“Mum!”
Ellie heard her son before she saw him. The patter of his bare feet on the tiled floor of their small duplex home proceeded him.
“Mum!”
“In the kitchen Trent,” she called out.
His skinny little body skidded around the corner and into the kitchen with his hands held up against his chest.
“You have to help!”
This was a first. Trent usually stayed away from animals. They had no pets, and he refused to visit friends who had any.
“Show me what you’ve got,” she said in her no-nonsense mum voice.
Her shy and timid little boy gently lifted his hands away from his chest, and Ellie was shocked to see blood on the front of his white t-shirt. Gently held in his small, cupped hands was something she stared at and blinked disbelieving eyes.
What the hell?
Ellie didn’t say anything for long minutes, just stared down at something that should be an impossibility.
“Can you help it? It’s bleeding.”
Bringing her hands up to cup around her son’s, she leaned down to get a better look at the fascinating little creature.
A dragon.
That was what her son had cradled so gently in his hands, not the fire-breathing winged variety that was popular in western mythology and fiction, but the long sleek variety of eastern dragons that were part of Asian culture.
A long white body with four legs and dainty claws had a boxy little head on one end and a tail with a turquoise tuft of hair on the other end. More hair ran in a long line from what could only be described as a mane around the back of the little creature’s head along its back. A weeping cut oozed blood along the dragon’s side from behind its front leg to its back.
What on earth could a dragon, even a tiny one, be doing so far from home?
Ellie looked into her son’s face and saw the glistening of tears in his eyes. So sweet was her baby. He felt so much, just like his mother.
“We’ll do everything we can for him, baby. You sit here at the table, and I’ll get some stuff.”
Ellie bustled around collecting a clean hand towel, some water, and a handful of cotton tips. Antibiotic ointment, a fine gauze bandage, and scissors were dug out of her first aid kit.
She rushed back to her son and laid the towel out under his hands.
“Put him down, baby, and let’s see what we can do.”
Trent laid the little dragon down oh so gently. The dragon’s body was barely as thick as one of Ellie’s long slender fingers. The little creature hadn’t stirred once since Trent had brought him inside and didn’t so much as move as Ellie gently cleaned the gash with the cotton tips and water.
When she was satisfied the wound was clean, she spread ointment along the cut with her finger, surprised at how warm the little body was. Long thin strips of gauze were wound around the slim body as Trent held him gently aloft. Ellie taped the bandages down with a tiny piece of medical tape.
“There. All done, squirt. Now we just have to wait until he’s awake and see if he wants some water or food.”
“What are we going to feed him, mum? I don’t know what lizards eat.”
Ellie didn’t correct her son’s mistaken assumption that the little creature was a lizard. She could already imagine what would happen if he told his friends at school that he had a dragon and it got back to their parents. Having the authorities turning up on her door was not her idea of a good time.
“I’m not sure either, baby. Maybe we can look it up after dinner. For now, let’s put our little friend somewhere warm. It’s time for a bath and dinner.”
Ellie scooped up the towel and the little dragon and placed them in a patch of the late afternoon sun on the kitchen counter before encouraging a now sullen Trent into the bath. She always found it amusing that little boys all seemed the same. They detested bathing like it was the most heinous activity in the world.
Leaving her son to play in the bubbles, she returned to the kitchen to start dinner. To her astonishment, the little dragon had curled up in a tight knot with his head under one leg. A strange sound had her bending down with her ear close to the tiny pile of white and turquoise.
A tiny rumble of sound emanated from the little body, sounding suspiciously like the purr of a kitten.
“Oh, aren’t you adorable,” she whispered, her gaze locked on the pearlescent scales and bright hair.
Humming to herself, Ellie went about the task of making dinner for herself and her son while keeping one ear out for his antics in the bath. They sat at the table together, mother and son, and not for the first time Ellie longed for a partner. A man to share her life with, someone to help her raise her son and enjoy the simple things in life.
Nights were always the hardest, sleeping alone with no one to hold her. Ellie settled into bed in one of her lace and satin nighties with her son right next door and drifted off with the image of a tiny dragon in her mind, black eyes staring at her curiously.
