Dragon Born 1: The Shifter's Hoard

by Dante King

  I buried my cock as hard and deep inside of her as I could, and we began to fuck. Soojin might have been twice Carli’s age, but she was no slouch in the athletic department. The way she rocked her hips, lifting them to get me even deeper into her velvet tightness as her ankles pressed into my lower back—fuck. It felt fucking amazing!

  She sat up, her tits against my chest as she hugged me tight. Her hips ground in a slow circle around the head of my cock, like an alchemist trying to grind the philosopher’s stone into a fine powder.

  We made out hot and heavy as she treated my dick like gold, her teeth biting down on my lip like she couldn’t contain her need for me.

  “You’re such a good boy,” she purred, her nails digging into my back. “I think you can fuck me a little bit harder than that, can’t you? Don’t I deserve that?”

  I eagerly complied, thrusting between her hips with the kind of force that would have ripped lesser women in half.

  Soojin tossed her head back and let out a throaty moan. “Oh yes, that’s a good boy,” she groaned, her walls quivering around me as I went deep. “Yes, fuck me hard and deep! God, I haven’t had a strapping young man between my legs in ages! You’re so good at that, Derek—you’re so hard! So thick! You’re such a fucking man!”

  I lost my rhythm and just started pounding her like a caveman. Thick, guttural moans escaped my throat as I buried my face between Soojin’s tits, fucking her harder than I’d ever dared.

  “That’s right, let it all out,” Soojin whimpered, her voice so soothing and sweet that I could have cried. “I’m right here, baby—I’m right here with you! Cum inside me, baby, let all of it out! I’m going to cum right along with you, I’m cumming… oh Derek… oh Alpha… oh, Mommy’s gonna cum…”

  One more hard thrust, and I let myself go.

  As Soojin’s cries of passion rose to a fever pitch, the both of us climaxed simultaneously.

  Carli crawled beneath the table as release washed over us, adding her tongue to the pleasure as juice dripped all over the carpet. A wave of bliss washed over me, ripping away my senses as every drop inside my balls drained inside of Soojin.

  Her words didn’t even make sense anymore, but it didn’t matter. Her whimpers and sighs felt like home, like the sweetest coaxing I’d ever need. I held her close as the two of us writhed through our bliss, becoming one flesh.

  And as the pleasure began to ebb, something strange grew in my head.

  It was like the episode in Mom’s condo, almost. When I’d watched that shifter try to choke the life out of Soojin, new knowledge had blossomed in my brain—and now, a gentler revolution was taking place. There was something I could do, some technique my body had just learned. Even if my memory wasn’t capable of focusing on it, I knew I could activate it whenever it was needed.

  As I came down from my peak, Carli’s words about ‘Anatomical Forms’ came back to me. Dimly, I wondered if having my first full sexual experience with Soojin had unlocked a new one for me. Guess I’d find out eventually.

  All three of us splayed across the conference table, our clothes forgotten. Soojin nibbled her bottom lip like a woman in love as she threw an arm over me, welcoming me into a Soojin-Carli sandwich.

  With Soojin’s breasts in my face and Carli’s gorgeous body pressed against my back, I felt like I’d been transported straight to heaven. The Council of Wand & Claw had nothing on this.

  I don’t know how long I’d been lying in both women’s arms when the door opened.

  Instantly, I sprang to my feet, moving on muscle memory in response to a threat. The figure who’d just entered the conference room paused, shocked to find a naked man with two beautiful women lounging in the room he’d just stepped into.

  “What the fuck is this?” the figure growled, his fingers clenching into a fist. “I was told this room was unoccupied!”

  I relaxed. Clearly there’d just been some kind of misunderstanding. “Sorry, buddy,” I said, hands on my hips. “My girls and I were just looking for a quiet room to throw a little afterparty in. You know how it is. We’ll get out of your hair—”

  Two more figures entered the room.

  The group triggered some instinct that up until now had laid dormant in my brain. Only now did I notice the way their silhouettes looked only vaguely human. I tensed up, and behind me I heard a squeal as Soojin slid off the table and began searching for the remains of her dress and panties.

