Dragon Born 1: The Shifter's Hoard

by Dante King

  We traded blows again and again, roaring with primal, bestial fury as we clashed. The Dragon was strong, I’d give it that.

  But I was persistent. I couldn’t lose. I wouldn’t allow myself to.

  “Enough,” the Dragon roared. “I shall end this!”

  The Dragon lowered its broad, saurian head and charged. It slammed into me, and it was like the world itself ripping apart, blood pouring from my mouth as something snapped inside of me.

  I landed among the stars, spilling fluid into the void, reeling before the Dragon’s might.

  It climbed on top of me, sharpening its claws.

  Weak, it grunted, a shock of laughter beneath its words. The creature struck downward, intent on piercing my heart.

  I lifted my hands in protest.

  And the most eye-searing spray of colors imaginable exploded from between my palms.

  The Prismatic Spray caught the Dragon directly in the face. It was blinded instantly, reeling backward among galaxies as it clawed at its own eyes. Its scream was something the universe hadn’t heard in millennia: the pain and fear of a legendary creature.

  My heart beat harder in my chest, thudding against my ribcage. I had this.

  “I see my latest vessel is also a mage,” the Dragon grunted, blinking rapidly. “This is a first.”

  “And a last,” I said, spreading my arms with a smirk. “Want to go ahead and surrender now and get it over with?”

  Fear shone in the Dragon’s eyes. Actual fear.

  I was going to win.

  With a grunt, I fired Devouring Swarm at the dragon’s torso. A swarm of flaming insects shot through the void, swirling around the beast and forcing it to buffet a few of them away at a time.

  As it focused on the stinging, biting swarm, I dove headfirst at the Dragon with claws extended. It’s a perfect way to soften up targets, I thought, remembering Riley’s words. Good girl. Daddy’s going to thank you personally when he gets back…

  My first strike knocked the Dragon off-balance. My second nearly shattered his teeth.

  The momentum was with me now. I pressed forward again and again, unleashing a fury like nothing I’d ever experienced with every blow. Anger, rage, bestial fury—all of them flashed through my brain as we grappled, clashing like titans in a fight to destroy all monsters.

  Suddenly, I realized I was no longer alone.

  The Dragon turned—and a massive Raiju slammed into its side. Electricity crackled across its fur, singing the Dragon’s scales as it flew away, trying to put space between us and itself. The creature was the same one I’d seen in my vision the first time I’d climaxed with Carli, and I sensed her presence in the back of my head when I looked at it.

  The Dragon fled, in an utter panic. Only to collide headfirst with a snarling wolf, her claws digging into planets and asteroids. As I looked at her, I felt Soojin’s presence, and was heartened.

  “Nowhere to run,” I said, striding toward the Dragon. “Come here, buddy. You know it’s your destiny…”

  The Dragon picked another direction and flew, spitting flames to cover his trail. It soared past Soojin’s Wolf and Carli’s Raiju, trying its best to give both the slip.

  Three figures surrounded it, grabbing hold of its tail and legs. Three bears, like the massive grizzly I’d summoned when the constellations revealed themselves one star at a time. Each of them were somehow beautiful and feminine, despite being walls of pure muscle. Each was the presence of Alicia, Nadine, and Gisele.

  Hello girls, I thought, welcoming my newest clan members. Been waiting for you to show up.

  The Dragon cried out in disbelief, surrounded by my clan. It swung at one of the bears, only for a silver rope to flash out and tie itself around its wrist. The thing holding it was a formless presence, without the animal form I expected from my shifter women. It felt… sharp, somehow, like a clutch of knives.

  “Riley?” I asked, directing the word toward the presence. The nod of acknowledgement was all I needed. Somehow, the mage had managed to make her way to this realm to help me, as well.

  Together, we surrounded the Dragon. Reasoning that he was beaten, the great beast relaxed, staring up at me through heavy-lidded eyes.

  “You are not like the rest,” he rumbled, with the voice of entire star systems. “You are… special. Different.”

