Alpha Dragon's Second Chance

by Abigail Raines

  On the other hand, even though I had not been badly hurt, I felt like I’d just gone several rounds with, well, a dragon. I felt bruised all over and I found myself wincing even as Sierra and I found another tent with some nice shade and comfortable patio chairs to rest in. Everyone was looking at me except it was completely unlike when they’d looked at me at that charity banquet when I’d been a drunken stumbling fool. Now they seemed sort of impressed.

  I guessed that was something.

  The gathering went on. People networked and flew around and competed to see who could throw the longest shot of fire. Sierra and I stayed out of it and everyone seemed to leave us alone for once. It felt like old times; the two of us hidden away with drinks, happy to share private jokes and enjoy each other’s company.

  As the party wound down, we both seemed to reach an unspoken agreement that we would leave together. We’d only been talking, going over the fight and quietly mocking everything else there. But there was something happening between us. I felt as if our eyes had been opened and they couldn’t be closed again. Though we had said nothing about it.

  “How about we fly back to my place?” I said, taking Sierra’s hand as we stood there in the grass. The sun was setting behind Sierra and it was making her already strawberry blonde hair glint like gold. I wanted to kiss her, but it felt like too important thing. We needed to be alone and clear the air before anything else.

  But I loved her, and now when I looked in her eyes I got the sneaking suspicion she loved me back. It seemed like too much to hope for. But somehow the two of us just hanging out and sipping drinks had been the best time I’d had in so long, even with the fight and my beaten up body.

  Sierra and I shifted, and we didn’t loop around each other and play high in the air like the last time we’d flown together. This time we just soared, the two of us flying in tandem high up in the sky, above the clouds. It was the most peaceful I’d felt in so long. The air was cold up there and it was crisp and refreshing even as I was mostly armored by my scales. While next to me, Sierra flew along, occasionally looking over at me with her big, bright eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a dragon is smiling, but I was sure she was.

  We landed on the roof and we caught our breath. I took her hand in mind and watched the wind blow her hair and her pretty white dress around. I couldn’t move for a second, so overcome was I with a rush of affection for her suddenly. I still wasn’t positive where we stood. I was going to need her to say it and just then I felt like my heart was somehow outside my body. I could die for love of her.

  She grinned at me and tugged on my hand, beckoning me toward the stairs down to my place. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  “Hold on.” I pulled her to me and looked in her eyes. It was now or never. I was putting everything on the line. But it was clear that if I lost my chance with Sierra, it would be the regret of my life. Even if I ended up being completely wrong, and she only cared about me as a friend, I had to put myself out there and risk it. I had to trust in our friendship. If it wasn’t strong enough to withstand this, was it really the solid rock foundation of love and trust I’d always imagined it to be?

  “What is it?” Sierra said. But she was blinking up at me and her eyes were bright with expectation. “Jude-”

  “I love you,” I said. I cradled her chin in my hands and found myself smiling as I rubbed my thumb along her cheek, her bottom lip, the little dimple that appeared when she grinned. “Not just as a friend. Although our friendship… Sierra, our friendship is everything. I can’t lose that. But I have to tell you that I’m in love with you. I’m getting worse at hiding it. I can’t do it anymore. To me...you’re my mate. My fire for you would break curses, the strength of my love would move mountains. You’re...everything to me.”

  Sierra was quiet, though her eyes were glassy with tears and I kissed her once, softly, uncertainty sending a jolt of anxiety through me.

  “You gotta say something here,” I said. “You’re killing me.”

  “Well, that speech was so good,” Sierra said, smiling slyly. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”

  “Jesus, Sierra-”

  “I love you too!” Sierra said, laughing. “Jude, I’ve loved you forever.”

  “I doubt that,” I said with a snort. “I’m sure I got you beat.”

  “Why haven’t we been together?” Sierra said, her brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Well, we’re obviously idiots,” I said.

  “Obviously,” she said, before I kissed her again. “Jude, take me to bed.”

