Dragon's Delight; Dragons Series, Book 2

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Dragon’s Delight Willa Okati

All rights reserved. Copyright ©2008 Willa Okati

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

ISBN: 978-1-59596-612-4 Formats Available: HTML, Adobe PDF, MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader Publisher: Changeling Press LLC PO Box 1046 Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046 www.ChangelingPress.com Editor: Crystal Esau Cover Artist: Reneé George

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Dragon’s Delight Willa Okati

A veteran of the war in search of a hero’s welcome, Collin finds himself S.O.L. The man he could have fallen in love with didn’t come home with him, and Collin’s left without a direction. What does a soldier do when the fight’s over?

Why, he finds a new challenge. Or, in this case, a challenge finds him. One of the mysterious dragons

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that appeared during the war to circle the skies snatches Collin from his home and carries him to the dragon lands. The dragon, Zacharei, claims he’s “returning” Collin to his dragon lord. But how can this be when Collin’s never visited in the first place?

Collin begins to understand when Zacharei leaves him with “his” dragon, Avalier, a beast who’s the exact duplicate of Nyas -- and who thinks Collin is his “Kay-lin,” a doppelganger who disappeared during Avalier’s own last battle. Mistaken identity has never been this sexy -- and a mix-up has never been so perfect a solution for the lonely hearts of two soldiers.

Chapter One

Ye gods on high, this had to be the hottest summer in history. Collin didn’t know what Middle American weather had been like before the wars and before the dragons began to fly through the skies above, but he’d heard about an amazing convenience called “air conditioning.” On scorching, sweltering nights like these, the clouds a mixture of purple and near-black, streaks of lightning sizzling from one to the other without a drop of merciful rain in sight, Collin thought he’d happily sell his soul for a chance to step inside one of those fairy-tale rooms that were supposed to have been as cool as caves regardless of any heat waves choking the outside world. Not for the first time, Collin wondered what the dragons’ worlds were like. The few glimpses he’d gotten of the sinuously snakelike creatures soaring through the storm clouds made him think of the cool dryness of a lizard’s scales. Betcha just being around a dragon would cool you off . Yeah. Sure. Maybe for half a hot minute, before that dragon ate you. Collin dragged his forearm across his forehead, trying to wipe away the slick film of sweat that threatened to blind him if it rolled into his eyes. Moisture ran down Collin’s cheeks and back, sticking his ragged T-shirt to his skin. At least he was alone, crouched by himself on the back stoop of the tenement he’d denned up in for a couple of weeks, and didn’t have to make himself hotter with the effort it took to make conversation. He’d been alone since his closest friend, Nyas, had gone off to join the actively fighting soldiers in their struggle against riots and rebel uprisings. For his part, Collin stayed home and kept the peace in their old neighborhood. Collin exhaled heavily. “I miss you, old friend,” he muttered. He’d miss Nyas forever. Word had come that Nyas was missing in action, which in Collin’s experience translated to “we can’t find enough pieces of him to send home.” “Home.” Collin snorted. Another one of those fairy-tale concepts, eh? The squatter’s den he’d found didn’t belong to him. Didn’t belong to anyone in recent memory.

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Yet those who lived inside looked to him as their leader, and were grateful for him given the not-so-stellar tin despots who’d ruled earlier. For his part, Collin had done away with Lerin, an oversized asshole who’d liked to whore out the helpless. Men like Lerin were dangerous as well as stupid. The bastard had only grudgingly let them scavenge food instead of making him cash and earning favors, and then hadn’t allowed them to cook what they did find over contained fires. Well, neither did Collin, not unless the smog lay thick as a blanket and smelled bad enough to hide any cooking odors, but at least he sympathized. Collin had eaten way too many stale, cold scraps and gone hungry too many times to ever disrespect the demands of a human stomach or understand the need to do something with the pitiful victuals to make them appealing. On the other hand, even the blandest of fare they managed to scrape together was usually edible, and kept body and soul together. Collin, cynical after everything he’d seen, knew a good meal was something not to be taken lightly. Not ever. Ah, well. Collin accepted his fate. His life wasn’t as bad as others had it. He knew plenty of young men like him who hadn’t been lucky enough to find friends and a safe place to hide, and if he was the one doing the protecting instead of being protected, so be it. Someone had to lead. These days it was everybody for himself against everyone else, and if you didn’t have backup you were toast. Collin was a good leader. He knew that for a fact. But without Nyas around, Collin’s problem was this: he was lonely. See, Collin knew what mattered in life once you had food and a roof over your head and a job worth doing: you wanted someone you cared about, even loved, to share them with. Not just a buddy. Someone to whom you had a deeper tie. For Collin, for a long time that person had been Nyas. Nyas. Big tough soldier, huge scary-looking gorgeous dark guy. A marshmallow once you figured out he did have a gooey center and called him on it -- in secret, so none of those they led would think of him as weak. Nyas definitely had the balls to take charge. But to Collin, he’d ’fessed up to being a marshmallow with one of his rare grins, so disarming that anyone he turned that beam on fell for it, gay or straight. He’d been a good fellow. And decent men deserved a proper soldier’s send-off, in Collin’s opinion. Besides, he needed some -- what did they call it? Closure? Which was why he’d taken up a temporary position outside the safety of the broken-down tenement walls, alone in a world that was never going to be quiet again. Even now, although the guys were all gone or asleep, he could hear the action on the streets not too far away. Gunshots. Screams. A rare, rare functional car screeching its tires as its passengers either raced to a fight or tried to get away from one. The world had really and truly gone to hell. So, amid all the brimstone, who’d notice one little farewell fire? Collin had planned this and scrounged for burnables for days, squirreling away a piece of broken windowsill here, and scrap of wooden crate there. Enough to make a decent blaze. Big enough to fill his

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need. He laughed quietly, amused. Hey, now he really was a flamer. Jeez, he wished he and Nyas had had a chance to do more than watch each other’s backs. They’d had potential, but in the end, not enough time. Collin knew he’d been overcautious, too, never having had a chance for more than quick, anonymous fucks and sucks over the years. Fly-by-night lovers, here and gone in a flash. If he’d done it right before, maybe he would have known what to do differently, and how to find a chance with Nyas. Then, maybe he wouldn’t be here after all. He’d be inside. Held fast within Nyas’s warm, strong arms that pinned him tight, flesh to flesh, soft snores muffled against his hair, head tucked beneath his chin. A heated, callused hand resting against Collin’s hip. It was a sweet, sweet dream. “Screw dreams,” Collin muttered, very quietly, just in case someone heard him and came to investigate. That would be just way too embarrassing. He didn’t want to have to explain out loud. Time to get this over with already. Collin ticked off the necessary elements on his fingers. Privacy? Check. A good, deep-dark night, too hot for anyone else to brave the weather, darkness covering the sullen sky. Stuff to burn? Check. A wobbly stack of junk, all ready and waiting for a touch of the flame. The few personal possessions Nyas had owned and left behind, almost all of them carefully protected photos. Booze? Check. Guilt over planning to use the booze for drinking, even in Nyas’s memory? Big check. Alcohol was too precious to waste this way, but one of Collin’s fondest memories of Nyas had been sharing an ounce-sized bottle of whiskey. It’d taken Collin days and cost him some favors, but he’d managed to lay hands on another of the same kind. It wasn’t a bad thing that he didn’t have more, Collin thought philosophically. He sipped at the tiny mouth of the whiskey bottle and choked on the burn. Never had developed a taste for firewater. “The things I do for you, Nyas, old buddy,” he said, saluting the sky with his bottle. Was he ready? Yeah. He could do this now. Almost. Collin fished the note -- Nyas’s last communication with him -- out of his pocket. One last time. He’d read it one last time.

Collin, Guess this is it, huh, pal? I’m writing this the night before I head off to fight the wars. God, I hate to leave you behind. You’ve been better than a brother to me, Coll. I trust you with my life, and I hope to hell you don’t take this the wrong way, or think I’m a bastard for just saying it now, but I wish we’d met in some other world, some other time, when things were different. When we were just two guys who could get to know each other, play some sports or knock back some beers, take our time, and when I could work up the nerve to touch you the way I want --not like a brother. I know you’ve got the same wants on your mind, Coll. I may not be the brightest guy in the world, but I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I’m too distracted to look back. Wish

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we’d had a chance to hook up the way two men who have something to offer each other should, and I don’t just mean for sex although there were plenty of times I wanted to throw you down and have my way with you. If I come back alive, know that I want to try and make something happen between us. We both know what the odds are on that, though, right? And I don’t want to break your heart, so that’s why I think I need to go ahead and make sure you understand this: don’t hope. When I’m gone, I know there’ll be someone out there who’ll love every bit of what you have to give, and you just have to find her or him. But it won’t be me. I’m sorry for wasting both our chances. -- Nyas

Collin shook his head in regret. “Here’s to lost chances,” he said, lifting the whiskey bottle before draining it dry. Time to start burning. Like a Viking funeral, if the old history books you found every now and then were to be believed. Nyas had had a thing for historical warriors. Spartans, Vikings, and samurai -- especially samurai. The pictures, he burned last. There weren’t many. Instant cameras were rare as hen’s teeth and all you could use these days -- no developers and no developing fluid, and no working computers for digital photos -- and Nyas didn’t like having his picture taken thanks to the battle scars on his cheeks and chin. In Collin’s opinion they only made the strong, stark lines of Nyas’s bone structure look hot as hell. He came across as dangerous, and damn sexy, too. Collin studied each photo before tossing it gently on the flames. A shot of Nyas sitting inside the tenement after moving stuff around all day long, so tired that he’d fallen asleep on the bare concrete with Collin’s T-shirt wadded up under his head. Into the fire. One of Nyas loading up the food hiding places. Smiling, happy with what he’d accomplished. Into the fire. Nyas laughing. Nyas teaching one of the uber-white soldiers how to dance. Nyas telling stories by rare candlelight. God, he’d loved Nyas’s stories. The man could spin a tale like no one else. Yarns about old gods and goddesses, samurais and geishas, courtesans and princes. If Nyas had his way, every story he told had had a Japanese flavor. When he’d sat and listened, Collin had found it so easy to imagine Nyas as one of those warriors of old. He’d been born out of his natural time and place, just like Collin. Both of them belonging in the distant past, before the wars, and before the dragons -- not that Collin thought the dragons were the big, bad nasties most people did. They hadn’t hurt anyone yet, and Collin didn’t figure they’d bother to start. Collin figured he’d be a hell of a lot happier long ago or far away, as long as he got a second chance with Nyas. This might be his world, but he didn’t belong in it, and he knew that for a fact now that he

