Origin (Scales 'N' Spells Book 1)

by AJ Sherwood

  Alric refused to be passive, rubbing his hands down Cameron’s back, reveling in all the smooth, warm skin under his hands. Cameron murmured and hummed his pleasure as he removed Alric’s shirt from his body and pressed kisses across his chest. His lips returned to Alric’s, the kiss deeper and hungry as they attacked each other’s pants at the same time. The hunger and desperation were back, consuming Alric with a different kind of fire. He needed to feel and taste Cameron.

  “Dammit! We forgot something,” his lover suddenly announced. He dropped his head to Alric’s shoulder and nibbled on a tendon there in his frustration.

  “What’s that?”

  “The jar of cream. I guess we can just move to the bedroom.”

  “Nope,” Alric said. He turned Cameron to face the chairs and the table separating them in particular. In the center of the dark wood table sat the infamous jar of cream, as if it were an innocent container for candy or a decorative knickknack.

  “You devious man!” Cameron gasped. “Were you planning this all along? When did you move that in here? Or do you just have Lisette supplying you with multiple jars?”

  “Same jar. Though, now that you mention it, maybe I should have more jars made for around our suite of rooms. I moved it in here the last morning you woke in my arms. I just didn’t realize so much chaos would occur between then and now.”

  “First thing tomorrow, I’m going to have Lisette teach me how to make the cream. I do not want her knowing how much of that stuff we’re using. And second, yes, we need many, many more jars.”

  With a playful growl, Alric pulled Cameron back into his arms and shoved both hands down the back of his lover’s now open pants, kneading the muscles of both ass cheeks. Cameron moaned, stoking the fire within Alric. He loved every sound Cameron made, loved how he never held anything back. Every time they were together, Alric was sure he was getting pure, undiluted Cameron.

  “You’re killing me, honey. I don’t want to come in my pants,” Cameron panted in his ear as Alric slid one long finger between his cheeks to tease his hole.

  “Tell me what you want. I’ll give you anything,” Alric panted.

  Cameron shoved Alric back a little and grinned. “Pants off and sit in the chair. I want to ride my dragon.”

  Alric clenched his teeth as his dick throbbed at Cameron’s command. Yes. All of that, yes. He definitely wanted to watch his lover riding his dick. Toeing out of his shoes, Alric slipped his thumbs inside of his pants and briefs, shoving them to the floor together. He paused only long enough to remove his socks before dropping into the chair, completely naked.

  Looking up, he found Cameron now naked as well, his eyes sweeping over Alric’s body in bold appraisal. He’d never thought he’d reach the day where he was no longer self-conscious about his body, but with Cameron, he felt no phantom aches or nervous twitches. There was no need to quickly cover himself. He relaxed in his chair and smiled at the man in front of him, welcoming him to look at his leisure. For the first time in five hundred years, he was at home in his own skin and it was all thanks to his lover. His mate.

  “My god, you can’t help it. You’re just always sexy,” Cameron swore softly.

  Wrapping one hand around his hard length, Alric slowly stroked himself while curling his index finger on his free hand, beckoning Cameron closer. “You make me feel sexy and powerful every time you look at me. Now get over here so I can make you feel sexy and powerful.”

  “There’s my bossy dragon.” Cameron strolled closer, but instead of standing in front of Alric, he moved to the table, where he removed the lid from the jar. Dipping his right hand into the thick cream, he covered his fingers before moving in front of Alric. He placed his left hand on the arm of the chair and leaned forward, that evil smile back on his perfect lips. “Why don’t you hold that up for me?”

  Alric tightened his fingers around the base of his cock, pointing it straight up. He thought Cameron meant to slather his dick with the cream, but he was wrong, and his hard-won control nearly snapped. Cameron slowly licked the head of his dick like a damn ice cream cone while reaching back to stretch and work the cream into his own body. A long moan slipped from Cameron’s throat as he swallowed down more of Alric’s dick, and Alric echoed the sound.

  Licking and sucking, Cameron steadily drove Alric insane with pleasure. His lover only lifted his head to ask Alric to hand him the cream. With a shaking hand, Alric grabbed it and held it out to Cameron as he dipped his fingers into it again before returning them to his hole.

