Chapter 18 The Dragon’s Eyes #2
He cupped my jaw and searched my face, his amber eyes glowing.
“One moment, you joke and laugh with me about it. Then you get this eager look in your eyes, waiting for my order, and when I give it to you, you seem genuinely grateful.” He sighed, shaking his head.
“As if you’d truly do whatever I’d ask you to do. ”
I could sense he wanted a serious answer, so I scraped my mind for the right words.
“I used to…play games. Compliance or defiance were means to an end—I used them to get what I wanted. But obeying you makes me happy. When I’ve pleased you, when you say that I’ve been good and you’re proud of me, or when I feel like you own me and decide over me… I’m happy. Simple as that.”
He blinked, brushing my cheek with his thumb. “Every passing hour,” he whispered, “I’m more convinced you’re absolutely fucking perfect, Leo. The more I know you, the more I love you.”
The crazy thing was, I believed him. He loved me. We’d only met a week ago, but he loved me more than anyone had ever loved me before. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I might even be worth it.
“Davidson.” I wanted to say it back. I longed to say it back. Why was it so difficult?
You’ve never used the words with anyone and meant it. That’s why. You barely know how to twist your tongue to say them.
“Davidson…”
“It’s okay, love. We have all the time in the world.”
And he kissed me.
When we showered together later, I washed his back, marveling at his immense physique. Pausing over his shoulder blades, I wondered how it even worked, the dragon thing. I also recalled the advice from the brochure.
Did I dare? With a sudden burst of courage, I blurted the words. “Can I meet the dragon again?”
He looked over his shoulder at me, his eyebrows rising. “Today?”
“Yes. Can you change for me?”
Davidson turned to face me, frowning thoughtfully. “Of course,” he said, sounding a little hesitant. “But I don’t want to scare you.”
“I want to see you again. Before the heat.”
Before I have a child with you went unsaid.
“I only have a short meeting after breakfast. Then I can shift in the atrium.”
“We can’t go outside?” I would love to see him fly.
“No, darling. Sorry. I have three guards on the premises now, and two of them are human alphas. But one day, I’ll take you to the mountains, and we can fly together.”
I lifted on my tiptoes to place a chaste kiss on his lips.
“I’d love that.” Plucking the showerhead from the hook, I rinsed his torso and groin. “And can we make eggs for breakfast? I want to see how you cook them.”
At that, he smiled. “Sure.”
Davidson went to his office after breakfast, and I changed the sheets. It took me a ridiculously long time, and I swore like a sailor wrestling with the oversized duvet, but I managed.
The washing machine downstairs had a display with clear instructions, and feeling accomplished, I started a cycle.
I went to the kitchen to see if the dishwasher was ready, only to stumble upon one of Davidson’s housekeepers, an omega in his fifties.
I’d seen him around the premises before but never close enough to strike up a conversation.
He greeted me with a smile. The dishwasher was already taken care of.
“Good morning, Mr. Chase.”
“Good morning…” I searched for a name tag on the omega’s ample chest. “Um.”
“Clarence.”
“Hi. Sorry. Good morning, Clarence.”
He tied the trash bag and threw it into a bin on wheels he had with him.
“Lovely to see you in this house. It’s less dark with you in it.”
I gaped. The compliment was sweet, but I had nothing to say. I must have looked stunned because Clarence laughed at my expression.
“Have a good day, Mr. Chase.”
“Thank you, Clarence. Have a good day too.”
Smiling, he walked away, and soon, the front door clicked shut.
Only then did I realize. He knew my name. Davidson must have informed his staff about me, and judging by Clarence’s words, he’d told them I was here to stay. Was it silly of me that the short interaction made me giddy?
I recognized the sound of Davidson’s steps and hurried to meet him.
“There you are.”
It felt completely natural to walk right into his embrace. He kissed down the side of my face and squeezed me, humming.
“Can I meet the dragon now?” I asked.
Davidson chuckled, but it sounded a little uneasy. “Impatient?”
“I…” I was anxious to get it over with, worried I’d lose my courage. “Yes.”
He let go of me and backed into the atrium.
“I just saw Clarence leave,” he said, “so the house is empty except for us.”
My heart thumped wildly in my chest as I watched him strip. He hung the clothes over the banister by the main staircase and walked into the middle of the room.
“You can close your eyes for this part. It’s not pretty.”
But I wanted to see.
