Sleeping Dragons Omnibus (22 page)

Sleeping Dragons

Book 6

Ascend

Ascend:
Chapter One

C
orey stood in the center of the corridor staring at the massive green jade double door. He felt like a fool for deciding to go through with this—
date
—or whatever it was. As much sexual eye candy as he’d witnessed over the last few hours and as frustrated as he was as a result, he’d always considered himself the kind of guy who cared about more substance in his partners.

It had been Kris, finally, who had changed Corey’s mind about going through with this. Kris who had made him understand the unique nature of these people their team had awakened. He had a hard time thinking of them as anything other than people, in spite of the fantastic shapes he’d seen them take. He’d drawn a few of his own conclusions, too. Very unscientific conclusions, probably, but he had a feeling Erika or the others might agree with him.

In spite of the very sexual nature of their new friends, each one of them ultimately had seemed human to him in one very particular way. They weren’t mindless sex fiends. That realization had come, ironically, in the middle of watching the only orgy Corey thought he could ever stomach. He’d stayed to man the camera for as long as he could endure, but in that span of time he’d seen how attentive and caring each of the dragons had been to his or her lovers.

Corey had been with his share of lovers, all women, but only with one of them had he ever come close to feeling what he’d seen in all the dragons’ eyes during the course of that night. It made him ache in a much deeper place than his balls to think he could have that again with a woman. He just hoped this particular woman wouldn’t end up finding him wanting after a few months and leave him for a richer man.

Hell, she might hate him from the beginning, but he’d been on plenty bad dates and the world hadn’t ended as a result. Shit, he hoped the world
didn’t
end
if this went badly. He’d seen some of the magic the dragons could do and wondered how much more they were capable of when full-up.
Like Kris shooting fireworks from his fingertips
, Corey thought. If only a normal orgasm could feel
that
good. Just being in the room at that point would’ve been enough to make Corey’s cock hard as a rock, if it hadn’t been already.

Corey wiped his damp palms on his pants and took a tentative step forward. Should he knock? Or should he just go in? All it had taken Dimitri was a touch to the doors of that chamber and they’d opened up, like he’d done it with the power of a thought.

“Fuck it,” Corey muttered and rapped the knuckles of one hand lightly on the carved jade figure that graced the front of the door. He only had a second to regret which part of the woman’s image he’d managed to choose to touch before the doors both swung inward. He hurriedly raked shaky fingers through his hair and wished fervently that he’d had more time to prepare—to bring her flowers or something. As it was, all he was showing up with was a raging hard-on that hadn’t subsided in hours. He’d finally just written it off as something he’d have to live with for the time being.

He stood on the threshold, gazing around at the interior of a massive chamber easily the size of the throne room. It was completely lit, and at the far end was a huge bed with four columns of carved jade rising from each corner.

He almost didn’t see her, as small as she was relative to the scope of the room and the bed. When he finally realized she was there, seated serenely in the center of the bed, he raised a hand and gave her a tentative wave.

“Ah…Sorry I’m late.”

She only nodded and raised a hand to gesture for him to come forward. Once he was a few paces in, she made another slight gesture and the doors swept closed behind him.

Corey’s heart pounded as he looked over his shoulder at his only means of escape. But escape from what, exactly? He swallowed his anxiety and turned forward again to take a good look at this
dragon queen
he was somehow so irrationally afraid of. He stepped a few more paces into the room, keeping his eyes on her. She seemed so placid, sitting there, just watching him come to her. Halfway into the room he stopped, deciding that was far enough. If she wanted him, she’d have to meet him the rest of the way.

Now that he was closer he could see her very clearly. His uncertainty replaced by cautious interest in the lovely figure. She was a petite young woman with skin so fair it glowed and thick black curls that fell past her breasts. She had the same Asian features as Kris, though much more lovely and feminine compared to the guide’s. Of course, Corey reminded himself, she was Kris’s sister. Her bright green eyes watched him take her in. He only made a cursory glance of her body, quickly shifting his eyes back up when he realized she was stark naked.

Of course she’s naked, dummy. This is like the dragon nudist colony.
Though he supposed dragons might not normally wear clothes when they were being…well…
dragons
.

