The Dragon's Slave

Chapter 9

 A heavy weight crashed down on me. I stumbled and tried to keep upright, but it was too much and I was forced to the ground. The ground rose up before me, I tumbled down the incline's far side and into a small, swampish clearing.

I smashed into the earth at the bottom, face down. My heart trying to climb up my throat. The flimsy sleeves of the crimson gown tore with the pressure and cool earth met my skin as my left breast broke free. Thankfully I had stopped sliding along the ground by then so that tender part suffered little damage. Damp rotting earth filled my vision and the heavy, sweet smell of dew and decay filled my nose.

At first I thought the wolf from the aerie had caught me. How he managed to get ahead of me on my path I didn't know. I reviewed quickly the sensitive parts of a man's body. Taught to me in order to maximize pleasure, but it would work just as well to inflict pain. The cock was the most obvious target, but there were others. If only he would let me move.

Then it registered. The source of heat that grew all along my back, everywhere pressure touched my skin.

A limb moved into view and I had the very odd experience of watching a heavy scaled foreleg become a man's arm.

Firestriker.

Both relief and disappointment overtook my emotions.

Firestriker's hand rested next to my face, the view tangled with my black locks which had flipped about my head as I fell. He propped himself up, his weight only enough to hold me down, keep me still. And he must have done so as a dragon as well, or I would be nothing more than a smash of Gayriel on the forest floor.

A breath puffed against the back of my neck, stirring the little hairs there.

"Never run from me," his voice had a strange quality to it, perhaps a result of having just been a different form.

I didn't answer. What would I say anyway? There was no point denying my attempt.

His chest rose and fell against my back, the skin there exposed as well from my fall.

My head hung. I was exhausted from pushing myself so far. And now, with my muscles cooling, and my skin damp from the river, the night's chill urged a shudder.

I waited his judgment. He must be deciding which punishment to use. My mind raced over all the possibilities, flogging, beating, maybe he would return me to the choosing house and demand his money back. Death...I truly hoped he didn't choose the last, though he had every right to.

"I smell blood, are you injured?"

Huh?

Cool air met my skin as he lifted himself from me and quickly rolled me over. And there he was; propped above me as though rising from an intimate embrace. His chest less than an arm's reach away, wings still present and spread from his back. Dark brows furrowed over his amber eyes, an almost concerned look. Until his gaze traveled my chest, and the exposed flesh there, then they twitched upward toward his dark locks of hair.

I raised my arm from my side, presenting my damaged fingers, the only source of injury I was aware of...unless one counted my hopes and my pride.

He frowned at the blood caked tips, grasping my fingers between his own and studying them intently. Twice his gaze slid from his inspection back to my naked breast.

"Our medic will know better what to do with these," he shook my fingers then looked up at my face. "Do you realize what a great risk you have taken? What danger you put yourself..the entire aerie in?"

And he was back to growling. I struggled with the rapid mood changes, unable to read what might happen next. One second he showed concern for my well-being the next he was angry enough to exact punishment.

"There are worse things than wolves and dragons in these woods."

"And those things are on the move, I sensed at least four just north of here, and more than one has graced this hill recently."

"Scet?" Firestriker twitched, dropping my fingers and raising himself to standing.

I would have pondered the presence of Scet, and the curious information he shared. But my thoughts arrested at the sight of Firestriker standing before me in his naked entirety.

The choosing house used many drawings, and sometimes even live models to teach the girls about the male anatomy, but none of that compared to what I saw. Lean ridges of muscle bunched into firm pectorals and a line of smaller bumps defined his stomach. Hips and thighs all flowed together creating a specimen far more appealing than anything the house had ever presented. Now I understood the giggles and whispers the other girls shared at night when we were to be asleep.

But his erection—did he walk around constantly aroused?—was not what I expected. Oh, it was long and wide, proportional to the man, from what I could tell, but its shape caught my gaze...and held it. The shaft seemed smooth along the bottom, but the top held several ridges that looked both firm and smooth at once. The head as well bulged to a larger proportion than I expected.

Part of the dragon?

Most likely, I acknowledged, and I tried not to find that...fascinating.

"What are you doing out here Scet?" Firestriker demanded, pacing the small clearing. His erection bobbed with each step.

Scet shrugged and leaned in a lazy fashion against a nearby tree. "The woman was running, you seemed possessive over her, I thought you might wish to know where she had gone."

"You did not think to deal with the invasion first?" Firestriker waved a hand toward the river, but I assumed he indicated the aerie somewhere in that direction.

"You know shifters will not interfere with an honor challenge."

"Maybe not, but someone let Kurath and his mongrels in, and that is strictly against orders."

Scet stood from his leaning position. "You are accusing me Dragon Lord?"

Firestriker did not answer, but if I read his posture correctly he was accusing Scet.

Scet growled. "You best be careful Firestriker, you are gathering enemies quickly. The old treaty might have subjected shifters to service of your kind, but times are changing. If you wish to survive them in one piece you will stop giving people reason to hate you."

Firestriker grunted eyeing Scet suspiciously. "I must get Gayriel back to the aerie."

"Be quick, the shadows moved off when you flew over, but I sense they return. It has been long since a human risked these woods and they are hungry."

Firestriker nodded and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Scet is right, we should hurry" he told me. "Besides, we are late."