Endangered Ch. 06

Lillian paused at the portal, not looking back as she spoke in case he somehow saw the lie in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, Chris. It's never going to happen," she closed the door.

Chris didn't know what to feel about that.

Instead of lingering on it, he picked up Annabel gently and pulled back the covers. She murmured and woke up but he didn't say anything until they were under the covers and he had her up against him in a loving embrace.

She didn't move or acknowledge him, just let him manhandle her silently. She was still wearing yesterday's t-shirt and her short skirt, it stood out to him because they were never not naked in bed together. It seemed symbolic of what he'd just put her through. He hated it.

"I'm sorry," he murmured as she looked up at him in the dim light. She didn't reply. Instead pulling away from his embrace and rolling away from him, moving around under the covers.

Tears began to well in his eyes and his throat thickened painfully, closing off his airways so that he almost gasped. He rolled away from her onto his back as his chest ached, struggling not to sob. He didn't care that his wings were folded uncomfortably beneath him, he'd finally done it, he'd finally made her run from him, just as he'd feared.

It was his own damn fault too. His dragon shrieked pitifully inside his head.

He could still hear her moving a little, assuming she was about to get out of bed and walk away. He shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her go.

Her naked skin pushed back against his side and he let out a startled sob, pulling her next to him roughly and crushing her into his chest, panting into her soft hair. He was beyond words with relief. His heart, having been so close to shattering, felt like it began beating again as her comforting smell seeped into his lungs, easing his painful congestion.

He'd feared the worst, jumped to conclusions, but it had given him a precious insight into his world without Annabel.

She struggled a little, perhaps surprised by the intensity of his reaction but he didn't let her go.

"Baby, I can barely breathe," Annabel croaked.

"Sorry," he sniffed, releasing her from his bear hug and wiping away the few tears that had barely escaped.

She sensed something was wrong when he pulled her so closely into his crushing embrace, now the thickness in his voice made her suspicious. Confirmation came when she reached up carefully in the low light and felt his face, a little wet.

"What's wrong, Chris?"

"Nothing Dee, It's just... I thought..." He didn't get a chance to finish as she quickly moved up and ran her tongue over his cheek, collecting his tears.

The emotions trapped in those magical droplets of brine flashed through Annabel's mind. Just like their first day together, in this very same bed, she experienced the intensity of his feelings towards her again. Such heartbreak, loss, and guilt it made her give a strangled groan when he'd stupidly assumed she was getting out of bed. Such relief and love when she'd snuggled back into him. The power of his emotions was overwhelming, creating an out of body experience for a few moments. As it faded away, the afterglow of his happiness lingered a little.

Oh Chris, what am I going to do with you?

She gave him a quick kiss before laying her head on his chest again. He sighed and put his arms back around her, less forcefully this time.

"You're a real turkey sometimes, babe. You know that, right?" She accented her words with a kiss just above his nipple, right over his heart.

"Yes," he snorted. What a thing to say to a guy.

"What did you think, that I'd walk out on us just like that?"

"Maybe. Yes, I guess for a moment. I was worried about how you feel about Claire and I."

"Well that's dumb. I'd be mad right now if I hadn't just felt how broken up about it you were for a few seconds. I said we'd work this stuff out. I love you, I'm not going to go running away. Haven't I proven that already?"

"I'm sorry, Dee. It's pretty much my worst nightmare, I keep thinking I'll do something that makes you snap and walk out. I'm obviously pretty insecure about that, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh baby, I'm fine okay? Yes, I was a bit shaken up when I heard that she was pregnant already. I wanted that to be us in a few years time but it's still a good thing. You're going to be a father and there'll be another beautiful dragon in the world. You have my official permission to make as many dragon babies as you like. That was the entire point of this remember? Your father's sacrifice and Susan's devotion. I was just shocked by the timing, I thought I'd have years to get used to the idea and that we'd probably start trying for our own kids before you ever managed one with Claire. I thought it was supposed to take ages?"

"I thought so too, I don't know what happened."

It was true, he had no explanation for Claire's astoundingly rapid conception.

Annabel just giggled.

"What?" he asked.

