing my left arm into the vest of my combat suit when the creature materialized less than a meter in front of me. Two of its tentacles wrapped around the dangling part of my vest, yanking it, and tossing it halfway across the room.

I screeched, thinking my heart would give in from fright, yet managed to shoot the nightmarish thing straight in the face. It turned into vaporous shadows. For a split second, I almost shouted in victory, expecting the dark smoke to fade and dissipate like it had with the aqrats when we shot them in the research lab. But the shadowy vapor once more coalesced, regaining its shape. This time, the beast looked mighty angry.

Yanking the door open, I bolted out of there, praying to all the powers that be not to let me die this way. If I could get to my jetpack in the closet by the terrace, I might have a chance. It was a hail Mary as the creature was much too fast, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

And yet, seconds after I emerged from the hygiene room back into the bedroom, down I went when a tentacle wrapped around my ankle, lifting it up. The massive mattress eating up two-thirds of the room rushed towards me. I landed face first on the soft cushion, absorbing the impact of my fall. Despite my panic, I immediately rolled onto my back, blaster raised to shoot at the beast, even though it seemed ineffective.

I never got a chance to fire.

Two of the creature’s tentacles wrapped around my wrists, pinning them to the mattress, while a third yanked the weapon from my hand, tossing it away. More tentacles restrained my legs and my midsection, leaving me helpless. I screamed Cedros’s name in terror as the beast crawled towards my face, the strident sound of my voice almost burying the clanking of my weapon landing on the floor. The creature’s purple, glowing eyes all but hypnotized me as it opened its massive, toothy mouth inches from my face.

I shouted Cedros’s name again, his beautiful face flashing before my mind’s eye, while regret and loss flooded through me. A crazy number of thoughts and memories rushed through my head. Two thoughts dominated. First, I had failed Cedros as an Ejaya. Because I had let myself get killed, he would suffer and die and at an early age. And second, I had wasted our much too short time together by hanging on to silly and repressive human customs. If only I could go back. If only…

Just when I thought the creature would chomp my face off with its dagger teeth, it pulled out the biggest, purplish-black tongue I had ever seen and licked my face. I froze, as did my brain, as the creature bared its teeth at me before releasing me and flying back up to the ceiling.

I remained lying there, staring at the creature, who hadn’t vanished from view, unable to process what had just happened. The bedroom door, all but smashing open, snapped me out of my daze. I shouted in surprise, my fright turning to joy when I saw Cedros.

“KAIDA! I heard your scream. What is—?”

He stopped talking, his head jerking up, and his eyes widening in shock.

“A monster came in through your last portal and attacked me,” I exclaimed, both pointing at the creature and trying to crawl out of the bed towards him.

To my dismay, the creature had gone invisible again. And yet Cedros was staring intently at something, displeasure giving way to the almost enraged stance he had when he first arrived.

“Nero! What are you doing here?” he asked in a severe tone at what looked like an empty space near the ceiling. “Didn’t I tell you to wait?”

My jaw dropped as the creature came out of stealth, its terrifying face taking on a… Was it a guilty expression?

“Get down here,” Cedros ordered, pointing at his feet.

The creature he’d called Nero complied, casting a brief look my way before coming to hover by Cedros’s feet. It extended a couple of tentacles towards his scaly legs, gently caressing them. Cedros pulled his leg away, still glaring severely at the creature. I was in too much shock to even find words.

“It’s not me you have to apologize to. It’s to Kaida. You frightened her because you couldn’t wait,” he added, pointing at me.

Nero looked up at him, then peered at me. The glowing of his eyes—which had dimmed when Cedros had begun chastising him—grew in intensity again. He started floating towards me. I screamed and scrambled back.

“Get away from me!” I shouted.

Nero stopped, his tentacles sparkling with electricity as he cast a glance at Cedros.

“It’s okay, my Kaida. Nero isn’t a monster. He’s a shadow dweller. He can be unbearably mischievous, but he’s not a threat. Shadow dwellers are loyal friends and powerful protectors in the void.”

“He chased me around the house and zapped me with his tentacles,” I argued weakly, understanding what had happened.

“He was just playing with you. That’s how he tickles people,” Cedros said.

“Tickles…” I echoed, struggling to come to terms with the slew of emotions raging inside me.

Never more than in this instance had I wished for Cedros to hug me. But Nero was hovering between us, looking mightily eager to come my way. He looked terrifying with his big, round eyes, and the razor teeth filling his Cheshire Cat mouth. His efforts to take on a cute, harmless, and needy expression only made him appear even more predatory.