by Shannon West
Whirling around, I tried to peer into the shadowy recesses of the cave, but it was inky dark. “Who’s there?” I cried out sharply and I heard a little chuckle.
“It’s only me, Wyvern,” came a deep voice that sounded vaguely familiar. “Sorry, but when I saw you shifting back into your human form, I figured I’d better make myself scarce so I wouldn’t embarrass you.” A tall figure stepped out of the shadows and I recognized the man who had been with Eldor at Dmitri’s house. The one Dmitri had called a witch. “Then I realized you were quickly going to freeze to death.”
“What the fuck are you doing in here?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I was on my way back from Dmitri’s mansion when the weather turned. Eldor and his Spawn flew home, so I was caught in the open. I was taking shelter from the storm, like I would imagine you’re doing.”
“This is Dmitri’s land.”
“Actually,” he said. “It’s not. You may have noticed that mountain range just there.” He lifted his arm and pointed behind me. “Once you cross that last mountain, you’re in Eldor’s territory. You must have flown farther than you realized.”
“Oh.”
He smiled at that and squatted down to continue piling up some wood in the center of the little space we were in, some ten feet from the mouth of the cave. I could see, now that my eyes were adjusting to the gloom, that he was building a fire—had probably been building one when I came swooping in—which was a damn good thing because I was shaking so hard by now that I probably looked like I had some kind of palsy.
I was too cold to even worry about my nakedness, and he was being pretty matter-of-fact about it too. Not surprising, I guess, if you hang out with shifters very much. And he definitely had some Spawn blood in him, though I could tell he was mostly human. He had the wood stacked by then and that’s when he lit the fire, casual-like, with a little sign of his fingers and a mumbled word. The air crackled around him and the wood burst into flames. A handy little skill to have. The thing was, there wasn’t even that much wood for it to blaze up so high—like he’d doused it with gasoline or something. The flames were tinged with blue and they were so hot they drew me to them like filings to a magnet.
I stumbled over there as fast as I could and fell down beside it, still shaking hard. I was almost numb with cold.
“Wow, that was something.”
“Lighting the fire?” he shrugged. “Simple magic. The easiest to learn. You only have to be careful using it, because if you try to make the fire before you’re ready, it can strike you blind.”
I would later learn that Pen always tossed off comments like these that, instead of giving answers, only posed more questions, but at the time I was too cold to argue with him. He noticed this and shrugged off his heavy jacket to toss it over to me. “Here, put this on before you freeze to death.”
His tone was a little sharp and disapproving, and I glanced up at him. He was really good-looking, in a bad boy kind of way. Maybe in his mid-thirties, so older than me, but he had a great body, and his eyes were just magnetic. He had colorful tattoos on his arms, the kind they call sleeves and black hair, though his eyes were the palest shade of blue. Serial killer eyes. The thought made me shiver a little harder, because I was alone with him in a cave on Eldor’s land and Dmitri had no idea where I was. He glanced up at me with a little smirk as if he knew what I was thinking.
“What’s wrong with your Dragon that he allows you to go off without him like this? You can’t be all that familiar with these mountains, not to mention how rapidly the weather can change here so far north.”
“W-well,” I said, my teeth chattering as I pulled his fur-lined jacket around me. I was stubborn, not stupid. I would gladly take any bit of warmth I could get just then. It smelled a little like cologne and a little like ozone. Not unpleasant at all, but kind of strange. “I-I d-didn’t exactly t-tell him I was l-leaving.” I scooted closer to the fire. “And he’s not my D-Dragon.”
One dark eyebrow rose. “You might want to explain that to him. He seemed to think he has a claim on you.”
“He’s a j-jealous ass.” The words snapped out of me before I realized it, and I was kind of embarrassed. I didn’t mean to talk bad about Dmitri in front of other people. That was between the two of us. I guess it just went to show I was a hell of a lot madder than I’d thought. “He doesn’t trust me.”
“Perhaps it’s not so much that he doesn’t trust you, but that he’s afraid you give your trust too easily. That can be dangerous.”
“Whatever. Anyway, I just wanted to go flying. No big deal.”
