by Selena Scott
Predictably not in control of his shift at age two, everything from head to toe was human except for the little baby dragon tail sprouting from his rump.
“Yowza,” Lucy said, giving her boy a squeeze and then sending him skittering back toward his Papa. “His scales are starting to get prickly.”
“They won’t get full sharpness until he’s five,” Amos said.
“That’s just cruel. Can you imagine a five year old who can’t fully control his shift with sharp scales? That seems like a serious design flaw, dragonkind.”
“Nah, the sharpness helps you learn how to control your shift when you’re a kid. You get tired of scraping yourself.” Amos reached up and pulled his wife down on his lap. “You need more rest. And food. And water. And juice.”
“We’re doing fine,” Lucy said, pressing a hand to her rounding belly. They’d found out a month ago that they had another on the way. “What I really need is to make love with my husband.”
They turned and looked at Drake, trying to gauge how far out they were from nap time. He was dancing from foot to foot, swiping blocks aside with his dragon tail.
Amos sighed. “I’ll fuck you tonight, hatchling. I promise.”
Lucy was just leaning in for a kiss, when another knock came on their apartment door. “Jeez Louise, give it rest, Ms. Tisdale.”
Amos firmly planted a hand under his wife’s ass and helped heave her into a standing position. Lucy knew that had been something he’d loved about her first pregnancy, how many times he’d had to lift and carry her while she got used to the weight of carrying a dragon egg in her womb. Much denser than a human baby. She knew he was looking forward to it with this pregnancy as well.
Lucy schooled her face into a tolerant expression and pulled open the door, expecting to go toe to toe with Ms. Tisdale. But her face dropped into one of pure surprise when she saw the Oracle leaning against the door jamb.
“Barefoot and pregnant really suits you,” he grinned at her.
Amos was immediately padding into the living room as soon as he heard a man’s voice instead of Ms. Tisdale’s, Drake on his hip. He stopped cold the second he saw the Oracle there.
Much to Lucy and Amos’s surprise, Drake instantly held out his arms for the Oracle.
“Wow,” Lucy said. “He doesn’t usually like strangers.”
“I’m not a stranger,” the Oracle said, walking into the apartment and holding out his arms for the baby. “We had plenty of chats while he was getting ready to hatch. I really had to talk this guy out of the egg.” He turned back to a stunned Lucy and Amos. “You’re welcome for that, by the way. He wanted to stay in a whole other week.”
“You’re really gonna have to explain how your gift works someday,” Lucy said, sitting on the couch next to Amos.
“Trust me,” the Oracle said. “You don’t wanna know.”
Still the same old Amos, he cut to the chase. “Are you here to bring us back?”
The Oracle made a high pitched sort of noise and nodded his head from side to side. “I mean, eventually. But I have something I need you guys to do first.”
Lucy leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest, smiling when she found Amos in the same position.
“Oh really,” she said.
The Oracle nodded toward their blank TV screen and they all turned to look. It blinked on and frenetically scrolled through channels as the Oracle shuffled through his mind for what he was looking for.
“You’ve gotta find this man and convince him to come to the dragon realm.”
The screen went dark and then lit up on a man’s face. His long dark hair fell in waves to his shoulders. Light eyes were shaded under a hand as he looked out at something in the bright light. His sharp jaw was stubbled.
“Uh, yum,” Lucy said and grinned cheekily up at her scowling husband.
“Who is he?” Amos asked.
“I actually don’t know,” the Oracle said, leaning back in the chair.
Amos and Lucy looked at one another in surprise. The Oracle actually looked a little frustrated. Something they’d never seen before.
“There’s some kind of block around him. I don’t know anything about him. All I know is that the revolution has stalled. We can’t go any further and every time I search for answers, all roads lead to this guy.”
Amos scratched at his chin, trying to be casual. “What do you mean the revolution has stalled? Is Solar alright?”
