Secrets in Smoke by Ashe Moon
8
Thomas
Another day without success,and an embarrassing level of mediocrity in my throws. I was improving, but so slowly and inconsistently that I knew I couldn’t trust myself to be reliable in a real fire situation. My head was in a flurry of self-doubt, and all I wanted to do was prove myself to Rainor—but every failed attempt just made the weight lie greater on my shoulders. I couldn’t let it go. Even after what he’d told me, that he respected me, I couldn’t let it all go.
The problem was that, even though I knew he was being sincere with me, there was still something in my mind that refused to believe it was true. It was a nagging voice that said there was no possible way he could truly respect me. So, once again, I cut training short with the excuse that there was important work to be done around the town.
“You’re free to join me,” I told him and was quietly delighted when he agreed.
“Ah, fuck. But you’re going to make me ride that damn horse again, aren’t you?” he said.
Not long later, we were trotting through town, Rainor cursing as Blackeye pulled to the side of the road and nibbled on a patch of weeds.
“C’mon, you son-of-a…” Rainor tugged the reins and Blackeye snorted, turning his head to try and nip at Rainor’s hand. “Damn! What the hell is wrong with this horse?”
I hid my amusement. It was endearing to watch him struggle.
We rode down to the beach where the fishing huts were clustered along the water and stopped there to eat lunch at a small tavern that served fish and scallops cooked on small charcoal grills out front. The owner was a dragon, as were many of the fishermen, and they all knew Rainor and brought us extra food. We ate out on the docks at tables purposed from the big wooden spools used for fishing nets, and from where we sat, I could see the cliffside caves off on the far side of the beach.
“Master Rainor, Master Thomas,” the tavern owner said, dropping off another platter of small batter-fried fish at our table.
“Gifa, please. You’ve already given us so much.”
“It’s a small gift. Always working, the both of you. Always on duty. You both deserve it. And I know how much you eat.” He laughed.
“Well, your fish is excellent,” said Rainor.
“You deserve a break!” said Gifa. “Your flight has a baby, no? You can’t work all the time and be healthy.”
“Someone always has to be on watch. You know how it is, Gifa.”
“And that’s why you have Master Thomas and his Watch! You know, I have a cove I use sometimes for lobster trapping. Private, and only accessible by air. You should go there with your flight. I’ll tell you where it is, and you can take a weekend with your flight to relax.”
“I appreciate it, Gifa,” said Rainor. “It does sound like a great time, but unfortunately just not possible.”
“Wait a second,” I said. “He’s right. It’s not all on you three. The Watch is here.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Hey, asshole. We can hold things down for a weekend. Anyway, we’re supposed to be learning to trust each other. Isn’t that the point of why I have to put up with you?”
Rainor was like me, not the kind of man to willingly take a vacation, but as he sat there munching on big mouthfuls of fried fish, he seemed to be considering the idea. After all, the whole reason why he had reached out to the Watch was to allow more time for him and his flight mates to look after their kid.
“I’ll speak with the others,” he said. “But there’s one condition I have. You need to come too.”
“I can’t do that,” I said, bewildered by the idea of a vacation.
“Why not? You deserve a break as much as anyone else does.”
“Because…because there’s too much that needs to be done. I’m responsible for my men.”
Rainor laughed. “Put Castelle in charge. She can handle it.”
“She can, but…”
“So, do it. We’ll see if both of us can handle a couple of days off.”
The following day, I arrived at the fire flight station in the morning, feeling very strange to not be wearing my Watch uniform. Castelle had readily agreed to take command, and Grayson had forced Altair and Delos to agree to come.
Grayson came to the door when I knocked, his daughter in the crook of his arm. She eyed me shyly from one eye, her face pressed against her father’s head.
“Dalia, this is Thomas. Do you remember Thomas?” he said, and she shook her head.
“She’s normally not shy,” Grayson said. “It’s good she’s going to be able to spend some time outside of the station. Thank you for making this outing possible.”