  “Or not,” I finished, staring down the three shadowed forms on the other end of the room. “What is this, some kind of shakedown?”

  When the lead figure spoke, there was a note in his voice that hadn’t been there before. “You’re the new clan leader,” he grunted. “Sinclair. The mage bitch’s boy.”

  “I’m no bitch boy,” I grinned, shaking my head. The strange power I’d felt in the back of my mind when I climaxed with Soojin came back with a vengeance. I didn’t understand it, but suddenly I felt sure that despite the odds, I could make these assholes regret ever walking in on me and my girls.

  “Whatever,” the man rumbled. He took another step forward, the light from the city skyline illuminating his face. I took a reflexive step back, shocked by what I saw.

  The newcomer was a shifter, alright—with the head and arms of a bear.

  “Morgan, Eric, let’s do things old school,” the shifter said, crossing his arms across his chest as he gestured toward his flunkies. Both of them looked just as vicious as their boss—if not more so. “Take out the Alpha, and we get his spoils. He’s a newbie, so there’ll be none of the baggage. Don’t fuck with the hotties, though. They’ll be mine when we’re done.”

  “You lay a hand on me, and I’ll cut it off,” Carli growled, her voice sounding like the roar of a tigress.

  No. That felt wrong somehow. The power inside of me—it wanted to be free. As if using it would be the final test that sealed it and made it mine.

  “Both of you stand back,” I said, gesturing for Soojin and Carli to stay near the window. “I’ll handle this, don’t worry.”

  They were worried, of course. But my words soothed them—and they respected me far too much to argue in front of our enemies. Both women fell silent, waiting for the fight to begin.

  “Maybe we should capture him,” one of the flunkies said, cocking his head to the side. “He’s supposed to be a Dragon shifter, right? He might be worth even more than that thunderbird bitch—”

  “Shut the fuck up about that, Eric!” the second flunky yelled, slapping his partner on the head. That must be Morgan, I thought with a chuckle. Idiots. But fighters, for sure.

  “You talking about Tallulah Binasi?” I asked, teasing the men. “My girl with the cat tail’s a big fan of hers. I was hoping to get her autograph later. I hope nothing’s happened to her…”

  “You might find out sooner than you think,” the boss said, moving to block the door to the conference room. That was fine by me—he didn’t want anyone getting in, and I didn’t want anyone getting out. “Go at him, boys. Don’t hold anything back. Like I said, we’re doing it old school. Take out the Alpha, get his prizes.”

  “We won’t be holding back, boss,” they growled in unison.

  I could already feel the power burning beneath my skin.

  “And neither will I,” I said as the flames took hold.

  The two bear shifters charged forward, their full animal forms ripping their fancy outfits to shreds.

  I stared them down.

  And at the last possible moment, the room lit up as my power exploded.

  Chapter 22

  I transformed into the Dragon.

  I’d achieved bits and pieces of this transformation before—in Mom’s condo, or when I’d been threatened back in the Council chamber—but never before had the fires of rage burned so pure within me, or so strong. Flames rippled across my skin, heating it but never burning as the power took hold. My body began to transform almost instantly, becoming larger and stronger as the form of the Dragon flowed th
rough my veins. My fingernails lengthened to jet-black claws, red scales spread to cover my body like armor, and my head turned draconic and savage. I even grew small leathery wings that, I somehow knew, were capable of very short bursts of flight.

  With a glance down, I realized everything had gotten bigger. My shaft now hung almost all the way to my knees, with ridges of cartilage around it I just knew would drive any woman lucky enough to get fucked in this form absolutely wild. Behind me, Soojin and Carli let out squeals of shocked delight at the sight of the new me.

  “Holy shit,” Carli whispered, covering her naked body as best as she could with the remnants of her dress. “The Dragon Sigil. Derek, you learned a new form…”

  “Yeah, I have,” I growled. My voice sounded barely recognizable to my own ears, more beast than man. “I’m looking forward to using it.”

