by T. S. Ryder
Carmichael looked thoughtful as he ate a hunk of meat with ravenous bites.
“My turn for a question,” she said, as she retrieved a clay jug of mead from Tarron’s saddle before settling beside Carmichael.
“I will answer with honesty, Lady Karina,” Carmichael said around mouthfuls of stew.
Karina stared at him for a moment. “Why haven’t you mated with a human to break this curse of yours?” she asked. Carmichael stilled, she wondered if she’d offended him and hid her unease behind a long, deep swig of mead.
“That... is quite the question,” Carmichael said finally. His golden eyes stared at the flames of the fire as they danced and crackled. “I had considered it. For a time, I had courted human women with the hopes of mating. But to no avail, I’m afraid.”
“Why then were you hinting at mating me? If it hadn’t worked in the past, why expect a different result?” Karina asked.
Carmichael looked up towards the starry sky, a sad smile on his lips. “My Lady Knight, I don’t know how to answer that question,” he admitted as he took the clay jug and drank deeply from it. “Perhaps, it was due to the burn deep in my chest when I steal a glance at you.”
Karina looked towards him, perplexed with his answer. Had she thought he was lying, she’d have laughed and demanded an actual answer. Instead the sincerity in his tone made it difficult to shrug off. “You don’t know me, Carmichael. How can you possibly have such feelings?”
He leaned in close to her with a soft smile on his face. “My dear,” he whispered as he pressed a weathered hand to her soft cheek. He was more than delighted when she didn’t pull away. “How could I not?”
A light blush took hold in Karina’s cheeks and before she’d consciously decided, she found herself pressing against the hand that so gently caressed her cheek.
“You are quite lovely, my dear Lady. You have a strength unfounded in your race. I find you as formidable as any dragon of my time and believe me, my praise comes not lightly.
Carmichael’s lips were against her own before Karina had time to reply. They were so soft against hers and moved as though they had been molded to fit her own. She pressed closer, until her hands rested lightly against his broad chest. But then as quickly as the moment came, she drew away with haste, a gasp on her lips.
“I-I…” she stammered, a blush darker than a rose on her cheeks. Without second thought, she scrambled into their tent. All the while, Carmichael’s soft chuckles filled the warm night air.
He’d had a feeling of mutual attraction existed and now that it’d been confirmed with a kiss, his heart soared lighter than air.
Chapter Six
Karina was more than surprised to find herself secure in Carmichael’s arms when she woke the next morning. Her initial instinct was to jerk away from him and demand what the hell he was thinking, but her brain caught up to her before she reacted. Memories of their kiss surfaced.
A faint blush rose to her cheeks as she continued to lie still, pressed right up against his chest. Even as she’d slept, she felt like the most precious thing in the world with how he held her close.
As she laid there with him, giving him time to sleep and avoiding having to get up from his embrace, Karina replayed the previous night’s conversation in her mind. How stupid she must have looked to him, drawing away so quickly. And from what? A simple kiss? Even now, her heart pounded with a thrill of affection, so why had she pulled back?
In the midst of her thoughts, a familiar plaintive growl sounded from Carmichael’s stomach that left Karina laughing softly to herself. Slowly, she rolled over in the Dragon King’s arms and looked up at him, only to find golden eyes peering down at her. A dark blush colored her cheeks when she saw the tender look in his eyes. It’s not the first time she felt completely exposed to him.
“I want to try something,” Carmichael murmured, his voice lower pitched and gravelly from having just been asleep. With that, he pressed their lips together in a kiss. It was a soft, too fast kiss, but a kiss all the same. It left Karina’s heart fluttering in her chest like some sort of caged bird.
“Carmichael!” Karina gasped, attempting to squirm from his arms. He held her tightly to him with a grip stronger than a vice.
“Karina, my dear,” he whispered in her ear. “I know you must feel the attraction and affection that has bloomed in my heart. Please... don’t run from me.”
