"In there," the woman said amongst a string of other commands, gesturing with her left hand to a door left partially open. The instructions were for Parker, but she'd almost missed them for how flawlessly they fit into the woman's other instructions. "Nikias, ten minutes until we're back on. Are the fog machines refilled? And what about—"
Parker broke away from her guide and headed towards the opened door. The woman didn't notice her leaving, too caught up in her conversation to care. Left on her own, Parker hesitated by the door. As she raised her fist to knock, a familiar, smooth voice called her from inside.
"Come on in," Lysander called. His voice carried, and it sounded as though he stood before her.
Behind the door was the man she'd obsessed over since she'd first been introduced to Sordid View. Parker felt herself begin to tremble, not from nerves, but from excitement. She took a moment to breathe in deep and smooth her shirt before she pushed the door open. Inside, Lysander reclined upon a beat up couch, arms spread over the top with his hands hanging down upon the cushions. His legs were spread, unafraid of taking up space. He was the only one in the room.
"You're the chick I saw pressed up against the stage," he told her as if she didn't know. "You were singing along to all the songs, even the old ones. I don't think one other person in the whole venue knew the words to 'Turbulence.'"
There was one other person who knew the words—Erin—but Parker felt too star struck to correct him. Instead, she pressed her lips together to stop herself from squealing and tried to be cool. A small nod of her head followed, and she spoke.
"I've listened to you guys for a long time, all the way back when Universe, Unlimited was released. You don't know how amazing it is to be standing right here, talking to you after all that time."
Lysander snorted and rolled his eyes skywards, but she could tell by the way that he smirked that he was pleased with the flattery.
"Well," he replied, fixing her with his gaze once again. Under the fluorescent lights she could tell just how green they were. It seemed to Parker like no other man had eyes that stunningly green. "You have no idea how amazing it is that a chick as pretty as you knows all of your work by heart, and not just the stuff that made you famous. Come sit." He jerked his chin towards the stretch of couch to his right. "Close the door and keep me company for a while."
Parker could feel herself trembling. From her lips all the way down to her toes, her body was alive with anticipation. The flat of her palm guided the door closed, and once it clicked in the latch she moved across the room on autopilot. This had to be a dream; there was no way she'd gotten so lucky in real life.
Lysander was just as gorgeous in person as he was in pictures. The collage of tattoos that ran from his knuckles up his arm was vibrant. Portraits and horror inspired images melded together, each piece well done. The smell of burnt wood, like a campfire, mixed with masculine overtones, rose from his body. He'd shed sweat on stage, and it still beaded on his brow. Parker didn't care—her focus was elsewhere. The tight black jeans he wore revealed a sizable bulge, begging attention. The attraction towards Lysander that she'd fostered for so long swelled, and when Parker sat beside him she found it hard to keep her hands off of him.
It turned out keeping her hands off of him wasn't going to be an issue.
Lysander slid his hand down from the couch and wrapped it tight around her shoulder, drawing her to his torso. The heat of his body felt dry compared to what she was used to—when guys got sweaty, they got humid. Lysander, despite the sweat on his brow, didn't feel sticky.
"What's your name?" Lysander asked her. Parker could feel the rise and fall of his chest. Excitement was quickly mellowing into arousal, and she navigated it like she'd plunged into a swimming pool full of cotton; every inch of her felt warm and soft, and yet difficult to maneuver.
"Parker Harris," she said.
The corners of Lysander's lips twitched upwards, amused. Parker's head was turned to look at him, just as his was turned to look at her. Up this close she could see how his bottom lip was just a bit fuller than his top, and how kissable they looked.
"You know, for how much you were screaming for me, I thought you would be a little chattier," Lysander whispered. She could feel the warmth of his breath, his lips coming closer to hers little by little. "But if you don't feel like chatting, I can think of another way to put your lips to use."
Warmth spread across Parker's cheeks, and she knew she was glowing red. Lysander's green eyes were lidded, and he let their noses brush one against the other. When his lips, some of the most perfect she'd ever seen, pressed against hers, Parker thought her skeleton might burst free from her skin. It felt as though she had to fidget and twitch and cry out all at once from how deliriously happy she felt, and yet Lysander's kiss kept her pinned. A beat passed in which Parker composed herself, and she kissed him back.
Lysander's lips were greedy. What had started as slow and sweet, introducing her to the idea of intimacy, turned heated. As their lips parted only to meet again, Lysander's touch grew firmer. It wasn't long before his lips had parted hers, and he slid his tongue into her mouth to claim it.
There was a strange sweetness to how he tasted, like cotton candy or a light mint. Parker closed her eyes, body relaxing as he dominated their passion. Heat spread quickly through her gut and left her aching for more. Already she could feel how slick she'd become; Lysander was her fantasy turned reality, and it felt like a miracle that out of a whole floor full of people, he'd had eyes for her.
Their lips parted, Parker breathless. As she struggled to regain her breath, Lysander spoke. His eyes, narrowed and lustful, were locked on hers.
"I want to make you mine," he uttered, voice low and yet somehow crystal clear. Its pitch had dropped, husky with his desire. Parker knew that whatever attraction had sprung up between them was a convenience for him and nothing more. Musicians didn't want to settle down with fans, didn't want to have drawn out relationships, and yet she couldn't tell him no. Even one night with Lysander felt like an event that would stay with her a lifetime.
"I want that, too."
When consent left her lips, something flashed across Lysander's eyes. Hungry, wild, and ferocious. Fear struck her hard, then left just as quickly. Even as an indie artist, Lysander must have been used to getting any girl he wanted. That was a look of experience, and she was another conquest for him to tear into and claim.
And claim he did.
The back of her head met the worn couch cushions, and Lysander was upon her. Although he was willowy, he was solid, and when one of his hands pressed her shoulder down to pin her, Parker knew his true strength. No other guy she'd been with had ever felt like this, and Parker found herself gasping at his control.
Lysander's free hand traveled down, toying with the button of her fly before popping it open. His hand wasted no time in traveling over the front of her simple black thong, dipping between her legs to gauge how wet she'd become. When his fingers pressed against the fabric, Parker had to choke back a moan. Until he’d brought her attention to it, she hadn't realized just how slick she was. Lysander hissed in delight, his teasing green gaze shooting up to lock on hers.
"Fuck, are you hot for me," he muttered. The fingers pressed further, coming in contact with her clit through the cotton. Parker's jeans hugged her thighs and constrained her, and she wished desperately that they were on the floor. Just his fingers alone felt fantastic, and her own hand shot down to hold his in place as she grinded against him. Lysander laughed.
"There's the energetic girl I saw on stage," he said as she squirmed. Heated rushes of pleasure shot through her, and Parker could not hold herself back. The touch of his fingers had her clit pulsing, leaving her desperate for more. No other lover had brought her to such heights, but then again, no other lover had ever drawn her attention quite like Lysander Smythson had. And as he played with her, Parker felt herself getting wetter.
"We're going to do it quick now," Lysander whispered to her, words heavy with his lust, "but then you're going to stick around back stage, and you're going to come with me to the after party, and I'm going to fuck you like you deserve to be fucked."
A shuddering gasp escaped her lips, and Parker closed her eyes for a moment as desire swept through her. Lysander had a reputation as a bad boy and as a blunt man; when he spoke, he spoke the truth. There was no doubt in her mind that his desire wasn't exaggerated.
You want me, Parker?" he asked. Her name spilled from his lips, and Parker's heart fluttered. She'd wanted Lysander since the first time she'd heard his voice, even before she'd seen what he looked like. There was no hesitation to delay her message.
"Yes."
Still she grinded against his fingers, letting the digits bring her to new heights. When he finally took them away it was only to pull down her jeans so that they bunched by her knees. The black thong she wore beneath followed, leaving Parker's shaved sex exposed to him.
Lysander pulled back just enough to look her over, letting his fingers trail up her thigh until there was nowhere left to go but in. The same fingers that had teased her through her thong now touched her bare skin, dipping between her lips to come in contact with her heat. Parker gasped, the sound short and choked off, and Lysander laughed again.
"You're going to be a lot of fun," he said. One finger flitted against her clit, and Parker's hips jerked up against him, needing him. Even in her wildest, most depraved fantasies, Lysander had never had her desperate.
The leather belt around his waist loosened, and then he'd undone his fly. The hand at her sex continued to toy and tease with her, preparing her for what was to come. Beneath his jeans he wore no underwear, and his cock had been erect from the second she'd entered the room. Erect for her. Parker saw it for the first time, thick and long. How she'd expected anything less than perfection from a man she'd already thought was flawless was beyond her, but it took her breath away.
"You're going to... In me...?"
Lysander looked up at her, eyes as fierce as they had been when she'd told him she wanted him.
"Yeah. I am. Now turn around and get on your knees."
There were no words she could think to say. Parker blinked, trying to ground herself as animalistic lust took her over. Both of them still close to fully clothed, Lysander's fly simply parted, he intended to take her and find his release before intermission was over. There was no intimacy or expectation other than the physical, and for as crude as it was, Parker found it exhilarating. To Lysander she was another fan willing to spread her legs as soon as he said the word, and she knew that it was true. The power he had over her was raw and unparalleled, and thinking that she was about to give up her body to him within minutes of meeting him face to face left her drenched. The ultimate act of submission—all for him. Tonight she was his slut, and Parker wanted nothing more.
She shifted around on the couch and did as he asked. As soon as her knees met the cushions, he wrapped an arm around her and pushed her forward so that the curve between her stomach and her legs was flush against the arm of the couch. Either hand secured her inner thigh and parted them. Had she not been presenting her sex to him from behind, her jeans would have restricted the movement of her legs too much for him to slide into her. As it was now, her sex was on display for him, begging to be claimed.
And so Lysander claimed it. Once she was settled against the arm he advanced. His warm, solid core met her back, and she felt him glide his member against her waiting heat. With a thrust of his hips, Lysander sank into her. They moaned in unison. To Parker, he felt perfect—just wide enough to stretch her out and leave her feeling full without being too painful. It was as though their bodies had been made for each other.
"Holy fuck," Lysander muttered as he pushed deeper. The prominent crown of his cock sank through her, and she could feel it as it invaded and owned her. Parker shuddered and then gasped, letting herself tense around him so she could feel his length that much more. Greeted with resistance, Lysander did not slow his advances; no matter what, he was going to use her. Parker trembled at the thought. Band slut. Desperate groupie. The lead singer's easy lay. Tonight she'd do anything Lysander asked her to without question, and he would take advantage of her. It was so wrong it was right.
"You feel so good," Parker moaned, pressing back against him as he buried himself into her. They were finally impaled, the full length of his cock swallowed by her passage. Heavy balls were flush with her skin, and in that moment she became aware of what they were doing. Those balls were full of his seed, and if they didn't stop, he was going to spill it inside of her. They hadn't talked about protection or stopped to find any—Lysander was barebacking her, and she couldn't bring herself to stop him. Parker wanted his cum sitting deep inside of her, wanted to know that a part of him would stay with her even after they had parted. If he didn't care, neither did she.
And then he began to move. Parker had thoughth he'd felt good sliding into her depth, but the way his hips pistoned into her made their initial joining pale in comparison. He fucked her wild and hard, like an animal desperate to breed, and all Parker could do was cry out in ecstasy. Each time he thrust forward he pushed her against the arm of the couch, stimulating her clit while the head of his cock found a spot inside of her that felt so right. Parker had never found release easily, but even within the few minutes they'd been coupling, she found herself ready to topple over the edge into dark, luxurious delights.
Lysander was hunched over her body, holding himself close as he drove himself in again and again. Each staggered breath he took and each husky exhale that followed rattled in her ear, her own personal concert. Parker's throat was still sore from screaming and singing on the floor, but she could not hold back the cries he worked free from her. She was going to cum like this, she knew it. And—
The click of the doorknob turning drew their attention, and Parker looked towards the door with wide eyes. The woman from before, her ponytail tight and high, poked her head in through the entrance and looked at them with unapologetic eyes, unconcerned with the wild fucking taking place before her.
"You missed all your warnings, Lysander. Did you turn your earpiece off? You were supposed to be on the stage twenty seconds ago."
"I'm busy!" he snarled, his frantic bucks never slowing. Parker felt caught between being mortified and being too horny to care. She was close—so close—that not even being walked in on mattered.
"I'm gonna cum," she gasped, head dropping as the beginnings of orgasm gripped her. The pleasure she felt was building, ever more important. "Lysander, I'm gonna, oh my God, I'm gonna..."
"Yeah," he said through gritted teeth, "do it. I want to feel you clamping down against me and milking me until I'm dry. I want you to cum in front of my stage manager like the slut you are!"
It was too much. Parker cried out a final time and lost herself to orgasm. The walls of her sex clenched around him, the deep, uncontrollable pulsing beginning as her body was wracked by the heights he'd driven her to. Lysander hissed between his gritted teeth and bottomed out inside of her, pushing her so hard against the arm of the couch she felt the ribbing inside crack. In time to the splintering noise, Parker felt Lysander flood her with his seed. She cried out again, swept up in the sweet brutality. Lysander was wild, but it made her feel alive.
"Lysander," the woman said dryly from the door, "this is no joke. You need to go on now, no matter how 'busy' you are."
The woman's words were lost to Parker. Her head was still hung, and she was panting hard. The aftermath of orgasm still clung to her, her body tensing at random around his and milking the cum from his cock. Lysander, still hard, withdrew and jumped up from the couch, tugging his pants back up and zipping his fly. In his absence Parker felt cold and empty, and she wished desperately that he would have stayed.
"Ready. I'm ready," he told her, approaching the door even as he did up his fly. Parker's head rose to watch him go. She felt too drained to get up from where she'd been placed, but there was enough energy in her yet to watch the man she'd fantasized about for years leave the room. "Hey, Parker, you stay here. After the show we'll hit the after party and do it all again."
How was he still walking? After what he'd done to her, Parker felt like all she could bring herself to do was curl up and sleep, and yet Lysander seemed chipper and full of energy.
"Out and on stage," the woman insisted, opening the door wider as he approached. Parker was exposed from the waist down, but she found she didn't care. Already her eyelids were drooping. "I swear, sometimes I don't know how Nikias puts up with you. You'd think—"
But as Lysander pushed past her and she closed the door, Parker couldn't bring herself to keep listening. Pants still lowered, she slid down against the couch and closed her eyes. Before she fell asleep, she could hear the muffled roars of the crowd and the first wails of the guitar; Sordid View was back on stage, but she'd found a much better place to be. "Eternity's Lamentation" sung her to sleep, and when she dreamed, it was of Lysander and the way his bright green eyes had pierced her soul.
Part Two
It was the buzzing that woke her up. Parker opened her eyes, but found the overhead lights too harsh and closed them again quickly. What had happened? Her body felt stiff and sore, like she'd worked out way too hard.