Dreams haunted her sleep, the body of a dragon curling its way through the sky to play in the waters of the ocean not far from her house as she stood on the beach watching. The dragon coiled and undulated his way towards her to stand on thick legs over her. It curved its long spine up and brought its head down to her, a massive beast of an animal. Glowing white eyes stared into hers, mesmerizing her as a deep, base, rumbling purr emanated from the dragon.
Its long whiskers, more like feelers, stroked across her face and down her arms. A soft, delicate touch that sent prickles of energy shooting down her body.
Ellie woke with a gasp as her body pulsed and twisted in the sheets. A light sweat dampened her skin and had her gown sticking to her. A prickle of pain had her looking down to find the little dragon on her chest, its tiny claws digging into the upper swell of her breast.
She had no idea what to do or even how to react. White eyes blazed out of its little head, and that same rumbling purr rolled through her chest. Ellie could hear the crashing of the waves in her head, but she knew the ocean was too far away.
A whimper left her throat as her little guest dug its claws into her soft flesh, piercing her skin before turning and undulating away out the door.
Curious beyond anything she had ever felt before, she threw her covers back and started to search her house for the dragon. She found him back on the towel she had laid out for him the night before, carefully cleaning his claws with his long tongue. Each small white claw was tipped in bright red blood. Her blood, and if the soft glow coming from the dragon was any indication, he was enjoying the taste of her immensely.
Ellie shook her head and set the kettle to boil. She still didn’t know what to feed the little creature, but he…it…seemed to like blood. Maybe it would eat meat.
She cast a quick glance at her guest before heading back to her room and a shower before she started her day. Thankfully she had a day off today, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t busy. Washing, cleaning, and shopping were all on her agenda, as well as making her son’s lunch and doing the school run.
While making Trent’s lunch, she laid out a small dish of water and a plate with various things on it for the dragon to eat. Her morning passed busily, and by the time she returned home with arms full of groceries, she was ready to sit and have coffee and lunch.
She barely glanced at the curled-up dragon as she put her shopping away. As she stood and waited for the kettle to boil, she looked over her little guest and drew back in shock.
The tiny body that had barely made a dent in her hand towel was now a sizeable coil of white scales and turquoise hair. Two little black horns graced the back of the dragon’s head that hadn’t been there before.
Ellie looked at the plate of food she had left for him, but he hadn’t touched anything. The only thing he had consumed was her blood. Had her blood done that? Driven by something she didn’t understand, Ellie reached out one finger and stroked along the warm, slick scales of the little dragon’s side.
Slowly the dragon uncoiled, and she stroked down the length of its body until it opened its eyes and looked at her with shining black orbs that slowly faded to bright white. The sea crashed in her ears, and Ellie was spellbound by the small animal. Her hand moved as if dragged by a great weight until her finger was in front of the dragon’s face.
A black tongue flicked out, tasting her before small needles pierced the pad of her finger as the dragon bite her. The sharp pain snapped Ellie out of her daze, and she looked down in shock as the little dragon licked at her bleeding finger, that same white glow radiating off its body.
“That was sneaky,” Ellie muttered. To her astonishment, the little dragon let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.
“You are quite beautiful,” Ellie whispered as the dragon drew away from her finger, its slick black tongue licking around its mouth. The little creature settled back on its towel and curled into a ball, purring its contentment.
By the time she returned from picking Trent up from school, the dragon had grown again. He had doubled in size as the afternoon wore on, and by the time Ellie was ready for bed, she had worked up the nerve to offer it her finger again.
Waves crashed in her ears, the sound restful at the same time as being strangely alluring. She could almost feel the waves rolling through her body with a strange pulse as the now not so little dragon looked at her with its glowing white eyes.
Ellie stifled a gasp as its sharp teeth bit into her finger, the pain intense and immediate. Blood welled out of the small punctures, and the dragon licked up the drops until the wounds sealed themselves closed.
Staring at her finger as she walked down the short hall to her bedroom, Ellie shook her head at the peculiar things that were happening in her life.
Restless dreams of swimming in the sea and a great shape moving around her filled her night. The water caressed her skin, and something warm and sleek rubbed against her sending tingles through her. A heady pulse started between her legs at every brush against her sensitive skin until Ellie was vibrating with need. Her core clenched, and her nipples tightened into painfully tight nubs.
Ellie woke with her body on fire and weight on her chest. Her breath gasped out of her as her sex pulsed with unsatisfied need. She looked down to see the now substantial dragon curled up on her chest with glowing white eyes looking back at her.
