by Lucas, Naomi
Her legs straddle me as I think this. What an interesting position. My shaft falls on her belly between us. She shifts closer, trapping it between our bodies. The view of it against her lithe stomach proves my strength. Pleasure blazes.
It is hard to believe the pleasure I receive from mating her. It is beyond… beyond anything I have experienced. Dragons do not have the means to experience such pleasure. Mating is done only for the sake of younglings. I pity what I was now. I pity it greatly.
Squeezing Milaye’s cushiony hips in my hands, I enjoy being a human even more. I glance down at my steely cock. Milaye’s hand slips between us. My tip rises above the water, and her palm comes down to greet it, cupping it firmly in her grip. I grit my teeth with a groan.
Divine torture. She squeezes my prick’s head and slides her hand down my length. My whole body stiffens, ready to ejaculate everything I have to give. Yet I hold myself back. My seed belongs in her, not on her chest. Though the image of the alternative tightens my sacks.
“You kill me,” I rasp. Her tight hand slides up, back down.
“Dragon, when you need me, I need you.” Her voice is dusky and sweet to my ears. She rises on her knees, still holding my shaft. My grip on her strengthens.
“You are not allowed to leave—” But her body positions over my root and lowers.
“I’m not leaving,” she says, sliding down onto me.
I throw my head back, bellowing in ecstasy. I was not expecting her to mount me. I am thrilled, my shaft pulses and widens. Her deep sheath grasps me like it is starving for me, for my seed. She whimpers, and at the sound, my nails bite into her dripping flesh. She tries to rise, but I hold her seated.
Her brow furrows, teeth pressing into her lower lip.
She settles back down, taking me in lovingly.
Her sheath quivers and clenches. With each little movement, my seed threatens to erupt. Desperate for distraction, I caress the ends of my tails up and down her back. I do not want this bliss to end.
“I will always be inside you,” I groan, telling her like it is.
I jerk my hips side to side, urging her to widen so my cock may expand with seed.
She twitches and drops her head on my chest. Her eyes squeeze shut. But she takes it. I jerk again, and she cries out.
“So big. Too big!”
“Not for you, sweet human.” But I give her time to relax.
When she does, the moment her rigid body loosens, I move. Thrusting my hips up, I hold her on to me. She drops her head back and moans, her soft mounds bouncing slightly. The sight drives me wild.
Pummeling we rut, our tempo increasing, our need building. Neither of us is watching for predators, and the thought of the risk makes my adrenaline race. I almost want something to attack us, almost want to drown in bloodlust just as my mating heat takes over. I can taste it, blood, meat, and rutting all at once.
And with the illusion, my primal dragonhood seizes me.
I slam into her. She holds onto me tight. The higher I thrust up, the more I need her sheath to squeeze me. Crazed, I stand, lifting her with me, rocking back and forth violently. I sense her nearing that moment when she will strangle me, just like I need her too. I hear it in her heightening moans.
Then she does, tightening and constricting my shaft. Darkness rushes through me. My jewel cools, and my thrusting stops. Her body dances on me as I hold her on my prick. Seed shoots out, and I roar.
When I am certain I have scared every animal within a mile of us, I drop back into the water, taking Milaye with me.
She rests against me, shaking.
Pride surges through me because I know, I know that she has finally, completely taken my seed in a way that bears fruit. I feel my body’s darkness swirling inside her.
I run my hands up her back and tangle them into her hair. “You are pregnant.”
She holds onto me tighter. “Thank you for telling me,” she whispers. She pulls back to look at me. “You have given me the greatest gift.”
I lean down and place my lips on hers. “And you have given me the same.”
I am in no rush to leave, and the light gets brighter in the sky as time passes. She shows me how pleased and excited she is to be carrying my young. I preen at her affection. Her glowing warmth seeps into me, putting my dark crystal to work.
We make the most of the stream and bathe ourselves. I enjoy the newest pleasure of exploring every inch of my female as she lets me take the lead. By the end, there is no place on her body that I have not touched, or have not licked. And I lick thoroughly, especially between her legs. My tongue tastes her at her pure source, where her delicious arousal comes from, and I drink her down. My mate’s human nectar is now my favorite flavor.
But I also lick all of her scratches, all of her bruises. Though the bruises are harder to heal, I manage to close her scrapes. When I am done, Milaye is draped half on the bank, half in the water, spread out and watching me with a relaxed softness, an ease that I did not know she possessed. It is a look I like on her.
“Beautiful,” I say, climbing on top of her.
She smiles up at me and grasps my larger set of horns. Her legs come around my hips, and I slide back inside her.
By early evening, Milaye is dressing, and there is nothing I can do to stop her. Besides the excursion to find food—where I caught a cockatrice wandering the bank with my hands, snapping its neck to my human’s shock—we have rutted and enjoyed each other for most of the day. There was only the small hurdle of how to treat the cockatrice’s corpse. Milaye demanded it be cooked by fire, and I insisted we eat it raw.
In the end, my human won.
But she is dressing now, and I would rather have her bare. Always bare for me and my pleasure. I reach for her. She slips away. “I am not done with you, female.”