Before I could tell him I hadn’t had anything to do with it, Grayson went inside and gestured for me to follow. It’d been a while since I’d visited the station, and the place was decidedly homier than what I remembered. Clean sunlight filtered through skylights into the central atrium where Dalia’s toys were scattered around on the floor. And looking up at the second floor, there was a clear delineation of where the repairs were made from the fire two years ago. Everything was brighter, cleaner, and somehow felt more human than the dungeon-like atmosphere it’d had in the past.
Altair was sitting at the dining table with a cup of tea, and he stood up to greet me. “I trust the Watch will have everything handled today?”
“I promise you, they will,” I said.
He nodded. “Then I hope we can all have a relaxing time. Not working. Not doing anything.” He exhaled and sat back down, looking rather anxious.
“Dammit, Altair,” Grayson said. “Just… Everything will be fine, okay?”
“Trust me, I know exactly how he feels,” I said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve taken a day off.”
Grayson set Dalia down and she ran to Altair’s knee. “Then that’s even more reason for us to be doing this. And I think it’s great you’re joining us, Thomas. You need a break, too. And it’ll be good bonding for you and Rainor.”
“Uh, I, er… We’re not…” I felt my face going hot.
“You’re training together, right?” said Grayson.
“We’re hardly even friends,” came Rainor’s voice from above me. I looked up and he was leaning on the railing, smirking. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I said.
He moved from the railing and a moment later appeared downstairs. He walked towards me and I felt the urge to open my arms and hug him, but he passed by and went straight to the kitchen, where he stuffed food and bottles of wine into a large wicker basket.
“This is going to be fun,” Grayson said. “We’re all going to have fun.”
Altair rubbed his chin. “Maybe if we take turns flying into the sky, we can keep watch during the day… And Thomas, you can fly on Rainor. It’ll be good training.”
“Yes,” Rainor said, inspecting a large wedge of cheese. “I can practice dropping him into the sea.”
“I swear, the moment I figure out how to use those orbs, I’m going to freeze your nuts off with them,” I said.
“I guess I have nothing to worry about, then,” he said.
“By the Gods,” groaned Grayson. “No one is working today. The Watch can signal us, right? And your nose can pick up a puff of smoke from a mile away. You’ll know if there’s a problem.”
“Delos crafted an alarm flare for them,” said Rainor. “It can fly as high as a dragon and lets out a screech that can be heard for miles. Where is he, anyway?” He turned and shouted towards the second floor. “Delos! We’re leaving soon! You’re not getting out of this.”
“A day in the sun,” said Altair. “Not an ice dragon’s first choice of activity.”
A door banged open upstairs and the fire flight’s mysterious ice dragon appeared at the railing, covered in a dark blue poncho and wide-brimmed sun hat. “Alright, coming, coming,” he said.
“Uncle Delos, you look funny,” said Dalia, staring up at him.
“Not as funny as you, kid.” He picked up her, mussed her hair, and tapped her nose with his fingertip.
“Cold!” she giggled, wiping her face.
Their black station cat materialized out of some corner and stuck like a magnet to Delos’s leg, purring and rubbing his face against the blue fabric.
“Soot wants to go to the beach,” Dalia announced.
“Soot gets to watch the station,” said Rainor, petting the cat’s head. “And I bet he’ll be happy for it. He doesn’t have to worry about a certain little girl chasing him around all day.”
“No! Soot likes playing tag,” she said.
Altair started for the stairs. “Let’s get going before we all decide we don’t want to leave.”
Delos followed after him carrying Dalia, with Rainor and I at the rear. For a brief moment, Rainor put his hand on my back as we walked up the stairs, a light touch just for me that no one else noticed. The second-floor landing led to another set of stairs of black iron that twisted in a spiral into the rafters, and at the top, Altair tugged a length of rope that unlatched a wooden trap door in the ceiling. We climbed through it and were inside the watchtower on the very top of the station. I went to the stone wall and marveled at the magnificent view. This had to be one of the highest places in town, fantastic for keeping an eye on everything.
