A Dragon's Tale Ch. 39

She slowly uncrossed her legs, and tentatively set her other foot on the floor. She swallowed hard and then stood up, still keeping her arms crossed over her chest. She could at least cover those scars. She didn't think he could see them well anyway, since they were still looking into each other's eyes.

Ethan took a step forward, reached out, and wrapped his arms around her torso as he pulled her into a hug.

No, not a hug.

This was...

Was...

She wasn't sure; she didn't have a word for it. He was simply holding her. Their eyes were still locked together, but his arms were around her and he was holding her close to him. Her entire front was pressed up against him, though her arms were still crossed over her chest.

He was holding her.

She blinked several times. It didn't break the compulsion, but her eyes seemed to be malfunctioning. She could feel them grow wetter, and then the liquid spilled over and slowly ran down her cheeks.

Still he held her.

Still he looked deep into her eyes.

She wanted to look away, but was glad she couldn't. She wanted to stop making eye contact, but was glad she had no escape from it. He was holding her and looking deep into her eyes like she was some precious treasure that he wanted to protect. Yet despite that, there was nothing dragonish about his gaze.

This was all Ethan.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked as another tear began to trace a path down her cheek.

"Holding you, as a husband should hold his wife." He replied kindly, not breaking eye contact.

Kendra knew that her stomach would've been emptied a long time ago if he hadn't been compelling it to remain calm. The rest of her though... The rest of her didn't know what to think or how to feel. This was so different than a hug from Taloni or the other ladies on the Argo. She was naked, he was naked, and he was holding her.

Despite herself, she felt a small smile forming on her face.

"I told you that you wouldn't regret it." He grinned.

She let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle, a sob, and hard exhale.

"Tell me, how long have you been wanting this?" He asked.

She swallowed hard. "I don't even know; a lifetime?"

"Even though I'm a dragon?"

She let out a contented sigh as she relaxed slightly into his embrace. "I hate dragons, but you... I don't think I could hate you."

"Anymore." He corrected with a grin.

"Anymore." She conceded, and even smiled slightly. She almost wanted to avert her eyes, but of course she couldn't; she could only stare into his eyes. They were like a cat's eyes only greener, and the slit somehow did nothing to make him seem less loving or caring.

Still he held her.

He held her for what felt like a blissful eternity, but probably wasn't even ten minutes. The entire time he was looking deep into her eyes, and she was looking deep into his. She finally realized what was unnerving about that.

It was the closeness.

The intimacy.

She didn't know what it was about eyes, but there was something intimate about staring into another person's eyes. Some people called the eyes the 'windows to the soul', and she finally understood why. It was like she was looking at more than just his eyes; she felt like she was looking at him. Or perhaps 'looking into him' was more accurate.

Regardless, it was profoundly intimate and she didn't know what to do with that.

"You said you wouldn't mind if I tried to help you enjoy it." He finally said.

She nodded.

"I'm going to start." He stated.

She bit her lip and then nodded.

His right arm lifted off her back and lowered until it was hovering near her left hip; the scarred hip. She could almost feel him touching her, but he wasn't... yet.

"Tell me how this feels." He said, still staring deep into her eyes.

He brushed the outside curve of her hip, where part of her large burn scar was. Thanks to a squad mate having gotten to her quickly with some magical healing, she hadn't lost any sensation in the skin. Why was he starting there?

Then he touched her.

It felt like he had brushed her hip with just his fingertips.

She inhaled sharply as a jolt of... of something seemed to shoot through her. It was warm and coursed through her body, leaving a pleasant sensation in its wake. Finally, it seemed to hone in on her pelvic area and produced a warm sensation that she'd never felt before. It was almost like an itch, but not quite.

She exhaled with a breathy sigh. "What was that?"

"You enjoying it." He grinned.

He brushed her hip again, and the same pleasant sensations coursed through her. This time though, he didn't stop. He slowly and lightly traced his finger upwards in a lazy zig-zag pattern, constantly shooting those little jolts through her body in ways she'd literally never felt before. She had of course heard that sex was pleasurable, and even that a man or woman could pleasure themselves, but she'd never tried it. Her instructors had told her that it was a distraction and drilled discipline into her. She'd never felt the need or desire since she didn't know what she was missing.

