Crimson Flames

by Alex DuBois

  “It’s magic. I’ll show you more tonight,” Malachai promised. Johnny might have argued, but just then, he was hit by the most intense wave of exhaustion. He’d thought that he was over that, but it seemed not.

  “Baby,” Malachai said softly, and then, all of a sudden, Johnny was swept into Malachai’s arms. The redhead carried him into the house, which was just as gorgeous on the outside as it was on the inside.

  Johnny barely noticed, though. He closed his eyes as he was put into the softest, most amazingly comfortable bed that he’d ever been in. It was like being cradled by a cloud.

  “How did you do that so easily? I’m bigger than you.” Johnny’s voice was a little drowsy, but the question was sincere. Johnny was slightly taller than Malachai and was much broader, more muscular. It shouldn’t be possible for him to so easily carry him.

  “I’m very strong.” Malachai laid down in the bed with Johnny and Johnny instinctively wrapped himself around the other man. He buried his face in the other man’s chest, taking a deep breath and breathing him in as deeply as he could. “You need to get some rest.”

  Johnny smiled a little. Whatever was going on here, it might be terrifying, but it was also wonderful. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Malachai was right? If Johnny really were pregnant? He let out a soft sigh, one hand on his flat stomach.

  “You smell like fire,” Johnny realized, gazing up into those beautiful blue eyes. The same shade of blue that he’d seen at the very base of campfires, the blue flame that burned hotter than the orange and yellow and red.

  “You smell like the ocean, beautiful,” Malachai countered.

  Johnny smiled, rather liking that. He looked at the other man and then leaned in, touching his lips lightly against Malachai’s.

  The kiss was only supposed to be brief, only a light brush of his lips over Malachai’s, but the moment they touched, it was far too arousing. Just like that, Johnny was ready to go, his cock as hard as he could ever remember it being.

  Winding his fingers into the other man’s hair, Johnny tugged on the bright orange strands, kissing him frantically. For a moment, Malachai resisted, and Johnny knew that his lover was fighting with the desire to give in to this against the urge to take care of Johnny and make sure he rested.

  In the end, sex won. For Johnny, too, even though he’d been so incredibly exhausted just a short time ago. It didn’t matter. The urge he had to belong to Malachai was overwhelming, to the point where it was all he could think about.

  “Baby, take my clothes off,” Johnny demanded. He was meanwhile busy doing the same thing for Malachai, stripping him determinedly. He’d never felt heat like this, passion, lust, desire. Any other encounter that he’d had in his life felt dull and flat compared to this.

  In seconds, they were naked, and Malachai was on top of Johnny between his spread legs. No one else had ever had Johnny panting with eagerness, but he was, and it seemed to take so little. The light brush of their lips together could easily do it.

  “Mine,” Malachai growled, and when he pushed into Johnny and took him so perfectly, he couldn’t even think about disagreeing with that. He was Malachai’s. Maybe it was stupid, but it was true, and he felt it with every fiber of his being. How he could go from so damn exhausted to needing this man this much in a split second he didn’t know, but he had.

  It was just like the first time, only better. Somehow, it was even better, though he would have thought that wasn’t possible. Malachai slid into him and it was like he belonged there. Johnny usually wanted sex to involve more foreplay, he usually wanted lube and preparation before someone fucked him, but with Malachai, it wasn’t needed. In fact, if Malachai had tried, it probably would have frustrated him. He needed him too badly.

  They fit together like it was meant to be, and Johnny thought about the word ‘mate’ as Malachai took him. Somehow, it seemed like the perfect word. It seemed like the absolute right word.

  The two rocked together, and Johnny became aware that Malachai was hot to the touch. Somehow, that heat only pleased him, made him want to purr like a cat curled up in front of a fireplace, to soak it all up.

  Then there was a flash of fire. This time, it wasn’t Malachai’s body that lit up, but just his eyes, and just for a second. Johnny sensed that his lover was holding it back this time, but how could it even be possible to start with?