Attached to the tower was a long horizontal pole, like for hanging banners or flags, and Altair stepped onto it and transformed. Grayson climbed onto his back, and Altair moved to the very end of the pole and perched there like an eagle. Delos went next, and with Dalia still in his arms, he started his shift. As his body transformed, the little girl moved over his body as easily as if she were climbing onto her bed, until she was securely mounted on his back.
“Not nervous, are you?” Rainor said to me.
“Nervous? Not at all. I ride you better than you ride Blackeye.”
“Yes, you do,” he said, grinning.
“That’s not what I meant,” I muttered.
He handed me the basket of food and climbed onto the pole, shifted, and then stuck out his wing for me to use as a platform. I awkwardly hauled myself up onto his back, managed to poke myself in the ass with one of the horns, and then slid into the place just above his wings at the base of his long neck.
One after the other with Altair in the lead, the dragons alighted from the pole and climbed into the sky. I nearly lost the basket to the void and quickly hugged it to my chest as I fought to find a handhold to keep myself from flying off.
“Relax,” Rainor said, looking back at me with one eye. “You’re not going to fall.”
“It always feels like I'm one wing-flap away from sliding off. I can hardly stay on.”
“Just trust me. Look at Dalia and Grayson. The more you fight, the more difficult it’ll be.”
“Funny to get advice from the man who can’t even ride a horse,” I said.
“I’m a lot smarter than a horse.”
“Yeah, sure you are.”
“Well, unlike Blackeye, I’m not doing everything I can to make the ride miserable for you. Just relax. Don’t even try to hold on.”
Being so high in the air took all of my will to let go. I wrapped both arms around the basket and loosened my thighs, uttering a silent prayer. Panic flared when I slid backward, but then Rainor rolled and stopped me. I watched Dalia up ahead. It looked like she was barely hanging on to Delos, her little feet pushed against his sides and one hand lightly planted on his ridge. She waved her other hand in the air and squealed with glee, and every time it looked like she was going to be flung off, she seemed to float against him with ease, like she was swimming on a wave. And after some time, I started to feel the rhythm of the flight, too. I was able to let go, to trust that even though it felt like I was about to lose control and fall, the roll of Rainor’s body would be there to catch me again. When riding Hama, I had control of the situation. But with flight, I had to surrender to the fact that I was just along for the ride—and that I was safe with Rainor.
We flew in formation above Old Shore Port, and below I could see people coming out onto the street to get a look at the unusual sight of the entire fire flight soaring overhead. Then we moved towards the ocean. The sky over us was hazy with patches of pale blue where the bright sun filtered through, and on the far horizon, grey clouds were forming. The coastline passed below us, winding and curving like a dragon’s tail until we reached a rocky headland that jutted far out into the sea. At the end of the headland was a natural arch, and the dragons whipped through it and banked to the right, towards the shore. And there was the private beach surrounded by green cliffs on all three sides, with a small shack sitting in the middle near a large boulder.
Rainor landed on the sand and lowered himself so I could step off. Dalia ran down Delos’s tail, jumped off, and immediately began to run rapid circles around him until he shifted back into human form. He tugged the brim of his hat down lower and grabbed the little girl’s hand.
“Let’s swim, Uncle Delos!” she cried.
“Give me a second,” he muttered.
Rainor took the basket from me and we paced up the sand to the shack while Rainor and Grayson chaperoned Dalia as she played chase with the surf. Delos hurried after us, his poncho fluttering in the wind.
The shack smelled of the sea. There was a small wood stove, a charcoal grill, and a square dining table with a couple of chairs. Rainor and I carried the grill and the table outside, and Delos brought out the chairs. Then he pulled a rolled-up hammock out from underneath his poncho and strung it up between the posts in front of the shack.
I walked a short distance up the beach towards the cliff and stared up at the rocky face and its tree-covered head. It felt very strange to be so far separated from town, with no way to return except on Rainor’s back. Letting go of my duties was not easy.
