Ailey's Dragon

by Lisa Daniels

  Ailey leaned forward. “You know that you can’t force him to do anything he doesn't want to do.”

  Anani turned to look at her. “Your words discourage me, mostly because I do not want you to know that about him.”

  “What?”

  Ash stood up and began pushing his friend toward the door. “You are being unimpressively melodramatic. You are needed elsewhere, and we are just fine. She’s heading off to certain death, and I’m thinking about my next move.”

  “Ash,” Anani looked at his friend. “You always make me smile and you are one of the few reasons that make it worth coming here. If anything happens to you…”

  “Aw, Anani, I didn’t realize you felt that way. If you are proposing to me, I will need time to think about it.” Ash’s smile was positively beatific.

  “If that would get you to be more careful, I would be willing.”

  Ash threw his head back and laughed. Anani chuckled a little, then pulled his friend into a hug. For a moment it looked like Anani was going to say something, but he just patted Ash on the back then headed to the door. The sound of it closing echoed around the room as Ash returned to his seat. Ailey noticed how weary the young man looked.

  Rising from her chair, she moved around and put his coat over his shoulders. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  Ash smiled up at her and allowed her to pull up on his arm for a few minutes before rising.

  Putting his arm around her neck, she walked over to the manager. “Could we please get our room keys?”

  “I’m sorry, but there is only one room available.”

  Ailey turned and looked at the empty room, then back at the single key on the hooks.

  The contented smile on Ash’s face faded a little, as she looked around. When she didn't respond, he removed his arm from his companion and began to protest, “But-”

  “That’s perfectly fine,” Ailey said, handing the innkeeper a few coins. “We are only staying the one night, so it should not be a problem.”

  The innkeeper handed her the key. Holding Ash’s hand, she led him up the stairs to their room.

  Once in the room, Ailey helped him onto the bed and began removing his boots. His voice was soft when he said, “Don’t worry about it. I can manage. You go ahead and get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Oh, have you decided not to go to Melzi? That is good.” He half-smiled at her.

  She gave him a playful slap. “I mean I'm not going to just let you pass out fully-clothed on the floor.”

  “I never said anything about the floor.” Ailey took in his smile as he looked at her.

  Shaking her head, she began to unfasten his shirt. His hands covered hers, “Really, it’s okay.” He pushed her aside and began to stand up.

  “Really, it isn’t.” She moved her body to block him.

  To avoid bumping into her, Ash fell back on the bed. “I’m a bit tired, so if you could just let me go, I will get out of your way. You take the bed, I’ll make do.”

  Ailey looked down at the shifter, his shirt untucked and half unbuttoned. The exposed skin appeared to be unblemished and the muscles were even more defined without the clothing covering them. There was a stunning tattoo just barely visible, a dragon’s head on the top of his pectoral muscle. Fighting the urge to see more of it, Ailey took a deep breath. “You took care of me last night. Now I want to return the favor.”

  “You are just being stubborn.” Again the shifter tried to stand.

  This time she pushed his shoulders, causing Ash to fall on his back. “Look, I’m the medical professional. I say you stay here and I’ll-”

  A hand reached up and pulled her down faster than she could have expected. Her body hit the soft bed and bounced a little as Ash tried to push himself up and away from the bed.

  She grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down, causing him to spin a little. “Look, you stubborn-”

  Ash completely lost his balance as he fell back onto the bed. Trying to catch himself, he put his hand out and it brushed against her breast. The pair froze as he looked down at her. Slowly, he leaned down, his eyes on her lips. Ailey watched him close his beautiful eyes, and she smiled as she closed hers. When their lips touched, his were soft and warm. Ailey began to kiss him back. He pulled away and looked down at her. Then he leaned forward and began to kiss her again, this time slipping his tongue into her mouth. Ailey brought a hand up to the side of his face and began to gently run her hand around his ear.