  “I swear I just saw fire in your eyes,” Johnny whispered, his legs tangled with Malachai’s, his fingers gripping onto his shoulders tightly. Just like that, his orgasm rolled over him, and just like the first time it was far more intense than Johnny had thought even possible before.

  He felt the hot gush of come inside him, and for some reason, he wanted that come. He wanted to pull it deep inside himself, use it to ... God. He was going just as crazy as Malachai was.

  “Sleep, beautiful,” Malachai directed. “Tonight, I have something to show you.”

  Johnny nodded. Something that would make all of this make some sort of sense would be nice. At this point, he would be open to almost anything.

  As it was though, a nap did sound pretty much heavenly.

  Chapter Three

  Malachai

  There was no doubt at all in Malachai’s mind anymore that Johnny was his mate. He’d known almost from the first second he’d seen him, and nothing that had happened since then had made him think any differently.

  He’d found the other half of his soul. He’d always believed that he would find his fated mate someday, because he was, at heart, a romantic. Just not so soon. He knew many didn’t even believe in the whole concept. That Levi, for instance, believed in the whole thing only logically, and only for other people.

  Levi. God, and the rest of his brothers, and his mother, too. He had a lot of people to tell. First, though, he had to do what he’d been pretty sure deep down that he never would.

  He had to reveal himself to a human.

  Johnny so far had been fairly accepting, even of the things that he couldn’t understand or believe because of his conditioning. Many humans would have run by now, but Johnny hadn’t. All Malachai could do was trust that their bond would keep Johnny by him even when he showed him who he really was.

  When he awoke, it was dark. Malachai wasn’t usually one for nerves, but he was making a bit of an exception, it seemed, in this case. He took a deep breath, then shook Johnny awake very gently.

  “C’mon, baby,” he coaxed, and Johnny opened those remarkable sea-green eyes and gave him a sleepy smile.

  “Hey,” Johnny murmured, and then frowned. “I’m starving.”

  Shamefully, Malachai’s first reaction was relief. He would have to feed his ravenous mate, that went without saying. Which meant that he didn’t have to tell him, or show him, just yet.

  “What do you want to eat?” Malachai asked, and Johnny smiled at him and brushed his lips over his. Malachai felt the surge of arousal that went through the human even at that soft, brief touch, and it matched the one that Malachai felt perfectly.

  He wanted Johnny. All the damn time.

  “Spicy. Anything spicy. Lots of spicy food.”

  Malachai smirked. Of course the child he’d put in Johnny would want hot food. Food that reminded the baby of fire. Malachai himself loved spicy food, and he didn’t know a dragon who didn’t. It made him more sure than ever that he’d gotten Johnny pregnant.

  “I think that can be arranged,” Malachai murmured softly.

  * * *

  Malachai took Johnny out of the house to where his pride and joy rested. He had a Corvette convertible, fire-red, of course, and he watched Johnny carefully as the young surfer looked at it for the first time.

  Johnny was surprised, and Malachai grinned as he took his mate’s hand. Honestly, he wanted him to know that he had nothing to worry about. That Malachai would take care of him, no matter what, and that he had the means to do so.

  “Okay, seriously. What’s with all the money? Do you rob banks or deal drugs or something?” Johnny demand
ed, and Malachai couldn’t help but chuckle softly at his reaction.

  “No. I have a hoard, mostly of rubies, that could support my current lifestyle for the rest of humanity’s existence,” Malachai said. His tone was light, but he was telling the truth. Another truth that he’d never imagined telling a human.

  Johnny’s eyes widened as he got into the car.

  “Fine, don’t tell me. I’m going to get sand in here and that’ll show you,” he said, and Malachai shook his head. Maybe he’d been too careful in the past. It seemed to take a lot to even get a human to accept what was nothing more than the truth.

  “I’m not fucking with you,” Malachai promised. “Look, this will all make sense after dinner, I promise.”