Now...

Not she was glad that she'd never tried since she would've found it hard not to do this again after tasting what it felt like.

"Should I stop?" He asked, lifting his hand away from her side.

She froze.

She didn't want him to stop. That marvelous sensation was just... there were no words. It suddenly made so much sense why everyone liked sex if it was like this. This was truly the best thing she'd ever felt; the absolute pinnacle of physical pleasure.

"Okay, I can stop." He said with a sly grin and started to move his hand away.

"No!" She said quickly, then felt her cheeks instantly get hot. They probably looked like the roots of Rachel's hair right now.

He grinned. "So, you want a dragon to keep touching you?"

She bit her lip, and she could feel her stomach twinge just slightly even despite the compulsion keeping it calm.

"Not any dragon, just you." She replied, and because of the compulsion keeping her stomach calm, she was still staring directly into his eyes. She could blink but not look away, and something about that was at once unnerving and wonderful.

"In that case..." He grinned.

She sucked in her breath as the fingers of both his hands started roaming over her body, and not just the side of her hips. She felt them on her back, sides, stomach, and they ever started to get close to her...

She swallowed.

"Lower your hands." He instructed gently

She reflexively clenched her arms tighter.

He chuckled. "What is it about warrior women? Fearless on the battlefield and nervous in the bedroom."

She chuckled nervously.

"Seriously though, what's wrong?" He asked, and she couldn't avoid his gaze because of the compulsion keeping her stomach's reaction at bay. There was something deeply personal about looking into his eyes and she just couldn't help but feel closer to him.

"I... I'm not..." She faltered, painfully aware that she wasn't an attractive woman. Or at least not a beautiful one. She was rather average looking, which had always been an asset when she wanted to blend in. Now... now she wished she was beautiful, but she wasn't.

"Yes you are." He said firmly, obviously guessing what she was struggling with.

It was strange; she'd been looking into his eyes for a long time now because of the compulsion, and didn't think he would lie to her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I learned a long time ago that beauty is more than skin deep, not that I'm complaining about the skin." He winked, though the one eye open kept the compulsion going. "Outward beauty is incredibly attractive, but it fades. Character doesn't. Maybe it's because of the glimpse I got of you while bonding, but I look at you and I can't imagine not thinking that you're beautiful."

"But I'm really nothing special, I'm barely average looking and my scars--"

He put a finger to her lips, stopping her. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing I could say to convince you otherwise, but what I do..." His eyes twinkled. "...How about I show you some evidence?"

* * *

Ethan stared into Kendra's eyes, keeping the compulsion in place that was preventing her stomach from emptying itself. He wasn't exactly sure what to think of that because he could feel that it definitely wanted to, but he was pretty sure that the woman herself was happy where she was. Well, not quite 'happy'; she seemed concerned about her looks, which frankly didn't make a lot of sense to him.

True, she wasn't a knockout like Selene -- though basically no one was -- but she had a subtle, understated beauty that had only seemed to grow the longer he know her. Really, the scars didn't even factor in for him. He didn't care about them; he cared about her.

With his eyes locked with hers, he reached up and took her hand. She didn't resist him, which was a new thing for her. He guessed that she had literally never done anything sexual before, and his dragon instincts seemed to confirm this.

"Here's some physical evidence." He said softly, and moved her hand down until he pressed it up against his rock-hard cock.

She inhaled sharply, then her jaw dropped.

"Is that your..." She stared into his eyes, opened mouthed.

"It is." There was something incredibly intimate about making eye contact with her while she touched him there. They hadn't broken eye contact once yet, and it was... strange. Nice; but strange.

Seemingly on instinct, she felt around for a moment, trying to wrap her hands around his girth. "But, I thought it only gets that way when you're... I mean, when you think a woman is..." She blushed.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Like I said: evidence."

She bit her lip, and he smiled into the deep brown eyes that he'd been staring deeply into for the last... well, quite a while now. He didn't mind; in fact he liked it.

