Dragon of the Prairie (Exiled Dragons Book 13)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “Yes. I will make sure I stay low and fly evenly so you don’t get bumped around or, heaven forbid, off.”

  “I have to say that I’m really scared.”

  “I know you are. We don’t have to if you just don’t feel comfortable with it.”

  “I think it just frightens me, but how many people get a chance to fly like a bird, right?”

  “This is true.”

  “Okay. Let’s do it then,” she told him.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Let’s just do it before I chicken out.”

  Angus stopped the horse and removed its bridle and reins, setting it loose in the woods. He and Margaret tied up their things and she draped them across her back like a sling.

  “Ready?”

  “Ready as I will ever be,” she told him.

  Margaret watched, wide eyed, as she began to change before her eyes. She took a few steps backward as his body began to change and expand, filling the clearing in which they had stopped. Scales formed as his skin seemed to rip apart and his bones crackled, breaking apart and taking on new form. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest, her fear growing as she witnessed his metamorphosis right before her eyes. She cautioned herself to stay calm, to not let her fear get the best of her so that she didn’t go through with this.

  Even so, she had a hard time reconciling this thing that now stood in front of her with her gentle husband. His normally soft, thoughtful brown eyes were now large, bloodshot golden orbs. His weathered skin had been replaced with thick greenish black scales that rippled across his powerful mass. Nothing of her beloved Angus was apparent in this creature, and yet, it was him. She watched as he extended his long neck and lay his head on the ground so that she could climb onto his back.

  Taking a deep breath, she carefully made her way upward, using the heavy scales to pull herself along until she was seated on the center of his back with her hands grasping his neck as firmly as she could manage. It felt like her heart might explode from the excitement and fear as he slowly lifted his head and then began to ascend into the night sky, high enough into the air so as not to be noticeable, but not so high as to frighten her any more than necessary. At first, she was still terrified, but then, as they soared through the cool night air, she felt something akin to exhilaration. She was flying!

  They let down in the pasture behind the shed at the back of their farm. It was at that moment that Margaret realized why she had found Angus returned from the shed in the middle of the night so many times. He must have been stripping off his clothes in the shed before shifting in the meadow behind it and then returning here to get dressed again before coming back into the house. This is what he had been doing all those nights, but where had he been flying to? Once she was off his back, he shifted back to human form, walking naked toward the house with her in tow.

  “Where did you go all those nights you snuck out and shifted?” she asked.

  “Nowhere in particular. A natural part of me to just wants to break out my dragon and take flight. I usually just fly across the fields where it isn’t well populated and along the river to watch the way the moonlight shines upon the water.”

  “That must be so incredible, so beautiful to see.”

  “It is. You didn’t really get to see the best of it on our trip here, only fields and forests. If you feel brave again some night, I can take you with me and show you where the real beauty lies.”

  “I would love that,” she told him.

  They made their way into the house and straight into bed, where the adrenaline of having flown home seemed to drive both of them into a carnal frenzy.

  Margaret sighed as Angus kissed the soft, delicate skin of her neck. She closed her eyes, a wide smile on her face as he moved over her, the scent of his body wrapping around her. Letting her eyes open just a bit, she watched the way the morning sun streaming in through the bedroom window played on his skin, the light cutting across the taut, strong shapes of his upper body. He continued to kiss her, his hand now on her inner thigh, the feeling of his palm on her skin so close to her sex sending waves of anticipation running through her body.

  "I want you so badly," Margaret said, her voice breathy, the words barely formed through the pleasure.

  Angus apparently didn't need to hear another word. He positioned himself above her, supporting his brawny, muscular form with his thick, ropey arms, the muscles flexing with his weight. Margaret couldn't wait to have him in her. Their lovemaking had only grown more pleasurable since they'd begun to explore one another on a regular basis. She wrapped her fingers around the girth of his cock, taking in a sharp breath as she took sweet pleasure at the feeling of his member in her hand.

  "Someone's eager," he said, his dark eyes flashing a knowing glint.

  "You know I'm no good at waiting," Margaret said, her mouth forming a sensual, playful smirk.

  "That's right. You're a girl who goes for what she wants."

  But before the conversation could continue further, Margaret placed the head of Angus's cock on the entry of her sex, closing her eyes once again. She loved the anticipation of him right on the edge of her, knowing that just a few moments later she would be completely filled with his long, hard stick. Then, with a slow glide, she pulled him into her at a pace that allowed her to feel every inch of his thickness as it filled her up.

  "God, you feel so incredible inside of me," Margaret said, taking a deep breath, the tight heat of pleasure already building in her nether regions.

  "The feeling is more than mutual," Angus replied, now sliding in and out of her.

  Margaret wrapped her legs around him, bringing her hips closer to his, imploring him with her body to drive himself deeper and faster into her. They'd made love enough times that Angus understood immediately what she wanted. He picked up the pace, rocking his hips into her, plowing into her harder and faster. Moans slipped from Margaret's mouth as he pounded her vigorously, filling her over and over again with his perfection. She opened her eyes just enough to observe his body work, to watch the muscles of his sculpted form tense and flex as he plunged into her again and again, her full breasts shaking and quivering with each impact of his hips into hers.