“Hey.” Rainor trudged through the sand towards me. “I know what you’re thinking. I can’t stop thinking about it, either.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “But we’re here, and we might as well try to relax, right?”
At first, I felt self-conscious about being touched by him in plain view of the others, but after some thought, I realized there was nothing to be self-conscious about. Everyone here was well aware of everything. I didn’t need to worry, so I leaned into Rainor’s touch and pushed my shoulder against him, and he slipped his arm loosely around me.
“Relax,” I repeated. “Who would’ve thought relaxing would be so hard to do?” I turned and looked at the water where Dalia was splashing around with Grayson and Altair. Then I looked up at Rainor and thought about kissing him. I stopped myself when I realized that I was under my scent mask.
No need to hide here. No need to pretend.
I smirked at him, slapped his chest, and then took off in a sprint for the water. “We’re racing!” I shouted.
“Fuck!” Rainor bellowed, and he bolted after me. “No, you don’t!”
For how burly he was, Rainor was very fast. But I outpaced him by keeping my feet light on the sand. He was just a few steps behind me, grunting as he swung his arms madly, sand flying up behind him. I pulled off my shirt and kicked off my pants down to my underwear, and Rainor did the same. Just as I was about to reach the water he shifted into the dragon form, he leaped into the air and crashed into the waves ahead of me. A huge plume of water shot into the air from his wake, and as it rained down on the entire beach, I stumbled into the frothy water and swirled around into the turbulence. When I surfaced, Rainor was back in his human form, laughing.
“Dammit, Rainor!” Delos shouted. He was sitting in the hammock, completely soaked.
“A rainbow!” Dalia said, laughing and pointing.
Rainor swam up to me, and his hands moved against my body underneath the surface and pulled my thighs up and around him just as a wave rolled over us. My scent mask was vanishing into the sea. I wrapped my arms around Rainor’s neck, and he stole a quick kiss from my lips just before a devilish smile crossed his face.
“Rainor, don’t you fucking—”
He pried me off of him by my armpits and with one quick motion, sent me flying into a belly flop. I rolled beneath the water and came up ready to give that bastard a piece of my mind, but Dalia was there laughing and begging to be tossed, too.
“Thomas and I will throw you,” Rainor said.
We swam over to the shallows where she was with Altair and Grayson, and we took her by her hands, counted down from three, and launched her squealing into the air. She plonked into the water near Grayson and shouted, “Daddy, I flew, I flew! I’m a dragon!”
Grayson scooped her up and kissed her on her forehead. “Ready to fly again? Papa is coming for you!”
Altair splashed through the water and let out a playful roar. “Where is my little dragoness? Where is she?”
Rainor came up next to me and I put my hand on his chest. “By the Gods, if you toss me again, I’ll kill you,” I said, but I couldn’t keep a straight face. He went for my waist and tried to grab me, but I ducked away, dove into the water, and swam behind him. Then, I hooked my leg around his, locked his arm with the crook of my elbow, and swept his feet out from under him. He plunged under the water and vanished from sight. I looked around, waiting for him to resurface.
“Rainor?” I said.
A second later, his hands grabbed my thighs and his head pushed up between my legs. He burst out of the water like a whale breaching beneath a small boat, carrying me up onto his shoulders—except I was facing the wrong way, and my groin was planted right against his face. He twirled around in a wild circle, bellowing into my nethers, and I grabbed onto his head and shouted at him to put me the fuck down. Dalia was splashing around and laughing like it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen in her entire life.
I could never have expected a man shouting into my crotch would make me so aroused, but the vibration from his voice felt amazing, and all I could do was clench my thighs together and hope no one noticed I was clearly enjoying it.
Rainor palmed my ass with both hands and catapulted me into the water with a triumphant cry. I came up draped in seaweed and plodded my way to the shore, tossing the bundle of green at Rainor as I passed him. He laughed and followed me onto the sand, and I quickly sat down and pushed my hands into my lap to cover up the bulge that was growing fast.
“Truce,” he said, holding out his hand, and I gave it a skeptical glance.
