A rush matched only by a coupling with the mate of your ama, so they said.
Claudia’s fingers grazed his damaged hand. A gesture that bid him stop brooding over the past. He had been ever kind to Ekala. Honoured her and protected her as required. But he had not been her true mate, and neither she, his. The war could only take so much of the blame for that.
He lit the fire the old way, like he did as a tottering youngling. With two brill stones cracked together at exactly the right angle to produce a spark. Lacking the proper use of one hand rendered him clumsy in the hitting, but the skill remained.
He took hold of the scavenged makeshift blade and busied himself skinning the small beast. A paltry, single mouthful for him, were he the kind of dragon who saw to his own needs before those weaker than himself. His sensitive sense of smell took in Claudia’s scent, sifting through the myriad emotions threading together in an ever-increasing tangle.
In this period of violent storms before the baking heat settled in for the season of high sun, the nights still proved a cold contrast to the warmth of the day. Without her cloak, she shivered, but so slightly only he noticed it. He found himself watching her hands pulling impatiently at her flapping hair, rubbing at a spot on her face. She feared very little, and yet she feared for him.
He skewered the small morsel then moved to the spring to wash the blood from his hand. Claudia watched him on a rising tide of anxiety that had nothing to do with fear of what lay beyond. Her entire focus was on him.
“You’ve seen me,” he said, picking carefully the words to feed to this mythical audience. He was still finding it hard to believe her story about thousands of eyes out there watching them. “Know that I am well endowed. Does this frighten you?”
“I’ve never had a dragon before.” Claudia batted her long, pale lashes. His cock stiffened, despite his brain screaming this consummation should be taking place in his lair, in private, and with the leisure of time that he may go slow and educate her into the ways of the dragon.
He caught a glimpse of his bare feet, part skin, part leathery dragon horn. The yellowed nails this delicate creature must surely find repugnant. Their first time together should have been with him in his full male form, not this half-formed beast.
Now, there was a sight to behold.
No, his dragon roared in every cell of his body. You do not sense the ember calling? Taste the promise of fire? You would deny me a part in this?
I would change for you, Claudia. But though the words are bitter in my throat, my male side lacks the strength. For now.
It’s all right, Tharius. I’m not scared of you or your dragon. They’re waiting. I know it’s hard to believe, looking at me, but I feature on some of the most popular live feeds. There’s even an open wager out on Othrid finally caving and dragging me to his bed.
He touches you, he dies.
Claudia’s expression turned serious. Oh, you can count on that.
I truly want you, Claudia. But not like this.
Same for me, Dragon-Man. But this buys us freedom for one more day. And where there’s freedom, there’s hope.
She raised her arms to him. Let them see a female begging to be taken by her conqueror. Show them a master.
“And in return, what do you give us?” This he addressed to the camera. His worth came at a price and he would extract payment to the last.
“There’s a war-band hot on your tail. Oh yes, they know about you. That Seer, Serllia is as mad as a hootie but she comes in useful from time to time. While we deal with the other blue, and while your little miracle worker heals you to battle standard, the audience vote to hold them back.”
Deliberately, Tharius tugged at the cloak ties holding the material tight about his hips. Nudity, the proud display of a perfect male form, was a thing to celebrate. Doing this, now, he revealed nothing of the male in full shift. Neither did they see the full might of his dragon. Bare patches of male skin gave glimpses of the inked Chatra marks, but in no way revealed the bravery and strength of will required to win them.
Claudia’s eyes flared wide in genuine astonishment to see him so rampant and fully aroused. That was no show for the viewers. Bigger, harder in this half-shift, with an impending climax that might so easily tip into violence when the dragon lust overtook him, he feared for her.
Serve their first time together with pain and she would never look at him with those compassionate eyes again. He knelt at her side, feeling too clumsy, too big in every way.
Touch me, Tharius, don’t mistake my silence for fear. We give them what they want and we win, do you understand? It’s us playing them. And it’s not so much of a hardship, is it?
His cock pressed her thigh, greedily seeking the friction of skin on skin. He took her shoulder, where two metal pins held her simple hide gown together, loosening them from the material. The breath hitched in his throat as the soft hide fell away, exposing one soft breast. Carefully, he laid the pins on a flat stone and turned his attention to the other.
Claudia leaned in a little, offering herself. Her moistened lips parted and when his clumsy fingers fumbled on the small pins, she helped him.
He shaped his palm to her breast, thoughts of their watchers rapidly slipping away. So much like his own species in shifted form, so easy to believe that in the dim past, a rogue Draegon somehow travelled the stars to plant his seed on planet Earth.
That feels good. Claudia nibbled at her bottom lip, eyes locked with his.
No, he thought. This kind of compromise is not so much of a hardship. But what will she think of me when my dragon is done with her?
* * *
Claudia felt her skin melting under his touch, the thoughts tumbling through his mind. Few of the abducted women were able to look forward to a future of caring and tender caresses. Some got lucky. She’d watched with envy as, against all odds, they travelled the galaxy and found their soul mates.