"You held me." She said softly.

"I did."

"I asked you to compel me to have sex with you, and instead you held me." She swallowed and her eyes got a bit watery again as she gave him a small but genuine smile.

"Because I care about you." He replied simply.

She smiled, and for some reason the tears on her cheek made the smile all the more beautiful. "Thank you; I didn't think anyone ever would."

"Everyone on this ship cares about you." He said sincerely, then cocked his head to one side. "Except maybe Raklan."

She made a noise halfway between a chuckle and a sob. "You're right; they do."

"Now, let me take care of you." He said, brushing his finger against her side again.

She stiffened and inhaled sharply, then exhaled breathily. He raised his hands again, making light brushes against her skin. Kendra appeared to be nearly overwhelmed with the sensations. She was taking short, shallow breaths and seemed to have trouble forming coherent sentences as he continued to explore her body with his fingers.

She was more toned than the rest of his wives, and arguably more responsive too. He could feel it when his fingers brushed a scar, but they didn't bother him at all. In fact, for some reason he kind of liked them. He wasn't sure why, but something about them seemed very 'Kendra', and he liked that.

"Wha... what are you......you doing to......to me?" Kendra managed to get out in a breathy voice.

"Making sure you enjoy it." He replied with a grin, their eyes still locked together by his compulsion. "Move your hands." He gently instructed, since they were still crossed across her chest.

This time, she didn't hesitate. Her hands fell, revealing her breasts in their entirety. Kendra had... well he wasn't sure what to call them other than 'puffy' nipples. That is, her entire areola seemed slightly erect too, and it stood out a bit like cone, with relatively small nipples at the top. He'd never seen breasts like that in person, but he definitely liked them.

He reached up and brushed the underside, and Kendra instantly shivered as she let out a small sigh. He did it again, with the same results.

Their eyes were locked together the entire time, and she was staring into his eyes with wonder.

He liked that.

"How are you..." She started to say, but he cut her off by brushing his thumb over her nipple.

She moaned. "Oh Illuminar..." She panted slightly.

"It gets better." He whispered.

"Better?" She breathed as her eyes went wide.

* * *

Kendra's brain could barely process what was happening to her. She'd never felt sensations like this before in her entire life. Her entire body seemed like it was alight with some strange fire that was radiating from her breasts and hips. She felt entirely out of control, and not because of Ethan's compulsion either.

And this was supposed to get better?

How?!

"I'm going to kiss you Kendra." Ethan said. It was a simple statement of fact; nothing more, nothing less.

She froze.

She looked deep into his green, cat-like eyes as they got closer and closer to her. She knew what a kiss was and had seen them countless times. But how does one actually kiss? And how does one kiss when--

She sucked in her breath as his finger brushed one of her nipples again, wiping the confused thoughts in her brain away. She let out a little moan, and in the space of time it had taken her to do that, for the first time in her life she felt a man's lips pressed against her own.

It was weird.

Good, but weird.

What made it weirder was the fact that she was still looking at him with open eyes because of the compulsion. She loved that. For some reason, she felt closer to him because of it. She thought it might be strange to be kissing with eyes open like that, but she didn't care.

She loved it.

He smiled after their kiss broke. "Now, normally I'd spend a while getting you 'warmed up', but I see you're there already."

"Huh?"

He moved his thigh, which had somehow ended up pressed against her mound, which had somehow gotten wet from something.

"What the...?" She tried to look down, but of course couldn't.

"Don't worry, that's just you getting ready for me." He said softly.

"Oh."

"You're practically there already." He said with a wide grin as he gently rubbed his thigh up against her slit.

"Where?" She panted breathlessly.

He continued pressing his leg up against her mound, gently massaging it with his thigh while his other hands came up and began to caress her breasts.

"Oh God." She breathed as the sensation surged in strength.

* * *

Ethan almost chuckled as Kendra stiffened up from the light stimulation. Kendra's eyes -- which had been locked to his and still were locked to his -- rolled back as much as they could while still maintaining eye contact because of his compulsion.