“You and I both know that’s not going to happen,” I replied.
“You’re absolutely correct.” He put his arm around me. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything.” Then he leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Unless you want me to.”
And there went the final fortification against a full-on erection.
Rainor stood up and held out his hand. “I’m going to go cut some fruit.”
“I think I’ll stay here for a second,” I muttered.
“Suit yourself,” he said, shrugging.
He walked up the beach to the shack, and I turned my attention back towards the water where the others were playing. Grayson picked his daughter up and splashed through the shallows with her, laughing as Altair chased after them. A sore feeling thumped somewhere in a deep part of my chest, a longing for something I didn’t know I could want. I’d believed my path was the only way I could live my life and be happy. All I ever wanted was to be accepted. To be worth something. And I’d convinced myself that living as an alpha was the only way to do that. What other choice did I have when that was exactly what the entire world told me was true? When my parents had made it clear that they would’ve much rather had an alpha for a son?
Rainor, along with his flight, had pulled back the curtain for me. When I’d first learned that Grayson had been unmated during his pregnancy with Dalia, that she wasn’t Altair’s, I did judge him for it. I’d judged him the same way I knew people would judge me for being an omega, and it was terrible of me. It made me look differently at everything I thought I knew. It was common knowledge that dragons were brutal creatures with no morals, who mated at a whim with whoever they pleased. Just how wrong could we have been? And what other bullshit had humans spread in the face of fear and weakness?
“Come on, Delos, get your ass out there, go play with your flight-daughter. We’re not going to get a lot of chances like this.”
I looked over my shoulder and saw Rainor standing at the table in front of the shack cutting up a large honeydew melon. He threw a piece at Delos. “Can you at least make these into popsicles?”
Delos swung out of the hammock with a sigh and began taking the slices of melon and freezing them. With my cock under control again, I got up and went over to give them a hand.
“Nice of you to join us,” said Rainor, and he handed me a knife.
We served up a platter of frozen honeydew on skewers, with sliced strawberries on ice, frozen grapes, freshly squeezed orange juice for Dalia, and glasses of firewater for the rest of us.
“I can’t drink this,” Grayson said, holding up his palm when Rainor offered him the glass. “I’m pregnant, remember?”
“Why not?” Rainor asked, puzzled.
“Alcohol, it’s not safe for the baby.”
“Firewater isn’t alcohol,” said Delos. “It’s a dragon draft. In fact, dragon omegas drink it to make sure their younglings are strong.”
“It’s true,” said Altair. “It’s custom.”
Grayson took the glass of pale golden liquid and swirled it around. It was thicker than water, like nectar from a fruit.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been able to share a drink,” Altair said. “What should we toast to?”
“To the new baby,” Rainor said. “They’ll be the first half-dragon to be hatched in Old Shore Port in generations.”
“Oh, Gods protect me,” muttered Grayson. “Don’t say ‘hatched,’ it terrifies me a little bit. Cheers to new beginnings.”
“To the new baby and new beginnings,” we repeated, and touched glasses.
Dragon firewater was ridiculously strong, and I nearly sprayed my mouthful of it across Rainor’s face when I took a drink. It was like molten lava going down my throat, and it left a deep heat in my stomach that quickly began to spread through my entire body. Grayson’s face was scrunched tight, and Altair passed him a glass of water and another melon popsicle.
“You need water?” Rainor asked, and I shook my head, determined to ride out the potent flavor lingering in my mouth.
“You want more?” asked Delos, holding up the bottle. I shook my head again.
“I wanna try,” Dalia protested.
“Drink your orange juice, sweetheart,” said Altair, stroking her hair.
“I wanna try,” she repeated, pouting.
“How about this?” said Delos, taking off his sun hat. “You finish your orange juice and Uncle Delos will make an ice slide for you.”
“An ice slide?”
“Mmhm. We can ride it together, all the way into the water. Splash!”
