by Milana Jacks
Voices came from the castle, where a large audience gathered to watch, including lots of dogs. All snarling. “Silence!” Lance shouted. To me, he said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I am so.” With my pants around my ankles, I slid off one boot, kind of relieved my toes weren’t cramped anymore.
Lance bent, hooked a hand under my knees and lifted me. I screamed and held on to his shoulders. “Hey, put me down!”
He slapped my ass. “Silence.”
Oy!
With my body draped over his shoulder, he marched through the crowd, pausing only to bark at someone. “If they pass the threshold, take them down. Business as usual. Carry on.”
8
Lance
Three steps at a time, I climbed the tower to her chambers. Every three steps, I grunted and spanked her ass. Hard. A well-deserved spanking. How could she even think to dive inside the freezing cold water? I doubted she could survive for ten seconds without her lungs stopping from shock.
Hypothermia wasn’t a joke, and human bodies were fragile.
Both I and the wolves ran hot, so our bodies could handle Ice Age temperatures and cold waters. Selena? No. I kicked the door and barged into her room, then booted the damn thing closed behind me.
That was when I realized two things.
One, my hand was on her ass. Not spanking, but rubbing and kneading.
Two, Selena hadn’t said a single word.
I put her down on her feet.
Her face burned with embarrassment, but her eyes burned with a different kind of heat. “You,” she poked my chest, “spanked me. All the way to the top.”
“I told you nicely, you can’t swim in that water. You left me no choice.”
She balled her fists, stomped her foot, and nearly tripped over the pants around her ankles. “They took my car.”
Selena pulled up her pants and rounded me, then went to the window. She opened it. Cold air swept inside. “Oh my God, it’s gone. And my robot too.” She closed the window, then leaned her forehead on it, letting her shoulders slacken. “I have nothing.”
“Those things will be returned to your home. You can get them when you leave the island.”
She snorted. “When I leave the island. When will that be, hm?”
“Whenever you like.”
“Now.”
I closed the distance between us, but didn’t step too close to her. “You promised to stay until we figured out what it is between us.”
“The thing between us now is the fact you let them take my car and my robot.” She lifted her head and spoke to my reflection in the window.
“I told you already that I don’t welcome Cy, cyborgs, or anything artificial on this island.”
“Well, why not?”
Because they give me the creeps. “Because I don’t.”
“Oh, what are you, eight?”
“Selena.” I stepped closer, felt the heat of her body. “You don’t need the car or the robot while you’re here. Is there something they can do that you’re missing?”
“Yes! They’re mine. I own those things. It gives me pleasure to know I have something, something I didn’t have to beg my dad for. And you know what? It’s nice knowing I can come and go from the island as I please. It’s…it’s a sense of independence for me. Owning my own stuff.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t return those things.” I moved forward, and our bodies touched. I knew she felt my erection on her back. I bent and kissed her shoulder. I wanted to touch her skin, feel all those goose bumps on it, but more than anything, I wanted to touch her ass cheeks that burned after I’d spanked them.
I took off one glove and put my hand on her hip. She gasped and looked down. My black claws and indigo-scaled hand contrasted against her tanned skin. I let her look, though, watched her profile for signs of distress. She seemed calmer now than before. I trailed my hand over her ass and palmed it. “I know what I look like,” I told her. “I know what I am. A man with dragon skin. But I’m also selfish and uncaring that you may find me repulsive.” Not exactly true, but it sounded better than a weeping man. I wouldn’t beg her for attention. She’d come to want my attention on her own. I didn’t need pity, and if I told her, I knew the moment she could leave the island for the habitat, she would. She’d take pity on me.
“I can’t find you repulsive when I haven’t seen you.”
She tried to spin around, but I held her hips. “Not yet.” I kissed her neck, and she angled her head to give me better access to her soft skin. I inhaled her arousal, a faint scent I recognized from yesterday, but enough to know she enjoyed my touch after all. “Have you changed your mind?”
“About what?”
I trailed my hand over her belly and snapped my claw at the hem of her pants. She didn’t wear underpants. She hadn’t brought any, and wolf females didn’t bother with them. All I would need to do is slide my hand inside and flick my claw over her wet place. But I didn’t. I simply ran my finger down her waistline. “About tonight. You will let me have you, won’t you?”
She nodded.
If I didn’t dip my finger inside that sweet pussy where the scent blossomed and entered my nose, I would die. So I did. I snuck my hand inside her pants and found her slick entrance. Selena spread her legs. What a good girl. “Even if I didn’t save your car?” I nibbled her ear.
She nodded.
I played at her entrance. It was wet, getting wetter as my finger circled it. “You are an eager little virgin, aren’t you?”
She nodded.
“I don’t think you can wait till tonight. I think you’re all fired up. Did you wake up horny and didn’t make yourself come?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, poor little virgin. Daddy’s been hiding you well. I gotta thank him for that. Tell me, what you do at night in the habitat? Do you pick up some toys or use your fingers?” I rubbed her clit, my other lifting her left tit. Big tits. I weighed it in my hand. Nice. I hooked a claw over her bra cup and pulled it down. Her nipple perked up. I circled it with my finger.
