The Shifter’s Secret Baby

by T. S. Ryder

  With that, she released his grasp and stepped back to stand beside Carmichael. “Come. We have much to prepare for before the morning,” she sighed, before slowly turning and leading the way back up the street.

  Chapter Four

  The sun had just barely risen completely above the skyline. The light bathed the small clearing Karina’s house sat in, in a bright cream light. It promised to be a nice day with all the birds that sang them a greeting. Tarron and Beau pawed at the ground, restless to get moving.

  “Soon boys. Soon,” Karina soothed, her pale hand pressing up against Tarron’s cheek. Quickly, she made her way back inside to once more attempt to rouse the sleeping Dragon King.

  “Carmichael, the morning is upon us.”

  Karina received no response from the Dragon King despite the fact that he slept just on the other side of the room. She’d been packing since before dawn, mainly necessities while the Dragon King slept. All the dried meat she had, a pot, slabs of salt and a lump of animal fat all fit inside of a leather skin pouch she’d tied down to the saddle bags that Beau carried. Her sword and her armor were tucked away into the saddle bags Tarron wore.

  The only factor holding them back from leaving as the sun broke the horizon, was Carmichael himself. Everything else, including a warm breakfast to take on the road was completed and ready for their long journey.

  “It’s no wonder you’ve remained human this long. Anyone who’s come across you must think you don’t want to be dragon! Have haste, Carmichael!” she scolded, but as Carmichael sat up with a groan, amusement shone in her leaf green eyes.

  “’Morning, Lady Knight,” Carmichael mumbled as a yawn split his lips.

  “Wake up! We could be riding already had you gotten up before dawn like I did,” Karina sighed as she threw a handcrafted, canvas sack towards Carmichael.

  He looked surprised as the sack smacked into his head, still dazed from being roused.

  “I have had rare need to awaken so early,” Carmichael mumbled sleepily.

  “Well, certainly this quest of yours is reason enough!” Karina said in exasperation. Carmichael, Dragon King or not, was behaving far too lazily for her liking.

  “I am awake, Lady Karina. We can depart immediately,” Carmichael assured, though his eyes still held the glazed look of someone having recently awoken. True to his word, he shouldered his pack and swept past Karina out the door. Looking over his shoulder, he added, “Come, Lady Karina, what are you waiting for?”

  Karina stared for a moment in disbelief, before she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Men!” she muttered as she followed behind.

  At this, she shouldered her own handmade pack and closed her door, her copper hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

  “Are you coming then?” Carmichael questioned. He hadn’t hesitated a second, once he’d gotten outside, to swing up onto Beau. The question left Karina seething

  “How do you propose to ride when your steed remains tied to the tree?” she asked. Much to her satisfaction, Carmichael blushed lightly. She untied both Beau and Tarron from the tree she’d hitched them to, before she swung up onto Tarron. As she looked over at Carmichael, once she was on her charger’s back, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as his golden eyes twinkled with awe.

  “You make it look so easy,” he whispered.

  Karina all but squirmed beneath Carmichael’s intense gaze, unsure of how to handle his high praise. She blushed lightly, but then horrified and embarrassed, immediately kicked at Tarron’s sides to get him moving.

  “We have a long way to go,” she called back to Carmichael. “It’ll take three days to reach the capital.”

  With that, she urged Tarron into a steady trot, not bothering to see if Carmichael and Beau were following.

  Chapter Five

  It became apparent by the second day of travel that Karina was not entirely sure what to make of Carmichael. He was talkative, cheerful and heart-meltingly sweet to her when he wasn’t being arrogant. The part that frustrated her most about him was he was hard to travel with. Had he not been with her, she’d have been able to make the journey in the three days she’d thought it’d take, but by the time they were setting up camp on the second night, they hadn’t even made it half way.

  “So, how did a fair lady find her heart yearning for the life of a knight?” Carmichael asked as he lounged beside their small campfire. Dried meat, animal fat and salt boiled in water over the flickering flames for their dinner.