  I didn’t feel any need to rush this time. This wasn’t just some moment of passion that might pass at any second if we came to our senses. This was real now; Sierra and I. So I took her hand and led her down the stairs to my place. I felt a keen sense of anticipation and butterflies in my stomach too. I felt just like when I was fifteen and we would do our homework together and I was so keenly aware of how Sierra’s hair smelled and how soft her lips looked and how her knee was touching mine. Not too much has changed, except that now I knew she loved me too. I’d have that forever, no matter what happened from this day forward.

  “Are you hurt very badly” Sierra said when I closed my door behind us. We were kicking off our shoes but instead of kissing me she was unbuttoning my shirt. I had a feeling it was more about seeing the extent of my injuries than getting down to business and I took her hands in mine, stilling her.

  “I’m fine,” I said, trying to sound convincing.

  Sierra didn’t look very assured, and she took my hand, leading me to the bedroom. Her little white dress had this asymmetrical cut that gave me a pleasing view of her thighs and it was driving me crazy. I wanted to take those thighs in my palms, to lick and suck at them and bury my head between them.

  “I’m just bruised!” I said, perhaps a little whiny about it.

  Sierra wouldn’t say a word. In my bedroom she turned me to face her, and she kissed me once, softly and sweetly, before pulling way again. She was always leaving me wanting more.

  “Let me take care of you,” she whispered.

  So I let her. I let her unbutton my shirt and jacket and slowly take it off me. I couldn’t help wincing. Sierra clucked her tongue. Edward hadn’t gotten much of a bite of me, but I was bruised up to hell, swaths of my skin painted purple. I’d heal quickly, but I was pretty sore still.

  Not that I wasn’t in fighting shape for love.

  I’d been planning to seduce Sierra but now I found her seducing me. She teased my lips with soft little brushes of kisses as she spread her fingers along my chest. We stood by the foot of my bed and it was only seconds before my head was spinning. I’d had a whole plan. I was going to play with that thin white strap of Sierra’s dress while I kissed her and then slowly slip it off her shoulder. I was going to be delighted by whatever bra she was wearing and feel the warm skin on her back under my hands as I explored her mouth with my tongue. I was going to take my time.

  I’d concocted the plan while walking down the stairs.

  But Sierra apparently had her own plan.

  She was kissing me like she’d invented it. The slow slide of our mouths together was, alone, making my cock swell in my pants. She did away with my belt and then she gently pushed me towards the bed. She finally pulled out of the kiss and I chased her lips, whimpering a little. Not my manliest moment but I didn’t mind being at Sierra’s mercy.

  Sierra’s hands fumbled with my fly and I detected a hint of nerves. It was endearing to see her bat her eyes and bite her lips as she hurried to unbutton and unzip me and I stepped out of my pants, feeling more than a little proud of my chiseled body. Things had been so hurried last time but I saw her eyelids grow heavy at the sight of me and it made me feel good.

  “Lie back,” Sierra whispered.

  I obeyed. Sometimes I like to be the boss in the bedroom but with Sierra, I felt like there was an equal give and take. We could trade the reins back and forth. Nobody had the uppe
r hand between us. I liked that about us.

  I sat up a little on my elbows and watched, hypnotized as Sierra took down those straps and let her dress fall of. She was wearing a little white lacy bra and matching panties. But she didn’t take those off yet. She crawled up on top of me, straddling me and I hissed at the sensation of her seated upon my swelling cock, only my boxer briefs and a thin layer of lace separating us.

  Sierra braced her hands on my chest and rocked gently against me and for a while we just stared at each other and I got good and hard and she sighed and made pleasing little noises when I reached up to cup her breasts through her bra.

  “I’m gonna make you feel so good,” she said then, sounding a little sly, and now she crawled down the bed and slowly peeled my boxer briefs off before taking me in her mouth almost before I realized what was happening.