  “I am,” I said, gazing down at him. “I claim your mantle, Dragon. You are surrounded by my new clan. Our new clan.”

  “A new Hoard?” Amusement shone in the Dragon’s ageless eyes. “Well now. You should have said that before, young man.”

  “Will you give me the power, or do I have to beat it out of you?” I demanded.

  The Dragon began to chuckle. “I will give it—and gladly,” it hissed, spreading its arms. “Approach, Master of the Dragon’s Hoard. Alpha of my new Clan…”

  I grabbed the Dragon—and, somehow, pulled it into my chest.

  As it hit my core, the universe exploded in another fantastic vision. Soojin, Carli, Riley, Alicia, Nadine, and Gisele, all of them were drawn along with me like objects passing an event horizon, the sky lighting up with a billion shades of color.

  I saw all the constellations I’d revealed while moving through space. The shifters, the mages, even the other things that contained parts of both but were properly neither. I saw them moving about the sky for centuries, making war and love and plotting and peacemaking and stabbing each other in the back.

  And I saw the Dragon, looming over all of them. Waiting for its time to strike.

  As the vision went white-hot, ripping away my senses, I saw all of the constellations bowing before the Dragon. The seven spires subjugated themselves to it, as well, pledging allegiance to its might. Only the shadow, creeping along the edges of the void, remained in contention—and I sensed that this battle, between the Dragon and the Shadow, would be the one that eventually sealed the fate of the universe.

  As the world dissolved, the last thing I saw was the face of the Dragon. The man-beast who would unite the supernatural world, grind it beneath his heel, and use it as fuel to fire the war with the void.

  It was my face.

  Chapter 27

  I awoke on the floor of Carli’s apartment, every part of my body aching.

  I felt like I’d gone twelve rounds with a championship boxer, and lost all of them but the last. Sitting up felt like lifting a ten-ton weight over my head—just moving was a major hassle. For a long time, I lay against the bare floor, trying to will myself to rise.

  Eventually, I managed to get myself to a sitting position, bracing my shoulders against the seat of Carli’s couch. Passed out women surrounded me—it seemed that everyone else had been rode hard and put away wet by the psychic journey we’d just been on. Soojin and Carli looked down for the count, while the three bear shifters snoozed in each others’ arms like sisters. Only Riley seemed somewhat immune from the psychological effects of the vision, and she, like me, was leaning against the furniture trying to gain the strength to stand.

  “That… was a hell of a thing,” I said with a laugh, shaking my head.

  Slowly, we all came back to ourselves. Soojin turned over with a groan, her hair a messy halo around her face. Sweat covered her forehead and the remains of a flush played at her cheeks.

  “Wow,” the dark-haired beauty panted, seeing me for the first time. “That was amazing! Tell me we all just saw that!”

  “I saw it,” Carli groaned, rubbing her head like she had the hangover to end all hangovers. “I remember slamming into that Dragon like I was trying to throw the fucker off a bridge. That was the sky over the Council chamber, right?”

  As if that was the secret signal, all of the women began chattering to themselves. They gossiped about what this could possibly mean, along with shocked exclamations that the almighty Dragon could talk and even seemed to have a sense of humor. The gravity of what we’d done lay forgotten for the moment; I figured everyone just felt lucky to be alive.

  I let the chat
ting go on for several minutes while I gathered my strength. Then I sat down on the couch and said a single word:

  “Quiet.”

  Silence reigned. Each woman’s mouth snapped shut like it was on a hinge. Soojin snickered, while Riley gave me an annoyed look and rolled her eyes.

  “I just wanted to test that out,” I said, feeling an almost boyish glee. “Just to see if it would actually work…”

  “Great,” Riley groaned, managing to park her cute butt in a chair. “The ritual means we have to serve you. I’m sure you won’t take advantage of that, like, ever…”

  “Only in ways I promise you’ll like,” I said, stretching out on the couch. “Little girl.”

  A flush rose to Riley’s cheeks. God, she was cute when she was ashamed. I couldn’t wait to get her into bed and have her start calling me Daddy.