  Stirring at the meat with a stick, Karina smiled faintly and shrugged her shoulders. “I was brought to Grizlenzadi as a small girl. Where I was born exists no longer. Many warriors fought valiantly for the land, even the ladies. My mother was one such warrior, until she was with child. We lived in the outskirts of my homeland until I was three years of age and able to walk on my own. When we got to Grizlenzadi, we lived with the captain of the guard of Hamonny and I remained there until I was old enough to journey throughout the land on my own,” she explained as she sat back down beside him.

  “So it was instinctual for you to become a warrior. The captain of the guard trained you, then?” Carmichael asked.

  “Not quite,” Karina said. “He took me beneath his arm and raised me alongside my mother. I often found myself watching the knight’s train. I had learned all their moves with a stick by the time I came to womanhood. He saw my skills, trained me to fight with a sword and shortly thereafter knighted me,” she explained. Her tale was nothing spectacular.

  For a moment, silence stretched between them, until Karina sighed and removed the stick she stirred with from the pot. “This is done.”

  Carmichael nodded as he got their metal bowls from the saddle bags for Karina to scoop some of the bland stew into. His stomach growled plaintively at the smell of cooked meat, leaving Karina to smile faintly.

  “Hungry?” she asked, handing him one of the bowls. “Anyway. I’ve always been built bigger than most girls. I have more muscle, a stronger, sturdier frame. I’m built more like the men here than the woman. So once I left to be on my own, it was easy to become a jouster.”

  Carmichael looked thoughtful as he ate a hunk of meat with ravenous bites.

  “My turn for a question,” she said, as she retrieved a clay jug of mead from Tarron’s saddle before settling beside Carmichael.

  “I will answer with honesty, Lady Karina,” Carmichael said around mouthfuls of stew.

  Karina stared at him for a moment. “Why haven’t you mated with a human to break this curse of yours?” she asked. Carmichael stilled, she wondered if she’d offended him and hid her unease behind a long, deep swig of mead.

  “That... is quite the question,” Carmichael said finally. His golden eyes stared at the flames of the fire as they danced and crackled. “I had considered it. For a time, I had courted human women with the hopes of mating. But to no avail, I’m afraid.”

  “Why then were you hinting at mating me? If it hadn’t worked in the past, why expect a different result?” Karina asked.

  Carmichael looked up towards the starry sky, a sad smile on his lips. “My Lady Knight, I don’t know how to answer that question,” he admitted as he took the clay jug and drank deeply from it. “Perhaps, it was due to the burn deep in my chest when I steal a glance at you.”

  Karina looked towards him, perplexed with his answer. Had she thought he was lying, she’d have laughed and demanded an actual answer. Instead the sincerity in his tone made it difficult to shrug off. “You don’t know me, Carmichael. How can you possibly have such feelings?”

  He leaned in close to her with a soft smile on his face. “My dear,” he whispered as he pressed a weathered hand to her soft cheek. He was more than delighted when she didn’t pull away. “How could I not?”

  A light blush took hold in Karina’s cheeks and before she’d consciously decided, she found herself pressing against the hand that so gently caressed her cheek.

  “You are quite lovely, my dear Lady. You have a strength unfou
nded in your race. I find you as formidable as any dragon of my time and believe me, my praise comes not lightly.

  Carmichael’s lips were against her own before Karina had time to reply. They were so soft against hers and moved as though they had been molded to fit her own. She pressed closer, until her hands rested lightly against his broad chest. But then as quickly as the moment came, she drew away with haste, a gasp on her lips.

  “I-I…” she stammered, a blush darker than a rose on her cheeks. Without second thought, she scrambled into their tent. All the while, Carmichael’s soft chuckles filled the warm night air.

  He’d had a feeling of mutual attraction existed and now that it’d been confirmed with a kiss, his heart soared lighter than air.

  Chapter Six

  Karina was more than surprised to find herself secure in Carmichael’s arms when she woke the next morning. Her initial instinct was to jerk away from him and demand what the hell he was thinking, but her brain caught up to her before she reacted. Memories of their kiss surfaced.