She frowned and finally spoke. “Do you not find me pleasing to look upon, human?” Her voice sounded light and smooth, and carried easily across the expanse of the room to his ears.

Corey cleared his throat. “Oh, trust me, I find you spectacular.”

“Then why won’t you come to me?”

Corey stood blinking at her. She sounded genuinely confused by his hesitation, but not in the way he’d have expected someone with the title of “Queen” to sound. She cocked her head in an endearing way, waiting for him to respond.

“I’m not sure what you expect so I’m just being cautious, if that’s alright. I’m not in the habit of just jumping into bed with a pretty girl the first time we meet, I don’t care how kinky you normally get with your lovers.”

“What can I do to appease your reservations?”

Corey took a deep, calming breath through his nose and rubbed the back of his neck. Eyebrows raised slightly, he said, “Well, you
could
start by telling me your name. Then maybe we just talk a little?”

“My name is Racha. And you are Corey. My brother told me of you before you arrived at my door.”

“Oh? What did good old Kris have to say?”

“That you are not like the other humans, but I think you are.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“You’re here, and you want me.”

Now
there
was the Queen he’d expected. Her assertion irritated him, which he hated because she wasn’t lying. Except it was a hollow want he felt, not the deep abiding need he’d seen in the others’ eyes, particularly Kris’s just before he’d made love to Issa for the first time.

“Maybe I just don’t want you enough,” he said.

Racha grew thoughtful. Her gaze slid over his body and paused at his hips before moving back to his eyes.

“Prove you don’t. Take off your clothes.”

Heat rushed to Corey’s face at the command. The hell he’d strip naked. Well, he might have just to prove the point, except being naked in front of her would only prove the opposite.

“I have a better idea. Why don’t you put something
on
and we can talk about this like two sane people who…I dunno…actually get to know each other before fucking.”

Ascend: Chapter Two

R
acha was fascinated by the human’s reluctance to bed her. All the others had participated so enthusiastically. She was brimming with the power the others had fed to her and could taste how willingly the humans had given of themselves. All except for this one. That he’d resisted participating thus far either meant he was physically incapable or he had some other aversion to the act. And the evidence of his body’s willingness was as plain as day.

Tired of the vast distance still between them, she gave in and left the comfort of her bed. She’d slept there long enough already. Perhaps it was the bed itself he had a dislike for?

As she approached him, a bright flush rose up his neck and into his cheeks. He kept his eyes averted, first to the floor, then to the side when she stood before him almost close enough to touch.

“Do you prefer males?” she asked, leaning up on tiptoe to whisper the question in his ear. The answer was evident from the swell in the front of his britches, but she enjoyed the irritation on his face nonetheless. It almost got him to look at her again.

His jaw muscles clenched and he shook his head curtly. “I prefer a woman I can talk to, that’s all.”

“And my naked body is not worthy of words?” She gazed down at herself and slid her hands over her slight curves. The touch felt nice, but not as nice as his hands might feel—his hands that were now clenched tightly by his sides. She began to slowly walk around him. When she paused in the direction his head was turned, she saw his eyes were tightly shut.

“Racha…” he began in a desperate tone. He opened his eyes finally and let his gaze rake down her length. Her nipples prickled tantalizingly when the look lingered on her breasts. His hands relaxed and he raised one up. He gently cupped her jaw and she gasped, surprised at how warm and gentle his touch was against her skin, in contrast to how rough his calloused fingertips felt. “You are worth more than a word or a touch, I’m positive. You might be worth the entire universe, but until I know more about you, this…” He swept his hand in a gesture down the length of her body. “…isn’t happening.”

She let out a deep sigh, expelling a cloud of thick, iridescent breath that she manipulated into a diaphanous gown to cover her naked body.

“Alright,” she said once he’d finally relaxed a bit more now that she had hidden all her best assets. “Let’s sit and talk.”