The phone in her back pocket was vibrating, hitting the wooden beam across the back of the couch and making a racket. As Parker woke fully, she realized her pants were around her knees. The memories returned. Lysander had told security to bring her backstage, and she'd met him in the tiny room with the couch she was still laying on. They'd had sex, and it had been the hottest encounter she'd ever had. Just thinking about it made her start feeling warm again, and when Parker squirmed and shifted upon the couch, she felt how wet she still was. Some of it might have been from Lysander's orgasm, but—
He'd gone back on stage, and she remembered hearing the audience and the music before she'd fallen asleep. Now there was only silence. Parker sat up at once and swung her legs over the edge of the couch, almost tripping over her lowered pants as she stood. Lysander had said they'd go to the after party together, and that she should wait here for him. Where was he?
A couple hasty jumps saw her skinny jeans pulled back up into place, and Parker fished her phone from her pocket. She'd missed a call from Erin, and there were a dozen unread text messages, all asking about where she was and if she was okay. Parker opened up her inbox and shot a text back quickly.
Parker (11:42PM): im okay, lysander took me back stage. going to pt with him. ill see you tmr ok? i cant believe all thats happening!
With the text message sent out, Parker left the back room to look for any trace of the band. A quick look through the wings revealed that the floor had emptied; no audience members remained. A few employees from the venue strode back and forth back stage, tidying up after the show, but everyone associated with the band was gone. The stern looking stage manager with the high ponytail was no longer flitting back and forth like a hornet protecting its hive, and the extra crew Sordid View had brought with them had similarly disappeared. No one cleaning up paid much attention to her, so Parker took the time to search more thoroughly. Most of the wires and amps and other equipment she'd seen spread chaotically had vanished, reloaded onto the tour bus. The change was startling.
Just as she'd begun to regret not calling Erin back and arranging a meet up, Parker heard him. Lysander's song was soft and crooning, so different than the usual, high energy punk he sang, but Parker recognized it well. There were a few tracks earlier in Sordid View's discography that were heartfelt and slow, and this rendition tore into her heart and left her vulnerable. The song escaped from beneath a door upon which was a loose leaf paper with the words "No Entry" written in sharpie by hand. Parker hesitated, then opened the door anyway.
At first, Parker didn’t see him. The room was filled with odds and ends, but most of it appeared to be assorted stage props to be borrowed by visiting bands or theater troops. As the door opened, the song stopped, and Parker began to question if she'd actually heard it. Then Lysander turned his head.
He stood not far back amongst the oddities of the room, but it was fitting that he stood there, for Lysander himself was an oddity. As he turned back to look at her a set of wings flexed and narrowed against his back, protruding from either shoulder blade. Glinting black scales covered the forearm and fingers, and between them stretched a skin-like black webbing that reminded Parker somewhat of a bat. From the natural way they trembled and fidgeted, clinging to his back as though he longed them to disappear, she knew they were no prop. Parker stood in the doorway, eyes widened just slightly, not sure what she was seeing
"So, I guess you can't read?" Lysander asked her, mild humor lacing his tone. "It said not to enter. So what are you doing here?"
He was shirtless, and as he turned to face her in full, Parker noticed how the full sleeve of tattoos he sported was gone. Lysander's flesh was untouched, but his body was just as gorgeous as it had always been in his photographs.
"You told me we'd go to the after party together," Parker mumbled, eyes still on the impressive set of wings he kept folded against his back. "Everyone's gone now. And... And what's going on with your back?"
Had she been paying closer attention, Parker would have seen the uneasy look that crossed Lysander's face. He sighed gently, closing his gorgeous green eyes for a moment.
"Close the door and come here," he told her. Although he spoke softly, Parker found she could not disobey him. Without resistance she closed the door and stepped forward. The closer she drew, the more she could make out the details of his body. Beneath his skin, scales shifted and struggled to burst free, as though the thin membrane above were a plastic bag strained with too heavy a load. His fingernails were thicker than normal and black, not from nail polish, but by virtue of their composition. The tips of them were sharpened into points, and she thought he might use them to tear into his own skin and release the struggling scales beneath. The green eyes she so fawned over had changed, too; the pupil in their centers was a thin vertical slit instead of round.
"Lysander," Parker murmured, feeling more uncertain with each step. "Is this a... a stage prop? A costume?"
She stood in front of him, close enough that he could draw her into his arms, and waited for a reply. Lysander hesitated. The man who stood before her was not the brash bad boy the media had made her feel she knew, nor was he the outspoken, carefree guy he made himself out to be. This side of Lysander was soft and introspective. Mature.
"What else did I tell you?" he asked. The question was strange, and Parker folded her arms across her chest with uncertainty.
"You said that you were going to take the time to give me what I deserved, since we only had time for a quickie before," she muttered, suddenly ashamed. "And that we'd go have fun at the after party together."
"Yeah." The look on his face said he shared in the shame. "That sounds like something I would do."
As she watched, the scales beneath his skin began to fade from view as though retreating inside of him. The wings folded so tightly to his back began to withdraw, as though they were reeled back into his body like fishing line from the sea. The small claws she'd seen lost their thickness and became clear once more. Lysander's tattoos did not return.
"Did I tell you how pretty you are?" he asked. The back of his hand brushed across her cheek, and Parker found the strength to look up into his eyes. Just as the rest of him had, they'd regained their human appearance. In them twinkled something gentle and affectionate instead of hungry, and for that moment she felt like she was the only girl in the world who mattered to him.
"You did," she replied, "but... but not like that."
Lysander smiled, stepping forward and drawing her against his chest.
"Well, I think you're stunning. And if I had my way, I'd never leave you behind when we leave again on tour."
When their bodies met she felt the heat inside of him, as though a fire burned at his very core. Parker rested her head against his shoulder, considering all that she had seen and all that she had felt. Bizarre strength. Scales. Wings. Reptilian eyes. Claws.
"Are you a dragon?" she asked. "Is that what all of this is?"
Dragons weren't any more real than the tooth fairy, but there was no other explanation that she could think of to reason through his strange appearance. She was still with Lysander. That was what mattered right now.
"I am what's left of dragons," Lysander whispered to her, the words meant only for her ears. "One of the few that remain. And as ancient as I am, I know beauty when I see it. You are stunning, and tonight I will have you as mine."
This Lysander was a far cry from the one she'd coupled with during intermission. The feeling of being drowned in cotton returned, but this time the attraction between them felt genuine instead of lustful. Parker's heart warmed for him and the words he meant for her, and dragon or not, wild illusion or not, she knew she wanted him again.
The arms around her locked in place, and Parker found herself lifted from the floor and laid upon a chaise with a Victorian flair. The furniture, although a prop piece, supported her weight without issue. It was when Lysander joined her upon it, his heated body just as strangely solid as she'd remembered, that it began to groan in protest. Lysander did not stop.
There were similarities between the encounter and the last. Lysander dipped his head down and let his nose brush against hers, teasing her as their lips drew closer. Parker's eyelids drooped, then closed completely as his lips met hers. He directed them with firm affection and took his time, letting the kiss last and age into perfection. When their lips parted at last, Parker couldn't help but open her eyes to peek up at him. The Lysander that had laid her down upon the chaise was not the same man who'd taken her upon the couch. Softer, gentler, and more compassionate, he showed her a side to herself she'd never expected from a punk star.
It felt like an eternity passed where all he did was kiss her, and for as simple as it was, Parker's cheeks flushed with warmth and she felt herself grow wetter still, all for him. All of the care that Lysander had failed to show her during intermission was made up for. When he did pull away, panting just slightly to catch his breath, she thought she might never want another lover for how wonderfully he treated her.
Without words he navigated her body, letting his hand slid down her side and to her jeans. The button of her fly opened, and the hand slipped inside to glide over the cotton fabric of her thong. Parker was drenched, and now he knew it. As the tempting pleasure of his hand slid between her legs, Parker arched her back and pressed up against him. Just as before, Lysander laughed. This time the laugh sounded like it rejoiced in her need instead of ridiculed it.
"You really find me attractive, don't you?" he asked. "The shirt you're wearing... That's from four years ago, when we were hardly more than a garage band. Have you been following me this whole time?"
"Yes," Parker whispered back. Talking seemed strange, as though the unsaid was much more important. There was a fire that burned inside of Lysander's soul that she was just beginning to discover, and she wanted to tend to it and add to its kindling until he lit up into a beautiful inferno of a man. "Almost since the beginning. I've waited so long to meet you."
Lysander did not smirk. The smile that spread his lips was far more satisfying, and it burned into Parker's memory, never to be forgotten.
"You're the kind of girl that makes all of this worth it," he whispered back. "You're just as invested in Sordid View as I am, and I can't thank you enough."
As they spoke she grinded against him, movements subtle but pleasing. Lysander hadn't been blind enough to miss them. Silence swallowed them. The jeans found their way down her body, but this time Lysander saw them all the way off. Then he took off her thong, its crotch soaked with her heated secretions and the remnants of the mess Lysander had previously left inside of her.
"When I sing," he whispered, rising back up her body once she was naked from the waist down, "know that I sing for you."
A connection Parker couldn't rationalize had opened between them. In Lysander's eyes she saw the universe, so vast and unexplored. Secrets. Forgotten histories. Names and places lost to time. And then, a place they shared together, snug and comfortable. Home. When she raised her hands to undo his leather belt and part his fly, she knew that it was what he wanted. Their souls spoke to each other without words, and it was so beautiful that tears began to bead in the corner of her eyes.
Together they saw his pants to the ground. Since intermission he'd changed into a pair of briefs, and those, too, found their way from his body. The cock beneath was firm and ready for her, and Parker shifted beneath him to align their bodies for penetration. Lysander had fucked her before, but now he would make love to her and treat her to passions she'd never imagined would be hers.
Parker lifted her hips as Lysander lowered his, his hand guiding his hardened shaft for her entrance. When they joined the tears gathered in Parker's eyes slid down the sides of her face, and she exhaled sharply as he completed her. It wasn't just sex—this was something deeper. He'd said he'd never leave her, given the chance, and now Parker knew why. A feeling like this wasn't one anyone could just walk away from; it felt as though they shared souls, not just bodies.
When Lysander tucked his head between her shoulder and her neck and breathed out in delight, Parker held him there. Their bodies rode upon each other, delirious with delight. She could feel him working inside of her, pumping with need, and yet she felt strangely detached from the act. Lysander's soul, a flickering flame against the darkness, entwined with hers and ignited what had once been dull and unfulfilled. Parker choked out a cry. Eyes now open to the world, she burned with inspiration and life.
Lysander shot inside of her. Parker could feel his wet, heated seed lace her insides as well as she could feel the excitement and ecstasy of release that smoldered inside of him. The release meant nothing—he kept going. They grinded and squirmed, one against the other, as his cock grew flaccid and then hardened again. And once he was back to full mast, he moved into her with more determination than he had before. Soft groans had turned into choked gasps of pleasure, and Parker rode with him. Had she been able to, she would have made love with him all night on the chaise in the prop room. All night wasn't in the cards.
Before Lysander's next orgasm struck, she felt it building inside of him. Attuned with his soul, the delight he felt in her body was reflected back to her, and Parker drowned in it along with him as he crossed the point of no return. A second load of cum, just as plentiful as the first, flooded her. As it did, Parker found her end. A rippling orgasm rose through her sex and sped her heart, and she gripped him tighter than before. Both bodies tensed, Parker took everything he had. When they calmed it was in unison, and Lysander settled down atop her and kissed her softly, as a real lover might.
"What was that feeling?" Parker whispered against his lips. Her eyes were lidded, body exhausted again.
"You danced with the soul of a dragon," Lysander whispered back, voice languid. In the aftermath of their shared passion, both partners were exhausted. Parker felt like he wanted to fall asleep alongside her. "Not everyone can. You have a rare soul."
Soft pride bloomed inside of her, and Parker grinned lazily.
"I don't want you to leave," she mumbled.
"And I don't want to, either," Lysander replied. "But I have a life on the road, and you—"
"Nikias," Lysander's voice called as the door to the room opened, "are you done putting shit away yet and getting yourself under control? Party's over and the bus is rolling out. We—"
Parker's gaze shot towards the door to discover Lysander standing there. The Lysander who'd settled down atop her jumped up with a start and tugged on his briefs and pants in a hurry. Instinctively, Parker twisted up to hide herself. The Lysander who stood in the doorway began to laugh.
"Ah shit, I knew I forgot something. Hi, Parker. I see that you found out our little secret. Looks like you ended up having a good time even though I forgot about you."
The Lysander in the doorway was undoubtedly the guy who'd fucked her in the small green room during intermission. But his look alike... Parker's eyes shot to him. Lysander had called him Nikias. He had Lysander's voice. What was happening?
"Anyway, hurry up because we're rolling out, Nik. Sheryl says you sounded good tonight, and that I looked good tonight. I'd call it another success."
Nikias, shimmying to get into his jeans as he approached the door, shot Parker an apologetic look. He joined his twin in the doorway, each of them the spitting image of the other. Parker's widened eyes shot from one to the other, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. No one had ever reported that Lysander had a twin. And from how Lysander was talking, it sounded as though he was just the face to Nikias' talent. Attitude was everything in punk, and Nikias' soft mannerisms would not lend themselves well to the genre.
"Goodnight, Parker," Nikias bade her. Lysander smirked, quirked a brow, and lifted an open palm to wave her goodbye. As they left he shoved an oversized hoodie over Nikias' head, hood up, to mask the similarities of their bodies and faces.
And just like that, the one man she thought she'd idolized lost his luster. Lysander was not the person she imagined he would be; the man she'd pined over all these years was named Nikias, and to the world, he was invisible.
Epilogue
"You're crazy," Erin said, laughing after Parker had told her the news the next day. "I think someone slipped you some drugs and you hallucinated that whole thing. There's no way."
But it wasn't a fantasy, wasn't some drug-induced delusion. Lysander was the face and attitude, and Nikias, his secret twin, was the talent. And she'd slept with them both.
And five weeks later, when Parker knew there was no way her period could be that late, it was their identical faces that haunted her as she read the results of her pregnancy test. Positive.
Sordid View ripped up the charts and found great success on tour as Parker's body swelled with Smythson child. Before she used to daydream about having Lysander's baby, but now Parker knew just how lonely it felt to be pregnant without someone there to support her—and Lysander was no longer the name that haunted her at night. Nikias and his gentle demeanor was who she revisited on her lonely nights, and the fire he'd lit in her soul burned for him, and only for him.
It had been a long seven months since that night at the concert, and Parker had finished her school year and withdrawn from the next to care for the child she was about to bring into the world. When the ringer buzzed, letting her know someone waited outside her apartment door, she thought nothing of it. With a sore back and a hanging belly, she waddled to the door and pressed down on the microphone button.
"Yes, hello? Who is it?"
There was a pause. Parker presumed that whoever was at the door was fumbling to figure out how to talk back, but a sharp rap at her window proved otherwise. Startled, Parker jumped and turned to face the window.
Bobbing outside her window, fanning his tremendous black wings, was one of the Smythson twins. Her heart rose into her throat and for a moment, she forgot how to breath. He was bare chested, and she saw no tattoos. It was Nikias.
Quicker than she'd moved in months, Parker ran for the window and wrenched it open. In a surprising feat of contortion and dexterity, Nikias squeezed himself through to fall upon her living room floor.
