by Aaron Crash
Steven found a pair of jeans that were really cool. He checked the price tag and nearly choked. A hundred bucks. How could he make Aria spend so much?
Aria found him dithering. She had a bag and a pile of clothes in her arms. “Hurry, Steven, we have to figure things out before Sunday night.”
“Why Sunday?” Steven asked.
Aria glanced away. “I don’t know. I ... we just need to hurry. We’re all tired and need to rest. If that Skinling or another of Mulk’s vassals find us compromised, we could get hurt, and people could die. Just buy them.”
She rushed off. Yeah, Aria had totally just lied to him. She was involved in this deeper than she was letting on. What would happen on Sunday?
Steven took the jeans off the rack. He sighed. Buying jeans shouldn’t be this hard. But it was. For the first time in his life, he was going to accept charity, he was going to get exactly what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to care about the price. He needed new clothes for the adventure he found himself on. Aria was rich. The evidence was clear. Exhibit A? Her fucking Mercedes.
He didn’t look at another price tag. He bought clothes using the mannikins as a model for what might look cool. He grabbed a suitcase, and he met up with Aria and Tessa at the cash register. Tessa had embraced the free fashion.
Three thousand dollars later, they were out the door and back in the Mercedes, driving off. They found a Courtyard Marriott, and Aria didn’t get them normal rooms but booked a suite. The amount of money was staggering.
They took the elevator up to the top floor. Aria and Tessa went in first.
Steven sighed, standing out in the hallway. This was his life? Macy’s and suites and expensive cars? Could he handle it? He wasn’t sure. It was like he’d lived his life in a desert, sipping from an old canteen, afraid at any minute he’d die of thirst. And now, he was standing in a lake of fresh water. No, not just water—sparkling water.
He strode into the suite. This wasn’t a hotel room, it was a small house. Two bedrooms, a main living room, a bathroom the size of the Coffee Clutch, and when Aria pulled open the curtains, they were given a view of the freeway and the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Everything was new, beautiful, and smelled fresh and clean.
“I was so tired in the car,” Tessa said, “but now after the coffee and shopping and this room, I’m wired! How can I sleep?”
Aria smiled and gently took Tessa’s hand. “I know what we can do to help us sleep.”
Chapter Ten
ARIA STOOD WITH TESSA in front of the window that showcased the Rocky Mountains in the distance. The suite wasn’t as lush as most of the rooms Aria had stayed in over the years. In India, she had grown accustomed to staying in palaces rented out to Dragonsouls. And her father had built Aeries in the former residences of rich princes.
But the room was warm, there was a view, and there was a large bed. It would do.
Aria brushed a strand of hair out of Tessa’s face. She’d always liked going to the Coffee Clutch because of this beautiful, witty woman. She loved the way she dressed, how quick she was to laugh and flirt, and how free Tessa seemed. Aria admired her for changing her makeup, changing her outfits, and changing her hair on an almost daily basis. The fact that she had been brought into Steven’s Escort made it all seem inevitable. Of course they would come together to laugh, to love, to fight.
It was destiny.
Growing up as a Dragonsoul, Aria didn’t have the same sexual ethics that most people had. She was far more open-minded and had experienced a wide array of lovers. This, though, felt different.
It was ironic. Steven had no idea of the work in front of him: gathering an Escort, acquiring his Hoard, and building his Aeries. He’d healed his wounds because of the Animus he’d gained from the fight and his night making love to Tessa. Aria knew they’d been at it for hours ... that much was clear from their energy.
Aria knew the rules even if Steven and Tessa didn’t. If she had sex with Steven, she would be linked to him forever. For Dragonsouls, especially young ones, mating created bonds that were extremely hard to break. Steven’s power was off the charts, true, but he was still so innocent. So clueless. So weak. If Aria gave herself to him and he was slain, she’d never recover from the wound. She wasn’t ready yet to commit.
But, she was all too willing to explore the beautiful barista, Tessa Ross. It would relax her like nothing else.
“Can I kiss you?” Aria asked her.
