Dragon 2 Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Being back in the bunker had an ominous feeling.

The front door had been replaced, but that was the only clean up that seemed to have happened since the battle that had raged inside. The old warehouse, which had served as the werewolf pack’s den and housed an entire bunker underground, was a complete mess. The rampaging pack of werewolves did a number on it.

Claw marks ravaged the concrete walls, and every door was a few inches wider than it should have been, carved away by scratching werewolves. We’d managed to make it out ahead of the drugged and angry wolves as they went crazy hunting for the drug’s source.

A winding staircase had once been in the warehouse, leading down to the underground bunker, but all that remained was a mangled pile of twisted metal.

“Yeah. This place is pretty fucked up.” Kelly stepped up to where the stairs used to be and jumped down, shifting as she fell silently. She landed in a crouch, part woman, part wolf.

I followed her lead, but without the ability to shift, I landed far heavier. “I can see how it brings back bad memories.”

The anchor chains that they had been using to secure Bart, Kelly’s father, were busted nearby. And two of the prison cells were obliterated as well.

Human things like the kitchen area and the recreation area were smashed. Cabinets weren’t more than pulped wood, and what I assumed used to be a pool table had been thrown into a shower. Only a green velvet liner hinted at what the pile of wood and broken glass used to be.

“Perfect place for you to let loose, though. Not like you can wreck it more than it already is.” Kelly prowled in a circle around me; only a few aspects of her wolf were out. “Strip. You didn’t bring extra clothes.” She reverted to being entirely human as she stepped out of her clothes, even taking off her bra and panties.

I was caught off guard and found myself staring. It was hard to look away from her graceful body. But then I had to remind myself that she was off limits; she’d go to whoever was her next alpha, and that wasn’t me.

Forcing myself to turn away, I stripped out of my own clothes, throwing them in a pile to the side along with my book bag.

“Okay wh— What are you doing?” I realized Kelly had moved close to me; I could feel the heat from her core at my side. Naked and mouth watering nipples hung like they defied gravity, pressing just barely into my side. I could feel them drag along my skin.

She took a deep sniff of me, and I couldn’t help but get her scent as well. The sage and mint, no, thyme, smelled like harsh nature.

Her closeness and my recently pent up libido were having a reaction as I started to rise to attention.

“Oh, good. You do think I’m hot.” She peeked around my shoulder, smirking like she won something. “Was starting to get worried by how you blew me off.”

“Come on Kelly. Obviously you’re gorgeous. You’re also fun and smart as hell. But you’re off limits. I don’t want to kill your eventual alpha, and I already told you, I’m possessive.” I reminded her, and myself.

Mostly reminding myself that I can’t take the naked, supple-bodied werewolf who would totally roll on her back for me.

Damnit.

Her hands landed on my shoulders, softly trailing down my arms. A part of me began to wonder if she’d brought me down into the bunker with the pretense of seducing me instead of helping me learn to shift. The thought cleared away some of the fog from my attraction to her, and I turned back, ready to get down to business.

But she was one step ahead. She danced back, a playful smirk on her face. “Come get me big boy.” She partially shifted and jumped, her foot swinging up. She caught me in the jaw, knocking me to the side.

I stumbled a few steps and rubbed my jaw. She’d gotten me completely by surprise. “Is that what we are doing? Morgana has tried it; you can’t anger me into shifting. It doesn’t work like my br—.” I cut myself off, having almost given too much away.

“There’s more? Still holding back, I see. You know, hiding what you are might be part of the problem.” Kelly bounded in again, coming at me in a full tackle.

I was still stronger than her, but in her partially shifted state, she was twice my weight. Catching her tackle, I lifted her off the floor.

Unfortunately, she countered the move, throwing her weight to the side. I had to stomp out to the left to keep upright, but then she twisted in my arms and curled away from me. I fell forward on top of the naked werewolf.

Kelly had a big grin on her face before she grabbed me and rolled herself on top, pressing her still very human breasts to my chest. “What’s wrong, big bad alpha?”

Annoyed and knowing that I could be rough with her, I pulled back my arm just enough to have six inches of space before slamming a fist into her chest.

The shocked look on her face was worth it as I launched her off me. I might not have the mass, but I was far stronger.

She landed in a three pointed crouch, her other hand holding her chest as she wheezed. “No wonder you could wrestle Chad. Fuck, you are strong.”

The beast was feeling hot tempered and demanded that I smoke her with a breath of fire.

I had to remind the beast that it was just practice. We weren’t killing this one.

She jumped to the side, then looked confused. “What was that? You just held back.” Kelly demanded. Her instincts were sharp.

“You would have died. Chad did.”

Kelly prowled around to my side, circling me. “They talk about that night. The night you killed Chad. Most of them were out of their mind, but none of them saw clearly what you did. First, you were wrestling him in the rain, and by the sound of it, you were hanging onto his back. Then there was a bright flash of light and steam rose everywhere. No one saw it clearly.”