"The tour is over," he panted, the exertion from flying taking its toll. "Parker, I can't get you off of my mind. And... And it's good that I came back. Look at you."
Taking only a moment to compose himself, Nikias rose from the floor. The next moment he had his hand upon her distended belly, connecting with the child inside.
"It's dragon," he whispered to her.
"She's dragon," Parker murmured back.
"She…" Nikias beamed with pride. With care he drew Parker into his arms, holding her close. "I'm going to take care of you. Both of you. I want you to come with me. We're not going back on tour for a while now, not until the next album is dropped. We'll raise her together."
This was the voice she'd always loved, a man she found crushingly handsome, and the kindhearted father their daughter needed. Parker beamed back, fighting the tears of joy that threatened to fall.
There was no way she could say anything but yes. The fantasy she'd had for so long had been nowhere as sweet as the reality she found herself living. Nikias had lit her fire, and as long as she stayed by him, Parker knew that she would always burn bright.
THE END
Honeymoon with the Dragon
“Knock knock,” Suzy’s mother said as she knocked on the bedroom door.
“Come in,” Suzy replied, adjusting the long, white veil as it hung from atop her head. She was standing in her childhood bedroom at her mother’s house, giving herself one final fitting to make sure that everything was a go. As she gazed at her reflection, she wasn’t sure if the wedding gown needed work, or she did. She still had time to lose weight. The wedding was in a week, not today. Thank goodness for that.
Two hundred and eighty pounds were not easy to shed within a year, especially when one’s nerves were as wracked as Suzy’s.
Her mother came into the room and stood behind her, showing up in Suzy’s reflection and giving her a strange look.
Finally giving up on making the veil sit right over her blonde curls, she turned towards her mother. “What?” Her mother was the quiet sort, but usually when she was this quiet it was not a good sign.
“Dan is on the phone,” the mother of the bride-to-be said nervously. “He said he needs to talk to you. It… It didn’t sound good.”
Oh great, Suzy thought. What now?
She hustled out of the room with a rustle of taffeta. This dress was going to have to do, even if she looked like a beluga whale in it. Before it was altered to fit her so snuggly, it looked perfect. Now… It would just have to work. There wasn’t time for any more adjustments.
“Hello? Dan?” she said into her mother’s landline phone, the curling cord way longer than anyone could ever have use for.
Her fiancé’s voice was gruff. “Hey, Sooz,” he said. The sounds of clinking glasses, hard to understand music, and loud chatter could be heard behind him.
She scoffed into the phone so he could hear her annoyance. “Are you in a bar? Jesus.”
“So what if I am?” he snapped. He’d obviously been drinking; she could practically smell the booze coming through the phone. “We need to talk, Sooz. I can’t—” He was out-louded by someone shrieking near him.
“What?” Suzy asked, holding the phone as close to her ear as possible. Boy, could he pick a place for a ‘we need to talk’ conversation. “I didn’t catch that last part.”
Dan cleared his throat. “I can’t do this,” he said slowly, articulating each word as if she didn’t understand English.
“Can’t do this?” she asked. “What do you mean you can’t do this? You can definitely drink…” Suzy felt ridiculous, standing there in her mom’s kitchen, leaning over the counter on a landline phone, in her tight wedding dress. It was as if she was in high school again, chatting with boys until her one hour’s worth of phone privileges was up.
He slammed his fist down hard on something; she assumed it was a countertop. “I can’t marry you!” he bellowed.
All at once, all of the sounds stopped. He continued talking in that noisy place, but Suzy couldn’t hear any of it. All she heard were his death knell of words on repeat. I can’t marry you. I can’t marry you...
When she was finally able to pick up sounds again, he was ending his monologue on why a marriage with her wasn’t actually a good idea. “—and we’ve only been together six years. There’s a whole lot more life in me, Sooz. There is so much more I want to see and do with my life. I can’t rush into this. I gotta be me.”
Tears welled up in her hazel eyes. “I see. You’ve gotta be you, right? I get that. You’ve gotta be you and I’ve gotta be me... And… And, you know what, fuck you!”
Suzy slammed the phone into the receiver on the wall and sent the entire phone careening down onto the laminate floor. She looked down at it, stunned to have caused that, then burst into sobs.
Her mother came into the kitchen as though summoned by the sound and hugged Suzy close. “What happened?” she asked, patting her daughter’s back as Suzy wept onto her shoulder.
“The wedding’s off,” Suzy cried. “He doesn’t want to be with me anymore. It’s—It’s over.” She continued blubbering. “And I can’t blame him, I mean, look at me. I’m stupid and fat in this dress.”
Frowning, her mother shook her head. “You’re neither stupid nor fat,” she said, petting Susy’s long, curly hair.
“Yes, I am, Mom!” Suzy shouted, reaching to her back and loosening the zipper of her gown. “I look like a whale. Saying that I don’t is not going to fix it.” She did her best to shimmy out of the dress, but it kept catching against her.
Grabbing ahold of the fabric, her mother helped to wrench the dress down til Suzy was standing in the kitchen in her underwear, the dress a white puddle on the floor. Suzy kicked off her heels and put her face in her hands.
They had spent so much money on this damn wedding. They had spent so much time and effort for nothing.
She watched sadly as her mom picked up the gown and rolled it over one arm, as if it were a flag, something that commanded reverence even still. Suzy was grateful that her mom said nothing and just took the offending garment away. They were going to have to cancel plans now. They were going to have to send out notices that the wedding was off.
Suzy had only invited two hundred people.
No biggie.
All of that would have to wait, though. Right now, grief stricken and hating herself, all she could do was stand there and let the tears fall. She was a big girl, but right now she felt extremely small. She hated Dan, and she hated that he was able to break her like this. But she supposed that that was what love was. Heart-breaking.
It took Suzy two days before she was able to bring herself to go through all of the plans that had to be cancelled. She’d sent out her announcements that the wedding was off, so no one would come into town expecting it, and was already receiving sympathetic responses by the time she pulled out the plane tickets.
The wedding was canceled, but the tickets to Scotland were non-refundable. The hotel room was not cheap and, she had a feeling, would not be one hundred percent refundable either. She’d been looking forward to the honeymoon, maybe even more than the wedding. It would have been an adventure…
She started to write up an ad on Craigslist for the tickets, but the more she typed the more she realized that it was silly to not go on this vacation. So what if she wasn’t going to be a bride? So what if she’d be alone? She’d be alone in freaking Scotland.
Cancelling out of her post, she picked up one of her plane tickets. The flight would leave in five days, in the evening to arrive in Edinburgh by early morning. Suzy didn’t sleep well on planes, but she imagined that it would be okay since she would be waking up in a magical castle land.
The honeymoon destination was her choice.
She had the time off anyway, so why not make use of it and just enjoy herself? She could be her own date. Pulling out her rolling suitcase, she packed her cutest outfits and called her mom.
“I’m going on my honeymoon!” she said excitedly, even though it did sound rather odd. “I’m not going to miss out on Scotland just because I’m not getting married.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” her mother replied. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll run into a handsome, Celtic guy and marry him instead.”
Suzy laughed. As thrilling as the idea was, she didn’t want to go down the marriage road again. She was still hurting. “I will just be happy to get away from it all for a while and enjoy someplace new.”
“That’s a good attitude! I’m proud of you, Suzanna.”
Suzy spent the next few days going through all of the guide books and itineraries she’d already collected. She crossed off any of the activities that were intended for couples. She highlighted all of the things she found fun, especially the ones that Dan had said ‘no’ to. She fully intended to do as much as possible on this trip.
She hoped she wouldn’t end up feeling like too much of a tourist…
When she boarded her plane, she opened up her in-flight magazine, gazing fondly at the pictures of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. Suzy had a row of three seats to herself, owing largely to the fact that she was too big to fit into just one of the small, tight airplane seats. Instead of letting it get to her, she stretched her legs out and got comfortable. The other passengers could gape at her all they wanted. She was on her own, private honeymoon. She didn’t care.
She read through the magazine, feeling more and more excited as the plane calmly moved her through the air to her destination and her destiny. Her mind kept creeping back to thinking about Dan and what this trip would have been like had he been there beside her. She had a feeling that he would’ve been complaining much of the time. He mainly wanted to go to Scotland for the pubs. It was better without him.
Her life was going to better without him.
She told herself that, and told herself too that she should stop thinking about him. It didn’t matter one fig what he thought now.
Reading the magazine made Suzy feel tired, and she soon fell into a giddy sleep whilst imagining the castles, the highlanders and the Lock Ness monster. She hoped to see all that and more.
When the plane landed in Edinburgh at 7:30 in the morning, Suzy felt less excited. She felt completely groggy. She had never experienced jetlag before, but man was she feeling it now. She had a week to spend in Scotland and right now she felt like she could spend all of it in bed.
She took a cab to her hotel and slept on the way. Then, once in her hotel room, she fell onto the bed and went back to sleep for a good four hours. What she had seen of the city so far was beautiful, but she cared more about the soft, fluffy pillows and the comfortable mattress.
The reservations she’d made ahead of time would need to be taken into account though. Suzy woke up at one p.m. and questioned what she was doing with her life before remembering that she had arrived. She was in Scotland! She got out of bed and went into the hotel’s teeny, tiny bathroom. Oh, boy. The small shower made her laugh in her sleepiness. This really was going to be different.
Also, her reflection. She’d set out on her journey with makeup on and her hair all nicely brushed. Now she looked like a mess. She washed her face and reapplied everything, pulling her long blonde curls into a long blonde high ponytail. She was twenty-eight years old, but the ponytail made her easily pass for a high schooler. At first, she worried about that. But then she decided to leave it. She felt cute and that was what mattered.
Starving, Suzy decided to head out and see what sort of lunch she could find. There were lots of pubs around, so she popped in one and had a sandwich and a glass of a Scottish beer called Tennant’s lager. Even though her lunch was pretty typical for the people who lived there, she felt quite sophisticated.
Tired, and with plenty of time on her hands before her first dinner reservation, she sauntered into a museum to learn about the history of Edinburgh castle. She had a camera with her, but she did her best to not take too many pictures. Her delighted “oohs” and “ahhs” were enough to give away that she was not from there.
CHAPTER TWO
The Beastly Brogue
Once Suzy had gone through the castle and was well-acquainted with Scotland’s rich history, it was time for her to head back to her hotel and get ready for her dinner reservation. She had picked this fancy-sounding place called The Witchery that was near Edinburgh Castle. She honestly didn’t know what to expect. Ahead of time, she’d called and changed all of her dinner reservations from a honeymooning couple to a single. This was generally met with sounds of sympathy.
When she arrived at the restaurant on her first evening in Edinburgh, she was glad that she had at least dressed up nicely for it. The whole place looked a bit like an inside forest that might be found in a movie like The Craft or something. She’d guessed that the place would be magic-themed, but she hadn’t expected it to also be so pretty. It felt a bit like she would be eating in a haunted castle, and that was just how she liked it.
She took a seat at her table and noticed through the window outside that there was a place up the street called Mary King’s Close. She wondered if it was a lingerie shop or something.
“Good evening and welcome to The Witchery by the Castle,” the waiter said in a thick, Scottish accent that worked to instantly bring her back to thinking about the restaurant. “My name is Finn and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Would you like to start off with a drink?”
Suzy flipped open her menu without looking up at the waiter. His voice was so attractive that she didn’t want to ruin it by looking up and seeing someone disappointing. She smiled when she saw the name of a red wine that was listed. “I’d like a glass of The Opportunist,” she said. The wine was from Australia, not Scotland, but she figured it was close enough considering all the other wines she saw on the menu were from France. Australia was more like Scotland than France was.
The waiter chuckled softly. “Aye, okay,” he said.
She finally hazarded a glance up at him and she was so glad she did.
He was smirking down at his notepad, carefully writing down her wine choice. He had brown, slightly curly hair and green eyes with gold circles around his pupils. He also had a light, close-cut beard on his face. He looked every bit the way her fantasy Highlander man looked, and she had imagined finding a Highlander man to take her away from her boring American existence with some frequency over the years.
His outfit was a silver suit with a gray shirt and a long, skinny green tie. Suzy figured that his attire was due to his job position, but she appreciated it all the same. He was well dressed, handsome and had a sexy accent to boot.
Her only wish was that she’d found him sitting beside her at a pub or something. It was much more difficult to pick up restaurant servers. Not that she’d ever picked up anyone before.
“I’ll be right back with your Opportunist,” said Finn the waiter, rolling the R and making it sound like a dirty word. “Peruse the menu and I’ll be right back to take your order.”
Suzy blushed and let him go, telling herself that she was going to be brave – be an opportunist! – and flirt with him a little when he returned.
When the waiter known as Finn returned with her wine a few moments later, she was trying to decide between the Loch Duart salmon or the roast loin of Cairngorm venison. They both sounded so quintessentially Scottish.
“Have you decided?” he asked her.
At first, she wondered if he knew she was thinking about flirting with him. She told herself that that’d be crazy. She hadn’t made it obvious at all. Especially because she looked down while he talked, much of the time. It was too intense to look directly at him when he spoke.
“Yes,” she said, answering the question he must actually be asking. “I think so… I’d like the Ca—Carni—no, Care-nee—”
“The Cairngorm venison,” he said. It wasn’t even a question, more like a correction. And it wasn’t said all that courteously.
Suzy nodded, embarrassed. “Yes. I would like that, please.”
Nodding as well, Finn wrote that down on his notepad. “Okay, good. Would ye like any sides with that?”
She glanced at the listed options, wondering if she should really worry about it. “A side of mushrooms,” she said. “Please.”
He wrote that, too. “I will be right back with your order,” he said, almost robotically. She wondered if she had offended him somehow. Was it a big deal that she’d needed his help with pronunciations?
While he was gone from her side, she took a sip of her wine and looked out the window again. She wondered if was meant to say Mary King’s Closet and the T had just come off of the sign. Her trip had been going quite well so far, but eating dinner in this fancy restaurant was starting to feel lonely. She didn’t have anyone to talk to and she didn’t want to just play on her phone the whole time. The restaurant was too pretty to be ignored.
Maybe that’s what I should do, she thought. Maybe I should stretch my legs and look around while I wait for my food.
Leaving her coat on the back of her chair, Suzy stood up and did just that. She strolled around the room she was in, admiring the wall hangings, the busts and the trees that made up the restaurant’s atmosphere.
Right as she was turning a corner to see more of what there was to see, she walked right into Finn.
Thankfully, he wasn’t carrying anything at the moment. But still, Suzy felt mortified. “I’m so sorry!” she said. “That could have been a disaster. I’m so clumsy sometimes.”
Finn gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay. Accidents happen, Miss Hathaway.”
Her eyes widened at the sound of him saying her last name. She hadn’t told him… Oh, but the reservation was in her name. He surely must have gotten it from that. “Yeah. That’s true. Well, thank you.”
She turned around and went back to her table before she could cause any more calamities. She wondered what Finn was doing there in that darkened corner if he wasn’t carrying anything or taking any food orders. It was almost as if he’d been starting there, waiting for her to bump into him.