  A faint blush rose to her cheeks as she continued to lie still, pressed right up against his chest. Even as she’d slept, she felt like the most precious thing in the world with how he held her close.

  As she laid there with him, giving him time to sleep and avoiding having to get up from his embrace, Karina replayed the previous night’s conversation in her mind. How stupid she must have looked to him, drawing away so quickly. And from what? A simple kiss? Even now, her heart pounded with a thrill of affection, so why had she pulled back?

  In the midst of her thoughts, a familiar plaintive growl sounded from Carmichael’s stomach that left Karina laughing softly to herself. Slowly, she rolled over in the Dragon King’s arms and looked up at him, only to find golden eyes peering down at her. A dark blush colored her cheeks when she saw the tender look in his eyes. It’s not the first time she felt completely exposed to him.

  “I want to try something,” Carmichael murmured, his voice lower pitched and gravelly from having just been asleep. With that, he pressed their lips together in a kiss. It was a soft, too fast kiss, but a kiss all the same. It left Karina’s heart fluttering in her chest like some sort of caged bird.

  “Carmichael!” Karina gasped, attempting to squirm from his arms. He held her tightly to him with a grip stronger than a vice.

  “Karina, my dear,” he whispered in her ear. “I know you must feel the attraction and affection that has bloomed in my heart. Please... don’t run from me.”

  Karina shakily looked up into his golden eyes, alarmed by the pain she found there. She wanted so badly to tell him that their kiss the night before had awoken feelings in her she’d never felt before, but her voice had been buried beneath doubts and accusations.

  Impulsive, she pressed their lips together in a rough collision that was almost painful in her haste.

  “Karina... Oh, my dear,” Carmichael whispered against her lips. He had a fiery, lustful light in his golden eyes, they looked fierce and predatory. “I am… surprised by you,” he whispered as their lips collided together once more.

  There was a sweetness about it, but a roughness as well. Teeth clashed with teeth and their tongues waged war together. She had wanted a taste of Carmichael since the kiss he’d presented the night before, but now a craving for the whole thing crashed into her as he pulled her ever closer.

  “I-I… have found you attractive for days...” she admitted softly, as his lips mouthed against her throat. “I just… If this isn’t to work…” but she trailed off as he kissed her again.

  “K-Karina...” Carmichael breathed against her lips, his golden eyes warm and lidded lustily as her teeth nibbled on his lower lip. A liquid fire burned heatedly through his veins, sending every nerve end in his body into a hypersensitive state. “I have craved your touch since I met you. I wanted to make you mine.”

  Karina gasped heatedly and shivered against his chest. An ache took hold between her legs and as she looked at him, her green eyes bright. Though slightly fearful, she couldn’t help but feel like the most precious, beautiful thing in the world.

  “I… I shouldn’t… If you leave I—”

  “This will work, my dear. Have faith in me,” Carmichael rumbled, his erection pressing through his pants where it rubbed against her stomach. “I want to mate with you.”

  With a small nod, Karina rolled Carmichael onto his back and crawled on top of him, positioning herself so one of his thighs pressed up between her legs.

  “If that is what you wish,” she began, as her hands slowly, shakily slid up his chest beneath the fabric of his shirt. “Then I-I give you permission to break your vow and mate with me.” As she said this, she lightly rolled one of his pert nipples between her finger and her thumb.

  Carmichael sighed softly and his eyes fluttered at her affections. It had been too long since he’d had this sort of opportunity and already she was driving heat straight to his groin with each brush of her fingers against his sensitive skin. “Karina,” he said again with a gasp, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “Are you certain?” A full body shudder rolled through him as her hips gyrated against his leg and as she nodded her consent. He was amazed she was bold enough to rut against him, despite her uncertainties. He’d prove to her he’d no intention of leaving her. His heart would never be able to bear it. Not after this.

  A heat formed deep inside Karina, leaving a pleasant ache in her vagina as she rutted against Carmichael. “Take me, Dragon King.” With that, she leaned over him once more and pressed a kiss to his lips that left them both breathless. Her hand slipped down his pants as teeth connected with the sensitive skin of her neck, leaving her to groan hungrily.

