Kissed By The Dragon (Paranormal Shifter)

by JJ Jones

  I shook my head, knowing it was time to go and face the music, literally. I had to go and mingle in this overly large crowd. I took a deep breath and plunged into the situation, a pool of people a little too deep for comfort. My body was staring to tug. I knew my dragon was close.

  “Would you like to dance?” The question came as a surprise. The voice was deep and sounded hollow, almost as if it had been some distance or through some sort of obstacle.

  I turned. Whoever had asked me that question had approached me from the rear. I was actually pretty proud of myself. I hadn’t jumped too badly. “I’m sorry? I didn’t catch that.”

  “May I have this dance?” I could see a smile forming under his mask, but that was all that I could see.

  Just like all of the other masks in this room, it covered his entire face, with only a small area allowing the mouth to be seen. I have to admit that it was kind of exotic and it made me feel a little freer. I had already heard how the mask would distort my voice enough to be unrecognizable. I liked that, made me feel invisible, like I was wearing some sort of noble suit to fit in with the crowd that I had no business being in.

  I agreed and he swept me onto the floor, holding me tightly, his forearm on my lower back. I felt oddly secure as he held me as we waltzed. I hadn’t really waltzed since that epic failure of dance lessons that had been worked into my middle school gym class. That was almost fifteen years before, and even if the old lady had set me up with a few lessons, still, I felt lost in my own body. It wasn’t working.

  I was stumbling and fumbling my way through the dance when the other man walked up. “May I cut in?”

  I giggled a little. “Really?”

  “What?” They both looked at me, voices shaded slightly from the shape of the mask around their mouths.

  “Do people really say that?” I was fighting back my giggles. “I mean, doesn’t that belong like in the dark ages?” They both just kind of stared at me and suddenly I felt very self-conscious. I had said something wrong and from the crowd starting to stare, I knew that I had to step away. “I’m sorry, can I just get some space?”

  “Of course.” Both of the men bowed and spouted some parting salutation.

  I slipped to the side of the room, trying to find the space I needed to collect my thoughts. My dragon was here somewhere, I could feel it in my most intimate areas and something about it was making my mind swim. I was struggling to keep myself together. I watched the rest of crowd start to forget about me. For that, I was extremely grateful. I struggled to find myself and watched them continue in a strange formal dance that seemed to be surrounded with too much ceremony to really be any fun.

  I guess I just didn’t get it. “Why would anyone do this?” I had been asking myself a question that I couldn’t answer.

  I hadn’t been expecting the response. “Because they’re so stuck in the old ways that they can’t improve. It makes them feel important.”

  I laughed out loud. It was apparently shocking enough to get several people to turn my way for a moment. “That’s got to be it.”

  “This must be absolutely horrible for you.” He said to me.

  His voice sounded familiar, but because of the echoing nature of the masks I couldn’t place it. The only two people I would know in this place would be Alistair or Toby. I had seen them both at the last event that I had attended. At that moment, I realized how similar both men sounded. The distortion made it impossible to tell and something about that made me feel the magic of the moment. My sex drive twitched and I looked at the man that had walked up behind me. He was the first one who asked me to dance. I recognized the costume he was wearing, it was a strange adaptation of a peacock.

  “I wish that I was somewhere else. This is all too formal for my tastes.” I admitted to him in a quiet voice. I really didn’t want anyone to overhear the fact that I was miserable in this beautiful gown and amazing looking mask. I was dressed as a blue jay, but even the color of this dress was wrong. The artist had done a beautiful job, but it wasn’t to my taste. “I’m not exactly built for fancy parties.”

  He shrugged at me, still grinning. “It’s not for everyone.”

  “Are you comfortable here?” He reached toward me, but I was unsure. I reached to meet his touch, but changed my mind, pulling away.

  “I grew up with it. It’s second nature to me now.” He explained, but he sounded sad about that fact.

  “That has to suck. I can’t even imagine growing up with this.” All he did was shrug again and suddenly I felt subconscious. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s fine.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and it felt nice.

  I moved into his hand this time. That was what I needed, some human contact in this place that seemed to be so formal, separating people. I don’t really know how to explain it any other way. I had so much to do, so many things to say and to see, but had no idea how to handle them. My world was changing so fast and suddenly it was all feeling like too much.

  “Can we get out of here?” I had grown quiet. Something about what I was saying felt like it didn’t belong there. This was starting to feel like some sort of sacred space, a place that would observe no trespass on its sacred traditions. I didn’t understand that.

  “Let’s have another dance, then we can make a convenient exit. I don’t think anyone will miss us.” He sounded like he actually believed it. I agreed and we moved up to the floor. The dance, though awkward was much better than it had been.

  *

  We finished our dance and slipped off into the hallways. I was breathless and ready to laugh out loud. I didn’t belong in the dance. I laughed too loud and loved the excitement of slipping away a little too much. I let him lead me and once we got out of sight, we broke into a run. I felt like this belonged in some sort of crazy romantic comedy. The truth was, I was learning as I went along. The world was shifting, changing around me. I was trying to figure out exactly what I was expecting to happen, but it didn’t take me long to realize that I was going to be happy no matter what happened. I was going for the excitement of it. I had been drawn in, and I wasn’t ready to give it all up yet.