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was alone. Finally, he came down to the last picture left, his very favorite. Collin’s fingers softened as he picked the photo up, fruitlessly trying to smooth out its dozens of creases. A shot of Nyas sitting cross-legged on the dead brown grass of the lawn, savoring the soft cool of an autumn evening. His eyes lay closed in bliss, in peace. A bottle of water dangled loosely from his hand, fingers stroking the slim neck. Collin had gotten instantly half-hard behind his camera. He’d gone all the way to full erection, swollen so hard he ached, when Nyas took a long, lingering sip of the tepid rainwater run-off and licked his lips with a soft pink tongue. He knew Nyas had been celibate for months at that point, but in that photo he’d had the languid, lazy look of someone who’d just been fucked, lazy as a cat and blissed out to the max. It’d driven Collin crazy with lust when the picture was taken, and every time he looked at the snapshot afterward. For one hot, precious moment, Collin let himself dream of it. How it would have been. Nyas, with his kissable lips, and his strong, hard body -- that begged to have hands caressing it -- his laughing eyes, his cutting wit. The man who’d teased Collin into trusting him, became his most trusted friend, and then had tormented him with lingering looks which Collin had seen, and which had promised far more than simple companionship. He tingled -- burned -- with the thought of his lips on Nyas’s skin, burrowing into the soft place between shoulder and neck, and then sliding down to suckle at the hollow where his collarbones met. A wild vision flitted through Collin’s mind of sliding down Nyas’s body until his mouth was at a level with Nyas’s eager, rigid cock, of mouthing it through the paper-thin denim of his jeans, of suckling until the fabric was damp with their shared need. Licking over the defined muscles under the coarse sprinkling of hair on Nyas’s belly. Teasing him to see if he could make Nyas’s cock jump and twitch with want of his mouth on it. Then, in his dream, Nyas would wrap Collin up in a crushing embrace, never to let him go. “Love you,” he’d whisper, truth in his voice before he kissed Collin bruisingly hard, wonderfully fierce. “Want you so much, Collin. Need you.” Nyas, so hot… Nyas would brush a stray lock of hair out of Collin’s eyes. Collin would smile up at him, lusty, eager, and trusting. Collin would writhe against him, their bodies tangling together. He dreamed of hips snapping against hips, groins grinding together, each of them craving more contact. “There’ll be time to take our time later,” Nyas would promise, thrusting his hand inside Collin’s jeans to get at his cock. “All that matters right now is finally having a taste of you. Getting my cock inside you.” The dream was so vivid Collin didn’t want to open his eyes and face the real world. He fantasized on, imagining himself bucking into Nyas’s grip. “You’ll be the death of me,” Nyas would rasp, ready to pop from the building lust threatening to overtake both of them. “Or me, of you.” Collin would have demanded another kiss and asked, with a laugh, “Is that a promise?” Collin let his eyes drift half-open, discovering that he’d gotten hard during his daydream -- not surprising

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-- and that he’d cupped his swollen cock to ease the pressure. God, he could go off like a rocket right here, right now. It’d been so damn long since the last time Collin had enjoyed himself like this that his orgasm began to rise and rush upon him, powerful as a tidal wave and almost as inescapable. But… he couldn’t. He was at enough risk staying out here alone for so long. If he let his guard down long enough for the mindless pleasure of an orgasm, he’d be easy prey. “Gotta get this done,” Collin said out loud, reluctantly removing his hand from his aching erection. He studied his favorite picture of Nyas one more time. He loved that picture. Slept with it sometimes, not caring what anyone else would think, or how they’d laugh themselves sick at him if they knew he was that much of a sentimentalist under his soldier’s exterior. Into the fire. The fragile paper caught immediately, curling faster than Collin would have wanted, crumbling into blackened shreds. He poked at the crumpled fragments with a stick. “Missed opportunities,” he muttered. Were there such things as second chances, somewhere out there? The words welled up and spilled out of Collin against his will: “I wish things were different. I wish I was where none of this had ever happened. I wish I could get a second chance. I don’t care where or how. Just a chance to get it right this time with a guy like Nyas.” Wish. “Wish” was a dangerous word in a chancy world. There were lots of things out there people didn’t ever see, who had a habit of listening in -- and answering. “ Thereyou are!” a triumphant male voice exclaimed above Collin. Collin barely had time to look up and yell, shocked, before a freaking dragon had snatched him up by his arms and dragged him off the Earth.

Chapter Two

Traveling with a dragon was something Collin had never experienced -- and dear God, he never wanted to again! Though the dragon had a sturdy hold on Collin, the trip itself terrified him half to death -especially once they passed a flash of light and Collin knew he’d left Earth for the dragon worlds. “Where are you taking me?” he howled, not sure if the dragon would hear him above the noise of his beating wings. “Who are you?”

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“I am taking you home,” the dragon bellowed. “You have been a wicked pet, leaving your master to grieve so for you! You know who I am. I am Zacharei.” The dragon closed his mouth, then, and flew on, hurling Collin with him. Spinning and whirling through space, Collin had the feeling he’d gotten the one time he tried some street nose candy. Up was down, black was white, and wrong was right -- on more than one level. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t taste or touch, because there was nothing to sense… yet, once past the first terrifying rush, he wasn’t afraid. He didn’t seem to need anything but his own thoughts as he soared through the void. Way he figured, he was on a one-way trip to a dragon’s dinner table, but while the trip lasted, Collin felt more alive than he’d ever been. The dizzying journey reminded Collin of the tattered pair of Oz books he’d found years ago and kept to read before adding them to the fuel supply. This must have been what it was like for Dorothy. He laughed, then, without sound. Stories made him think of Nyas, like always, and it didn’t seem weird to be pondering him during the middle of this bizarre trip. He found himself wondering what kind of story Nyas would have had to tell about someone whisked away like Collin had been. A cruel goddess or possibly a gentle god taking him away, like frothy bubbles, letting it all melt away. No more pain. No more drama. No more worry. He was just free. Free-floating, easy as a breeze. The void suddenly felt peaceful. Monsters not allowed. Abruptly, Collin decided he liked flying through this strange yet comforting nothingness. He didn’t have to pretend. Didn’t have to play tough. He felt all his pretensions and carefully layered-on scar tissue peel away, leaving smooth, supple flesh in their wake. He didn’t need to be a toughened soldier or a hardened leader anymore. He could just be . Very cool. Collin wondered if this was the kind of peace that a “normal” life with Nyas would have given them. They could have tried to make a go of it even with the rest of the world going to hell. Could have run away together, maybe to the country where Collin had heard rumors of green lands and renewing resources -- fairy tales, probably, but they could have gone to see for themselves. Found a place where there weren’t gangs fighting out in the streets, and they could have grown their own food. Maybe hunt or fish if they wanted protein. Well fed or starving, it didn’t matter. Wherever he and Nyas would have run to, it would have had everything they needed. And they would have been with each other. It would have been… Paradise. With a capital “P.” “Final stop!” the dragon announced, its voice booming in Collin’s ears. It gave a mighty thrash of its sinuous tail. Collin shouted as he lost his grip, knowing he was about to fall to his nasty, squishy death, but then -- thump -- he’d landed on his ass on something hard and cold, shocking the hell out of him. “You can find your way from here,” the dragon announced from above him. Collin stared up to see the snakelike green and purple body slithering away across the sky. “Wait! Where am I?”

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The dragon stopped, tail-tip flickering as if in irritation. “Home,” it replied. “Where else did you think I would have brought you? Avalier needs you.” “Who is Avalier?” Collin hollered at the dragon, who ignored him and flew further away, soon no more than a black wriggle silhouetted against the full, luminous moon. A moon unhidden by storm clouds and pollution. What the hell…? Collin blinked, astonished, up at a black velvet night sky studded with diamond stars, sucked in a gasp of chilly breath, and smelled something rich and earthy. He’d arrived. Wherever he was, he’d gotten there in one piece. Collin shook his head, sparkles and spangles dancing in front of his eyes. What had just happened? Mistaken for someone -- a dragon’s pet? -- Collin still wasn’t clear on that one -- flown through space and time, and dropped flat on his ass, hard, in the middle of what looked to be a garden of pure white, pristine, raked sand as soft as powder. Okay, so he knew what had happened. He just didn’t know how , not to mention why . What the heck was he doing here? Collin looked around himself, doubtful. He thought he’d landed in a Zen garden. He’d only ever seen pictures in a precious book Nyas kept in his personal knapsack, about Asian cultures and the beautiful things they’d had there once. Temples. Rice-paper screens. Gods and Goddesses for everything. Vases. Pottery. Heated rice wine. Once, Collin had asked Nyas if he thought there were still places like gardens in the world anymore. Nyas had looked sad, and after a long pause, shook his head. Collin had accepted that. The world wasn’t pretty anymore. But this place… God, it was gorgeous. Way too fabulous to be real. Collin raised his head and stared around himself in wonder. Maybe he’d gone crazy from fear at the sight of the dragon, or maybe he was out cold, dying from dragonfire burns, and this was all a dream. Well, if it was, he didn’t ever want to wake up. These lands were quiet, saturated with a real, actual lack of noise. A few crickets, maybe, singing a nighttime song, but other than them? No guns. No screams. No squealing tires and breaking glass. No fights, all raised voices and blows landing. Maybe no death. He remembered how Nyas’s book had spoken of monks who wouldn’t even step on grass because they didn’t want to hurt it. Okay. What if he was dreaming about one of those places? Might as well act like he respected the rules. Maybe whoever, whatever had sent him this dream would be pleased enough to let him come back sometime. Or this could be heaven. Either way, Collin figured he’d show some manners. He carefully got to his feet, wincing at a dozen new