“If you don’t, I might die,” Tessa said breathlessly, eyes wide.
Lust radiated off Steven like a hot wind. She could almost hear him get an erection.
Aria drank in Tessa for the first time. She slipped forward and tasted her sweet mouth, breathing in her scent. Their bodies pressed together. Aria was lean and muscled, while Tessa was curvy and pliant. This was a woman Aria could play with for a long time. Maybe even for a lifetime.
Their kiss became wilder, more passionate, and Aria felt the thrill of Tessa losing control. The barista grabbed her long hair in a fist. Aria took hold of her ass and pulled her in tighter.
Steven came up and put his hands on their backs.
Tessa broke the kiss. She was breathing hard, her eyes were sparkling, and Aria found herself in the same situation, tingling and wet.
The barista turned to the Dragonling. “Is this okay, Steven? It feels right to me, but I know how these things can turn sideways. This won’t be my first threesome. We have to talk, a lot, about everything, or someone is likely to get hurt. Even then, it can still get ...” She faltered. “Complicated,” she finished after a moment.
Aria studied the woman closely. Part of her attraction to the Dragonling was because of his power as a Dragonsoul, but there was more to it than that. Tessa had true feelings for Steven, and she was a very sexual person, that was clear. The Indian woman had to smile. Again, it felt like fate had brought the three together.
Both women waited for the Dragonling to answer Tessa’s question.
Steven finally exhaled. “Tessa, this is every man’s fantasy. You both are gorgeous. You both already have given me the best kisses of my life. Doing anything more with the two of you is kind of hard to imagine. It’s like me trying to picture heaven after I die.”
Tessa squeezed Aria’s hand and then moved over to Steven. “I want this.” Aria watched the two kiss, man and woman. With her supernatural eyes, she watched the pair trade Animus. Tessa’s skin glowed a golden hue and so did the pendant. Normally, a Dragonsoul didn’t need any kind of amulet or artifact to help them process Animus, but Steven was different. The pendant seemed to act as a kind of battery, so his cells weren’t damaged by the influx of the powerful energy.
And Tessa was special. She wasn’t a Dragonsoul, but she was something else. Something not strictly human, though she wasn’t sure what. Not yet.
The barista gave Steven’s mouth a last lick and then she pulled back. “I want this. And I think Aria does too. Aria?”
The Indian woman found herself speechless for a moment. She felt so full of emotion: fear, lust, and love. Already the pull to become part of a Dragonsoul’s Escort was nearly overwhelming. “Steven, Tessa, I want us all three to be together. But I can’t have sex with Steven yet. It’s complicated, like you said. Is it okay if I watch? Help? Kiss you both and get you ready? I’m sorry, it’s just ... I can’t ...”
Tessa pulled Aria close to Steven. “You don’t have to explain. Sex is weird and powerful. We’ll honor your boundaries. We’ll accept how far you want to go. Let’s just go to the bed. If I don’t come soon, I think I might explode.”
Aria found herself laughing. She knew how that felt.
They all went to the bed; Tessa stripped off the bedspread and started to undress.
Aria took that opportunity to kiss Steven for the second time. That first time, he’d been uncertain of who he was and what he wanted. It had been a test. And it had triggered the Dragonling to begin his long journey toward ultimate power.
This time, A
ria touched the stubble on his face. She gazed into his dark eyes. She smelled his scent and the fragrance of his shifting power—hints of orange blossom, musky cedar, and the char of a fresh campfire. She knew when she shifted she gave off a powerful cinnamon spice odor. His scent was utterly unique and made her heart quicken and her breath catch in her lungs.
He was stronger now, taller, and surer of himself. His hands rested on the swell of her hips. Her hands were around his neck, and she played with the soft hair on the back of his head. Their mouths grew closer until Steven closed the distance and brushed his lips against hers. The sizzling power of their connection made Aria growl. Had she really made that sound? She wanted this dragon man inside her. She wanted to join his Escort and fight by his side until the entire world worshipped them.