“Yeah,” the Oracle nodded. “Solar is good. If not a little grumpy. I don’t know if he anticipated babysitting Zara quite so much after they rescued her from Dalyer.”
Lucy leaned forward, so relieved to hear that Zara was doing alright.
“But Solar’s good. It’s Dalyer. He’s holed himself up somewhere in the mountains. Even I can’t find him. Yet he’s still able to send messages to his troops who are ravaging the countryside. We need help. And I think this guy is it. I can’t give you his exact coordinates, but I know he’s out in the Coeur D’Alene area.”
Amos nodded, taking it all in. “I think we can probably do that for you.”
Lucy shrugged. “It has gotten tricky, raising a dragon in Brooklyn. Might be time for a change of scenery. Maybe a little more space for the kids.” She patted her belly.
“Although, it comes at a price,” Amos said.
“What?” the Oracle asked suspiciously.
“We’ll do it. As long as you stay and babysit while I have my way with my wife.” With that, Amos stood up and snagged Lucy’s hand. Dragging her toward the bedroom. She laughed in delight and stumbled along with him.
“Extortionists!” the Oracle hollered after them. “You’re lucky I like your son so much! And you’re having a girl by the way!”
Amos shut the door on him and turned to Lucy. Tears had filled her eyes.
“A girl,” she whispered holding her hands out to him.
“A girl,” he whispered back, his voice filled with wonder. “I hope she has your eyes.”
“I hope she has your heart,” Lucy said. Then thinking more, “And your poisonous tail spike. That would really come in handy with any over-frisky boyfriends.”
Laughing, they fell to the mattress together. Kissing, and rolling, and becoming one.
THE END
The Dragon’s Touch
CHAPTER ONE
“For the last time, O. Shut the fuck up,” Solar growled as he heaved a log from one pile to the next. He resisted the urge to rub his temples. The headache that had been circling him for a week had finally come home to roost. And the Oracle would not stop talking.
“I just think it’s weird that you haven’t noticed how hot she’s gotten,” the Oracle continued as he leaned back into the crook of a tree and closed his eyes against the sunlight. The picture of relaxation. “I mean, little Zara, all grown up. And so hot she could make a man put his shoes on the wrong feet. Who would have seen it coming? Well, besides me, of course. I am an Oracle after all.”
Solar said absolutely nothing as he heaved another log. The jungle was swelteringly hot and a bead of sweat chased another down his spine. He’d seen it coming. As her protector, quasi guardian, and friend, he’d done everything he could to ignore it. But there was no stopping it. He’d watched Zara blossom over the last four years. He’d observed each gorgeous step in excruciating, painful detail.
And the Oracle was accusing him of not noticing? He’d wondered almost every night for the last four years why the hell he couldn’t stop noticing.
He couldn’t stop noticing because he was one sick fuck. Lusting after Zara, so many years his junior. Well, not really anymore. She was two weeks away from being mateable actually, and thus viewed in the Dragon realm as completely grown up. But still. Solar had known her since she was a child. Which was why he was one sick fuck for having the dream he’d had about her last night. And practically every night for the last four years.
He paused over the log he was about to lift. Last night’s had been particularly rep
rehensible. Particularly the part with her hands tied behind her back. Solar shook his head to clear the image and groaned when it shook his headache straight into life.
“Are you gonna help here? Or are you just gonna sit on your ass and gossip?” Solar growled at the Oracle. The Oracle’s laziness knew no bounds and neither did Solar’s frustration with him. As the two main leaders of the Surgere, a group of revolutionary freedom fighters seeking to depose the king, you’d think they would both be pretty motivated. But here Solar was, heaving logs in the jungle, half a mile out from their makeshift camp of 50 or so Surgeres, completely by himself.
The Oracle studied his fingernails, the clouds above, the tree he was leaning against. The heat from the surrounding jungle rose in misty curls around them. The trees were alive with the chatter of colorful birds and curious animals, but the Oracle’s words cut right through it all. “You know, I’m not really clear why you’re doing this yourself, Sol. You’re the head of the entire revolution and here you are, sorting logs. Why don’t you ask one of the younglings to do it? They’re chomping at the bit for a task. Particularly one assigned by the leader himself.”