"You happened, silly."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on turkey boy, do I have to spell it out for you? Fine. All I'm saying is that it's been established that you're pretty exceptional, even for a dragon. Well, that and a girl could probably get knocked up off half a whiff of..."

"Stop it," he pleaded.

She couldn't help but tease him, laughing at the look she could barely make out on his face in the light that was starting to seep into the room.

"Wow, I think Immi is rubbing off on you, Dee. Seriously though, I don't think virility has much to do with it, we just got really lucky."

"No babe, it's definitely something about you. What is it they say? If you meet a few assholes, that's okay but if everyone you meet is an asshole, it's you who's got the problem. Well this is like that but with the opposite of assholes. Incredible things keep happening around you, Chris, you must be to blame for it."

"An interesting theory, eloquently presented, Miss Somerset," Chris joked with mock seriousness in imitation of what he imagined was an old English gentleman's accent.

"I'm serious!" Annabel complained happily. Then a mischievous smile flickered at the corner of her lips and she stroked a finger teasingly down his smooth, cool flank before she whispered, "Miss Annabel Baryst."

"Hmm," he murmured. "Getting some practice are you?"

"Exactly," She replied. "What's more, I'll pragmatically consider what you just did to Claire practice for what you're going to do to me once we're married."

"Very gracious of you," he said with a provocative stroke of her slim tummy.

"How was it, with... with Claire?" She asked tentatively. "Did you even bother talking to her?"

"It was great. We did it a bunch of times, mostly quite vigorously with our dragons taking the lead but we also had a few more mellow goes. Our dragons seem to be a great match for each other. She also... well her... let's just say I got a lesson on some dragon biology I wasn't aware of. And yes, we had some time to talk too. She's eager to meet you."

"You gonna' tell me about it?" she asked with a playful wiggle against him.

He responded by tracing lazy circles and figure eights on her lower back, making her shiver even more.

"Maybe later, you don't need to hear the gruesome details right now. What I really want to say is that once again you've amazed me. I love you, Dee. Perhaps I don't deserve you, but I love you. I couldn't have foreseen that Claire would get pregnant but I certainly don't regret it. She's my mate now too but that doesn't change how I feel about you one bit. I've already told her that you're my First, that you'll always come first."

"I know that, Chris, I love you too."

They were silent several long moments, just enjoying the contact between their bodies and the love between their souls.

"By the way, Lillian mentioned that you gave her approval to come after me. What's up with that?"

"Oh, that whole thing. I don't know Chris, I guess I like her. I can see that there's tension between the two of you. She's strong on the outside but I can tell she's so lonely. When you're not looking she stares at you like she's longing to reach out and touch but something's holding her back. I told her I wouldn't stand in the way if that's what you both wanted."

Silence dominated again as Chris collected his thoughts.

"I'm not really sure what to say, Dee, yeah I guess there's been a bit of chemistry between us but I think most of what you're seeing is her instinct to feed. She must have a really hard time with it around me. I still can't believe Reyla assigned her to me, she must have known it would be terrible for her. Anyway, yes, she's very beautiful and yes, she excites me but I don't think it's meant to be."

"It's not just her instinct to feed Chris, trust me. And all I was saying was that if she does like you, I won't try to stop her. She's stunning and I like her, even if she is a bit scary sometimes. You could do a lot worse."

"Are you sure you're not a time traveller from the sixties or something? What's with all the free loving?"

"Peace and freedom, baby," Annabel snorted.

Chris considered a real reply for a few more moments.

"I don't have some master plan that keeps dropping women in my lap Dee. It just seems to happen and soon enough my dragon starts caring for them and loving them before I'm even aware of it. It creeps up on me so quickly. It happened like that with Susan and I can already feel it starting to happen with Immi and Claire. I guess it's a little bit like that with Lillian but we're holding ourselves back because it could be so dangerous."

"That's okay Chris. I signed up for this and I love it, I love you. Bridges baby, bridges."

"If nothing else, you are a champion bridge crosser," he chuckled appreciatively into her scalp before planting an appreciative, loving kiss.

***

Annabel and Chris ended up sleeping through dawn and several hours into the early morning. Even after they woke up, they spent a half hour lying in bed, mostly just staring at each other and enjoying the warmth and closeness.