Karina shakily looked up into his golden eyes, alarmed by the pain she found there. She wanted so badly to tell him that their kiss the night before had awoken feelings in her she’d never felt before, but her voice had been buried beneath doubts and accusations.
Impulsive, she pressed their lips together in a rough collision that was almost painful in her haste.
“Karina... Oh, my dear,” Carmichael whispered against her lips. He had a fiery, lustful light in his golden eyes, they looked fierce and predatory. “I am… surprised by you,” he whispered as their lips collided together once more.
There was a sweetness about it, but a roughness as well. Teeth clashed with teeth and their tongues waged war together. She had wanted a taste of Carmichael since the kiss he’d presented the night before, but now a craving for the whole thing crashed into her as he pulled her ever closer.
“I-I… have found you attractive for days...” she admitted softly, as his lips mouthed against her throat. “I just… If this isn’t to work…” but she trailed off as he kissed her again.
“K-Karina...” Carmichael breathed against her lips, his golden eyes warm and lidded lustily as her teeth nibbled on his lower lip. A liquid fire burned heatedly through his veins, sending every nerve end in his body into a hypersensitive state. “I have craved your touch since I met you. I wanted to make you mine.”
Karina gasped heatedly and shivered against his chest. An ache took hold between her legs and as she looked at him, her green eyes bright. Though slightly fearful, she couldn’t help but feel like the most precious, beautiful thing in the world.
“I… I shouldn’t… If you leave I—”
“This will work, my dear. Have faith in me,” Carmichael rumbled, his erection pressing through his pants where it rubbed against her stomach. “I want to mate with you.”
With a small nod, Karina rolled Carmichael onto his back and crawled on top of him, positioning herself so one of his thighs pressed up between her legs.
“If that is what you wish,” she began, as her hands slowly, shakily slid up his chest beneath the fabric of his shirt. “Then I-I give you permission to break your vow and mate with me.” As she said this, she lightly rolled one of his pert nipples between her finger and her thumb.
Carmichael sighed softly and his eyes fluttered at her affections. It had been too long since he’d had this sort of opportunity and already she was driving heat straight to his groin with each brush of her fingers against his sensitive skin. “Karina,” he said again with a gasp, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “Are you certain?” A full body shudder rolled through him as her hips gyrated against his leg and as she nodded her consent. He was amazed she was bold enough to rut against him, despite her uncertainties. He’d prove to her he’d no intention of leaving her. His heart would never be able to bear it. Not after this.
A heat formed deep inside Karina, leaving a pleasant ache in her vagina as she rutted against Carmichael. “Take me, Dragon King.” With that, she leaned over him once more and pressed a kiss to his lips that left them both breathless. Her hand slipped down his pants as teeth connected with the sensitive skin of her neck, leaving her to groan hungrily.
With every light touch to Carmichael’s twitching cock, his whole body bowed beneath her. The power trip it gave her left precum slicking her vagina and the lips that hid it.
She reached between her legs and ran a finger through her folds, satisfied with the slickness. “May I ride you?” she breathed.
Her words were rewarded with a plaintive groan and Carmichael, nodding his head, stretched out on his back in preparation. Ant
icipation curled heatedly in his stomach and his breath came in soft pants as Karina took two fingers and spread her slicked vagina open, the entrance quivering in equal anticipation as his own.
“Oh, Carmichael!” Karina breathed as she sat down on him until she was filled completely by his thick cock. She all but sucked him in hungrily, and wasted no time in bouncing up and down on him, eyes clenched shut and lips parted.
She moaned as his hips began to snap up, bowing his back, in time with her rocks and bounces, pressing him ever deeper inside of her until his length pressed up into her fully.
Carmichael was in pure bliss. His head lolled backward on their bedding and his hands grasped at her lips as he pulled her down over and over again onto his cock. Heat already pooled low in his stomach, a sign of release. Shuddering, he cupped her full, plump breasts as they bounced against her chest with each small movement.
