So far, Isla really liked the dragon realm. She lay in a sweating, panting heap on the ground, 200 plus pounds of raw man laid out on top of her.

After she’d just had her entire existence fucked away. In a good way. Isla felt reborn. Like everything her body used to know was true was gone. Barely even a memory.

Men didn’t care about her pleasure, just their own?

Dead wrong.

Men only wanted to hurt her?

Super wrong.

No one could ever give her as much pleasure as she could?

Stupid wrong.

She felt his crushing weight and relished it. His monumental breaths pressing her into the ground. She’d never felt so thoroughly taken care of in her life.

“Holy shit,” he growled and lifted himself off of her. Out of her. He lifted her into his lap and immediately started kissing her. Like his life depended on it.

He made quick work of her clothes, stripping them off of her and tossing them to the side.              

“Let’s both be naked,” he said, making her smile.

He dragged her up onto the bed and under the covers, their sweaty bodies slipping against one another. Deliciously.

The light had faded from a burning red to more of a deep blue. Plum, where the setting sun still slipped along.

“So, what do you think everybody else is doing?” Isla asked, grinning at him as she set her chin up on her fist.

Idris laughed. “Probably talking about how I just dragged you off and fucked you like a caveman.”

Isla grinned even more. “Somehow, I don’t get the impression that’s all that unusual around here. There’s a lot of sexual energy flying all over the place.” She waggled her fingers like the sexual energy were moths in the air. Her eyes dazed out as she remembered. “That was really something to see, though.”             

“The shift?” he asked, propping up his head on one hand and dragging the other hand absently over the smooth plane of back.

“No. Well, yeah. Absolutely.” She fell onto her back. “God. I’m sure it was incredible to experience, but I wish you could have seen it. You were like - like,” she searched for the words. “It was like watching a dam break. On the oldest and fiercest river in the world. It was the intensity of Niagara Falls or something. But natural. The way it’s supposed to be. And the sunset on your scales. Oh.” Her skin tightened at the memory of it and Idris traced her goosebumps, a look of amazement on his face.

“It was that wild?” he asked.

“I’ve never seen colors like that. At first I thought you were red. Blood red. But I think that was just the sun. Because I realized right away that you were just a reflection of everything around you. Almost like a mirror. But bright and technicolor. It was almost like camouflage that just made everything around it more beautiful.”

“But that’s not what you were talking about before? When you said it was really something?”

“Oh. Right,” she said as she forced her mind away from the memory. Forced herself to think in a straight line. She remembered what she’d been talking about and grinned. “It was really something to see you walk across that field. Your eyes dead set on mine. Naked and hot as hell and obviously coming over to fuck me wild.”

“Is that right?” he asked, that arrogance that had been flirting over his face the last few days finally coming to roost.

She rolled her eyes. “Men. They’re all the same.”

He put a paw on her hip and scooted her closer. “No, we’re not.”

She looked up at him. His green eyes, his dark hair, cut so short but still managing to be messy. The twilight light gave him a silvery hue where he was usually tan. His muscles were deeply shadowed and severe. Even before she knew he was a dragon shifter she would have called him a beast. But at the same time he was so tender with her. Considerate. He deeply wanted her to be independent. Free of the past that had haunted her.

Without thinking she traced the bruises on her throat and Idris’s eyes fell toward the movement. His eyes darkened.

“You’re right,” she said, taking that same hand and tracing his lips with her fingers. “You’re not all the same. Not even close.”

“You feel safe with me.” He said it like a statement, a surety. But Isla knew that there was a question in there as well. That he knew that it wasn’t true unless she said it was so. It’s just the way that worked.

Her heart tightened for just one beat. Painfully, like a cheek that had just been bitten by its owner. He knew that no matter what he did, she was the one who got to say whether or not she was safe. He was the only man she’d ever been with who understood that. He was the only man who’d ever tried to free her from the bonds of her past. The only one who’d cared. She could tell her heart was about to squeeze painfully again and she wasn’t ready for it. So, instead she exhaled softly. Let that building tension out the front door, instead of holding it inside where she couldn’t be sure what it was doing to her.

“I feel deeply safe,” she said. “I mean, God. Idris, you took me to a different world. There is literally no way that I could ever be in danger of Ivan here.”

