Dragon 3 Chapter 31 (Patreon)

“Morgana.” A blond vampire greeted her as we stepped into her club. “I thought you wouldn’t be coming back for a while.” The way she said it sounded more like never.

“Plans changed.” Morgana’s eyes landed on me.

Only then did the blond vampire notice me. Her eyes went as wide as saucers.

“My mate dared run from me. Don’t worry, I dragged her back.” I said with extreme satisfaction.

“Of course.” The vampire kept staring at me, but then seemed to replay what I’d said, her head snapping towards Morgana. “Mate?”

Morgana patted her shoulder. “Yes, I’m his mate, and he’s claimed me. So, that means he’s not on tap for any of the vampires, understand?” She leveled a hard stare at her employee. “And I would appreciate it if you could pass that around; he smells quite good.”

“Yes, of course.” The vampire nodded a little too quickly, accidentally tapping into some of her vampirism speed as she did so. “Oh, also, a truck with a bunch of barrels came in today.”

“Just unload them into my area; they are blood for me.” Morgana waved away the issue. “Keep running things as you have. I might be a little busier than I was in the past. Happy to have you still manage the place.”

At that, the vampire seemed happy. “Yes, will do.” At least she wasn’t getting demoted with Morgana back.

We walked past her, but the vampire’s eyes lingered on my neck.

“Am I going to have a problem with the vampires in your establishment?” I asked Morgana.

“They might have a problem, but I assure you, you won’t be the one with a problem. Your sweet dragon blood is for me alone.” She said it a little more loudly than seemed necessary. And there was a drip of menace to it that I knew were for the prying ears around us..

The rest of my mates were quietly trailing behind us as Morgana led us through the maze that was the spatial dimension she called home.

As we reached the atrium and made our way through the halls, we wound up in front of an unassuming door.

Morgana was emotional as she spoke. “Long ago, I hoped one day I’d be able to retrieve my tree.” She clicked the door open, and we were transported to a small space with green pasture. I poked a nearby bush, confirming it was real.

Hanging above us was a glowing sphere that mimicked the sun. “That’s a sun stone.” Jadelyn said, looking up at it. “Very expensive.”

For Jadelyn to call something ‘very expensive’, I translated that to exorbitantly or even prohibitively expensive for the rest of us.

“Nothing is too much for my tree.” Morgana said. “There’s even a shell enchanted by a nymph buried here to keep the soil the perfect moisture.”

She knelt down in the center of the space. Pulling out one of her knives, she slit her wrist just below where the center of the roots came out of her arm.

After making the cut, she punched her arm into the soft soil.

The root retracted from her arm and slithered off of her, growing rapidly in the soil.

A tree came to life, growing what would have taken a dozen years in the span of several breaths.

And as it grew, something rippled at the edge of the branches.

“Fuck.” Morgana cursed.

We all came to the same conclusion of what was about to happen. The portal to the celestial plane reappeared, attached to Morgana’s tree.

She grunted as she got to her feet and rapidly moved to the edge of the space, her hands swirling with magic. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I hoped it would be enough.

A hooded figure came to the edge of the portal, too blurry to make out.

Morgana looked back over her shoulder at the figure. “If you step one foot out of there, I have rigged this space to collapse.”

“Morgana.” Aziel said, now easier to see as he stood a hair’s breadth from the portal. “Something can be worked out, I’m sure.”

“No.” Morgana finished what she was doing. “You may as well close that portal on your side. It is now nothing but a death trap should one of you step out.”

“So be it. We’ll wait.” Aziel stepped back, fading from view.

“Sorry.” Jadelyn tried to comfort Morgana. “I know. We all hoped it would separate from the portal.”

Morgana shook her head. “I’ll set a trap. If something crosses the threshold, the space around the portal will collapse, along with anybody within it. But my tree will remain safe.”

“Powerful shit. Why didn’t we use that earlier?” Kelly put her hands on her hips.

“This is a space I created. I can uncreate a piece of it, no problem.” Morgana rolled her eyes. “I can’t do something like that in the natural world.”

“Let’s get out of here.” I grabbed Morgana’s hand. Her wrist had already healed after planting the tree, and she was looking better. “Put your amulet on. I’d like to go back to my apartment.”

Morgana put the amulet on. She looked strange to me without her blue skin, but she was just as beautiful.

“Frank is going to die when he sees all of us.” Scarlett laughed.

I could already imagine the minor heart attack he’d have at seeing me with four women.

And it was going to be satisfying.

We headed down to Morgana’s garage, jumping into a silver BMW and heading to my apartment.

As we neared my apartment, I saw a number of people ‘casually’ gathered around. Their phones were out, and they seemed ready to snap photos.