  “Liebling,” Alric said in a strained voice. “I’m not going to last much longer. Your mouth is heaven.” Cameron purposefully hummed, the vibrations created by the sound massaging his cock. Alric hissed and pressed his head back to the leather seat while clamping down on his dick to keep from coming.

  Cameron slowly lifted his mouth from Alric’s dick and smiled up at him. “You’re ready for me?”

  “God yes,” he moaned.

  With a sound of excitement, Cameron straightened and carefully climbed into the chair, facing Alric with his lover’s help. With his feet on either side of Alric’s thighs while holding onto the back of the chair, Cameron lowered himself onto Alric. They both hissed and moaned as the head pushed past stubborn muscles and was suddenly enveloped in velvety tight heat.

  Alric released himself and grabbed Cameron’s hips, helping to steady his lover as he sank lower inch by painfully slow inch. Cameron seemed to wallow in his ability to torture them both. He would sink low, nearly taking in all of Alric, and then rise up to start the whole, slow ordeal all over again. The entire time, his head was thrown back and making these wonderful, whimpering noises of pleasure that made Alric more desperate by the second.

  When he was at last fully seated, Cameron wrapped his arms around Alric’s shoulders. Alric pulled him in tight, kissing him. It was messy, hungry, and desperate, and Alric loved it. He loved when Cameron couldn’t get enough of him.

  “Alric,” Cameron choked out. “Might have miscalculated.”

  “What’s that?” Alric bit down on Cameron’s lower lip and then sucked on it. Cameron moaned, and the muscles around his dick tightened even more.

  “I’m so close. You feel so good and I’m not gonna last.”

  Alric licked across Cameron’s lips and thrust his hips upward, earning a new cry of pleasure from Cameron. With his right hand, he reached between Cameron’s legs and gripped his leaking cock, stroking it once. “Then ride your dragon hard, little mage.”

  Cameron groaned loudly and grabbed the back of the chair again to give himself better leverage. He rose up and slammed down again, their sweaty skin smacking together as Cameron proceeded to ride him hard enough for Alric to see fucking stars. Cameron moaned and swore while Alric stroked his swelling cock. He stopped only long enough to add some cream to his own fingers and Cameron cried out at the new slickness. Alric ached to move and thrust into his lover, but their current position wouldn’t allow him.

  His lover’s broken pants soon turned to cries of pleasure in the form of Alric’s name as his orgasm swamped him. Thick stripes of cum landed on Alric’s stomach and chest. That, combined with the increased tightness of Cameron’s ass, had Alric following him over the edge. His own orgasm slammed into him hard, knocking the air from his lungs. He gasped and swore in German as he emptied himself into Cameron’s welcoming body.

  Sweaty, sticky, and trembling, Cameron collapsed on Alric, his arms falling limp around his shoulders. He pressed a damp temple to Alric’s as he struggled to pull in air. Alric wasn’t in any better shape. He felt like all his strength had left his body through the end of his dick. He needed…he needed to do…something…to take care of Cameron, but it was talking all his brain power to just breathe.

  “I think…I think I died,” Cameron panted. He tilted his head back and gave a drunk giggle. “Yep, I’m dead and went to heaven. All I see are books…” Cameron dropped his head back to flash Alric a lopsided smile. “And you. Books and you sou
nd like heaven to me.”

  Alric closed his eyes and smiled in returned. “Books and you does sound like heaven, but so does our bed.”

  Cameron groaned loudly in Alric’s ear and then winced an apology. “Bed is heaven too. This was fun, but chair sex hurts. My legs don’t like this.”

  “Liebling, I would carry you, but I don’t trust my legs right now.”

  With a sweet smile, Cameron kissed him. “Then we will lean on each other.” With much moaning and groaning, Cameron unfolded his long legs and climbed out of the chair, hissing when Alric slid free of Cameron’s body. Alric would have preferred to remain exactly where he was, but Cameron was right—bunched up in the chair was not comfortable.