  The two thugs shared a look so comical I nearly broke out laughing. I could practically hear their thoughts: this was way above the paygrade of two flunkies. Why did they have to be here?

  Both of them turned as if to flee, but their Boss at the door stood firm.

  “What are you looking at?” the head bear shifter snarled, letting out a roar of challenge. “Kill the fucker!”

  With a shrug, both charged into the fray. Their bodies rippled with fur-covered muscle, their silhouettes becoming more and more ursine with every step. One moved to my left, the other to my right, taking a route around the massive conference table rather than smash it to cinders by going through the middle. An admirable attempt to flank me—and one that would have worked, were I still in my human form.

  As the Dragon, though? They didn’t have a chance.

  I figured they knew it, too. Reluctance shone in the two bear shifters’ eyes as they came at me from either side, trying to overwhelm me with sheer, brutal inertia. I sprang at the one on the left, claws extended as I raked across the side of the bear’s flank. It let out a roar and the other quickened its pace, hoping to take me from behind.

  I waited until I could practically feel its fur against my back before I launched myself into the air. I might have been larger in my dragon form, more muscular even than the most disciplined human bodybuilder, but I was lithe and fast as a snake. The two shifters collided with each other, going down in a hail of fur and teeth.

  “Get out of the way!” I roared, gesturing for Carli and Soojin to run. The two of them had stayed where they were, looking for what remained of their clothes. How stupid of them, my dragon form thought. Don’t they realize I own them?

  Human me wouldn’t have thought about it in those terms, but as a beast, I had no such compunctions. Everything was simpler. Sex, blood, and dominance.

  I’d had the first, and now it was time for the second and the third.

  I landed on the second shifter with a roar, flames spilling from my open mouth. Liquid napalm covered the bear shifter’s back, filling the conference room with the sickening scent of burning fur. Pinned beneath his fellow, the first shifter could do nothing but scream helplessly as he watched his associate burn to death beneath tongues of dragon’s flame. Harsh laughter erupted from my throat as I poured more flame into the conference room, doing my best to roast the massive bulk of the bear.

  The burning shifter gave a great heave and expired, turning to dead weight above his pinned friend. With a savage grunt, I grabbed his still burning body and shoved it, slamming it so hard to the side that it crashed through the window of the conference room and sailed out into the night.

  I’d probably weakened the structure of the window somewhat by fucking Carli against it, but still—god damn! Raw power flowed through my veins, more than I ever dared to be in control of. It felt amazing—almost as amazing as the look of utter dismay that filled the first shifter’s ursine face as I loomed over him.

  “You should have never fucked with me,” I roared through my draconic jaw. “Now tell me—what the fuck did your clan do with the thunderbird?”

  When he didn’t answer, I slammed my clawed hand into his chest. None of my nails dug deep enough to pierce his heart, but they each left deep puncture wounds that bled like fountains. The shifter’s face contorted in animal pain, his legs kicking out as he tried desperately to throw me off balance.

  “I can do this all night,” I growled. A boast, to be sure—but I hadn’t felt the Dragon Sigil begin to ebb yet. This form held so much more power than my partial transformation—a staggeringly large amount. “You want to burn to death, or you want to get ripped apart like the Crescent Clan? Up to you, pal—”

  A scream of warning from Carli alerted me to the attacker behind me just in time. The boss of the bear shifters had snuck up on me while I interrogated his flunky, and had just launched a sucker-punch at the side of my head. I couldn’t stop him, but I managed to deflect the blow just enough to avoid its full power.

  As I spun, I spit a ball of flame into the face of the shifter laying on the ground. The man was good as dead—he tried to stop drop and roll, the way he’d probably learned in school, but his efforts sent him to the edge of the broken window and then over. I didn’t have time to savor his stupidity—I was already turning my attention to the Boss, who had murder in his eyes.

  “Those were two of my best men,” the bear growled, his body expanding with power.

  “If those were the best you’ve got,” I said, glancing back at the broken window, “then your clan is in serious trouble.”