  At least until I got my strength back…

  That last part didn’t turn out to be a problem. Even as I lay there, I felt power radiating from my chest. In fact, my chest felt warm as hell—so much so that I ended up ripping off my shirt, removing the tattered remnants of what remained there.

  I looked down at my bare chest and gasped. A moment later, the rest of my harem did the same.

  A tattoo covered me from collarbone to navel. It was a massive red Dragon, the spitting image of the thing we’d fought in the eldritch sky above the Council chamber. It coiled around my heart like a sigil of protection, its jaws bared in a fierce roar.

  “The Dragon Sigil,” Soojin murmured, tracing the tattoo with a nail. “You truly are the clan master now, Derek. The Alpha. Our Alpha.”

  “You like it?” I asked, beaming up at her. “You look like you’re turned on.”

  “I am,” Soojin admitted, nibbling her bottom lip. “God, looking at you like this makes me wish I was a much younger woman, Derek. One who could pump out as many heirs as a young thing like Carli…”

  I was beyond shame. With a grunt, I pulled Soojin into my lap, letting her feel how hard I was.

  “Don’t you worry about that,” I growled, my hands roaming over her ass. I felt better and better all the time. “You’ve got exactly what I need. You and Carli are my seconds in command, and you’re going to give me everything I want…”

  If fate hadn’t intervened, would I have fucked Soojin right then and there on the couch in front of everyone? No one would have stopped me. Hell, the odds were likely they’d join in—Carli at least, and the bear shifters probably. Even Riley, for all her bratting, couldn’t deny that she really just needed me to spank her and call her a good girl.

  Either way, I didn’t get to find out. Not then, at least.

  Because as my hand slid between Soojin’s thighs, the console of Carli’s computers began to beep like a microwave whose food was ready.

  Carli sprang from the floor, running over to the console. “Shit, we’ve got a hit!” she said, beaming.

  I glanced up at Soojin, an apologetic look on my face. “Rain check?” I asked.

  She ground her hips around me in a tight circle, then gave both Carli and Riley a significant glance. “Sure—but I’m holding you to that. Alpha.”

  I gave her a spank on the backside. “Yes ma’am.”

  “The auction doesn’t begin for another week?” Riley said to Carli, clearly confused. She got up and looked at the computer. “Oh, it’s another big signature. A monster of some kind. And it looks like the tech is working even better than the hunterwaves. I’d say we’re about an hour ahead of anyone else picking up the signature.”

  “Would the Alpha like to send us to acquire its bounty?” Alicia, the lead bear shifter asked.

  “We should all go,” I said. “It’ll give us a chance to fight together as a team before we face whoever is at the auction.”

  As I rose from the couch, the dragon tattoo across my chest, I realized I had one last order of business to attend to. I had a clan—but it didn’t have a name.

  I’d been thinking about it ever since Tomas Karkosa told me that I’d have to come up with one. For a while, I’d even thought about putting it to a vote, letting Soojin and Carli decide what our group should be called. Now I knew that was the wrong move.

  The choice was mine alone. Although it had already been made for me millennia ago. I’d heard the Dragon say the words, and now all that remained was to bring them into the world.

  “By the power invested in me by the Almighty Dragon,” I grunted, looking at each of my women in turn, “I hereby declare us a clan. Our name shall be The Dragon’s Hoard.”

  Soojin and Carli shared a look.

  “It’s perfect,” Soojin purred.

  “I love being part of your hoard, sir,” Carli giggled, playing with her tail. “And maybe soon I’ll have a treasure or two to add to our holdings…”

  “It is a privilege to be owned by you, Alpha,” Alicia said.

  I turned to look at Riley, who stared back at me with tight lips.

  “Yeah, Hoard is fine, I guess,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s kind of chauvinistic, but… I also kinda like it?” She nibbled her bottom lip, blushed, and lowered her voice until it was barely audible. “I don’t know how I feel about being part of the Dragon’s Hoard, but I’m thinking I might not mind being one of his whores…”

  I chuckled at the joke.