  I threw my head back and gasped at the sensation of my cock inside her hot little mouth and when I looked down and saw her plush lips wrapped around me, her doe eyes fixed on me, it was overwhelming. My head was spinning, the connection between us thrumming as she worked her tongue and lips around me, her hand wrapped around my base or occasionally fondling my balls as she sucked me off until I was writhing, shaking with the urge to come but refusing. I wanted to come inside her. But it was difficult to hold off.

  Sierra either didn’t get the message or was having too much fun teasing me and driving me out of my mind as she curled her tongue around me over and over, sucking in her cheeks and humming. Finally I pleaded, my voice cracking badly, and she pulled off, her tongue stuck between her teeth, her cheeks red and rosy. Her mouth was swollen and red, the straps of her bra slipping down. She was so wanton, and I growled, rolling the two of us over and kissing her hotly, covering her mouth with mine so that she moaned. I did away with her bra and yanked her panties down and she gasped into my mouth as I slipped two fingers inside her; shallow but probing.

  “Oh! Jude…” I found her clit and the gasps and moans she gave me felt like a pleasant form of revenge as I ducked my head to lick and suck at her breasts, her hands tangling in my hair.

  Sierra tugged on my hair and my cock jumped. I had not known I even liked that before.

  “More,” I mumbled into her breast. “Harder…”

  Sierra yanked harder on my hair and I grunted and fingered her clit more aggressively, making her shriek and say my name in a voice I’d never heard out of Sierra; desperate and full of fire.

  “Jude, Jude… baby...oh…” She pulled hard on my hair and I plunged my two fingers inside her, working them in and out before returning to her clit, rubbing it in circles that made her cry out as my cock felt impossibly hard, pulsing and wanting to be inside her. “Jude, please God, now…”

  “You don’t have to God me,” I said, though it came out a little more shaky than sly because I was so hard and ready, I could hardly stand it.

  Even in the heat of the moment, Sierra laughed and swatted my arm and I kissed her again and then slid my fingers out of her and clutched her thigh as I guided myself inside her. We were breathing into each other’s mouths, our eyes locked, as I fit myself into her. We seemed to fit so perfectly. I’d thought so before but with the time we were taking now to really enjoy each other, it felt as if we’d been made to fit like puzzle pieces.

  “No, seriously, why didn’t we do this a long time ago?” Sierra said, wrapping her arms around me. I laughed into her neck and then I gasped, as she clenched around me, her thighs tight around my body as I rocked into her, our sweat slick bodies become one body, one love, one dragon.

  “Fuck,” I muttered. “You’re so…” I shook my head, looking down at her and she grinned, nodding, as if what I’d said had made sense and needed no further explanation. “You’re...ah…”

  “You too,” Sierra breathed, and held onto me as I quickened my pace, thrusting in and out of her tight heat, overwhelmed with the scent of her, the sensation of her sweat skin against mine, the brush of her hair on my shoulder, her nails raking my back. “Jude...I love you…”

  That did me in, just those words alone. I would never get tired of hearing them and now I gasped, white hot pleasure coursing through me as I pulsed inside Sierra. I could feel myself filling her and I reached down, carefully finding her clit with my finger and I circled it again even as I grunted into her neck, coming hard and almost painfully. I’d barely touched Sierra’s clit before she threw her head back and screamed, trembling all around me. We were both shaking with pleasure in each other’s arms and it was a long time before we came back down.

  I hadn’t wanted to crowd Sierra with my hot, sweaty body when we’d finally returned to earth. I’d pulled out of her but just as quickly she tugged on me, curling up to me, throwing her leg over my body. I wasn’t about to argue. I’d been a playboy in my time but I did like this part; the cuddling after sex. I wasn’t the type of guy to want to get away quickly. Besides which, that always seemed so rude.

  “Give me a few minutes,” I said, my voice throaty and raw. “I’ll go again.”

  “Fuck yes,” Sierra whispered in my ear, making me chuckle. She laid soft little kisses along my throat and even as my mind was just clearing from that shattering orgasm, I was imagining eating her out. I was going to pleasure this woman until she came so many times she forgot how to speak.