She could have sworn his eyes dimmed at those words, but it was gone a moment later, swallowed into the serious depths of him.

She stretched, trying to shake off the moment. “You think we should head back down? See if we inflicted any emotional damage on anybody who had to watch that?”

He smiled at her. “Yeah. In a minute.” And then he was pulling her onto him. Her legs automatically fell to either side of his hips, straddling him. He pushed her up so she sat straight up. “But I didn’t get to pay enough attention to these earlier.” His eyes devoured her breasts. “And I owe it to my past self to really do some ground work here.” He pulled her down and took one of her nipples between his teeth, laved his tongue across her nipple. “I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time dreaming about doing this.”

Isla arched into him, electricity sparking everywhere over her. Like they were made of static. Even more goosebumps rose over her skin as his warm mouth tugged and pulled at her breast. Like he was drinking from her. Like she was essential to his lifeblood.

Isla moaned, no longer biting it back anymore. Because who cared? She’d been screaming like a banshee this side of twenty minutes ago. The pretense was up.

He suckled at her, almost painfully and his hands dug into her hips, lifting her up and then slamming her back down on his cock. She took all of him at once. And was so grateful that he wasn’t teasing her. He needed her as badly, as urgently, as she always seemed to need him.

His fingers dug into her hips as he worked her on him. She was on top, but he was the one who was moving her body. And then he couldn’t seem to help himself and his hips rose into hers, fucking her from the bottom. The bed squeaked and creaked with the force of it. Isla was overcome. Lost in him. Lost in the feeling.

She let herself ride on the wave of it. She stiffened with an orgasm and felt herself, sitting back, ripping her breasts from his mouth. Sitting up straight and smashing her clit on his pelvic bone.

She rode him almost as if she were alone, as if his body were put on earth for no other purpose than her own pleasure. She came like a lightning storm. Rapid fire, hot, dangerous. Her head thrown back and a scream trembling on her lips.

And then she was brought back to earth, weak, falling forward. Idris secured her against his chest and flipped them. She was dimly aware of one of his hands gripping the headboard. The bed creaked and shook as he slammed into her, tearing another orgasm out of her as he fell forward, squeezed her like a vine, and came inside her.

***

 

Two floors down, the rest of the adults sat scattered around the kitchen, chatting about what they’d just witnessed. There was a buzz, an excitement about the form that Idris’s dragon had taken. There was so much pain they’d all undergone over the years. And it was totally possible that the answer to their problems was upstairs, having himself a grand old time.

They all grinned when, even from two floors up, the kitchen ceiling creaked. Dust fluttered down onto the counter. They’d heard the screams from earlier, hurriedly turned a movie on for the kids. Now it looked like the lovebirds were up to it again.

“Twenty bucks says they’re true mates,” Amos said, grinning around at everyone and sipping a cup of coffee.

O opened his mouth but Mel slapped a hand over it. “Nuh-uh. No words. Betting against an oracle is no fun.”

Felice stood back from the group, a bittersweet happiness filling her chest. All three of her boys were under one roof. For the first time in 30 years. She motioned for Donovan to follow her. And he did, as easily as he used to when they were first falling in love.

They walked together down the hall to their own bedroom. She turned to him in the dim light, not bothering to turn on a lamp. “You built this house for us, didn’t you?”

Donovan nodded.

“Even though we knew that we’d never live in the same place again? That our family had to be split down the center?”

He nodded again, sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “My heart was split down the center. And I think that I felt that if O couldn’t have you in his life, then he’d have you in his home. I wanted to make a home where you’d be comfortable, if you were ever going to see it.” He paused. The weight of the thirty years apart was like a boulder on his back. “I knew this day would come, I think. When Idris was a man. When he’d finally be old enough to pick up the mantle. It was too much to ask when he was a child. But now,” Donovan pointed to the ceiling and smiled a proud little smile. “He’s obviously not a boy anymore.”

“He’s choosing her,” Felice said, moving in the dark toward the love of her life. “He’s choosing her the way you chose me.”

“It was never a choice, my love.” He reached up and kissed her hard and tender at the same time. Same as always. “You were my destiny.”