Though I know she is pregnant, my cock still remains full with fresh seed to spend inside her.
“We can’t waste any more time. Night will fall soon, and we need to head home. If we’re anywhere by the first cave entrance, then we reach my tribe before full dark.” She doesn’t mention Haime, but I know it is on her mind.
“I am your tribe now, Milaye,” I tell her. I need her to know that. “A femdragon does not remain with her nest, when she is grown, she leaves.” I sigh, closing my eyes a moment to consider. “But I know that is not what human females do.” I do not want her to go back to her tribe, I do not want her to find out whether Haime is okay or not, because if she is not… it would sadden my female, and I do not think I can bear to see her so. But I also know that I will never be able to keep her from going home. Our home, now. I shake my head, open my eyes, and catch her gaze. “We shall make our way there.”
The hardness in her face softens. “You will like it there, Drazak. My tribemates are good, strong people.” She rips a leaf from the large plant behind her. I follow her out of the water. I take the large leaf she hands me and I wrap it around my middle. The other wrap remains in the cave where I left it. I do not think we will be returning for it.
“All water leads to the Mermaid Sea,” she says. “If we follow the creak, it’ll lead us to the shore, and from the shore, we follow it home.”
Home. Despite my attempts to the contrary, the destination bothers me. I will not like where she lives because she lives near others, despite what she says. I am a lone creature for these past many years, and all I want is Milaye with me, no one or nothing else. I did not choose this piece of me, but a long-dead poison dragon did. I have been alone for so long… even before I fell, life as a healthy dragon is still lonely. And it is all I know. All I thought I would ever know.
She senses this from me but does not know how to respond. Would I if I were her?
Part of me wants to grab my mate and steal her away. Take her somewhere far from here. But that will cause much strife between us, and the more I am in her presence, the more I understand I will never control her. I could try to run away with her, but she would never let me get far. My beautifu
l human needs no one to survive. Even now, she picks out a hefty stick from the low-hanging branches to use as a walker—and a weapon.
I nod when she faces me. I find my own branch.
She is smart to arm herself.
Milaye nods back. She starts to follow the creak. I rumble, moving ahead of her. “I will go first.”
She shakes her head and smiles.
Her smile gives me hope. Hope that this new world will accept me into it. If only I can accept it first.
17
Not as Planned
Something is off about Drazak. His crystal stopped creating smoke. My eyes stray to his back and trace the rigidity of his muscles as we make our way out of the jungle. There’s a tightness that wasn’t there before…or perhaps I just never noticed the strain while in the cave.
My lips part to ask, but then promptly shut. I know what’s wrong. My chest constricts with it, my belly twists.
‘A femdragon does not remain with her nest, when she is grown, she leaves.’
I focus on my surroundings instead. My enhanced senses are still odd and colors blast my eyes while sounds from a myriad of creatures sing in my ears. There is no darkness anywhere around us but for a few mild shadows. Night is still a ways off. I love it. I love being in the light again. Little bites from insects itch my skin, and I don’t mind, and more scents than I can name bloom the air. I don’t know why, but it all seems so new to me. It shouldn’t be new; I have been in this jungle all my life.
My gaze drops to Drazak’s tense back again. I can’t imagine what this is all like for him.
What being human is like for him.
How many days were we in the cave? How long ago was it that he could barely move? We escaped the cave near morning. I gathered that from the length of the day so far, but beyond that… the unchanging chilly darkness of the cave obscures time. We could have been there from anywhere to three to five days.
I think.
I don’t know how long I was unconscious, nor how long I slept. How long ago was it that Drazak couldn’t even move? Could barely speak? He’s only been human for days.
And for me… I delved into the darkness for Haime. I return to the light mated and… pregnant. So much has changed.
Glancing down at my flat stomach, a tendril of excitement rushes through me.
Please give me a daughter. I would love a son, but I always dreamed of a daughter. I want both—many—if possible, but I never considered having a son until now. There are so few males that it just never occurred to me that I may be lucky enough to have one. Or given the opportunity to have one.
My heart thrums at the prospect. I’m still reeling from Drazak’s announcement that we conceived. I do not doubt him, the other dragon men knew immediately when their mates conceived. I sink my teeth into my lower lip. He would know too.
I’m with child.
If I didn’t already want to get back to the tribe, I want to sprint there now—even in spite of the ever-present gloom for Haime shadowing over my heart.
But something is wrong with my mate, and I can’t shake my worry.
“Drazak,” I say softly, reaching out to take his hand. His fingers tangle with mine.
He stops and tilts his face up. “I smell it.”
I look at him, confused. “Smell what?”
“The ocean.”
He pulls me after him, rushing through the foliage. The run is a relief. Drazak is fast, and the effort distracts me from my concerns. We race, playful as children, and soon, the jungle opens up and long grasses take over the ground. Glimpses of turquoise blue appear between the last of the trees. When his feet strike the sand, his body under the direct rays of the sun, Drazak stops. Panting, I gaze at him. His eyes are wide.
