The Dragon’s Gift

by Chase, Anastasia

  The people watching from below were just mere ants from this height. They knew not to get involved, despite being shifters as well. They recognized the silhouettes of clan leaders; houses that none of them were a part of.

  It would be a mistake to get involved in affairs that had nothing to do with them. It was a matter of royal dispute, not the concerns of the common people.

  In his distraction, Daji collided with his back, heavy and scratching and biting at every surface of his body. She wouldn’t relent, fighting him off like a savage harpy.

  It sent him spinning to the ground, wing over wing, barrel-rolling through the air toward the tallest building. He managed to catch himself before crashing into it, unfurling his wings and twisting his body so he sprawled himself across the long walkway instead. The wonderful flowering bushes and pristine fountains didn’t fare so well from his landing.

  His heartbeat pounded in his ears. His mouth tasted of ashy blood, and every breath sent ripples of pain through his body. He knew he needed to get up before they landed and neared, before they ended his life right here.

  Dominic managed to push himself up, in time to catch sight of the twins nearing. Plumes of smoke jettisoned out their nostrils, curling around their toothy smiles.

  “While you waste your time fighting us, your precious continues to waste away!” She cackled into the air as she circled him.

  Jardin, however, wasn’t faring very well: one of his wings was almost torn to shreds and the burning smell of his blood filled the air. A few more minutes, and Dominic could end him.

  A few more minutes and he could lose Jen too. Heading back home to be by her side, however, meant turning his back and the twins wouldn’t miss that opportunity to slide a knife between his ribs. He was going to have to take his chances here and hope he could end things sooner rather than later.

  He was starting to shake the spinning from his vision when a hot stream of killing fire erupted out of nowhere. It lighted Jardin into a ball of writhing flame. Even Daji screamed in surprise and retreated to get away. The serpentine fireball twisted and wriggled helplessly in the air until it went completely limp, the screaming gone, before it fell straight to the ground in a burning charred mess.

  Several screams rose from that district in surprise and there were already sirens blaring in reaction. There would be no coming back from that.

  “Brother! I’ll have your head, you bastard!” Daji whirled around to confront the source of her sibling’s death, to come face to face with an enormous dark grey dragon. Its head bore several pairs of horns curled upwards, not unlike that of a crown.

  Dominic was confused as to why his father was here, then quite angry that he had left Jen alone against his request.

  “Go take care of her. I can handle things here,” his father’s voice bellowed in his head as he struck.

  His great horns pierced Daji’s side and she let out a mighty yelp that made even Dominic cringe with pain. He didn’t stick around to argue or dispute the nature of the situation – that there was no way his father could take the woman on by himself, especially at his age. But Dominic was tired and he would only get in the way. His father didn’t need the distraction of looking out for him.

  He turned and flew back home, pain wracking his body. He was lucky there was a good strong breeze tonight to push him along. His heart skipped a beat once his home came into view and he started to make the shift back to his human form to save time.

  His wings were the last to remain when he landed on his feet, though he stumbled from the pain. With his back muscles folded neatly into place, he hobbled through the garden into the house.

  “Jen!”

  No answer. Of course, he didn’t expect there to be but he wanted to let her know she was not alone.

  It was eerie coming to a home so quiet, after weeks of vibrant noise and color, and just her presence alone. She had become like a beautiful spring day to his existence, and now winter was trying to silence all of that wonder.

  “Jen,” he whispered as he slipped into her room.

  She was curled up on her side but he noticed the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing. Still alive. Thank god.

  “Jen,” he tried again as he touched her shoulder, hoping to rouse her from sleep. The medicine he had given her were potent, but that had been hours ago. She rolled onto her back with a groan.

  “Dom,” she whispered huskily then attempted a swallow. “What’s wrong, what’s going on?”

  “I failed. I was trying to find an antidote. They were trying to poison you, not me, and I took your cup. This is all because of me.” He pressed his head against her shoulder.

  “Heh. Idiots.” Jen didn’t know why she laughed. There was nothing really funny about the situation, save for the knowledge that Dominic was immune to poison.

  It would have been a fruitless attempt. Instead of both of them spending their night together as a married couple, she had been put on her death bed.

  “You haven’t failed.” She ran her hand over his hand, squeezing reassuringly. She could feel his tears dripping on her shoulder as he cried. “You just need to do it.”

  Dominic snorted and raised his head. What the heck? Oh! He was feeling pretty stupid for not thinking of it sooner.

  “But you’re weak. I don’t even know if you are ready.”

  “Dom, if this is what it will take to save me, do we really have any other option?”

  He didn’t see one, but that didn’t make the choice any easier. He wanted their first real moment to be romantic. Powerful. Beyond her wildest dreams.

  He wanted to savor every part of her until there was nothing left to keep a secret from him. Not rushed like a one-night stand in the back of a vehicle before their parents found them.

  “Are you sure?”

  Jen smiled and lifted the sheet.

  “I don’t make second invitations. Now get in here.”