But no. Not yet. She resisted, needing to hold that desire back, at least for now.
Tessa was on her knees between them, helping them out of their clothes, pleasuring first Steven and then Aria.
Aria found herself on the bed, her legs spread. While Tessa gave her the gifts of her mouth, Steven kissed her and held her breast in a gentle hand. The heat of their bodies made her sweat, and then she was falling over the edge and into an ocean of bliss. Animus filled her from the wonder of this man and woman. She felt the familiar flow of power, and she felt her muscles thicken even as they relaxed.
Then it was Tessa’s turn. She was beyond ready for sex, and when Steven slipped inside her, she cried out into Aria’s mouth. The barista’s eyes glowed with a bright light that filled the room. Definitely not human, but what?
Another mystery Aria would delight in exploring.
“My chest, Aria,” Tessa gasped. “I get so turned on ...”
The Indian woman gave her a last kiss and then moved to her breasts.
Steven had quickened his pace. Aria reached down and felt where they were connected. A gentle touch and Tessa was coming. Not a second later, Steven sank deep inside the woman, stiffened, and let out a cry.
Then all three were kissing and laughing in the light of the glowing pendant. Steven’s hands felt so wonderful on Aria’s skin, as did Tessa’s. They curled up together and fell fast asleep.
Aria knew that fighting her desire for Steven was futile. But before she could give herself fully to him, she needed to know more. She needed to know that, in the end, he was a Dragonsoul worth dying for. While Tessa might be able to leave his Escort, being Dragonsoul, Aria couldn’t.
Dragonsouls mated for life.
STEVEN WOKE UP AND felt like he was overheating. Sleeping between two women—one a fire-breathing dragon, no less—was a sweaty proposition.
They hadn’t set a specific time, but he wanted to get to the mysterious destination before dark. It was late afternoon and the light was fading in the curtains. He pulled himself off the bed and immediately felt cooler. But not comfortable. The burning sensation still filled his chest. It was like someone had shoved a kerosene heater between his lungs. Every breath made the heater burn brighter, and it felt like his heart was smoldering.
He didn’t know how, but he knew the pendant was helping him. Without it, he might have already cooked from the inside out.
Water, he needed water. He went and grabbed the big bottle of mineral water from the fridge and drank the entire liter. Then he saw the price tag. Shit, it was ten fucking dollars. Why would anyone on earth spend ten dollars when water from the tap was free?
Rich people were crazy. Definitely.
After he’d guzzled down the water, hunger hit him. Eating from the minibar would bankrupt them. No, that wasn’t right. Aria said money wasn’t a problem. She was swiping her American Express card like it was directly connected to Fort Knox.
Either way, Steven couldn’t stop himself. While what he really wanted was steak, he’d settle for the huge Snickers bar and the trail mix with chocolate-covered almonds. Fancy. He’d eaten half the minibar before he realized it. There went another two hundred dollars. Shit.
At the window, he stood and watched the sun drifting toward the tops of the mountain peaks. I-25 was a river of traffic. They might see him in the window, naked as he was, but he didn’t care. Just like he didn’t really care about the three men he’d killed earlier that day.
How could he be so callous?
And he’d just had a threesome with his two crushes. It had seemed so normal, though. It was like he could anticipate what they wanted and how it would work out, and he’d been just fine when Aria said she wasn’t ready for sex with him just yet. It felt right. Should it?
Steven crunched through the trial mix, thinking.
He realized he’d held himself in check his entire life. He’d had to. Being a poor kid, the son of a single mother, every one of his actions had consequences, not just for him, but also for his mom.
Get in a fight at school? His mom would have to leave work early to pick him up. There went money for groceries. Get a girl pregnant? That would mean bills and added responsibility for his mom. Even with that bully Bud from the coffee shop, Steven had held back because he hadn’t wanted to lose that job. When you’re working every minute of your life, you want to keep things simple. Be a good guy, follow the rules, act like society wants you to, and things flow a lot more smoothly.
And once you’re used to holding back, acting out, going for what you want, and breaking rules all get harder to do.