It looked like metallic paint spreading over his shoulders, then he grew, incredibly fast, falling onto all fours in the process.
I didn’t know where to look. Thorns burst out of his head while his muzzle grew, claws shot out of his hands and feet, and his tail thumped against the back wall.
It took only a few seconds, and the dragon all but exploded into the space. He filled the entire atrium.
He was probably trying to appear unthreatening because he lowered himself, lying down on his stomach and crossing his front legs.
Then he rested his head on the floor. Ridiculously, I got reminded of my old dog, Noodle—well, if Noodle was as big as a dinosaur and had wings and a thick, reptilian tail.
Motionless, I stared. Davidson the dragon observed me laconically, his enormous eyes blinking every few seconds, disturbingly slowly.
It took me a minute to calm down enough to move.
I pushed off the wall and inched closer.
Orange eyes followed me warily. I paused a few feet away from his nose.
His hot breath brushed my shins. His teeth flashed, and I blinked.
Was he…smiling? I stretched out one arm, but then he lifted his nose a little, startling me, and I pulled back.
“You can touch me.”
I jumped. His voice! I’d forgotten how loud it was. He had Davidson’s voice but so much deeper and more powerful. Well, I guessed it would be louder since that throat must have worked like an amplifier.
“That bad?” he asked, sounding sheepish. Well, maybe not sheepish…maybe I imagined the tone of voice. Could an enormous dragon sound sheepish?
“I’ll stay still, I promise.”
“It’s okay,” I managed.
Steeling myself, I approached the huge head. I didn’t even have to bend to pet his forehead. Lord, he was a beast.
I skimmed my fingers above one eye, and he blinked.
“I can’t see your face when you’re this close,” he said. “Are you scared, love?”
“No,” I said truthfully. “But it’s strange. You’re literally a dragon.”
“I am.”
“Your skin is warm.”
And so soft. Using both hands, I stroked his forehead. A thunderous sound reverberated through the floor, and I jerked back.
“Sorry,” Davidson said. “It’s just so nice.”
“That was a sound of pleasure?”
“I think I hummed.”
“You…hummed. It sounded like the building got hit by a wrecking ball.”
“Sorry,” he repeated, a huge orange eye rolling up. Was he trying to look at me? Carefully, I laid both hands on his head again and rubbed slow circles. This time, the noise didn’t surprise me.
Fascinated, I crouched by his eye. It was bigger than my fist and the color of a roaring fire with specs of gold in it.
“Just don’t poke my eye, okay?”
I laughed nervously. “Sorry. They’re just…amazing. And you’re saying it would hurt?”
“Of course, it would hurt.”
Oh. “You’re vulnerable in this form?”
“Yes. Just like any creature.”
I pondered that as I walked around him. He lifted his head and turned around to follow me with his eyes. I could tell he was moving deliberately slowly so as not to scare me.
I paused, gaping. “You’re turning your head around.”
“Yes?”
“Like all the way around. Like a freaking owl.”
A rumbling noise shook the house. Did he just…laugh? Oh Lord.
“An owl? I look nothing like an owl. I just have a long neck. It provides a good view.”
“It’s freaky.”
I paused by his hind legs and looked at the claws. Three feet long, five of them, with a metallic sheen.
“Can I touch them?”
“Sure.”
“And I won’t cut myself?”
Another rumbling chuckle. “Not unless you try very hard.”
“Okay.”
Very slowly, I ran my hand along the blade closest to me. Then I brushed my thumb over the edge. It wasn’t razor-sharp, but I could easily imagine that with enough force, it could mess someone up really badly.
“Have you ever used them?”
“Used them how?”
“Like in a fight?”
“Fuck no. I might have wrestled around with my brothers when they were teens. But I’ve never fought anyone in this form.”
“I think those two in the alley would argue.”
“Oh. That. But that was just one smack with my tail.”
“Very effective. I’m not complaining.”
I couldn’t go around all of him without climbing over his tail, which was bent against the wall. Brushing my hand along his torso, I returned to his head. He lowered it again so I could reach. It didn’t feel weird to pet him anymore.
I’m petting a dragon.
I grinned and used both hands to stroke above his eye and delve between the ominous thorns on his nape. Davidson angled his head, offering me his forehead. I rubbed between his eyes, and he closed them, humming again.
“That’s so nice.”
I chuckled. “You want belly scratches too?”