His purple scales twinkle like the rarest jewels.
“Beautiful,” he whispers, glancing at me after a long moment. “Beautiful like you. I forgot it.”
I blush from the compliment. No one has called me beautiful before. “You forgot the ocean?”
“Yes.” He hums. “A body of water envisioned in my mind is nothing compared to the real thing. I forgot its color, its song, its vastness. I remember soaring over it until there was no land in sight.”
I round my arms around his middle and embrace him. Pressing my face to his back, I wrench my eyes closed. His words sadden me.
“What is wrong, Milaye?” he asks.
“We can take our time. We can take all the time you need,” I say.
His arm rounds over mine. “I do not understand?”
“I know there’s something wrong. I can feel it.” I nuzzle his back. “I shouldn’t have pushed you so soon. Not only have you just transformed, but you recently recovered from a sickness I can’t comprehend. You may still be recovering.”
He turns in my hold and catches my eyes. “I still do not understand. You have not pushed me. I am well now. The poison and its effects are gone… Any time I need now is for selfish reasons. This time, any time with you, it is everything to me.”
I lick my lips. “Then why are you unhappy?”
His gaze goes distant, his lips flatten. But it’s fleeting, and the Drazak I know is staring back at me soon after. He drops his stick and cups my cheeks. “Unhappiness is not what plagues me. Nor is it poison.”
“Then what is?”
“I believe… it is change.”
My brow furrows but my confusion doesn’t last long. He continues.
“Change from what I was to what I am now, from what I believed was my fate, to what possibilities exist now. Everything has changed, and those changes have been good, but…”
“But?”
“But I do not want this to change, us to change.”
My chest squeezes. “It won’t—I won’t let it. I like this and what we are.”
“Though you wish to go back to your tribe? Where there are others?”
“The others will not bother us. They will help us, protect us,” I tell him. “That’s what tribes do—what a family does.”
“I do not need help,” he grunts, straightening. “I will protect us.”
“You will.” I smile. “And they will do so as well… each in their own way.” I pull my hand from his grasp, give him back his stick, and step around him towards the ocean. The sun is descending towards the horizon. “They will make our food when all I want to do is to keep you close and in my cot. They will light our hut’s fire so our home is warm when we’re late from hunting. They will lead me through this pregnancy and take care of us when neither of us can bear to part from our baby. They will make sure we have what we need when we cannot provide it for ourselves, when our need is something they are more suited to provide. You will see. This is also a good change.”
He steps up next to me. “And if I do not want any of that? If all I want is you, and our younglings, and nothing else? If I want to take that entire burden and care for us completely?”
“Then we will leave. If this does not suit you, we will find a new home away from them.”
“You are willing to do that for me? You will keep your promise, and follow me? Always?”
“Always, Drazak. I’ll never leave you.”
“Milaye, my huntress, I will never leave you either.”
At the sound of my name on his lips without prompting, I am relieved.
Though sadness still lingers in my heart, I can sense a lightness coming from Drazak now. I do not want to leave my tribe nor the honor they bring me, but I will. For Drazak, I will do so gladly. My thoughts before about my honor and retaining it were selfish. There is honor in many things, and in many choices.
I head in the direction of home.
“But you will give the tribe a try?” I ask and, reaching down to remove my sandals, I squeeze the sand between my toes. “And I mean it, if you’re not ready, we can find a different place until you are.” I can wait for my answers. “What are a few more days when we’ve already lost so many?”
“No. We will go. I will f
ace this head on.”
I glance at him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, little human. The sooner this business is done, the sooner I will get to have you again. This human cock of mine does not want to give me a break,” he grumbles.
I cough. “Be happy you did not find me during the red comet’s heat.”
“Hrrmm.”
We walk in silence for a time, enjoying each other’s company during this quiet moment. The sun sinks toward the ocean on my left, while Drazak flanks my right. Only the sounds of the lapping waves follow us as we travel. Birds fly overhead.
It’s peaceful. Golden dusky twilight paints the land, and the jungle falls deeper and deeper into shadows. I know this terrain, this area. We are close to home. I take it all in, breathing it in slowly, because what’s ahead may not be entirely good.
My tribe probably thinks I’m dead. And Haime?
Are they out searching for me? Us?
And Drazak. I love him.
Smoke rises in the distance, we walk around a rocky bend, and in a few yards, the giant rocks rise from the sand and come into view. It is land that long ago broke from the cliffs that led into the jungle, where Sand’s Hunters now make their home.
“There it is,” I whisper, my belly tightening.
Drazak grunts. “Your tribe is unsafely exposed. Any dragon could come along and rain fire down upon you.”
“Dragon’s never bother us.”
“Except me. What will your people say when they see me?”
I purse my lips. What have I told him about the other dragon men?
I forgot. I didn’t mean to forget.
“About that…”
Figures appear on the beach ahead of us, holding spears, stepping out of the jungle. I recognize them immediately. My two sisters, and… Zaeyr. My belly tightens further. I stop and grab Drazak’s hand. “You’re not the only one,” I say.
“What?” Drazak asks.