She sat cross-legged right where they stood and peered up at him. From a lower angle he appeared even more impressive than before. She’d liked the look of him the second he’d walked through the door, and even found his obstinacy endearing in a way. He was so very different from the male dragons she knew, all bent on their various seductions, eager and willing to devote their unflagging attentions on as many partners as possible. It became a game to most, even the females, to collect multiple lovers just to prove their prowess.

Racha tasted the Nirvana of five of the humans who had entered the temple, and the essence of the dragons who had coaxed it from them. It was power she would not keep, however, for it was the power with which she would awaken the rest of the sleeping brood that occupied the smaller chambers throughout the temple. The human man who sat before her was the key, and he seemed oblivious to the effect holding that power in check was having on her.

She could be patient for a time. She would have to, even though the scent of him had made her almost uncomfortably wet and caused the power she held to pulse insistently in her core, seeking release. Now she watched the play of the muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt when he finally bent to sit across from her, knees bent and his arms resting casually across them. It was a defensive posture, unlike her own. Even though he couldn’t physically see her spread labia, the light brush of her gown over her skin made it difficult to forget how aroused she was.

“Tell me what you would like to know,” she said. “I am an open book.”

Ascend: Chapter Three

C
orey felt like such a lech sitting across from Racha and struggling not to imagine how open her book might be just then. Was it some trick of the air currents in there that he could imagine the lush scent of her sex thick in his nostrils? He was at least grateful that she’d covered up, though her wispy gown left little to the imagination.

Now she sat looking attentively at him, waiting for him to speak to her, to tell her what it was he wanted to know.

He couldn’t think of a damn thing to ask. All he kept thinking about was his first date with his ex and how they’d hit it off so spectacularly that they’d ended up in bed forty-five minutes later. He hadn’t needed any prompting for conversation with Jill—they’d had too much in common already, including both professional and extracurricular interests. Not to mention there had been that amazing spark of attraction that he’d felt instantly when they shared a joke. He’d always been that easygoing with women. It wasn’t until after she’d left him for some corporate executive only a few months later that it became pretty much impossible to carry on a conversation with another woman without instantly comparing her to Jill.

He owed this lovely young woman something.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you have no idea what a ‘date’ is, do you?” he asked.

She frowned and shook her head. “I admit I will have to reacquaint myself with human conventions, but I’m hoping you’ll be the one to show me.”

Corey was struck by her unassuming attitude now that they were seated across from each other, on fairly equal ground. He took a fresh look at her, trying to shed the preconception of her as a dragon queen. Her sleek, black curls were a little mussed and one of her gauzy straps had slipped off one shoulder. Her slightly slanted, almond-shaped, green eyes watched with intelligent curiosity, maybe just a little eager for him to move things along.

“We’d be having sex right now if things were going your way, wouldn’t we?” he asked softly.

She lowered her dark eyelashes until they brushed the tops of her pink cheeks and nodded. “Yes. You don’t understand the effort it takes to wait, but we will wait if it makes it a better experience for you.”

“Tell me what it feels like… to be… like you are.”

“Like a dragon? Or like the Queen of Dragons?”

He shrugged. “Both, if you want.”

“You observed the others, did you not? Being a dragon is like that. Giving pleasure to as many as we can, or to one person many times. It’s that energy which sustains us, allows us to do our magic. Even this gown I wear for you required energy. Maintaining this form requires energy, but it is second nature. Some of my energy is innate but not all of it. What my brother gave me does not belong to me, it belongs to the others. I must give it to them soon.”

“The others… do you mean this
brood
that Kris mentioned?” Corey couldn’t disguise the apprehensive tone in his voice. He still didn’t quite know what to think about the idea of a multitude of magical flying, fucking creatures taking over the world as a result of what he might do today.

Racha smiled proudly. “Yes, the brood. They’re my children.”

“Hang on,” he said, shifting backwards a couple inches. “You’ve gotta have a…a…
mate,
or whatever you call it to have kids, right? How many are there in this brood of yours?”

“Corey, no, they are not my blood children. We are all of the same generation. I’ve never mated. I’ve never even played at it like other young dragons do. But as Queen, I am both mentor and caretaker of all of them. I spent my early life training for this honor before I slept.

He relaxed again. “So you’re like the CEO or something. Or maybe a cult leader,” he muttered.