Selena pressed her palms on the window.
I snapped her pants open to give my hand more room. Then I paused and contemplated shaking off my cloak.
Selena lifted her head, watched me in the mirror. “What is it?” she asked, breathless. I circled her clit slowly, still thinking about removing my cloak. She had a right to know. Exposing my body to her would give her a chance to refuse me. If she refused me, she could leave. Car or not, I would escort her back to the habitat if she so wanted. I would escort her somewhere else if she didn’t want to go back to the habitat. I wasn’t her captor. Though there was something alluring about having her trapped inside my castle. As if I owned a living, breathing woman who would let me fuck her anyway I wanted.
I put that last bit on my beast.
Selena said nothing. I continued watching her in the mirror and playing with her little bud. One hand on her breast, I lifted it, then twisted her nipple between my thumb and forefinger. Her hips moved forward, seeking my fingers. I gave her one, then two. “Greedy little pussy.” I tilted my head and licked her shoulder.
“Oh my God,” she breathed at the sight of my dark red and forked tongue.
I lifted my head and licked my lips. “You can have me as I am. But I can’t change. It’s not possible.”
“I didn’t ask you to change,” she said. “But I’m surprised. It’s allowed, isn’t it?”
I rubbed her clit.
Selena forgot all about her question. Her eyes hooded, and she tilted her head back, leaned into me instead of the window. I stroked her faster while trailing my tongue down her neck. When I reached her ear, I whispered all the dirty things I’d do to her with my tongue, how it was way better than my human tongue in all the wicked things it could do.
Selena was gone, her body completely turned on and tuned into me. I could bend her over and fuck her, and she would let me. My beast stirred. I owned her. “Do you want to come?”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, my…Lance.”
“Yes, Lance is good. On my fingers or on my tongue?”
“Tongue,” she said.
I chuckled. “You’re a bad girl.” And pent-up from years of not having any male attention. That was just fine by me.
A knock came at the door. “Do not enter!” I shouted, then squeezed her bottom. “I’ll be back.” I forced my legs to move away from her and to the door, then swung it open, making sure to block the view with my body. Belle stepped back and turned up her face. Wolf nose at work. I rolled my eyes when she sniffed and smirked at me. “The pack is back from the run. Jake asked me to find you.”
“You’ve found me.”
She rose on her toes and tried to peek over my shoulder. Wolves were nosy creatures, especially pups. Even though Belle recently turned eighteen, we considered her a pup.
I left Selena’s chambers and slid down my hood. “Move it, pup.”
She giggled. “I can smell sex, you know.”
We descended the steps, and I noticed Belle kept smiling all the way down. I knew why her mood had improved, and it had nothing to do with me or Selena. Belle was crushing on her alpha something fierce. He’d break her heart, that asshole, and there would be drama like the castle had never seen. I hoped to be away during her next heat.
Downstairs, I took a left and entered my library. Jake and Nentres sat around the table, hunched over some old books, mostly mythology. We used those as references because we didn’t have anything else. Those legends had to have come from somewhere. It couldn’t all be fiction. Or so we hoped. My ancestors hadn’t believed extraterrestrial life-forms existed, and yet aliens had come for a prolonged stay with us. Had I not seen Mother Nature, I wouldn’t have believed people could shift from a human into a mythical creature. I would’ve thought someone with crazy imagination had written the books in my library. Hell, before the world collapsed, I’d found the dragon-themed movies and books ridiculous. Not anymore. Now I hoarded every fiction book I came across.
Jake kept his black hair short, a military cut for a former air force pilot. He trained his gray eyes on me and perused my cloak. “You look like Count Dracula in that thing.”
“Nice to see you didn’t forget your humor while away. Mind if I send it back?”
He chuckled and stretched out his hand. I shook it and sat down with them.
“Have some tea, dear.” Nentres passed me an extra cup. “You look like a flustered chicken. We heard about the car and the robot thing. Wolves are talking about her tits.”
I sipped from the cup, entertaining fantasies about cutting everyone’s tongues out. That ought to keep this place nice and quiet. “News?” Easily adapted to the bitter cold of some of the harshest climates, wolves often went on supply runs and delivered news of the human shelters we’d set up all around the country. The trouble with shelters? Outlaws found them and robbed the people of food and goods or straight out took up residence there and terrorized the people. Cy didn’t police outside the habitats. We didn’t either, but we also couldn’t leave the humans who didn’t live in habitats out there on their own.
Mother Nature had said dragons should control the elements and thereby return the Earth’s balance to her natural state. Before we learned how to control the elements, we needed to ensure humans survived. The cyborg population grew at a rapid pace, while the human population dwindled. I sure as fuck wasn’t gonna work on improving the alien Cy or cyborg life. They didn’t interest me. Only humans and the Creatures of Earth should live on the planet, and none other, as far as I was concerned.
Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “The outlaws heard about the shelter south of San Diego. They’re looking for it. They found the one in Venice Beach. Destroyed the fucker.”
“And the people there?”
Jake shrugged. “No idea what happened to them. Hoping they escaped down to the main San Diego shelter. Didn’t have time to check.”
