The Dragon King (8 page)

I smelled the truth in his words, saw the truth in his eyes, and heard it in his voice. My muscles relaxed and I curled into him, my cheek to the side of his throat.

“My Sassy little Sophia,” he rumbled. “So special, so sweet, and yet so strong.”

Aaron

I let Sophia get comfortable with her eggs, sausage, and oatmeal the next morning before I brought up the next couple of conversations we needed to have.

“I have a close friend, someone I work with a good deal, and when you meet her I’m going to need you to like her and not be jealous.”

She considered my words a few seconds and said, “When I meet her? You’re thinking the two of us are going to be able to go out into the real world as a couple?”

I smiled, happy she’d gone there first. “I’m hoping.”

“There’s too much to think about right now, but my initial thoughts are that as long as you haven’t done any…sexual things…with her. As long as I know I have that and she doesn’t, then I won’t have a reason to be jealous.”

I shook my head. “Soph, whether I’ve had sex with someone in the past isn’t the point. She and I are friends now, and will never be anything more.”

Sophia stared at her oatmeal without answering, and I smelled anger and grief. “Sassy. It didn’t work between Kirsten and me. You have something she doesn’t, because what you and I did last night
worked
. You have no reason to be jealous of her.”

“Can we change the subject, please? I’ve discovered I don’t like thinking about you doing personal things with other people. At least, not when I’m still getting used to you doing them with me.”

Fair enough. Sophia might be twenty-five years old, but she hadn’t been allowed the social interactions to help her grow emotionally, and in some ways she was still a young teen.

She probably wouldn’t like what I changed the conversation too, but it needed to be talked about. “You know virgins have to be flogged in order to
change
, but I’m guessing no one explained to you exactly why this is?”

She shook her head and I launched into the explanation. “You have to
change
in the throes of an orgasm, while both lovers are still joined. It’s a bit tricky with two swans, as you must both reach climax at the same time, which doesn’t always happen.” I paused, but didn’t make her ask the questions I knew were on the tip of her tongue if she only had the nerve to ask. “When a female swan chooses outside of her species, she only needs to have an orgasm while filled with her partner’s member.” I smiled and said, “Another word for cock, by the way, one of the more polite terms, but one must be careful how it’s used or it can be confusing.”

She rolled her eyes at me with an embarrassed smile and I continued. “I know there have been some experiments, and it has to be an actual penis — a dildo won’t work. It probably has something to do with the life force, or maybe the rocking energy of actually fucking. To my knowledge, no one knows for sure.”

“Dildo?” she asked.

“Ah. A fake cock. Before the former century they were most often made of wood or stone, but these days they’re molded out of silicon, plastic, glass, or metal.”

She looked down, studying her oatmeal again, and when she looked up her words came so fast I was certain she was asking before she lost her nerve.

“The book told me length and circumference in inches, but I’m having a hard time understanding exactly how big that is. I mean, it seems impossible, and I know it grows and shrinks, but how could you have something that big in your pants and me not see the lump?”

I smiled and told her, “I’ll make you a deal, Soph. I’ll let you play with me tonight, touch me and see how big it is, but you have to watch me masturbate and see what it takes to get me off with my hand.”

She didn’t say anything and I added, “You can be fully clothed while I’m naked, Soph. You’ll be in the position of power. Not me.”

She thought it over and finally nodded in slow motion. “Okay, but the same deal as before. If I get uncomfortable I can leave. I won’t stop you, but if I can’t watch then I don’t want to be obligated.”

“Of course. I want you to try for me, but if you’re distressed then I won’t want you to stay. Remember, though, I’ll know how you’re feeling. We’ll have lessons in the next couple of days so you can learn how to mask your scent, but I know you haven’t learned this because your father didn’t want you to be able to hide anything from him
or
your betrothed.”

“Uggg, please don’t remind me of Cyrano, and don’t call him that. My skin crawls just
thinking
of him putting his hands where yours have been.”

