by Lizzy Bequin
Mordragg shrieked. His wings flapped like burning sails. The air reeked of overcooked meat.
Skal did not relent. He drenched his enemy in fire until Mordragg collapsed. The black dragon’s screams went silent as the flames entered his lungs, burning him from the inside out. Skal drew a deep breath and breathed fire on him again, turning Mordragg’s body into a raging bonfire.
The heat was so great, Katrine had to step back.
When Skal had finally exhausted his rage, all that was left of Mordragg was a charred skeleton crackling with orange flames.
Skal shifted back to human form and rushed toward Katrine. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, but he had no concern for his own wounds. His only thought was the safety of his mate.
“Kat!” he shouted, taking her in his arms. “My atma. Are you okay?”
Katrine ripped her helmet away and threw her arms around Skal, covering his face in kisses. Then she caught herself and pulled back, afraid of hurting his wounds.
“Skal, I’m fine, but look at you.”
But the dragon man didn’t seem to even notice his cuts and bruises. Satisfied that his mate was uninjured, he knelt in front of her and pressed his ear to her baby bump. After a moment, he let out a relieved sigh and kissed her belly.
“The little one is fine as well.”
“You’re sure?” Katrine asked as Skal raised himself up again.
Skal nodded. “I can sense it.”
Strangely, Katrine realized that she could sense it too. Even though that tiny life had only been a part of her for hours now, she already felt a special psychic bond with her baby.
“Kat!”
Katrine turned and saw the other women coming toward them in their grass skirts. Blair was supporting Nora, who was holding onto her arm and limping beside her. They all came together and hugged again.
“Katrine,” Blair said. “If I may speak freely…that was fucking amazing! You shot that dragon’s tail right off.”
“Well, just the tip.”
“Yeah, but still!”
Katrine placed a hand on Blair’s arm.
“Listen, Blair, I’m so sorry about the way I spoke to you last time. I just want you to know—“
Blair waved her apology off and smiled.
“Girl, you just saved us from getting eaten by a dragon. I think we can call that better than even.”
Katrine dropped her head and sighed.
“But it’s not just that. I mean, I abandoned you guys back there at the boulder. I’ve been so worried about you both ever since. I wanted to come back, but…” She glanced down at her pregnant belly. “Things got real complicated real fast.”
Tears were filling her eyes and choking her voice now. Her head and her chest were filled with a swirl of contradictory emotions.
“Oh, this is all my fault. Nora, if I had just supported you back at Blue Mesa, none of this would have happened.”
Nora rubbed her arm reassuringly.
“Kat, don’t be ridiculous. That’s complete nonsense. Nobody blames you for anything, right Blair?”
Blair nodded. “Absolutely. All that matters is that we’re alive. We’re all in this together.”
Nora cautiously touched Katrine’s belly.
“Besides, maybe all of this was supposed to happen for a reason, you know?”
Katrine wiped away her tears and hugged her friend.
“Thank you, Nora,” she whispered. “Thank you, friend.”
Behind them, Skal cleared his throat.
“My atma, I understand you are happy to see your friends again. But perhaps we can continue this reunion back in the safety of my mountain.”
CHAPTER 30
The night sky was clear and bright with stars as Skal carried them back to the mountain.
In his dragon form, Skal was more than big enough to carry the trio of women on his back. Blair was absolutely terrified, and she held on for dear life. Nora was less frightened, perhaps because she couldn’t see just how high up they were.
Katrine, however, was totally fearless.
She felt invincible.
She and her mate had taken on Mordragg and won. They had worked together to protect each other and their offspring. They were a team.
With the winds whistling around their ears, it was a struggle to communicate, so the women mostly kept quiet during the flight. There would be plenty of time for discussion and stories once they were back in the warm confines of the mountain hall. Katrine felt weirdly giddy about showing it to them, like showing off a new home.
Now it would be her friends’ home too.
Not long ago, this situation had seemed like a total nightmare. They had been torn away from the world they knew and thrown onto a seemingly inhospitable planet to fend for themselves.
Now they were together again. And together they would get through this.
But not everything was roses.
Skal had killed Mordragg, a higher ranking dragon, and he had used his fiery breath to do so. Mordragg had cheated by using his lightning magic first, but there would be no way to prove that. Still, whatever the repercussions would be, Katrine knew that she would stand by her mate no matter what.
And of course there was also the matter of the other two women, Petra and Mei. Katrine didn’t know if they had survived the passage to this world or not, but if they were somewhere on this planet, she needed to find them too.
But above all of this, one thought in particular held Katrine’s attention.
Earlier, on the windswept plain, Nora had put into words an idea that had been running through Katrine’s mind ever since Skal had put the egg inside her.
What if this had all happened for a purpose?
Katrine had thought that she would never be able to be a mother, but now, here she was, carrying a dragon’s baby in her belly.
Maybe all of this was supposed to happen after all.
Maybe it really was Fate.
But what about the other women? What did Fate have in store for them?
Only time would tell.