  Together, they shuffled out of Alric’s hoard room, through the sitting room, and into the bedroom. Alric paused before they reached the bed, his eyes darting to the bathroom.

  “Since we’re upright, maybe we should shower,” he suggested.

  “Later. I like smelling like you right now, and I just want to stretch out in your bed.”

  “Our bed,” Alric corrected with great joy. He brushed a kiss across Cameron’s cheek before heading to the bathroom. “I will just get us a damp cloth and a towel.”

  Cameron grunted and dropped onto his side on the bed while Alric hurried to the bathroom. He warmed the water and quickly cleaned himself off before preparing a washcloth and towel for Cameron. There was no missing his own goofy smile in the mirror. He enjoyed doing things for Cameron. There were too many things handled by castle servants, but this he could do for his mate.

  When he returned, Cameron was stretched out and looking very relaxed. Alric cleaned his lover and then tucked him under the thick blankets before joining him in the bed. Cameron automatically snuggled close, wrapping his body around Alric’s, as if he were cold even though his skin was still quite warm from his earlier exertion.

  “Our bed,” Cameron repeated in a whisper against Alric’s chest.

  “I figured it made the most sense, sharing a room, that is,” Alric murmured.

  “And saves time. That two-minute walk from my room to your room was really getting annoying,” Cameron muttered.

  Alric chuckled and pinched one of Cameron’s ass cheeks. “Ass.”

  Lifting his head, Cameron stared at him with a smile. “And you love me anyway.”

  “I will always love you. I would love you if you were Cameron the human or Cameron the dragon. Your soul was made for mine.”

  Snuggling close again, Cameron released a long, happy sigh. “I love you too, my grumpy, snuggly, overprotective, thundering dragon. Can we just stay here for the rest of the day? I know you’ve got king duties and I need to spend more time with my family, but can we just hide here for the rest of the day? You feel so nice, and I don’t ever want to move.”

  Alric released one of his own sighs. “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. I’ll have some food brought to our room later, but we’ll stay right here. We need to regain our strength for the ceremony anyway.”

  Cameron’s head immediately popped up, his brows drawn to his nose in confusion. “What ceremony? I thought we did the mate bonding ceremony already.”

  “We did. The ceremony is to officially make you my consort in front of the entire clan.”

  The mage’s eyes were so wide they looked as if they’d fall from his head. He swallowed hard and exhaled, “Oh shit.”

  “Alright, I need a debrief.” Alric panned his head to look at the full table.

  Cameron wasn’t officially Alric’s consort yet, or at least they hadn’t done the official ceremony in front of the clan yet. But because they’d bonded last night, they were for all intents and purposes married. Cameron had agreed to do this, so he sat at Alric’s right hand like he belonged there, even though it made his nerves skitter a little.

  In time, he hoped he’d get used to this. For now, though, he fought the butterflies currently ping-ponging around his stomach.

  They had a full table of people, what Cameron thought of as the usual suspects. Dieter, Lisette, Baldewin, Ravi, Gunter—they were a given. Cassie he hadn’t expected, but she now sat opposite him at the table.

  Baldewin cleared his throat and went first. “Castle security has been doubled as of last night. We’re not taking any chances right now. We’ve also posted security around the Ordensburg to protect our mages working there.”

  “And how goes the repairs?”

  Cameron understood not wanting to leave any signs behind of the fight, which would only cause questions. No one actively used the Ordensburg anymore. It was a historical building that sat empty. If they were quick to do the repairs, they could smooth most of this over before the nearby residents of Sonthofen caught on.

  Lisette took that question. “Quite well. I estimate in another six hours, they’ll be done. We started in on them very early this morning. I do have a glamour up around the building so that from the road, nothing looks wrong.”

  “Excellent.”

  Cameron felt it was time he stepped up and said something instead of letting Alric handle this meeting. “What about online? Did no one notice the fireworks display of magic and fire last night and record it? I figured someone caught something on their phones and uploaded it online.”

