Page 15

Jacy

Avery plunged his thick, hard cock into me. Spearing me, he spread me wide, his thrusts coming hard and fast. My face buried in his chest, my thighs clamped around his, I dug my fingers into his shoulders and fought my growing climax. Not yet, not yet, not yet.

In my mind’s eye, I saw us flying together, making love in mid-air, Avery plunging his dragon cock into me even as our wings and legs tangled together. Toward earth we plunged, falling from the sky, our bodies so firmly wrapped together one couldn’t discern whose leg or wing or neck belonged to whom.

The fantasy brought me gasping, orgasming hard, to reality. Avery drove in and out as I climaxed, my teeth biting into his flesh above his left nipple. My pussy spasmed and convulsed, carrying me to new heights of pleasure. He groaned as he came, his seed spurting deep into my womb, his thrusts hard, fast.

A quickie it may be, but oh, so pleasurable.

Collapsing on me, Avery breathed raggedly, his dick softening within my pussy. I held him to me, kissing and licking the sweat from his throat, my nails running up and down his spine.

Then Max’s nose split us apart as he licked both our faces, whining his happiness. Grumbling under his breath, Avery shoved him away. Sitting up, he closed his pants then lay against the sofa’s back with his eyes closed. I sat up, and tugged my panties on, dismissing my jeans.

I curled up against his ribs, his arms around me, as Max joined us on the couch. With a grunt and a sigh, he lay against me, then put his nose on his paws. And slept.

“He’s not getting much better,” I murmured, caressing his ears. “He’s got PTSD.”

“I know,” Avery rumbled. “But I doubt this town has doggy counseling.”

“There has to be something we can do,” I murmured. “War dogs come home with PTSD.”

He kissed my brow. “I’m sure you can find a way to bring him back.”

“I hope so.”

***

I killed a human being. Max isn’t the only one with PTSD.

Days passed since the night I killed a would-be killer and discovered my true self. Avery worked to bring in the money to keep us afloat, Declan happily learned to read, and I studied up on the mystery of dragons.

Throughout human lore, dragons played a part. They created legends around us, myths, stories. Later, we became either heroes or villains in stories and movies. For example, Smaug, the gold hoarding dragon in Tolkien’s The Hobbit, was a bad dude . While I never craved to sleep for sixty years on a mound of gold, I wondered if that story might have a basis in fact.

“A gold loving, hoarding dragon who took what he could, killed interlopers, and defended his hoard. Sounds like a dragon to me.”

Declan poo-pooed the notion. “Dragons don’t want gold, Jacy. They want love.”

I chuckled as I hugged him. “I sure love you, kiddo.”

“Love you, too, Jacy.”

His brush with death didn’t seem to have affected him at all. Perhaps because he’d been semi-conscious after the crash and simply didn’t remember much. Or, being a dragon, he could brush off emotional trauma as he might have a slight cold. I had a great deal to learn about dragons.

Which of my parents, or both, was a dragon?

My father died just a few months ago. I never knew my mother. She died of an unknown cause not long after I’d been born. If my father was dragon kind, why didn’t he tell me? Obviously, if my mother was, she couldn’t have passed on her knowledge as well as her birthright to her daughter, me. She died before she could.

I lay in the darkness beside Avery and wondered about my sibling.

Was he a dragon, too? Does he share my blood? Does he know he’s a dragon?

I had no answers to these questions. But they kept me awake at night.

***

Though I’d learned much about being a dragon that fateful night, Avery taught me far more. With Declan at home, watched over by a neighbor girl, Avery took me flying. He taught me how to dive with my wings folded, like a hawk on a mouse, how to soar on the wind with my wings wide, how to control my flames.

“There’s nothing on this earth hotter than dragon fire,” he said as we flew, wingtip to wingtip. “That dope head I burned – well, there’s nothing left of him. The human authorities couldn’t accuse me of murder as they have no body, and no evidence any crime may have been committed.”

“So the dude I burned, there’s nothing left of him, either?”

“Nope. The truck became a mound of slag, nothing tying the fire to a dragon.”

I banked a hard left, followed closely by Avery. “But won’t the authorities question why that truck fire was so hot?”

“Sure,” he replied. “They question. And have no answers.”

“How many humans know about us?” I asked.

“That’s hard to say. Some do. Obviously, they keep quiet about it. We don’t make waves, don’t make the news cycles. That way, it’s easier to ignore us.”

We flew back to the empty field to land, then shifted into our human forms. Hand in hand, we ambled through the icy darkness, talking of this and that. We reached home at nearly two in the morning to discover Declan asleep in his bed and the babysitter dozing on the couch. She woke and accepted Avery’s cash sleepily. He saw her out while I poured wine for us both.

Returning to the TV room, Avery plucked his cell from the table, then sat beside me.

“Isn’t it rather late for making a phone call?” I asked, then yawned.

“I’m expecting an e-mail from the Atlanta guys.” Avery bent to kiss me. “I’ll be with you in a second.”

Luxuriating in the memories of flying, I sipped my wine while daydreaming of more flights to come. His cell in his hand, gazing at it, Avery suddenly sucked in his breath. Sharply. In alarm.

