by Zoe Chant
There’s a little cave here. Too small for me, but Mouse—
Becca could hear barking then, frantic and frightened. She didn’t know whether she was hearing with her ears, or in the same way she could hear Ilie. The rain was still pounding all around them, but she wiggled out of Ilie’s grip and hurried toward the dark opening in the rocks where the sound came from.
It dropped straight down, but she could definitely hear Mouse now. She could also hear splashing.
She didn’t think any further than that before she swung herself through the opening. It wasn’t until her feet hit bottom and she was waist-deep water that she realized she’d had no idea how deep it was.
Mouse’s frantic barking turned to an eager whine, and he splashed over to her, leaning against her. He was standing on the bottom, and his head was just barely above the surface. If they’d been much later, he’d have had to swim. Much later than that…
Becca looked up, and realized the cave opening was well out of her reach.
A long black taloned foreleg extended down, and Mouse’s barking went wild. He leapt up, trying to accept the offered help, only to fall short with an enormous splash.
Becca laughed even as she waded closer, trying to get her arms around the wriggling dog.
Be still, Mouse, Ilie’s voice said sternly. Let Becca help.
Mouse whined and then held still, letting Becca crouch in the water beside him. She got her arm under his hind legs, her shoulder under his rib cage, and managed to lift him up out of the water. He sprang up easily into Ilie’s grip this time. Ilie lifted him away and immediately reached down again for her.
Becca wrapped her hands around Ilie’s huge fingers, and he lifted her out, setting her gently on her feet. Mouse, she saw, had already run under the shelter of Ilie’s outstretched wings, pressing against one huge folded hind leg, and Ilie’s long tail was curled protectively around the sodden dog.
Becca darted in against his chest then, spreading her arms wide and pressing her cheek to his scales.
We did it, Ilie said, sounding shaky with relief. We saved him.
“We’re a pretty good team,” Becca agreed.
Another bolt of lightning lit up the clearing, followed closely by a crack of thunder that seemed to rattle the ground. When she looked for Mouse, she found that he’d taken shelter all the way under Ilie’s belly, and was pressed flat to the ground there.
“Maybe we should go inside, though,” Becca added.
Yes, Ilie agreed. I’ll carry you. It’s not far.
Mouse darted out to lean against her, and Ilie picked them both up, one in each huge hand. She leaned against his chest, spreading her arms against his body to hold on. When she looked over she saw that Mouse had curled up in what must be a familiar pose, keeping still in Ilie’s grip.
They bounded into the air, but it was more of a long jump and glide than another flight. They only went up to the top of the clearing, where another cave mouth was visible, this one much bigger.
Lights came on from somewhere as Ilie carried them straight inside. The sudden quiet after the noise of the storm was startling, and Becca could hear the huge deep thumping of Ilie’s heart again.
Ilie set her and Mouse down, and Mouse immediately darted over to stand by the wall to one side and shook off, spraying water everywhere.
Would you like to dry off? Ilie asked as Becca shook water from her hands.
“Love to,” Becca said, looking up at him with a smile. “Do you keep towels down here?”
Go and stand across from Mouse, Ilie instructed, and Becca did, noticing in the process that the center of the floor in this stretch of the tunnel was a scorched-looking black.
“Ilie?” Becca said, realizing what was about to happen.
It’s perfectly safe, Ilie assured her, lowering his head and opening his mouth. We’ve practiced.
Becca bit her lip but nodded, fascinated, watching Ilie’s mouth. There was a tiny bright flash like distant lightning between his teeth, and then a jet of blue flame poured from his mouth.
The air around her was suddenly hot and dry, like she was standing under the world’s largest hair dryer. She rubbed her hands together, then rubbed over her arms and down her body, feeling her skin and clothes dry. Her hair was blowing wildly, and she shook her head, tossing it on the hot air, and then turned her back to get dry. The stone wall was wonderfully cool against her face in contrast to the heat behind her.
In another moment the heat stopped. She turned her head at a strange sound and saw Ilie shrinking back into himself—his human-shaped self.