Solar turned to the Oracle. He knew when he was being baited and Solar was pretty sure it had been happening for about the last hour. “First of all, you know you’re basically as much of a leader in this as I am, whether or not you want to face the responsibility. And I’m here, building up our camp with my own two hands because I believe in equality. Because I’m no better or higher than the youngest Surgere. Is that enough reason for you?”
“Of course that’s enough reason.” The Oracle’s eyes were clear and piercing. He was doing that spooky see-right-through-you thing that Solar hated so much. “But you’re lying. That’s not why you’re doing this and you know it.”
With that, the Oracle rose and sauntered off toward camp. “Let me know when you finally decide to face facts, bro.”
Solar turned back to the pile of logs he’d selected and heaved two over his shoulder. So what if the actual reason he was out here dragging lumber around was because once Zara became fertile and mateable she was gonna need her own private hut? And because Solar didn’t trust some young fuckhead to do it right. And because the idea of some other dragon shifter building her fertility hut for her made him want to rip the heads off of his comrades. The Surgere were his brothers and sisters. They’d been through literal battle together. They had fought and died for one another. They would sacrifice themselves for the cause of overthrowing King Dalyer and restoring peace and equality to the Dragon realm. But some of the younglings were starting to make moves toward Zara and it was making Solar want to burn their entire camp to the ground.
“Fucking Oracle.”
O had gotten Solar out of more jams than he cared to admit. In fact, he was the reason, undeniably, that the revolution against the king had even gotten this far. Everything from his day-to-day predictions and alterations to their plans, all the way down to his grand plot four years ago to topple the king’s bodyguard system to leave him unprotected. None of that would have been possible, even remotely, without the Oracle. And for that, Solar would always be deeply grateful.
The Oracle was a deeply powerful tool to have on one’s side.
But fuck if he wasn’t annoying as hell.
Solar knew, without question, that the Oracle knew what kinds of dreams and errant thoughts Solar had about Zara. Solar wasn’t quite sure how the Oracle’s gift really worked, but he had suspicions that O was even able to watch other people’s dreams. Like a play.
“Motherfucking Oracle,” Solar growled again as he dumped the logs he’d been carrying onto the ground in a little clearing set just far enough away from the camp.
“What did he do now?” Zara asked from over Solar’s shoulder. She melted out of the shadowy jungle like she was made of mist. Or fog. Or clouds. Or something. Solar never could pin it down exactly, but she moved so fluidly. And silently. She didn’t mean to, it was just who she was.
“Nothing. Just being supremely unhelpful. As usual.”
“I always thought that it was so funny that one of the most useful people in the realm could also be so terribly unhelpful,” Zara said softly, bending down to inspect the lumber he’d just tossed on the ground.
He’d just been thinking the same thing. That happened a lot with Zara. She’d give voice to something that had been on his mind. It bothered him. How did she do that?
She bent further and picked a small green lizard off of one of the logs. She laid her hand against a mossy tree beside her and let the lizard slither off into his new home. Solar ignored the twinge in his chest it gave him to watch her do that. She was always doing stuff like that. She was so sweet. So nurturing.
“So what’s all this for?” she asked, gesturing to the newly cleared area and the pile of logs.
Her question snapped him back to reality and he was grateful for that. Reality was where he didn’t get to dwell on her sweet softness. Reality was where he built her fertility hut that she would inevitably be using with a different man. He swallowed against the sour taste in his mouth.
“It’s for your hut.” His voice was gruffer and sharper than he might have liked it to be. A look of shock crossed her face.
“My hut? For- for-,” she stuttered but couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
He turned and faced her, crossing his arms over his chest. A monkey chattered somewhere in the surrounding trees and a cloud shifted, sending misty sun filtering through the trees. “For your 21st birthday. When you become mateable. You’ll move here indefinitely.”
