Devoured Read online

  “But what if the girl he just devoured while he was in dr’gin form was her best friend or her sister and she just watched him eat her up?” Becca protested.

  She kept remembering the long, lithe beasts made of scales and feathers she had seen on Pax. Dr’gins reminded her a little of the stylized papier-mâché dragons you saw during the Chinese New Year if they had somehow come to life. Their graceful bodies whipped through the air as sinuous as snakes, seeming to break all the laws of physics with their perfect movements. They also had long sharp talons and spiked tails—not to mention huge, leonine heads with knife-like teeth and long, red tongues. She couldn’t imagine watching something so deadly kill someone she loved and then be expected to mate with the male who kept it inside him a minute later. It would be unthinkable.

  “That would make for a very awkward mating,” Far remarked.

  “It is more than awkward—it is often quite savage,” Truth said in a low voice. “The act of mating—of breeding his female—is what brings the two halves of a Rai’ku male together. When she accepts him she is accepting both the male and his dr’gin with all of its untamed, voracious appetites.”

  “That’s awful,” Becca exclaimed. “So she watches him kill someone she loves or at least knows, and then she has to have sex—really rough sex—with him immediately afterwards?”

  “The male does not hurt her on purpose,” Truth objected. “Well, unless the person or persons he ate in dr’gin form has a cruel or sadistic personality. That is yet another reason why females are preferred as sacrifices during a first turning. They generally have milder temperaments, which keeps the savagery of the first breeding at least somewhat in check.”

  “I know all of this is commonplace on Pax but I must agree with Becca that it seems…extremely harsh. Is the female allowed to back out of the relationship at all?” Far asked.

  “Never.” Truth shook his head firmly. “You forget, Brother, we are talking about Pax here where females are severely undervalued. Any female refusing to mate with the male whose dr’gin had chosen her would likely be jaeled to death by the entire village.”

  “Jaeled? What’s that?” Becca asked.

  “The jael is a hard, heavy nut that grows on the jaelos bush on Pax,” Truth explained. “It has sharp, stiff, poisonous spines growing out of it on one side. The entire village will take the jaels and cast them at the offending female until she dies either from blood loss or a fractured skull. Even if she doesn’t die of those things, she will still succumb eventually—the poison in the spines will begin to eat away at her flesh until she collapses and no one will help her.”

  “Sounds like a savage and brutal punishment simply for not wishing to mate with someone,” Far said frowning.

  “It is,” Truth said. “But it’s necessary.”

  “What?” Becca said angrily. “How can you say that? What a load of misogynistic crap!”

  Truth shook his head. “I can understand why it sounds that way to an outsider but it is not so, Rebecca. A newly transformed male who has just transitioned from dr’gin form back to his normal form is in a very precarious position. If he is not able to mate with the female his dr’gin has chosen for him, he will revert back to dr’gin form and become a D’fex—a rogue dr’gin. He will lose himself completely in his animal form, his mind will be gone, and he will know nothing but hunger and the urge to hunt.”

  “That sounds bad,” Becca admitted reluctantly.

  “It is,” Truth said grimly. “A D’fex is a dr’gin stuck forever in that first, mindless form. And he already has a taste for sentient flesh so the village is his primary target. Many will lose their lives before he can be killed—and all because he didn’t mate when he had the chance.”

  “But say everything goes well and the newly transformed male does mate in time,” Far said. “After that first transformation, a Rai’ku can think just as well in his dr’gin form as he can in his other shape—correct?”

  Truth nodded. “Exactly.”

  “But they’re still so big and scary. Do they change back and forth around their females? Do they ever injure their females when they’re in dr’gin form?” Becca asked.

  Truth shook his head. “Almost never. Whether a dr’gin is savage or tender depends upon the temperament of the male whose other half he is. As a matter of fact, it is said that some are more gentle in their dr’gin form. They are more…what is the Earth word…?” He frowned. “Oh yes—more cuddly.”

  “Cuddly? Really?” Becca shook her head. She just couldn’t imagine wanting to cuddle with something as big and strong as a grizzly bear that looked like a cross between a dragon from Chinese folklore and a lion.

  “Yes, really,” Truth said as though it wasn’t surprising at all. “You know how cold it gets on Pax—they have been known to keep their mates from freezing to death if they get caught away from shelter for the night.”

  “Well…” Becca said hesitantly. “Speaking as a female, I guess if hugging in your normal form was completely taboo, you’d take what you could get. Even if it meant cuddling with a monster.”

  “I know how they must have seemed to you while we are on Pax but as long as they mate in time to retain their cognitive abilities, they truly are not monsters,” Truth said. “In fact, there are many positives to having a dr’gin within.”

  “Such as?” Far asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Rai’ku males are said to have healing in their tongues while in their dr’gin form,” the dark twin continued.

  “What does that mean?” Becca asked.

  “They are able to cure their female’s wounds by licking them—much as a Blood Kindred is able to do,” Truth said. “Some say this ability was developed in case they scratched their mates with their poisonous talons.”

  “But I thought that was why they developed the antidote,” Becca said. She gave a sidelong look at Far. “Which as we know, isn’t always very effective.” The light twin had actually died of poisoning from a dr’gin’s claws and had thenbeen brought back again—either by the truthonium amulet or by the Kindred Goddess—Becca still wasn’t sure which.

  “It’s not very effective if taken too late—the dr’gin’s poison is always deadly if left too long. But it is said that if the wound is cleaned immediately by the same beast who made the scratch, it may heal with no ill effects.” He frowned. “That’s another reason they don’t bother inoculating females against the poison. If the dr’gin who wounds her intends to take her as a mate, he will usually heal her himself. Any of the others who are wounded are considered inconsequential and left to die.”

  “Ugh…” Becca shivered. “I really prefer the Kindred view of women over the Rai’ku one.”

  Truth brushed her cheek lightly with his fingertips.

  “I feel the same way, Rebecca.”

  “But I thought licking and tasting were taboo?” Far said, frowning.

  “The dr’gin is not licking to give pleasure but to heal,” the dark twin said sternly.

  “Un-huh…” Becca murmured sarcastically. “And what if the, uh, wound they need to heal is high up on their lady’s thigh? What then, hmm?”

  One corner of Truth’s sensual mouth twitched up.

  “Now you have hit on the very reason I used to wish I had a dr’gin within myself. I fantasized many, many such scenarios when I was alone in my room as a young male.”

  “I just bet you did.” Becca nudged him with her elbow and his cheeks went red.

  “What can I say? I have always longed to taste a female—even when I would not admit it to myself.”

  “Of course you did, Brother—it is the Kindred way,” Far said. “But back to Garron—what do you think his dr’gin will be like if it emerges?”

  “I am certain Garron’s dr’gin would not be cruel…not after its initial hunger was satiated, anyway,” the dark twin answered.

  “So he won’t be cruel after he gobbles her up. It’ll be kind of too late by then, won’t it?” Becca asked. “Do you think w