  With every light touch to Carmichael’s twitching cock, his whole body bowed beneath her. The power trip it gave her left precum slicking her vagina and the lips that hid it.

  She reached between her legs and ran a finger through her folds, satisfied with the slickness. “May I ride you?” she breathed.

  Her words were rewarded with a plaintive groan and Carmichael, nodding his head, stretched out on his back in preparation. Anticipation curled heatedly in his stomach and his breath came in soft pants as Karina took two fingers and spread her slicked vagina open, the entrance quivering in equal anticipation as his own.

  “Oh, Carmichael!” Karina breathed as she sat down on him until she was filled completely by his thick cock. She all but sucked him in hungrily, and wasted no time in bouncing up and down on him, eyes clenched shut and lips parted.

  She moaned as his hips began to snap up, bowing his back, in time with her rocks and bounces, pressing him ever deeper inside of her until his length pressed up into her fully.

  Carmichael was in pure bliss. His head lolled backward on their bedding and his hands grasped at her lips as he pulled her down over and over again onto his cock. Heat already pooled low in his stomach, a sign of release. Shuddering, he cupped her full, plump breasts as they bounced against her chest with each small movement.

  He’d never noticed it before, but Karina’s body was perfect. She wasn’t slender and petite in the slightest, but strong, athletic and soft. Muscle covered her stomach and her arms were even thicker than his own. Her breasts were amazingly large and felt soft and tantalizingly squishy in his rough hands. But his favorite part of her was her thighs. They were thick and powerful and built like solid tree trunks.

  He couldn’t take her teasingly riding his throbbing cock any longer.

  “My turn,” he growled, flipping her over in one powerful movement until it was her spread out beneath him. Arousal fluttered in his chest as he lavished her pert nipples with his mouth and he thrust powerfully into her as. For the first time since he had been cursed, Carmichael could feel his dragon responding to her previous displays of dominance.

  “C-Carmichael!” Karina gasped, her eyes fluttering closed and her hands clawing desperately at his back as he pounded into her. A high pitched whine split her lips as his teeth, lips and tongue s
ucked dark, claiming hickeys into the pale skin of her neck.

  The faster he thrust into her, the closer she came to unraveling at her very seams. She was but a puddle under his power, her previous domineering having faded in response to pleasure so great it fogged her vision and mind. All she knew was Carmichael. All she felt was his touch. It was intoxicating.

  “I-I’m close,” she breathed as she bowed her back desperately in attempts to swallow him up further.

  At her words, Carmichael lifted Karina up and rocked her down with each thrust, grunting and groaning. A near beastly look had filled his golden eyes, possessive and wild. He wanted to covet her body, keeping it close and his forever. A low growl rumbled deep in his chest as he trailed a hand down between her legs and rubbed clumsily at her clit and the responding cry of pure bliss as his new mate orgasmed around him, only served to strengthen his resolve.

  Karina was his.

  He drove deep into her, deeper than even he thought possible. Two hard lumps passed through his twitching cock as his own orgasm all but exploded from him, filling her up to the brim and then some. Ropey strings of cum attached them together as he pulled out of her and a deep satisfaction filled him.

  This human, his Lady Knight, was going to lay his eggs.

  Chapter Seven

  It only took a day before Karina noticed two small palm-sized lumps in her stomach and for the entire first day, she worried incessantly. Carmichael had said once he took a mate, the curse would be broken. But he didn’t show signs of being dragon in form yet.

  “Are you alright, my dear?” Carmichael asked for the hundredth time that day. He’d been watching her almost obsessively as they traveled that day and it made her uncomfortable, even if it was flattering. “It has nothing to do with mating or not. I know we’re joined toge—”

  “Don’t start on that again, Carmichael,” she sighed. If she had to hear one more time that he was certain there was a reason for the curse still remaining, she would personally send a sword through him and call it done. “I have a fear that this is wrong. Perhaps you need to mate another dragon,” she said, one hand reaching subconsciously to her stomach and pressing lightly against the small bumps there.