Chapter 3
Zed
Fifteen years ago
O n Saturday, I put on my rented, pale-blue tuxedo. It clashes with my red scales, but it’s Cari’s favorite color, so I hope she likes it.
I ignore Gabe’s advice about jerking off, though. I don’t need to nut to have clarity about Cari. She’s it for me. I even tell my mom that I think she might be one.
“A human?” she says, frowning. “She’s a nice girl. I’ve just never heard of a non-dragon alokoi. Plus, you’re a late shifter like your father. There’s nothing wrong with it, of course, but he didn’t find me until well into his thirties. Are you sure she has that special smell?”
“I don’t know! She smells good. Really good.”
“A lot of humans use scented body products. You could ask her to skip them for a week to get more of her natural aroma, just to be sure. Or lick her between the legs to get her scent from the source. She probably won’t mind.” My mom titters.
Steam rises from my nostrils. She’s so embarrassing sometimes. “I’m not asking her about her bathing habits! Or licking her anywhere! She’ll run away screaming!”
“Oh, she might scream, but I doubt she’d run away.” She smirks at me and then doubles over laughing when I glare back. “Come on now, Zedraak Glisson. You’re a fully grown dragon. I’m allowed to tease you a little.”
A growl is my only answer.
She pats me on the arm and straightens my pale-blue bowtie. “You look very fierce, darling. Be careful with your horns and everything will go well.”
But it doesn’t.
When I get to Cari’s house, corsage box clutched in my claws, her dad is waiting on the porch, arms crossed over his stained work shirt.
I clear my throat as I approach. “Good evening, Mr. Stark. I’m here to pick up Cari for the—”
“I don’t think so, Bubba,” he interrupts, stiff brown mustache bristling under his snub nose. Maybe I should have introduced myself first.
“Nice to finally meet you. My name’s Zed.” I hold out my free hand to shake like humans do when they greet each other, but he sneers at it. Did I misunderstand the custom?
“Your name’s Scram. Skedaddle. Shoo.”
“I thought it was Bubba,” I quip, my smart mouth getting the better of me.
His frown deepens. “I’ll have you know the cops are already on their way. Called ’em as soon as Caroline said a dragon was after her. Up to you whether they find you in one piece or several.”
“Dad! Stop!” Cari yelps from the doorway behind him. I can’t see her through his wide stance, but Radar bounds between her dad’s legs, down the steps, and leaps at me. I have no choice but to drop the corsage and catch him. “Zed’s not after me . He’s just taking me to a dance. I said he was coming over, not coming to get me.”
Mr. Stark’s eyes narrow as he looks at me again, taking in the ruined flowers on the ground and my tux…not to mention the dog he despises in my arms, who clearly knows me well. “He’s after you one way or another. And either way, I don’t like it.”
“Don’t be such a grump, Dad,” Cari says, and nudges him aside. She takes one graceful step around him, and my brain liquifies.
Her curvy, petite frame is poured into a pale-blue dress that matches my suit. The thin straps holding it up look like they’re made of spiderwebs. Like one wrong flick of a claw and the whole thing might fall off.
I feel faint.
My feral form does not. I can hear stitches popping.
“May I use your bathroom?” I gasp. Not that human bathrooms are a good size for shifting, but they’re a good size for unzipping your rented tuxedo pants so your giant feral dicks don’t tear through them like wet Kleenex.
“Of course, it’s inside on the left…”
I push Radar into her arms as I pass her on my way into the house. Banging the door to the half-bathroom shut behind me, I slam the lock and unzip just in time. Two enormous erections spill out of my pants, already dripping pre-cum onto Cari’s tile floor.
“ Unnngh ,” I groan, leaning back against the door while I wait for them to deflate. Worst moment to half-shift ever . I should have followed Gabe’s advice and yanked them before I got dressed for the Revel.
A tentative knock sounds. “Are you okay, Zed?” Cari’s soft, worried voice carries through the wooden panel. My dicks bob at the sound of my name on her lips.
“Fine! I’m fine!” I say, a little too cheerfully. “Just give me a minute.”