  Dominic groaned and winced as he slipped under the sheet. His muscles screamed a little in agony, even as she touched his face and felt the swollen knot on his forehead.

  Her sunken eyes sparked a little when they met his and he swore that even like this, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

  She trailed her hand down his jawline and neck to curl it around his waist. He winced again, which made her jump with a start.

  “Bruise?”

  “No, your hands are cold.” He gathered one between his and gently blew on her fingers to warm them up. “I don’t need the shrinkage.”

  “I think you mean more shrinkage.” Her laugh was hoarse and dry.

  “Okay, rude. Do you want me to save your life or not, Miss Davis?”

  “Like you have a choice, prince. I already know how deeply in love you are with me.”

  To hear her say those words melted everything away. Nothing mattered, not her condition, not the fact that his father was wrestling with his enemy, not his injuries. All that mattered was them, together, in that moment.

  “I do love you.” He kissed her fingertips and then her knuckles.

  “I love you too, Dominic Draxor. Now, why don’t we bring the house down?”

  Chapter 15

  Jen shuffled closer until her body was flush against his, her hand venturing further across the ripples of his stomach. They dawdled and teased, drawing close enough to hear him gasp before pulling away again.

  It was wreaking havoc on his libido how much fun she was having with him. They didn’t have a lot of time to work with. Foreplay would have to be an afterthought, saved for another day.

  If there even would be another day.

  When her fingers danced closer to his heated skin, he wrapped his hand around her fingers and thrust his length into her hand. He groaned as she squeezed his length, caressing every inch of him.

  Being so worked up from all their teasing over the last few weeks, he would have released himself right then and there, but for the need to save her life.

  Dominic lo
oked up to find her perfect lips curved in an, “oh.”

  He gently pressed his lips to her mouth. He could taste an inkling of poison. Guilt wracked him as he rolled himself on top of her, his hands cupping her face.

  She groaned with the sudden weight of him on her.

  Jen held her breath as she watched him line up his shaft to her entrance. Her knees fell open further.

  Dominic rubbed his heated length against her swollen, wet lips and pushed the tip in slightly, watching her face. She was tight. He had to force in a little harder.

  He slid into her body. She gasped. He groaned.

  Just when she thought he couldn’t possibly go any further, he went deeper until he was completely wrapped up by her body.

  Her hands drifted to her belly and she could feel him shifting inside her with another thrust.

  She didn’t have the words or the energy to question how big he was, how his length was hitting every nerve of her vaginal walls and making her go wild.

  He felt like hard, velvet heaven.

  He thrust into her deeply, savoring every clench.

  The sight of her beneath him enraptured him. He wanted to hear and see that for the rest of his life.

  “My darling Jen. You and I are joined now and will forever be. Take me into your body. Take my seed into your body. Take my blood into your body.” Dominic felt his heart swelling with the words.

  He let his canine extend and gently nipped at his wrist. “Open your mouth, take a small sip of my blood.”

  Jen’s eyes popped open and her head nodded briefly.

  Dominic pressed his wrist to her mouth and Jen took one sip. There was no taste because of the poison coating her mouth.

  Dominic watched as she swallowed and began thrusting into her body in earnest.

  “When I give you my seed, you will feel me thickening and holding our bodies together for one minute. Our bonding will be completed after that.”

  Her smile was weak. “I can’t wait.”

  A drawn-out swear escaped him when the pressure in his spine finally caved and he released his hot seed within her. He felt his shaft thickening for the bonding.

  He groaned and kissed Jen deeply, her body responding immediately. He could feel her strength increasing.

  Jen gasped against his mouth. She felt it too, and she orgasmed. She clenched and convulsed in a very strong climax she did not think she would experience for her first time. She sighed and squeezed her arms around Dominic.

  Their chests heaved as they came to terms with all the sensations they had just experienced, together.

  Jen’s eyes stretched open wide. Everything in the room suddenly became sharper, as if someone had stepped into the world and outlined it all with a large colorful markers. And she could smell more of it too, more than she ever realized was there.

  Dominic’s arm slipped around her waist as he dragged her out of bed.

  “I would prefer if you don’t destroy the house.”

  They stumbled their way to the hall and out the back into the garden. The beautiful motes of dancing light were nowhere to be seen, and the stunning blossoms had shriveled and faded, only lasting one week. A shame, she would have liked their comfort.

  Jen shoved Dominic away as a convulsion took her over. It hurt from her teeth all the way down to her toenails and she just wanted it all to stop.

  “You are fighting it. You have to let it happen.”

  “It hurts so much.” She grit her teeth and rolled onto her back in the dewy grass.

  Not even the sight of the twin moons high in the sky provided any of relief.

  “Your muscles are trying to find the right places. Let go.”

  He dropped to his knees by her side and took her hand in his.

  “Trust me.”

  It was all she had left, really, all she could do. So she closed her eyes and allowed the pain to wash over her instead of trying to keep it contained.