For tonight, the only things that mattered were getting bellies filled with food and providing some comfortable sleeping arrangements for everyone. They needed a good night’s sleep, because tomorrow they had a big day of planning ahead of them.
The mountain spire approached in the night. Skal flared his wings and made a gentle landing, being careful not to jostle his passengers too badly. He lowered one wing as a slide that they could use to disembark. Once all three of the women were on solid ground, he shifted back into his humanoid shape.
He placed his arm around Katrine’s shoulder and kissed her. The public display of affection brought a blush to her cheeks.
“Come, atma,” he growled. “Your friends are surely hungry. Tonight we can provide them darkplums, and tomorrow we will see about other provisions. We can also give them cushions and blankets for sleeping. There are some empty chambers that they can use for now.”
He leaned closer and whispered, even though the others couldn’t understand him anyway.
“I want to have you alone tonight, atma. I must fill you with my fluid.”
Katrine’s blush deepened, and once again she found herself so grateful that her friends couldn’t understand Skal’s growling language.
“What about your wounds?” she asked.
“They’re nothing,” Skal scoffed. “I’ll clean them up later. For now, let’s see to our guests.”
He released her and strode toward the carved door that led into the mountain. As he went, Katrine took a moment to admire the flexing of his perfectly shaped bubble butt under his tail.
She also made a mental note to see about clothes. Now that they had company, she didn’t want that gorgeous ass on display all the time.
That was for her eyes only.
And her fingers.
And her lips.
“Katrine!”
She was startled out of her sexy reverie by Blair’s voice behind her. S
he was standing with Nora, and her eyes were tilted skyward.
“What is it?” Katrine asked.
“Kat, the sky…”
Katrine cast her eyes toward the night sky too. It was the first time that she had really given it a good look since she had been here. Most of the time it had either been too clouded by smoke or else she had been distracted by other events.
But now she took a moment to really appreciate the winking stars, like multi-colored gems scattered across midnight-blue velvet.
There was a broad, glowing splash angled across the sky, similar to the Milky Way. That was to be expected, of course. The planet would be located in some galaxy, which meant that the night sky would have a streak like the Milky Way. In fact, this very well could be the Milky Way for all they knew.
Then something else caught her eye.
A tight cluster of seven stars.
Katrine recognized the constellation immediately. It had been one of her favorites ever since she was a child and she first got into star gazing. It was the Pleiades. The Seven Sisters.
She let her eyes drift a few degrees.
There, right where she remembered it, was the orange ember of Aldebaran, and the rest of the constellation of Taurus.
Nearby was Orion, with his famous triple-dotted belt and Betelgeuse gleaming gold at his shoulder.
As she scanned her eyes around at the other familiar constellations, a realization gradually dawned on her.
“Oh…”
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Nora asked.
It was Katrine who finally answered.
“This is Earth,” she said. “We’re still on Earth.”
EPILOGUE 1
one month later
“Don’t you want to join me? The water’s perfect, as always.”
Katrine’s voice carried easily over the surface of the steamy pool, mingling with the splash of the waterfall. She cupped her hands and laved the liquid warmth over her naked breasts, which were lit by the pale, subterranean glow of the crystals.
“I wish to look upon you a little longer, my beautiful atma.”
Katrine’s big red dragon was lying on the stone bank, the tip of his tail swishing the water. His fearsome, horn-crowned head was resting on his foreclaw, and his sun-yellow eyes were fixed on her with an intensity that heated her even more than the warm runnels slithering down her skin.
She liked it when he stared at her like that, liked the way his inhuman eyes heated her like a flame.
“And what is your favorite part to look upon, my dragon?”
A smirk tugged at the red corner of the dragon’s toothy mouth.
“Must I pick just one?” he growled softly.
Katrine smiled coyly and nodded.
“But it is so hard to choose, my little cat. There are your golden curls which I love to pull. Your supple lips, coral pink. Your breasts, so round and full, and their hard peaks, so delicious and bitable.”
Skal’s eyes traveled down her body as he spoke, and with each detail he listed, Katrine could feel his hot gaze like a physical touch on her skin. When he spoke of her nipples she could have sworn invisible lips had kissed her there, and she gasped.
“Just one,” she breathed. “You can only pick one…”
“In that case, atma, my favorite part of you is your round belly filled with its precious treasure.”
At these words, Katrine smoothed her own hands over her rounded tummy. It had grown substantially bigger over the past month, what with Skal’s constant replenishment of fluid.
Many things had changed over the past month.
Already, this strange place was beginning to feel like a home.
Blair and Nora had been settling in nicely, all things considered. They both had their own furnished rooms for sleeping. And knowing that they would eventually tire of eating darkplums, they had established a little vegetable garden on the outside of the mountain using some seeds which Skal had helped them collect in the woods. They had even taken up fishing in another underground lake connected to the fortress. The cavefish looked a bit weird, but they cooked up well enough.
Skal had also allowed them to inspect his vast hoard of treasure. After much searching, they had discovered artifacts that proved this planet was Earth—chrome hubcaps, seventeenth century silverware, and an empty can of La Croix.