But miracles were in short supply on Prison Moon One. She covered Tharius’s hand with hers, helping his fumbling fingers with the pins holding her gown together. The viewers enjoyed spying on every aspect of the felons lives, no matter how mundane. They’d seen her naked. But they’d never seen her doing this.
She tried to get a handle on her accelerating breath, shocked at the stab of lust and desire taking her so swiftly, like a trembling leaf racing away on a raging torrent. Tharius’s eyes darkened to purple velvet in the falling dusk, and out in the valley the rustling and night noises rose towards their crescendo. She was supposed to play the vanquished. The female who saved the dragon, only to have him master her and make her his.
The hell with that. On her planet, when a woman wanted a man, she said so.
She caught his gaze. Saw right into what passed for a dragon soul. Deep inside, the little ember, the dormant and very surprising thread of her DNA, glowed hot.
“That feels good.” She slipped off her simple underwear, shimmying to allow the gown fall to her waist. From what she saw in his own memories, she resembled a female dragon in full shift. No need for fear. And Tharius in male form wouldn’t be out of place in a bodybuilding gym.
She’d see that, she vowed. They would both live to see him shift as he was born to.
Yes, he replied in her head. You will see me in all of my glorious forms.
“I can smell you, female. Know your body is preparing for mine. Are you ready for me, tiny one?”
She nodded, pressing her forehead to the solid wall of his chest, feeling the thump of his heart against her skin. He lifted her, easing her from the gown, and the cool, night air fanned her exposed skin, moving her hair to tease and caress the banding arm holding her.
“Forget the camera,” she whispered. What did she care if they heard that? She loved the way her words sounded against his skin. How the rumble of his own voice made her tremble.
“I wish to be gentle, but my dragon…” He pressed her back, urgent, his eyes full of apology. Hot skin, rough on hers. Trembling with need. They both
were. A creature who’d die for his honour and berate himself for doing this. But she preferred to live. She wanted them both to live.
“I want them both. You and your dragon.”
“You would not survive my dragon.” Tharius trailed a finger lower, touching her so lightly. As if he feared he might break her.
“Is he so terrible?”
“Oh, yes.”
Claudia, I cannot go slowly. I want you too much.
Then forget them. Forget the play-acting and take me. I’ve been inside your head, remember? You won’t hurt me. Believe me.
It is the same for you, then?
Tharius sprawled over her, braced on his good arm. His injured arm he held close to his body. His cock nudged between her legs and she opened for him, with only a fleeting thought that two orbs were in the enclave giving the audience a good view of everything.
Hard to care with Tharius pressing into her wet folds, easing her open and pushing inside with barely held restraint. She couldn’t take him all, not yet, after two years of abstinence. He heaved in a deep, shuddering breath and held himself inside her, watching her expression.
It’s good, Tharius.
But I’m too big for you.
No, I’m just a little out of practice, that’s all. His cock throbbed, stretched her a little more. A delicious invasion, taking her beyond pleasure and pain to a sensation she had no words for. He asked, and her body gave. Every touch of their skin sparked lurid images in glorious colour of the two of them writhing on the springy moss, her moaning out her climax in unashamed abandon. He moving over her, his strong back muscles, the scattering of iridescent scales rippling and glimmering in the rising moonlight.
It’s like he’s giving me a mind fuck, while he takes my body. Like looking down on herself, being taken by the beast.
What the viewers on the other side of those cameras must be seeing.
Forget them, Claudia. I need to move. Your thoughts are so strong in my head when we are joined like this. Is it the same for you?
Tharius’s breath fanned her cheek, breaking the spell. For a moment, she was out there with the audience, channelling what they saw. The beast taking the Earth woman. And the Earth woman loving every moment of it, no matter how she played the vanquished captive.
“Yes, move. Please. Come inside me, dragon-man.”
My seed will find your ember. I will seal you a youngling. He pushed slowly, making her slicker with each careful thrust until they lay flesh to flesh with nothing between them. She wrapped her legs around him, holding him to her.
I can’t have babies, Tharius. Not even a human baby. If he didn’t move, she would scream, beg him to. Just take me, please. He was becoming a shape blurred by darkness and the tears pricking her eyes. The shape of a man, the rough dragon edges softened by moonlight. A man she suddenly wanted to hang on to with an intensity that hurt.
He growled out his pleasure, slamming into her as she sent her own abandoned moans out there into a galaxy where no one cared that she might just have met the man of her dreams.
And be about to lose him, just as fast.
His leaking seed burned her thighs, and when she opened her eyes to look at him, he stared at her for a long moment and then scooped a falling tear with his thumb.
You will not lose me, Claudia.
I’ll try not to. She attempted to lighten the thought. But she meant every word, and truth had a way of being more frightening than monsters in the dark. He was hope, a future, if he’d have her. If he could keep her.
We’ve given them enough.
Tharius rolled from her, pressing up on his good arm. She groped for her dress, aware he hadn’t picked up on her last thought. Maybe she’d read this all wrong?
“Come,” he said aloud. “Wash in the stream, and then we will eat.”
He expected her legs to hold her after that? She was still tingling with the aftershocks of a release so intense it had sent her halfway across the galaxy into the minds of their slavering audience.
She wasn’t sure she liked that turn of events.