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sore places where the rocks had dug into tender spots. The damage done wasn’t the worst they could have caused; his package was still intact. What? A guy checked for that kind of thing after a catastrophe. Collin felt a little silly, but, remembering the importance of manners in Nyas’s book, bowed to the raked furrows of sand in the garden. “Thank you for catching me when I fell,” he said formally as he could. “Forgive me for walking across you. I’ll try to be gentle.” Not much of a problem, because his shoes didn’t seem to have made the journey with him. Stepping lightly across the dry, powdery sand, Collin wondered to himself if he really could be dreaming. You didn’t feel things when you were asleep, right? Only he could sense a lot of things. He saw the rich, starry nighttime sky above him. Smelled the heavy, salty odor of the sand, and then something even better -- herbs and spices and vegetables -- that made his mouth water and his stomach growl. Collin wondered if maybe he’d gone crazy. This couldn’t be real , could it? He knew better, but as he cast an eye toward what was becoming clear as he got closer, a small vegetable garden, he found himself wishing this was the genuine deal. Food ! Fresh tomatoes, juicy melons, crisp corn, spicy peppers… oh, man, he ached to tear into the patch and stuff himself sick. But no. Respect, remember? Respect. He topped what seemed to be a slight hill, and stopped, skidding, before he fell on his ass a second time. Just below the rise, the valley took a steep nosedive down, down, down, and into a river. He would have turned around and gone the other way if it hadn’t been for a sudden breeze. More of the rich, spicy smell hit his nose, and Collin almost moaned. The aroma was possibly better than sex. Collin thought it smelled like stew, good beef stew, something an old soldier had described with longing once upon a time. A rich, gravied soup stuffed full of vegetables, sage, and tender meat . How long had it been since he’d gotten to satisfy his inner carnivore? Collin turned around in a circle, searching for the source of the smell. Where, where -- ah-ha, there! Hidden behind a stand of tall, thick-branched conifers on the far side of the flowing water, Collin spotted the well-concealed source. A house, not that big, shaped weirdly sort of like one of the temples in Nyas’s book, its single window glowing with warm yellow light. Rich wood smoke billowed out of a narrow stone chimney. Collin thought he could just barely make out someone moving around inside. Probably cooking. He let himself indulge in a moment’s wistfulness. Nyas would have loved a world or a dream like this. It was where he belonged, where Collin instinctively knew Nyas could have fit in. Peel away the own survivalist layers Nyas had plastered on, and he would have been right at home here with the rocks and vegetables. Maybe even living in a temple-house like that one. Collin wondered who lived there. He didn’t think it was Nyas -- this was his dream, and he remembered Nyas had gone on, so it wouldn’t be that kind of happy fantasy come true. Even when nothing made sense, especially when nothing made sense, a man had to rely on his own sense. That was something Nyas himself had taught Collin. So wherever he was, Collin knew for a certainty that Nyas wouldn’t be there with him. Damn. Acknowledging that truth hit Collin as hard as saying goodbye the first time. Awful as when he’d woken up to the news that Nyas was “missing in action.” For a second, Collin wanted to hunker down into a crouch and pound the earth with his fists. But no… no. He had to push on, right? Dream or reality,

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he couldn’t stop now. Glancing around, his eyes adjusting to the night vision, Collin finally spotted a path halfway down the valley slope, and what looked like a seriously skinny and dangerous log bridge across the steep drop and the river to the other side. Fine. Collin wasn’t afraid of falling. Picking his path carefully, carefully, carefully, he made it down the steep slope and found a skittery path to the makeshift bridge. He tested the thing, afraid the skinny log would roll and shake, but it stood as firm as if it was made of granite. Okay, then. Good sign. The bridge seemed to take forever to cross. Collin started out upright, but not ten steps in, he hunkered down and grabbed on with both hands and ankles, scooting his way over the path. Inch by inch, he shoved his way forward, terrified he would fall. At last, he made it to the opposite side. Breathing as if he’d just run a race, he stood up. He tried without success to brush the smears of mud and tree dirt off his chest and battered denims, definitely all the worse for wear after that little trip. He hated the thought of facing whoever was in that little house looking like a total bastard child of the gutter, but the smell of cooking hit him again, and Collin knew he was gonna chance the outcome. Once across the river, the house was closer to the water’s edge than it had seemed at first glance. Definitely more welcoming, even if it did still look an awful lot like a shrine. The light in the window was golden warm, the smell rich and thick and unbelievably tempting. Collin spotted a shadowy figure inside and imagined it stirring the stew, lifting a long spoon to take a taste. Ducking his head, Collin approached what he guessed to be the front door. He tried to think of what to say: hi, I’m hungry, feed me? didn’t seem to be a good idea. He stalled for time by scraping his feet on the rough, dry grass outside the door, hoping to get rid of the worst of the mud and dirt and give himself a moment’s prep time. He was still working on ideas when the door flung open inward, and the silhouette he’d seen from outside stood in the middle, arms halfway raised and an expression of completely mystified shock on its face. Collin felt pretty sure he mirrored the man’s surprise. They weren’t the same man -- they couldn’t be -but this man looked incredibly like Nyas. He was clean and whole, strong and bulky, deeply scarred, one hundred percent naked, and so closely a doppelganger for Nyas that Collin lost his breath. He gaped, stumbling back. “Collin?” the stranger asked, as if he were just as shocked, only he pronounced the name differently: Kay-lin instead of COL-lin. Collin frowned, shaking his head -- but before he could say a word he’d been swept up into a huge, hard hug that smelled like cooking stew and spice and man, his head pressed against the duplicate’s strong-muscled chest. “Kay-lin,” the Nyas lookalike muttered against the top of Collin’s head. “Thank the gods you’re home. Thank the dragon lords. Zacharei made good on his promise and brought you back to me. Never, never leave me again, do you understand?” Collin started to shake. “You knew him? The dragon?” “Of course. We have been friends since we were hatchlings.”

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“Oh,” Collin said, nodding sagely. “Hatchlings.” “Young dragons together.” He frowned. “You know all of this.” Ah. So he’s a dragon, too. Terrific. It all made sense now. No wonder the dragon -- Zacharei? -- had snatched him up. If this dragon looked like Nyas in his human form, then it stood to reason that Collin was a duplicate for this Kay-lin. Yep, everything fell neatly into place. Except for how it was the craziest experience of Collin’s life. What the hell kind of trouble had he landed himself in now? One thing was for sure: Collin didn’t think he was in Kansas anymore. He smiled calmly, inhaled the spicy smell of the dragon’s human skin, and let himself fade away from consciousness for the first and only time in his life.

Avalier was often confused. Zacharei, who’d taken Avalier under his dragon’s wing and offered protection, told him time and time again that the wounds he’d received honorably in warrior’s battle left him with large gaps in his memory and made it difficult to tell reality from dreams. One thing Avalier had been convinced of from the start, though: his beloved, his pet human of a year, Kay-lin, had gone missing while Avalier was away at his last battle. His recovery had been longer and harder for the sake of a broken heart when Kay-lin had been nowhere to be found in the dragon realms or on Earth. He had not been able to search for Kay-lin himself. The dragon laws kept Avalier bound to their realms until he was fully healed. He’d requested the help of others, but half were displeased by his taking a human pet who proved so reluctant to finalize their mating and hiding him away in his remote home without the knowledge of others, and refused to assist his search -- and the other half decided lovely Kay-lin had never been more than simply a flight of fancy in Avalier’s battle-scarred mind. Zacharei alone both believed Avalier and promised to find Kay-lin for him, doubling his search after Zacharei had found a tasty human pet of his own. Often, Avalier had looked to the skies and seen Zacharei flying out in his dragon form, and hoped that night would be the night when Zacharei would bring his Kay-lin back to him. And now, he had. Avalier was sure of it. Poor pet -- he must have suffered so much in the human realms. He looked thin, malnourished, and grimy with dirt, sweat and soot. Underneath the tainted odors of the non-dragon world, however, he still smelled like beloved Kay-lin. Almost. Well, human scents did change, particularly when exposed to the reek on their home world. Kay-lin had never appreciated the proper rituals of bathing, turning his nose up at temptations of the bliss that came from oiling scales and continuing to refuse to finalize their mating and become a dragon like Avalier. Avalier took a second, deeply thoughtful breath, and nodded, satisfied. Underneath the dirt and sweat

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and the pervasive chemical signatures of hunger and alarm he was certain that this was his pet, his beloved, his mate, otherwise redolent with enticingly familiar fragrances of musky maleness, and tangy sexuality. Avalier’s cock, so long dormant in Kay-lin’s absence, began to rise and fill at the sweet scent of his human. He hadn’t tasted that aroma on his tongue since before the awful final battle, in which he’d fallen prey to the claws of a renegade dragon stronger than anyone had anticipated. But oh, in this place, drowning in the delicious smell of his wanton love, Avalier’s organ rose and swelled as if he were a boy again instead of a weary, retired soldier. He gazed contentedly at his love, drinking in the sight of Kay-lin. Legs sprawled wide and wantonly open in his -- was it sleep? Surely not sickness, though he had decided to nap very quickly -- Kay-lin lay in Avalier’s sturdy arms with his head tilted back and his lips slightly parted. One hand lay across his chest, his fingers brushing one of his light brown nipples. Life’s breath slipped in and out between Kay-lin’s lips with a soft susurration. Breath. Life. Disproving Avalier’s worst fears, Kay-lin was safe. Alive. And now, he was home. Avalier crooned a dragonsong to his pet as he laid Kay-lin gently down on the grass outside his home. Kay-lin’s face, finely modeled, bore rough stubble in need of a shave. Beneath that, though, he had the beauty of a dragon prince. He reached out almost reverently. Kay-lin’s soft human flesh, so vibrant and alive, called out to him, begging to be stroked. Avalier laid one human-shaped hand on Kay-lin’s lean thigh and almost wept. He felt the warmth and the solidity of the muscle. He could touch the man. Touch him, feel him, know him… The man’s cock lay heavy and dormant against his thigh. Avalier licked his lips. It had been so very, very long since he’d tasted the fullness of Kay-lin’s delicious cock on his tongue. He needed to sample that delight. Just a little taste… a little, little taste …