A minute stretches into five, and my dicks are still as fat and unruly as they were when I ran in here. I run the water so it sounds like I’m busy doing regular bathroom stuff.
Sirens wail, then cut out as tires crunch in the gravel driveway outside. Heavy knocking. A drawling exchange that I can’t quite make out. The cops are here. Damn it.
What is it that my shifting coach always says? Be firm with your feral form. He won’t listen if he doesn’t respect you.
“Get back inside,” I hiss at my dicks. “You are going to get us in such deep trouble.”
Voices. Then Cari’s gentle knock again. “Zed? Can you come out and meet the officer? It’s nothing serious. He just wants to make sure everything’s okay between you and me.”
“Uh…I’m not done.”
“What’s taking so long? What’s he doing in there?” her dad growls.
“Nothing!” I blurt out in a panic. “I mean, not nothing . I’m, uh, doing bathroom things. In the bathroom. Like normal.” Right. That sounded like a totally normal response. I’m sure he’s not suspicious at all.
“Dad, let him have some space. Come on. I’ll make some coffee for the cops while they wait.” Their voices fade somewhat as they retreat toward the kitchen.
I try and stuff my dicks back into my pants. Maybe if I can just wedge one on each side, I can zip up…
Nope . And the stimulation—not to mention the images of Cari in that damn blue dress that keep popping into my head—makes them swell even bigger.
I bang the back of my head gently against the door. If the cops find me like this, it’s not just going to be bad for me. It’s going to be bad for my whole hive. It will prove that monsters can’t control themselves. That we need more rules and restrictions to keep humans safe.
My cocks don’t care. They just drool on the floor like a dog waiting for dinner.
Fine. I grip the shaft of one in each hand and start stroking, fast and hard. It doesn’t usually take long. Feels weird to think of Cari when she’s in the next room with her dad and a couple of police officers, though. Like I should ask her permission first. I try to think of something else. Anything else.
The issue of Dragon Dames my cousin gave me as a joke when I turned eighteen. The cute orc barista at the drive-through coffee hut who singlehandedly caused my caffeine addiction a few years back. Even the curvy back end of a Ferrari that resembles a female’s feral form! But none of them stick. Cari’s pale blue eyes and sweet smile cut the line every time.
I give in and let memories of her flood my senses. Sweat beading in her cleavage after chasing Radar around the yard. A damp strand of blonde hair sticking to her cheek. The way she bit her lip when I brushed it back.
The dick in my left hand goes off, splattering the side of the sink and dragging a groan out of my chest. One more to go. Almost there. Almost there.
Cari jumping up and down at the finish line of my race, chest bouncing inside her sweater. Cari’s small foot in my hand, toes wiggling against my palm—
Someone hammers on the door, jarring me out of my fantasy before I can coax my other cock to cooperate. “What’s going on in there? It better not be what I think it is. Open this door in the next five seconds, or I’m coming in,” Cari’s dad yells, rattling the doorknob.
“No, wait, hang on!” Frantically, I shove my softening lower cock back into my pants and then the still-stiff one on top of it. Even with only one feral erection to accommodate, the tuxedo pants protest, straining to the limit.
This isn’t going to work. But the scratchy sound of the lock being picked lights a fire under my tail. In one last desperate attempt, I tug the edges of my fly together and yank the zipper as hard as I can.
Piercing pain lances through me. My vision spots. My feral form roars inside me.
Oh, nope, it roars outside me. The bathroom door splinters as I fully shift. My enormous feral dragon takes out three of the bathroom walls, bringing down a rain of drywall and tile. Flames erupt from my chest, igniting the shower curtain.
So much for making a good impression on her dad. At least with all the smoke, he won’t see that I came all over the side of the sink.
But the cops are yelling now in tinny human voices, waving their little weapons around. I have to get out of here. I don’t fit through the front door. Should I kick down a wall or go through the roof? Why do I feel so dizzy?
Oh no , I think, when I look down and see the blood streaming down my leg, tatters of the human-sized, pale-blue pants stuck to my scales. I’m not going to get my tuxedo deposit back.
And then I pass out.