“So?” I stepped back so I could keep an eye on her and circled opposite of her in the wrecked bunker. “What do you think?”

“Fire makes sense. Flash of light, sudden steam in the rain. His corpse was a burnt out husk from the waist up. So, you used fire. Is that what almost happened? You wanted to burn me to a crisp like Chad?” she mocked. “Don’t think it would be so easy. I’m nowhere near as dumb as he was.”

I backed up as a sign I was done fighting. “You have a death wish if you want me to use that. Cut it out.”

Kelly sprang forward. She wasn’t going to stop.

Not amused in the slightest, I caught her wrist and leaned back as I swung her into the wall. Her forearm snapped, and she gave a small cry before she rolled away, clutching it.

“You are strong. Guess I’m not really enough to force you. If Chad didn’t force you to shift, I doubt I’m going to.” Kelly shifted back and set her arm with a wet crunch before picking through the broken wood. “So, what do you know about shifting?”

“You go from human to beast, with a sliding scale in between. Morgana said it was like taking a shit; you have to learn to relax one part and tense another.”

Kelly looked up as she found a solid piece the length of her forearm. “That’s not a bad way to put it. I’ve heard other shifters say the same thing. But do you know where the mass comes from?”

“Mass?” Even as I said it, my science education was sending off alarm bells. Obviously, this was magic, but how hadn’t I tried to put science to it? “Where is the mass?”

“Think of it like this. You are the full creature you could be. That’s why you are probably packing away far more calories than a human would your size.”

I thought about it, admitting, “Ate four pizzas the other night, felt like I could have eaten more.”

Kelly whistled. “You're big aren’t you?”

“A lot bigger than a werewolf.” I’d put the wolves I’d seen maybe up to six hundred pounds, except for the alphas. The full size of a dragon from what Morgana had shown me was utterly massive. The oldest lived in Dubai, and she guessed he might top sixteen tons.

However, I was far younger. Morgana had guessed I’d be two or three tons if I could shift.

Kelly eyed me speculatively. The wheels in her head trying to figure out what I was with the pieces to the puzzle she had. “Right. So all that mass has to come from somewhere. You aren’t magically making it and shedding it every time. It is with you, and more importantly, connected to your body at all times. Some wizard might make a dozen theories about how exactly it works, but know that no one really knows, and it isn’t likely that a wolf will let a wizard poke and prod him to find out.”

“Okay, I’m following you. So it is like a jacket in your backpack. With you, but not always on. How do you put it on? That’s the big part I need.”

She made a sound of understanding as she tried to tear up the felt.

“So stubborn. Let me help.” I came over and with two hands, it was far easier for me to tear off strips.

“Since you are over here.” She held out her arm and used the wood as a splint. “Help me out?”

At least this was something I knew how to do. Even though I’d given up my EMT job, this was pretty basic. I set the splint and wrapped her arm from top to bottom with several strips of the felt. “Okay. So I’ve never shifted. How do I do it for the first time?”

“Most young wolves startle into their first shift. The sudden tension when they were otherwise relaxed leads to it.”

“Don’t think I’m relaxed in a fight.” I commented, still annoyed that both she and Morgana seemed to think of trying to fight as the best way to do this.

Kelly suddenly jumped in my face. “Rawr!”

I reached up reflexively to put a hand between us, feeling the soft curve of her chest land in my palm. It must be male nature, because despite all the jokes about it, I gave them a small squeeze before I even realized what I was doing.

She yelped in surprise and jumped back before a sly smile spread across her face. “Oh, is that the kind of surprise you want?”

“No. God, that was an accident.” I looked at my hand as if it had betrayed me. “Also, that didn’t work. Anything else you can tell me about shifting?” I tried to ignore what had just happened.

“When it comes, it comes. You’ll probably do a wonky partial shift for the first time. After that it’ll get easier.”

“Like taking a poop?” I joked.

But she nodded seriously. “Exactly. Or like riding a bike, if we want to act like adults. It’s a coordinated thing, but once you get it, you get it.”

I let out a big sigh, which was interrupted as my phone started ringing.

Morgana had sent me a gif of someone fanning their money out. ‘Jared came through and paid us. Gold or cash?’

I texted back quickly. ‘Gold please’

‘You are going to have to give up some of it, eventually.’

Smirking, I sent back ‘Never!’ before putting the phone away.

“What’s got you so happy?” Kelly watched me and started to step around to take a peek at my phone. She was a nosy one, wasn’t she?

With no reason to hide it, I told her, “Morgana and I got paid for a job this weekend. She charged him double and made him pay up front because she didn’t like him.”

Kelly let out an appreciative whistle. “Who’s the sucker?”

“Some rich Polish Magi family.”

“The Nashners?” Kelly’s eyes popped a little.

I hadn’t realized they were that famous. “Are they a big deal? Morgana made them sound like chumps.”

