The Dragon King (11 page)

* * * *

When Aaron and I finally went to our bedroom, I carried the laptop with us, opened the program Brain showed me I could type documents in, and typed, “Duke called you flyboy? Does he know what you are?”

He typed back, “He’s just guessing. Birds rarely enter a relationship with a non-flying shapeshifter, as they can’t spend time together in animal form. I know of a hawk/wolf couple, but they’re both in the woods together, at least, and team up to hunt smaller game. But a swan would be unlikely to go for anyone who can’t fly. He was seeing what kind of reaction he’d get.”

“He may not be as smart as Brain in all things, but he isn’t stupid,” I typed. “Most of the wolves my father had guarding me were rough and not very bright, mostly only good for following specific orders. I guess I’d been given the impression they were the dumb beasts of our world, but Brain and Duke are anything but.”

“Duke thinks more like a general, while Brain is all about the politics. Together, the two are formidable and you’d do well to listen to them. When I made the request for Brain, I hoped Duke would be part of the package.”

Aaron

I watched Sophia grow and learn in the week we spent with the wolves. All three of us sparred with her, and she grew more and more used to touch.

Duke and Brain were both quite tactile, and touched her arm to get her attention when talking, or reached for the mouse to take it from her when they wanted to show her something on the computer. Before long, she no longer froze when one of them touched her.

We had a bit of a party their last night with us, with a feast of the last of our refrigerated goods, as well as some wine for Sophia and the last of the beer for the rest of us.

We said goodbye to the wolves early the next morning — too late for the Owls but not quite time for the Eagles, and hopefully no one else around who might be watching two wolves trot out of a cave. I watched with melancholy as Duke and Brain sincerely wished Sophia the best, hugging her and holding her a good bit longer than I’d have been comfortable with if it hadn’t been a goodbye to someone they considered a friend. They hugged me, too, and then they were gone.

“I’m going to miss them,” she told me when we could no longer hear them.

“I know. If this all works out though, I’ll be helping them move to Chattanooga, and if you stay in town with me you’ll be able to see them occasionally, if you like.”

She nodded and said, “The solstice is day after tomorrow. You ready to let me in on your plans?”

“
Our
plans, Soph.” I could get her started on the strategy, but we’d need to finesse it together, and decide on the biggest decision of all — whether to take her virginity now so I wouldn’t need to flog her, or wait till later, meaning she’d have to undergo at least one more rip-the-skin-off-her-body flogging.

“Right,” she countered, “but you have something in mind and I’d like to hear it. I didn’t push before because I assumed you didn’t want to put the wolves in a tight position, should their knowing the details put them in danger, but they’re gone, so I’m asking.”

“Brain actually helped me with a few ideas, but you’re right — I wanted to keep the final parts from them. We’ll be leaving the safe house tomorrow morning and going to another part of the cave. If you decide you don’t want to be flogged, tonight will be the last time we’re in a regular bed before the solstice.”

She shook her head. “As much as I want to have sex with you, if I’m thinking like a Princess then I know we have to wait. I’m not looking forward to the flogging, but I don’t feel the terror about it I used to feel, when it was Boris doing it. So, thanks for making the decision a little easier.”

I pulled her into my arms and told her, “I’m not looking forward to it, either, but I’ll do everything I can to help you through it.”

Sophia wanted to seal things up in plastic, put things back to rights as much as possible, but I told her this safe house would be shot as soon as we flew out of the cave. I uploaded everything on the laptops and tablets to a server farm I owned in Russia, and then we took every piece of electronic equipment, as well as anything else that might point to our activities while there, to the other cavern. I turned into a dragon and breathed fire on it all until it was a pile of ashes.

We went back to the house and I used most of the remaining diesel to fully charge three hi-capacity batteries. I packed two heating blankets, as well as a few garage clip-on lights with heat lamps in them, and a lightweight camping lantern. We packed the clothes we’d need to stay warm, and went to bed.

