Free Alien Dragon's Mate: Braxan (Science Fiction Alien/BBW Romance) by Juno Wells, Luna Cassini

around it.
    He had Changed back right away, hiding behind a large rock so that he could put on the remarkable pants before she realized. He didn't want her to know who he was. Not yet. Knowing that he was the enemy of their human settlement, that he had attacked it and burned some of its defenders, couldn't count in his favor.
    And he wanted to be in her favor. She filled his mind more and more. He heard each of her breaths, each of her footfalls on the rocks and gravel. Something had awoken in him, an exhilaration of being so close to her. The dragon had heard her heartbeat, too – fast and scared.
    He cursed his own carelessness. He had to stay much closer to her from now on, so that he could catch her if she fell and protect her from every danger.
    He peered up at the edge of the crater. The Pirgks were not coming down too fast. They disliked being outside the crater, and going down towards the forest probably didn't tempt them.
    But she did. She tempted them.
    He felt a white-hot spark of rage in his mind at the idea that the Pirgks thought they would harm her in any way. She was his now. He would make sure they knew it.
    Amelia. Such a wonderful, feminine name. She had shot him, but he didn't hold that against her. He was just thrilled that she hadn't cowered for him. And when they were in safety down in the forest, she could take away the spell she had cast on his wound and give his wing a chance to heal.
    And then? He had no plans and he wasn't going to think about it.
    The dragon was sure she was his Mate. The man still had to be convinced.
    They had reached the edge of the forest, and tall, green and red trees towered over them. Shorter bushes in different colors filled the void between their trunks, and it looked like a dense wall of vegetation.
    The air was warm and heavy with humidity. It smelled of earth and rotting fruit and burnt wood. Animal sounds could be heard, and the dragon picked up its ears. But Braxan wasn't too interested. The beings that he had to watch out for probably didn't make much sound. He had to be on his guard. Not for himself. Probably nothing in there could harm him. But he was sure that almost everything in there could harm her .
    Amelia stopped beside him and looked up at the trees. “Well, at least we're down. And the Pirgks didn't get us. Yet. Do you know anything about jungles? This one looks pretty damn dense to me. I'm not sure we can even get in there.”
    “It will be hard going. And yet-”
    They both whipped around at the sound of an avalanche of rocks and gravel behind them. There was a huge cloud of dust coming down the side of the crater.
    “They're taking a shortcut,” Braxan said and immediately got busy clearing a way for them into the forest with his bare hands. “I wondered when they'd think of that.”
    He saw Pirgks come sliding and falling uncontrollably down the side of the crater, hundreds of them, and then they landed in a heap against the trees fifty feet away. The first ones had died on the way down, and were little more than loose, floppy sacks of flesh that no one would suspect had ever been living beings. But some of those that came later would survive and would have soft landings against their dead and wounded compatriots. It was a brutal thing to do, but it was effective.
    He noticed Amelia draw away from them so that he was between them and her. It warmed his heart. She saw him as a protector.
    “So I guess they've caught up with us,” she said, and her voice was small.
    He had bent and snapped some yellowish bushes with nasty thorns that didn't bother his scales, and he held them open for her. “Not quite. I have a feeling they don't like the jungle. Let's find out.”
    A relatively unhurt Pirgk rose from the heap of other monsters. It's crusty eyes swivelled slowly and then froze when they took in Amelia. The terrible alien took a trembling step towards her.
    “Yeah, I think we better.” She bowed down and went under the branches he was holding