Taking another sip of her wine, she tried to focus back on her dinner at hand. Finn came over with a tray of her hot food and set it carefully in front of her. Then, he clapped his hands together. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, thank you,” she said. But just as he turned to walk away, she stopped him. “Actually… This is silly and probably not allowed, but I’m on my honeymoon even though the wedding didn’t happen and eating alone in a place like this is… well, it’s lonely. Would you sit and share this with me?”
Finn gave her a look and something mysterious flashed in his eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure that she liked it. Then, he tilted his head. “Okay.” He leaned in towards her. “What the hell.” He said it so close to her that only she would be able to hear it.
He sat at the table, in the seat across from hers, giving her this smile that seemed to have a magical effect on her. God, was he gorgeous.
“So,” Suzy said, feeling a tad embarrassed but also overjoyed that he had taken her up on her offer. “Now that you know my sad and kind of lame story, what’s yours?”
“My sad and lame story?” he asked with a laugh.
She smiled at him. “First of all, I said kind of lame. Second of all, it doesn’t have to be sad. I hope it’s not sad.”
“Och, well, it is kind of sad,” Finn said. “It’s not lame, but it’s sad.”
Suzy placed her fork on her plate and propped her chin on her hands in a silly listening pose.
He leaned forward and took a forkful of venison, eating it before saying anything else about it. “We probably shouldn’t talk about it all here. But let’s just say I’m cursed.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Cursed?”
Finn nodded slowly. “And now may I just say that your ex-fiancé must be a dick to leave you. But there’s no harm in coming to Edinburgh on your own. It’s not like it’s Paris or anything. It pisses down rain all the time.”
Smiling a little, Suzy shook her head. “But this is better than Paris, to me. Paris is a cliché.”
He sniffed. “Trust me, love, now that you’ve run into me – quite literally, let’s not forget – your little trip here is about to become quite clichéd.”
Suzy frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
Finn leaned across the table toward her, barely avoiding getting some ironbark pumpkin all over his pretty tie. “I know you were thinking about asking me out,” he said softly, looking her in the eyes. He sounded so playful, but the look he was giving her was stern.
Gulping, Suzy looked back down and focused on her food. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Aye,” he said. “You do. I know you do, for you wouldn’t be blushing like that if it wasn’t true.”
“Maybe I’m blushing because you’re shocking me,” she said, keeping her voice equally quiet.
“Shocking you because I know how much you want to do me,” he said.
She didn’t know what horrified her more, the fact that he was saying such things or the fact that he was correct. She didn’t want him to know that she wanted these things. She had been hoping to ease into it, at least… Go out for drinks, maybe check out a few sights.
“I actually think I can handle sitting here on my own now, thank you,” Suzy told him, keeping her voice hushed.
“Ah, of course. I’m right.” Finn smirked, looking smug. He got back up from the table. “Enjoy your meal,” he said, the politeness coating his voice again but not fully hiding his flirtation either.
As soon as he was gone, she took several bites of her meal. She was annoyed that this restaurant was so good and he was so sexy. She wondered if she should just keep a cool demeanor towards him now and pretend nothing had happened. Maybe then he’d leave her alone. Maybe there was still hope for her to find someone like him in a pub somewhere up the street.
It didn’t take her long to finish what was on her plate, considering there was no conversation to distract her. She waited for Finn to return, ready to ask for the check and see his face fall when he realized she was not going to stick around and give him a chance to torment her anymore.
A waitress appeared instead. “Can I offer you any pudding now?” she asked, the accent lilting her voice and sounding just as darling, but Suzy was disappointed.
“Where did my waiter go?” Suzy asked. “No offense.”
“Who? Finn?” the waitress asked. “Oh, his shift just ended. Why, did you leave something with him?”
Suzy hadn’t, but she also strangely felt like she had. She had left the conversation with him hanging…
She shook her head and gave the waitress a weak smile. “No, it’s fine. I’d just like the check, please. Thank you.”
The waitress nodded and was gone. Suzy sighed and looked out the window.
Finn was standing on the steps underneath the sign that said Mary King’s Close. Waiting for her.
CHAPTER THREE
Broken Wings
Suzy sighed an annoyed sigh as she strolled outside towards the mysterious Close building. She kept her hand on her purse strap, ready to use it as a weapon in case she needed to ward off Finn. He grinned at her and pointed up at the sign. “You were thinking of coming in here?”
“I was,” she said, defeated. He was clearly able to read her too well, which bothered her, but she couldn’t deny that she appreciated having a potential companion with her now.
Finn shook his head. “Don’t bother with that,” he said. “I can take you on a better historic tour which no one else even knows about except me.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were a waiter.”
He leaned in towards her. “There’s a lot you don’t know about yet, Suzy Hathaway,” he said, green eyes narrowing in jest. “For example, do you even know my last name?”
“Of course not,” she said. “I only know your name is Finn because you told me so.”
“Ay,” Finn said. “But I’ve known your name since before you got here. I know a great many things. Americans are astoundingly bad at keeping their minds closed.”
Suzy stared at him. “Should I start running now, or…?”
He looked around and grinned. “Come with me.” He took her by the hand and led her into an alley nearby.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said, panting. He was walking fast and pulling her along with him without stopping to notice she was out of breath.
When he finally stopped there, he turned towards her and let go of her hand with a flourish, undeterred by her annoyance. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you that I was cursed,” Finn said. “The truth is, I can read people’s minds. I am one hundred and eight years old this…” He thought about it. “…June.”
“Yep, I definitely should’ve run away back there,” Suzy said, feeling that she had made a rendezvous with a psychopath. A hot psychopath, but a psychopath nonetheless.
He smirked at her. “That’s not even the craziest part. I can also… do… THIS!”
Closing his eyes, he held out his arms like he was about to perform an opera aria. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble underneath them. Suzy wondered if the earth was about to open and swallow him up. Finn’s clothing melted away at the same time as his hair and skin, being replaced by shiny, green scales. He was a tall man already, but he grew and grew as his skin changed, becoming the size of the taller buildings on the block. When the metamorphosis was complete, Suzy was gazing up in disbelief at a giant dragon.
The only thing about him that appeared to stay the same was his green and gold eyes.
That wasn’t enough to keep her calm.
“ARGH!!!” Suzy screamed. Her legs gave out from under her and she fainted.
Finn brought one of his pointy, black-clawed forefeet down and scooped her up before flapping his great wings and taking off into the sky.
Suzy slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at the sky and reached her hands out to feel around, to try and figure out where she was lying. She felt too afraid to move. The last thing she’d seen was Finn turning into a dragon. She hoped that she’d dreamt it all.
Her fingers entwined with long blades of grass. She pulled them out and admired them. It was the greenest grass she’d ever seen, but it didn’t answer her question. Seeing no recourse, she sat up and looked around. Grassy hills surrounded her as far as the eye could see.
Just then, she heard a low, purr-like growl. She slowly turned to the left and saw the huge, green dragon. He was lying down, looking at her through his glowing eyes.
“Where have you taken me?” she asked him, scared. “What are you?”
He rose up onto his haunches, keeping his large eyes on her. “My name is Finn Dryden,” he said. “I’m a dragon shifter… obviously.”
As smoothly as before, the ground set to rumbling and he shifted back into his normal human form. But was it normal? Suzy didn’t quite know what normal was anymore.
“Can you control it?” she asked him.
“Of course,” Finn said. “Much like you change your clothing.” He came towards her as she sat there, not knowing if she should flee or not. She wasn’t sure where she’d even go. They were in the middle of nowhere now.
“What do you want with me?”
He slowly sat beside her, looking into her eyes with those same dragon eyes. A chill went through her spine. “The same thing you want with me,” he said, gently brushing a stray wisp of blonde hair behind her ear. “And you can’t tell me you’re not still thinking about it. Beyond the ‘ooh, scary dragon!’ thoughts, you’re still thinking about the dragon in my pants.”
Her chest heaved as she looked at him, feeling the same amount of half rage, half attraction towards him and his words.
Finn’s glowing eyes flashed. “See? I’m right on the money.” He lunged forward and locked his lips with hers. Before long, he had pulled her dress off over her head. As he lay over her, gliding his tongue along the side of hers, she suddenly jumped a little.
“Your tongue!” she shouted.
He looked at her quizzically. “Oh, yes. Forgot about that. ‘fraid that’s not something that goes away.” He brought his tongue back to hers, letting its two-pronged tip flick against the tip of her tongue.
Suzy moaned a little, wondering how she’d failed to notice that aspect of his physicality. Most people didn’t think to note whether or not someone had a normal tongue. Before she could stop herself, she thought about another wonderful use for a tongue like his…
Finn pulled away, chuckling down at her. “You saucy wee minx.”
Lowering himself past her hips, he gently kneaded them for a moment as he kissed her inner thighs.
She let out a gasp and arched her hips toward him, leading him further. He hooked his fingers under the elastic band of her panties and pulled them off of her. Starting with just some lingering, hot breaths against her wet, willing pussy, he slowly licked her labia and clit at the same time.
“Ohhh,” Suzy moaned shakily. “I was right!”
Finn chuckled darkly against her most sensitive skin, licking and sucking at her. He took a break for air, licking her juices off of his lips before going down for more.
Hips bucking upwards, she came as he flicked his two-pronged tongue against her opening. “Finn,” she whispered out, gazing down at him. She lifted her legs and rested them on his shoulders. “I want your other dragon inside me now.”
He smirked up at her and whipped off his jacket. She sat up and helped him unbutton and remove his silky shirt and tie, becoming too distracted by the dragon tattoo on his right pec to watch him remove his pants. She massaged it with her fingertips. “You got a tattoo of yourself?”
Looking down at it, he shrugged. “It’s more like a brand.” He removed his black pair of boxers and climbed atop her, pushing his lower dragon into her without warning.
“Ahhh!” she shouted, not expecting it. She could feel her body stretching itself in response. She was a big girl; she wasn’t so big that a penis that big couldn’t fill her to the brim.
Wrapping his arms around her, he unfastened her bra and threw it off in the direction he’d thrown her panties. They could worry about finding their clothing later. He fondled her large, heaving breasts for a quick moment, getting her nipples nice and hard before wrapping his lips around her right tit. He started biting and sucking as he sped up his thrusts.
Suzy lolled her head back, raking her fingers through his curly hair. She hadn’t been planning to have a run in with a dragon; she had simply longed for a cute, Highland boy. But now that she had Finn, she wanted to keep him with her. Especially inside of her. Her eyes widened as he moved himself deep inside her and she wondered if she had missed that he had a two-pronged cock, too.
“Finn,” she moaned into his ear.
He hissed in response, arching his back as he somehow rammed his full length into her. With a shudder, he looked into her eyes. “Come for me, Suzy Hathaway,” he growled. “COME. FOR. ME.”
Wrapping her legs around him, she bounced up and down on his cock for a few blissful seconds before reaching her moment of maximum ecstasy. “Fuck me, Finn! Yes! Yes!!!”
Suddenly, he clamped his hands down hard on her upper arms and pressed her into the grass, gyrating himself into her faster and faster until he suddenly let out a fiery howl that could awake all of the sheep in Scotland and have them trembling in fear.
He sat himself up atop her and, mouth open wide, sent a cascade of red and gold flame out of his mouth. Then, as if that was totally common, he lay back down and nestled his head within the tight space between her breasts.
Once he had calmed down some, he slid himself out of her and went to fetch their clothes.
She rolled over onto her side and watched him. The skin on her back was covered in grass and grass stains, but she didn’t care. That was the least of her worries now.
“Finn?” she called, watching from far away as he bent over and grabbed each strewn article. “What do we do now?”
He came back, holding the clothes in his arms as though they were a baby or firewood. He handed Suzy her dress, bra and panties. “I couldnae find your socks,” he said, sitting down beside her again. “What do you mean ‘what do we do now?’ You’ve gotten your wish. You’ve fucked me. Was there something else you wanted?”
Suzy stared into his eyes, feeling sadness for him even though she didn’t understand why. “What are you cursed with?” she asked. “Did someone turn you into a dragon?”
“Oh,” he said, smiling faintly. “No, it’s nothing like that.” He suddenly seemed embarrassed. “Right, so, em… Story time, I guess. Back in 1928, when I was twenty, I got into a bit of a brawl with a young lord. I think it was about some lass. It’s been so long and it doesnae really matter, but anyway, this little lord accused me of stealing from him. And he cursed me. He said that from that day forth I must live a life of servitude in order to repent for my thievery or whatever… The thing about it is I don’t know what he was talking about. I’d never stolen from him. But I have a theory.”
She sat listening to him, captivated by his story and also his accent. She thought that Finn Dryden could read the phone book to her and it would be sexy. “What’s your theory?” she asked, mainly as a prompt to get him to keep talking.
He smirked at her and shook his head. “I believe that it wasnae gold or property or anything like that I stole from this lordling… I stole the heart of his lady love.”
Suzy gulped. “You stole her heart?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “It isnae a widely known fact, but dragons are fond of eating human hearts.”
She shrank away from him, feeling like she was going to be sick. Meanwhile, Finn leaned in closer and closer to her, giving her a wicked, frightening grin.
CHAPTER FOUR
Play With Fire
Leaning in towards Suzy, Finn suddenly cackled and pulled back. “You should have seen your face! You were so scared!”
She blinked, confused by his sudden change in manner. “What?”
“Of course I don’t eat human hearts,” he said, grinning at her. “That’s absolute bollocks. I was cursed because I wooed the lady friend of the lord. It was completely one-sided, though. I didn’t want to be with her. Hence why I cannae remember her name or even if that was the real reasoning behind it. The point is! …I am cursed to a life of serving humans, because I am so naughty.”
Suzy continued to stare at him, not sure when he was being serious or not. However, he didn’t say anything after that, so she assumed that was the end of his story.
“So what you’re saying is that you’re a heart-breaker?” she asked. “You didn’t have to sit me down and tell me a story for me to know that. One look at you and I knew that.” It was her turn to smile now. “The whole becoming-a-dragon thing isn’t your curse, then?”
Finn shook his head. “Alas, no. I was born that way.”
“And you are bound to do my bidding?”
“Ye know, it’s less fun if you put it like that.”
That just made Suzy’s smile grow. “Come back to my hotel with me,” she told him. “Be my tour guide.”
He shook his head again. “I’ll do you one better, lass. Come and live with me in my underground castle.”
“You have an underground castle?”
Finn slowly nodded once.
“You want me to live with you?”
Slow nod again.
“In your CASTLE?”
“Och, just come with me!”
She’d become used to the low rumble underfoot that came whenever he shifted. It amazed her that no one in Scotland was after his head. She supposed that was why he shifted in places like alleyways or on the tops of mountainous hills.
This time, when he had transformed into a dragon, she looked up at him and felt somewhat powerful herself. He wasn’t just a giant, frightening, fire-breathing dragon. He was her slave, apparently. She knew she shouldn’t feel so good about that, but it made her feel happy anyway.
She didn’t know anyone who had a dragon sex slave.