I cursed. I’d hoped they’d be forced to stay more undercover.

As soon as Morgana pulled up, they were not so subtly using their phones to take picture after picture of my mates and me.

It was still annoying, but I was glad that they weren’t as pushy as they were in Sentarshaden.

We pushed past, and I wondered how long it would take before they were plastered on some website or maybe even that new app.

I pulled my key out of my new spatial artifact and unlocked the door. We hadn’t been gone too long, but it still felt odd coming back to the apartment. So much had changed.

As I entered, I found Frank and Maddie snuggling on the couch. I smiled, glad that hadn’t changed.

“You’re back.” Frank said, looking over at us. His eyes went wide as he took in the four stunning women surrounding me.

‘Holy shit,’ he mouthed where Maddie couldn’t see.

“Welcome back.” Maddie smiled at us. “I think I know all of you, except you.” She pointed to Morgana.

“Morgana.” The vampire drow politely introduced herself. The badass mercenary was gone, replaced by a normal woman. “Nice to meet you.” Not to mention the amulet hid her blue skin from my roommate and his girlfriend.

“Uh, we were gonna go out to eat if you want to join us.” Frank gave me a big grin.

As much as going out to eat with Frank sounded like a pleasant break from everything, staying in sounded better and would have fewer flashes.

But I also loved that it was the same with Frank. Nothing had changed like it had in the paranormal world. His relationship with me was the same as since before I became a dragon.

“Can we just stay in? We’ve been eating out a lot.” I fibbed.

“There’s not much to work with in the fridge.” Maddie hesitated.

Jadelyn was already opening said fridge and looking through it. “You live like…”

“… a college dude?” Frank defended me.

“No, I can work with this.” Jadelyn corrected herself. “Just give me a minute to get set up.”

Scarlett pointed out to Jadelyn where the cooking essentials were and helped her navigate the kitchen.

“You should make those muffins again. I’m afraid Frank ate all the ones you had left in there.” Maddie prodded Scarlett.

My little muffin-loving fox grinned ear to ear. “That’s okay. I’m glad you enjoyed them. They would have gone bad by now.”

“That’s what I said!” Frank pulled up a chair to our small table. “See?”

Clearly, Scarlett had unknowingly provided an answer to some minor argument between the two of them.

“It still isn’t right to eat someone else’s food.” Maddie held her ground.

“Just get some ingredients, and I’m sure Scar will be happy to make more.” I tried to settle it before the two of them got upset with each other.

“Already done.” Frank said proudly. “So, are you guys excited about next semester? Picked your classes out? Oh shit, that reminds me. Some transfer girl was around looking for you.”

Maddie helpfully picked up a scrap piece of paper and handed it to Frank.

“She said to call her when you got back. I think her name was Sabrina.”

I took the paper with her number. “When did she come by?” The succubus discipled under one of the magi’s famous wizards was a friend and had said she’d be transferring over here. Apparently, after Jared had outed her, things had gotten a little dicey, and she was looking for a more paranormal accepting place to finish college.

“Uh, around the time you left?” Frank guessed.

That meant she came to find me before finding out I was a dragon. I hoped she hadn’t freaked out at the news. She was a demon after all. It’s not like they weren’t also known for being scary.

I realized Frank was staring at me, and it took me a moment to figure out that he was still waiting for me to answer his questions. “No, I haven’t signed up for classes yet. We need to do that.”

I’d decided at that moment that I wanted to continue with school. Even if it wasn’t going to be how I made my income, it brought a normalcy I enjoyed. And I could certainly still use the skills and knowledge.

Even better, it was now an excuse to stay out of the purely paranormal circles where people would fawn over me and my new status.

Until the conclave, I’d take all the normalcy I could get. From what Yev’s invite had said, I still had a few months before I’d have to meet the conclave of dragons.

“Did anything else come in the mail?” I wondered if I’d gotten my messenger from the Bronze King.

“Nope, nothing but the usual garbage and bills.” Frank shrugged while also managing to push the bills a little closer towards me.

I stared at them, a little less excited about anything that would pull from my hoard. I picked up the stack and sifted through them, putting those that weren’t on autopay to the side so I could deal with them.

“You know…” Jadelyn started.

“Don’t.” I put a hand up. “I can deal with my own bills.”

She raised her hands in surrender while Kelly snickered. I shot her a glare, and she turned to Jadelyn. “Want help in the kitchen?”

“Yes, please.” Jadelyn had set out several cutting boards and a mixing bowl. Scarlett was already getting to work on another round of muffins.

Maddie got up from the table and joined my mates in cooking.