He was quiet then, poking at the fire and giving me time to get myself under control. I kept sneaking looks at him. He didn’t look all that magical, but the air in the cave was toasty warm now, and it had to be from his magic, because the temperature was dipping lower and lower outside. The rain had turned to driving sleet, and we were in the middle of some kind of ice storm with a little bonus thunder and lightning to keep things interesting. The wood on his fire was still at the same level as before it started to burn. I thanked my lucky stars that I’d run across him.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” I said. “I don’t know what I would have done without the fire.”
“Not a problem,” he replied politely and then the awkward little silence was back between us. Just to try to fill it, I cleared my throat.
“So, how long have you been working for Eldor?”
“Not too long.”
“Do you like it?”
A shrug. “It’s all right.”
“Are you from here originally?”
“No.”
I threw up my hands and sighed. “Okay, I give up. I’m really shit at small talk anyway. If you want me to just shut up, I can.”
He glanced over at me and smiled. The smile was warm and lit up his whole face. It made him even more handsome. Normally, I’d have been all over that, but now all I wanted was Dmitri, even though he pissed me off more than anybody I’d ever met before.
“I don’t want you to shut up, Luca. I suppose I’m not used to making small talk with anyone either.”
“See, you know my name, but I’m not even sure what yours is.”
“You didn’t hear it when you were eavesdropping on us?”
I felt my face burning a little. “You knew I was there?”
He smiled and gave me a brief nod. “And my name is Rheged Pendragon. You can call me Pen, if you like.”
“Pendragon? I’ve heard of that name before. Why do I keep thinking about King Arthur when I hear that?”
“Perhaps because he was one. A Pendragon, that is. His father was King Uther. And Arthur’s only son was Mordred, who learned the Dark Arts from his mother, Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan Le Fey. She was a witch.”
“Okay, that’s really complicated.”
“My family history, or so the story goes.”
“But Arthur’s just a myth, right? And the others?”
“A myth? You mean like Dragons?” He laughed at my expression. “No, Arthur was real. All legends have a strong basis in fact, you know.”
“So Merlin and all that?”
He nodded again. “Yes, all that. Let me start over. My family is descended from King Arthur through his son and nephew, Mordred. At least that’s the family history.”
“Um, his son and his nephew? How does that work?”
That strange little half-smile came again. “Mordred was the bastard son of Arthur and his half-sister, the witch Morgan Le Fey, but Arthur had never seen his sister. One night, she came to his tent. She was very beautiful and she seduced him. It wasn’t until the next morning that he discovered he’d lain with his own sister. That is, according to legend.”
“Well, that’s fucked up.”
He inclined his head and smiled again. “Yes, it is.”
“So Mordred was raised to hate Arthur and when he was grown, he tried to take the throne. He and Arthur killed each other with their swords.”
“So you’re d
escended from this Mordred? And his mom? And that makes you a witch too?”
“It didn’t make me one, no. But maybe I have a predisposition to magic. And I don’t care for the word ‘witch.’”
“What? You like wizard instead? Like Merlin?”
“No. I’m a practitioner of magic, that’s all. I’m a mage. Merlin was more of a mystic and a soothsayer. He made prophecies you know. He even made one about you.”
“Me?” I gave a short laugh. “Dmitri told me that once. I think it’s a bunch of crap.”
He made direct eye contact with me. “Is it? Let me see if I remember the entire prophecy…
When the Spawn rises to rule the land, a son of Dragon and child of man, born of magic, blood and rage… Hmm, that’s about all I remember, except for the last bit. The last dragonet is the only chance, to stem the tide and quell the advance.”
Every time he started quoting the prophecy, the words rang out in the cave, and I swear to God there was even an echo. And his voice—it was fucking mesmerizing. Again, I noticed the little crackle of magic in the air around us and a sliver of ice shot down my spine.
I laughed nervously. “So how do you figure that’s about me?”
He lifted one shoulder. “You’re the last dragonet.”