  The hallways were long, unwieldy things and it was easy to get lost in them. In fact, we had already gone so far that I knew I wouldn’t be able to find my way back to the party or get out of the house without a guide. That’s when I saw her. The crazy old woman, the woman who had come and explained to me what I was and what I had been born to be. She was staring, frowning at me as I was led out of the party. Her eyes were unblinking and harsh. It was that same stare that had bothered me so much in the past. I shuddered at the sight of her and stopped right there in my tracks, swallowed up by the stern face and upset eyes. It was frightening and I dropped the hand of the man that I was with. He was caught up in her stare as well and didn’t notice my actions.

  I felt the embarrassment start to rise, feeling like I had been caught with my pants down. I had to get out. I had to escape. That feeling overwhelmed me and I had no way to handle it really. I hadn’t been raised with this kind of situation and it broke me. Her stare was penetrating and dangerous and I ran, forgetting which way I had come from and not tracking the path that I was taking.

  It didn’t take me long to realize that I was lost. As soon as it became impossible to run any longer in the unwieldy heels that had been picked out for me, I stopped, resting against a wall. I hadn’t been in this area of the mansion before. I didn’t know what direction I had come from any more. It was like I had been running with my eyes closed. In fact, that was a very distinct possibility. I might have had my eyes closed. I just don’t know anymore. I fought with my breath, trying to catch it.

  “I’m not meant to run in this dress.” I groaned. “Or these damn shoes.” I kicked them off, relieved that my feet were flat on the ground once again. It was too much and now I was alone in a place that I had no idea how to get out of.

  My body was still tugging, making me think about all of the things th
at man could do to me. I licked my lips. I definitely liked that idea. There was something about it that made me want to go and find a man, any man, and get my body the release that it was begging for. I needed that. I needed to feel an amazing firm body. Or two. Yeah, two definitely sounded good.

  I couldn’t tell you if it was an effect of being near my dragon or it might have been masks but there was something about them that could be very freeing. I struggled with my body and picked up my shoes. I had to find my way back out of the wilderness. It wasn’t technically a wilderness, but it was pretty much the same thing. I had gotten myself turned around and lost in this mansion.

  This place wasn’t meant to be confusing. There was no way that anyone would build a house that was meant to be confusing; right, because that would be insane. No one would do that, but it was certainly starting to feel like that as I traveled through one hallway after another looking for someone. I would have given anything to find another person, any other person. I was even looking forward to the scary old lady. I shudder at that thought now, but at that time, I would’ve been so happy just to be near her. Anybody would be better than wandering these empty halls for an eternity.

  I stared at the pictures on the walls as I walked past them, but I had to stop when I saw one. It looked almost exactly like Alistair. My stomach started to lurch. Something about the picture made me a little nervous. “Is this his house?” I was asking myself that question. There was no one to answer me. Every other time during this adventure, I had asked myself a question and someone had been there to answer my call. This time, there was nothing. That was terrifying, but at the time, I would never have admitted it.

  I stared at the frame. Taking in the face of a man that I had been on a date with. His name wasn’t Alistair though. It was Count Pendragon. I wasn’t sure if the Count was a title or a name, and it really didn’t matter. What mattered was that he looked just like a man that had recently spent the night in my home, stretching his hand out to me and calling my name in his sleep.

  “Who is this?” I asked myself again. “Pendragon? Where do I know that name from?” Then I remembered. “King Arthur.”

  I froze, a sense of awe starting to fill me. I didn’t know much of the King Arthur legend, but still I knew enough to recognize the name. I didn’t think that he was a real man, but perhaps they used the name from somewhere. I made a promise to myself that I was going to ask Alistair about his family the next time I saw him.

  There was another face like his in the hallway, then another. That woman has the same hair and her eyes are the same shape. In fact, everyone in the family shared some feature with the man that had placed that ad on Craigslist that short time ago. It felt like it had had been a thousand years since that night, but in reality, it hadn’t been much more than a couple of weeks. I reminded myself of the fact and continued to trek through the hallways, trying to find my way to something that would tell me how to get out.

  It took me a long time to find anyone, but eventually I saw someone. It was a man in a mask and I smiled remembering the cartoons I had watched as a child. It’s always a man in a mask. But this wasn’t just any man in a mask; this was my man in the mask, the one that I had bolted from.

  “I was looking for you.” He was breathless and I felt my heart skip a beat as I looked at him. I wanted to say a thousand things to him. My body responded to the sight of him. I don’t know why I did it, but I rushed to him.

  “I was looking for you.” I was breathless too, and something about it just seemed a bit to stereotypical.

  I wanted him, in fact my mind wandered over all of the possibilities that I could do at that moment and I realized my body was acting without me. I can’t say I didn’t want to go along with it anyway, but I opened a nearby door and just dragged the man in. There would be no kissing, his mask hid too much of his face, but mine could move. I pushed this man against the wall, excitement flooding my loins with tingling and titillating thoughts.