  “None of you will ever betray me,” I said. It wasn’t a question—just facts. “No matter what happens, you will never belong to another Alpha. You will never serve another man.” A rakish grin spread across my face. “But I’m definitely looking forward to taking some other asshole’s girls.”

  Cheers rose at the declaration.

  “Come on,” I said, not bothering to throw on a new shirt. Let the people I faced see the Dragon protecting me—let it strike fear in their hearts, so that the survivors told the whole supernatural realm there was a new player in town. One who played for keeps, and didn’t deal with bullshit. “We have a week before the deal for the thunderbird shifter auction goes down. We need to be ready for whatever faces us. We need to be a seamless team if we’re going to get more shifters and mages to join my hoard. And this monster sounds like the perfect thing to practice on.”

  I had a goal now: grow in power, increase the size of my hoard, and lead the greatest clan in the world. Before long, I’d have my own private army of babes to crush anyone standing in my way.

  End of Book 1

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  Keep reading for a preview of Aether Mage…

  Aether Mage: Chapter 1

  I sat in a corner booth of the Bean Me Up Cafe, twirling my pen in my fingers and occasionally tapping it on the mostly blank notepad that I had in front of me.

  All that was written on the damned thing so far was the working title for my latest article: ‘Those That Walk on the Edge of Sight’.

  It was a piece for the Occult Times, one of the internet’s most trusted sources of supernatural phenomena and all things eldritch. They had commissioned me to put the article together.

  I tapped the notepad again a couple of times, willing my ballpoint to turn into a wand and magic the article into existence.

  Seven words.

  Pretty slow going for a little over six month’s work.

  I was waiting for the Muses to whisper in my ear, for inspiration to strike. However, personally I was starting to think that it’d be more likely that lightning would.

  I sighed, frowned, ran my hand through my sandy hair, and spun my pen around my fingers. I was getting pretty good at that at least.

  No doubt my editor, Frank, would be stoked to hear about my pen-spinning skills when I told him that my research on ley lines and the reports of ghosts that appeared along them had come to a dead end.

  Yeah, I could just imagine that conversation.

  “Matthew Lane, my keenest reporter, how’s the article coming along
?”

  “Oh, not so good, Frank, I kinda feel like a rat that’s reached the end of the supernatural maze.”

  “That’s too bad, you’ve been working on that thing for over half a year.”

  “True, but it’s not all doom and gloom, Frank.”

  “No?”

  “Nah. I can now spin my pen around all my fingers without dropping it once!”

  “Well that’s fucking phenomonal news, Matt. Sure the article that you begged me to write and that led you all the way from L.A. to Portland would’ve been nice, but so long as you’re now proficient in stationary gymnastics, then I’m as pleased as punch! Keep up the sterling work!”

  Yeah. That’s precisely how that conversation would go.

  My reverie and incessant pen twirling was broken not by the arrival of a bolt of inspiration, but by the materialization of a steaming cup of coffee and a slice of key lime pie at my elbow.

  “Well, at least you’ve got a title down,” said the sultry-sweet, accented voice of the bearer of the breakfast comestibles from above me. “That’s something at least, Matt.”

  I looked up. Admittedly, it was a slow, swooping look that started at the motorcycle boot-covered feet of the pie-bearer and took in the fishnet stockings, denim cutoff shorts, bared midriff, and the cropped t-shirt with the slogan, ‘Don’t Join Dangerous Cults, Practise Safe Sects’, before it got to the young woman’s face.

  But I did get there eventually.

  When my eyes had managed to drag themselves over the swell of her perfectly perky breasts, I found myself thinking for the umpteenth time that it really was one hell of a face. Messy, devil-may-care brown hair framing forest green eyes, a cute nose, and a mouth set in a perpetual half-smile.

  “Cherie Couture,” I said in the closest thing I could get to a debonair voice. “How’s my favourite French Canadian this morning?”

  “You always sound so surprised that there can actually be such a thing as a cool French Canadian,” Cherie replied, cocking an eyebrow at me.