Being a true shifter isn’t the blessing it may seem. But through pain and darkness Perdita seeks to find her own life despite the ambition of others…
Chapter Three – Mandrake (part one)
If it is possible for a True Shifter to be lucky in the company in which she loses hold on her form, then I was lucky that Mandrake stood before me in that place. He bellowed something and dragons came running bearing quilts and blankets while others built a bonfire and lit it with their hot breath. With the heat of the fire and the warmth of the bedding I slowly stopped the worst of my shivering. Moth burrowed under my armpit and we both dropped into sleep, but not before I heard Mandrake explaining to the young dragon.
“The lady isn’t a lycanthrope, and, no, obviously she isn’t a dragon. She is a True Shifter and as rare as the black diamonds in the Queen’s crown. The lady can be anything she needs to be, but the cost is enormous.”
Enormous indeed, I thought as sleep overtook me.
But I was still cold and even in my sleep I was racked by shivering fits. Moth tried to help me, but she was so depleted that her tiny body was like ice on my skin. I must have cried out because I felt the arrival of a source of heat. Something or someone crawled into our cocoon of blankets and pulled us against a hard warm chest. I drew warmth and comfort and slowly the tremors ceased so we could rest.
We awoke much later under a positive pile of blankets with Mandrake in his human form surrounding us with comfortable heat. In the firelight I could see the multi-faceted eyes of about a dozen dragons, while two of the most experienced deputies wrangled amiably about some point of law. I wriggled a bit and Mandrake loosened his grip. Moth stretched herself and flew off into the trees, leaving me to deal with our friendly dragon.
“Thank you for the warmth of your body.”
“You are entirely welcome madonna.”
I rolled over and looked into his eyes. He was smiling his least dragonish smile but there was a devilish twinkle behind it. I lifted an eyebrow. His grin grew wider and I found myself considering a number of options I wasn’t about to explore with quite such a large audience. I said nothing, but I smiled the smile I know awakens a dimple at the corner of my mouth. He tried to look cool but his body betrayed him and I could feel that he was far from immune to my charms.
He broke the silent thread that connected us. “May I fly you home in the morning?”
I pretended to consider, as if that wasn’t precisely what I had in mind. Mandrake wasn’t naive enough to be fooled, though, and he laughed deep in his chest.
“Busted,” I said. “A ride would please me greatly. Thank you.”
A shaft of icy air indicated that Moth was back from her ablutions.
“We riding home with handsome?”
“Yes.”
“We going to?”
“What’s with the we?”
She cackled rudely and I was reminded, if I needed a reminder, that my bond sister is fae, and as oversexed as a queen dragon in heat even if she is unable to enjoy the act other than vicariously. It was tempting to string her along a bit, but she had been through the wringer just as much as I and I figured we both deserved a treat
“You shall have fresh meat my pretty,” I promised before turning my attention back to Mandrake.
He bent his head and I felt his breath against the pulse point beneath my ear. I put my hand against his bare chest and touched the scars of years as a battle dragon with the very tips of my fingers. Somehow this evidence of his courage and vulnerability made me feel a little bit ashamed and I found it in me to be honest with him.
“What do you know about True Shifters?”
I felt, rather than saw, his smile. “More than most. I was educated to be a priest but I prefer the honesty of battle to the lies and half truths of the liturgy.”
I found myself surprised by and interested in the complexity of his mind. “That’s something we might discuss at a later date, but for now I need to talk to you about my bond-sister.”
“The fae?”
“Yes. She and I are…” I wasn’t sure how to carry on, but found I need not anyway.
“It’s okay. I know she will partake of anything we might choose to do when we are otherwise alone.”
“And does that worry you?”
“No. It puts me on my mettle. I wouldn’t want the pair of you find me wanting.”
I laughed and he bent his head again this time I felt the sting of his sharp teeth before he soothed the tiny pain with a lap of his tongue.
“Behave, sir dragon. I have no wish to entertain an audience.”
“Though you would have me entertain your bond-sister.”
Which was a fair comment, if unnerving.
“Touché.”
“I don’t seek to fence with you madonna. I have other ways to sheath my sword if you will have it so.”
“I think I very well might.”
Moth spoke in my head. ‘He is either very brave or very foolish.’
‘He’s a dragon Mothwing. There’s a distinct possibility he could be both.’
‘Oh. How exciting.’
I don’t know quite what I might have said to her had not Mandrake’s calloused hands moved on my skin with all the finesse of a fencer’s blade. Part of me wanted to push him away, but another part relished the idea that we could do this thing unnoticed with upwards of a dozen pairs of eyes on us. Moth sang inside my head and that pushed me over the edge of proper decorum into some darker place where I half relished the idea we might be observed.
But Mandrake was wily, and once he brought me to the point of beyond caring he was tenderness itself as he slid into my willing flesh. It is possible, I learned, to make gentleness as much of a torment as the slap of flesh on flesh – and when release came it was as quiet as a springtime breeze. It left me feeling soft and smooth and grateful. Moth curled herself between us and before sleep claimed me again I heard her wondering voice.
‘We never been made love to before…’
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