  He didn’t like that remark one bit. With blood in his eyes, the bear shifter charged, reaching out for me with paws the size of meat hooks.

  Every instinct of the old Derek told me to run—to fly to another side of the room, or jump onto the conference table, or do anything to get leverage on the massive bear shifter. Instead, I stood there smirking, my draconic form standing tall as the bear’s bulk closed.

  He slammed into me, and the grappling began.

  The shifter forced me onto my back, intent on pinning me to the ground and negating the advantage of my superior movement. As we rolled, I kept the momentum going, throwing all my weight into forcing him to overshoot the move. For a sickening, heart-stopping moment, I was on my back with his full weight over me—then we kept rolling, freeing me from the hold.

  I sprang to the side, leaving a slash across the shifter’s chest for good measure. It wasn’t deep enough to do much more than piss him off, but that was fine. I wanted him pissed off.

  Carli and Soojin had managed to mostly dress themselves while the shifters and I fought. Now the two of them moved to jump into the fray, each embracing their animalistic forms as they sought to help me out. A werecat and a werewolf. I threw out a hand, holding them back.

  “Don’t you dare!” I growled, the words twisting to make me sound like some kind of bad guy from Lord of the Rings. “Stay back, both of you. This is between me and him, man to man. Shifter to shifter.”

  They didn’t like it, but they accepted it. They could sense, just like I did, that this was something I needed to do all by myself. As the Alpha of our clan, the duty of crushing assholes who tried to harm us fell to me, and me alone.

  So both Soojin and Carli fell back, slipping into their human forms—save for Carli’s ears and tail—as the bear and I clashed. The shifter kept trying to use his weight as a fulcrum to pin me, but my superior movement and slippery nature kept turning it against him, forcing him to eat his own momentum over and over again.

  At the same time, I couldn’t seem to land a substantial hit. My claws, so lethal when used against the lesser shifters, seemed capable of little more than leaving surface wounds across the beast’s fur. I figured that he was their clan’s Alpha, which probably gave him additional powers and durability.

  I needed to get some distance on him to spit a gout of flame in his eyes, but the shifter understood that need even better than I did. He kept the two of us close, never allowing me the space I needed.

  Step by step we made our way across the conference room. The table shattered to dus
t beneath one of the bear’s thrusts, splintering down the middle with a sickening crack. I moved in a low, long circle again and again, dancing just out of reach of those mammoth paws.

  One good hit and it would be over for me, despite the powers of the Dragon.

  He knows my fucking weaknesses, I realized, slipping a leg lock. And he’s trying his damndest to use them against me!

  This was a harsh lesson, but a good first one to learn. Against a crowd of uninformed, uneducated shifters, or human soldiers, my dragon form would be nigh on unstoppable. But one shifter of sufficient power with the knowledge of how to exploit the things dragon form didn’t cover could give me a real run for my money.

  All in all, it made me want to defeat this prick even more.

  The bear’s strikes grew increasingly desperate as we circled each other. None of the hits I’d landed on him were enough to take him out of the game, but together they added up to enough pain to weaken him and make him angry. Blood poured down his fur from a dozen wounds, and I was suddenly glad I’d been naked when these shifters decided to attack.

  The bear grabbed the very same chair Soojin had been fingering herself in and tossed it at me. I raised my claws to block, and the bear got in under my guard as the chair tipped over and went out the window. He shoved me backward, nearly sending me over the edge along with it. Broken glass dug into my lower back as I writhed, both of us right next to a killer drop.

  Over the blood surging in my ears, I could hear Soojin and Carli screaming. My ability to take wing for short periods made me more agile, I knew, but somehow I also knew that power wouldn’t be enough to save me if I fell and hit terminal velocity. This form couldn’t take flight in that way. And the bear shifter knew it, too.

  With a savage grin, he ground my back into the glass, trying his best to weaken me enough to throw over.

  I did the only thing I could think of to do.

  I cast a spell. I encased my teeth with metal, and they became like tiny daggers in my mouth.