Collin floated in a half-conscious state, caught somewhere between wakefulness and sleeping. The last remnants of a terrific dream hung in his mind. He clung to them, unwilling to let go. He’d been lying on a pleasure barge, floating down a river of cerulean blue. Kneeling between his legs, a slave had been servicing his cock. Warm wetness surrounded the tip, licking around the bulbous head and darting into his slit. Then, bliss upon bliss, the mouth had surrounded him, sinking down his shaft, taking him so deep that he bumped the back of the slave’s throat… He shifted, moaning as he woke more fully. God, what a dream. He could still feel that mouth, so tight and hot around him, and knew he was full and hard. Wet dreams , he thought in amusement. Smiling lazily, he reached down to stroke himself off -- and froze. His hand had collided with something. A very solid something. A someone, in fact. “What the hell?” His eyes popped open. Was someone -- surely not Nyas; Nyas was “missing in action”--

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A solid, weighty hand pushed Collin back down. “Close your eyes,” a not-quite-familiar voice rumbled. Dragon. I remember now. The Nyas-lookalike dragon. “What are you doing?” Collin breathed, shutting his eyes -- he was not stupid enough to disobey a creature as large and powerful as a dragon in the dragon’s own den, thanks. “Loving you,” the dragon -- Avalier, Collin remembered -- rumbled. His nimble fingers moved to Collin’s thigh, rubbing small circles. Collin could feel the short hairs on his legs catching and snagging on the dragon’s rough fingertips as they moved toward his groin. “Loving me? Why?” Collin demanded, trying not to panic at the proximity of the dragon’s mouth to his cock. The dragon was silent, making no answer. But in the midst of that silence, his heated mouth lowered itself over the head of Collin’s cock a second time. A tongue Collin would bet his last cent was forked flickered out, licking the length of his shaft. Despite his uncertainty, he groaned at the pleasure. “Oh, God.” That seemed to encourage the dragon. It moved down, suckling at him as if he was the finest of treats. And the way it used its tongue! Collin moaned, dropping his head backward. Oh, hell, hell, hell. It might be the strangest thing that had ever happened to him, but it was the best, too. The dragon’s mouth knew better moves than any he’d ever encountered. He lay back, arching his spine as the mouth swallowed him deeper. “Gonna make me come,” he gritted out in warning. “You want me? Gonna take it all in?” Muscles constricted around the width of his cock as the dragon swallowed. Collin let out a sharp cry, and thrust his hips forward. He’d have choked an ordinary man, but the dragon worked some mysterious magic and simply accepted the intrusion. He drank Collin to the last drop, humming happily all the while, then licked his softening cock clean with a contented sigh. Panting, Collin raised up. “Who are you?” he asked, knowing he sounded a little crazed. “What does a dragon want with me?” The Nyas lookalike beamed at Collin, tidily licking away stray drops of come. “You know who I am, beloved. I am Avalier. Welcome home!”

Chapter Three

Avalier didn’t seem to be the type who lay around questioning life, the universe and assorted other everythings. He lifted Collin up into the air and spun him around, holding him carefully to prevent his

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falling. Collin would have sputtered out a really choice selection of swear words if the breath hadn’t been all but knocked out of him. Then, Avalier paused in his whirling to press a hot, hungry kiss to Collin’s mouth. Then, Collin melted like he remembered butter used to. Ooey, gooey mush. A puddle in strong arms for a moment as Avalier’s tongue -- Collin saw for himself now that it was forked -- trailed along his lower lip, then darted inside. Collin came to himself, and fast. He didn’t care if this was a dream, or if Avalier-the-crazy-dragon had kidnapped him and was keeping him there by dragon force. All that mattered was the roughness and passion of Avalier’s kiss. He wiggled his arms free, slid them up, and wrapped them around Avalier’s neck. Arching into the embrace, he kissed back, slipping his own tongue into play. Avalier tasted like rosemary, sage, and savory tomatoes -- he must have been sampling from his stew pot. Collin knew he probably tasted nasty to Avalier, but from the way Avalier kept on kissing like he didn’t want to stop, it must not have mattered. Finally, too soon, Avalier let him go. Collin slid down his body, and stared up at the bigger man. He saw now that Avalier was taller than Nyas. He had six or seven inches on Collin -- in height, mind, not in cock size. That’d just have been scary. Avalier had plenty to satisfy a man in the cock department too, though if memory served he did still have more than Nyas himself, and Nyas hadn’t been any slouch there. Avalier gazed down at Collin, lifting his hand to touch Collin’s cheek, caress it and cup it in the palm of his hand. His eyes glowed with things Collin could only guess and wonder at: pride, amazement, relief, and -- love? “Don’t ever do such a thing to me again,” Avalier said hoarsely. “Promise me you won’t run away anymore.” Collin blinked in shock. “Me? Me run away?” he sputtered. “Wait a minute, Avalier. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I --” Avalier cut him off with another diving, scorching kiss. After a moment, Collin decided: the hell with demanding an explanation. Right then, he wanted some more of that mouth and tongue. Lots of it. Then, he wanted some stew. And if the kiss promised what he thought it did, as well as the long hard length of Avalier’s impressive cock attempting to drill a hole through his hip, Collin planned to use the food energy to get busy getting laid by a tall, dark, handsome stranger. It was a dream, after all. He could do whatever he wanted in a dream. Collin’s head spun with giddy pleasure as Avalier kissed him beneath the stars, in the warm yellow glow of lights, on the steps of a temple that was also a home. It couldn’t get any weirder, but hey, it couldn’t get any better, either. Unfortunately, his luck held true and the forward progression hit an almost immediate stumbling block, for the instant Avalier stopped kissing him, he looked down at the pool of Collin-mush in his arms and began to ask Awkward Questions.

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“Where have you been? Why did you leave? You knew how much I needed you. I told you every night.” One big, strong-fingered hand slipped down to rub circles on Collin’s lower belly. “Every night,” Avalier breathed into his ear. Collin’s body melted another degree. Several, in fact. His mind, though, damn it, was racing. What did Avalier mean, Collin had been the one to leave? They’d never met before as far as Collin knew. Unless… unless Avalier was confused. Collin tipped back, studying Avalier’s face. His scars were far more pronounced than Nyas’s, one particularly nasty, recently healed slice running from somewhere on his scalp down over his temple, curving under his jaw. Someone had tried to kill him with a hell of a blow to the head. A knock like that could disorient a man. Or a dragon. He’d thought earlier that he might look like someone Avalier had loved and lost, and decided now that that had to be the way of it. The other dragon -- Zacharei? -- had probably been searching out Avalier’s missing playmate and mistaken Collin for Kay-lin. Jeez, even the names were similar. He’d taken Collin out of the human world that had gone to hell, and brought him somewhere -- else. Here. With a last sigh of regret, Collin forced himself to face the certainty that he really wasn’t dreaming, was he? Everything felt too real, all his senses far too engaged for a flight of fancy or even a hallucination. He’d had both, and knew the difference between fantasy and reality when it really came down to the wire. Wherever he had ended up? It was real. Once Collin had accepted the reality of this place, he had to move on to the man -- dragon -- man still holding him as if he’d never, ever let go. How could Collin’s own doppelganger have escaped? The word “escaped” echoed with the ring of truth in Collin’s head. He’d bet the last thread that had stitched his last button on that as soon as those nasty wounds leaving such deep scars had taken Avalier down for the count, Collin’s duplicate had run away. Normally, Collin would have understood someone trying to escape the dragons. Hell, he’d have helped them. Now, though, he found himself pissed off. Who would leave someone who obviously loved them so much and eagerly lavished pleasure on them, dragon or not? Was this Kay-lin insane? “Not another word,” Avalier said, even though Collin had yet to open his mouth a second time. “Come inside. Come. You are filthy, you must be exhausted, and oh, you have grown so thin. Bath or food… bath or food…” Collin’s stomach voiced its opinion with a loud, obnoxious growl. He could have turned red with humiliation, but Avalier only laughed. “Food first, then. Walk with me, beloved. I still have your favorite bowl, and one of the clay cups you liked. Some of the tea we both enjoyed. I will feed you until you pop, or close enough.” The brilliance of Avalier’s smile and the promise of a full belly were enough to sway Collin’s better judgment. The dragon’s full, erection still eagerly rigid and still poking him didn’t do much to dissuade Collin, either. “I’d love that. Thank you.”