 

***

 

A few hours later, after a nap, Idris woke. His eyes opened into the dark, Isla wrapped around his body like jewelry. And he knew.

He couldn’t explain how he knew. But he did. It was in his bones.

He sat up.

Holy shit.

Isla stretched next to him. “What is it?”

He didn’t respond. He just slid out of bed and ripped open his bag for some pants to wear.

“Idris!” Isla said and had him turning to her. Her hair tumbled everywhere, her eyes were sleepy and heated with emotion, offset by the wry eyebrow she had lifted. Her breasts were bared and mouthwatering. “Look, I know you’re the strong, silent type. But here’s the rule. If I outright ask you a question, you have to answer it with words. Even if it’s just to say ‘I don’t know’. Capiche?”

 He grinned, slid his pants on and crossed the room to her. He tipped her head back and absolutely kissed the breath out of her. “Fair enough. You’re really something to look at, you know that?”

She glared up at him, her lips plump with his kiss. “So, are you going to answer my question?”

He rooted around on the ground, found the jeans and t-shirt she’d been wearing. After a little more searching, found her bra and underwear. He handed them over to her. “I just realized something. And I’ve gotta see if it’s true.” He paused. Scratched at his neck for a second. “Although I already know it is.”

She dressed in the dark and he took her hand as they walked through the house, following the sounds of people talking and eating in the kitchen.

The party didn’t exactly stop as they came into the room. But every eye turned to the two of them. Idris could tell that Isla wanted to shrink back a little, so he slid an arm around her shoulder to fortify her.

Mel was stirring some sauce over the stove while Amos and Lucy sat at the breakfast bar, her in his lap. O washed lettuce at the sink, mid-laugh at something that Felice was whispering to him.

Donovan sat set back from everyone, just watching it all play out. Much as Idris would probably have been doing had he been in the room before.

“Oh!” O exclaimed. “Why, it’s the dirty little sex-havers.”

Mel laughed hard at that one, even though everybody else rolled their eyes. Grudgingly chuckling like they didn’t want to over-encourage him. Well, Idris supposed that if one person was going to get a kick out of him, it might as well be his girl.

He wasn’t much for drama. So he just jumped right in. “Nobody bothered to tell me that I’m the king.”

The room came to a grinding halt just then. Not a soul breathed. Except for Isla, who swiveled to look up at him. Her eyes the size of half dollars. “What!?”

Idris watched the faces of all who were in the room. But it was his father’s face that told him the most truth. The grim pride that lined Donovan’s face told Idris everything that he needed to know. What father wouldn’t feel that way? Proud, but also resigned to the inevitable duty of the position.

Lucy was the first one to break the silence. “Well, you’ve gotta admit, Idris. It’s a lot to put on one person all at once. Hey, you’re a dragon. Also, you’re the rightful king. Also, you have to battle the tyrant usurper who is in the process of enslaving the entire realm.”

Idris felt another brick fall into place. “Well, didn’t know that last part.”

Lucy’s cheeks flamed as she threw a hand over her mouth. “Oh, lord. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to just drop it that way.”

“No,” Idris said, ripping a hand through his hair and going to sit at the kitchen table alongside his father. “It’s alright, Lucy. I think a part of me kind of knew already. I felt something the other night when you were filling me in on Dalyer. A kind of inexplicable fury.”

Idris pulled Isla onto his lap as everyone else assembled themselves around the table. Felice sat next to Idris and gripped his hand.

“It’s why you couldn’t live in the dragon realm as a boy,” she said, the emotion of it threading through her voice.

“It was your destiny,” Donovan said from across the table. “We knew it almost the instant your mother became pregnant. That you were destined for it. That you were in danger from Dalyer. That he’d slaughter you as a baby if he ever knew who you truly were.”

“A Prodigo,” Felice said, pointing to Donovan. “One of the ancient line. And bred with a Regium.” She pointed to herself. She waved her hand in the air. “It’s a very old recipe for creating a true king. So old it was pretty much just a legend by the time your father and I met. And we didn’t even know that we had the ingredients to create that until after I was pregnant with you.”

“So, you left the dragon realm. To protect Idris until he was old enough to take on the responsibility of being a king,” Isla guessed.