“What else?”
“The Venice Beach shelter needs repairs if we’re gonna get it back up.”
“The location is a no-go,” Nentres said. “Unless we repair and protect it.”
I groaned. “We can’t patrol the entire county. There’s not enough of us.”
“Give the people weapons?” Jake suggested.
“Or integrate the outlaws,” Nentres said. We stared at him. He lifted his hands in surrender. “Hey, we could use them as go-go boys and as defense from another group of outlaws.”
“Ah, and here I thought you were being charitable and kind in pursuit of world peace,” I said.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Selena walked past the window. When I couldn’t see her anymore, I took my tea to the window. She wore black again, and her hair was up and under a hat. I wondered about the black clothes. Was she in mourning? Or was that the newest habitat trend? No jacket on her. I drummed my fingers on the cup. Why no jacket? We had jackets, coats, plenty of warm clothes. She should be wearing one.
Sure enough, her arms hugged her body, and she walked to the edge but stopped before the water, her eyes on the habitat. Did she miss her life there? Did she miss her car and that scrap of metal towed earlier in the day? Her father? I wouldn’t know. I missed nobody from my former life, and if they made it through the disaster and survived when the temperatures dropped, they wouldn’t miss me.
Selena crouched and scooped water, then let it drip between her fingers. My chest tightened, my muscles twitched, and I felt my beast stir.
Selena played with the water some more.
My entire body tingled as if ants ran up and down my skin.
Hm. I concentrated on the water beside her, commanding it to rise and splash on her boots so she’d move away. But of course, nothing happened.
“Lance,” Jake called out.
“Yes?” I spun around. Fucking futile, this water-element thing. I should really just give up trying to control it. Nentres had given up trying to manipulate fire years ago.
Both of them stared expectantly at me. I had no idea what they’d been talking about.
Nentres smiled, showing me all his perfect white teeth. “Lance has a girlfriend.”
“Christ,” I said and sat down. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Jake leaned in. “So I hear the fabulous tits belong to a new human on the island. She comes from the habitat.”
I crossed my arms over my chest so I wouldn’t knock him out for talking about her tits. “And?”
“And nothing.” But by the way his lips tipped up, I knew Belle or someone else had already filled him in on Selena and quite possibly on my arrangement with her. I had made a spectacle this morning by showing up for breakfast and then making them carry the clock upstairs. He changed the subject. “We’re thinking one of you two should fly over the area, see if you can spot something from above.”
“Something like what?” I asked.
“A group of outlaws. Maybe check out the San Diego shelter and stay there for a while. Let the outlaws see you. They’ll move away.”
“Lance is distracted,” Nentres said.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “California is my turf. What’s going on with you down south?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Nentres said. “Everything’s under control.” He stood. “I’ll be leaving tonight for San Diego. Talk some sense into him, Jake. His dragon pissed on her and called her his. It’s a done deal, but Lance is slow on the uptake. Goodbye!” With that, he rushed out of the room.
Jake locked eyes with me. “You pissed on her?”
I inhaled and exhaled, counted to ten. “It was a fucking accident.”
“Right.” He didn’t believe me.
“Let’s talk about the supplies.”
“I’d rather talk about your mate.”
“I’d rather handle it.”
Jake leaned in. “The beast recognizes a mate. He will tell you the woman is his. At least that’s how it
works for us.”
“And you know this how?”
“We’re not talking about me.”
I smiled. “Did you see Belle when you got back?”
“Fuck off, Lance.”
“Oh, you got it bad for Belle. Belle and Jake, sitting in a tree. I could come up with a rhyme for it.”
He scrubbed his face. “She’s just a pup.”
“Looks like a woman to me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What, exactly, does that mean?”
I liked this.
Jake walked to the window and tapped it. “Ah, looky here, the new girl. I don’t know how you’re staying away from that ass. Look at it. I would tap it in—”
Before I thought better of it, I tackled him. The glass shattered, and we tumbled outside. I pinned him down with a forearm over his throat.
Jake’s face turned red from loss of air. “I fucking. Made. My point.” He gulped.
I shook my head, clearing out the rage, but didn’t let him up, only removed my hand from his windpipe.
Jake turned his head and coughed, then locked eyes with me. “When your beast tells you that’s your mate, it’s your mate. Period.”
“Have you seen what I look like?”
“Has she?”
“No.”
“Well, she sees you now.”
Fuck. I slid the hood over my head, hoping like hell she’d only caught sight of my scalp and not my face.
9
Selena
Lance was bald, the top of his head covered in indigo scales. I blinked when he slid the hood over his head, thinking perhaps I’d imagined it. He snapped his head up, and I didn’t need to see his eyes to know he was looking right at me.
The man under him tapped his shoulder. “Let me up.”
Lance leapt off and stalked toward me. I took a step back, then stopped so I wouldn’t go into the water. My feet were already wet. A wave had come out of nowhere and soaked my pants and boots.
“Don’t be afraid,” Lance said.
“I’m not.”
“That’s my buddy Jake. He and I had a bit of a…disagreement.”