With Chris holding her like that, facing each other on their sides, stroking gently up and down her ribs and over her hip with a finger; her insides turned into dark, creamy, melted chocolate.

His dragon responded to their relaxed state and released its hold on his physical form, his reptilian features faded rapidly until there were just two humans lying snuggled in bed.

Finally they got up and Annabel sauntered after him for a fairly straight forward shower. His faithful morning pride was conspicuously absent, making her comment that he must be all worn out. His dragon promptly had him to rise to the occasion just to prove a point but overall there was very little sexy business other than an occasional wet grope or a soap-slicked tweak.

She did however, insist on having her hair washed by him, her morning pampering was becoming a ritual she wouldn't easily give up. Chris didn't mind at all, taking any excuse to get close to a wet, naked Annabel and make her coo in pleasure.

Once they were done, they dressed in some of Chris's old stuff and came downstairs hand in hand to find, as they'd expected, everyone up and waiting for them.

Susan was preparing breakfast on the stove, ready for the day wearing a nice snug pair of jeans and a waist-clinging long-sleeved blouse. A nice little yellow apron protected her from her work. She was heating pans and whipping up some eggs when she saw them enter.

By the looks of it, Immi was being a bit of a pest, flitting around Susan as she tried to cook, sampling things before they were anywhere near done and offering a lot of unrequested advice.

"Finally," Susan said in that tone unique to mothers which conveyed love, annoyance, and humour all at the same time. "I was about to send Lillian upstairs with a glass of water to pour over you two."

Chris rolled his eyes and pulled Annabel close against his side, bringing her around the kitchen island to introduce her to Petra.

The statuesque dragoness was looking up from her Maginet tablet to study them.

"Annabel, this is Petra. Petra this is my fiancé, Annabel," Chris intoned politely just as Susan had taught him all those years ago. The two women shook hands firmly, the chestnut brown and the platinum blond assessing each other.

"It's nice to meet you," Annabel spoke when the moment became a little unreadable.

"Likewise, Annabel. And may I just say that I can see exactly why he fell in love with you," Petra smiled, reading the human with her magical senses and seeing almost uncorrupted goodness, not to mention the human's slender but very attractive figure.

"Thanks," Annabel replied. "You're very beautiful yourself."

"Oh hush now," Petra scolded. "Talk like that will go straight to my ego. And we dragons are notorious for being at least a little self-worshiping, aren't we? I'd like to apologise to you though, about the timing of our joyous news. I know you haven't had much time with him yet but..."

"It's fine," interrupted Annabel. "I talked with Chris about it this morning. I understand how wonderful and extraordinary the conception of a new dragon is and I'm happy. Happy for all of us."

"Oh dear, you are a perfect First. Thank you for accepting this and for finding and loving him before we ever could," Petra got up to embrace Annabel in a warm hug, given on behalf of every dragon, before relinquishing her back to Chris and turning to Susan. "And you, Susan, I don't know how we can repay you for your bravery. Claire explained some of what Chris told her. We have so much to thank you for."

"You're welcome, Petra, but I think he's all the reward I'll ever want," Susan said mushily from the stove as she blew a kiss at him.

"He's blushing," Petra whined girlishly, an act not befitting her species, age, or power but incredibly sexy nonetheless.

It only made Chris's circulation problems worse so he pulled up a chair and sat to watch Susan slaving over the stove in her little apron.

Annabel plopped into his lap a moment later and whispered up into his ear.

"You can give me some long, hard reward later."

With their backs turned, everyone in the kitchen didn't notice anything unusual about the sounds of approaching footfalls from the living room. It wasn't until Chris felt firm breasts pressed into his back and the sensation of stiff nipples, too firm to be separated by more than just his shirt, that he realised Claire was still naked.

"I want some more reward too," she cooed seductively in his other ear even as Annabel pulled back in shock, leaning away in his lap.

Their eyes met, ruby versus doe-brown for a second before Annabel's began to track over the naked, scarlet and white body. Claire took the opportunity to flounce around into the kitchen actual and fetch a glass of water for herself from the sink, her hips swaying and her toned, draconian perfection on display.