Racha laughed, the sound low and melodic. “I know of cults. It used to be a cult that we relied on to awaken past generations, but the mates from those groups made poor parents. I had the good fortune to have two dragon parents, but other dragons aren’t so blessed. Luckily the imperative to breed is strong enough that most dragons have multiple mates so the dragonlings don’t want for adequate role models.”

“Right, and a parent dead set on fucking everything in sight is an adequate role model?” He’d seen the male dragons in the group earlier. With the exception of Hallie’s Kol, who he’d actually come to respect, he found it hard to stomach how easily the others seemed to be with fucking—well, anyone. He wasn’t sure if their tenderness during the act was enough to justify the promiscuity.

There was that laugh again, the sound catching his attention and holding it like his favorite song always did. It sank into his mind, calming him.

“Don’t let the ritual give you the wrong impression of how we behave. Yes, sex is one of our key methods of survival, but if you could only conceive perhaps three children in a decade wouldn’t you try to take advantage of every opportunity you could?” She cocked her head cutely, but the words still sank in.

“So you’re telling me that the whole purpose for this ritual was to knock up all our women?” Corey could hear his voice rising in pitch and was about to run out of the room and force condoms on all the other men if he had to.

“Knock up?” She shook her head and stared at him, uncomprehending.

“Yeah, you know…
Impregnate them
.”

“Oh, Sweet Mother, no! The ritual’s sole purpose is to awaken the brood. Impregnation is not possible until we leave the temple. And even then it’s not guaranteed for dragons, even if their mates are willing.”

“Oh.” Corey deflated and the rest of what she’d said finally caught up to him. He did the math. Five hundred years, the dragons had been here. In ten years of what she suggested might be sex every bit as enthusiastic as what he’d just witnessed, they might conceive only
three
children? “Geeze, I’m sorry. How many dragons are there, anyway?”

“Several hundred. Our numbers are strictly monitored. There are never more than a thousand of us in any generation.”

“Christ. I’m one of seven kids. I have about a dozen nieces and nephews, too.”

Racha’s eyes widened at his confession. “How many humans are there now? When we slept there were maybe a few hundred million.”

“Ooh, there’s a lot more of us now. A
lot
more. More than seven billion last count.”

Racha froze and stared at him, her mouth working, but no words came out.

Corey relaxed, the wide-eyed wonder at what was in store for Racha giving him the upper hand for the first time. He might still have an incredible hard-on for the beauty, but seeing her flustered over the idea of how outnumbered she and her brood were at least gave him slight comfort. It didn’t make him stop wanting her, though. On the contrary, it made Racha—the Queen of Dragons—even sweeter to him. Suddenly she wasn’t this unusual creature who could do magic beyond his imagining, who could very likely command his cock with a twitch of a finger. Now she was just a young woman, embarking on a new life and very much out of her element.

His protector instinct kicked in and he shifted closer to her, reaching for her hands and holding them gently between his. She twitched in surprise at the sudden contact and he realized it was the first time he’d touched her.

“Shh,” he said. “It’s really not so bad out there. You guys seem to like having more of us anyway, right?”

She recovered quickly, but didn’t remove her hands from his. Her grip tightened around his fingers and a jolt of pleasure shot between his thighs, reminding him of the perpetual hard-on he’d been sporting since the last room.

“Yes, but right now I have you. Will you show me the ways of this new world? I know human nature well enough, but conventions shift. Will you help me, Corey?”

Was it crazy of him to want to say yes? She was just a girl trying to find her way, and she needed his help. With four younger sisters he knew how thankless the task of older brother could be, but also how rewarding. Except he didn’t feel particularly fraternal toward this pretty young woman.

He sensed a strength in her that his sisters never had. Something iron-hard and probably razor-tipped that kept him from giving in and trusting her. He was attracted to that glimmer of strength, but wasn’t the least bit fooled by her plea.

“No, because I don’t trust you.” He gave her a pained expression and released her hands gently. He regretting having to disappoint her, but he had to tell her the truth. “I just can’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll help if I can, but you’ll just have to find someone else to do the deed.”