He was grinning at her like he’d done a magic trick. Becca grinned back. He’d done about a dozen kinds of magic all at once. He started toward her, but they both froze at the sound of Mouse whining.
Ilie crouched down and stayed where he was. Becca skipped across the hot stone floor to where Mouse was standing, looking around in confusion. The dog leaned into Becca gratefully, as he had back in the water, and Becca knelt and put her arms around him.
“It’s him,” she said softly. “It’s still our Ilie. He just looks a different. Come on, don’t you want to meet him?”
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ilie walking slowly closer, and she heard him say, “It’s me, Mousie. It’s still me.”
Mouse whined again, wriggling against her grip but not breaking away.
Ilie crouched down again, leaning his shoulder against hers and offering his hands to Mouse to sniff.
“It’s still me,” he repeated, and Becca only realized because she could see his mouth not moving that he was speaking dragon-style, inside her mind—and Mouse’s.
“Say it out loud, too,” Becca prompted, and Ilie looked at her, startled. “Let him get used to the sound of your other voice.”
“I forgot,” Ilie said, and this time she saw it on his lips and tongue, the sound matching the hesitant smile on his face.
Mouse gave a curious little bark and leaned against Becca’s grip. Becca let him go and Mouse pressed forward into Ilie, sniffing at his chest and throat, shoving his head under Ilie’s arm.
“Yes, yes, it’s me, it’s—”
Mouse shoved his head lower still as he sniffed, startling a laugh from Ilie and Becca both as they combined to redirect him. Ilie gave a sharper bark, and his tail started to wag.
“Yes, there you go,” Becca murmured, running one hand over the dog’s big back.
He shoved his nose against Ilie’s cheek and then started licking all over his face. Ilie shook his head and laughed. He giggled, actually, like it tickled.
Becca reached over and tickled him for real, down one pale side, which made him squirm away until he fell onto his back. He laughed and pushed at both of them as they kept on teasing him.
After a moment he caught Mouse’s muzzle with one hand, and Becca’s hand with the other. He tugged them both onto the floor with him, and they lay there in a heap on the stone floor, still radiating warmth from being dragon-heated.
“Will you be happy like this?” Becca asked softly.
Ilie turned his head to her. He looked at her like she was a whole jewelry store full of shiny things, and not one of them disappointing.
“If I have you,” he said, “and Mouse, and… if you don’t mind me changing back and forth—”
“You have to show me how you fly,” Becca said immediately. “When I can watch properly. And make some measurements. And what do you eat when you’re a dragon? And—”
Ilie rolled over and kissed her until she gave up on scientific inquiry. He kept on kissing her until Mouse made an irritated noise and trotted away down the tunnel.
She kissed him back until she could feel his cock getting hard against her thigh, and she realized that it wasn’t the only hard thing in the picture.
“I don’t suppose there’s anywhere more comfortable than a stone floor down here?” Becca asked. “I was told something about very comfy piles of gold.”
Ilie’s eyes went wide, fli
cking away to look down the tunnel and then back to her. He kissed her again, softly and sweetly, before he pulled back to look at her. At the necklace, she realized. In all the excitement she’d forgotten the weight of gold and jewels around her neck.
“I could,” Ilie said seriously. “I could take you there. But if we… it’s… I didn’t know if you wanted that yet. Because it means—if I take you there, if I give you everything I would want to give you—that’s for mates. That’s how we promise.”
“Well,” Becca said, raising a hand to brush through Ilie’s hair. “That’s where we’re headed, isn’t it? Since the moment you saw my very persuasive eyes and turned human. Since the moment I took you home with me.”
Ilie nodded. “I want to give you everything. All I need is you. The heart of my hoard. My mate.”
“I do love you either way,” she said softly. “Handsome prince or fearsome dragon. But I can’t imagine kissing you the other way.”
Ilie breathed out a little laugh. His breath was only warm now, no fire, as he touched his lips to hers one more time.