I gave her three orgasms — a record — and she fell asleep happy.

Sophia

I awoke with a heavy feeling in my stomach the next morning. I looked forward to going outside again, but was nervous about what the future held. I couldn’t stay in this cave forever, but it represented safety and I had mixed feelings about leaving it.

It took us most of the day to reach the area Aaron intended us to camp, and I figured we must have walked ten miles. My backpack had one battery, some blankets, clothes, and water. Aaron carried two batteries, a lot of water, and our food. His load was much heavier, and yet he seemed to not feel it at all.

When we finally arrived, I was pleased to see we were in a rather small room, with a rubber flap over the entrance so we’d be able to keep it warm. Though, this part of the cave didn’t seem as cool.

When I asked him about it he said, “We’re not too far from an exit, though it’s currently blocked with a large wooden wall. I have an air mattress and a small pump. I’ll let you blow it up while I get everything else set up.”

Thirty minutes later we had light and warmth, and a comfortable place to sleep.

We were going to get started at one o’clock in the morning to hopefully give ourselves a little bit of an edge. There was a mountain about thirty miles away — as the swan and dragon fly — that Aaron said was a place of power. He’d been instrumental in getting the entire region set aside as a Wilderness Area, and had apparently spent more than a century claiming it and making the mountain’s power his. He assured me that — because it would see me as his mate — the mountain would provide power and energy to the two of us while refusing it to our enemies.

“The mountain is my friend, Soph. I can’t explain it any better than that.”

I didn’t understand, but I believed him, and I’d follow him to it and hope this ended up being the location of my showdown with my father.

We’d eaten protein bars and drank water while we’d walked earlier, but he surprised me with some beef jerky and a candy bar as we sat and talked.

He helped me relax by rubbing my back, and the last thing I heard before sleep took me was, “No matter what happens tomorrow, Soph, I’m yours and you’re mine.”

* * * *

Aaron woke me gently, and I drank the protein shake he offered. It bordered on disgusting, but I knew I needed the calories and energy.

He drank four, and when I asked for a second he made it without comment.

I let him roll me in the electric blanket, and watched as he wrapped a second around my feet. “Twenty minutes in here Soph, and then we get started. Close your eyes and try to relax for me, okay?”

I remembered it hurt worse when Boris flogged me when I was cold, and wondered how Aaron knew to get me warm to keep it from hurting as bad.

I didn’t ask, though. I didn’t have it in me to know the answer right now.

He left for a bit, and when he came back he didn’t speak, just unplugged the blankets and carried me out, still in them.

Aaron worked fast, and within moments of standing me up, leather cuffs were wrapped around my wrists and ankles. He chained my wrists to a bolt in the stone above me, and my ankles to the walls beside me. He’d set up heat lamps in here with the third battery, so this section of the room was warm, but we were in a huge cavern and I’d have preferred to do this in the room we’d slept.

I knew we’d fly straight from here outside, though. He would carry me out of the cave in his claws and let me go when we hit clear air. I’d never taken off to fly — only jumped from high up and let the wind catch me.

He put something around my hips and ran it between my legs. I jumped and screamed when it came to life and he finally spoke, “It’s called a butterfly vibrator, Soph. It’s going to help you enjoy this.” His hands stroked my back, my bottom. His lips touched my shoulders.

The vibrator made my clit come to life, and I pushed my bottom towards him, as I moaned.

“Mmmm, that’s it. You’re beautiful like this. All mine.” His fingers finally moved to touch me where I craved them, but he only teased me.

I moaned again when he stepped away, and then had to focus on breathing when I saw him lift the flogger.

I expected the first strike of the flogger to make me scream, but it was more of a caress than a strike. I’m not sure how many he gave me before I
wanted
the next strike, and eventually wanted him to hit me harder. I liked the strokes to my upper back and bottom the most, but he let the flogger hit every inch of my skin except my face. He’d told me ahead of time he’d take care of the skin of my head with his talons, as he couldn’t bear to strike me there.