  She heard the soft crunch of grass as Dominic stepped away. She felt more and more of the grass beneath her body, as if it multiplied beneath her.

  Two twin spots of pain on her shoulder blades forced her onto her front, where something sprouted from her back like climbing vines of ivy. They fanned out, met each other again, grew substance.

  She felt her face start to change as well. Growing longer, wider, ran her tongue along her teeth to discover there was nothing of the flat incisors or molars she once had. They were all sharp canines; her tongue was also not the short blob it used to be. It was thin and forked, like that of a snake.

  Her fingers and toes shortened and grew at the same time, getting shorter and simultaneously larger. She felt her thumbs disappear altogether, her wrists and elbows realigning themselves at different angles than what she was used to.

  Her joints quivered beneath her as they got used to her heftier weight until she steeled herself to remain upright.

  Once she felt the pain fade to nothingness, she finally opened her eyes to see the results. Dominic had been staring this whole time, and his mouth hung open in wonderment.

  “What?” Jen reached up to run a hand through her hair. Only there was no hair. Instead, a great curl of horn met her touch. She blinked in surprise as she tried to feel just how large it was.

  She hadn’t spoken out loud. She was able to transfer her thoughts. She snorted.

  “You are…” Dominic said through her mind, as he swallowed hard. “We should get going.”

  He shook himself out of his state of shock, remembering why any of this was happening. He wasn’t sure how well his father was faring on his own.

  “You’re right. We can marvel at me later.”

  Without thinking, Jen leaped in the air and spread her appendages out before her, taking to the skies like a natural.

  Dominic remained on the ground for a few seconds, impressed with how quickly she was taking to this form, before taking to flight as well to follow her.

  Jen was definitely more than he had bargained for.

  Chapter 16

  Jen couldn’t believe any of this was real. Despite the feel of the wind across her scales, the fire that burned in her belly, and her obviously larger size, it still felt like a dream.

  She would wake up any second and all of this would have been a figment of her imagination.

  A glance to her left revealed Dominic by her side. His gleaming blue eyes were facing forward, oblivious to her concerns. Maybe this wasn’t a dream after all.

  That meant she was heading for a fight she was not prepared for. Nonetheless, going along had been her idea. She couldn’t let other people continue to fight her fight for her.

  Not now that she had learned Wendy’s fate. As much as they had never really considered each other friends, she hadn’t deserved that kind of end.

  A voice filled her head as regret took over, wishing she could have been there to stop it.

  “You wouldn’t have been able to stop them.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “Focus on your breathing. Do you feel the warmth bubbling in your belly?”

  Jen turned inwards, sought out that sensation he was talking about. She took notice of a small feeling that had been there since her shift, one she thought had to do with the change itself and not… well, whatever it was Dominic was trying to get her to do.

  “Let it swell within you, foster it, let it grow until you feel it in your throat. Then cough.”

  “Cough? Just like that.” There had to be more to it than that.

  “That’s it. The fire knows how to take care of itself.”

  He made it sound too easy; shouldn’t there be like years of meditation and practice for this kind of thing? There was no way she could accomplish such a task in such a short amount of time.

  Yet flames appeared before her face when she parted her lips to belch. She blinked in surprise, watched as the licks of fire vanished before her eyes. She could hear Dominic chuckling in her mind.

  “Easier than you thought, huh
?”

  “Well. Yea.”

  “Try again. We need your fire to be strong before we get there.”

  Jen nodded silently and practiced a few more times. The sensation in her throat was unpleasant – it tasted like wet ash – but soon vanished with another spurt of flame.

  Dominic watched her out of the corner of his eye, watched as she tried over and over again to strengthen her flame. It was hard to deny his worry, even hard to keep it under wraps.

  They were heading to a fight that he knew she definitely wasn’t prepared for. What he could be thankful for was that she was alive and well, her new form purging the killing poison from her body.

  That thought alone roused his anger once more, and he pinned his wings against his sides to speed up, allowing the winds to carry him.

  “Hey, wait.” He heard through the mind connection but knew she would catch up.

  His father and Daji were nowhere to be seen over the city, which meant they had taken the combat elsewhere.

  Or worse.

  “What’s wrong? Where are we going?”

  Dominic shook his head. He hadn’t told her anything, all of it completely forgotten in his efforts to save her life.

  “My father and I discovered who was trying to kill... well, me. You had taken the wrong goblet at the ceremony.”

  “Typical.”

  “I left him alone against her. In his old age, I’m not sure he would be victorious.”

  “Shh. He and I may not be on the best of terms, but if you are your father’s son, I’m sure he’s taking care of himself.”

  Jen wasn’t sure whether she’d sounded convincing or not but it was the best she could do. She picked up her pace to take a spot beside him as they rushed past the city’s perimeter for the forests.

  A spark of hot orange turned both their heads to the right, forcing them to change direction. Just over the towering trees and mountains, they could see the inklings of dawn just behind, the dark grey sky melting into its daytime shades of green.