  Johnny gave him that slow, easygoing smile that Malachai had come to love so much. It was frustrating that Johnny didn’t believe him, but Malachai knew that it could be so much worse. Even with all of the strange things that Malachai was telling Johnny, Johnny was willing to try to believe.

  “Okay,” the young man said easily, then rested his head on Malachai’s shoulder and his hand on his knee with complete trust.

  Malachai had to swallow hard against a lump of emotion in his throat. What had he done to be so lucky? How had he gotten this amazing, gorgeous young man for his own? What could he even have done to earn this heaven? Johnny didn’t even fully believe him, but he still gave himself to Malachai.

  With an arm possessively around the human, Malachai drove them to an all-night Mexican restaurant that he knew of, one that served their food with extra chili peppers on the side.

  * * *

  When Johnny tried to get out of the car, he had to cling on to the side of it. Malachai winced, feeling more guilty than he was used to feeling. This was his fault, he’d done this to Johnny.

  “Sorry,” Johnny said, meeting Malachai’s eyes and then looking away as though ashamed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  Malachai shook his head.

  “I’m the one who should be sorry. This is all my fault. The craving spicy food, the exhaustion, all of it.”

  Johnny pulled himself together enough to flash a smile at Malachai.

  “Because you made me pregnant,” he said lightly, but Malachai didn’t smile back. He wrapped his arm around Johnny’s slender waist and pulled him close against him, supporting his weight easily.

  “Exactly,” he said simply, and Johnny frowned.

  “It’s getting harder and harder not to take you seriously,” Johnny admitted, and Malachai gave him a slight smile. Later on, he hoped, Johnny would remember that Malachai had never, not even in the very beginning, lied to him.

  “So then ....” For the first time, Johnny was talking about it like he might actually believe it was going to happen. Even without needing to see Malachai prove it, he was willing to consider it. Most humans wouldn’t have been. “For the next nine months I carry your kid and you take care of me? Is that how this works?”

  Malachai laughed softly, helping his exhausted, starving mate to a chair. He got him seated and then sat across from him

  “It’s about half that time. Four and a half months, give or take,” Malachai admitted. “It goes faster than with a woman. As for after that ... You will still be mine. For the rest of our lives. My mate.”

  Dragons mated for life, and Malachai pushed that through the link they shared. As of yet, Johnny was only peripherally aware of it, but once he’d accepted this fully, it would become a true, full bond on both sides.

  “You don’t mess around, do you?” Johnny asked, slightly stunned. He picked up his menu and started to peruse it. Malachai, who had been here many times, already knew what he wanted, and he didn’t even need to look at the menu.

  “Usually I do,” Malachai said, with complete candor. He was pretty sure that Johnny knew that Malachai was no virgin, just as Johnny wasn’t. “But not with this. This is serious.”

  The waitress came and they both ordered food, a lot of it. When the waitress was gone, Johnny looked at Malachai with thoughtful eyes.

  “Just out of curiosity, what would happen if I didn’t want to be your mate?” The words stung a little, but Malachai couldn’t even deny that he could understand where the human was coming from. It was a fair question. Neither of them got a choice in the matter.

  “It’s not a matter of either of us having a choice. We’re mated.” Malachai kept his voice quiet, gentle. “The fact that you weren’t burned by my fire means that it’s already done.”

  Johnny nodded a little.

  “I thought it might be something like that. But ... I don’t think I mind. Being your mate, I mean. The whole baby thing is weird, but it’s a dream come true.” Johnny paused, and then added, “If it’s true.”

  Malachai glowed, pleased with those words. Having a mate that was reluctant, that didn’t want to be there, that would be horrible. For both of them. Luckily, Johnny seemed to be taking to it far better than Malachai ever could have even dreamed.

  The food came, and Malachai watched protectively as his mate ate. He wanted Johnny and the baby both to be happy and healthy.

  Finally, they were both done. Malachai dropped money on the table to pay for their dinner, then stood up, his heart hammering in his chest. He offered Johnny his hand, and the human took it, rising to his feet.