“You need me to carry you?”
“No, I can walk.” Too many thoughts swirling in his head. Creeping anger that he gave in to the Corporation demands warred with the words he’d obviously missed in the throes of passion.
I can’t have babies.
No, it’s not that, Claudia. He snatched up her gown, but did nothing to help her.
She hobbled, half crawled to the stream, her underwear in hand. Washing felt somehow more intimate an act than sex, but she splashed herself with the cool water, wishing she could let the clear stream wash away this past year. There was nothing to dry herself with, so she reached out for the gown, but Tharius only nodded, bidding her raise her arms. She lifted them, goose bumps prickling her skin. Tharius threaded the simple sheath over her head and pulled it down.
Claudia, that was beyond good. But I would not let them know how I felt.
Oh, I thought…
That I would reject you because you believe yourself barren? He looked around for the discarded pins, using his superior night vision to locate them on the flat rock. She stood very still while he pinned the shoulders in place and tried not to think about how much she needed that cloak around her shoulders.
Tharius swirled the cloak with an arrogant swagger, sending heavy glares at the watching orb. He covered himself, fastened the ties, and moved to the roasting meat. “Drink and eat,” he said, moving the glowing charcoaled wood with his hand.
Don’t show them that skill. They’ll use it. Claudia had a horrible vision of trial by fire. A gory arena contest where felons competed with wyverns and burning torches held to the skin. The lure of massive rewards drew the felons in time after time in the vain hope that maybe once they’d last longer than a wyvern.
They never did.
They know what I am. “Come, female. Eat something. I would have you preserve your energy for more of the coupling
Tharius tore off a strip of charred flesh and held it out to her. When she lifted her hand to take it, he shook his head.
“It will burn you. Eat.”
He meant to feed her? Tentatively, she parted her lips, watching him blow on the meat. He tested it against his own lips, and when he pushed it into her mouth, his eyes softened to a paler mauve in the moonlight. The sweet-tasting meat dissolved on her tongue. Her stomach growled in appreciation.
I would be stern for our audience, Claudia. But know this. Your gift of life is one I will repay with my own. Whatever they make me do, we are as one, now. Do you understand?
She was still throbbing between her legs. Still felt the curve of his palm on her breast. Her nerve endings tingled every time she thought of him pushing inside her with such care.
Tharius, I’ve known for a long time I can’t bear children. And even if we did produce a miracle, the Corporation would only want it. I’m sorry.
Human offspring, perhaps. He bit into the carcass, slicing through meat and bone with his razor teeth. Have you ever wondered why? He fed her another morsel, unaware of the effect it must be having on the audience.
Feedback, she thought vaguely. Demand feedback.
I will, but think on what I said. You were made to bear dragons, Claudia, not humans.
“That’s ridiculous.” The idea hit her with such force, she yelled the words aloud. I know I’m different, but that different?
Time will answer. What must I ask the eyes? You spoke of this…feedback.
Feedback is where we get to know whether we pleased that rabid audience. Whether we get to live, or die.
She took the next piece of meat herself, tearing it off carefully, her mind whirling with memories of doctors pronouncing her womb the strangest shape they’d ever seen. Something about an oddity with the lining, too. As a teen starting university and music school, having children was the last thing on her mind. She welcomed the backup to the pill and the freedom of less worry.
She did mourn that part of he
r lost future for a few, brief months, when she left home and started out on her indie musical odyssey. Then she was kidnapped by the Italian count, who strangely only demanded music of her, nothing else. By the time she fell foul of the alien hunters, she was well and truly glad a pregnancy would never complicate an already-desperate situation.
Tharius crunched on the remaining bones, chewing with an audible snap that made her stomach flip. He licked his lips with a lazy sweep of his tongue, raising his eyebrows to her in question. As if he’d listened in on the deluge of thoughts, and it only ever led back to one thing.
Maybe she was different for a reason. And the reason stood right in front of her, snapping bones with his teeth as if they were gossamer feathers.
We gave them what they wanted. Now, tell me more of the rules of this game. For if I must play, I am playing to win.
Chapter Sixteen
The audience uses an interface to vote and to drive the action. Ask the camera to report.
“So, report,” he spat out at the orb, though his mind was on her. She sought to deny what was happening? He did not pass over to death for a reason, and she came to this moon for the same. Had one of the legendary Draegon mystics of the past foreseen the wars, the destruction of the breeding line? Did they make that perilous journey to plant a seed meant to take root eons later when the Draegon were in their greatest need?
A fanciful notion worthy of a saga or two. He eyed the orb, still sceptical as to their motives. His training in military strategy showed him an instrument of surveillance used now for the purpose of entertainment. Why waste such technology? Had the galaxy turned so frivolous, so decadent, in his absence?
It’s always been like that, Tharius. And now it’s worse. The orbs crackle a little before they speak. Gives you a moment to decide what you want to say and compose yourself.
You would make me into an actor? Wait, I hear it.
The orb made a low, grating noise, breaking up on a crackling whine. Tharius set his features accordingly. Given his usual stern demeanour and his lust for the woman called Claudia, so far, their demands had not taxed him.
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