“Maybe,” I said dubiously. “But all that other stuff about son of Dragon, child of man? My father was a Red but my mother a Wyvern, according to what I’ve been hearing. And Spawn rising to rule the land? Sounds pretty farfetched to me. They’re mean as hell, but stupid and not powerful.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a terrible roar came from behind us and the light was completely blocked out as a large, golden body filled the opening to the cave.
“Dmitri!” I gasped and jumped to my feet. He crowded inside, his huge Dragon body filling the narrow space. He couldn’t even stand upright, and he should have looked ridiculous, but instead he was positively terrifying. His eyes were red with rage and fiery sparks were leaking from his nose, landing on the floor of the cave and shooting off around us in the dark. He stormed over closer to us and opened his mouth, taking a deep breath. I knew in that instant what he was about to do. I jumped up and threw myself in front of the witch, covering him with my body so he wouldn’t be incinerated, and I glared defiantly up at my Dragon.
“Don’t you dare!” I shouted at him. “He probably saved my life and definitely saved me from pneumonia or the Russian flu or whatever. Calm yourself down and stop this!” I stomped my foot. “Right now!”
Behind me I could hear the witch laughing. Laughing! He must not have known what danger he was in. He was trying to push me aside, but I wouldn’t be moved. I stood my ground, determined to wait Dmitri out. I knew he’d never hurt me, but he was going to have to go through me if he wanted to carry this thing any farther. After another moment or two of glaring at each other, Dmitri suddenly shifted back to his human form and stood there in front of me, his beautiful body gleaming in the firelight and his chest heaving with emotion.
“Come away from the witch, Luca!” He shouted at me. “Now!”
“Make me,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest.
He gave me a furious glare and roared again, sounding just like he did in his Dragon. He came surging over to me. I put up my fists in front of my face and took a fighting stance.
“Pneumonia? The Russian flu? Really, Luca?”
“Yes, really. I was freezing and he lit a fire for me.”
Both Dmitri and the witch stared at each other for a while and then the witch started smiling again at the look on Dmitri’s face.
“Well, Golden? What are you going to do now?”
Dmitri ignored Pen after one truly terrible look and glared down at me instead. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to fight you. I may beat the hell out of you, but I won’t fight you.”
“Try it then,” I yelled back at him. “Come on, I’m standing here.”
He took two or three heaving breaths in and out and then turned away from me to pace back to the mouth of the cave. “Gods, you infuriate me! Why are you so impossible?”
I didn’t answer, just let him pace up and down and get it all out of his system. Finally, he’d calmed down enough to turn back and look at me. “Luca,” he said, his voice still pissed, but trying for calm and reasonable. “Would you please come away from the witch?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Why?”
He scrubbed his hands over his face a few times and then tried again. “I can’t protect you if you don’t listen to a damn word I say.”
“I don’t need protection. Not from Pen. He’s been nice to me and he gave me this coat to wear and made a fire. Like I fucking said. You should really apologize.”
He glared at me and I shrugged. “Okay, maybe an apology is too much for you, but at least stop acting like a horse’s ass.” I took off the coat and handed it back to Pen, then concentrated on shifting back to my Wyvern. In the next second or two, I turned back to look at him and nodded my head. He gave me a little bow and winked at me.
That went over about like you’d expect. Of course, it could have been the fact I was naked for a couple minutes there. I hurried over to my Dragon and stood in front of him, pushing him toward the exit to the cave with my body. He surprised me by shifting quickly into his Dragon, wrapping his arms around me, and then glancing back once more menacingly at Pen before he leaped up into the air, clutching me close to him.
Within seconds, we were fighting the wind and the sleet again, but he got the worst of it by far. He kept me close up under his wing, and I wrapped my legs and tail around him to help him carry me. It took us a while, but soon enough we were landing back on the roof of Dmitri’s house. Changing quickly back to our human forms, we scooped up our clothes from the covered bin, and made our slippery way to the door. I was shaking again by the time we got back inside, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I still had my hands full of highly pissed off Dragon.
“Don’t even start,” I said, holding up my hand, palm out to him. I swept past him then before he could take a breath to let me have it.