I probably shouldn’t have said that. The next second, I was dangling from a dragon’s clawed hand, right in front of his nose. He poked my belly while I kicked and squirmed, laughing.
“What did you say, puny human?”
His breath tickled, and I laughed and squealed like a kid on a rollercoaster.
“Put me down, you monster.”
“As you wish.”
And he dropped me right onto his neck. I ended up straddling him, a comb of thorns in front of me. I grabbed a couple on instinct when he moved under me. He was raising himself.
Oh hell.
Holding on for dear life, I wobbled as he made a few steps around the atrium. He had nowhere to go, but he could shuffle around a bit. When he was standing, I was a good fifteen feet above the ground.
“Oh my God, you’re tall.”
“Comfortable up there?”
“Not really?”
He reached for me, cradling me in his paw. Or was it a foot? What would you call a dragon’s front limb if he could use it both as a foot and a hand and it had five swordlike claws? He gently deposited me onto the floor again.
“That’s where you’re going to sit when we go flying next time. But we’ll need a harness. There’s a guy in Ardaine who makes them customized for dragon shifters. I’ll send him my measurements.”
“You know your measurements?”
“Not yet. Are you going to help me?”
“Um. How?”
“We’ll use ropes. One low around my neck. One around my chest just behind my front legs.”
So that was our next project. The only awkward moment was when Davidson sent me to fetch the ropes. To his old sex room.
I might have looked around a little. The bench was intriguing, as were the two different paddles—one in thick leather and a heavy wooden one.
I opened only the top drawer in the chest. There wasn’t much, and what was there seemed to be all in intact packages.
Which made me think he might have had someone clean up the room and throw out all the used items recently.
Dildos. An artificial knot. Plugs. A couple of black oblong packages that weren’t transparent and held no images, so I had no idea what they were.
A gag. A flogger. Sweet angels in heaven!
I didn’t dare to touch the humungous toy.
It was encased in a transparent plastic and sported a brand name, Evil Monster.
Fitting. It was eerily similar to a real dragon shifter’s cock—if Davidson’s was anything to go by—with a bulging head and ridges underneath.
Except the knot was enlarged, big like a fist. The package proudly stated the toy had nine inches of usable length and the knot had a circumference of eleven.
“Leo?” Davidson’s voice tore me out of the moment. I realized I was brushing my hand over the package.
I grabbed the ropes from a hook by the door and rushed back.
It took a while and required me running around my dragon, crawling under his belly, and climbing on top of him several times.
When we had the right numbers, Davidson shifted back and sent an email to the dragon harness guy, ordering a new one “for the flier” plus a standard parachute one for me.
While he typed out the email, I sat there in his lap, playing with the short hair on his nape, and I had to laugh.
“What?”
“It’s just so crazy and normal at the same time. It’s blowing my mind.”
He hit send and glanced at me. “Did it help?”
I nodded. “Yes. Immensely in fact. I’ve thought about the dragon as something else. Like another presence here with us. But it’s just you.”
Davidson gave me a crooked smile. “Of course, it’s me.”
The more I thought of it, the more amazing it seemed. It made me giddy. “You are an actual dragon.”
My alpha chuckled. “Are you going somewhere with the statement?”
“No. I think it’s only just sinking in.”
His eyebrows drew together, but I used my thumbs to massage the deep lines between them. “No frowning. I’m happy. I like that my Master is a terrifying, dangerous creature. It’s hot.”
“Hot,” he repeated, shaking his head.
“Among other things.”
Tilting his head to the side, Davidson leered at me and licked his lips. “So you’re into monsters too, my kinky little omega?”
My cheeks heated. “Maybe.”
His eyebrows flew up expectantly, as if he was waiting for more from me.
“I have…seen things in the sex room I’d like to try.”
Davidson’s grin turned predatory. “We can do that.”
But then I glanced at the clock in the corner of his laptop.
“It’s almost one. The appointment.”
His face softened, and he ran his hand up and down my back soothingly.
“I love you, Leo. I can drive you to the doctor’s office.”
For the past twenty-four hours, I’d been waiting for the niggling doubts to grow and take over. Instead, they only got weaker. Alone, I’d be bound to fuck up, but Davidson would help me. If anyone could make a decent human being out of me, it was him.
I cupped his jaw, his beard scratching my palm comfortingly.
“Let’s cancel.”