  It was probably unnecessary to say that this was the best sex I’d ever had. I’d plenty of good sex, but this was transcendent. It felt like we were doing some kind of good deed for the world being together. That was ridiculous, yet I felt it somehow. It was the blindness of love, I supposed.

  Even now I’d barely rested before I found myself kissing my way down Sierra’s body, finding my second wind, even though I was still all sore and bruised from the fight. Eventually, we would need to sleep. But this thing between us was about a decade in the making. We had all kinds of lost time to make up for and I wanted to start as soon as possible.

  “Oh Jude,” Sierra mumbled as I kissed a trail down her belly. But when I did away with all pretense and plunge my tongue inside her while holding her thighs firm in my hands, she gasped and arched and I moved my mouth with her. “Oh Jude…”

  I smiled against her, the taste of her intoxicating as I licked and sucked as if she were my favorite dessert. She had only just come down but now I already had her trembling in my arms, crying out my name, her thighs soft and cool on my palms. She was so hot and sweet. I could’ve gone forever and I let it go on and on, licking an alphabet into her clit, stopping every once in awhile just to gently kiss and tease. I stopped and started again until she was desperate to come finally and I looked up to see tears of want sliding down her face. I nodded once and then went in again with abandon and she screamed, her thighs wrapped around my head, her pleasure my music.

  Round two, I thought delightedly.

  “When did you know you loved me?” Sierra said.

  We were lying in bed, half in and half out of the sheets. Sierra lay on her side, bracing herself on her elbow. Her other hand rested on my chest and she was raking her nails through my chest hair as I absently played with a lock of her hair. I felt like a happy cat. I had my girl, and I was sated and everything seemed right with the world.

  “Ninth grade,” I said softly, twirling that lock around my finger.

  “What?” Sierra laughed. She had about four laughs and this was the one I rarely got to hear except when she was buzzed but not drunk. It was throaty and sexy and soft all at the same time. She ducked her head and bit my nipple gently. “That’s not true.”

  “I’m serious,” I said. “Dead serious. Ninth grade. We’d just been flying around and then we went to the park and we were sitting around on the grass. You were obsessed with those name bracelets you used to make with the beads. But you’d only made different ones for yourself. Then you made one for me and these little beads with blue hearts on them. It was so girly but I never took it off. You made it in the park that day and gave it to me and I remember looking at you an
d just thinking she’s it. She’s the one.”

  “Ooh!” Sierra looked at me like I was some cute puppy which was sweet but I couldn’t help blushing, a little embarrassed by my confession. “That’s so cute! Well, what happened to it then?”

  “Oh, it fell off when we rode The Cyclone at Coney Island junior year,” I said, kissing her shoulder. “Broke my heart. So did you.”

  “Well, I’ve had a crush on you for a long time!” Sierra said. She had that know-it-all look on her face that she’d used to bust out when she’d help me study. “Alright, not that long. But a long time.”

  “Well, you should have told me,” I said.

  “You should have told me.”

  “Well.” I shrugged and Sierra laughed and fell on top of me and we wasted a lot of time that evening, wrapped up in each other’s arms until we finally fell asleep.

  The next morning Sierra left, looking sexier than ever with her disheveled hair and her make-up faded and her little white dress that now seemed tainted in the best way. She said she wanted to finish a draft of her article and she’d come over again. I had a feeling we’d be making up for lost time for a while. As it was, we ended up making out at the door for nearly half an hour before she managed to actually leave.

  I found myself grinning like a dope into the empty air after she left. I could still smell her on my body.

  I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt like a complete dope. I’d beaten up the bad guy and won the girl of my dreams. Maybe it hadn’t exactly happened just that way, but that was how it felt. It was better than any horde of gold could be. Now I understood the starry eyed look shifters got when they talked about their mates. I was on cloud nine and I didn’t think I’d be getting off any time soon. I sat at my kitchen counter, sipping coffee and daydreaming about when I’d get to see Sierra again.