Her limbs trembled for a moment and she seemed to have trouble staying on her feet as his hand replaced his thigh and he began to gently massager her clitoris. She started slipping down as her legs seemed to give out, so he caught her. Her mouth opened and she seemed to have trouble drawing breath as she let out a nearly silent moan.

She seemed to partially lose control of her body, so he let her slide back onto the bed so she was laying on her back with her eyes still locked with his. She looked almost scared for several seconds as she panted, then finally seemed to be able to draw breath properly.

"Wha...? What was that?" She panted up at him from the bed as she tried to regain her breath.

"That was an orgasm; a pretty small one by the looks of it." He couldn't help but smile; apparently this woman who'd literally never done anything sexual before was on a hair trigger for her first time.

"Small?" Her eyes went wide. "That was small?"

He nodded. "Now, ordinarily I'd spent the next few minute blowing your mind with several more, and ones that were much more powerful, but I'm not sure you're ready for that."

Her eyes got even wider and she shook her head vigorously.

"In that case, scoot back." He nodded.

She hesitated for a moment. "Is it always like that?"

He shook his head. "Better."

"I don't know if I'm ready for..." She swallowed hard and then bit her lip. "...for better." She looked almost scared.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied without hesitation. However, since their eyes were still locked together, he could see a bit of worry in them.

"Then scoot up a bit."

She nodded, though didn't look perfectly at ease. She hesitated a bit longer, and then scooted up so she was lying flat on her back with her legs on the bed instead of hanging off of it. He gave her a reassuring smile, then crawled onto the bed. She flinched slightly when his leg brushed up against hers, but otherwise didn't move.

* * *

Kendra's entire body was in a state of diametrically opposed flux. Half of her was screaming that she needed to run as far away as possible, and the other half was willing to cut off her own legs to make sure she stayed.

What in Illuminar's name had Ethan done to her body?!

She was still trying to catch her breath and recover from that... that... she couldn't even come up with a word for the sensation that had washed over her barely a minute ago. It defied all rational explanation or description. It was... she simply didn't have the words. And he said it got better?

Was that even possible?

She supposed she was going to find out soon, because Ethan was now on top of her. Well, he was leaning over her anyway.

They hadn't broken eye contact once.

It was strange.

Really strange, but she loved that.

She felt so incredibly close to him after spending so much time looking into his eyes; his green, cat-like eyes that radiated concern for her and so obviously cared about her. She didn't understand why, but she was so very glad of it. All she knew was that she wanted to see that look in his eyes when he looked at her for a long time.

Possibly forever.

For the longest time, she had wanted someone to look at her like that, and he finally was. For some reason, it took staring into his eyes for what felt like an eternity to realize that's what she wanted, but she finally had.

She smiled slightly. "I like the way you look at me."

He grinned mischievously. "I like the way you look."

She half chuckled at that. "I mean, I can tell how you feel about me. It makes me feel like I won't need to be alone."

He looked at her, and spoke softly. "Kendra, I swear to you that for as long as I and my wives draw breath, you will never be alone."

Suddenly, she was doing a lot of blinking to keep her vision clear as her eyes filled with salty liquid. She swallowed hard, trying to keep some semblance of calm but it wasn't working. She found her lips curving upwards into a smile that was so wide it almost saw a few tears slip into the corners of her mouth.

"Really?" She breathed.

He nodded. "You're my wife. From this day forth, you'll always have me, no matter what happens, no matter what crazy shit this insane world throws at us, I will never leave you. Ever. As long as I have breath in my body, I want you with me."

Her throat suddenly felt a bit tight, though her cheeks were about to start hurting from the effort they were exerting to break the world's record for largest smile. After what he'd just said, she didn't know what she could possibly say to tell him how much that meant.

So she acted on instinct.

She kissed him.

She wasn't sure what else to do.

A simple kiss seemed wholly inadequate to express what she was feeling at the moment, but she didn't know what else she could do to convey just how she felt about him right now. She was staring deep into his eyes and could see that he meant every single word. He would never leave her. Ever. And because of that, she would never have to be alone again. Ever. She wanted to tell him how much that meant to her, but simply didn't have the words; she didn't know how.