Chapter Twenty-Six
Galen
Adulting was hard. Every night for the first week after we returned home, I fell into bed too exhausted to give Mac more than a kiss goodnight and a gentle caress of his shoulder before taking my dragon form and falling into dreamless sleep.
After so many months of staying in my alpha kobold form, I craved my dragon, especially while I slept. Our bed was a giant round mattress set into the floor of our new space. It felt like sleeping on a cloud, which didn't make it any easier to get up in the morning.
Hunting bovinji was easiest at first light. When they woke, they headed for the nearest water source, and that's where they met me. The stream flowing down the side of my mountain joined another stream at its base. I did my best hunting at the water's edge.
Mac butchered my daily kills, giving all the best parts to Slate. I finished the rest and left meat on the bones for Rapture. I still didn't understand the dragonet's pull toward our daughter, but I welcomed it the same way I welcomed him into our home.
We even made him a giant bed like the ones Mac showed me for dogs on Earth. Rapture was the size of a van, not a dog, but he could tuck himself into a tiny enough ball to fit in the corner of the entryway, and his trilling alerted us to all visitors, even the birds who swooped in and out.
Mac and Opal ate their strange blend of human and kobold food. Opal was already showing signs of her second molt, and her vocabulary grew every day. She spoke for Slate, too. They still had their own method of communicating beyond what we could hear.
Mac's magic was potent enough to pull meals from the fortress now, which meant we hadn't left the cave since we arrived home. All that was going to change today.
After breakfast, Mac strapped the children and himself into my new family-sized harness. I blanketed them with a spell to keep them from falling off, though with the harness we probably didn't need it, and then I scrabbled onto the landing.
Rapture followed me into the air and landed beside me in the dragon pavilion. Sunny and his brothers greeted the dragonet, and Lark helped Slate and Opal off my back before Mac slid down my side, giving me room to transform into an alpha kobold.
"I still can't get used to that," Tuft said behind me. "Do all dragons shapeshift?"
"Only adult dragons." I turned and held my arms wide for a hug. "I prefer this to bumping you with my snout."
"So do I," Punky said. "Last time, you left bruises."
"Hush," Lark said. "That was months ago."
Tuft grinned up at me before passing me off to the rest of our friends for hugs. As we greeted everyone, I noticed Clementine had already grabbed both of Opal's hands in greeting. They danced and squealed the same way they had when Lark had brought Clementine to meet her earlier in the week. Then, they motioned for Slate to follow them to a group of kids kicking a large red ball between them.
"Come on! I want you to meet everyone. This is Grover, Ernie, and Robin, my brothers. You know Sunny. Briar and Rory are his brothers."
Punky nodded after them as they scampered back to the ball and formed a circle to play. "We're having a sleepover in the living room tonight. Clementine's idea."
We were taking Punky and Lark up on their offer to babysit for the rest of the day and tonight. They'd invited us to have breakfast with them at their cabin the following morning, and then we would return home when they left for school, the adults to teach and the children to learn.
It wouldn't be long before we would send Opal with them to class, but I wanted to keep her home one more week. Tonight was a test to see how well she did with Slate as her only dragon companion. My paragon was certain her bond with Rapture would protect her, but I didn't want to trust my daughter's life to the little dragonet without testing first.
Tonight was our first test. It was also the first night Mac and I could enjoy each other's company, alone.
When it was time for us to leave them, I felt useful again, if only as a means of transport. I shifted to dragon form and took Mac home. It felt like the old days until I shifted back into my alpha kobold form.
I worried our time alone would devolve to the awkward dance we'd done around each other before our trip to Earth, but Mac surprised me by pulling me in for a kiss in the entryway.
"I've missed you."
"I'm here." I wanted to remind him I'd been here the whole time, but I knew what he meant. Parenting took a lot out of us, and we didn't have much left in reserve for each other. That was about to change tonight.