  Ash pulled back again and looked down at her, the tiredness no longer visible in his face. His breath was faster than it had been a few moments ago. “Ailey, I want you.”

  The woman smiled up at him. Her hand moved to the back of his neck and she pulled his head down, his lips meeting hers. She felt his hands slip under her shirt, and she immediately began to unbutton the rest of his shirt. Her hands explored the hard muscles as she pushed his shirt off of his shoulders. He tensed at her touch. The shifter brought his lips down to her neck. “Ailey, I want you. Gods, I want you.”

  He tore her pants off and began kissing her inner thighs. “You are so beautiful, so unbelievably beautiful.” Ailey moaned as he kissed her stomach and placed a hand on the small of her back. His other hand ran up her calf and between her legs. Ailey gasped as his hand brushed against her. For all of his words, Ash seemed to be taking his time.

  Finally, Ailey felt that he was just torturing her. She placed her hand under his chin and forced Ash to look into her eyes. “Are you just going to play with me, pretty boy?”

  The bed shook as he moved up and pushed all the way into her. Ailey gasped and threw her head back, trying hard to suppress a scream. He pulled out and thrust back into her. Ailey closed her eyes and arched up into him. “More. More, my pretty boy.”

  As if to deny her desire, Ash pulled back and waited until she opened her eyes. The devious smile on his lips let her know that she was not as in charge as she seemed to think. Slightly breathless, she ran her knee between his legs, gently brushing him. Watching his smile falter, she held up a hand and motioned for him to come to her. Ash obeyed, his mouth meeting hers in a gentle kiss. When he stopped kissing her, Ailey moved her lips near his ear. “Please, Ash. I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a very long time.”

  He pulled back a little and smiled at her, one of his hands caressing her breasts. Bringing his face near hers, he gently brushed her nose with his. She giggled, so he did it again. As her stomach tightened at the next wave of giggles, he moved up and pushed his head into her. Ailey’s giggle turned into a moan. Ash kissed her neck and wrapped his arms around her. One arm pulled her chest against him, and with each thrust, she leaned back on his arm more. His other arm moved down her lower back and tilted her hips up a little, spreading her legs a little further apart. As her moans got louder, his movements became more rhythmic. Ailey felt her body tense in anticipation. Ash placed his forehead on the nape of her neck and worked into her until he felt her climax. As soon as her body began to relax, he shifted her body and covered her mouth with his. Immediately, her body tensed again, and she began to furiously suck on his tongue as her body shuddered under the unexpected sensation.

  This time Ash allowed her to sink back on the bed as the tension left her. He was still inside of her as his eyes looked down on her. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, he tilted his head to the side. A look of curiosity crossed his face as he leaned forward and unraveled the braid on her head. There was a serene smile on his face as he looked down at her with her hair spread around her head. “My gods, you are beautiful.” Looking into his eyes, Ailey knew that he actually meant it.

  She smiled up at him and tightened the muscles around him. Ash took a sharp intake of breath, almost as if he had forgotten that he was inside of her. Ailey pulled his face down and she gave him a soft kiss on his forehead as her muscles drew him further into her. Ash opened his eyes and looked down at her for a moment. Lowering his hea
d, he began to kiss her as his hips began to respond to the demands of hers.

  Chapter 6

  In the Light of a New Day

  Ailey woke to the protestations of her muscles as they quickly reminded her of what had happened the night before. Sitting up, she rubbed her head and looked around. To her surprise, Ash was not in the room. Gently moving her legs over the side of the bed, Ailey stood up, thinking it best to find him before she left. Last night wasn’t anything that she had intended to happen, and she very much doubted that it had been part of his plan either, but that didn’t mean that she regretted it. She didn’t want to simply leave without saying goodbye, not after last night. With a smile, she realized that she had actually gotten quite attached to Ash. His curiosity was annoying at first, largely because she hadn’t felt that way in so long. But Ash’s cheerfulness was somewhat contagious, turning the end of her trip into something much more enjoyable. If the plague was to claim her, Ash had been the beautiful sunset.