Donovan nodded, scratching at his beard. “Maybe. Or maybe we just thought that someone else would be able to stop him in the meantime. And we’d never have to damn our son to the fate of being a warrior. A king.” His eyes searched Idris’s. They weren’t looking for forgiveness. They were looking for understanding.

“But then I came along,” O said. “Psychic as hell and already losing my mind at age three.”

“You knew that he couldn’t live in the human realm,” Idris said, looking to Felice. “And that I couldn’t live in the dragon realm.”

Felice nodded, the pain of that choice still as fresh as blood in her eyes. “The hardest thing we’ve ever had to do.”

“Well. Shit,” Idris said, looking at O. “You’re an oracle and I’m a true king. We kinda hafta fight this dickhead, you know?”

O grinned and leaned across the table to grip his brother’s hand. “Damn straight.”

“Oh, good!” Mel clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait for this guy to get what he deserves. I hate him.”

“I believe you told me you were gonna feed him his own teeth when you next saw him,” O said, smiling down at her.

“That still stands,” Mel said darkly, absently dragging her hand over O’s side.

Idris remembered the way his brother’s side had been so puckered with scars. “He did that to you? Dalyer gave you your injuries?”

O nodded. If Idris had had any doubts about them being brothers, he would have laid them to rest now. He had a dark cloud of rage roll out from his chest at the thought of anyone hurting O like that. Owen. His little brother. He could barely remember their life together, but for a few laughing moments. But he knew they’d loved each other. Probably still did, if they looked for it hard enough.

“Alright,” Idris said. “Let’s get this all out on the table here. If there’s anything else that anyone needs to tell me, let’s do it. Is there any doubt that I’m the king?”

“No,” Amos said immediately, speaking up for the first time.

Idris noticed that he wasn’t sitting at the table with the rest of them. He was standing with his back to the wall in a stance extremely familiar. It was the same way that Idris himself used to stand alongside the stage at City Lights. Amos was guarding the room.

“My family has been the bodyguard to the king for generations. Hundreds of years. It’s bred into me. Instinctual at this point. I used to guard Dalyer. Even though I knew he was a bad man. It - it was almost a compulsion. I had to.” He drew a hand over his brow as if he were trying to wipe the memory of it away.

“But that was nothing compared to what I felt today. When you shifted,” said Amos.

“You were the first one to bow,” Idris said, remembering the moment. How strange it had felt, but weirdly not unexpected.

Amos nodded. “My instincts recognized you as the king. There’s no questioning that.”

“Okay,” Isla said, lacing her fingers with Idris’s. “What else should we know?”

Idris stared down at her. Impossibly moved that she wanted this information as badly as he did. At how casually she tossed out ‘we’. Then he remembered what she’d said upstairs and it darkened his brow. She felt safe with Idris, but only because of how far away she was from her piece of shit ex-boyfriend. He hated that. Idris didn’t want her to think of him as where she wanted to be in relation to Ivanovich. He just wanted to be whom she wanted to be with.

He pushed the thoughts aside as O began to speak again. To fill in some details.

“There’s a resistance against Dalyer,” he said. “They’re called the Surgere. They’re on their way here.”

“What?” Amos asked. “You’re kidding.”

“No,” O said. “I saw it.” He tapped the side of his head and Idris knew that he meant he’d had a vision about it. “Right after Idris shifted.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Donovan muttered. “It was the roar heard round the world.”

“What do you mean?” Idris asked.

“The sound you made when you hit your dragon form, it was primal,” Donovan said. “And it was more than just a roar. I heard it here. In my heart. I think that it probably went for hundreds of miles. A call to arms of sorts.”

Isla went still on Idris’s lap. “You think Dalyer could have heard it?”

“Yeah,” O said, his eyes cloudy with vision. “He definitely heard it.”

“Wow,” Lucy said, propping her chin on her hand for a second before she popped back up. “Wait! If the Surgere are coming, then does that mean that Zara is coming, too?”

O nodded. “And Solar.”

“Yes!” Lucy yelped, slapping her hands together.

“They’re the leaders of the revolution,” Amos explained to Isla and Idris. “And old friends of ours.”

“So, all of us together. The Surgere and us, we’re gonna fight?” Isla asked.

“We’re gonna massacre,” Mel said.