She looked truly revolted, which made me much more pleased than it should’ve. “Yeah, well, I’m not terribly happy thinking of his hands going there, either. Never was, actually, but I’m even less so, now.”

“You can mask your scent? So, when I don’t smell a lie, it doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth?”

“I haven’t lied to you, Soph, but you’re correct. It isn’t easy to do and not many supernaturals can pull it off. I’m going to need to physically hurt you to teach you, and while I’m not looking forward to it, I can use the lessons as a stepping stone for explaining how the flogging isn’t going to be as bad as you’re expecting.”

“Do you think I’ll need to be flogged?”

I knew she was asking if I intended to take her virginity, so I answered as honestly as I could. “The man in me, the one who cares about you so much, would love to spare you. However, the strategist knows you need to face off with your father as a virgin, as your own person. You need to be in a position of strength before you bind yourself to me officially, and politically it will be better if you’ve already told Cyrano to his face you’ve broken off the engagement.”

I stroked her cheek, wishing things could be simple. “We can be together when you confront your father, but not as an official couple. The man who takes your virginity needs to be the man you’re going to mate with, the man who’ll stand by your side as you rule your people, if that’s what you decide to do. It won’t be my decision alone, Princess. We’ll talk about the pros and cons, and make sure we’re doing what’s right for the future, not just what we want in the moment.”

She nodded and took a stuttering breath. “You’re right, but in my head I’m thinking I’d love to have sex with you, and I really don’t want to be flogged, and only a crazy person would say no to the first so they’d have to endure the latter.”

“How about an object lesson?” I asked. “When we finish our morning instruction time I’ll turn you over my knees and spank you. I promise it won’t be terrible, and my purpose in doing so is to teach you there is a difference between good pain and bad pain. If you let me then I’ll give you another orgasm and then warm your bathwater for a nice long soak. If you don’t let me then you can take a bath without me warming the water for you, and you won’t get another orgasm until tomorrow.”

If looks could kill I’d have been mortally wounded, but I just smiled at her, amused. “No need to give me your answer now, Soph. We have some lessons to cover. You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of all the current Kings and Alphas, as well as their advisors and enforcers.”

Sophia

I couldn’t believe he wanted to
spank
me!

I’d had a whipping girl when growing up, and when I was in trouble my governess or my father would force me to stand and watch as they whipped her for my transgressions.

I’d never been spanked in my life.

Sure, I had to be flogged four times a year in order to
change
, but this was different. The floggings meant I was an adult. A spanking meant I was being treated like a child.

“Holding my warm bath hostage for this isn’t nice,” I told him, trying not to sound like a petulant child.

His grin made me
feel
petulant, which irritated me even more.

“Bend over my lap, Soph. You trust me, right? Have I ever led you wrong when I was teaching you?”

No, he hadn’t, but bending over his lap, in the kitchen, while he was sitting in a kitchen chair he’d pulled to the center of the floor… I couldn’t do it.

I crossed my arms and shook my head. “I don’t think I can, Aaron.”

“Do you want me to do it for you?”

His voice was kind, and without thinking I nodded my head, accepting his offer of help.

Too late, I realized this meant he manhandled me onto his lap, using his strength to put me in position — and to hold me there, when I fought.

“Please don’t fight me, Soph.” His voice was so soft, so
pained
, it made me pause.

“I’m sorry, Aaron. This is hard,” I said as the fight left me and I stayed in place on his lap with every muscle in my body tense.

My hands were on the floor, my face looking under the chair, my toes barely touching the floor.

One of Aaron’s hands pressed down on my lower back, holding me in place while his other hand caressed my bottom…and my treasonous body wanted him to
keep
rubbing my bottom. Within a couple of minutes, some of my muscles had relaxed while others were wanting me to raise my bottom even higher in the air.

“Good girl. I love your sassy side, but thanks for working with me, Soph.”

His hand left my bottom and I tensed, waiting for the first horrible smack, but it was more of a pat than a spank and didn’t hurt at all. He went back to rubbing, and alternated the pats and caresses until my bottom moved whether I wanted it to or not, and some of the feelings of last night came back to me.