When those guys tried to murder him, all of society’s rules had gone out the window. It was kill or be killed. And he’d had to protect Tessa. Those guys would’ve killed her as well. The lizard-masked man had shot at her first.
Those fuckers deserved to die. Steven felt rage fill him. He relived the battle, and he felt how wrong it was for them to try and take his life. Especially now that he had something to live for.
So that explained the violence. As for the sex? Aria had started the threesome. Tessa had dived in with both feet. And who was Steven to ruin anyone’s good time? The time for playing it safe was over. Holding back now just might get him and his girlfriends killed.
He found himself holding the pendant. It was warm, glowing, filled with Animus. He thought about the map, and that triggered it. He saw the flames flickering by the St. Vrain river, not that far away. He saw himself southwest of the fire. His icon was a black dragon.
That was his birthright, maybe from his father, maybe not.
Could he really become a dragon?
Only one way to find out.
He went into the bathroom and gazed into the mirror.
It was time to unleash the beast.
Chapter Eleven
STEVEN WENT INTO THE spacious bathroom and gazed into the mirror. Normal guy, dark hair, gray eyes, just his own face that he didn’t really think about. The burning power inside him flared, and he wished he had an antacid or an ocean of milk to soothe the burn. Were those flames building so he could breathe fire? Or did it have something to do with the Animus he’d collected while having sex with Tessa and Aria?
He sighed. He’d only been in this mixed-up world for a few days and already all the damn questions were getting old.
Concentrating, he pulled up the dragon-shaped skill tree, and again it appeared blurry in his vision, wavering, indistinct. It was getting easier to access it, but it was still far from being a crisp image. He could see the skill markers, but he couldn’t focus on them enough to read what they were. It didn’t matter, though. He knew what he wanted. He gritted his teeth. The Animus Absorption skill had been the first skill he’d managed to unlock—triggered when Aria had kissed him. The memory of that kiss still got him excited.
No, no time for that. He had to focus.
During his throw down with the Skinling, he’d somehow unlocked a second ability called Partial Transformation. In his mind he replayed the battle, envisioning his arm, thick with muscle, covered in black scales, fingers capped by wicked talons. If he were going to tangle with the Skinling and his ilk again, he needed to be able to transform more than
just an arm. He stared at the skill tree and intuitively seemed to understand that the neck and head of the tree represented his transformations.
He focused on the second circle on the neck of the dragon, gaze like a laser as he pumped his plentiful supply of Animus into the glowing orb.
The Animus bar plunged, and a new tag flickered and appeared on his skill tree: Homo Draconis ...
<<<>>>
<<<>>>
THE RESULTS WERE IMMEDIATE. And painful.
His arms scaled over and thickened; three-inch black talons sprouted from his reptilian hands. This was not so different from the Partial Transformation he’d mastered during his fight with the goons, but the changes didn’t end there. Oh no. Black scales emerged from his stomach. He wanted to scratch his skin off completely as the itching overtook him, but with his razor-sharp claws, he’d have shredded his body.
Agony assailed him. His bones—creaking, cracking, twisting—grew. His joints popped as they expanded. Steven gasped. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to the inside of his skull. His mouth elongated, and slits appeared where his nostrils had been. He stretched his new jaws and found he had rows of jagged fangs. He lashed out with a forked tongue. Holy shit. He had the snout of a fucking dragon. His eyes gleamed. The stink of orange blossoms and campfire became overpowering, like someone was burning down a Florida orchard.
His tail burst from his spine, and he smacked the wall with it. He’d grown at least two feet—now just under eight feet—and he had to crouch to keep from bashing into the ceiling. He lifted a clawed foot at the bottom of a powerful leg. Half human, half dragon, he was wingless, but damn, he had claws, fangs, and a tail, and he knew he was stronger. It felt like he could easily break through walls or upend a car if the need called for it.
He glanced back to the skill tree, still hovering before him, and noticed that keeping this form burned through his available supply of Animus. He could feel it draining from him by the second.