by J. R Fox
It was Gabriel’s turn to frown. “You’ve never used a condom before?”
“No, I… I have, but right now,” Peter shook his head, confused. “I don’t know – it’s revolting.”
“It’s the dragon in you,” Gabriel sighed, removing Peter’s hand. He nudged himself forward and breathed, “If we don’t use it—”
“No,” Peter stopped him with a kiss. “I don’t want it. The feel of the plastic,” he shivered, disgusted just by thinking about it.
“But Peter, you need—”
“Shut up,” Peter demanded, fisting a hand around Gabriel’s cock as he felt for the end of the plastic at his base. “And kiss me.” He found it easily enough, and rolled it off rhythmically in keeping with his kisses. Gabriel let him, but the moment he was freed from the plastic he pushed Peter back down and took over.
He entered easily, and Peter gasped at the entrance. “Gabrieeeeel,” he moaned, clawing at the sheets. Gabriel grabbed Peter’s hands, one at a time, and kissed his palms before throwing the younger man’s arms around his head.
“I’m here,” he promised, kissing and thrusting while Peter trembled beneath him. “I’m here.”
Peter closed his eyes and arched his back as the feeling in his stomach burned. It felt like he was on the edge of an orgasm, but it was more intense – like a fire being balled up, waiting to explode.
“Ah!” he opened his eyes as he felt Gabriel grip his dick and rub his thumb over the slit.
“You’re close,” Gabriel said. It wasn’t a question.
“Gabe,” Peter gasped. Gabriel just smiled, and he thrust inside at the same time that he pumped Peter’s dick.
It took everything Peter had not to unravel completely as that coiled heat shot through him, warming up every inch of his body as it seemed to ignite his blood. He tensed through it, and he just barely heard Gabriel gasp as he did so. Peter just kept breathing, his arms weak as they fell from Gabriel’s neck. His bond brace was shining brighter than ever before, and when he looked at it a sense of calm overtook him at seeing the sapphire that Gabriel had gifted to him all those weeks ago finally sunken into the design as if it’d always been there.
When the fire had finally subsided and his skin only tingled with every movement, Peter tried to sit up. Gabriel just shook his head and planted a hand on his shoulder, keeping him down.
“Sorry,” Gabe said quickly, a little out of breath himself. “I came inside.”
Peter knew – could feel it, along Gabriel’s large cock still nestled inside him. “I know,” he said simply, slightly circling his hips. Gabriel hissed, and Peter laughed. “Want to go again?” he asked, already missing the heat that’d ignited his bones only a moment ago.
Gabriel just grinned, and grabbed his legs.
Chapter Eight
Gabriel started staying home more and more after that. He didn’t want Peter out of his sight any more than Peter wanted him out of his bed, which made for quite a few busy days for them and even more sick day call-outs for the museum.
It was a few months after their first night together, and a week after Peter had finally just given up and moved into the master bedroom with Gabriel, that he had started to dream.
Dream of artifacts and gold still hidden in graves – of colorful banners on sharp sticks and silver soldiers marching one after the other like links to a chain. But most of all of the copper taste of blood, and the fang-breaking crunch of bones.
“They aren’t nightmares,” Peter had tried to explain to Gabriel. “Just violent. But I’m not scared or on the run in them or anything.”
“If you were a dragon, then I would just tell you that they were old memories resurfacing,” Gabriel had said as he set a pot of coffee on to brew. “But you’re dragon blood – you’re barely two decades young.” Shaking his head, he’d crossed his arms and shrugged. “I don’t know what they mean. They might not mean anything.”
It was less than comforting to hear that his dreams of bloodshed and sucking the marrow from human bones wasn’t normal, even by a dragon’s standards. So Peter tried to deal with it himself and stopped telling Gabriel when he had them altogether.
His silence worked, for a while. But then Peter started having the same dream every night, and it wasn’t long before those dreams manifested into something else.
“Peter?” Gabriel asked groggily one night, sitting up in bed. “Peter, what’re you doing?”