Annabel wasn't quite sure what to think other than it was a bit of a bitch move. Strutting around naked in front of everyone and clearly trying to get a rise out of Chris. A new firmness under her lap seemed to indicate that it might be working too.

Regardless, she was beautiful. Her half form was majestic, it made Annabel think of a sports model or a gymnast. She had that soft muscle definition that Annabel used to envy before she became comfortable with her burgeoning body, yet still looked absolutely feminine and particularly squishy and taught where it counted.

After seeing Chris in his half dragon perfection, she realised this was his natural counterpart. Claire's wings and colouring made her so exotic too, like one of those renders of too-beautiful science fiction women you come across occasionally on the internet. Annabel was tempted to feel jealousy for a moment before realising there was just no point. Chris needed to be with other dragons, it wasn't their fault that they were beautiful together.

Claire enjoyed her little show, trying to excite him, waltzing back around to sit in the chair next to her mate. He was now surrounded with Petra on the other side. His first, Annabel was staring form her prized perch on his lap, her head now resting under his chin.

"Hi," Claire started, unsure how to make the moment any less awkward.

"Hi, Claire," Annabel replied.

"I ah... I wanted say thanks for letting him be with me and sorry for sketching out yesterday. He overwhelmed me a bit and my dragon took over."

"It's okay, Claire, I can definitely understand that," Annabel smiled, having a little flashback to the first time she'd encountered the dragon. "I trust it went very well between you given the happy outcome?"

Everyone else in the room had paused to watch the exchange, to see how the two women would settle; Chris was barely breathing as he held Annabel.

"Oh my god, yes! I hate that I waited sixty four years to have sex! What a waste. Well, okay maybe about 42 years because I was too young but whatever. I can't believe I'm pregnant, I keep checking every other minute just to be sure."

"He was your first?" Annabel was surprised, she'd assumed that someone like Claire would be a sexual dynamo.

"Um... yeah," Claire looked sideways, obviously embarrassed about it.

Annabel quickly realised there was a woman in there with the sexy dragoness, she'd felt those same insecurities herself not too long ago, still struggled with them now.

"Me too," Annabel replied.

"He told me you awakened him on your first time together? That's so romantic, you're lucky."

"Yeah, it was awesome," Annabel's tone was getting friendlier and Chris began to release his pent up breath quietly. Annabel sighed in return, "You're having a child with him though."

"I never thought it would happen straight away, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry about that," Annabel reassured. "I already told Chris to have as many dragon babies as he can. All I really want is a few human ones of my own someday."

Claire lurched forwards to hug Annabel tightly, almost pulling her out of Chris's lap with her busty embrace.

"You'll have as many as you want and until then, you can help me with mine. Thank you, Annabel."

Annabel relaxed into the hug, feeling somehow more sisterly than competitive and not understanding why.

"Claire, don't take this the wrong way or anything but... I don't hate you. I thought I might but I don't."

"I know. It's him, he's somehow doing this to us," Claire whispered back.

"Doesn't that worry you? I mean, don't you want to fight it?" asked Annabel.

"No."

"Me either but um... you're naked."

They broke apart smiling, an understanding had been formed. They might not have much in common, mightn't have similar backgrounds or even be the same species. What they did share however was deep love and devotion for the man right next to them. Perhaps that would be enough to bring them closer together.

"You'd better put some clothes on. Jethry will be coming for breakfast and there's no telling what he'll do if he sees tits," Annabel warned as Claire's naked body assaulted her eyes again.

"I tore mine up yesterday," Claire admitted sheepishly.

"And I suppose you don't want to brave the outdoors to go get your bag form the car?" Petra smiled over at her daughter, pleased that the encounter with Annabel had gone so well. "Oh fine, I'll get it. Play nice now girls and Claire, go have a shower."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Claire asked Annabel conspiratorially.

"Like a brothel," giggled Annabel.

Claire gasped in mock hurt before giving Annabel a wink and following her mother out of the kitchen, off to find the shower and wash away the residues of her mating.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better," Chris finally breathed easy.

"Yes, that was very big of you, Annabel, I'm proud," Susan came over and gave her quick hug.