  Then, a sly grin crossed Margaret's mouth. Grabbing Angus's hips, she guided him over to his side, rolling their bodies until she was on top of him, his cock buried in her all the while. Angus crossed his hands behind his head, his muscles flexing as he did. Slowly at first, Margaret rode him, bucking her hips up and down, letting him move in and out of her, the pleasure almost too much to bear. Looking down at his sculpted form, his broad, strong shoulders, and his gorgeous face, she knew that her orgasm was not far at all.

  Her pace quickened, the sound of flesh on flesh filling the air. Angus moved his hands down to her hips, grabbing hold of her soft curves and lifting her up and down on his cock. Margaret leaned forward, placing her hands his rock-hard chest, bouncing herself up and down on top of him, the pleasure building and building by the second.

  "Oh, fill me with your seed,” she said, her voice breathy and pregnant with passion.

  Angus grunted, his face tightening as he approached orgasm. And as he approached, so did Margaret. She felt herself being pushed to the brink of pleasure, ready to fall over the precipice she had become all too familiar with and into pure ecstasy.

  And moments later, it happened. Her orgasm exploded through her body, muffled shrieks slipping out of her mouth as she covered her lips with her hands. The orgasm rushed through her, the hot, pulsing pleasure rocking her body. Angus came as she did, and the feeling of him erupting into her only increased the orgasmic joy that filled her body. She rocked her hips harder and harder, draining every last drop out of her beautiful husband. Soon, her orgasm ebbed, and she collapsed in a heap on top of him.

  They lay like this for a time, Margaret resting her head on his now-sweaty chest, listening to his heart beat a pace that slowed by the second, feeling the rise-and-fall of his breath.

  "Have I to
ld you how much I love it when you ride me?" he asked, breaking the silence.

  "Why do you think I love to do it so much?" asked Margaret, tapping the end of his nose with her finger.

  "Oh, don't act like you're not getting anything out of it, too," said Angus, his tone playful.

  "I can't argue with that," she said with a smirk.

  A little more time passed, the two of them enjoying the afterglow of their lovemaking before eventually falling asleep in one another’s arms. Still riding the wave of euphoria that had come with being able to fly and having what many in their rather puritan circles would consider inappropriate sexual relations between husband and wife, she gave no thought to what tonight’s revelation might mean for their future together. So, her husband was a dragon. There were probably worse things a person could be, though she wasn’t sure that they were or if she truly wanted to know about them.

  She had slept peacefully until the sun was high in the sky above and awakened with a start upon realizing Angus was no longer in the bed beside her. She felt a certain glow as she threw her gown over her head and ventured downstairs to look for him. She found him at the kitchen table, looking over a scrap of paper laid out in front of him.

  “What are you doing, love?” she asked, walking up behind him wand wrapping her arms over his shoulders affectionately.

  “Deciding at how I want to lay out the crops to get the maximum benefit from what resources we have.”

  “You should have woken me up. I would have come down to help,” she told him.

  “You were so beautiful to watch sleeping. I couldn’t bear to disturb you. Did you get enough rest?”

  “I did. I slept like a baby.”

  “And what happened yesterday? Any thoughts on that?” he asked, studying her face.

  “I don’t know that I’ve fully wrapped my head around it just yet, but I suppose it is what it is. There isn’t anything to be done to change it, is there?”

  “No. I’m afraid not.”

  “Then, it is just a matter of having a husband who also happens to be a dragon. What could possibly go wrong with that?” she replied, laughing a bit nervously.

  “Plenty, if the wrong people ever get wind of it. I just want to make sure you understand the need for complete secrecy regarding my gift. People would burn us down, drive us out of town and that is if we are lucky not to be hanged.”

  “I don’t understand that. It’s not as if you are some horrible monster to be feared.”

  “Were you not afraid when you first saw me?”

  “Well, yes, but I didn’t know it was you.”

  “Neither would they and, unlike you, it wouldn’t make a difference when they found out. I would still be unnatural, an abomination in their eyes.”

  “And where you came from? Were you accepted there?”

  “No. It is the same for dragons all over. People are afraid of what they cannot understand. They fear it and that fear causes them to want to destroy it. It would be the end of us if they knew.”

  “It is a shame that people can be like that – always ready to do harm without asking themselves what they are really doing until it is already too late. Don’t worry. I will never tell anyone what you are, but only on one condition.”

  “You have conditions now, do you?”

  Margaret looked at him very seriously, studying his obviously bemused expression. It was clear that whatever her conditions were held not consequence for him, but he would still entertain her ideas with a sense of humor. “You have to take me flying again sometimes when we can slip away.”

  “That’s easy enough. We will do that. I can take you along the river and up through the mountains so you can look down upon the world like a bird soaring through the night. Is that all?”

  “No, that is not all. I’m going to need you to make love to me all the time, like you did last night. It was so incredible to just feel such abandon.”