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“Ah, Kay-lin.” Avalier stroked his cheek with the ball of one thumb. “Do not embarrass me with thanks. Can we simply put this unpleasant separation behind us, every lonely moment of it? I promise I will not ask again why you left or where you went or even what made you come back, but rejoice and be glad beyond words you did return. I wished upon the stars every night, and burned incense until I filled my home’s shrine with smoke. And you see? The power of my longing has paid off. You returned to me. You are here . And you are mine again.” He tangled his free hand in Collin’s hair. “But already I am telling lies. Kay-lin, beloved… by my friend Zacharei’s reckoning, you have been away for almost a full human year. One year, nearly to the day, since you disappeared during my last battle and left me without a word.” Collin’s mind spun, searching for some way to answer that. “I --” He couldn’t think of anything. Luckily, Avalier had already moved on, tutting in self-recrimination. “Enough. I promised you, and I will do my best to keep that promise. Only… I do forget, from time to time, or so they -- and Zacharei -- tell me. But I have never forgotten your face, beloved, nor have I ceased longing once to see you again.” Avalier let go of Collin’s head, only to slide his hands down Collin’s forearms and squeeze lightly. “I will never let you go again, Kay-lin. I swear this upon all the dragon laws, which will hold me to my words past death itself.” With that, Avalier kissed Collin a third time, as if he couldn’t hold himself back. Collin considered -briefly -- panicking, fighting, or telling Avalier the truth. He decided against all of the above without a second thought. What harm would it do to give the grizzled old dragon some comfort? He wasn’t this Kay-lin, no, but… did it matter? Collin couldn’t see himself escaping the dragon lands, and Avalier clearly needed someone to take care of him. Why shouldn’t it be Collin? Who cared if it was nuts? It was good, and it could make both of them happy. That was all that mattered. Collin swore his own oath right then and there that he’d enjoy his time with Avalier as long as it lasted, even if it was only just for a meal and a fuck, or even if it lasted for the rest of his life. “You came back,” Avalier whispered as he broke the kiss and cradled Collin to him, petting him, and seeming to forget his vow again. “Where were you?” Collin chose the simplest answer. He closed his eyes and breathed in the spicy, exotic fragrance of the dragon as he said, “It doesn’t matter.” “But you love me still,” Avalier said, sounding reassured and comforted. “You do love me, do you not?” “Love,” Collin repeated. I would have stayed true to Nyas for the rest of my life, but… I could love Avalier. I think I could . “Kay-lin?” Avalier queried. “I dreamed about you,” Collin answered, choosing his words carefully. “I always wanted you.” The man like you, who Nyas could have been. A man who’d love me, care for me, watch my back and take me home . “I thought about you all day, every day, and every night, too. Missing you. Wanting to

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feel you against me again.” Avalier kissed the top of his head. “But you are here now,” he said, just loudly enough to be heard. “I do not wish to remain apart in any way. Do you?” “No,” Collin said, thrusting his hips upward. He could feel the long, hard length of Avalier’s cock pressing into the hollow of his thigh. His own member was so swollen with blood that it lay heavily against his stomach, slick and sticky. “Fuck me, Avalier. I want your cock in me.” “Yes, oh yes, Kay-lin. I can please you. I can learn what I have forgotten. I can touch you. Feel you. As you can feel me. Kay-lin, feel this…” Avalier moved his hips, pressing down. His cock skated across Collin’s belly, the friction and pressure delicious. “Oh!” Collin groaned. “You have to do that again. So good.” “Anything that you want is yours,” Avalier promised. “Here -- we must do away with these --” He tugged impatiently at Collin’s shredded T-shirt and tattered jeans. Collin, more than happy to see the last of them -- he had a feeling he wouldn’t need many clothes here, if any -- helped removing the rags and discarded them without a second glance. “Much, much better,” Avalier breathed, greedily eyeing Collin. Collin lifted his chin, very satisfied with himself. He might be thin, but he had wiry muscle definition, and he pleased his dragon. His? Yes. Avalier is mine now , Collin decided. “Come and get it,” he invited with all the come-hither he could summon up, deliberately ironic, but not cruelly so. He didn’t mind ringing this kind of dinner bell. Avalier took Collin at his word, seizing him and pulling their naked bodies together. He thrust again, slick and hard against Collin. His mouth descended on Collin’s nipples, biting, then laving them with his hot tongue. Collin moaned and bucked upward into the punishing pleasure. “More,” he demanded. “Yes,” Avalier mumbled. “Oh, yes.” He fisted Collin’s cock briefly, then pulled Collin’s hand to cover his own shaft. Collin got the idea and put it into action right away, pumping in time with Avalier, pushing their erect phalluses one against the other. Collin grabbed at Avalier’s back, fingers scrabbling for purchase. He could feel the slickness of the sweat on his skin, feel the fine texture of Avalier’s human flesh, and would have sworn that he could hear the dragon’s wings beating. Dear God, the things that Avalier made him feel… “I’m coming,” Collin panted. “Feels too good. Gonna come, Avalier. Almost there.” “And I. So close. Come with me, Kay-lin.” Avalier pumped harder, running his thumb across the fat heads of their cocks, mixing their pre-come. “Shout my name so that the stars can hear you!” “Avalier! Fuck, Avalier!” Collin yelled, humping into Avalier’s grip. The orgasm began at the base of his spine, uncurling like a striking cobra, and blasted through him. His cock jerked in spasms, and shot out

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thick, ropy spurts of come, splattering his belly all the way up to his nipples. A wordless howl from Avalier signaled the dragon’s release, his heated seed joining and mixing with Collin’s in a wonderful mess. “Love,” Avalier whispered. He wrapped his arms around Collin and held him close enough that all Collin could see or smell was dragon -- and Collin loved it. “My beloved.” “Yours.” Collin returned the favor, clinging tight to Avalier. “If I can possibly help it, I’ll never leave you again. I promise.” Avalier squeezed Collin so hard Collin almost squeaked. “Then you will do it?” he exclaimed joyfully. “You will bind yourself to me, and live by my side forever?” Yep. Kay-lin was a damn fool to run away from this, Collin decided. “Yes. I will.” “I have only myself to offer,” Avalier faltered. Only! Collin barely stopped himself from laughing out loud. Avalier, food, and sex. The three things he’d yearned after for what seemed like forever. Oh, and the promise of a bath. He’d bet Avalier would fix him a real bath, too, one with hot water, good lathery soap, and a clean cloth to wash with. As if he’d turn down any of the above! If this jackass Kay-lin ever came back, which Collin seriously doubted he would, Collin would take a stand and fight for his dragon. Until then, he planned to just plain enjoy this strange miracle for as long as he could. This bizarre stroke of luck would carry him through the rest of his life when it ended. Because he knew, even as Avalier half-carried him over the threshold into “their” home, good things didn’t last. You took them when they came along, savored them, and then used their memories to keep you warm when the weather turned cold again. This would be better than any bonfire for saying goodbye to the past and signaling a new beginning.

Chapter Four

Collin’s wild guess and crazy dream had been right. Avalier did fix a real bath for him -- and even better, after seeing in the lantern light just how filthy Collin really was, he’d figured out a way to combine that bath with food to take care of two needs at the same time. To Collin’s surprise and pleasure, Avalier had an actual bathtub, probably scavenged from an old luxury home in the wreckages of the human lands. It stood on four clawed feet that Collin decided he’d think of as dragon rather than leonine, and although there wasn’t indoor plumbing, Avalier whistled while he worked hauling bucker after bucket of water from a spring he claimed was behind his home. Their home. Not wanting to own up to never having seen this place before, Collin simply nodded, smiled, and

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accepted his good fortune. Heating water was no challenge to a dragon, though the lack of dramatic fire surprised Collin. Avalier merely knelt by the porcelain tub for a moment, his hands immersed in the water. When it began to steam gently he stood and displayed the hot bath with such a look of pride that Collin wondered yet again how much of a jerk Kay-lin had to have been to walk away from Avalier. Escorting Collin into the tub, Avalier promised that as soon as he had a layer or two scraped off he’d get a bowl of stew. Collin murmured an assent, not thinking about food at the moment, no matter how empty his stomach might be. He took much more of an interest in watching Avalier work. Admiring the way his bulky shoulders and muscled arms moved as he stood with his back to Collin, giving him a great view of his fantastic ass while he rummaged in a cupboard for what proved to be a bottle of slick oil. Bath oils, no matter how rare and precious, should have been too feminine for Collin’s tastes, but when Avalier poured them into the water they sudsed up with a light, masculine scent. “This’ll help open you up,” Avalier said, bursting with pride, completely oblivious to the instant mind-association Collin made with scissoring a man open in preparation for sex. Collin covered his mouth with one hand to hide his grin. He didn’t think Avalier had been trying to make a dirty joke, but he didn’t want to hurt the dragon’s feelings. However, he’d either failed to fully conceal his amusement, or maybe there was some truth to the stories of dragons being able to read human emotions. Avalier burst into laughter. “Later,” he rumbled, running his free hand through Collin’s hair. Collin pushed up into the touch, savoring the gentle contact. His Avalier was such a tactile dragon! He so obviously enjoyed touching Collin and kept finding excuses to brush past him, run a hand down his arm, cup his cheek, or tousle his hair, regardless of its dirty state. Collin loved every moment of it, and it only got better. Once Collin had eased his way into the perfect water, just hot enough to pinken his skin but not hot enough to burn, Avalier insisted on washing Collin with his own two hands. Maddeningly, though, he refused to pay attention to Collin’s renewed, insistent hard-on. He persisted in cleaning Collin thoroughly and gently, in the way a panther would be gentle when trying to handle a slippery fish. Avalier leaned in and kissed the slick tip of Collin’s cock, laughing when it twitched and jerked. “Later,” he promised again in his deep, dark voice, rich as the coffee of legend. “This I promise. Now, let me continue, so I can see how much you have changed, and how much you have not, beneath your coat of grime.” Collin made a fond, exasperated face at Avalier and let the dragon do his work. Persistent need to get fucked aside, Collin recognized the priceless value of a hot bath -- and, while he soaked, the food Avalier had promised, materializing in the form of a vast bowl filled to the brim with hot stew full of meat, grains and gravy. Once finished, he sat almost bonelessly in the tub, propped up against the angled back of it. His stomach was swollen with the feast he’d eaten. Not too attractive, he’d bet, but God, he was full for the first time in months. Packed with hot, spicy food, the meat and grains both savory and the gravy thick. Stuffed full, clean, soaking in fresh, hot water, being attended to like a prince by a dragon who looked, in his human form, almost exactly like the man Collin would have loved if they’d had a chance on Earth.