This convinced her, and she quickly finished her orange juice. Delos poured himself another glass of firewater, downed it, and then took Dalia’s hand and trotted off with her to the shore. The drink was certainly not like alcohol. Though I felt a similar looseness, it brought more clarity to my head and vigor to my blood. Rainor offered another round and I accepted, even though it tasted awful.
“That cliff over there,” Rainor said, pointing to a high, craggy bluff hanging over dark water. “Perfect for diving.”
“Why do you need a cliff to do that?” Grayson asked. “You’re a dragon. Fly straight up and drop into the water.”
“Sure. That’s fun, too. But there’s something special about doing it all in human form. Altair, will you join me? Thomas?”
“Why not?” Altair said, shrugging like the idea of diving off a forty-foot tall cliff was as easy as rolling out of bed.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” I said, not wanting to let my fear show. I wasn’t going to back down from a challenge.
“Have fun,” said Grayson, popping a frozen grape into his mouth. “Don’t die.”
The cliff had seemed much more manageable from our spot on the beach, but now that I was clinging to its side trying to find a foothold, with the wind threatening to rip me off like I was a speck of dust, I was having major regrets. Altair and Rainor scaled the rock like a couple of lizards, with no trouble whatsoever. Then I made the mistake of looking back over my shoulder, and my head spun. The beach and the ocean stretched out below me, as far below as when we were flying. Delos, Grayson, and Dalia rode down a slope of ice that Delos had formed with his ice breath, but they looked tiny, like toys.
“This is fucking ridiculous,” I muttered. “No human is meant to be up this high. Cliff diving. What was I thinking?”
“Come on, Thomas!” said Rainor. “Almost to the top!”
“Yeah, alright, shut up!” I yelled back.
I hauled myself to the top and dropped onto the dirt next to Rainor and Altair’s feet. Rainor offered me a hand and lifted me, but my legs were as steady as jelly. The wind shook the gnarled pine trees that twisted out of cracks in the rock and rushed over us in low whistles that became surprising gusts. We walked to the edge over the ocean and looked down into the turquoise water.
“Dalia!” Altair waved to get his daughter’s attention. “Watch Papa jump!”
She looked up, but seemed too distracted with the ice slide to care. Disappointed to be ignored, Altair positioned himself on the ledge, crossed his arms over his chest, and hopped off so casually it seemed like he was bored. Rainor and I watched him plunge into the water below, and then a moment later he resurfaced and swam to shore.
“Ever done this before?” Rainor asked.
“What do you think? Ah, shit. This kind of thing is a lot easier if you have wings. At least you can save yourself.”
“I can fly you down if you’re scared.”
“Fuck, no.”
He had a grin on his face when he grabbed my arm and kissed me, and then he sprinted for the edge. My stomach flipped seeing him leap off, and the bastard did a full twist in the air before straightening out and going under. So graceful.
Rainor popped his head up,shook the water out of his ears, and waved his arms in the air. “Keep your body tight,” he yelled. “Jump straight out and you’ll be fine.”
“No turning back now,” I said to myself. “I’m no coward. It’s just a cliff. I’ve done far more difficult things. Come on, Thomas. Just do it, just jump.”
“You can do it!” Rainor shouted.
“Dammit, Rainor,” I muttered. “I hate you.”
Any courage the firewater had imbued was long gone now. I crouched down by the edge, trying to get as low as possible. “Maybe if I…” I stuck my leg out and turned around, flattening onto my stomach.
“What the hell are you doing? Don’t climb, just jump! You’re only going to make it—”
My foot slipped. I slid down, scraping my chest along the rock. I caught a branch with my hand but banged my jaw against the ledge, and I immediately tasted metal. I fought to stay calm, though my heart was banging against my ribcage.
“Shit! I’ll fly up there!”
“No!” I yelled. “I’m fine!”
Just jump, I thought. It’s as simple as that. All you need to do is jump.
Hooking my fingers in like claws, I swung my feet up against the wall into a squatting position, took a deep breath, and then sprang away from the cliff and into nothingness. The rock rushed past in a blur of grey and brown, and I had just enough time to glance below and see the blue froth rushing up to meet me. I straightened my body and tightened every muscle I could—and then, BAM.