Her hand was moving before she knew what was happening, and delicate, needle-sharp teeth sank into the flesh between her thumb and finger. Soft licks sent throbs of pleasure scoring through her body until her hips were rising up off the bed. With a low moan of pleasure, Ellie shattered into a thousand pieces.
Blazing white eyes met Ellie’s startled blue ones as she tried to catch her breath.
“What was that?” she gasped.
Waves crashed in her mind, a gentle lapping rather than a forceful sound. The small dragon shifted on her chest, creeping closer and closer until he nuzzled against her cheek and blew warm breath across her skin.
Hesitantly, Ellie raised her hand and stroked the shining white body of her guest, feeling the slight sting of sharp claws dig into her as he gripped her tight. Male, definitely male. The aura of satisfaction that rolled through her mind felt distinctly male.
“I have to go to work today. I won’t be home until dinner time. Will you be okay?”
A deep, rumbling purr that vibrated through her chest was her answer. Ellie felt a bit strange talking to an animal like it understood her. Still, the intelligence in the dragon’s black eyes told her there was far more to the creature than it merely being an animal.
Days passed, with Ellie working long hours during the day and restless nights filled with dreams of swimming in water with a huge beast that was always just under the surface of the water, stroking her body into a frenzy. Each morning started the same with the dragon licking her blood and Ellie succumbing to the pleasure.
Trent was enamored with the rapidly growing dragon and stroked and talked to the creature constantly. There was no fear on his face when he was with the dragon, and the animal was surprisingly gentle with her son.
A week after her son had found the tiny dragon Ellie had a creature that stood as high as a large dog in her house, but the dragon was far longer and heavier. She still fed the dragon her blood twice a day from a very delicate bite on her arm that healed within minutes, and the dragon slept curled up on her bed every night.
On her day off, men came to her door, four Asian men with dark eyes and long black hair. Ellie thought they might be Chinese but couldn’t be sure.
“Can I help you?” she asked after opening her door.
“Where is he?” the man in front of her growled in heavily accented English.
Ellie’s brows snapped together. “I’m sorry, where is who?”
A rough hand shoved against her chest, and she stumbled back as the four men poured into her home.
“What the hell! Get out before I call the cops!” Ellie growled.
When the four men started to spread out through her house, she rushed for the phone only to be pulled up short by a steel band wrapping around her stomach and a hand slamming down over her mouth. A squeal of panic welled up in her throat.
Thrashing around got her nowhere, all it did was have her breath squeezed from her, and the hand at her mouth pushed more firmly against her face.
A litany of a foreign language filled her house as the men spoke to each other and ignored her futile attempts to getaway. The sound of the sea, the gentle lapping of waves in her mind calmed her and had her sagging in the grasp of the man who held her.
The man who had demanded to know where she assumed her dragon was stormed up to her and again said, “I know he is here. His energy is all over your house. Where is he?”
Ellie stared back at the man, determined not to say a word and furious that these men had just walked into her house. She had an idea that he was talking about the dragon, but she couldn’t be sure without him actually saying it.
Anger blazed out of his black eyes, and to Ellie’s horror, the color spread through the white of his eyes until they were solid black. A subtle tremble took over her body as the man reached for her and pressed two fingers against her temple.
Pain ripped through her mind as images of the last week rushed past her eyes. Ellie saw it all, Trent bringing the little dragon inside, them tending to his wound. The bites, the blood, even the dreams, and finally the large, heavy coiled length of beautiful animal curled up on her bed asleep just that morning.
Ellie screamed. Oh God, the pain! The last thing she saw was the surprised look on the man’s face before everything went dark.
The sound of the sea and something wet being dragged up her face woke her. Ellie batted away the wetness, and her hand landed on the dragon’s head. Pain spiked through her head and sent her stomach spinning. Another lick of a long wet tongue and Ellie opened her eyes to look into the concerned gaze of the dragon.
“Well, that wasn’t much fun,” Ellie said from her position on the floor. She let out a deep breath. “I wish you could talk to me.”
The waves in her mind swelled, crashing with resounding force over and over again.
Ellie stroked the dragon’s jaw and whispered, “I hear you, but I wish you had words.”
A gentle nudge against her face of the dragon’s long snout brought a smile to her face and her arms around the dragon.