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He still wondered, every now and then, if this was a dream, if it was too good to be true. A large part of Collin’s life-learned cynicism couldn’t believe his fortune. Who’d have thought a dragon could have this nature? Avalier, who as far as Collin could tell was easily confused, yet stubborn once he had an idea set in his mind, was… wonderful. Kind, if not easily swayed, growling over Collin and prodding him to take one more bite, sit up straight, wash behind his ears, all the while rubbing him in gentle strokes and circles, often with the soapy cloth in his hands. As Collin pondered all of this, Avalier hunched at the far end of the tub, washing Collin’s feet. Collin almost found it embarrassing, but on the other hand, more than a little hot. Avalier soaped down and rinsed off each toe as if it was a small cock, aching for attention. Made his real cock stand up and take notice -- and he knew Avalier knew it, too. The glint in his eye and the crook of his smile told the whole story. A slightly hard call, but Collin decided to test it. “What year is this, Avalier?” Avalier raised an eyebrow. “8615 of the Kwan dynasty, Kay-lin. One year after you left.” Uh… huh. 8615. Kwan dynasty? Definitely not Kansas, and definitely no dream. Collin had had night visions of food and sex, but they hadn’t included things like almost aching from being too full, and his cock swollen dark, throbbing to the drum-beat of his pulse, the smell of sandalwood, and the sight of Avalier looking at him like he was not only the best thing ever, but like he belonged to Avalier. Even in his dreams, Collin had always been chasing, but never actually caught. As Avalier lifted his other foot, Collin asked, idly curious, “How much do you remember about me before we parted?” “What?” Avalier frowned. “I was just wondering why I would have left when --” When this is paradise, was what Collin had intended to say. He didn’t have a chance to finish his statement, for after hearing the first part of it Avalier dropped his foot with a splash of hot water and surged upright, roaring a dragon’s deafening roar.

Chapter Five

I blew it. I should’ve known better, and now I’ve blown everything right out of the -- water. Collin cringed back as Avalier glowered down at him. “I do not find this humorous,” he growled. “How can you make such jokes? You think I do not remember every last thing you said about this place when we moved here?”

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Collin tried to tuck himself into a tighter ball. Street survival tactic. If you were about to get a whippin’, better to make less of yourself to hit. Granted, any attempts he made at self-defense were going to be fairly ridiculous while submerged to the neck in a tub full of scented bathwater, naked -- facing a dragon -- but he had to at least make the effort. Yet as Avalier began to pace by the side of the bathtub, his demeanor changed, going from angry to disturbed, tempered with confusion and -- fear? Collin sat upright, frowning at his dragon lover. “Avalier? What’s wrong?” Avalier shook his head. Silver and blue patches appeared on his skin, nearly shocking Collin into reaching for him before he realized that they were dragon scales. Avalier had become so overwrought so quickly he’d begun to lose control of his human form. “Avalier,” Collin tried to soothe, reaching for him. “It’s all right --” “No!” Avalier interrupted. His expression was horrible, as if he’d just seen something no man or beast ever should, or remembered the worst memory they’d ever tried to repress… oh. Oh, crap. “You left me,” Avalier rumbled, truly distressed, terrifying in a dragon and heartbreaking in a grown man his size. “A year ago by your calendar. I remember… you didn’t want to be here. You didn’t hear the song of the trees, the river, the rocks. You said this was what you wanted when I took you from Earth; you were the one who begged for a place to live free… but you didn’t like it out here alone, and I tried so hard. You were all I ever wanted and I couldn’t make it right. The dragon lords were laughing at me when I’d thought you were the gift they gave me as payment for honoring their names. Someone to love, who’d love me back.” Wait -- huh? That would matter so much to a dragon? Well, I suppose from what I’ve seen, yes. Avalier must have been a big softie even before he was in that last awful battle. God, the poor guy. Collin tried to marshal his thoughts quickly. How could he reassure Avalier without setting him off further when he didn’t specifically know what that rat bastard Kay-lin had put him through in the first place? “I’m sorry,” he chose to say. “I was a fool.” Avalier’s big fist came down on a shelf, rattling the thing almost off its moorings. “You sneered at my affection and mocked my protection.” Uh-oh. “Not now,” Collin said firmly. “I won’t ever be that stupid again.” “You said that before,” Avalier muttered. “How many times did I tell you how bad it had gotten since you left Earth -- how often did I try to show you how much better it is here, how fortunate you were --” He pulled to a stop, glaring at Collin, as frightening in his renewed, betrayed wrath as a tornado cloud. “And you? You did not care at all for my love. You threw it all away every chance you got. You complained incessantly, telling me you had thought you would enjoy the life of a king in the dragon lands and that I had deceived you with my promises of riches. A life like this is its own treasure, but you would not understand that. I saved you from the wretchedness of the human world and you threw my rescue and my love back in my face, and you left.” Bang! went Avalier’s fist, slamming into the wall. “Gone! Just like the wind, one night here and the next morning vanished.

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“Do you know how I grieved for you? Other dragons -- those who actually believed you existed, and were not a figment of my addled brain --” “Avalier, don’t.” Collin could stand a lot, but he decided in a heartbeat that what he couldn’t handle was Avalier referring to or thinking of himself as broken or less than . So he got confused. So what? Avalier didn’t listen. “Dragons I had called friends laughed and told me I was a fool, that after escaping to the human world you would have long since cuckolded me and, had you agreed to take them, would have broken any vows beyond repair. But I continued to search. I wanted you so much. Just wanted you back home and safe, where I could take care of you. You never knew how to protect yourself, and you ran off to the big city.” Bang! “Why, Kay-lin? What was so bad about this place you had to leave? Why couldn’t you just accept peace for once? Why couldn’t you take me as I am?” Every nerve in Collin’s body rattled, but he knew what he had to do. Instinct, again. The kind of instinct that had gotten his ass kicked a few times, sure, but more often than not it steered him right. He stood, water running off him in streams and rivulets, dripping back into the tub. His erection had mostly wilted as Avalier ranted, but it was still there enough to be obvious, an evident proof of his need for the dragon. This wasn’t the truth, but it was what Avalier needed to hear. “I came -- back,” Collin said. “You needed me so much. And I -- I need you. The purple dragon, Zacharei, he probably homed in on my connection to you. Maybe?” He determinedly stepped out of the tub, careful not to slip, and faced Avalier. “I couldn’t turn away from you.” Thiswas the truth. “I think you and I belong together.” Truth. “I’m here to stay.” Truth. If Kay-lin ever came back, he’d have one hell of a fight for the dragon on his hands. “I’m not going anywhere.” Avalier stared at him, white as sea salt underneath his dark outdoors tan, then reached out a hand. He grasped Collin’s and twined their fingers together, pulling him close regardless of dripping water. Flush against Avalier, chest to chest and groin to groin, Collin’s own cock couldn’t help filling out again, pressing against Avalier, right where Collin now firmly believed he belonged. From the feel of things, Avalier had much the same thought in his heart. His club of a cock pressed hard and thick against Collin’s bare leg. Even though he was sodden with bathwater, Collin could feel the damp patch of pre-come gathering between them. Sticky, translucent, salty, sweet. He ached to taste it. Well, why the hell not? Reaching down between them with his free hand, he briefly wrapped his hands around both their cocks and raised his fingertips to his mouth, glistening with translucent smears of male arousal. He suckled, staring up into Avalier’s eyes, putting on a sort of playful sex-kitten act he’d been curious about once upon a time and wanted to have the balls to try. Showing Avalier he was there, willing, ready and able. Telling Avalier without words: I want you the way you want me. Take me. Fuck me. Come on. Please . Avalier groaned and shuddered, his hands coming down to grip Collin’s forearms hard. He growled, nearly a pure dragon sound. “I cannot let you play games with me again,” he warned. “If you mean what you say to me, Kay-lin, it had better be for real, and for always. Next time I will not so easily forgive you. Do you understand me?” Collin gazed up at Avalier, letting his eyes do the talking. Letting them reflect back all the love and desire he’d felt for Avalier of his own volition.

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“I understand you perfectly,” he said, standing on tiptoes. Avalier groaned. “You swear to me?” “I swear.” Collin brushed his lips across Avalier’s. Light as a butterfly wing, a promise more than a sign of passion. A touch that reaffirmed oaths once broken, ones he’d never made, but that he could make good on -- as long as he was allowed to. Avalier let out another low sound of mingled passion and pain, and then, with one swoop, lifted Collin up and tossed him across his shoulder. One warm, callused hand cupped the cheek of Collin’s ass as Avalier began to walk with determined strides, carrying him fast as he could go. Into the bedchamber. If he’d been able to and thought Avalier would understand, Collin would have pumped his fist in the air and whooped for glee. But then, on the other hand -- he swallowed nervously as an unwelcome thought struck him -- exactly what would Avalier do if he found any differences between them? What if he figured out Collin wasn’t really the one he’d loved, who’d left him behind? What if -- what if -- what if -Too late. Avalier tossed Collin down on the bed, and with a savage snarl, fell on him, all but eating him alive, starting with a kiss…

Chapter Six

Oh, God. His kiss. Avalier’s kiss. Collin’s cock throbbed. A sticky puddle of pre-come smeared his stomach where his pulsating need slapped his stomach. He burned for more. He could smell his musk in the air -- God, what must it be like for Avalier, sharp as his senses are? -- and the scent made him hornier still. He arched his back and pushed his hips into the air, hoping the delicious odor would tempt Avalier beyond reason. How did a dragon make love? Would Avalier take his time, maybe kissing each inch of bare skin before he took Collin’s stiffened cock into his mouth and sucked? Would he be in a hurry, tangling them together on the bed in a frenzy of rubbing, licking, and kissing? Would he take his time to get Collin ready to be fucked, by using his fingers, his tongue, and then his cock? Would he want…?