Morgana, oddly enough since she owned a bar, just sort of hung out in the kitchen. I wondered how long it had been since she had eaten normal food.

Frank leaned over conspiratorially. “Scarlett and Jadelyn know about each other? I knew you were dating both, but that’s a bold move.”

I laughed, realizing just how much I’d missed him. “Actually, I’m dating all four of them. And yes, they all know.”

Frank’s face fell into shock, and I wondered for a moment if he was about to stroke out. “Four? Four! Man, please teach me your secrets.”

“There’s no secret, I swear.”

He deadpanned, glaring at me. “Tell. Me. The. Secret.”

“I guess there’s just a certain kind of girl that accepts it.” What I couldn’t say was that it was a paranormal girl who also happened to understand that I was a dragon.

He nodded very seriously. “I see. It starts at the women. Think I could convince Maddie?”

“Not a chance in hell.” I told him honestly.

She had practically wrangled him out of his womanizing phase. Somehow, I doubted she was going to let him pull in another girl.

“No, what you said makes perfect sense.” Frank scratched his chin. “I’ll just have to work on Maddie.” He was determined to try, anyway.

I patted him on the back, glad that he wasn’t going to let her go. She was good for him.

“Good luck, man.” I laughed to myself, grabbing a seat and watching my women as they chatted and laughed with each other, finally letting myself relax for the first time in a long time.

***

At Jadelyn’s place a few days later, we were all hanging out just before dinner was going to be served.

“Rachel, I said to keep it to one drop. Holy hell, do you need me to come over?” Kelly had stepped away to have a conversation, but she was loud enough for us all to hear.

“Dear god. No, I don’t need details. Just tell the betas to keep it to one drop. No, put him down in a cellar for a couple of days, and then make him clean up his mess. He needs to cool down.”

She hung up the phone and walked back to the table as we all stared at her with raised eyebrows. There was no way she was going to get out of telling us what that call was all about.

Kelly scratched the back of her neck. “Ha. Sorry, that was a surprising call.”

“Sounds like someone decided to double up on the potion?”

“Triple up.” She swore. “Don’t worry, the pack is chaining him down. Apparently, his girl locked him in the bathroom and called for help. She needed a break and he just couldn’t calm down.”

None of us liked the sound of that situation, but it also meant that Kelly and the girls of the pack were going to lay the smack down on those poor betas.

“This is the fertility potion?” Claire, Jadelyn’s mother, tried to tactfully ask.

“Yeah.” Kelly’s wolf ears wilted.

Claire threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, that’s grand. Werewolf strength viagra. You better not let word get out about that stuff.”

Rupert shook his head. “Not that we need it, of course.” He defended his manhood.

“No, but I can imagine some of the old farts wanting a pinch of the stuff to help themselves.” Claire joked.

The laughter was cut short as the silverware on the table jumped and clattered, a few of the tall wine glasses spilling.

“What the hell was that?” Detective Fox was on his feet instantly, just as a guard ran in panicking. Scarlett had Jadelyn under the table, standing over her, ready for an assault.

The guard began reporting immediately. “Dragons. Dragons just landed in the back of the house. Sorry sir, we didn’t even see them until they were on us.”

I put my hand up. “Let me handle this. I suspect they are here for me.”

The guard nodded to me almost reverently. I still wasn’t used to everyone’s change in attitude towards me.

“I want to see the dragons!” Jadelyn stuck her head out from under the table.

“Absolutely not.” Scarlett replied, but Jadelyn crawled out and stood up, anyway.

“Let’s go!” She bounced over to me, and I looked over at Scarlett for permission.

Scarlett frowned, but Jadelyn just grabbed my arm and stuck her tongue out at her head bodyguard. “Safest place is with my big gold hubby. Remember?”

Scarlett grumbled, but finally she nodded that it was okay.

“You know, we really should get to work with the formal wedding.” Rupert picked at his beard. “Make it the event of the century.” He got up, and that was the signal for the whole table to follow me out.

Claire clapped her hands together. “That’s it. We are all heading out to see the dragons. Later, though, let’s talk about a formal wedding. I think we should let all the girls participate.”

“Do dragons have formal wedding traditions?” Ruby asked me.

“I have no idea.” I answered. “Maybe we could look it up or ask some dragons.”

“Good idea.” Claire nodded excitedly.

I’d been joking. I didn’t exactly have other dragons on speed dial yet.

I walked with a small entourage behind me as we exited the Scalewright house and entered their gardens.

Four dragons were in their backyard and two of them appeared to be arguing.

“No, this one was mine.” The massive blue dragon growled at the only slightly smaller white dragon.