  My smile must have given something away because he began to grin at me. He knew what I was going to do and I dropped down to my knees in front of him. He unhooked his belt and unzipped his pants. I took him into my mouth, swishing and kissing on his manhood. I wanted him and he wanted me, moaning as my mouth began to do its work. I loved it as I made his body react to my ministrations. I was in charge and I knew it. He knew it and he let me make the decisions.

  He looked down at me and my eyes caught his. I felt a little naughty and I can’t even explain exactly how freeing that was. But when the door opened, the mood began to shift. My partner had literally been caught with his pants down and I looked over, rising up and shifting my dress to hide our dirty deed. There was another man at the door, the other man that I had been dancing with and my heart skipped a beat. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be there.

  Where one man, the man that I had been with, had half his mouth covered by his hand, the other man had an empty area where his mouth was. I gulped and he walked toward me. I wondered why I didn’t feel guiltier as he stared at me, his eyes glittering with some plan that I couldn’t quite picture.

  “You look like you’re enjoying yourselves in here.” It was a joke and I laughed a little, confidence starting to form once again.

  I wanted him, both of them right in that moment and I knew I was going to act on this feeling. There was something about that mask that told me exactly what was going to happen and I wasn’t afraid of it. I walked toward the man that had just walked into the room and gripped his hand, and led him over to the wall where the other man stood and I kissed him. I was probing for a reaction at first, trying to see how he was going to respond, how both of them were going to respond, but neither man seemed to shy away from the ideas that my lips and hands were expressing. I touched one man while kissing another and it made me feel amazing.

  Both men lifted me; it seemed easy for them as they carried me over to a couch that was on one side of the room. They both had gentle hands, a magical effect that made me feel a little like a princess in a fairy story, but this one wasn’t going to end with a glass slipper, but rather with a moment of pure and intense pleasure.

  The man with his mouth uncovered bent in, kissing me while the other man started to shift my skirts. I writhed and moaned for more. I wanted more, I needed more of it. I needed to be touched in a thousand different little ways. It was where I needed to be, right there, with four hands touching my body, running over it and bringing me pleasure. It felt like they were touching me everywhere at once and my body was humming with delight.

  There was something about this adventure that excited me. No woman should ever have been brought such pleasure by two men at the same time. They both wanted me and the tongues were starting. I could feel the cool mask on only one of my thighs. That told me who it was and I groaned as his tongue began to work his magic. Lips touched my breast; somehow, my dress had shifted down, revealing more of my naked body. Two men, two tongues, two sets of lips and four hands roamed over my body. My body tensed, releasing the first of many explosions of pleasure, leaking out with gushing swarms of sensations.

  The tongue began to lash out faster and faster as the man between my thighs held tight to my hips. I needed him and he needed me, frantically cleaning my juices and groaning against my womanhood. He was groaning and the sounds he made mingled with mine as my nipple was pinched. Both men helped me shift and someone was poised at my entrance, still, the other hands and mouth wandered over my body. I didn’t know who it was, and frankly I didn’t care. I lifted my legs and pulled my body towards his, signaling the intent to continue, He plunged into me and began to thrust into me, a hard and fast motion meant to waste no time in bringing us both over the edge of pleasure once more. I gave in to my release and he joined me, or he must have, because before I knew it the other man was waiting to enter. I moved against him as well. I wanted more and I wondered whether I would regret this in the morning for only a moment. The sensation was just too much for me to resist. I gave in to m
y body; the needs that had been crying out for something more than I ever thought that I would need. I gave into what I needed, the magic making me feel like I floated on air while we finished again.

  I was exhausted when I floated back down to earth, tired and sore and ready for a long rest. I was dozing when both of the men left and suddenly I was awake and alone in a strange place.

  THE FINAL CHAPTER

  If I had been anything other than the woman that I am, I might have been embarrassed, but there was something about this new world I’d been brought into that made me feel like I was free. I didn’t feel shackled to the embarrassment that came with the modern culture. My body felt beautiful, tingling and alive. However it didn’t really matter how I felt. I was lost again, left alone in the place that I had been. I had to figure out what to do. I couldn’t just hang out in someone’s house until I was found. I couldn’t help but wonder why both of the men had gone. Still, I had to do something, I’ve never been the type to sit through a crisis and this was starting to feel like one.

  I cracked the door, intent to peek through when I had heard nothing on the other side. There was no one there. I was truly alone. I straightened my dress, checking carefully for any evidence of what had just happened, but I was humming when I stepped out of the room, finding it hard to resist my urge to skip down the hall. I had to figure out a direction to go, but I oriented myself and decided to go the way that one of the men had come from, continuing the journey I had started earlier.

  It didn’t take me long, when I was actually paying attention, to find my way to a balcony. I could hear the ball in the distance; the music was still overly pretentious and prim. I wasn’t sure how to respond to it all, but something had to be done.