Peter paused, unsure of where he was. It was cold under his feet, and there weren’t any blankets to speak of. He heard the bed creak behind him as Gabriel flicked on a light, and he found himself hunched over one of the cabinets, Gabriel’s coin purse in his hands.
And the taste of copper in his mouth.
“Ugh!” he spit out the bits of metal on his tongue, his heart hammering away as he stared at the copper coins he’d just coughed out. He’d been eating pennies.
“Peter?” Gabriel had asked again, this time much closer. Peter whined and grabbed the dragon’s hand.
“Gabriel,” he looked up at him with wide eyes. “What’s wrong with me?”
Gabriel’s jaw clenched as he stared back. “I don’t know. But,” he pulled him close. “There might be someone we can ask.”
Peter almost couldn’t wait until morning to receive an answer, but Gabriel insisted that they wait for the sun to rise before heading out. “We aren’t the most trusting of beings,” he told him. “It’s best to avoid shadows and late hours when it comes to my generation, but older dragons especially. You’d be lucky to escape with your life.”
As it turned out, the older dragon was a friend of Gabriel’s father – Rauwel, a red dragon with white eyes living in a large castle on a cliff. Gabriel flew them, and for Peter it was nearly a blink before they were touching down on cobblestone steps with sea shell tipped corners.
“Come in, come in,” the old dragon welcomed them happily, his black robe sweeping behind him like Gabriel’s wings. “Peter, I take it. Yes, I’ve heard all about you,” he winked. “Word gets around, you know.”
He ushered them into the building with a bony arm, and Peter followed Gabriel cautiously inside. An intense heat hit him the moment he crossed the threshold, but rather than unsettle him it only made Peter want to curl up and go to sleep.
“An old family defense,” Gabriel whispered, slipping an arm around Peter’s back to keep him walking in a straight line. “Meant to keep humans out by putting them under a deep slumber the moment they invaded.”
“And it’s affecting me?” Peter asked with a yawn.
“What do you think?” Gabriel grinned, amused.
“Now then,” Rauwel said, taking a seat in a grand room of cushions and tapestries. “What could you possibly need to call upon an old drake like me for?”
Peter looked at Gabriel. “I-I’ve been having dreams,” Peter said, sitting up straight as he sat beside Gabriel.
“And what, little dragon, happens in these dreams?” Rauwel asked kindly.
“I’m chewing on bones,” Peter said quietly. “And drinking blood—”
“And you think this is a lusting brought on by your dragon blood?” he asked. Peter nodded hesitantly, a grim frown on his face. Rauwel just laughed, “Oh, no, worry not. They are merely the cravings taking hold.”
Gabriel and Peter looked at each other. “Uh,” Peter said, “The cravings to slaughter a human?”
“For sapphires, brittle as bones,” the old man smiled. “And copper, rich as a man’s blood. Though, I won’t lie and tell you that the cravings are purely innocent. Back in my day, a mother had to rely on a violent appetite in case knights came calling to kill her nest. Genetics, you know,” he said.
“Cravings…?” Peter asked, glancing at Gabriel.
“Pregnancy cravings,” the old man said. “Brought on by the little drake you carry inside of you.”
Peter swallowed hard and gave a nervous laugh. “Apologies,” he said slowly, unsure of how to correct the old man. “But I’m
a male—”
“And a dragon,” he nodded. “And, as I’m sure Gabriel has explained, an omega can get pregnant regardless of gender.” Standing, he said to Gabriel, “Offer your mate plenty of jewels to curb the cravings. Oh, and Karros – do keep him close, will you?”
“Of course,” Gabriel said, standing in time with the old dragon. Peter reluctantly followed, his mind a blur. Pregnant? Cravings? He looked at Gabriel, and the alpha shook his head slightly. The look he gave him clearly said, “Not here.”
The flight back was just as quick, and the moment they arrived back in front of the manor Peter shoved Gabriel off of him.
“Peter—”
“I’m pregnant!” Then, whirling back on Gabe, he said, “I’m pregnant?!”
“I tried to tell you, that night when you didn’t want to use a condom—”
“And what? Cat had your tongue all the other nights that we didn’t use one?” Peter demanded.