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Collin swallowed hard. Damn, but he was about to burst from wanting Avalier so much. As it turned out, Avalier’s approach to lovemaking was far better than Collin could have dreamed. Mind, he wasn’t any blushing virgin. He’d had his share of sex. In darker times he’d been buggered, sodomized, raped, used and abused, and he’d had playful bed partners who enjoyed having a good time, and even romped with those he cared about, but… but he’d never been kissed by someone who hungered so desperately for him as the dragon. Someone who spoke volumes of love without saying a word aloud. Avalier said all that and more with the way his hungry mouth roved over Collin’s, tongue lapping at his lips, the insides of his cheeks, dancing along his teeth and using his own sharps to bite ever so gently. The dragon loved Kay-lin, but Collin was going to show him how much he was loved in return, in no uncertain terms. He’d take all the love Avalier had to give the idiot Kay-lin and make it his own, and love Avalier back so hard and so well in return that the dragon would live out the rest of his days as happy as a king. Collin laughed as he arched backward, letting Avalier’s hungry mouth rove over his throat and the crook of his neck. After all, there was honesty, and there was being just plain stupid. And then again, there was making the most of things… “Forget the past year,” he whispered, waiting for Avalier to stiffen over him, not in the good way. He did, rising up on his forearms. The weight of his cock jabbed into the crease of Collin’s thigh, and, bold, he reached down to stroke it as he went on in a low whisper. “It’s still 8614,” he said, voice throaty. “I haven’t left or gone anywhere. We had a fight, sure, but no more than just a fight. And I came to you…” Collin let his hands trail over the breadth of Avalier’s mighty chest. “I said I was sorry. I asked you to forgive me, and you brought me here.” Avalier groaned as Collin let his fingers do the walking, enjoying the dragon’s body. He had seen and felt Avalier’s muscles before, when they were rolling around together. They were hard; especially… he squeezed… there. Just like rock. He had learned just a little of Avalier’s body so far, and he burned to learn the rest of it with his fingers and eyes. “Roll over?” he asked. Avalier nodded and flipped them so that he lay on his back with Collin on top of him. The implied trust made Collin’s heart ache. I’ll never hurt you on purpose , Collin swore. Avalier lay still and gazed at Collin with longing and hunger. His erect cock jutted out, massive, red and eager, wet at the tip -- begging to be sucked and licked -- tasting sweeter than any honeycomb and twice as tempting a treat. Collin had to enjoy the feast. He moved, grasping Avalier’s cock, sliding his hand up and down the silky length. Small drops of pre-come formed on the fat purple head. He shivered in anticipation. Mmm. God, he could almost feel Avalier inside him, hard and insistent, big enough that he would be sore days later, each movement reminding him of what a good fuck the dragon was. Sore in a good way -- he knew Avalier would not be too rough on him -- just rough enough. He could hope.

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Collin shifted, moving his hand faster up and down the length of Avalier’s cock. “Lover,” he crooned. He lowered his face to Avalier’s chest and licked, savoring the saltiness of the dragon’s skin, and nosed the smoothness over his heart. Moving quickly, Collin slid down and put his mouth on Avalier’s cock, extending his tongue to lap at the pulsing heat and licking off the moisture. Avalier growled. He pushed at Collin’s shoulder. “Careful, or I will spend too soon!” “Can’t have that.” Collin laughed. “Fuck me, Avalier. I’m waiting for you.” Was he a slut? Maybe, but he would be -- was -- Avalier’s slut, without shame, without thinking twice about it. He arched and stretched, imagining and yearning. Want. Want. Want. Avalier stared at Collin in amazement and wonder… and perhaps a little fear, that once they’d done this Collin would vanish again. Collin shook his head. He reached out to stroke Avalier’s erection, coaxing it to greater hardness and length. “I want this,” he said quietly. “Want you. You’re all I could ever want or hope or dream for now. Okay?” Avalier’s eyes turned darker, almost glowing. “Okay?” he asked. “What does that word mean?” Collin’s laughter finally bubbled loose. “Never mind,” he said. “Come here and kiss me, you big goof.” “Goof?” Avalier’s grin, sharp-toothed and dangerous, dared Collin to act as he placed his hands on Collin’s hips and slowly lifted him. “Collin, are you poking fun at me?” Collin stared, fascinated by the immense cock beneath him. Avalier’s cock, thrust forward with a slight cant of the hips, an invitation to touch again, harder, deeper, faster. Or… “Please,” he whispered. “Can I suck you some more? I’m dying to taste you.” Avalier shuddered. “You are too talented. I would not last, and I desire more than anything to be inside you.” “I want that, too,” Collin whispered, moving ever so slowly so that he could change their positions. “But let me do this first. Let me love you, Avalier. Let me show you how much I want you. Need you. Burn for you. Don’t worry. You can get it up a second time. I’ll make sure of it.” “Ah, gods, Kay-lin…” “Collin. Say it like this: COL-lin. Collin.” “If it pleases you, Collin,” Avalier replied, and that was it. Collin was in love. No going back now.

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That was fine by Collin. He never wanted to leave. Collin wrapped one hand loosely around Avalier’s cock base, his small fingers almost not meeting. He stropped first one cheek and then the other against the tall length. A smear of wetness trailed across his chin, and he licked it off. Then, slowly, slowly, he dipped down and flickered his tongue across Avalier’s slit. “Collin…” Avalier groaned, arching up. “I cannot last if you do that. Please… please…” “Please what?” Collin whispered, blowing his words across Avalier’s prick and watching it twitch. His own cock, swollen tight-hard and painful, rubbed against the softness of the quilt on the bed. He began to rock slowly, getting himself off while he tormented Avalier. A little payback, but definitely fun for everyone involved. “What do you want me to please?” “Suck me,” Avalier ordered. “Love. My love. Suck me off.” “Your wish,” Collin murmured, “is my command…” And with those words, he sealed his mouth around the head of Avalier’s cock. As he moved up and down, Collin wished he could take more in but figured Avalier didn’t mind from the wild-cat noises he made. Collin savored every last thing there was to savor in the moment, from taste to sound to sight to smell. He lapped at the head of Avalier’s cock and trailed his tongue down both sides and up the big vein beneath. He nibbled ever so delicately, sucking away the drops of pre-come. Avalier tasted so good . Collin used his hand to cover the rest of Avalier’s cock when his mouth couldn’t go any further. A good hard grip, just the way a man knew another man liked, rough and ready. He kept his other hand busy cradling Avalier’s balls in the palm. When they were warm against his skin, he began to knead slowly and gently. Took some coordination, especially for someone who wasn’t all that practiced, but Avalier definitely seemed to like it. “Perfect… good… lords, so wonderful… where did you learn…? No, don’t tell me, just keep doing… Collin! Collin, have mercy, Collin!” Avalier shouted as Collin sucked as hard as he could at the bulbous head of Avalier’s cock, and felt, smelled, and tasted a wash of hot, coppery semen flooding his mouth. He rapturously rolled Avalier’s come over his tongue, memorizing every bit of taste and texture, then swallowed, and felt as if he had to be glowing. He had Avalier inside him now, and he would never be alone again. He laughed as he drew away from Avalier’s cock. “Beautiful,” he whispered. “Dragon mine,” he said, the words sounding just right on his tongue, “you are so beautiful to me.” He muffled his next words against Avalier’s thigh, soft, just in case he was going to be made fun of. “I love you.” Made fun of? No way. Those iron-hard hands grabbed Collin by the wrists again, hauling him up onto Avalier’s chest, draping him there like a kitten or an infant. Pinning him so that he couldn’t move with strong arms wrapped around his back. Face to face, Avalier pulled Collin’s head down toward his for a kiss. His tongue swept Collin’s mouth as if searching for his own taste, making small, satisfied sounds.

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Collin began to rock against Avalier’s lower belly, his own cock screaming for attention. Avalier made a small, happy noise and arched back, giving Collin even more friction. One, two, three times, and oh, gods, gods, gods, Collin was coming, shooting harder than he ever had before. As he sagged bonelessly against Avalier, Collin heard him whisper, even as he combed one hand again through the wet tangles of his hair: “Never be shy about saying it, Collin. You love me? I love you. That which has happened in the past can stay in the past. We belong together, and now you understand the truth, I will never let you go again. Never.” Collin raised his head, peering down into Avalier’s eyes. They reflected back nothing but love and honesty, true as the day was long. It was almost a shock to realized how much had happened and how far he’d come in what seemed like only a couple of hours. Collin didn’t regret it. Not one second’s worth. So he wasn’t Kay-lin. Way he figured, Kay-lin was busy duking it out back on Planet Hella Firma, and gods willing he’d never find a way back. If you threw away something as good as Avalier, you didn’t deserve a second chance at him. But Avalier had still extended one… and lucky, lucky him, Collin had been the one to take it up. He would stay there and make Avalier happy in this peaceful, secluded valley. He’d learn how to concoct good stews and broil meat, keep the place clean, share the porcelain bathtub, fuck and make love in the soft sheets under the quilt on this bed. He could stay. Who said he couldn’t? No one, that was who. Grinning from ear to ear, Collin settled down in his Avalier’s arms. “Then I’ll say it again. I love you.” Warm hands stroked down his spine. “I love you, too,” Avalier murmured. “Now, forever, and always.” Which sounded damn good to Collin. Forever might just be long enough to show all his appreciation for his delightful dragon. Avalier laughed, a sound of pure joy. He grabbed Collin easily as a puppy and turned them so that Collin lay on his back with Avalier over him, massive arms braced on either side of his shoulders, muscular chest and belly brushing against his own. “Avalier,” Collin said for the pleasure of saying his dragon’s name. “Avalier.” “Beloved Collin,” Avalier whispered. He reached down to stroke Collin’s face. “Truly? You will stay with me forever?” “I promise. You have my word,” Collin murmured back, reaching up to touch Avalier’s face. “You’re the man I love.” “No,” Avalier said, his voice mournful. “Even when I look like a man, I am still a beast.” “In what way could you call yourself a beast?” Collin ran a hand over one smooth shoulder. Goosebumps followed in the wake of his fingertips, down the dragon’s human skin, covering Avalier’s arm. “You don’t sound like one, or feel like one, or look like one.”