The impact shook through me like I was hitting a wall, and water roared around my ears, up my nose, and what felt like every other hole I had. I kicked my legs and a second later the surface greeted me, along with Rainor’s embrace.
“You’re such a clumsy idiot,” he said with a laugh, grabbing me underneath the water. Then his expression changed and he pushed his thumb against the corner of my mouth, and it came away red.
“I’m fine,” I said, though it hurt like hell. “Just bit my tongue at the top. Scratched up good, too.”
“I’ll take care of you back at the beach. Come on, let’s swim.”
When we reached the sand, everyone came up running. Dalia looked frightened by my ragged appearance, so I laughed and danced around to put her at ease. “That was fun! Did you see me jump, Dalia?”
“I saw you fall,” she said.
“Yeah, there’s a difference,” said Rainor, laughing.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Just a little scraped up.”
“Come on, follow me,” Rainor said, and he took my hand.
“Have fun,” Grayson said cryptically.
The shack had a cramped standing shower in its tiny bathroom, and Rainor lit a gas stove and ran the water. “Wash that dirt out of those wounds,” he said.
“I’m fine, Rainor,” I said, stripping out of my underwear. “You don’t need to take care of me.”
I stepped into the shower and winced as the hot water stung my body. My whole front was raked with cuts and scratches from my abs to my chest, and the bottom of my chin had taken a blow, too. My mouth wasn’t bleeding as badly as it was before, but when I swished and spat, the water was pink. I tilted my head up to the water and let it pour across my face. Then, I felt a hand on my back.
“Really, Rainor. Just give me a couple of bandages and—”
I turned around, and my heart jumped fifty feet. Immediately, I was cramped with want for him at the sight of his naked body, and for a moment I stopped thinking about the pain. Everything seemed to concentrate down to my cock, and it flushed with blood and began to rise.
“How’s this going to help?” I said quietly.
He pushed into the shower, his body pressing up against mine to fit into the cramped space. My cock slipped against his wet skin, and I was hard as a rock. He took my chin in between his fingers and licked the cut there, moving upwards until his tongue reached my lower lip.
“Did you know dragon saliva has healing properties?”
I laughed. “Sure.”
“I’m not joking.”
He pushed his mouth to mine and met my tongue with his. It whipped around like a dragon’s tail, teasing and exploring, and I drew my lips around it and sucked on it.
“You just want to lick me,” I said, and I kissed him back and moved my tongue into his mouth.
“Of course,” he said, squeezing his arm around my waist. Then he kissed across my cheek and down my neck.
I moaned—and then realized my mouth was no longer hurting. I pushed my fingers against the inside of my cheek. No blood. No pain.
“Oh, shit,” I murmured.
Rainor then moved downwards, working his tongue and his mouth across every part of my front, pausing to give extra attention to the particularly bad areas. The slippery warmth of his tongue was a strange sensation on my wounds. It felt wrong for him to be doing this, and yet it was so incredibly exciting. My cock pushed painfully against his body, but he completely ignored it, torturing me with my need.
Then, when Rainor had finally given attention to every single scrape and scratch on my body, we turned off the water and he looked up at me and asked if there was anything else hurting.
“There is,” I replied.
“Is it here?” he asked, and he circled his tongue across my right hip, where there was a prominent scrape.
“Very close.”
He kissed along my navel, searching his way to my other hip. “Here?”
“No.”
Down. His tongue reached the ridge of muscle that ran along my thigh to the bottom of my hip, skimming close to the tangle of hair around my throbbing erection. He ran his palms across my waist, scooped them around to my cheeks, and squeezed them tight. I wanted to move my length towards his mouth, but he held me firmly in place and continued his unhurried exploration of my inner thigh.
“This must’ve hurt,” he said, teasing so close to my balls I could feel his breath on them.
I widened my stance as Rainor moved his head between my legs, kissing around almost to my ass. “What are you doing?” I murmured.
