And as if he knows what’s happening to me, he groans again, and this time it’s long and winded. His breaths have quickened like my heart. I listen to him as I drop to my knees and crawl forward.
My hands find him, and I stop.
His groans have stopped too.
7
Drazak Succumbs
Pain rips through me as I lie in the dark, still unable to move. Recalling the human’s touch is the only thing that brings my mind respite.
Because I moved. Her touch changed me but it also powered over the strength of the poison.
I lost my majestic body, but for a short time, I moved. I felt again. Any misgivings that I had about dying paralyzed in an unknown body are gone. I will gratefully be human if I could move freely again.
My wings shifted, my legs stretched out, and for a glorious second, I thought I might rise from this dark prison and ascend into the sky. Retake my territory. Reclaim my land and reek terror on all within.
I tasted blissful freedom.
Instead of breaking through the ground, roaring to the heavens in triumph, my body convulsed in on itself, my wings folded into my skin, and my teeth fell from my mouth. Pain came next, unlike I have ever known, breaking my mind, and through it all, I could hear the human… Humans, I correct, through it all. There were two. And though one smelled enticing, the other was strangely scented of my kind.
They ran from my torment after causing it, leaving me to my fate.
They had run, but first, one of them bonded with me. I hope it is the one whose smell I’d dared enjoy.
Luckily, the cave fell apart without killing me. If I could move once, I can do so again. Perhaps the venom will not affect me as a human the same way it had as a dragon.
Once the pain of my transformation is gone, I will my new limbs to tense. And for a moment, they do. I continue, even when my new body tires.
Eventually, the last of the rocks fall, and the cave grows quiet as I work my muscles. I do not know how much time has passed since my change, but I know I am no longer as strong as I used to be. I stop straining and listen to the last bits of dust and dirt drop from above. Some of it lands on my new, naked flesh.
I am cold, I realize. I have never felt cold before.
But I am hot as well. Inside—where my fire used to blaze—is an inferno. The heat does not rest in one spot like it used to, but rushes through my veins to every corner of my new human body. Worst yet, it pools into my shaft and…to my sudden excitement, hardens it.
My mind temporarily blanks. I am overcome with lust.
Lust!
A dragon’s lust is feverish—or so I have heard—and hard to master. It comes on hot and quick when a femdragon’s heated pheromones bloom on the air, and all dragonkind who smell it succumb to its effects.
But I am a dragon no more. Yet, the ache in my shaft threatens to steal my mind and take control of me. I try to grasp it, but once again, all I can do is strain my muscles and twitch my puny human toes.
Skies!
My mind reels. My body seeks to mate when it cannot even move! Just like how I feared it would! Anger and shame mixes with keen desire. The desire to have something hot, tight, and willing to take my shaft, to alleviate it for me.
Move, dark skies. Move, you petrified weak body! My nostrils flare. A throaty groan rumbles from me.
I smell a familiar scent.
Sweat and sea salt, jungle lilies and spice. My thoughts turn to it though my prick jerks. I know this smell. It is the human’s scent. Was it the one who touched me?
My… lips?… ease open, and I groan again. Inhaling—my chest rises and falls with the effort. It is stronger and clearer this time. She is to my right—I know because I sense her. She is the human who touched me, who bonded me to her.
She did not leave me.
She is nearing. The reason I am in this predicament. A fresh burst of excitement assaults me. I hear her now, her slow, shuffling movements in the dark, coming ever nearer.
I would forgive her touch, if only I could move.
She is close. Are human senses this keen? Or is it the bond? If I were facing her way, I would be able to see her in the dark. Instead, all I can see is the shadowy grooves of the broken and tree-root clogged ceiling above. I have not lost all my dragon’s gifts.
I hope.
I know much about humans, as I do all enemies of my kind, but it has been a long time, and I never sought to gain knowledge from those of my dragon kin who have bonded to humans.
Anticipation builds as the shuffling noises stop.
But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this human is only here because she is trapped here, like I am. Is she here for me or because she has no other choice?
Why do I care?
Her scent thickens, and I am overwhelmed. Gone are the flowers and sweat. They have been replaced by sweet, mesmerizing ambrosia. The inferno in my body explodes, sizzling every fiber. I want to bathe in it, bask in her sweet scent, find the spot where it is coming from and bury my snout… nose?… into it. My mouth waters to bring that smell to my tongue so I may taste and drink it down.
She is in heat. She must be. My shaft grows harder. All I want to do is squeeze and pump it in my hand.
If I did not think I was cursed before…
There is movement beside me. Something touches my skin. I quiet my groaning as my need detonates. The