Kelly hid her face as she snorted. “To Morgana, they might be. But to the rest of us, they are stupidly rich and decently famous sorcerers.”

I shrugged. If they were chumps to Morgana, I doubted I owed them any more respect. “Doesn’t matter much to me. Pretty sure I could roast them, too. Which is good to know because he was a dick.”

Kelly slugged me in the side of the face with her good arm.

It caught me completely off guard as I wobbled to the side. “What the fuck.”

She shrugged. “Trying to startle you into your shift.”

“Ouch. Maybe try tickling or something.” I rubbed at my jaw. Thankfully, she hadn’t been shifted for that. “That’s a mean right hook.”

“Thanks. I’ve put down more than a few presumptuous wolves with that one.” She shook out her hand and rubbed at her knuckles. “You are tough too. Strong, tough, you can summon fire. Shifter… hmm,” she puzzled aloud.

It made sense. She thought I had fire, but she didn’t know I breathed fire. Of course, like Morgana had said when we were first figuring it out, that was a pretty narrow list of creatures, all of which were very rare.

“Hell hound? I’ve seen one in a pack before. Nasty bitch; I could see a male not fitting in a pack.”

“Nope. Nice try though. I’d eat one of those for breakfast.” I was pretty sure they’d make a nice spicy snack, and the beast agreed. “Come on. Let’s get back. I need to run by my place, and then it’ll be time to head out to hunt trolls with Morgana… if you are still interested?”

“Yep! I may not get you myself, but I can watch a swamp troll clean your clock at least once.”

“That interested in seeing me hurt?” I half joked.

She nodded eagerly. “Call it revenge for ghosting me. After the first hit though, we are square.”

I laughed. I figured it was getting off easy, and I could use the help to figure out my shifting. “Fine, but if I don’t get nailed tonight, we are square either way.”

“I think you are right; you’d make a terrible alpha. You're too tough for me to henpeck back into line.” Kelly teased me before she shifted back to fully human, walking over to wiggle back into her tight jeans.

***

Unlocking the door to my apartment, I ducked inside to drop off my stuff and get a change of clothes.

Kelly was right behind me as we headed into the apartment, and I got the distinct impression it was to snoop.

“Hi Zach.” Frank greeted me. He and Maddie were cuddled together on the couch. “Hi Scarl— oh shit.” He aborted his greeting with a terrified look on his face.

Maddie was a little more tactful. “Hello, I’m Maddie. This is Frank, his roommate.”

“I’m Kelly. And I know about Scarlett. I even got naked with him today, and he didn’t boink me. Trying to not be offended.” She let out an exasperated sigh and looked away, towards the kitchen.

Frank, who was out of Maddie’s field of vision, began mouthing ‘what the ever living fuck’.

I wasn’t sure if he was disappointed at me for not having sex with Kelly or just completely jealous of my situation. So I did the proper response and just gave a helpless shrug.

“Just dropping off some stuff, and then we’ll be out of your hair.” I commented.

“Your place smells nicer than I’d have thought.” Kelly stated, turning to Maddie. “I’m betting they have you to thank for that.”

Maddie said something in return, but I was already going down the hall and dropping off my bag, opening my closet. I wanted something that said troll hunting, whatever exactly that was.

Stripping my shirt off, I tossed it on the bed to deal with later and slipped out of my nice jeans. I opted for a darker pair that was already a little banged up from catching a chupacabra last month.

My wardrobe was far different from when I had started the semester. Along with awakening my dragon half, I’d had a massive growth spurt. Frank, and then later Scarlett, had been pivotal to helping me restock my closet with things that fit better..

I was standing there in my boxers, jeans in hand, looking through the rest when Kelly spoke. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Go with the green shirt. It’s ugly enough. You won’t miss it when you shift on accident.”

“Holy crap.” I clutched my chest. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Didn’t work that time either.” Kelly shook her head.

I realized she was still trying to startle the shift out of me. It was an odd sense of both being thankful for it and hating every time. But I opted for a grudgingly thankful grunt. “One of these times, this is going to work. Then I’m going to scare the crap out of you.”

I took her advice and picked the green band tee, grabbing a bomber jacket I didn’t really like too. “Care to turn away?”

“Nope. I like the view.” Kelly smirked. “Plus, we were just naked together.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for giving them the wrong impression.”

“I am?” She tilted her head in mock confusion. “Pretty sure there’s enough chemistry here to make a chem class out of it.”

“Sure, but there’s also the whole, not your alpha thing.” I reminded her. “Unless you want me to tear your next alpha apart when he oogles you.”

“Still not convinced you are that bad. But who knows, maybe you’ll surprise me.”

I let out a dark chuckle. I had a feeling that I would surprise her when she found out I’m a dragon. It would definitely be a highlight of shifting to see the look on her face. I couldn’t wipe that smirk off my face just picturing the moment.

AN: Ah, fun with Kelly's romantic tension. But he can't have her, right? Or maybe I have a twisty twist in plan down the line. Who knows?