  Cassie lifted a hand. “I’m tracking that. So far, everyone’s putting it down to fireworks and weird cloud formations. A few people insist it really is a dragon in the footage, but everything caught on camera was too grainy to see properly. It’s at a distance, the magic and smoke distorted the footage, so there’s no way to really see much. I’ll keep tabs on it, if it’s alright with you guys, but I think this is heading into urban legend territory.”

  He looked to Alric, double checking this was alright with him. To Cameron, it made the most sense if Cassie took this on. She was the one with the most knowledge of computers, after all.

  Alric gave her a nod. “Please do. Alright, any other issues? Any complaints from Sonthofen?”

  “None.” Baldewin shook his head. “No one seems to be aware we were part of last night’s chaos. Fortunately. In the eyes of the world, we’ll have this resolved before they even realize there was an issue.”

  “Good. That’s the best outcome for now. I’ve spoken to Cameron about this already, but I wish for him to repeat what he saw and heard yesterday.”

  They did need to know, even though what was said to him still didn’t make sense. “It was Thomas, that guy we saw via cat, who’s running things. He’s British, by the way. Or at least he spoke like a British person. He told me the reason they keep trying to grab us is that we’re stepping stones. And I personally was bait, to draw you guys out.”

  “Stepping stones?”

  “‘Stepping stones for our ascension’ were his exact words. I’m confused by what he meant, and he didn’t explain anything or give me any context. Just that, and he wanted to kill Alric, use his death to demoralize all of you, to wipe out the dragons completely.” Which still made Cameron plenty mad, thinking about it. He definitely wanted a revenge match, and the next time, the Jaeggi wouldn’t come out on top.

  Everyone exchanged glances, but it was obvious no one had an answer to this either.

  “We know too little,” Dieter sighed, leaning back in his chair. “We can’t even guess right now. Why now? What are their aims? The Jaeggi were always powerful in magic, so needing mages as stepping stones doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Nor me,” Lisette agreed, making a face. “We’ll need to investigate this more thoroughly, I think. And be better prepared in the future. Cameron, I have a question for you. That spell you used, the one that freed Alric and cleared the courtyard of all magical traps. What was that?”

  “Oh. Uh, Gunter and I cooked that up, just in case.” Cameron ruffled the back of his head. “I wanted something on hand, just in case we were ambushed again. Something that I could mix up quick that would have an AOE effect on an area, cancel out all magic. The original spell we came up wi
th wouldn’t have much of a range. It was meant for about a ten-foot radius.”

  Gunter gave a nod, turning in his chair to explain to her directly, “The spell used had captured dragon’s fire, reflected sunlight, and filaments of a meteor, and of course whatever power he chose to draw from Alric. It was a level thirteen spell, which I know is volatile, but we kept the elements separate for that reason. Once Cameron needed it, he could throw everything into a single glass tube and release it.”

  Lisette looked like a migraine was impending. “But he didn’t just use those elements. Cameron? Why draw on everything around you like you did?”

  “Um.” Cameron almost blurted out ‘instinct,’ but that would go over so poorly. “So, as I was running, I caught glimpses of all these different spells buried or hidden in the courtyard, and I had a feeling they were like mines. And I knew that if stumbled into, they’d be bad mojo, and I wasn’t about to let that hit Alric or any of you, so…I figured I’d better enhance the radius of the spell. No way to do that with what I had on me. I pulled in every element I could around me, enhancing what power I could, and I modified the spell to where I didn’t bring the dragon’s fire into it. Not what I had in the bag, anyway. Plenty of dragon’s fire live and in action, so I drew on that, and Alric’s power. It was borderline a fourteen when I released it, which I know was beyond iffy. But the intent of the spell was to run amok and break everything in range anyway.”

  “And you didn’t see the harm.” Lisette rubbed at her eyelids with two fingers.

  “Um. It worked?”

  Alric took his hand and held it, smiling at Cameron as if he couldn’t have been prouder. “That it did.”

  Cameron might have basked under that smile. Just a little.

  “It’s just as well I’m already grey,” Lisette sighed in resignation. “Between having you, Cassie, and Ha Na as students, you would have sent me into an early greying anyway. I’d like to examine precisely what you did later. We’ll need a modified version, I think, to arm all of our mages with.”