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“I am a dragon. My heart beats as slowly as a salamander’s.” Avalier captured Collin’s hand and pressed it to his chest. “What do I care about that? It still beats. And it’s mine.” Avalier’s gray eyes pierced his own. “Tell me,” Avalier whispered. “What sort of creature do I look like to you? I would hear it in your own words. You speak so prettily.” “What do you look like to me?” Collin gripped Avalier by the arms and moved his body languidly, tangling their limbs together in a slow, sensual dance of motion. “Silky black hair. Eyes like a stormy sky. A body carved out of marble. You look,” he said, maneuvering them so that Avalier lay beneath him once more, marveling at how easily the big dragon moved to please him, “like a fucking god, Avalier. You’re everything I dreamed of. And more.” Avalier’s tongue slipped out, wetting his lips. “Do you still want me?” “Avalier.” Collin rose up on his elbows, arching his back and pressing his rapidly hardening erection against Avalier’s hip. “What do you think?” The gray eyes took on a glow. “Do you still need me?” Collin dove down and stole a hungry kiss from Avalier’s beautiful, mobile lips. He stroked his tongue across Avalier’s own, mapped out the contours of his mouth, and caressed his cheeks. “What,” he asked, drawing back, “do you think?” Avalier stared up at him, gray eyes hazy. “Collin,” he said softly, “do you love me?” Collin stared back at him. “Yes. And don’t you ever doubt it again.” It was the truth. In a heartbeat, Avalier had gotten underneath Collin’s skin. Avalier consumed him; Avalier was all he could think of. He dreamed of going to sleep, so that he could wake to the dragon’s touch. Lovehim? Yes. And more. “You swear it?” Avalier pleaded. “I could not survive if you left me so again.” Collin dipped down to suck hard at the dragon’s neck, drawing up a dark red spot that’d leave a gorgeous bruise. “What,” he repeated, nipping at the skin, “do you,” he added, laving the sore spot with his tongue, “think?” he asked, bringing their mouths back together. Avalier groaned beneath him as their tongues clashed and tangled, thrusting in and out of one another’s mouths. His cool arms came up to grasp at Collin’s back, pulling him in closer still. “Let me make love to you, then,” he whispered when their lips parted. “I would make you fully mine again. Please.” “Yes. Now.” “Then you have made me happy.” Avalier flipped Collin over and without warning slipped down and caught one of Collin’s nipples between his teeth. He worried at the small, tan-colored nub, flicking it with the tip of his tongue.

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Collin arched beneath his dragon, loosing a low cry. “You like that?” Avalier asked roughly. “Wait until I am inside you. Taking you and marking you as mine.” “Yours,” Collin agreed, dizzy with the pleasure. “Yours. Hurry.” Avalier’s hands roamed over Collin’s body, teasing here, tormenting there. The man felt so good underneath him. Cool, but solid. Taut. Muscled but lean. And naked. Every inch of him, gloriously nude. He paused over Collin’s cock, gripping it loosely in one fist and stroking from root to tip. “Ah, God!” Collin bucked beneath him. “You like that?” Avalier ran his thumb in circles over the wet tip. “What of this?” “Fuck, yes -- so good --” “Then -- how do you say this? -- you have not seen anything yet.” Sliding his hand down off Collin’s cock, Avalier drew it past Collin’s heavy, tight ball sac, the small strip of skin behind it, and to his tight, puckered hole. His finger slick with Collin’s own juices, he probed shallowly, then deeply. Collin gasped and clutched at him. Avalier laughed. “You like this, too?” “So -- so much.” Avalier snaked a second finger inside Collin. “Tight. I had forgotten how snug, how good. Warm, and unmercifully strong.” “Oh, Avalier…” Collin stroked at his back. It almost seemed that he had to struggle back from the verge of tears, but he pulled tighter and sealed them together. “How much longer,” he asked, bluffing bravado, “do I have to wait?” Avalier reached underneath the sheets and withdrew a small, well-stoppered flask of oil. “Not very long at all,” he said, with a grin that showed all his teeth. Uncorking the flask, Avalier poured a generous dollop over his fingers and cock, stroking the latter until it gleamed and strained. Blood rushed and roared in his ears. He writhed impatiently. “Hurry.” “You must be ready first,” Avalier whispered. “You are far too small to take me without much preparation.” Collin arched against him. “No. Do it. Just do it.” “Collin, I do not want to hurt you.” “I’m a big boy.” Collin grinned at him. “And I like it a little sharp. Please, Avalier. Take me. Fuck me.” He relaxed with an effort and sighed happily as the burn from penetration faded into pleasure. “See? I can be ready for you,” he urged. “Hurry!”

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Avalier pulled his hands back, and raised them to lock fingers with Collin. “Your wish,” he said, pushing the tip of his cock at Collin’s entrance, “is my command.” Ohh…oh, God. It felt too good. Huge, burning and stretching him, but not painful enough to dampen his fires. Avalier’s stroking inward felt better than anything he could possibly compare it to. “Collin,” Avalier breathed, drawing back until just the tip of his cock was inside, then thrusting back forward, “you feel like heaven.” Collin gave a small sob. “Just do it,” he said, burying his face against Avalier’s shoulder. “Let me feel you. Have me like you mean it.” Avalier snapped his hips forward. “Rough? You would have me take you without gentleness?” “Please, Avalier, please…” “I can give it to you hard and fast.” He slowed down, drawing out one long, exquisite stroke. “Or it can be sweet.” He pressed a kiss to Collin’s head. “Tender.” He stroked again. “Gentle.” Between them, Collin’s cock throbbed heavily against Avalier’s stomach. “Touch me,” Collin whispered. “It hurts. Want you too much.” Avalier loosened his grip on Collin’s hand, and slid a hand between them. Gripping Collin’s cock firmly, he began to stroke it in time with his thrusts, driving Collin crazy. He writhed and moaned beneath Avalier, arching up and pushing back. “Welcome home,” Avalier breathed in Collin’s ear. “I will never need to miss you again. With this, I make you immortal.” Collin shook his head, not understanding and almost not caring. “What?” “You have agreed. You take a part of me into you, and give your word, and this is now a bond that can never be broken. You are immortal now, like me, because I choose to give you this gift.” Hot -- damn-- Collin thought, dizzy. He hung on tighter. Forever with Avalier? He didn’t doubt it was the truth. What couldn’t those dragons do? Forever sounded great to him. He’d need forever to get as much as he wanted of Avalier and of the dragon lands. “Beloved?” Avalier queried, holding back. Waiting for Collin to answer. “Yes,” Collin said, rising up to bite at the dragon’s chest. “ Yes. Don’t leave me hanging here.” Avalier laughed loudly, kissed Collin, then thrust hard and deep. Collin let out a low, keening cry and came in heated spurts between their bellies. He spasmed and clamped down on Avalier’s cock and began to milk it. Avalier, too, howled out his bliss as the orgasm hit him, the shock of it doubling Collin’s pleasure -- no, tripling -- no, more than that -- turning the world static white for a long moment. When Collin finally came down, he saw stars. Avalier rolled them over lazily, relaxing with every inch of his body. He made a purring noise -- dragonsong? -- and kneaded Collin’s hips as he carefully withdrew. “Good?”

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“Mmm.” Collin splayed bonelessly over Avalier, the liquid mess between them as sticky and sweet as syrup. Dipping his finger in, he brought it up to his mouth for a taste. “Delicious,” he murmured. Avalier laughed up at him, the chuckle of a man who’d been well and truly fucked out. “Share.” Collin offered him another finger-full. Avalier captured the digit between his lips and suckled, his tongue stroking up past the first knuckle. When Collin slid his finger out of Avalier’s mouth, the dragon smiled sleepily at him. “I am the happiest dragon who ever lived,” he whispered. “Yeah,” Collin said roughly. “I’m keeping you.” Avalier pulled Collin’s head to his chest, which vibrated with the thrum of his dragonsong. After a moment, he said, “You mean more to me than anything in the dragon lands, my love.” “More than anything in heaven or on earth,” Collin agreed. He thought he heard the beat of wings overhead. He knew it would be the purple dragon, Zacharei, come to make sure all was well -- probably checking to see if Kay-lin had made a fresh break for it. Not gonna happen, Collin thought smugly, tucking his face against Avalier’s chest. “Avalier,” he whispered. “Avalier, I’m home.”

Willa Okati

Willa Okati is made of many things: imagination, passion for manlove, creativity and sheer bloody-minded determination to keep writing, getting out all the stories in her head. The only problem with that clever plan is that as she writes, more story ideas pop up… She’s getting into ménage these days, and finding that it’s really peachy to write female leads -- but these leading ladies have always gotta have their two men (who are into each other as well as her). That makes for extra-special spicy good times! Willa, by the way, looks nothing like her picture -- but she wishes she did! You can reach her at [email protected], visit her at her website (www.willaokati.com) or join her Yahoo! group for updates at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/willa_okati/ May the force be with ya’ll!

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Dragon's Delight; Dragons Series, Book 2

The Book of Dragons

The Book of Dragons

Dragons

Dragons Coloring Book

Dragons

Dragons

Dragon's Deal; Dragons Series, Book 3

Slayer 2 - Dragons Blood

Dragonlance Dragons, Vol. 2 - The Dragons at War

War Dragons

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Birth

9 Dragons

Dragons Gold

Dragons' Bond

Dragons Wild

9 Dragons

Dragons Luck

Raising Dragons

Waking Dragons

Dragons Luck

9 Dragons

Forgotten Dragons

Chasing Dragons

Raising Dragons

9 Dragons

dragons jaw

War Dragons

Dragon's Delight; Dragons Series, Book 2

The Book of Dragons

The Book of Dragons

Dragons

Dragons Coloring Book

Dragons

Dragons

Dragon's Deal; Dragons Series, Book 3

Slayer 2 - Dragons Blood

Dragonlance Dragons, Vol. 2 - The Dragons at War

War Dragons

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Redeemed

Dragons Birth

9 Dragons

Dragons Gold

Dragons' Bond

Dragons Wild

9 Dragons

Dragons Luck

Raising Dragons

Waking Dragons

Dragons Luck

9 Dragons

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Chasing Dragons

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