“Peter, I know you’re angry. It only makes sense to be angry. But,” Gabriel said, hands out as he tried to draw closer. “Are you unhappy?”
“That you forced a child on me?” Peter growled.
“That you’re pregnant with our child,” Gabriel countered.
“Get back,” Peter warned, making Gabriel freeze. “Don’t touch me.”
“Peter—”
“Don’t,” Peter growled, wings unfurling to spread wide at his back.
Gabriel’s shoulders slumped, and he stayed put as Peter walked away.
Peter didn’t go to the master bedroom, but to the guest room that he had called his own for so long. Burrowing beneath the blankets, Peter closed his eyes, and dreamed of bones and blood.
Chapter Nine
“Don’t go outside.” Gabriel said it quietly, neither as a demand or an order, but as a suggestion. “It isn’t safe.”
Peter snorted, “Yeah? Safer than the sex we were having.” He walked outside before Gabriel could say anything else on the matter and snapped the door shut behind him. He stood there, just a step away from the door, waiting to see what Gabriel would do – if he would try something different today. His heart dropped in disappointment when the dragon simply left the manor and flew away to work, his absence like a pulled string tugging at Peter’s heart.
He missed him, but Gabriel was too stupid to see it.
“Fucking dragon,” Peter muttered, marching through the garden with crossed arms. He was showing now, and the bump on his stomach made his arms jut out. It was unnerving, and a little scary, but mostly lonely. Still, he had too much pride to go crawling back to Gabriel, not after the way that the dragon had basically tricked him. So, instead, he waited for the alpha to leave every day so that he might practice with the new changes that the pregnancy had brought.
Like playing with fire, for instance.
Peter could light a flame on the tips of his fingers, something that he’d been shocked to discover in the kitchen one night. He had tried experimenting, tried to breathe smoke like Gabriel or create a ball of fire, but so far his fingertips were all that he could ignite. His wings, on the other hand, had grown quite a bit in the past few months, and Peter had half a mind to wonder if they were competing with his belly.
“Okay,” Peter huffed to himself, stopping just beyond the hydrangeas. Shaking his shoulders and dropping his arms, Peter sucked in a breath and focused on his back. He imagined wings, there, sprouting ever so slowly to flap at his sides. Sure enough, the wind kicked up around him as his wings beat as one on either side of him.
Breathing in deep, Peter closed his eyes and willed his wings to move faster, and he cracked a smile as his feet leave the ground. He wondered how long it would take before he could fly like Gabriel – to soar over countless miles of land and arrive at a destination within the blink of an eye.
He wondered where he would go, if given the choice. Certainly not back to a city filled with humans, or even a countryside void of magic. No, he’d stay here, in this place of dragons and sapphires. Just, somewhere he’d never been before – somewhere exciting.
Laughing to himself, he opened his eyes, and proceeded to gasp.
There, lying before him, was not a garden but a wasteland, one caked in black stone and oozing with fire and lava. It took everything he had to keep himself hovering above the ground, terrified of what might happen if he let his bare feet touch down.
“What is that?”
Peter watched, horrified, as a creature rose from one of the molten pits, the liquid lava falling off of it like water from an umbrella. As it stepped onto the solid black foundation, its yellow eyes found Peter’s, and its face split into a cruel smile.
It looked like a red lion, now that the lava had fallen away, though its tail was something like a scorpion’s stinger and appeared twice as sharp. Peter could only jump, his hand covering his mouth, when two giant bat wings unfolded from its back, spraying droplets of fire as they flapped in the air.
“I said,” the thing purred, prowling forward. It kept to the ground, and Peter tried desperately to make his wings move faster and carry him away. “What is that?” it asked again.
“I-I am Peter, uh, Karros,” he said, hoping Gabriel’s name would hold some authority with the creature.
“A Karros,” its eyes shined. “A dragon, then.”
“Yes,” Peter said, straightening his back. “And I—”
“Two dragons,” it licked its mouth, eyeing Peter’s stomach. “Twice the kill.”
“Kill?” Peter repeated, his heart sinking with every word. “No, I—”
Suddenly, the thing pounced, and Peter could see all too well what the wings were for. They might not allow the creature to take flight, but they certainly carried him well enough when his prey was up high. Peter swerved with his feet and his wings, just barely avoiding the red lion’s sharp claws.