He’d never noticed it before, but Karina’s body was perfect. She wasn’t slender and petite in the slightest, but strong, athletic and soft. Muscle covered her stomach and her arms were even thicker than his own. Her breasts were amazingly large and felt soft and tantalizingly squishy in his rough hands. But his favorite part of her was her thighs. They were thick and powerful and built like solid tree trunks.
He couldn’t take her teasingly riding his throbbing cock any longer.
“My turn,” he growled, flipping her over in one powerful movement until it was her spread out beneath him. Arousal fluttered in his chest as he lavished her pert nipples with his mouth and he thrust powerfully into her as. For the first time since he had been cursed, Carmichael could feel his dragon responding to her previous displays of dominance.
“C-Carmichael!” Karina gasped, her eyes fluttering closed and her hands clawing desperately at his back as he pounded into her. A high pitched whine split her lips as his teeth, lips and tongue sucked dark, claiming hickeys into the pale skin of her neck.
The faster he thrust into her, the closer she came to unraveling at her very seams. She was but a puddle under his power, her previous domineering having faded in response to pleasure so great it fogged her vision and mind. All she knew was Carmichael. All she felt was his touch. It was intoxicating.
“I-I’m close,” she breathed as she bowed her back desperately in attempts to swallow him up further.
At her words, Carmichael lifted Karina up and rocked her down with each thrust, grunting and groaning. A near beastly look had filled his golden eyes, possessive and wild. He wanted to covet her body, keeping it close and his forever. A low growl rumbled deep in his chest as he trailed a hand down between her legs and rubbed clumsily at her clit and the responding cry of pure bliss as his new mate orgasmed around him, only served to strengthen his resolve.
Karina was his.
He drove deep into her, deeper than even he thought possible. Two hard lumps passed through his twitching cock as his own orgasm all but exploded from him, filling her up to the brim and then some. Ropey strings of cum attached them together as he pulled out of her and a deep satisfaction filled him.
This human, his Lady Knight, was going to lay his eggs.
Chapter Seven
It only took a day before Karina noticed two small palm-sized lumps in her stomach and for the entire first day, she worried incessantly. Carmichael had said once he took a mate, the curse would be broken. But he didn’t show signs of being dragon in form yet.
“Are you alright, my dear?” Carmichael asked for the hundredth time that day. He’d been watching her almost obsessively as they traveled that day and it made her uncomfortable, even if it was flattering. “It has nothing to do with mating or not. I know we’re joined toge—”
“Don’t start on that again, Carmichael,” she sighed. If she had to hear one more time that he was certain there was a reason for the curse still remaining, she would personally send a sword through him and call it done. “I have a fear that this is wrong. Perhaps you need to mate another dragon,” she said, one hand reaching subconsciously to her stomach and pressing lightly against the small bumps there.
“You keep saying that. I wish you wouldn’t.,” Carmichael gasped in exasperation. A hurt expression colored his golden eyes and Karina briefly felt guilt rush through her. “I know we are mated. I feel it deep in my very soul. This yearning to be beside you is insatiable. An explanation is out there. We shall continue our journey to the witch Danasi and bring about her death should the curse not lift before then.”
“Carmichael, my love. What if I haven’t the strength to take her life? And what might happen should I succeed? You say you wish to stay by my side, but should the dragons return will you not want a proper mate?” she asked, trying hard to sound patient. “I just... I have these... doubts,” she admitted, slowing Tarron to a stop so she could properly meet Carmichael’s eyes.
When a look of wonder crossed his gaze, she bit her lip and lightly brushed her fingers against her stomach as she looked away from him.
Slowly, Carmichael dismounted awkwardly from Beau and moved over to her. Tears welled in his eyes and rolled silently down his cheeks as he brushed his fingertips against her. “My dear, Lady Karina. Mating is not something I can reverse. You are as much a part of me, as my eggs are a part of you, or my dragon form is a part of me. I would not give that up, even if I were inclined to do so.”
“Carmichael...” Karina whispered, reaching down to take his hand with a soft sigh. “I believe you, my love.”
“As you should,” Carmichael smiled lightly. “And here I had expected it to be about the eggs.”