  She was still smiling as she approached her bag. A sudden breeze caused her to shiver.

  “Well, I may have misjudged you.”

  Ailey turned to face the source of the voice. Sitting on the window sill was Anani. Ailey put a hand on her hip. “Most people would knock first. They would also come through the door. What you are doing right there is considered creepy, and in some countries it is a crime.”

  Her body was postured in a way that was open, hiding nothing, even though she wasn’t wearing anything. She watched as the man’s eyes drifted down, taking in her body. “Did you come in here uninvited for a reason?”

  Anani cleared his throat as his eyes moved up to hers. “Don’t you want to cover up?”

  “If you are uncomfortable, you can leave and wait downstairs until I am dressed.”

  His eyes drifted over her again, as he clearly made an attempt to focus. “I just thought it was best to warn you about-” He shifted a little. “Gods, I can see why he would be interested in you now. You are quite attractive, although I would not have thought you would have so many scars. Two of them look like they should have been fatal.” His eyes looked into hers, but it was clear that was not a subject she was going to discuss with him. With a shrug, Anani continued, “Obviously, you’ve never had kids either, not with those slender hips. It looks a bit like you are undernourished, although that really is not my area. Do you even have any idea what you have gotten yourself into?”

  Ailey blinked, then sighed as she turned and picked up her clothing. She began to dress. “Why are you here?”

  “Do you know how young he is? I mean, he is between, geez, I’m not very good at keeping track of these things, but somewhere between 50 and 70.”

  “He’s looking very good for his age, then.” Ailey finished pulling her shirt on and pulled her hair through. It fluttered in the breeze from the window as it cascaded down her back.

  Anani was quiet, only remembering the conversation when she turned to look at him. She began to brush her hair as he cleared his throat again. “That’s actually my point. That is old for humans, but for us, that’s like the equivalent of being between 20 and 22. He’s incredibly young. And impressionable.”

  Ailey stopped brushing her hair and thought back to her first impressions of Ash, how many of his actions reminded her of a young man. His enthusiasm and curiosity started to make sense.

  Anani nodded, “It looks like you understand now.”

  Ailey approached him. “So when you wanted me to keep him from doing anything stupid, you meant keep him from the usual mistakes of youth.”

  With a quick nod, the shifter looked around. “Although I’m not entirely sure that you are going to be capable.”

  Ailey stopped brushing her hair. “It would appear that you have a bit of a hang-up about sex. How very human of you.”

  Anani made a noise that she didn’t quite understand. He opened his mouth, then thought better of it, and simply blew out his cheeks. “I have to concede your point, but we do need to be a bit more cautious about… that sort of thing. It is not normal for us to do that with someone we barely know. Not unless-” Anani pushed into the room. “All I can say is that you had better hope that he simply gave in to the ideas that he learned from Hisa instead of the other possibility.”

  “There is no way he can be serious about me.”

  “How can you be so certain?”

  “We talked about it.”

  Anani picked up a small statue from the dresser and threw her a knowing look. “You specifically talked about what happened last night?”

  “Not about the two of us, but he knows how I feel about it.”

  “And exactly what was his response?”

  Ailey started braiding her hair. “He understood, having done something similar himself.”

  Anani put the object back down and moved around the room. “I'm pretty sure that isn’t what he said, that is just the way you interpreted it. I imagine his remarks were more similar to the way he felt. He would have found your detachment sad.”

  Ailey frowned, “Well, yes, he thought that my history was unfortunate. That doesn’t mean that he thinks any differently about me for it.”

  Anani finished moving around the room and sat down on the sill again. “I’ve seen Ivy. She’s much better-looking than you. At least with clothes on.” His eyes automatically moved up and down Ailey’s body.

  Ailey rolled her eyes and turned her back as she pinned the braid to her head. “Yes, she is.”