He eventually started hitting me harder, but it still didn’t hurt and actually felt good. It felt so wonderful, in fact, I even lifted my torso up so he could pull my yoga pants down easier.

His hand on my bottom through the thin underpants was even more intimate, and my moans were an unspoken plea for more.

When he at last pulled my underwear down and spanked me for real, it hurt… but he’d been right. It wasn’t terrible.

“Ten hard spanks with my hand, Soph. I’ll hold you down so you don’t have to control yourself.”

Okay, maybe he hadn’t been spanking me for real. I nodded my head, and he landed the first real spank. I yelped in pain and tried to jerk up, but he held me firm.

By the time he made it to the tenth my eyes were watering, but still… it hadn’t been terrible. He’d told me I needed to understand the difference between good pain and bad, and he’d certainly demonstrated it.

He gave a slight adjustment, so my clitoris was pushed against his leg, and he slid a finger into me with a groan. “You’re so wet, my Sassy girl. Grind on my leg for me. Take your pleasure, Soph. I know you’re close.”

He was right, and I was
so
close I didn’t think twice about grinding on his thigh or shamelessly moaning, screaming, and finally begging for more as his finger moving inside me created a delirious onrush of sensations. Within minutes the crashing waves of bliss were bearing down on me again and a scream ripped from my throat. I thought I might lose my mind from so many frenzied sensations engulfing me at once, and I was helpless against the deluge as the raw pleasure ripped through me until I lay limp and sated against his leg.

When it was over he turned me and held me in his lap, curled up and safe as I tried to learn to breathe again.

* * * *

I had no idea how Aaron knew the exact amount of fire the water needed in order to be just the right temperature, and wasn’t sure I needed to know as my body sank into the heavenly warm water.

Aaron had decreed we’d be nude as we bathed today, and I didn’t argue.

I hadn’t looked at him once he’d
changed
from dragon back to human, either, though.

He’d brought two lanterns, so we’d have light we didn’t have to hold, but I’d have been more than happy to do this in the dark. However, when I’d mentioned our need to save fuel, he’d only laughed at me.

“Look at me, Soph.” He was sitting on the edge, his legs in the water, and I looked at his face.

“I’m soft, Sassy,” he said, his voice a gentle caress. “Look at my cock.”

My eyes trailed down his magnificent body and my gaze landed on his cock. It was nowhere near the size the book had said it would be when erect. It was wrinkly and… ugly. Not at all what I expected.

He lifted his hand to it and pulled part of it up. I could now see which part was the penis and which was the testicles, and it didn’t look as bad this way.

“Do you have any idea how much your response to me in bed turns me on, Soph?”

I looked up to his face, but he shook his head. “No, look at my cock. I want you to watch it grow, watch me jack myself off.”

I didn’t look down as I argued, “But you said that was tonight!”

“Yeah, and you’d have worked yourself up to being terrified again, by then. We’re doing it now.”

He stopped looking at me and looked at his penis, so I let my gaze go back as well.

It didn’t take long to slowly grow as he fondled it, and before long it wasn’t at all wrinkly, and was huge. No
way
would it fit inside me.

I watched in silence as he reached for a tub of something, dipped his hand in, and then went back to stroking his cock, using his fist around it now. Whatever he’d put on his hands made it shiny, but I didn’t ask about it.

I was both embarrassed and curious, and the latter won out as I couldn’t pull my eyes away from watching. I felt his gaze on me now, but I kept focused on his cock, too mortified at what he might see in my eyes should I look up.

I heard him give a few grunts, and then his body tensed and his scent drastically changed as white stuff spurted out the end. I took a deep breath and suddenly I wanted him touching me, making me feel that way again. I could smell his pleasure and joy, and wished it’d been my hands giving it.

“Can you teach me to pleasure you?” I asked.

He sank into the water and pulled me to him. “Yes, Soph. I can teach you everything you want to know, but not today. For now, I’d like to hold you while I relax in the water.”