It was a very good thing that she hadn’t come on this trip with Dan.
Dragon Finn lowered his head down, extending his long neck. “Hop on,” he instructed, his voice like a thunder clap. “And don’t let go of me.”
Suzy grabbed ahold of his scales, marveling how hard and not slimy they were. His scales were more reptilian, more like armor than she’d imagined.
“You don’t remember because you’d fainted, but you’ve flown with me before,” he said.
Carefully, she positioned herself between his shoulder blades, holding on to the base of his neck. She was holding on rather desperately considering they weren’t even up in the air yet.
With a chuckle and a puff of smoke from his nostrils, Finn began flapping his great wings. “Hang on tight!” he bellowed, taking off into the sky.
She closed her eyes as the wind struck her face. Feeling the sinewy muscles of his neck beneath her hands, she felt safe somehow, even though they were miles and miles above the ground. Peeking one eye open, she saw the clouds that surrounded them. She slowly opened both of her eyes and admired the view. Scotland looked so green. It was a rainy, cloudy place, but there was a certain beauty in it that she wouldn’t have noticed had she not seen it from atop her dragon friend.
Finn made his landing back in the alley where they’d left. Mary King’s Close was still there, close by. He transformed back into his human form, the shiny scales morphing back into his suit as though the suit was part of his body even though she knew full well that it wasn’t. He must have devised a magic, form-changing suit. She watched him, more curious this time than afraid. He was gruff and a bit unhinged, but he seemed to be harmless.
“If I really meant you harm, I would’ve dropped you back there.”
Suzy blushed. There was his ability to read her thoughts. That wasn’t exactly harmless.
“Now you tell me that. See if I get back on you again…”
His eyes glinted mischievously in the fading light of evening. “Oh, you’ll be back on me again. And I’ll be back inside you. Trust me on that one.” He took her hand. “Come on.”
He led her to the front of Mary King’s Close. She gazed up at the sign, not understanding at all. “We’re back here.”
“Yes,” Finn replied.
Walking up to the front door of the centuries’ old stone building, he pulled out a large, copper key. He placed it in the lock and opened the building. He held the door open for her, gesturing for her to enter first.
Her jaw dropped in amazement. “You had a key the whole time,” she said.
He chuckled. “Again, yes. Now stop lurking in the doorway and come inside. Entrez, s'il vous plaît.” The way he rolled his Rs when he spoke French was even more mesmerizing than when he spoke English. Suzy supposed it was because the Rs in French were meant to be rolled…
She followed his lead and went inside. He came in behind her, letting the door shut. The space inside was a typical gift shop. It wasn’t too exciting, beyond the fact that it sold Scottish things like tartans and stuffed cows.
“This is Mary King’s Close?” she asked, disappointed. “I thought it would at least be a lingerie shop or something.”
Finn let out a laugh which echoed throughout the store, subtly hinting at its hidden vastness. “Aye, up here it’s a store. But downstairs is my castle.”
The way he told her things made everything sound so unbelievable and earnest at the same time. But she had her doubts now that he actually lived in a castle. There was no way that a castle could be under a building.
Unless…
Leading her by the hand, he took her to a door in the back of the shop. He opened it with the same copper key he’d used before. “Watch your step. It’s dark and uneven down there. But just you wait.”
Suzy stepped down into the cold, stone room that awaited her. Only, it wasn’t a room at all. It appeared to be a long, dark tunnel full of rooms. “Is this… the ruins of a castle?” she asked him.
He grinned back at her and led her, by the hand, down into the depths of what appeared to be a very, very old street. “This is a close of old Edinburgh,” he explained. “It’s sort of like a neighborhood. But when the city was re-built, this street in particular survived. And now, it is my home. Mi casa.”
Suddenly, he blew a stream of flame down the street and the place came bursting to life. The rooms filled up with furniture, decorations and things that made the entire block appear more like a long house than a creepy historic town. There was a glimmer of gold in one of the rooms closest to Suzy.
She regarded it all in a state of shock. After everything he’d shown her before, she couldn’t say this was too much of a surprise. “But still no lingerie,” she joked, looking at him.
Finn laughed and it echoed thunderously throughout his so-called castle. “This only exists when I’m here and I make it exist,” he explained. “It’s a tourist attraction, so I can’t rightly be here smoking up the place when paying customers are about. Though I do sometimes sneak in here and pretend to be a ghost, to scare the paranormal nutters.” He beamed, proud of himself.
Suzy stepped into his dining room. “This looks just like a mansion or something,” she exclaimed. “Except in an obviously very old place. And what’s with all that gold back there?”
“What’s a dragon without a bit of gold?” he asked. “Don’t worry, it was all earned by me. Yes, I convert my paychecks to gold instead of putting them in a bank. Do I not trust banks? Maybe not… But you’re welcome to use my gold to buy yourself whatever frivolous souvenir your heart desires.”
She eyed him. “Why are you doing all of this for me?” she asked, touching the dark, oaken dining table to make sure it was real. It was cold, but it was real.
“I thought that was obvious,” he said, leaning against the stone wall in front of her and giving her a pouty, vaguely disappointed look. “I love you, Suzanna Hathaway.”
Her eyes widened. “But you don’t know me!” She pounded her fist against the table once. “You just met me!”
“It doesnae take long to love you,” Finn said, coming towards her and bringing her plump face into his hands, gazing fondly into her hazel eyes. “That’s what was wrong with that bloke you broke your wedding off with. He didnae try at all.” His eyes were as green as the hills she’d looked down on. As greeny-gold as his scales when he took his other shape. He was frustratingly so mysterious, but the kind of mysterious she felt she could never grow tired of.
“How do you know all that?” she asked.
He tilted his head, looking at her through heavy eyelids now. “I told you. There’s not a lot I don’t know about…”
She moved forward a little, pressing her lips against his. They kissed each other deeply, holding onto each other as though they were both in the air again and couldn’t let go. The rooms seemed to spin around them, making Suzy wonder if they were really underground at all or if this was real life, down here with this dragon in his lair.
“I’m only supposed to be here for a week,” she said sadly. “That was the pla—”
He broke her words off with another passionate kiss, calming her tongue with his own untamed one. “Stay with me,” he said, petting her cheek with the back of his hand. “Let me be your husband.” His eyes flashed a little.
She wasn’t supposed to have noticed it, she realized, but she had.
“What?” she asked, not comprehending or believing what she’d heard.
“Oh, right, sorry. Tradition.” Finn pulled away from her somewhat and, taking her hand, knelt down on one knee. “Suzy, will you marry me?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Learn To Fly Again
Staring down at the man at her feet, Suzy didn’t know what to say. She had just met Finn! He was a weirdo who turned into a dragon and made bedrooms appear out of thin air! He was sweet and sexy as hell, and leagues better than Dan, but he was still a perfect stranger.
Emphasis on perfect.
As she continued to look at him, she realized he was smirking at her.
“How can I talk with you if you always end up just reading my mind anyway?” she asked. “That’s not fair!” But she was smiling. There was something that was oddly flirty about him knowing her pure, unashamed thoughts, particularly because they were positive about him. She was uncertain about a great many things, but she liked this reptilian man. She wanted to see more of him.
“Just answer the bloody question, Hathaway. My leg is falling asleep.” He grimaced up at her. Even his grimace was cute.
“I’m not going to say no to a dragon,” she said. “You could turn me into ash right here.”
He stood up straight, chuckling, and hugged her. “Don’t say yes just because you’re afraid I’ll kill you. I’m cursed, remember? I shall never harm a hair on your pretty wee head.”
They kissed.
When it ended, he was eyeing her.
“What?”
“So is this a yes?”
Suzy laughed. “Yes!”
Marrying a magical dragon man had not been on Suzy’s itinerary. She’d mostly stuck to the usual landmarks when she’d made her sight-seeing plans. Dragons were the sorts of things she imagined when she was planning her visit to Scotland, but she’d never thought that they actually existed! It seemed as though Finn had planned this all, and she didn’t know how she had gotten so lucky. Maybe this was her reward for all of her bad luck before.
None of this made sense to her, but he was with her and he was handsome, kind and interesting… Jesus, what was she thinking? He was a DRAGON. She was in love with a DRAGON.
“O beneath the streets of Edinburgh, the lonely dragon lies,” Finn sang in a soft, enchanting voice. “Hoping to find a lass to love and take with him to the skies.”
Suzy looked at him, touched that he was now singing to her. “Did you make that up?”
He shook his head. “It’s an old folk song. But you can probably guess who it’s about.”
She pointed a finger at him and he smiled, nodding and pointing a finger back at her.
Happy with her answer to his question, Finn lifted her into the air as though she was the star of her very own ballet. She thought about those hippos in Fantasia, but she pushed the thought aside. With Finn, it didn’t seem to matter that she was fat. With him, she was beautiful.
Gently, he lowered her back down to the ground and gave her a warm, loving embrace. He led her over to the chair at the table and helped her sit. Then he sat in the chair beside her, rather than in the one across from her, placing his hand on her thigh. “No,” he said, gazing into her eyes.
She looked at him, baffled. “No?”
Finn shook his head. “No. You’re not beautiful with me. You’re beautiful, period.”
With that said, he blew a buff of fire over the tabletop and suddenly there was an entire banquet before them. Suzy’s eyes glazed over as she stared, mouth agape, at the selection that included ham and venison as well as Bridies and what could only be the famed haggis… She didn’t know where to start!
“You don’t have to eat it all now,” he said with a laugh. “I promise you, I can make this for you whenever you want.”
“That’s the problem,” she chuckled. “I am trying to watch my weight.”
Giving a nod, the table cleared so it was only the ham, Bridies and haggis that remained.
Suzy pouted. “So much for the selection.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Those were the ones ye wanted the most.”
She blushed and put some of the haggis on her plate. Now that she was seeing it, smelling it, it didn’t seem that much different from normal ground beef that one might put on a bun and call a sloppy joe. The only thing missing was the barbeque sauce. “So this is…”
“Sheep stomach, yeah.” Finn said it so casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world. She remembered then that, though he appeared to only be about thirty years old, he was going on one hundred and eight years old. There was very little that was normal about her fiancé. “I was hoping that you’d order this back at The Witchery, but I can’t blame you for not getting it. First of all, it’s a sheep stomach and Americans get a bit squeamish about that. But also, it’s kind of a stereotype.”
Grinning at him, Suzy batted her lashes. “Say that again?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Steh-rrrreo-type.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling at him outwardly while inwardly flailing at how dreamy his accent was. “So,” she said, taking a bite of sheep stomach and then quickly taking all of the bites she could take before her plate was clean. She swallowed, amazed at herself but also amazed at how delicious that bizarre Scottish delicacy was. “If I truly am to be your wife… Does that mean I’m going to lay eggs or something now?”
Finn laughed. “Only if you want to.”
They ate together happily as Suzy daydreamed about her wedding that didn’t become a wedding and how she was now, again, going to have a wedding to plan. This was all going to be too much for her mother.
As soon as their plates were cleared for the last time, he made everything disappear with a puff and rose from his chair. “What’s your favorite color?” he asked her.
She looked into his eyes. “Green,” she answered. Obviously now.
He gave a little nod of his head and walked away, back up the sloping hallway to the front door of the close.
Suzy’s eyes widened. “Wait!” she shouted. “If you leave, all this will—”
The table, chair and everything around her disintegrated with a pop, leaving her in smoky darkness.
“—disappear.”
She sat on the cold, stone floor, wondering what she was meant to do now. She didn’t like this creepy, most likely haunted place. She especially didn’t like it because she was alone.
“Don’t worry,” he suddenly shouted down to her, causing her to jump. “I’ll only be a mo.”
There was a sudden surge of heat and a torch appeared in the doorway of what used to be their dining room. She was grateful for the heat and light, but what was he planning now? Was he going to go pillage a village like he must have in the old days, when he was a fearsome dragon, bound to no one?
She brought her cell phone out of her purse. There was no service in the close. Typical, she thought before remembering that there were no cell phones in the time these people lived in, and this street was underground so she couldn’t rightfully complain about a lack of cell service.
When Finn appeared again, first as a long shadow against the stone street, and then as himself in his unchanging, untarnished suit, Suzy was hugging herself. “I need to tell my mom what’s happened. Even if no one else from home comes, I need to have my mom with me.”
He nodded. “Of course.” He knelt in front of her again, which didn’t quite have the same effect because he was level with her when she sat on the floor. He just smirked, and she smirked back at him. It didn’t matter.
He held out a silver and green engagement ring. The silver band contained the shape of a long, serpentine dragon finely chiseled into the metal. The green stone caught the light of the torch and resembled his eyes. Had he somehow immortalized his eyes into a gemstone while he was gone? That wouldn’t surprise her.
“Will you still marry me?” he asked her.
She giggled; giddy at the production he was performing for her. “Still yes,” she replied.
Finn kissed her and gently placed the ring on Suzy’s finger. It was a little tight, but that just made her happier. If it had been a perfect fit, he would have been too perfect for her and she might die.
When Suzy called her mother from a coffee shop on the city surface the following morning, she was met with an air of disbelief. “What?” her mother said loudly, as though phones needed extra amplification. “You found someone on your solomoon?”
“Mom!” Suzy laughed. “Don’t call it a solomoon. That’s mean.”
“I’m sorry,” her mom said. “But you found someone this fast? It’s only been three days!”
Suzy didn’t realize it had even been that long. It had all felt like one long, fantastical adventure of a day. But she supposed that that was how it was when living with dragons. Perhaps time had been going by whilst they were on that hill or in his cave…
“I didn’t just find someone,” she corrected. “I’m marrying someone.”
“WHAT?”
Holding the phone away from her ear, she laughed loudly. The other customers in the coffee shop turned to look at her, smiling curiously.
Mrs. Hathaway came to Edinburgh by plane a few days later, bringing along the wedding dress that she had so carefully stowed away in the off-chance that Suzy hadn’t soured on the whole idea and ended up getting married. Suzy took the dress in for alterations, adding a little bit here and removing a little bit there until the dress appeared much different than it had before.
The wedding took place atop the vast expanse of hills known as the Galloway Hills, where Finn had taken her the night they first met. He’d taken her in more than one way there…
As she walked down the aisle towards him, she noticed that all of her friends that could make it appeared mystified by everything about this wedding. The groom was there, standing and waiting for her to join him, wearing his fancy, shimmering suit. He would have worn a tux for the occasion, but then how would they make their show-stopping getaway?
“Suzanna Marie Hathaway, do ye take this man to be your lawfully-wedded husband?” the officiant asked. She was a pretty Scottish lass who worked in the close where they lived.
Suzy looked across to Finn, his beautiful green eyes flashing. She beamed at him, tears welling in her eyes. It was so strange, but all of her dreams and fantasies had somehow come true! “Aye,” she said, letting the Scottish word slip out. She giggled a little. “I do.”
“Finley Eowan Dryden,” their officiant said with a smile towards him. “Do ye take this woman to be your lawfully-wedded wife?”
He nodded, grinning his mischievous grin at Suzy. He squeezed her hands as he looked into her hazel eyes. “Aye,” he said with a laugh. “I do.”