I was still freezing and wanted to run to take a hot shower, but I was afraid that he’d think that I was afraid of him and that would never do. I managed to stop shivering, making myself stroll down the stairs, my head held high, and walked straight to my own bedroom and into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Once I was out of his sight, I allowed myself to start shivering again. I hurriedly turned on the water and stepped into the steamy shower. I was chilled to the bone so it took a few minutes for me to begin feeling warm again, but it felt wonderful so I took a few extra minutes standing under the warm spray. Maybe I was hoping that Dmitri would go on to his room, and I wouldn’t have to see him again tonight.
No such luck. I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a big, fluffy towel around me and walked out of the bathroom. And there he stood in the doorway connecting our two bedrooms. He was leaning nonchalantly against the door facing, arms crossed across his massive chest, wearing only pajama pants. His hair was wet, so apparently, he’d taken a quicker shower than me, probably so he could come back and jump my ass some more for daring to “disobey” him.
He straightened up, glaring at me and said, “I thought I was going to have to come in there and get you, Luca. You’ve been in there awhile.”
That, of course, flew the hell all over me, so I shrugged and said, “I wasn’t aware that my showers were timed. Although I suppose that you think you have the right to determine the length of them since you seem to think that you own me and can control every fucking aspect of my life.” He started to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him. “When are you going to get it through your head that I am not a possession? I’m a person and I control my own destiny.”
He ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. “I do know that, Luca, but you have to understand there are things at play here that you don’t understand. I’m trying to tak
e care of you, not treat you like a possession. Can’t you admit that sometimes I might know what’s best for you?”
“Maybe, but you don’t offer suggestions. You bark orders. Haven’t you noticed that I don’t respond well to that? It just pisses me off and makes me want to do the opposite of what you say.”
He rolled his eyes at me which only served to crawl all over my last nerve. Then, he ground out between clenched teeth, “That’s so childish, Luca, and exactly why I feel as if I have to take charge. If you act like a child, then I’ll treat you as such until you decide to behave as an adult.”
Well, that didn’t go over well at all. I felt my temperature rising. I knew that my face must be red as a beet and even my ears were burning. I huffed out a breath and pointed toward the connecting door between our rooms. “Get out. Now, you asshole. I’m sick and tired of you and your superior attitude and… and…I hate you, you son of a bitch.”
He didn’t say a word at first, just reached out and grabbed me, shoving me backwards till I was against the wall. His mouth ground into mine in a punishing kiss that was nothing about romance and everything about domination. I tried to fight him off, pushing at his chest, but I was a small guy and he was bigger and stronger than me. He pushed my arms above my head, holding them there with one hand, while placing the other one on the side of my face and holding my head still while his mouth continued to plunder mine, his tongue pressing for entry. I fought it. I really did, but somehow he managed to slide it between my lips, spearing my mouth as he pushed his thick, hard cock against mine. I tried not to respond, but it felt so damn good.
All of a sudden, I heard a pitiful sounding groan and realized that it was coming from me. Dmitri continued to ravage my mouth as he reached down and yanked the towel away from me. He wrapped his big hand around both of our cocks and began slowly stroking them. He let go of the hands he was holding above my head and my arms wrapped around his neck of their own accord. I felt his free hand gliding down my body, stopping to briefly tease the hardened nub of a nipple before continuing its downward progression.
Finally, I felt that tantalizing hand move around to my backside and cup my ass, but it didn’t stop there. Oh, no. Suddenly, I felt a finger sliding down into my crease and a finger tickling my entrance. It was a light touch, just a tease, but damn, it felt wonderful. Between that finger at my hole and that other hand stroking my cock, I didn’t know whether to push backward toward that seductive finger or forward for more friction on my cock. In the end, I didn’t have to make the decision. My lover did it for me. He leaned forward a bit, getting close enough to be able to move the finger farther into me and slide it in and out of my hole. At the same time, he increased his strokes on our shafts. It was more than I could stand. I felt a familiar tingling at the base of my spine and arched my back, uttering a low guttural sound as I came all over his hand. He continued to stroke our dicks and just as mine had given all it could, his release came.