And then of course there was the moon. Once it had become full and they could see all of its familiar markings, there was no doubt about what planet they were on.
When the rift had opened at Blue Mesa, they had not been transported across space, but through time. Exactly how far through time, however, was still unclear. At any rate, searching the dragon’s treasure hoards for potentially useful technology provided the women with an interesting pastime.
The only thing her friends lacked were mates of their own.
And so far, there had been no news of an investigation or trial regarding Mordragg’s killing. Skal assured Katrine that it would happen eventually—the dragons merely took their time dealing with such things.
When that time did come, Katrine was still as committed as ever to standing steadfast by her dragon.
For now, however, the main preoccupation was the egg.
She had been eating a great deal to make that round treasure grow strong in her belly. And Skal had fed it too, in his own special way.
“I think it’s time, love,” Katrine called to him over the surface of the water.
“Time for what, atma?”
Katrine waded through the warm, lapping water and backed up against the rock where a month before Skal had set her on fire in more ways than one. She arched her back against the hard, smooth surface. Beneath the water, she spread her legs and sent one hand below to rub herself.
“You know,” she whispered. “Time for you to nourish me.”
“But we’ve already done it three times this day, my insatiable little atma.”
Katrine pouted at him from under lashes sparkling with gems of water.
“Skal,” she whined.
Grinning mischievously, the dragon crawled into the water like a giant, red, winged crocodile. His colossal body had already begun to shrink as he shifted. The last thing Katrine saw was a scaly, crimson tail disappearing beneath the surface.
“Skal?” she giggled.
Lit by the underwater crystals, a wavering scarlet form swam toward her, huge and powerful. Katrine’s body tingled in anticipation of the touch that she knew was coming.
“Skal, what are you…oh…”
Her voice trailed off and her body seemed to melt as she leaned back against the stone. Beneath the surface of the warm, clear water, a coarse, strong tongue was working its magic between her legs, licking her with slow, deep, sensual strokes.
Katrine moaned and spread her thighs wider, giving her mate better access.
He hungrily accepted, feasting on her like a melting ice-cream cone. He left nothing untouched—her pussy, her ass, her ticklish taint—he licked every inch of sensitive flesh between Katrine’s legs, making her squirm and mewl with pleasure.
“Oh fuck, Skal, you make me feel so good…”
Katrine dipped one hand into the water, past her rotund belly, and clutched one of her dragon-man’s horns, stroking and jerking it like a long, hard cock.
Is this what it was like for guys, Katrine wondered with a giggle.
Before long, she was shuddering uncontrollably with her climax. Her involuntary cries rang throughout the crystal chamber, nearly drowning out the sound of splashing water and lapping ripples.
At last, when she couldn’t stand it anymore, Katrine tugged harder at her dragon’s horn, signalling him to come up.
Skal rose from the water. Warm, clear liquid sluiced from between his crown of horns, plastering his dark hair against those meaty muscles of his neck and shoulders that Katrine liked so much to nibble.
“God, Skal,” she panted. “How long can you hold your breath underwater anyway?�
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A brilliant, goosebump-inducing grin lit up his handsome face.
“A dragon can hold his breath for hours.”
“Really? Hours? I think I would die from coming if you did that for hours.”
“Shall we find out?”
Still grinning cruelly, Skal began sinking below the surface again, but Katrine stopped him.
“No, please,” Katrine begged. “Not your tongue, Skal…”
She wrapped both hands around his erect cock, holding it like the grip of a longsword. She humped her tender slit against the pommel.
“Use this,” she said in a whispered moan. “Make me come with this…”
Skal grunted like an animal, and a shower of orange sparks swirled from his flared nostrils, hissing out against Katrine’s wet skin. She was reminded of what happened the first time in this room when Skal got a little too excited. Her pubic hair had mostly filled back in, and now she was glad that it was safe beneath the water.
Katrine almost warned Skal to be careful, but she stopped herself.
He was a dragon, after all.
One didn’t take a dragon as their mate and expect him to be careful.
Skal worked his hands beneath Katrine’s thighs, spreading them wider and supporting her against the stone. He lifted her, positioned his tip against her opening, then lowered her onto his shaft, sheathing his hard meat inside her.
Katrine gasped and her walls immediately fluttered around her dragon’s hot, throbbing shaft.
“Goddess, you feel so good,” Skal purred. “I love the way your body accepts me, responds to me.”
And Katrine’s body was indeed responding. As Skal moved inside her, his ridged, textured cock rubbed deliciously against the tender place on Katrine’s front wall, bringing her right up to the edge of another climax almost immediately. His masculine scent surrounded her, threatening to tip her over that edge, but she held back.
“Come inside me,” Katrine begged. “I want to come at the same time you do.”
Skal growled and pumped her with long, gliding strokes. His rippling abs brushed against Katrine’s round, pregnant belly. Katrine whined as she struggled to hold her orgasm in.
“Fuck, you look so gorgeous like that,” Skal rumbled. “Impaled and wriggling on my horn.”