“Then, by the power vested in me by the hills and moors and the great city of Edinburgh, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!”
Looking at the crowd of their guests – which included her friends and mother as well as his coworkers from The Witchery – Finn gave a wink, then planted a passionate kiss on Suzy’s lips. She felt hotness in her cheeks and wondered if it was because she was blushing or because he was kissing her with fire.
Once their first kiss as husband and wife was over, he took her hand and ran with her down the aisle. He threw off his jacket and tie. She laughed as she ran beside him. “Don’t you need those?” she asked, huffing a bit as they went.
They’d reached the end of the aisle, but he kept on running, pulling the inquisitive Suzy along with him. Finn unbuttoned his shirt and threw that off as well. She looked at the dragon tattoo on his chest. Unless she was crazy, it winked at her.
“Not anymore,” he panted, unbuckling his belt and awkwardly pulling off his pants.
She looked back to see that their wedding set-up was far behind them now. Everyone was staring, confused and shocked. What the bloody hell was happening? Only the officiant was smiling.
Though Suzy was still dressed in her big, poofy wedding gown, Finn was now in his birthday suit. Well, at least his human birthday suit.
They’d reached the end of their hilltop. All that was left was a long drop down to rocks. He tightened his grip on her hand and looked at her, lovingly. “All I need is you,” he said. He moved close to her and whispered. “Don’t look down. Hold on tight. I love you, Suzy.”
She was scared and not scared at the same time. “I love you, Finn. I trust you.”
The ground let out a loud moan as Finn Dryden shifted into Finn Dragon. He did it so fluidly, all while holding her hand. She gasped and jumped when she saw her small hand in his massive palm.
With a gulp, she climbed onto his back. Finn’s wings beat the air and they flew off together into the low-hanging clouds of the Scottish sky.
DRAGON’S SEED
“You cowardly piece of shit!” Randall barked at Albert. “Just where do you think you are going?”
“Away, as far away from you as possible.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Randall said menacingly.
“Yes, Randall. I am. I’ve had enough of your abuse.”
Randall took a step toward him and was met in the center of the room by the two policemen that had accompanied Albert to the large flat the two men had shared for almost a year.
“Mr. McCray, I’d advise you to step aside and let him finish packing. We don’t really want to have to arrest you today,” one of the policemen told him.
“Arrest me? Do you fucking know who I am?” Randall said indignantly.
“Yes. We know exactly who you are. We see you every day when we get called to a domestic abuse case. The guy that thinks he can do whatever he wants and get by with it,” the other policeman told him.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. He just wants to play the victim.”
“Play the victim? I am a victim!” Albert barked back at him, picking up his bags and nodding toward one of the cops that he was ready to go.
“I’ll see you soon, Albert.”
“No. You won’t Mr. McCray. Albert has filed a restraining order against you. You are not to get within seventy-five yards of his person at any time or you will be arrested. We don’t care who your father is,” the first cop told him.
“I’ve done nothing to him and you’ve no right to talk to me that way. I’ll have your badge.”
“Great. My badge number is 9842, last name is Taggart. Just call the station and lodge your complaint. Come on, Randall,” the cop said, making a human barrier between the two men as he escorted Albert toward the door with the other cop behind them.
“Thank you, officers,” Albert told the two of them outside at his car. They nodded and saw that he was safely inside before returning to their patrol car behind him and waiting for him to pull away from the curb before heading back in the other direction. Albert headed straight for the airport, determined to get as far away from Randall as possible.
Albert was still trembling a bit as he parked his car and headed into the terminal. He wouldn’t be able to put distance between himself and Randall forever, but a couple of weeks in Hawaii was just what he needed to sort himself out and relax a bit. It seemed surreal somehow that things would end this way with Randall. They had only been together for six months and things had been utter perfection at first, but after a few months, Albert had begun to notice a change in his partner’s behavior.
Randall had become possessive and controlling, always insisting that he know where Albert was at all times and making a fuss if he were to go out alone with other friends, even if they were female. Ultimately, he had begun questioning Albert constantly about where he had been and who he had been with. From there, it was accusations and insults. Finally, things had taken a turn for the worse when he had grabbed Albert and pushed him against a wall, demanding to know where he had been one night when he was out late.
“I told you that I had to work late!”
“That’s what you said, but I went by and you weren’t there.”
“I was there! I was working in the back of the house, not on the floor.”
“I asked if you were there and one of the other servers said he hadn’t seen you all night.”
“I can’t help what he told you. I was there, Randall. What is wrong with you?”
It was the first night that Randall had hit him, busting his lip and leaving bruises on his arms where he had gripped him so hard while questioning him. It had been bewildering that he would strike him and for the next several days, he had been apologetic, telling Albert over and over how sorry he was for hitting him. Then, he had done it again and this time, it was much worse. Albert had called in sick to work until the visible bruises and swelling had passed.
“I just don’t get why you won’t listen!”
“I do listen, Randall. I don’t know what you are talking about or what has happened to you, but you’ve turned into a monster.”
Randall had beaten him even worse that night and Albert lay awake beside him in their bed all night plotting an escape. He knew that Randall would not let him go without a hassle or possibly more physical harm. When he went to the police, they had insisted he file charges, but he refused. Instead, he had opted for just a restraining order and asked that they accompany him to the apartment to help him pack his things. He had already booked a flight to Hawaii to get away for a while.
The first day there, he had just slept. It was nice to just be able to relax and not have to worry about a crazed boyfriend attacking him for no other reason than that he had some idea in his head that he was doing something wrong. The second day he had ventured out about the island a bit and looked around, finally settling down into an evening meal and few drinks. Determined not to let Randall cause him a minute more of grief, he opened his cell phone and downloaded the Grindr app.
By the time he was done with his meal, he had set up a new profile and was already perusing the profiles of other single gay men in the area. One, in particular, caught his eye. The guy was attractive if the picture he had posted was an accurate depiction of his looks. Tall and tanned, he was standing next to a statue of a dragon with the caption “visiting the ancestors.” Albert opened his profile to find out a little more about him and laughed almost immediately. There was another picture of him wearing a chain mail costume of some sort that read “I like it kinky.”
At least he had a sense of humor. That was something Randall had certainly lacked, especially toward the end. Perusing the profile a bit further, he found himself laughing at some of the quirky comments and photos the guy, whose name was Devon, had posted. “Looking for my life mate to marry and have dragon babies with,” his profile said in one place. He obviously had some sort of odd obsession with dragons, but no one was perfect. Besides, Albert was only interested in a hook up anyway.
Hi, I’m Albert. I don’t know about dragon babies, but I’m definitely interested into being warmed up by your dragon fire.
Albert looked at the message before sending it. It was a bit cheesy maybe, but it got the point across. He hit send and paid his check, leaving the little outdoor restaurant to return to his room. He hadn’t made it very many steps when he heard the notification sound on his phone. Fishing it from his pocket, he glanced down at the Grindr message from Devon.
Nice pics. I can’t think of one thing I’d like more right now than to get you incredibly hot. Let’s meet at Kahlua’s at six. Yes?
Albert looked at the message and smiled. He typed a response and reversed his direction. Instead of his room, he went to find a cab in the front of the resort. Kahlua’s was on the other side of the island near the mountains.
“Your picture does you no justice,” Devon told him as he walked up to the bar just inside of Kahlua’s.
“Neither does yours,” Albert responded.
“Shall we get a drink?”
“That sounds good.”
Albert found that he felt incredibly nervous. It had been a while since he’d been with anyone but Randall and it felt a little awkward to be meeting someone else. Plus, this guy was absolutely gorgeous. He felt completely out of his league. Devon’s dark green eyes were the most unusual color Albert could recall having ever seen. His full lips and cleft chin gave him an exotic appearance much more apparent in person than it had been in his photograph. He was tall and athletic, an erotic tree just begging to be climbed.
Sitting at a quiet table a bit off from the main bar, the two of them laughed and talked like old friends. Albert’s nervousness was quickly put at ease by Devon’s own awkwardness. For all of his good looks, he was incredibly quirky and offbeat in a nerdy sort of way that didn’t quite suit his appearance. Still, he exuded sensuality and power. Only a couple drinks into talking, he was inviting Albert home with him to get to know one another better.
“I’d love to come home with you,” Albert said, trying not to sound as eager as he felt.
“Let’s go. I have my car out front.
Ten minutes later, the two men were walking into the front doors of Devon’s substantial cabin in the mountains. It was almost Ludacris to call it a cabin even really, as it was more like a resort than a mere cabin for one person. Devon’s wasted no time in pushing him softly against a nearby wall and kissing him deeply. Albert’s breath caught in his throat as he enjoyed the kiss all the way down into his toes.
“You taste delicious,” Devon breathed against him.
“As do you.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet. Come with me.”
Devon took his hand and let him toward a large door on one side of the spacious room that made up the first floor of the massive cabin. Opening the door, he saw an oversize four poster bed covered with a heavy quilt style duvet. Devon pulled him toward it, turning him about as they approached and pushing him across it before leaning over him to kiss him again. Albert could already feel himself hardening against his jeans.
Obviously, Devon was just as excited, his own heavy cock pushing against his khaki’s and into Albert’s hip. It throbbed and pulsed against him as their bodies pressed together, making his own excitement even more apparent. He let out a groan as Devon’s hand pressed between his legs and began rubbing his hardness through the material of his jeans. Usually, very self-possessed, he honestly felt so excited that he might come in his jeans.
“I want to be inside of you, Albert.”
“Yes, God. Please fuck me, Devon.”
There was a whirlwind of activity as the two men began undressing one another, eager to get down to business. Albert almost gasped aloud as he got a clear view of the actual size of Devon’s cock. It was long and thick, no doubt not less than a full nine inches. How in the world that was going to fit inside of him, he wasn’t sure. Despite his trepidation, he still wanted it though. In fact, he couldn’t recall having ever wanted someone like he wanted this complete stranger.
“Like what you see?”
“Yes, very much,” Albert replied.
Devon walked toward where Albert lay on the bed, his enormous erection protruding haphazardly from his sinewy frame. He took his time as he slowly unbuttoned Albert’s jeans, maintaining a piercing eye contact that only got Albert more excited as he lay there being undressed by this magnificent creature. Devon took his time as each section of skin was revealed, kissing and biting into Albert’s flesh as he moaned beneath him.
“You taste so good, so delicious,” Devon moaned, still heavily invested in the slow tour of Albert’s body. His teeth sank into his thighs, causing his hips to rock forward almost involuntarily. Devon looked at him and smiled.
“You’re driving me insane,” Albert said, his voice almost a whisper.
“Good. I want you to enjoy this as much as I am going to.”
“I have no doubt that I will.”
Reaching forward, Devon pulled Albert’s shirt over his head and kissed his way across his bare chest, moving upward to nuzzle his neck with the slight growth of stubble on his chin. His mouth moved up one side and along the side of Albert’s face before smothered his lips with his own. Once again, Albert felt his kiss all the way down into this toes, sending pulses of excitement through his veins.
The kiss lingered, deep and penetrating. Devon’s tongue swirled heavily against his own, alternately pulling at it or his lip with his teeth, devouring him in an almost animalistic fashion. It was the most fantastic he had ever felt with a man, especially someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a one-night stand. Something about Devon seemed dark, mysterious, despite his somewhat oddly geeky nature. He might appear docile, but at least in the bedroom, he was in charge, in complete control, without saying a word.
As his large hands caressed Albert’s chest, his body drifted further down his frame until Albert could feel his hot breath against his own aching cock. His hips pushed forward again, a silent invitation for him to take him and Devon didn’t miss the cue, caressing his hard cock with one firm hand while slipping his mouth around the broad head, already dripping with precum. Albert watched him as he stroked him and lapped at the tip with his tongue, once again maintained eye contact as he did so.
“Mmmmmm,” Albert moaned as Devon’s mouth slipped farther down his shaft and slowly devoured every inch of him. It felt like they had been together for decades. Devon seemed to know instinctively how and where to touch him. In no time at all, he was engulfing him to the hilt, sliding up and down his hard cock until Albert couldn’t hold back anymore and exploded a heavy load of cum down the back of his throat.
Smiling, Devon pulled away, wiping one corner of his mouth where he had let a drop of cum escape. Reaching down between Albert’s legs, he pulled a bit of the cum that had dripped along his cock once he had pulled away back and toward the opening of his ass. Albert was taken by surprise as Devon suddenly grabbed him by the waist and flipped him over on his stomach, pushing his legs apart to expose his tiny sphincter to him. Using the moisture he had dragged back and wetting him further by tonguing him eagerly, Devon readied him for what was to come.
Albert’s heart beat wildly in his chest at the thought of Devon fucking him with wild abandon. He ached for him, wanted him madly. Lifting his ass upward, Devon positioned himself behind him, slowly pushing into his ass with the head of his cock, loosening him up with the mushroomed cap little by little by rocking slowly back and forth to slip further into him with each thrust. Albert grunted and dug his fingers into the sheets, enjoying the pleasure and pain imparted by Devon’s wickedly large cock.
“Umpppph,” Albert gasped as Devon suddenly sank fully into him, filling him with his huge, hard tool. Grinding his hips forward, he settled fully into him before pulling back and plunging into him again. It felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside and he loved how fantastic that felt. Devon’s fingers dug into his backside as he began pumping in and out of his ass, groaning with his own pleasure.
“Your ass is so tight, so hot. I love fucking you,” Devon purred.
“You feel incredible,” Albert managed between grunts and groans.
Their bodies met and parted in a graceful, yet primal dance as they took their pleasure from one another. Devon’s fingers dug into Albert’s ass, no doubt leaving bruises as his climax built inside of him. He grew more and more aggressive as he slammed into Albert, seeming to enjoy his cries of ecstasy with each impalement.
“God, yes, Devon. Fuck me harder.”
Devon’s response came in the form of his hands moving upward to grasp Albert’s waist and pulling him back onto him. His cock ripped into him forcefully, causing him to cry out loudly and it was only followed by more cries as Devon continued to fuck him as if possessed while he only begged for more. Finally, he couldn’t hold back anymore, flooding Albert’s tight crevice with a load of cum that spilled down his cock and balls as Devon pulled free of him and collapsed beside him on the bed.
“That was fucking great,” Devon said, almost in a sigh.
“It certainly was,” Albert breathed.
Afterwards, Devon ran a hot bath in the oversize Jacuzzi tub in the adjoining room and they climbed in together. Albert sat between his legs with his back toward him as Devon took his time washing him. He kissed his neck and shoulders softly as he bathed him like a doting lover. Though he was only a one-night stand, Albert found that he was feeling something more for him and that was most likely a bad idea, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself.
“Can you stay tonight?” Devon asked.
“I’d like that,” Albert found himself saying.
The night was spent making love in every manner possible and not just uninhibited sex. Albert felt truly adored despite not really knowing Devon at all. There was just something about him that spoke to him, that made him want to stay with him for as long as Devon would allow. When the morning dawned, he found himself dreading having to part ways. An inexplicable sadness crept over him.