“Dragons aren’t much for kissing. Whenever you want me, I’ll wear this shape for you. And...” he ducked his head, kissing her throat, nuzzling at the line of the necklace. “When I want you, too.”
“I’m all yours, I promise,” Becca said. “But really—not on a stone floor if there’s an alternative.”
“Right,” Ilie said.
He scooped her up in his arms and stood all in one motion, as if she were as small and light to him in this shape as when he carried her in dragon flight. “This way, my handsome princess.”
Becca laughed. “You might need to brush up on your fairy tales, Ilie. Princes are handsome, not princesses.”
Ilie frowned in thought as Becca spared a look around at the tunnel they were winding through.
“Beautiful princess,” he corrected himself. “Lovely—gorgeous—radiant—”
“Oh,” Becca said, as they came around a curve of the tunnel and into a cave big enough for Ilie’s other shape to fit comfortably.
There was a huge pile of gold, yellow gold and white, coins and jewelry and gold bars and things Becca couldn’t identify at a glance, all jumbled together into an enormous heap. Reflections of light off the gold made the heap seem to glow, and filled the room with warm light that came from everywhere and nowhere.
Ilie let her slide down to her feet but kept his arms around her. She wasn’t sure she could stand without them. She’d never thought of herself as a materialistic person, but there was something irresistible about this enormous treasure hoard.
“Let me give this to you,” Ilie whispered in her ear. “Give yourself to me. Be my mate, and let me be yours.”
Becca nodded, still dumbstruck, and then she looked up at Ilie.
“How? Is there a—” procedure was entirely the wrong word. “Ritual?”
Ilie grinned. “We sort of make it up as we go. But you should be naked, for sure.”
Becca pulled away enough to sweep another look up and down his body, her eyes getting stuck on his hard cock. It wasn’t that long since she’d had him inside her, but she was wet and hot for him again. She definitely didn’t mind getting naked.
She peeled out of her shirt and undid her bra while Ilie unfastened her jeans and pushed them down with her underwear, only to get stuck at her shoes. He knelt at her feet to untie the laces and help her out of them. Becca steadied herself with her hands on his shoulders as she lifted each foot free.
When she was naked, she let go of Ilie and straightened up. He stayed where he was for a moment, his eyes tracing over every full curve of her body until he reached her eyes. He looked hungry for her. Greedy.
“My only treasure,” he murmured, standing to kiss her, his hands roaming freely over her breasts and belly, down to the soft swell of her hips. “So lush.”
Becca’s hand went to his cock, curling around his hot length and pressing him against the softness of her belly. He moaned and pushed against her, then pulled away.
“Wait. We have to do it right.”
Becca grinned. “You wanted me to be naked, so this is your fault.”
“Oh, I know,” Ilie agreed, but he sidestepped and took her hand. “Come on, I want you all the way at the top.”
Becca expected climbing the pile of gold to be treacherous, like trying to climb a sand dune. But everywhere she set a foot turned out to be surprisingly stable. Little coins and beads slid down with each step, but her feet didn’t sink in to the pile at all. Surprisingly quickly she was at the top of the glowing golden mound. There was a large, mostly flat area at the top, which must be where Ilie slept in his other shape.
From here she could see a little niche in the rock at the edge of the cave. It was also filled with gold, and Mouse was curled up there, asleep on his own dragon-style dog bed.
Becca looked down at the gold dubiously. As firm as it had been underfoot, she didn’t think it was going to be very comfortable to lie on.
Still, when Ilie tugged her down to sit in a little hollow, she did. She was surprised to find that this part of the gold pile yielded under her, molding to her shape as she wiggled around, getting comfortable.
Ilie just watched until she fell still, lounging on the surprisingly comfortable pile of gold. She tipped her head back and heard the soft musical sound of bits of gold sliding around to accommodate her.
“Better than a stone floor?” Ilie asked with a smile.
Becca smiled brightly back. “Much better.”
“Will you let me give you more things?” Ilie asked, with a certain formal tone in his voice. “More beautiful things for my beautiful princess?”