  “It’s time.”

  * * *

  Malachai thought about what he could say to preface what he was about to do. In the end, though, there was nothing. This was going to be a shock to Johnny, and nothing he could come up with to say or do would lessen that shock much. He’d already told him so much, it was time to show him, to give him some proof.

  So he was quieter than usual as he drove back home. He had a stretch of private beach, and it was hidden by a natural hill that rolled down to the sand from the house. No one would be able to see him unless they were on the beach itself, or on the water.

  That was why he’d waited until it was dark. The chances of anyone coming close enough to see him were slim, and as long as he didn’t breathe fire or anything stupid like that, he should be safe enough.

  It was a risk, of course. It was just that the risk was acceptable. He did need to do this.

  Quietly, hand in hand with Johnny, Malachai led the way down the short path from his house to the little beach that was all his. He let go of Johnny’s hand and went to stand in the surf, ignoring the fact that his pants were getting soaked. The heat of his body would dry them soon enough.

  He didn’t strip. He didn’t need to. Other shifters, he’d heard, needed to take off their clothing or else shred it. Dragons, however, were an older type of shifter. More deeply magical. That was what Malachai had always been taught, at least. Though he’d run into other shifters before, of course, he’d never spent much time around them.

  Once more, Malachai struggled to find the words to warn Johnny about what was about to happen. There were none. Anything he said, Johnny would just naturally disbelieve. There were some things that humans just weren’t cut out to believe, it seemed, and Johnny was more accepting than most, but even he had his limits.

  Well, there was no point in delaying. Would this be the straw that broke the camel’s back? Would Johnny be able to accept this? It was better to find that out now, surely, than later when it would be too late.

  Who was he kidding? It was already too late. Far, far too late.

  All he could do was trust to fate, and in his mate. So, with that, Malachai took a deep breath and let himself transform, let the dragon take over.

  This form always felt so welcoming. That was why he sometimes went deep into the forest and let himself be who he was. Part of who he was. The human part was every bit as much who he truly was as the dragon.

  Malachai was, as he was as a human, rather small and slender for a dragon. His scales were the color of his hair, a bright, brilliant fiery red-orange, his wings, the same color, tucked neatly over his back. He crouched down, trying to both make himself
less visible and hopefully he would be able to keep Johnny from getting quite as terrified.

  Small for a dragon, after all, was still enormous.

  Oddly, though, he didn’t sense a lot of fear from his mate. He sensed wonder, and awe, and yes, there was some fear, but not as much as he would have expected.

  “Malachai?” Johnny’s voice was very small in the night, and Malachai turned his eyes to his mate, able to see him perfectly. Even in his human form, his night vision was better than most, but as he was now, he could see every detail of his little mate as he stood and stared at him on the dry sand.

  “Yes, little one, it’s me,” Malachai said, and he kept his voice very soft. In this form, he could easily roar loudly enough to make a good portion of the city of Los Angeles hear him, but he, obviously, didn’t want that level of attention.

  Malachai knew that he was right about his mate when he watched the human walking closer. There weren’t too many humans who wouldn’t run away from a dragon, it was just instinctive. Maybe the fact that this was his mate was keeping Johnny there, or maybe it was just the human’s temperament. More likely, it was both.

  “You’re a dragon,” Johnny whispered, and Malachai nodded his great head. Other than that, though, he kept very still to avoid scaring his mate off. Johnny was taking this very well, he didn’t want to ruin this.

  Johnny stopped close to Malachai’s head, and he reached out as if to touch his red foreleg. His hand trembled, though, and he dropped it down again, as though not quite daring.

  “I’m a dragon,” Malachai agreed. “And it all makes sense, doesn’t it? The magic, the mystery, even the baby.”

  Johnny hesitated, but he nodded a little, and Malachai had to fight to hold back a sigh of relief. If Johnny still hadn’t believed, even after all of this, there would have been nothing to do but let time take time. The swelling of Johnny’s belly would have proven it if nothing else would.