Standing up from the bed, he was immediately overcome by a feeling of imbalance and dropped back down on the bed. Looking downward, he was surprised to see that his normally flat, chiseled stomach was protruding in a rounded, bloated fashion. He couldn’t fathom why that would be and suddenly felt self-conscious. Clamoring for his clothing, still scattered about the room, he struggled to button the fly of his jeans and found that he couldn’t.
Leaving his shirt untucked, he pulled it over his unbuttoned jeans and decided to call a cab before Devon awoke. Nothing good could come of already feeling so attached to a stranger. He decided it was best just to cut his losses and get out of here before he decided he liked this guy even more than he already did. Plus, he really needed to get home or perhaps even to a doctor to see what was going on with his stomach. The horrible thought occurred to him that it might even be a tumor.
“It’s not a tumor,” Devon suddenly said, sitting up in the bed and looking at his stomach.
“What?”
“What you were thinking. It’s not a tumor,” Devon repeated.
“How could you possibly know what I was thinking?”
“I just do. You need to get your pants back off, Albert. That is going to grow even more in a matter of hours and those things are going to get dreadfully uncomfortable, very quickly.”
“What are you talking about? What is happening to me? Have you done something to me?”
“Yes. I mean, I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t know. I knew I felt something for you from the moment I lay eyes on your picture, but I had no idea that you were the one until I heard you thinking.”
“Heard me thinking???”
“Take off your pants and lay back down, Albert. You aren’t going to want to be on your feet when I say this.”
“Just tell me, Devon. This is all getting to sound just a little bit crazy and I think maybe I should get going.”
“You can’t leave, Albert. You can’t go to the doctor. It’s not a tumor. It’s a baby. You’re pregnant.”
Albert stared at him blankly for a moment. What kind of whack job was he? He had seemed a bit odd when they met, yet strangely compelling and attractive in a way that Albert couldn’t quite describe, but saying he was pregnant was just crazy. Albert laughed a bit nervously and began looking for his shoes.
“I’m not kidding, Albert.”
“Men don’t get pregnant, Devon. It’s impossible.”
“Not impossible, just unheard of.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Yes. Impossible means it never happens. Unheard of just means no one is ever told about it. You’ll need to stay here with me until it is born.”
“Devon, do you have any idea how completely berserk you sound right now?”
“Yes. I do, but if you will take off those pants and come over here, I will explain it to you.”
“I don’t think . . ..”
Albert’s words were cut off by a sudden stirring in his belly that felt like something moving beneath his skin. He lifted his shirt and saw a small rippled appear on one side and roll across his abdomen as if something shifted from one side to another. There was, in fact, something inside of him. Everything went gray for a moment as he almost passed out. Devon was quickly out of bed and catching him before he could hit the floor.
“I need to lie down,” Albert croaked.
“Yes, you do.”
Devon lay him across the bed and slide off his pants. Albert could feel how tight they had already become as they slid off his swollen belly and down his legs. Pulling his shirt up, he stared at his abdomen, already twice the size it had been when he had awakened this morning. This was just pure insanity, but he couldn’t deny that it seemed very real.
“What is happening, Devon?”
“Okay, first things first. This is all going to sound incredibly crazy to you, but I’m not like normal men. I come for a long line of dragon shifters.”
“Dragon shifters?”
“Yes. I am able to shift my form from that of a human to that of a real life, fire breathing dragon when I choose to do so.”
Albert laughed.
“I know it is difficult for someone who has never seen such things to believe, but I assure it is true.”
“So, you are a dragon shifter and now I am pregnant with your dragon baby?”
“Pretty much.”
“Why would you do that to me? Why would you have sex with me knowing that you would do this to me?”
“I didn’t expect this. Dragon shifters are only able to impregnate their one true mate. I’ve been looking for my mate for some time now and had no luck. I never expected it to be some guy I had hooked up with on Grindr for a one-night stand.”
“So, what now? How does this thing get out of me? I mean, it’s a dragon, for shit’s sake!”
“No. It’s a baby. A very special baby that will carry on the tradition of being a dragon shifter when the time comes.”
“But I’m a man. Where is it growing and how will I give birth to it? For the love of God, please don’t tell me this thing is coming out of my cock somehow.”
Devon laughed gently and reached out to stroke his cheek as he looked deeply into his eyes. There was something there, something that was so much more than just lust or resignation. He could see real affection. More importantly, he found that he felt it too.
“When the time comes, it will be removed by surgery. We have doctors in our clan that know what to do. I will take you to see him today, as soon as I can get into contact with him so that he can keep an eye on you while you’re pregnant.”
“I can’t be pregnant! I have a life to get back to! I’m only here for two weeks!”
Devon frowned and looked downward for a moment. When he looked back up, Albert could see something in his eyes. It was a sadness that he’d never seen in the eyes of any man except one deeply hurt by someone.
“Please don’t leave me Albert. I know you are human and you don’t feel things the way I do, to the depth I do, but can you deny that you feel something for me that you wouldn’t normally feel for a one-night stand? Can you sense that there is more between us than just two guys that hooked up for a great night of sex?”
“Yes, I can feel it, Devon.”
“Then give this a chance. Stay here with me and let’s get to know one another better. I think you will find you won’t want to leave after a while. The good news about this baby is that you won’t have to wait a long time for him to be born. There is only a one-week gestation period. That is why you are growing so fast. By this time next week, you’ll be giving birth to our child.”
“I don’t know, Devon. This is all so strange.”
“I don’t see that you have a lot of choice. You can leave here and become a science experiment, along with our child when it is born. Is that what you want?”
“No. I have a feeling you wouldn’t allow it anyway.”
“I can’t allow it, Albert. If you want to leave once the baby is born, then I will bid you farewell, but the child must be born. He is the first in centuries and must carry on the tradition. If you wish to go once he has been given life, then I will allow you to do so.”
“You would hold me captive if I don’t agree?”
“I don’t have to hold you captive, Albert. You don’t want to leave. You just think you do, but if you were to get up and attempt to walk out the front door, you’d quickly find that you are unable to do so. The baby will keep you in proximity to its father. It is just the way things work. However, once the baby is born, you will be free to go if you see fit to do so.”
“I don’t think I will want to, somehow.”
“Dragons mate for life, Albert. I’m yours, always and forever.”
“I guess I’m yours too, Devon.”
“I’ll accept that, I suppose. It’s the most I can ask for under the current circumstances.”
“In that case, I’m starving. Can we have some breakfast?”
Devon laughed and nodded his head, climbing out of the bed and slipping on some clothes. Albert started to get up and found that his rapidly increasing stomach gave him a bit of grief about just rising up and stepping out of bed. Instead, he sort of rolled off the side of the bed and stood looking at Devon with a look of annoyance.
“I can’t believe I’m so fat and I can’t even skip a meal because I’m starving. I feel like I haven’t eaten for weeks.”
“Yeah. You best get used to that for a bit. I’m told that carrying a dragon baby makes you completely ravenous. I’ll get you some food before you decide to gnaw off one of my arms or something.”
“Very funny,” Albert replied.
Devon walked him out to the large kitchen that stood on one side of the main room of the cabin and sat him down at a nearby table. Sitting a bowl of fruit in front of him and pouring him a glass of milk, he went to the refrigerator to retrieve some items to make for breakfast.
By the time he had managed to make a stack of pancakes, bacon, eggs and a few slices of fresh vegetables, Albert had already eaten a banana, apple, pear and two huge handfuls of grapes. None of it had touched his hunger. Devon sat the plate in front of him, watching him devour the food as he himself just ate a single pancake and a couple slices of the bacon.
“Looks like I’m going to have to order groceries.”
“We can go to the market. If I put on a big overcoat, it should cover this up. People will just think I’m fat.”
“There is a bit more of a problem than that. You aren’t going to be able to go beyond the grounds until the baby is born.”
“I know you said that the baby wouldn’t let me leave you, but you would be with me, so it’s not like there would be any distance between us.”
“No, it’s not that. There is another problem. We’re going to have to keep this very quiet if you are to deliver this child safely.”
“Safely? What do you mean?”
“I have enemies, Albert. Well, really, one in particular. See, there are quite a few people in my dragon clan, relatives and such. However, the ability to dragon shift is confined to a single bloodline within our ranks. I am the only one left. That is why this child is so important. The line dies with me otherwise.”
“And someone wants that to happen?”
“Yes. There is an immortal. He is one of a long line of Scottish Highlanders. My father was attacked by them centuries ago and he destroyed an entire village in the process of defending himself. Most of the women and children fled, but one, this man’s wife was lost in a fire started by my father. It was an unfortunate accident and brought on by their own actions, as my father would have never attacked them unprovoked. He was merely trying to save himself and my family.”
“Wait. Your father was alive centuries ago? How old are you, Devon?”
“Physically, not much older than yourself. We age differently after the accelerated birth. Chronologically, very old.”
“And in all this time, you’ve never found your mate?”
“Not until now.”
Albert looked at him softly, momentarily forgetting that he was telling him about a very dangerous situation they were in. Smiling thoughtfully, he nodded and touched his cheek. Devon was completely right. He felt something strong for him and it seemed to grow stronger with each passing moment.
“Okay. Go on,” he told him.
“The man never forgave my father. He eventually found him and my mother and slaughtered them in their sleep. I escaped into the mountains and hid there until I could find safe passage to another part of the world. I found this remote area of Hawaii and I’ve been here for a very long time. Recently, I’ve had reason to believe that the man has found me.”
“Why would he want to hurt you? He got his revenge on your father it sounds like.”
“That just wasn’t good enough for him. He wants all dragons gone and since I’m the last known one, he won’t stop hunting me until I’m gone.”
“If he is immortal, how will you ever find peace?”
“I won’t unless I can kill him. There is a way to do so, but it has to take place in a precise time and location. I have only one single opportunity each year to do so and I have not yet managed to meet him at that point in time.”
“When is the next opportunity?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Oh my God! So, you have a chance to kill this man tomorrow, but after that, you will have to manage to elude him for another entire year before you have another chance?”
“That’s correct.”
“I understand. Perhaps you should just continue to hide from him rather than trying to take him out. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”
“I feel the same way, Albert. Now, let’s order some groceries and get the doctor over here to examine you.”
“That sounds like a plan to me.”
Devon picked up the phone and began ordering groceries to be delivered to his mountain retreat. Albert chimed in periodically and added items to the list. By the time he was done, they had quite a stash of incoming food on order. A couple of hours later, they were putting away the things that had been delivered when the doorbell rang.
“That will be the doctor,” Devon said, walking toward the door and opening it. An elderly gentleman stood looking at him from just outside.
“Well, for hell’s sake, Devon. Are you going to let me in or leave me out here to sweat off my balls?”
“Good to see you again too, Doc,” Devon laughed, waving him inside. The physician walked toward Albert, looking him up and down.
“You must be the Misses,” he said sourly.
“I suppose that is an apt enough description.”
“You young kids today. No fucking morals. Completely lost the concept of courting and marriage. It’s just hook up and fuck all else. Now, look at you. Some guys get a rude awakening when they come to my office and find out they have the fucking clap or gonorrhea. Your lot gets knocked up with dragons. Are you just fucking special?”
Albert looked past the slightly built man toward Devon with a raised eyebrow. What sort of doctor had he brought to look at him? It was quite the bedside manner he had.
“Don’t mind all that, Albert. Doc here has a potty mouth and low opinion of today’s youth, but his medical expertise is unrivaled. He’s been perfecting it since the stone ages.”
“Fucking stone ages. I’m not that God damned old, you little twit,” the doctor countered.
“You are if you’re a day,” Devon teased.
“Fuck you, kid. Let me get a look at your bastard son and I’ll be on my way. I suggest the two of you at least make this all legal before he is born so he isn’t illegitimate.”
“Shifters have been having illegitimate dragon babies since the dawn of time. No one used to get married, why should we?”
“Fuck it all. Come on,” the doctor said, motioning toward Albert. He led him over to the sofa and had him lie down while he examined him, taking his time to check him carefully and even pulling out a portable scanner to do a quick viewing of the baby.
“Is it all alright?” Albert asked nervously.
“You mean other than the fact that you are a man having a baby? Yes. It’s perfect. I’ll be by daily to check on you, because this little alien you’ve got spawning is going to grow very fast and let me tell you, son. It’s going to hurt like a mother fucker. You ever see that movie Alien where the creature tears its way outward from the woman’s stomach? Let’s just hope I get here before he wants to be born.”
Albert looked horrified for a moment, until the doctor laughed and stood up from the edge of the sofa.
“Ah, I’m just yanking your chain, kid. You’ll be just fine. I’ll see you tomorrow. I brought you some vitamins to take. Make sure you take one each day because this baby will deplete your natural stock with its rapid growth. It’s important that you are getting what you need back in there in addition to eating healthily.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Albert replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
Devon saw the doctor to the door and walked back to the sofa where Albert lay naked. Putting his hands on his stomach, he caressed it thoughtfully, smiling down at him. Albert found that he, too, felt happy. This wasn’t something he could have ever imagined and it still seemed all but a bit surreal, but he couldn’t deny that he was beginning to feel completely at peace with it. There was a bit of nervousness about the change in his body and pending birth, but otherwise, he could see that life with Devon might be quite nice.
The following day, he woke up to find he was even larger than the day before. He frowned down at his stomach, looking easily as if it were the midsection of a woman in her first trimester of pregnancy. How would he ever get back into shape after having a child ripped from his womb?
“It will go back to normal very quickly, Albert. You’ll be amazed how quickly all of this heals as if it never happened. About as much as you’ll see will be a thin scar where the incision was made. Just consider it a battle wound.”
Devon smiled at him sheepishly as Albert studied his face, realizing once again that Devon could read his mind. It was a bit disconcerting in a way. What if he thought something bad or hurtful that he really didn’t mean? He wondered if there was a way to block his thoughts.
“No. I don’t read your mind. I feel it more so than read it. You’ll not be able to block it for as long as you are carrying my child. The good news is that it will stop once that connection is broken after he is born. However, I will always know how you are feeling, even if I can’t pick up on the exact thoughts. I will know when you are sad, hurt or frightened. It’s just a part of the powers that come along with the shifting.”
“What’s it like to be alive so long, Devon?”
“Tiring. Incredibly tiring in a lot of ways. You watch people come and go. You see the same mistakes made by societies all across the globe. It can get very bothersome at times.”
“And the shifting? What is it like? How does it happen?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. It is just a feeling that comes over me. If there is danger to me or someone I feel I must protect, it happens without any real thought on my part. I feel a heat come over my body and then there is just a numbness that takes hold, like my body is protecting itself from the pain of the massive changes that must take place for me to shift from human to dragon.”
“That must be incredible to see.”
“Let’s hope that you don’t.”
“Why? I would love to see it. It must be so fascinating.”
“If you see it, there is serious trouble on the way. The kind of trouble that you don’t want to encounter.”
“I suppose so.”
Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the doorbell. Devon looked toward it and back at Albert.
“That will be the doctor. Prepare yourself for another round of his impression of a sailor,” Devon laughed.