Karina jerked slightly and stared at him. She’d just realized something that should have been obvious before. How had the eggs come to be? “Eggs? Are you... Carmichael, you’re a male. Males don’t have babies or carry… eggs.” she said in wonder. “How?”
“Human males do not carry the egg, only the sperm. But a dragon always has eggs, whether he is male or female. We do not see gender, Lady Karina, so both of us must carry the egg and the sperm.”
She looked at him in wonder, but nodded in acceptance, her fingers lightly stroking over the egg lump. A strange thrill of apprehension and excitement gripped her until her head swam with endless possibilities of the unknown.
“I did not know that dragons could take human mates that also laid their eggs,” Karina said.
“I did not know myself. Tales of dragons falling in love with humans have been told, but such tales age far before my time. I had never seen such a thing occur...” he grinned. “You really are quite different, aren’t you, My Lady.”
Karina blushed lightly at this and shrugged. “You should get back on Beau. There is still an hour’s worth of daylight. We should keep going before the sun starts to lower. Tomorrow, we shall reach the Queen’s castle.”
“As you wish, My Lady.”
Chapter Eight
It was apparent Karina had fallen head over heels for Carmichael. He’d given her flowers that morning, a bouquet of wild honeysuckle and jasmine that hung from Tarron’s saddle as they rode. It had all but melted her heart. The feeling was short lived. They arrived at the castle just before sun down, as Karina had expected.
As they stood at the foot of the Queen’s castle, Carmichael helped her don her black tarnished plate armor. This was the reason they’d traveled so far together, yet he stared at her with tears in his golden eyes, a new found fear for his new found mate blossoming in his chest.
“My Lady, my dear... You will take care of yourself?” he asked, with his watery eyes. “I fear for you, as much as I believe in you.”
For once, Karina was the one that felt she could see straight into his soul. His love for her shone brightly in his eyes and it nearly broke her heart.
“Carmichael. This is why we came all this way,” she reminded gently, her helmet beneath her arm and her sword strapped down to her hip. “I won’t leave without defeating the Que-”
“Witch!”
“Witch...” she paused, glaring lightly
at the interruption. “You’ll have your dragon form back, my love. Trust in me,”
“It isn’t you I don’t trust,” Carmichael murmured darkly.
“All the same,” Karina sighed, pressing a swift kiss to his cheek. “Believe in me. So long as you believe, I can do this. All will be well.”
Carmichael just shrugged and pulled her roughly forward into his arms. Together, they stood, locked in an embrace that both would have preferred to last forever. Couldn’t time simply freeze in that moment? The thought was wistful, though and all too soon, Karina pulled free of his arms with a loving smile on her face.
“Take the horses to the trees, love. Keep them close. We might need to make haste when we leave,” she said. Determination colored her voice and the warmth and love he’d come to know had been replaced with the warrior she appeared to be. Even still, unease flooded through him as she told him to leave her.
“I’m coming in with you!” he cried out, terror filling his golden eyes.
“Carmichael, no. I need you out here. If something goes wrong, I need you here to help,” Karina said, pulling on her helmet. Every inch of her was covered with her jousting armor once the helmet was on her head. Carmichael had to admit she looked foreboding and menacing. Still, worry ate at his heart.
“I will come to you if you don’t return by sundown,” he promised as he swept Karina into his arms. At first, he just held her, but as time wore on, he sighed and pressed a sweet, gentle kiss to her lips. “Go, my dear. My heart goes with you.”
As soon as Karina was free from Carmichael’s arms, she smiled at him. “My love, I shall return to you. For now, I must depart,” she said. He said nothing, but nodded his head while she turned with a wave and crossed the bridged moat. She could feel him watching her as she went.
Her armored boots clicked on the stone in even beats as she approached the castle gate. Her heart pounded in the familiar feeling of exhilaration with the prospect of the upcoming battle. This shall be no different than that of a joust, or a match between blades, she reminded herself softly as she approached the entrance to the castle. As expected, armed guards barred the way through the gate with scythes as long as her arm and as thick as her head.