  “But he wasn’t interested in her. Why do you think that is?”

  “Because she is immature and manipulates others for her own ends. Ash wants to be useful to others, even if he isn’t always sure how to do that.”

  “Exactly.”

  Ailey turned to look at Anani, who was swinging his legs and looking at the ceiling. “I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”

  The man’s eyes shifted and he gave her a look of disbelief. Instead of pushing on that particular subject, he asked her directly, “How do you feel about him?”

  Ailey frowned for a moment as she thought about everything that had happened since they met. Without realizing it, she started to smile. “He’s sweet, almost to a fault.”

  “Ah,” he shook his head. When Anani looked at her again, there was a knowing smile on his face. “Your healing methods won’t work on him, so if you want to preserve him, keep him safe.”

  “Time will change him, there is nothing I can do about that.”

  “No, that personality is who he is. The kind of shifter he is, they are always like that, as you said, to a fault.”

  “I thought you were the same type of shifter.”

  Anani scratched his head. “We are a bit like birds. You have a lot of different types of birds, but they are still all birds.”

  “Okay.” She wasn’t sure where the uninvited visitor was going with the explanation.

  “There aren’t very many left like him, and he is the youngest of his type. His entire family is dead because his kind are the most sympathetic to humans. They are the most likely to try to help, and they are the first to die trying to save others. Cyprian is another type that tends to mingle with humans, but they are far hardier, much more difficult to kill. Mostly because they are less trusting.”

  Ailey’s brows knitted together. “He doesn’t have any family?”

  Anani shook his head, “No immediate family. Ash was too young to go when his family went off to help a new settlement in Caston.”

  “Caston.” The name was familiar to her. Ailey thought back and remembered Ester talking about a strange ailment that had killed most of the people who had moved there to escape one of the purges that often occurred in Tepe Sialk. They were even less tolerant of humanoids than Yuezhi, persecuting those who stood up for humanoids as much as the humanoids themselves. “That was a settlement of mostly humanoids.”

  “There were a lot of humans there, too. I knew a few of the ones who died first. Good people, a bit odd. So y
ou know of it?”

  “Yes, my mentor was still in her apprenticeship when the Association sent a lot of people there. No one returned. I believe the settlement was abandoned, and the rumor is that it is cursed. Ash lost his entire family during that crisis?”

  Anani nodded. “They left him in my care when they went. Cyprian was the obvious choice, but Ash’s family knew the risk. They were afraid that if none of them returned, Ash would be raised to loathe humans, and that just didn’t sit well with them. I dare say they would be somewhat proud of him, if they knew…” The man’s voice trailed off as he looked at Ailey. Shaking his head, the visitor continued, “There were other shifters who probably would have been better suited to it, shifters who would have been a little more… involved in his development. But they asked me, and I could never turn them down. I should have. I should have told them that they needed to raise him themselves, but they wouldn’t have heard me. All six of them left, and I brought back their bodies so that he could say his farewells. He was only five at the time.”

  Ailey had sat down as the man talked. Her eyes shone as he paused. “Thank you for telling me, but I don't understand-”

  “You can’t heal him.” Anani stood up again and moved over to the dresser.

  Ailey blinked. “You’ve already said that.”

  “I need you to understand that, because if he does something stupid, it won’t matter how skilled you are.” To illustrate his point, he picked up a decorative dagger. Without a word, he plunged it into his chest.

  Ailey gasped and her body reacted immediately. Before she knew what she was doing, the medic had started to stem the flow and attempt to remove the dagger. “Are you insane? I know that a shifter’s heart is in the same place as a human’s. That was just irresponsible.”

  She watched Anani’s face as she pulled the dagger out and placed it on the dresser. Her hand had pressed on the wound as soon as the dagger was out, but when she turned her attention back to tend to it, the wound was closed. Her eyes went up and looked at Anani’s.