"I love your horns." Mac straightened my shock of hair, so my horns contained it, and then he gripped both with his hands. The sensation grounded me as only Mac could. I thrust against him on instinct, and he kissed me again.
"Gods, I love you," I whispered against his lips.
He laughed and stepped toward our bedroom. Though our doorway was closest to the entrance, it was still too far away.
It was quiet. Too quiet without the children. I stumbled, but Mac caught me and grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.
"They're safe with our friends," he reminded me.
"Can you finally read my mind?"
"If you were paying attention," Mac chided, "you would know we were thinking the same thing."
"No more distractions," I promised.
"Take me to bed," he said. "Show me why dragons make the best mates."
"It's my knot, isn't it?"
Mac laughed and latched onto my hands, prying them from his hips and leading me to our bedroom. "It's everything."
In the middle of our bed lay two forgotten items from our trip to Earth. My derby hat sat next to the firm silicone cup for my cock and ovipositor. I frowned at Mac. "What's all this?"
Mac shed his clothes and kneeled on the bed, with his ass up, showing me a purple base spreading his hole wide. The color indicated the thickest plug of the three he'd bought at the sex shop.
"I've been using the plugs to stretch," he said. "I want you to insert both your cock and ovipositor in my hole tonight, and I want you to wear your sexy derby hat while you drive us both out of our minds."
The saying didn't make much sense to me. I didn't know how to drive, for one, and no one wanted to be out of their mind, unless … "Do you mean you want me to make passionate love to you until you pass out?"
Mac swayed from side to side, making the plug wiggle. "Gods, yes. Please."
I dropped to my knees behind him and spelled my clothes back to the wash pile in one motion. Mac swayed his hips again. I followed with my tongue, lapping at his rim where it sealed against the silicone.
Mac wriggled and moaned as I worked the plug out of him, continuing to lick his rim as it tightened around the widest part of the plug. Then, the plug was loose, and I removed it to continue what I'd started, getting Mac wet and sloppy for me.
"Oh, fuck," Mac moaned when I cheated and tagged his prostate with my tongue. Alpha kobold tongues weren't long enough to do it, but I had a lot to work with between kobold and dragon size, and I used it to my advantage. I made my tongue as thick as the plug, and thicker. The cup to hold my cock and ovipositor was larger than the plug, and I wanted Mac to be comfortable.
"I didn't know you could do all that with your tongue," Mac muttered. "Maybe your cock isn't your best body part."
I wiggled the tip of my tongue against his prostate, making him squirm, and then I sat back and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
"Take it back," I said. "My tongue can't knot you."
"Right." He flashed a grin over his shoulder, and something cool and tight slipped around my erection and ovipositor, squeezing them together in a way that felt weird but good.
"Too tight?" he asked.
"No, just strange." I ran my hand over the sleeve, marveling at how much I could feel through the material. "Oh wow. That's going to feel so good when I'm inside you."
Mac flipped onto his back and brought his knees to his chest, spreading his hole wide for me. His eyes dilated with lust as he watched me stroke myself. "You'll have to take it off before you knot, or you'll break it."
I could repair it with magic, but the thought of smashing my ovipositor against Mac's insides with my knot was enough to agree.
"I'm ready for you." Mac planted his feet on the mattress and lifted his ass in the air.
"Not yet." I found the lube bottle under his pillow and smeared the slick stuff over the sleeve. The material took far less lube to prepare. With the excess on four blunted fingers, I slicked Mac's entrance until he whined. "Please, Galen."
I crawled into position between his knees, but he stopped me when the strange fake tip pressed against his entrance. "You forgot your hat."
"I did." With a quick spell, I fitted the hat between my horns with the little horses jostling for position beneath them. I adjusted the rim with my non-slicked hand until Mac gave a low whistle of approval.
"On your marks," Mac teased.
I pressed against him until the flare of the silicone fit against his entrance.
"Get set."
I almost let loose a rumble of laughter, but I contained it, releasing only a tiny curl of smoke from my nostrils.