“What?” I asked.

His brows furrowed, Avery met my eyes. “I’ve been summoned by the council. They’re going to try me for what I’ve done.”

***

Avery seized my hand. “Let’s run away.”

I glanced toward the TV room where Declan played with his toy dinosaurs while Peter and Wendy batted them with their paws. He’d obviously sensed the fresh tension since Avery’s e-mail two days earlier and had been subdued. Yet, at that moment his voice sounded happy, without care.

“Maybe we should just face them,” I said, my voice low. “Get it done and over with.”

“If they banish me,” he said, both his tone and expression strained, “I won’t have a chance to escape. They’ll have dragons ready to land on me, force me to Iceland.”

Since he’d received the e-mail, Avery had spoken very little, and only when spoken to. I, too, stressed over what might happen if or when Avery obeyed the summons. Neither of us had slept much since, and I’d grown tired and cranky.

I sat in his lap and slid my arms around his neck. “And we keep running? For the rest of our lives? What might that do to Declan?”

He grimaced. “We’ll fly to a remote place, an island maybe. They’ll never find us.”

I smiled sadly. “And how can we survive? On fish and coconuts? What about earning money to pay for supplies? You, or I, need the internet to work, make a living. Sure, we can find a place in another country, change our names. Then what if they find us again?”

Avery nodded slowly, rested his brow against mine. “I’m scared, Jacy.”

“I know, I’m scared, too.”

“One of the members of the council has it in for me,” he went on. “Ian. I defied him not long ago. He’ll make damn sure I’m exiled. I can’t let him take you and Declan from me.”

“I’ll stand at your side, my love,” I whispered. “If they take you, they take me. And Declan.”

He uttered a soft moan of grief and muttered thickly, “No.”

“There’s always the chance the council will see your side,” I went on. “I’ll certainly plead for mercy on your behalf.”

“And if they don’t listen?”

“I’ll bitch slap them into next week.”

Choking on a laugh, Avery hugged me tightly. “I love you.”

“Why, what a coincidence. Happens I love you, too.”

He held me for a while longer, then pushed me upright, sniffing as though fighting tears. “We don’t deserve you.”

“Sure you do. Look, I need to get some things from the store. You’ll watch Declan?”

“Um, yeah. It is sorta my job as his dad.”

“It’s my job now.” I kissed him briefly. “Car keys?”

The insurance company paid for a rental while they evaluated the damage to Avery’s car and its worth. Avery leaned back to pull the smart key from his jeans pocket, then his credit card from his wallet. “Will you stop at the liquor store for wine?”

“Lush.” I kissed him. “Be back soon.”

The trip to both stores took only minutes in the small town. I rolled the buggy up and down the grocery aisles, selecting items we needed. Milk, eggs, bacon, beans, coffee. I pondered the merits of two different brands of coffee when his voice spoke from behind me.

“Hello, Jacy.”

I straightened and turned slowly to face him. “Carter.”

He smiled down at me from his six three height, his red-gold hair tumbling over his brow. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Not from where I stand.”

I didn’t flinch as he plucked a tendril of my hair and rubbed it between his finger and thumb. “Look, we should talk.”

“No, thanks.”

“Come on,” he said, half pleading. “We can work this out.”

“Not when you send your goons to kill me.”

“They’re just supposed to scare you.”

I smiled, but not with amusement. Carter blinked. I’m sure he expected me to cower and beg for his mercy, tell him everything he wanted to hear. I’ll never say anything, I swear. You’re safe from the cops, the feds, I don’t know anything, I never saw anything. My fresh dragon confidence gave me the courage to face him down as equals.

“James never reported back,” he said slowly. “He’s vanished, it seems. Did you take him out somehow?”

I glanced around, then stepped toward him. “I did. And I’ll take you out the same way. Leave, Carter. Just walk out of this store, this town. Run your gang, do your thing. Forget me. Or just maybe you’ll vanish, too.”

“Is that a threat I hear?”

“You bet your boots it’s a threat. It’s also a promise.”

He licked his lips, a sure sign my words struck a chord. “You don’t have what it takes.”

“Go ahead.” I shrugged. “Underestimate me. It’ll make killing you so much easier.”

Uncertainty filled his eyes, thinned his lips. “What did you do to James?”

“You don’t want to know. If you do crave the intel, then just continue to hassle me. I swear you’ll wish you’d just walked away.”

I made a small gesture toward the gun concealed under his jean jacket. “You can shoot me now and have everyone in this store memorizing your face. You’ll be caught before you can leave the state.”

Carter nodded thoughtfully. “That’s possible.”

“So you won’t shoot me now. Instead, you’ll try to find where I’m living, and stalk me, kill me under the cover of darkness.” I smiled. “Good luck with that.”

After studying my face for several moments, Carter turned and walked away.

***

As I believed Carter was no longer a problem, I decided not to inform Avery of the encounter. He had enough stress on his mind at the moment. I don’t need to add to them when Carter is a done deal. As I put groceries away, Avery slid his arms around me from behind and kissed my throat.

“We leave in the morning.”