“Do not run,” the creature cooed. “Do not like to chase.”
“Get away from me!” Peter screamed. Yanking up the sleeve of his sweater, he looked for the jewel to teleport him home on the bond brace. He’d only used it once before, and at the time, Gabriel had pointed to one of the brighter gems on it, but now the largest and brightest was the sapphire that Gabe had personally added to the brace. Peter glanced at the creature down below, its leg muscles already coiled and ready to strike, and he closed his eyes and shouted.
“Gabriel!” he yelled, slapping his hand over the sapphire while he imagined the manor. Even with his eyelids closed, he could see the flash of light, and it was with a smile that he opened them again.
Only to find that he was still in the lava land with a hungry lion just a few feet below. As their eyes met again it jumped, and Peter wrapped his arms around his stomach in an attempt to guard himself.
“Peter!”
Peter looked up at the voice, his heart leaping in his throat as Gabriel appeared and cut the creature off in mid-jump, slicing his hand through the air and leaving gashes behind. The lion roared in pain and lumbered off, jumping back into the lava pool that it’d first appeared from.
“Peter,” Gabriel grabbed him, his hands warm as they searched his face. “Are you hurt?”
“Fine,” Peter breathed, collapsing against Gabriel as his wings finally gave out. “How did you…?”
“The bond brace,” Gabriel said, hugging Peter to him. “You called me with your sapphire.”
“Did I?” Peter asked softly. Relief was making him numb.
“Peter, you’re shaking. You’re—” Gabriel cut himself off with a curse, pushing Peter away at arm’s length. “You’re going into labor.”
“What?” Peter blinked. “Labor?”
“Here,” Gabriel tucked him close. “We’re flying to Rauwel’s.”
By the time they arrived, Peter found that he was getting short of breath. As they stepped onto solid ground, Gabriel gave up all pretenses and swept Peter up properly in his arms, holding the smaller dragon close.
“Rauwel!” Gabriel called, already marching
toward the gates.
“It isn’t like a Karros to come unannounced,” Rauwel answered calmly, already at the door.
“He’s gone into labor,” Gabriel panicked, still striding forward.
“Well then,” Rauwel straightened, throwing out an arm to indicate the room behind him. “By all means, come in, come in. But, if I may ask—”
“Manticore,” Gabriel explained as he brushed past him. “He flew himself to the edge of the underworld.”
“No doubt the fiery climate expedited the arrival,” Rauwel nodded in understanding. “Bring him here…”
Rauwel’s voice was the last thing that Peter remembered. The heat wave that he’d experienced last time pushed him under a sleepless dream in his weakened state, and it was with a groggy headache that he awoke hours later.
“A girl,” was the first thing that Gabriel said to him. “It’s a girl.”
Chapter Ten: Epilogue
“Daddy!”
Peter half-turned to smile at his daughter as she raced into the kitchen. “Not so fast, Gwen. Remember what we talked about? No running in the house.”
“Aw, c’mon daddy,” Gabriel winked. “You’re only young once.”
“Don’t you start that again,” Peter muttered, accepting the kiss on the cheek that his mate planted with a smack.
“Smells great,” Gabriel said as he leaned an arm on Peter’s shorter shoulder, glancing at the bacon he was cooking.
“You have time to eat?” Peter asked with a raised eyebrow. Ever since the museum had made Gabriel curator two years ago, the dragon never seemed to have time for anything other than a to-go mug of coffee and a bagel.
“Nope,” Gabriel smiled, squeezing Peter’s shoulder fondly as he moved to the coffee pot.
“Of course not,” Peter rolled his eyes. “Gwen, take a seat, dear. The eggs are almost done.”
“Yes, daddy,” she mumbled, struggling to climb into the seat with her favorite princess wand clutched in her hand.
“There we go,” Gabriel said as he grabbed her under the arms and easily lifted her into the chair. “Now,” he gently took away the wand and swapped her for a fork. “Eat all your food, or you’ll stop growing like daddy.”