"Go."
I pressed into Mac's tight warmth. I couldn't contain my laughter at his silliness, and he joined in with a snicker. The silicone heated from his body heat, and our laughter cut off abruptly when I bottomed out inside him with a moan.
"You feel so good," I said.
"How is your ovipositor? Cramped?"
"It's a tight fit, but it feels too good to care." It was suctioned to the side of the sleeve and each of Mac's adjustments beneath me sent ripples of sensation all the way to my balls.
"Good." Mac arched his back to take even more of me. Sweat beaded his brow above his scales, but his beautiful smile said it all. He wanted this. Needed this. We both did.
"Are you ready for me to move?" I asked.
"Gods, yes." He wrapped his legs around my back and tugged me forward. I landed hard on one elbow, careful to keep from crushing him. Thankfully, my horns held my hat firmly in place, though one of the feathers tried to escape. Mac tucked it back into the hatband.
"Now, please?" He caressed my cheek. I followed him down, kissing him as I dragged my torso over his leaking cock. He gasped when I rolled my hips, using the sleeve's girth to my advantage. I didn't want to risk pulling all the way out and possibly hurting him.
With each circle of my hips, I pulled out a little further. Mac drew me back with his heels on each downward thrust, raising up to meet me and rubbing his cock along my abs. He was so gorgeous with his eyes closed and his neck arched back. I was already close, but I shoved my desire away, focusing instead on his pleasure.
With my elbow for leverage, I cradled his head in my hand and took his cock in the other, still slick with lube.
He whimpered. "So close, Galen."
"Come for me, baby."
I'd never understood the strange pet name Mac's favorite movie character had for his rival-turned-lover, but the command had Mac shooting over my hand and shouting my name. I stroked him through his tremors, drinking in his bliss with my gaze.
I pulled out and removed the sleeve, the insides of it now slick with my precome. I slid my cock back inside Mac with one smooth motion, and he clenched around me while his legs flopped to either side of my thighs.
That wouldn't do. I would end up hurting him. I pulled back out and flipped him over with my dragon strength, careful to prop his chest and his hips on pillows so I wouldn't hurt him.
"This okay?" I asked.
"Gods, yes." He glanced over his shoulder at me with the heavily lidded gaze of a sated partner who was almost fucked out but still wanted more. "Please?"
How could I resist? I flattened myself between his legs, hands at his hips to guide myself into his tight heat again. We both moaned at our complete connection. With long, smooth strokes, I brought myself back to the edge.
Mac rallied his strength and rose up to meet me with each thrust. His grunts of pleasure and the slap of our flesh took me over the edge into bliss. I collapsed on top of him, shifting us to the side so he wouldn't suffocate as I kissed and licked the mark on his neck.
"Mine."
"Yours." He wriggled against me as my knot formed. "Gods, yes. So much yours. I love you."
"You love my knot, you mean."
"Same thing," he teased.
I rocked against him, working my knot against his prostate. Satisfied I was in the right place, I took his cock in hand again, stroking him in time with my undulations.
He reached up, and I feared for my hat, sending it back to its special box in the closet with a spell. Mac's hand curled around my horn, tugging my head down to the mark on his neck again. I bit down gently over the mark, enough to sting but not enough to draw blood.
Mac came again with a hoarse cry, and his channel squeezed around my knot.
"Come with me, Mate."
Mate. Gods. That word did it for me, just like baby for Mac. I came so hard I saw stars behind my eyelids. I sucked on the mark on Mac's neck hard enough to leave a bruise.
"Gods, I love you," Mac whispered.
"I love you, too. So much. Mate."
Mac chuffed a laugh and snuggled closer. "Hey, now. That sounds like you're looking for round two. Or is it round three?"
"We have all night," I reminded him.
"We have more than that," he said. "We have the rest of our lives."
Gods, I loved him so much. Even his corniest lines made my eyes sting.
"That we do."