“Is that really necessary?” Zara crossed her hands under her chin, her eyes wild as a small flush worked its way over her cheeks. She looked everywhere but at him. “I thought I could just go on living in the infirmary with the nurses. As always. I mean, nothing really will change, right?”
She was young. So young. And it was moments like these that
painfully yanked Solar’s leash back into place. She had no idea how much everything would change. She’d be able to mate now. Every unmated male in the camp would be excruciatingly aware of it. Of her. Of every movement she made. Until she chose one of them to mate with. Which she undoubtedly would. Not only was it just basic biology, but she was so soft, so sweet, she’d want a mate.
She deserved a mate, Solar reminded himself. She deserved someone who would take care of her and give her happiness. And pleasure. Something curled up in his stomach.
“Yes. This is necessary, Zara.” He stared her down and her eyes dropped to the jungle floor, followed two red butterflies flitting around one another. “You might not have been witness to a fertility season before, but you know enough to know that you’ll be in the way if we don’t sequester you.”
He watched the hurt flicker across her face. He knew that nothing would make her agree faster than telling her she was unwanted.
“So I have to be out here alone?” she asked, her voice small. “It’s so far from camp.”
She was afraid, he realized and could have kicked himself. He wanted her out of the way, sure. But he didn’t want her to be terrified out here.
“Zara,” he said and couldn’t help but move a little bit closer to her. “You know I’d never let anything happen to you. I’d never put you in harm’s way.”
Her eyes shot up to his and he couldn’t interpret the look on her face. He saw something there. Nerves. Hope. She was gathering herself to ask him something. It happened so rarely that she bothered him with anything. She had no idea that he would give her anything she asked for.
“Here you go, boss.”
The moment between Solar and Zara shattered as two young pledges, Rafael and Carlos, stomped into the clearing, carrying logs over their shoulders. The men dumped theirs in the pile with the ones that Solar had just dropped.
“What are you doing?” Solar kept his voice even. He wanted to snap, but his place as leader held him in check. He couldn’t go around scaring off all the yo
ung people who wanted to join up. The revolution needed them.
“The Oracle sent us. He said you needed a hand building Zara’s hut,” Rafael said, his eyes flickering in Zara’s direction.
Solar felt Zara shrink back into the trees, away from the men.
“He was wrong,” said Solar. “Head back to camp and see if the armory needs help with weapons maintenance.”
The two young pledges followed his directions immediately. But when Solar turned back, he found that Zara had gone as well. Not even a leaf quaked on its stem to show where her escape route had been.
CHAPTER TWO
Just breathe, Zara, she told herself. She followed her own directions and felt a tiny bit better, calmer. It was ridiculous to be so scared to talk to somebody she’d known practically since she was born.
Zara stood outside of Solar's hut. The moonlight turned her pale skin silver. The whole camp was silent. Sleeping. She knew she should be, too, and she’d tried. But it was no use. She had to talk to Solar. She had to get his promise. A promise that would mean everything to her. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't say yes. Well. She did. But she didn't want to do it.
She padded softly through the camp, past each hut that held her sleeping comrades. She slept in the infirmary, always had, because there was always an extra cot in there. And though she wasn’t a trained nurse, whenever someone was injured, they always seemed to want her around. She supposed she had a quiet, soothing way. She was glad she was quiet as she passed by all the darkened huts. Though each one was highly moveable, the nature of a temporary camp, they were also sturdy. There was the kitchen hut, where food for the Surgere was prepared. Then the armory. The war hut, where Solar, the Oracle, and Javi, their second-in-command, made decisions regarding the revolution. It was like a little village of revolutionaries. And for Zara, it was home. No matter where they camped. Over the last four years they’d camped in the mountains, on the beach, and finally in the jungle. She loved it here the best. The canopy always teemed with life, noise, colorful flowers, and dripping water. So different from the stony, silent palace where she’d been imprisoned for so long.