Ellie.
She heard it in her mind, and it brought a tear to her eye.
Thank you.
She whispered back.
Two days later, after Ellie had put her son to bed, she found the dragon standing at her back sliding glass doors. The animal was now so big it barely fit in her house. She’d known this day was coming. He couldn’t stay with them forever if he continued to grow, and Ellie had resigned herself to the fact that he would leave, but it still hurt.
With an ache in her heart and tears in her eyes, she slid open the door and stood back. The dragon pressed his now much larger head against her chest, and Ellie wrapped her arms around him. A sob ripped from deep in her chest as tears ran down her face.
The dragon moved into the dark of her tiny yard, and with one last look back, he was gone, lifting into the darkness in an undulating mass of scales and hair.
A heavy heart sent Ellie to bed to cry herself to sleep and dream restless dreams of the sea. An empty sea.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into a year. Ellie never forgot the dragon, but after telling Trent he had left and consoled her distraught son, he was barely talked about, and by the time twelve months had passed, Ellie thought her little boy had forgotten about the beautiful creature who had stayed with them.
On the anniversary of the day Trent had brought the tiny dragon to her, he was at his father’s for the weekend, and there was a heavy knock on her door. Ellie rushed from the kitchen where she was baking slices for school lunches to open the door.
A strikingly beautiful Asian man with flowing black hair and black eyes stood looking back at her.
“Can I help you?” Ellie asked a little hesitantly. She hadn’t forgotten the last time men had come to her door.
“Ellie.”
There was a wealth of meaning in that one utterance, but Ellie just stared back at the man.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
Waves crashed in her mind as she watched spellbound as the man’s eyes bled to solid black and then started to glow white.
“Yes, Ellie, you know me.” His voice echoed with a power that tingled along her skin and shivered down her back.
Unbidden tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her face. Ellie stumbled back, shaking her head, but the man followed her in. The door shut with a firm sound without anyone touching it.
“Why are you here? Why now, after all this time? How…how can you be like this?” Ellie asked, waving her hand up and down his length.
He wasn’t overly tall, but he was definitely taller than her five foot four. His shoulders were broad, and his neck muscles were corded under his smooth pale gold skin. His face was sharply defined masculine perfection, from his high cheekbones to his slashing dark brows to the smooth high forehead and sultry lips.
The crashing of the waves in her mind slowed to gentle lapping—an attempt to calm her. Ellie remembered. She remembered everything–the feel of his long body under her hands, the warmth of his scales and the soft hair along his back, the pain of being bitten by his razor-sharp teeth and the pleasure that had infused her with each lick, and the bright ocean scent of him that had lingered on her bedding for days after he’d left.
“I came for you, Ellie.”
Gentle fingers touched her cheek, and images flowed through her mind. Ellie saw it all, the magic that had brought him back to life, the pain of being dragged from eternal sleep to be thrust into a new body that was far too small to contain him, the escape from the people who wanted to control his power and the tiny hands that had gently picked him up and carried him inside her little house.
Ellie felt the gentle touch of her finger on his scales and the heady taste of her blood that flowed across his tongue, giving him strength and power to grow his body to the size it needed to be. Her scent was burned in his senses, and her taste was imprinted in his memories.
She saw the six months he’d lived in the ocean, growing, feeding on fish, and missing her. She saw the moment he was strong enough to take his rightful place and the first steps he took on the beach to join those who had woken him, but he wasn’t the helpless being they had tried to control.
He was everything he had once been, and he took his place as the king he was meant to be. He learned English to the shock of those around him and how to drive and get around in a world that was far different from the one he had left behind. Finally, she saw him standing in front of her at her door, barely able to stop himself from reaching for her.
As quickly as the images started, they stopped, and Ellie slumped into his strong arms, his warmth and scent surrounding her.
“What do you want from me?” Ellie whispered, almost too afraid to ask, too scared to hope.
Black eyes pierced her and started a deep throbbing ache in her sex.
“Everything, Ellie. I want all of you, all the time. I want you by my side, in my bed, and standing as my queen. I want your blood in my mouth and my cock in your heat.”
Ellie shivered as sensation rioted across her skin. She could feel her own damp heat and the steady pulse of her clit as her body wound tighter and tighter. He hadn’t even really touched her yet, and she was ready for him.