“Yes, please,” Becca said, spreading her arms wide, showing herself freely to him.
Ilie leaned over to kiss her, her mouth and then her throat. He kissed down over her breasts, licking and sucking in just the right spots to make her press up into his mouth. Her legs parted without a thought, her thighs opening to welcome him. Ilie’s hand ran down over her belly, but stopped short of the dark blonde curls.
He reached into the gold pile instead, picking his head up to look as he rummaged through the hoard. He pulled out a handful of sparkling chains, some glittering with jewels, some gleaming gold. They fell into neat loops when he shook them out, dangling at different lengths.
Ilie let them cascade through his fingers, spilling down over her breasts and belly, and then he drew a few out, and rummaged in the pile for others, finding bracelets for her wrists and a half-dozen more necklaces. He wound a long chain dotted with pearls around her hair, which was a wild curly mess after its blow-drying.
With every new adornment, he leaned over to kiss her, his hands always warm on her skin. He caressed every curve of her, fitting chains around her hips like a belly dancer’s chimes and winding them around her breasts. He fastened chains like garters around her thighs, and found anklets to slide up over each foot.
She hardly felt naked at all under the glittering weight of gold he covered her with. But Ilie could always find more places to touch, kissing her lips, teasing her nipples. He brushed his fingers against her pussy, just a tease before he pulled something else out of the hoard for her. She was so wet for him she ached with it, a throbbing deep inside her.
“Ilie, please,” she said, raising a hand to reach for him.
She couldn’t actually raise her arm very far. The weight of gold on her arm shouldn’t be that much, but the metal didn’t seem to want to move. It was as if some strange magnetism held the chains to the rest of the hoard. She tugged against it, curious about the effect.
“Is that,” Ilie said. “Is it too much? Should I take them off you?”
Becca looked up at him and found that he was flushed with eagerness, his eyes dark as he looked at her covered in gold.
“This is all right,” Becca said. “But maybe that’s enough?”
Ilie nodded and moved to straddle her, giving her a good look at his cock. She could sw
ear he hadn’t touched himself the whole time he’d been busy adorning her in gold, but he was still fully hard, his cock darkly flushed. She could almost see his pulse in the vein on the underside.
Clearly he hadn’t been bored.
He leaned all the way down to kiss her, so that she could feel the heat of his body just above her. The tip of his cock brushed wetly against her belly as his tongue swept into her mouth.
Becca kissed back hungrily, trying to urge him on. She was aching for him, and she knew he wanted her just as badly. But when she tried to press up against his body, the gold chains held her down. She could feel the tantalizing heat of his body, his cock just barely touching her, but she couldn’t make him move things along.
“Ilie,” she moaned against his mouth. “Ilie, please, I need you.”
“You have me,” Ilie murmured, shifting lower to kiss her breasts, lifting them with his hands and pressing his face into their pillowy curves. He closed his mouth on one nipple, pinching the other.
“I need,” Becca gasped, and then she lost track of what she was saying. Ilie’s mouth felt so good, his fingers teasing her just right. She kept pushing up against the weight of gold, feeling how it held her in place, open and offered up to Ilie. Her mate. Her dragon.
“Please,” she said, when she couldn’t bear the pleasure of it anymore. “Please, Ilie, I need you inside me.”
“You have me,” Ilie repeated, but he moved lower again, down between her legs.
His tongue found her clit, and Becca arched up so hard that she actually did budge the chains a little, a startled cry bursting from her.
“More,” she gasped. “Ilie—”
Ilie's fingers pressed into her where she was aching and wet for him after so long waiting. He stroked deep inside her, his fingers curling to press just where she needed it while he sucked and licked at her clit and pussy lips.
The gold that covered her body seemed to caress her, feeling cool and firm against her hot skin as she squirmed under it.
“Yes, Ilie, yes, harder.”
Ilie started up a fast rhythm with his fingers, fucking her with them and stroking just the right spots on every thrust. His tongue kept driving her wild.