  “Well, all the time is a bit much. How will we ever get anything done in the fields and what will people think of us in the middle of church going at one another like feral rabbits?”

  “Oh, you! You know what I mean! Just promise me that we will never become one of those old boring couples that never enjoy one another intimately.”

  “Are you crazy, woman? I’m a wild animal! I’m a dragon, for goodness sakes. You will never find a day when my primal nature doesn’t beg to plunder that beautiful body of yours.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise, until death do us part.”

  “Now, that sounds like a lifetime plan I can get behind. Shall we make what we can of the rest of this day and see about getting the fields ready for planting?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s already far too late in the day to start gardening now. I have a better idea.”

  Margaret giggled as he stood and whirled around, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her upstairs. They made love again for hours, until the both of them were weak and exhausted. They fell into an almost lifeless sleep, completely unaware of anything around them beyond their bodies own rhythmic breathing that kept them lulled into peaceful slumber. When they awoke again in the late hours of the night, Angus retrieved them a crust of bed and a dipper of water which they scarfed down hungrily before falling upon one another once again and continued their long day of animalistic sex.

  As Margaret slipped back into sleep again, she felt a sense of contentment like she’d never known before. She lay her head on Angus’s chest as he slept beside her and listened to his breathing as he rested from their day’s antics. In the morning, it would be business as usual for the two of them. They would venture back into the fields to toil at keeping their little farm and thus, themselves alive. She had been right when she had surmised that her life here would be hard and she had been right.

  Still, days like this, in the arms of a man she couldn’t imagine not loving, made it all worth it for her. She knew that she would carve her way through mountains with a hand shovel to get to him on the other side if it came to that. He was the love of her life and though it might have been by a complete fluke that she had found her way too him, there was no doubt she had followed the right path.

  So, he was a dragon. Everyone had their faults. Granted, it was a bit more than just having a wart on his toe or a penchant for a drink now and then, but it wasn’t as if he could change it and he didn’t abuse his powers by using it against anyone undeserving of the destruction his dragon form was capable of raining down upon an enemy. As far as she was concerned, he was still just the simple, handsome farmer she had agreed to marry even though they had never met nor exchanged photos and that was good enough for her.

  After a while, she dozed off once more, sleeping peacefully for much longer than she would have expected after having been in bed for nearly the whole day. Of course, little of that had been actually sleeping, she reminded herself. Her last thoughts as she drifted off to dreamland were of his touch and his kiss and when her slumber led her to dream, she didn’t conjure of nightmares filled with fire breathing dragons or men crunching against trees. Instead, she pictured herself holding a child, a wee symbol of their union as they walked blissfully along the trail down by the lake under a cloudless sky on a warm spring day.

  A smile crossed her face and stayed there as the dreams went on to show her just how wonderful her life with Angus would be if she merely accepted him for what he was as he had accepted her. Wasn’t that what marriage was all about, after all? Compromise and acceptance? Neither of them were perfect, that much was obvious, but together they created a little corner of the world that was a perfection all its own. Life was going to be great for as long as they remained together and that was forever, as far as she was concerned. The thoughts dissipated as she slipped deeper into sleep, leaving her to find a peace that flowed over her like a soft wave upon the shore.

  Chapter Nine

  Margaret slept more soundly than she had in days as she lay curled up in Angus’s arms. The fact that he
loved her so much that he had risked everything to come and find her only made her love him more. When she awoke the next morning, the familiar nausea had returned. Splashing some cool water on her face, she got dressed and joined Angus, who was already downstairs but had let her sleep in a bit longer before heading out to the fields.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  “I am,” she replied, sipping on a bit of water from ladle in the water bucket.

  “I made us a bit of food,” he offered.

  “Thanks, but I haven’t much of an appetite this morning.”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Probably just a bit of fatigue from the long journey.

  “Maybe you should stay inside today,” he told her.

  “Don’t be silly. It will pass. We have a lot of work to do and I’ve already put us behind schedule with my nonsense.”

  Angus studied her face for a moment and placed his hand on her forehead, checking for any signs of fever. Satisfying himself that she didn’t appear to be too warm, he finally nodded and opened the door for her to exit the house.

  “Let’s get the ground ready and then go into town. I have enough left to get at least a start on seeds in the ground.”

  “I feel so bad about everything, Angus. I feel like this is all my fault.”

  “Let’s not talk about any of that anymore. You were scared and you had your reasons. We should have both been more honest with one another and we would have been much better off.”

  “Fair enough. We start fresh from today.”

  “Great plan. Now, let’s get to work.”

  The two of them toiled side by side, breaking the ground for planting. When they were done, Margaret grabbed them a bit of ham and bread to eat while Angus got the wagon ready for going into town. Angus ate his food before getting onto the wagon, while she ate hers along the way. The spring had brought color to the brown ruins of winter, sprouting colorful flowers and blades of fresh grass as they made their way along the road. It made her smile to know it had been almost one full year since she had come here to be Angus’s wife. They had come a long way. She only wished they had done so much sooner.