Before long I was screaming, but it wasn’t all pain. He’d been right — it was sensation, and for the most part I got to decide what to call the sensation. Pain, pleasure, or an amalgamation of the two. I chose the last.

When he paused and switched floggers, I knew this was the worst of it, but I also knew we were close to the end.

My scream at the first strike was real, the pain excruciating, but…not the same as before. This flogger had bits of sharpened stainless steel woven into the knots on the end, designed to shred skin, but it was as if the nerve endings had been partially deadened. I felt it, but it was almost bearable, and certainly not the unholy hell Boris had put me through

The skin at my back tore open, then my bottom, my thighs, calves. He had me lift my right foot and he slashed the sole. I screamed in agony as I put some of my weight on the ripped sole so I could lift my left.

He moved to my front, removed the vibrator and slashed my shins, thighs, hips, stomach, and breasts. The last to go were my arms, and he moved in a circle as he ripped the skin on them, and finally slashed at my hands above the restraints.

I fell to the floor as I slid from the skin of my hands and arms, and felt the rest of my skin slipping away. Huge claws formed on his fingertips and I shuddered as he dug into my forehead and pulled a claw through my scalp, down to the back of my neck. Gentle fingers pulled the skin away and off my head, but I only sobbed at the sensations — no screams. Boris had flogged the skin off my face and this seemed kind by contrast.

I wanted to thank him, to hug him, to show him how much I loved him. The de-skinning was awful, and yet not terrible. The difference in having this done by someone who wanted to hurt me, who enjoyed my pain, versus someone who cared for me, maybe even loved me?

All I could verbalize though, was, “Yours. Always yours.”

“I know, Soph.”

The air pressure in the huge cavern changed as Aaron went from human to huge dragon. He lifted me in his large claws as I began to
change
, but something didn’t feel right.

We were out of the cave in a matter of seconds – dragons can fly four hundred miles an hour and we were only a mile or two from the exit, apparently.

I felt heat as he breathed fire, saw the huge wooden wall blocking our way disintegrate as he tried to pull me closer to his body, but I was too big and he couldn’t. I expected the heat to burn me, but it bounced off me as if I had my own armor. When he came out of the cave, flew high into the air, and released me, I knew why the
change
hadn’t felt right.

I wasn’t a Swan.

I was a Dragon.

Once again, I spread unfamiliar wings and hoped they held me, and once again, they did.

These wings worked basically the same as my swan wings, but the body in between made them handle completely different.

Aaron gave me pointers as we flew, explaining how to turn, lift, accelerate, and decelerate.

As we came in for a landing on top of the mountain I saw the eagles first, and then the line of swans behind them.

My father turned human as his feet touched the ground, smoothly morphing from one form to the next.

“What have you done with my Sophia?” he demanded of me.

“Father, I am your daughter, but in another form.” My voice didn’t sound like me, so I knew this wasn’t going to convince him.

“This isn’t possible. I demand to know where my daughter is. You smell of her, but she isn’t Dragon.”

“We’ve always been cautioned against being around other shapeshifters in the critical period between human and swan. When my mate helped me
change
, he used his talons to help remove my scalp...” I gave an awkward shrug, not used to this form. “It would appear I’m a Dragon now, Father.”

I hadn’t argued with Aaron when he’d told me his intentions, but had considered the warnings and wondered if anything would happen. It looked like something had, and I wished I knew more about what this meant. If my father did, I’d know soon enough.

He looked to his left and said, “Old friend? Some help?”

The eagle landed as my father had, turning to human as his feet touched the ground. I wondered how much practice it took to perfect that little trick.

I watched as the Eagle King touched my father the Swan King, and my Dragon eyes saw the transfer of power. My father reached his hand towards me, energy shot into me, and I was a swan.

But, once again, it wasn’t right.