“He does have quite the colorful vocabulary, doesn’t he?”
“Certainly does. You’d have to know the kinds of places he’s been and seen during his centuries as a physician to understand why he’s such a rough cobb of a man.”
“I think I’d like to learn a bit more about that too.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Good thing it had nine lives,” Albert laughed just as Devon opened the door.
Without warning, there was a loud noise as the man at the door fired a large gun, but Devon was too fast for him. He ducked out of the way in the nick of time and it only clipped him on his left arm. Blood ran down it as he seemed to refocus and realize what was happening. In an effort to draw the man away from Albert, he suddenly heaved himself at him and pushed him out the door. They tumbled down the slight incline that rose up to the front door and off into a small ravine that only dipped a few feet down. Albert rushed to the door, but had already lost sight of them.
A moment later, the man climbed from the ravine, pulling himself up over the edge and getting to his feet. His eyes fell on Albert’s stomach and a sick smile came across his face. He began moving toward him at what seemed like an unnaturally quick pace. Albert reached for the door to barricade it from the inside just as a large form appeared from behind the man. It was like something out of a medieval film as the wings of the enormous dragon spread open and flew above the man’s head, grabbing him by the shoulders with two immense claws.
There was a horrible shrieking sound as the pulled him up off the ground and shook him furiously back and forth in the air and then dropped him on the ground. The man rolled to one side just as Devon’s dragon form came down on top of him in an attempt to crush him. The man scampered for the gun that he had apparently dropped in their previous scuffle and fired at him, hitting a wing and leaving a huge gaping hole in it.
Devon’s loud squawk of pain filled the sky around them as he clattered to the ground momentarily then struggled to regain his footing. The man was on him in a heartbeat, a large metal object raised well above his head. Albert was horrified as he realized it was a large silver dagger aimed at getting to Devon’s neck. Just as he brought it down, Devon rolled, taking him off to one side. The man disappeared under his large body for a moment as his wing fluttered wildly down upon him.
Once again, Devon’s unnatural cry of pain filled the sky as the silver point of the dagger appeared from within his wing. His massive form rolled away from the man as he dragged himself away from him, trying to get up from the ground, the dagger still protruding haphazardly from his wing. The man was once again upon him quickly, yanking the dagger free and attempting to climb atop him. He was standing on his back and raising the sword for yet another attempt at driving it downward into his neck when a shot rang out.
The man stumbled forward and fell onto the ground. He lay there quietly for a moment before attempting to get up. A second shot rang out and he was still again. Albert turned to see the doctor walking up the sidewalk, the gun in one hand and his case in the other. The man began to move again and he fired a third shot. Albert could see that the gun was apparently not enough to kill the immortal, but it was enough to slow him down.
Shifting his attention toward Devon, he could see that he was still struggling to get up from the ground. Albert was relieved that he was still alive, moving, though he appeared deeply hurt. He was very distraught that he might not make it. Looking toward the man, he saw that he was once again rising from the ground. The doctor pointed the gun to shoot him again.
“Fuck. Piece of shit is jammed,” the doctor growled, looking at the man, who was now on his feet and walking toward him with an air of complete disinterest.
“I’m about to fuck you up, old man.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time, would it, O’Hannon?”
“Aye, it wouldn’t. I aim to bet you that it will be the last though.”
“Good luck with that. I’m a betting man and I’d have to say odds are that you are more likely to end up feeling like a proper roast duck here in about thirty seconds.”
“What?” O’Hannon said. Then, a sudden realization hit him as the doctor dove behind a nearby block wall and onto the ground. Albert had been watching Devon steadily rise to his feet and stand quietly behind the man. Just as he turned around, a scorching blaze came shooting from Devon’s long snout and engulfed him in flame, completely incinerating him until there was nothing more than a pile of ash.
Devon collapsed back onto the ground as the wind picked up and began blowing the ashes of what was once an immortal named O’Hannon down the street and across the mountain side that flowed down from Devon’s house. The doctor walked over toward what was left and kicked it up, sending it along with the rest on his way to aid Devon.
“I never did like you, you rotten son of a bitch,” he muttered as he helped Devon, now panting on the ground in his human form to the house. “Get me some clean towels and a bottle of vodka,” he shouted at Albert.
Albert hurriedly retrieved what he had asked for as he lay Devon across the kitchen table and pulled open his bag, making quick work of stitching him up, dabbing at his wounds with one of the towels and then taking a swig of the vodka directly from the bottle. Albert looked at him in disbelief as he patched Devon up and drank the entire bottle of vodka. When he was done, the smiled down at him and closed his bag.
“Is he going to be okay?” Albert asked, looking at Devon’s unconscious form.
“Of course. All of the injuries were to his wing, which in human form is just his arm. He has a gunshot wound, but it was just a graze and two puncture wounds that go all the way through, but will heal just fine. Nothing vital was hit. He was damned lucky.”
“I can’t believe he was able to kill that man. He told me that he could only kill him today at a certain time.”
“He did. You don’t think it was a coincidence that I showed up with a gun in my hand and loaded do you? Do you think that Devon couldn’t have roasted him right off the bat? He was merely toying with him while he bought himself time to do what needed done. The gunshots were only to slow him down and divert his attention.”
“I don’t understand. The two of you planned this?”
“No, not planned. We just knew he would show. We didn’t plan for it, but we were prepared for it. We prepare for it every year. You see, just like us, there is only a certain day and time that he can kill Devon.”
Albert looked at him incredulously for a moment until he heard Devon stir behind him. He ran over to him as he sat up on the table, holding him to steady him. Devon smiled up at him and then looked up at the doctor.
“Thanks for your help, Doc.”
“You’re welcome. I thought he might get the best of us once my gun jammed. Good thing the clock was ticking. You came up right on time and toasted that little fucker just like he deserved.”
“Thank goodness. It will be nice not to have that jackass following me for centuries to come.”
“Right. Now, let’s get on to this little bastard you’re plighting upon the world then.”
“If I didn’t know how excited you really are about the fact that we are bringing a new dragon baby into the world I’d be offended by your commentary,” Devon laughed.
“Don’t be so sure about that, you punk.”
“I love you too, Doc,” Devon teased.
The doctor scowled at him and began his exam of Albert, looking him over for any signs of distress. He listened to the baby’s heartbeat and handed the stethoscope to Albert, then Devon so that they could listen.
“Oh wow, that sounds like wild horses thundering down a field. That’s fantastic!” Devon exclaimed.
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe you’re having a fucking Clydesdale rather than a dragon,” the doctor replied sarcastically.
“You’re such an old cod,” Devon teased him as he packed up his things and headed for the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, waving behind him as he tottered toward the door.
“Bye, Doc,” Albert told him.
Devon shook his head and laughed as he left, then winced a little as the inadvertently brushed his injured arm against a nearby curtain. He turned toward Albert and smiled, leaning forward and kissing him on the forehead as he stroked his cheek with his thumb and looked into his eyes.
“You will always be safe with me.”
“I know I will. I could see that today, but I was so scared.”
“No need to be anymore. He can’t come back from being reduced to ash. I hit him in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.”
“I don’t get it. Why would he come here if he knew you could do that to him?”
“Vengeance is a powerful force. He was hell bent on it. He was perfectly willing to risk dying in order to have a chance at taking me out. He’s been looking for me for years. It took him a while to figure out that I had built my cabin at exactly the place I knew I could kill him. All this time he thought I was fleeing, I was waiting. I was waiting for the day that he would figure it out and come here.”
“But Doc, he was here to help right on time. How did he know?”
“He didn’t. He was here just in case. It just so happened that this year was the year O’Hannon came.”
“I take it that he and O’Hannon have tangled before.”
“Oh, yes. Many times. Those two have made a sport for years out of beating the hell out of one another. There was no way for them to kill one another, but the things they have done to each other in the name of the sport would make some pretty brutal men wince.”
“How do you think O’Hannon finally figured out where you were?”
“Doc put the word out that I was here.”
“What? Why?”
“To lure him here and get it over with once and for all.”
“Devon! What if he had come in here, if he had hurt me or our baby?”
“He was never getting near you, Albert. Not only was Doc outside to help me, but if you had taken a closer look around, you’d have seen some quiet figures waiting in the nearby fields just waiting to see if they needed to get involved. My kinsmen were here. None of them could kill him, any more than Doc, but they are all capable fighters and could have done more than enough to protect you from him had it become necessary.”
“Why? Why now? Why would you risk this with our baby on the way so soon?”
“It was because of our baby that I risked it. I didn’t want either of us living in fear that our child might be harmed by O’Hannon. I’m capable of taking care of myself, as are my kinsmen, but a child. He will be vulnerable until he becomes a teen. He’ll be like any other baby, any other child, any other teen . . . until he turns sixteen. Then he’ll begin to notice certain changes that he can’t explain. It is then that I will begin teaching him what he needs to know to survive this world.”
Albert looked sad for a moment. The thought that his son would spend his life fighting and coping with the fact that he was a dragon shifter seemed like a horrible burden to him.
“It won’t be a burden,” Devon said, reminding him that he could read his mind once again. “With O’Hannon gone, there is no one to hunt him. There is no one that will know what he is or what he can do other than people who can’t do him any harm. They won’t try to harm him. There will be two of us and if he had children, we will grow again. We will become a clan of dragon shifters instead of just me.”
“What about other children? Will we have other children? Other shifters?”
“No. I’m afraid that is how we have come to the brink of extinction. A shifter can only have one child and that child will always be the same shifter that his father is. Only true mates can have a baby. My father and mother were true mates. You and I are true mates. That is how it works.”
“This is all so new and so very complicated, Devon.”
“Yes. I know it must be bewildering to you, but you’ve seen it for yourself. You know it to be true. You are a part of me now. You are a part of this life. Can you accept that and stay with me?”
“I can. I realized something today when I was watching you. I was terrified that something horrible would happen to you and it felt like the end of the world was approaching. I don’t know how or why, but somehow, in only these few days since we met, I’ve fallen completely in love with you.”
“I feel the same for you. I love you with all my heart, Albert. I love you and I love our unborn child. It’s going to be a fantastic life for us from now on.”
“I believe you.”
“Let’s go take a nap. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Breathing fire takes a lot out of you, you know.”
“I imagine it does,” Albert laughed.
The couple climbed into bed, Devon curled around Albert’s back, his hand resting on their growing child within his center. The baby stirred about, getting impatient as he grew bigger and stronger, ready to enter the world and take it by storm. The pair drifted off to sleep, content to just be together.
The doctor returned daily to check on Albert, always spouting off expletives and playful insults. Albert had quickly learned to dismiss his rather crude nature and appreciate that he really did care about both of them and the baby. Finally, several days later, he showed up with a young female in tow and shuffled inside, pointing her toward the spare room where a portable procedure table had already been set up for the impending birth.
“Albert, this is my assistant, Madeline. She’s a great looking tart for a four hundred year old, wouldn’t you say?”
“Shut your dirty old mouth, you filthy animal,” Madeline barked back at him as she prepared the room for Albert’s delivery.
“It’s nice to meet you, Madeline,” Albert said to her nervously. He was, in fact, scared quite shitless at the thought of having his insides opened up and a baby plucked out from within. Madeline smiled at him kindly and walked over, taking his hand in hers and patting it softly.
“Don’t worry, darling. The doctor is batshit crazy, but he’s an excellent surgeon. You are in the very best hands. I promise you that it will all be okay.”
“Thank you,” Albert said, feeling only a modicum better.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why do you always feel compelled to assure my patients that I’m a qualified doctor. I have a fucking medical degree. In fact, I have quite a few from over the centuries thanks to these bastards always having to make sure I’ve a proper license out in the real world. I should have given up practice to mere mortals years ago, but it’s just so much fun to screw with some of the insolent bastards.”
“I don’t even want to know what that means,” Albert replied.
“You’re spot on about that. Now, let’s get you undressed. I’m going to need to splice open your cock for the delivery.”
Albert looked terrified for a moment. Madeline reached over and popped the doctor in the back of the head without warning and scowled at him.
“Stop being a dick. Can’t you see the man is already petrified at having you as a doctor?”
“Fine. I’m sorry, Albert. Here is what is going to happen. We’ll do this just like you see them do C sections on women. A thin slice, poke around a little and pull the little dragon out. Then, I’ll sew you up and you’ll mend in a matter of days.”
“Um, anesthesia?”
“Yes and plenty of it. In fact, I may have some myself if I’m going to have to deal with this old codgy bastard the rest of the day,” Madeline interjected.
“I’ll show you codgy later on when we are done with his surgery,” Doc told her.
“In your dreams, crypt keeper,” Madeline shot back, causing the doctor to laugh. Albert glanced toward the front room as the entrance door opened and Devon appeared. It was a relief to see that he was there.
“Alright. The gangs all here. Let’s get us a baby going.”
Devon held Albert’s hand as Madeline began applying the anesthesia that would block the pain of the surgery. They held one another’s gaze the entire time the procedure was taking place. All in all, it took only a matter of minutes once all of the preparations were in place and they were ready to deliver the baby. Albert watched as a healthy baby boy was pulled from his center and held up into the air. The cord was cut and he began crying loudly as the doctor handed him over to Albert to lay on his chest.
“There you go! Let’s get you sewn back up and . . . oh shit, where’s my watch?”
Everyone looked at him as he looked around with a puzzled expression and then pretended to reach inside of Albert and retrieve his watch which actually had been laying behind him the entire time.
“Oh, right. There it is. Now, let’s get you sewn up.”
Everyone laughed as he finished up the procedure and Madeline bandaged the wound. After they were sure he was recovering okay, they left with instructions to contact them if there were problems. Devon and Albert settled in with their new son, admiring his straight nose and bright green eyes.
“Isn’t he just perfect?” Albert said.
“Just remember that when he’s seventeen and you get called to school because he accidentally had a hormonal shift that would just give most boys a woody, but caused him to burn down the locker room,” Devon told him.
“Oh, God. I hope you are kidding.”
Devon smiled at him and kissed him softly, the baby cradled between them, cooing softly in his sleep. Albert found that he couldn’t think of anything more perfect than this. A week ago, it felt as if his life was in ruins and he might never find a man to be happy with and then one had just fallen into his lap that was turning out to be the most perfect man he could imagine ever knowing. This might be the strangest situation he had ever found himself in, but it was also the most incredibly wonderful thing that had ever happened to him.
“I love you so much, Devon.”
“I love you too, Albert. I’m looking forward to our lives together.”
Albert never regretted the one-night stand that had brought the two of them together. Their lives were filled with all the love and excitement any couple could ever ask for. There was nothing else he could ever ask for. As the years passed, their son grew to be strong and capable. Many days were spent in the back yard with his fathers, one teaching him how to do things like breathe fire and control its direction. The other teaching him to appreciate the plants and flowers, showing him how feed small animals and be kind to them.
As the years continues, Albert grew older while Devon and their son barely changed. One day, he knew that his time on this Earth would pass and he would leave them behind to continue on for all eternity, but he could honestly say that he wouldn’t trade the time he had with them for an ordinary life with anyone else.