A deep groan rumbled up from his chest as his nostrils flared.
“You want me,” he stated.
A nod of her head had him scooping her up and carrying her into her bedroom, the slice partially made on the counter forgotten.
Her bedroom door closed with a definite thud, and seconds later, he was following her down onto her bed, his strong body bracketing hers as his lips crashed down to sweep her up in a maelstrom of sensation.
Ellie moaned at his distinct, seductive taste and opened her mouth to his seeking tongue, tangling hers with his. Strong hands slid under her loose t-shirt and up, sending tingles spreading through her and molded to the swells of her breasts.
A whimper of need had him stroking long elegant fingers across her beaded nipples, sending a cascade of pleasure shooting down to her clit and clenching her core. The rigid bar of his erection pressed against her thigh, and Ellie wiggled against him, wanting it between her legs.
Her top was whisked off so fast her head spun, a sharp tug at the center of her bra, and a hot mouth was wrapped around her nipple and sucking the hard nub deep. Ellie cried out at the sharp bolt of pleasure that shot through her and had her arching up, pressing her breast towards the man…dragon sucking on her delicate flesh.
The warmth of his hand stroking down her stomach towards the waist of her short denim shorts had her muscles contracting at the ticklish sensation. A rumbling purr vibrated up out of the man at her breast as his fingers delved under her shorts and panties and stroked the smooth, slick lips of her sex.
A random thought that she didn’t even know his name flitted through her mind as his fingers traced delicately up and down her slit.
Jun. My name is Jun.
Whispered through her mind as he delved one finger into her waiting depths and dragged a long, low moan from her throat. Ellie’s hips bucked as he drew out her wetness and painted it around the throbbing nub of her clit.
So sensitive, Ellie. You’re going to come for me, and I’m going to fuck you, then I’m going to suck on this little nub until you’re screaming my name.
Ellie shuddered as the liquid of her desire seeped from her core. Jun stroked her clit and delved first one finger and then two into her until her hips were twisting uncontrollably and her thighs were flexing and straining.
From clit to core, he teased and stroked, fucked, and rubbed, until with a keening cry, Ellie spasmed around his driving fingers as her orgasm ripped through her. Short sharp jerks of her shorts and panties while she was still in the throes of pleasure, and Jun was over her with the hot, hard tip of his cock pressing into her.
Look at me, Ellie.
The command was snarled in her mind, and her eyes shot open to looking into the blazing white of his eyes as he thrust in one sharp, hard thrust.
Oh God, he was big! Bigger than anyone Ellie had ever been with. He filled her and stretched her almost to the point of pain. Ellie gasped in shock, her body writhing under him, her arms clasped around the heat of his body.
He gave her about two seconds to get used to him before he moved. A long slow stroke sent fireworks sparkling behind her eyes. Her legs came up automatically to wrap around his hips and open her fully to his invasion.
He braced himself over her on his forearms as he fucked her in long slow strokes, slowly building the speed and force. Ellie gasped and cried out under him with each thrust, pleasure, unlike anything she’d ever felt before driving her towards another release.
Jun!
Ellie whimpered, almost blinded by the steady thrust and retreat of his cock inside her, stroking sensitive nerve endings.
Sharp teeth clamped down on her shoulder, not piercing, just there, a pressure that sent a frisson of fear and pleasure through her.
Let go, Ellie. I’ll always catch you.
Those sharp teeth bit into the meaty flesh of her shoulder, and Ellie came with a scream, her hips bucking up to meet Jun’s forceful thrusts as he pumped hot seed into her.
A deep, rumbling purr vibrated through Ellie’s chest as Jun gathered her close, his cock still hard and buried inside her.
My mate, my queen. You will bear the next generation of dragons, Ellie, and stand at my side until it is time for me to return to the seas.
Ellie jerked in surprise.
Babies? You want children?
Jun looked down at her, his black eyes shining in the afternoon light.
“You will be pregnant within an hour, Ellie. You are receptive, and a dragon’s seed is far more powerful than that of a human. Now I believe I promised to deliver another orgasm.”
And with that, he slid from her clutching depths and set about keeping his new mate happy and satisfied for the next two hundred years.
On the day his beloved Ellie took her last breath, the Emperor of the Sea left a vial of blood and the diamond tears of a dragon with his family. They would know when the time was right, and he would return to his mate and live again.