Then he opened me with his thumbs and flicked his tongue across my hole, the very lightest tease that sent a shiver through my body. He licked faster and made circles around it, then moved deeper, and it made me crave for something more to be put inside of me. His attention turned to my balls, and he tasted them with slow movements, taking them softly into his mouth. I found myself crouching down and pushing harder onto his face. He was still ignoring my cock, and the ache was becoming unbearable.
“How’s that?” he asked.
“Enough,” I groaned. “Stop playing with me.”
“Tell me where it hurts.”
“Dammit, Rainor.”
“Say it.”
“My cock, dammit,” I muttered.
“Can’t hear you.”
“I’m going to kick your ass.”
“I’m going to lick your ass. This is all you’re getting until you tell me what’s hurting.”
“Fuck you— Ah!” His tongue slipped in deep and sent a shock of pleasure straight through my body. I couldn’t keep this game up any more. “My cock,” I cried. “Suck on my cock.”
Rainor’s lips contacted the base of my cock, right where it met my balls, and he drew them over the side of my length and slowly moved towards the tip, kissing and licking the shaft until he finally reached the ridge of the head. Then he gripped my cock tightly in his fist, and the heat from his palm was like the hug of a warm bath.
“Here?” he asked, smirking at me.
“There,” I growled back.
He opened his mouth and took me inside, and deep relief came through me as his tongue whirled across my most sensitive spots. Then he stroked me, and his fist moved up and down my length. I was wet with his saliva and so sensitive, and every pump across my head was enough to make my knees shake. My back pushed against the tile and Rainor swallowed me deep into his throat, and it took all of my strength not to melt into a pile of jelly on the shower floor.
Tension twisted me up as his mouth rolled around my cock, and a whole new level of ache gripped me. It felt so fucking good, good enough to dump my finish into his mouth right at that moment—but not enough to satisfy me. For that, I needed more. I needed him inside of me, filling me up, breaking me open, reaching those points that only his dragon cock could reach. I grabbed his head and tugged his hair, holding him tight against me, and without thinking, the words “I need you to fuck me” were floating out of my mouth.
He had me against the wall in an instant, his cock standing hard and huge, and every ridge on its length looked like delicious pleasure to my eyes. I was sopping wet for him, more than I’d ever been before. Maybe it was the energy of the day and being around his flight family that was putting impossible thoughts in my head, or maybe it was just my body responding to the intensity of the moment. Whatever it was, for a second, I thought, “I want him to get me pregnant,” and it made the fire burn even hotter.
There was barely enough room for us in the shower, and his cock pressed against my ass, sliding up between my cheeks as he pushed his body against mine. He gripped my forearm and held it firm on the cold tile as he drove his face into my neck, sucking and licking the corded muscle running to my collarbone. I reached behind and got hold of him, felt his impossible heat in my palm, and guided him to my entrance. He took my hip in his other hand and pushed forward, and then he was inside. I bit back a groan as he buried into me. The pain didn’t last as long now; I was quickly met with a deep pleasure as the emptiness was finally breached.
Now Rainor wasn’t taking his time. He went hard and fast, just how I wanted it. My cock pushed up flat between the wall and my abs, and then he found it with his hand and rapidly jerked me in time with each thrust. My legs were barely working. The only reason I was still standing was the pressure of his body against me, holding me up to the wall. I was washed under a wave of ecstasy, impossibly good, and all thought had left my mind save for whatever hungry, primal instinct was left.
My eyes fluttered back. Then there was nothing, just pure pleasure, and I lost control. My cock heaved in his fist, spurting my finish over his fingers and onto the wall, and every muscle in my body seemed to pull tight before the final release. Then Rainor let out a strained groan in my ear, and his fingers dug into my flesh and I felt his cock throbbing into me. There was a rush of heat, and the peak of my pleasure jumped to new heights as his seed went deep inside. And when he pulled out I nearly fell to my knees, but he grabbed and held me up, and then pushed my back to the wall and left a long kiss on my lips.