Beside each of the two large dragons were smaller dragons that looked just like each of them.

“He gave me the message for the gold. See?” The white held something in her massive claw.

“There isn’t even a name on it. There are no names on any of them! We were just given them and sent out to deliver. But I was given the gold to deliver his message.” The blue growled back. “Besides, I outrank you. Get lost.”

I didn’t think they were going to work this out themselves, so I cleared my throat and stepped forward.

That got their attention as I spoke. “Excuse me, but I believe one or both of you have a message for me?”

The blue gasped on seeing me, her nostril flaring like two massive caves. “You… you aren’t a gold.” Her neck craned and swooped down just inches from plowing a trench in the backyard. “Pendragon, I… I see.”

However, the white bounded forward, shifting into a naked and startlingly beautiful woman. She pulled along the smaller white dragon, who transformed into a younger version of the woman. “Hello, nice to meet you, King.”

She bowed low, while still naked, pushing her daughter to bow as well. They had long beautiful white hair that touched the ground with their bow before she straightened back up.

My eyes strained to look lower, but I forced them up on her face.

Even without looking directly at them, I knew her body was practically gravity defying, and her daughter was just as beautiful.

“Lisa.” The blue grumbled, shifting as well, while remaining in the bow. “It is proper to bow as dragons.”

“He wasn’t raised as a dragon.” Lisa, the older white dragon, argued before turning quickly back to me..

“This is my daughter, Larisa.” Lisa pushed her daughter forward with a bright smile. “I’m so glad someone like you has taken up the mantle, but to see a Pendragon in the flesh is incredible. You’ll need someone well versed in dragon politics to guide you.”

She not so subtly nudged her daughter further forward.

My eyes betrayed me as they dipped down before I wrenched them back up to focus on her eyes. “Lovely to meet you.”

“You can already tell by her crass actions that she’s no expert diplomat, which you do, in fact, need.” The blue shifted into another lovely lady, her skin retaining flecks of scales that worked to at least keep her modest.

Her daughter was similar to her, but her skin was a shade darker. Both of them had electric blue eyes and black hair that shone blue where the light caught it.

If Frank were here, he’d be drooling. All of them were elevens on a ten point scale. I wondered if all female dragons were this hot, or if they had some extra shape shifting skills, I had yet to learn.

“I’m Ricca and this is my daughter, Cloe. I’m third among the Bronze King’s wives. Lisa here is the eighth and last. Please accept his message for the conclave of dragons that will meet this spring equinox.”

“Thank you.” I took the gold card she gave me, and the gold card from Lisa, not wanting either to feel slighted.

I stared at them, not quite sure what to do next.

Both of my ‘messengers’ had brought their daughters and were clearly waiting for me to say more.

“I have no idea what I’m going into. Some advice would be welcome.” I tried.

“Please, join us in our home. We’d love to host you. And I heard you mentioned Pendragon? What’s a Pendragon?” Claire asked, her hostess skills kicking in.

Both of the older dragons shut their mouths immediately, looking between them. They’d clearly not intended for other ears to hear what they’d said.

“A dragon thing.” Cloe suggested, filling the awkward silence.

“Ah, dragon things. I guess we’ll have to get used to that, dear.” Rupert laughed good-naturedly. “Do dragons dine in the nude?”

Scarlett interjected herself. “They’ll be putting clothes on. I’m sure we have something that could fit them.”

The two elder dragons’ faces shifted as they took in my kitsune mate. They looked downright chilly, and I was not allowing that to happen.

“Ladies, this…” I clapped my hands on Scarlett’s shoulders. “… is my first mate. Not only was she the one that helped introduce me to the paranormal world, but she’s the woman that has been with me the longest and knows me best.”

I smiled, realizing the opportunity to pawn off their attention. “So, I’ve asked for her help. We all know I’m going to end up with a few dragon mates, and she’s the best person in the world to help me figure out which ones will work with our family.”

I cheered inside as their attention suddenly flipped to Scarlett, their faces much warmer.

Lisa wrapped her arm around Scarlett like an old friend. I had a feeling I’d have to apologize later to Scar for putting her in their sights, but it felt so good to not be the focus.

I was prepared for diving into the dragon dating pool, but I had most definitely not prepared myself for dragon mothers.

Claire led the group back inside and the dragons to find suitable clothing. Because otherwise I wasn’t going to be able to eat anything without spilling tonight.

I walked behind them, flipping the gold card in my hand.

The fine print allowed me to bring my harem. I double checked. Breathing a sigh of relief, I’d need each and every one of them to bring me through whatever was to come.

There was no way I was going to navigate a conclave of dragons successfully without them by my side.