Dragon 6 Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The wind whipped across my scales as I flew high overhead. Sabrina was doing her best to keep me cloaked against anyone or anything that might be watching.

“I can’t believe you went to get it all the way in England.” Sabrina held onto my horns as she rode me.

“Of course I did. It’s your freaking summoning circle. Now it’s going in my hoard where it’ll be protected.” My voice boomed out louder than I had intended, but that was a hazard of talking as a giant fucking dragon.

The mountain that led into Sentarshaden loomed ahead.

When I’d finished up the year at school, I’d immediately immersed myself in any distraction I could find to avoid being involved in planning or even really thinking about the chaos that was going to be The Big Day.

I’d already married Jadelyn in an intimate siren wedding, but that was private. The joint wedding with all of my mates would be anything but private.

Between the Highaen sisters’ family and Jadelyn’s family’s connections, I already knew that I was going to suffocate with guests. And then Kelly had insisted her entire pack needed to be present.

Morgana, Sabrina, and Scarlett had at least gone easier on me, narrowing down their guest lists.

Scarlett had the brunt of it as she tried to manage the logistics for the insane event.

“You are worrying about the wedding again. It’ll be fine. We get to go to Summer’s Chateau tomorrow and start setting up.” Sabrina had gotten pretty good at reading my moods.

And my current mood had what felt like a panic attack coming on. So, I focused on other things.

“After the council meeting. The Wallachia are sending someone who is going to take over the whole east coast vampires. Apparently the Gregorians did more damage than any of us realized.” I grumbled.

After classes had broken for the summer, rather than being free, I had been saddled with even more responsibilities. I understood I was the dragon king, and that came with responsibilities, but sometimes I wished I could fly free.

“Well, at least they are sending someone Morgana knows.” Sabrina tried to be helpful.

“Right. Well, let’s head into the city. Also, you can drop the spell.” I rolled around the side of the mountain and dove through the passage into Sentarshaden.

The world around us instantly changed from the Swiss mountain ranges to the vibrant city of Sentarshaden and the giant tree it was named after as the enchantments faded behind us that had been hiding the city under the guise of a mountain.

I was getting better at finding the spot into and out of the city; I’d visited several times recently.

The sisters needed to visit with their family, and I was in attendance as any suitable mate would be. We could take the Atrium into the area thanks to Morgana, but I enjoyed flying.

And I used it when I needed to. In an effort to escape my in-laws and some of the wedding planning, I’d recently taken my succubus on a trip to go get her summoning circle.

At the base of the tree, the Highaen compound circled the roots, climbing up the bottom of its trunk. It was huge, just like the sisters’ family.

I spotted the wide flat roof that the family had provided for me to take off and land. Thankfully, my landing had gotten a bit more graceful.

Catching as much wind as I could with my wings, I slowed myself down until I found myself right above the roof. Hovering for a moment, I used my wings to slowly descend us down until my dragon feet touched the roof.

The last thing I wanted to do was wreck my in-law’s roof.

“Hop off. I think it’s almost dinnertime.” My voice changed pitches as my bones popped and crackled. I shrunk down to my naked human form and pulled out clothes from my enchanted bracer, a gift from my first four mates, etched with their names. The others had added theirs as they became part of my harem.

Slipping on my jeans, I looked over at Sabrina who was trying to appear casual but was anxious about something.

I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to voice her concern.

“You still have it right?” She asked, her foot tapping in her anxiety.

I pulled the stone slab out of the enchanted bracer. “Want to hang onto it?”

“No, it’s too big. I’d more likely damage it by carrying it around.” Sabrina huffed. “Sorry. I just worry about it.”

I smiled reassuringly. “We’ll get it to my hoard tonight after dinner. This should wrap everything up, and we’ll head back to Philly.” I put the slab back in the enchanted bracer and found a button-down shirt, slipping it on and buttoning it up.

Rather than put on shoes, I left my feet bare. It had taken me a little to adjust to barefoot, but shoes were so damn expensive to keep replacing. So I’d learned to just leave them off.

“How do I look?” I spun around for Sabrina.

She blushed but stepped up and tried to fix my hair. “There. I think you won’t embarrass yourself like that.”

A pair of Highaen guards watched us from the door. Both of them looked a little giddy. I still got a lot of attention as the dragon king. I was getting used to it, but the staring was always a little weird.

And my reputation has spread further ever since we dealt with the vampire problem in Philly.

It was officially out that I wasn’t just a gold dragon. My ability to change colors was on videos that circulated the paranormal communities like wildfire.

And beyond that, I was the son of both Tiamat and Bahamut, two god-like beings in the paranormal world, had caused the press to go wild. My parents, who were ancient reincarnating dragons, had always been forced to be apart. Nobody knew how or when they’d made a son.

The popularity was a lot for me, but my mates were taking it in stride. Kelly still had a stupid dating app on her phone and loved to read out the messages that the profile she set up for me received. I had only become even more popular if it was anything to gauge it by.

“Mr. Dragon King. This way. The Queen said you were to be escorted to dinner when you arrived back. I believe they are waiting for you.” He smiled and opened the door, leading the way while the second guard waited until we passed and took up the rear.

We wound down a set of stairs and walked through several long halls filled with decorations in the colors of green and gold. The Highaen colors were everywhere.

After a number of twists and turns, the guards deposited us in a dining room. I tried to decide if I’d been in that room before.

I was fairly sure it was a new one.

But I relaxed when I saw the group present. It was a far smaller table and gathering than other dinners. This one didn’t seem to include Tyrande’s cousins, second cousins, and distant relatives where I was shown about like a show dog.

A feast was laid out across the polished wooden table, with the direct family seated around it.

“King Pendragon.” My mother-in-law stood as we entered, stiffly bowing and gesturing with a wide sweep. “Please join us for dinner.” She formally invited me.

I held back a sigh and smiled. “Thank you for the gracious offer. This is a wonderful bounty. I’m sorry to have kept you.” I had gotten more used to the formality, stepping over and slipping into the empty seat between the queen’s two daughters.

Yev gave me a sympathetic smile while Tyrande looked a little apologetic.

“I was just telling my daughters how happy we were that they ended up with you.” Their mother politely started the dinner, and servants came to cut food from the trays at the center and serve us.

In fact, she had hated me before she learned I was the dragon king, but I wasn’t holding a grudge.

I eyed the meat, wanting to reach out and take a huge hunk but making myself wait to be served.

Yev elbowed me, forcing me to take my eyes off the meat and respond.

“I’m just as happy to have them as mates.” Grabbing Yev’s hand, I continued. “The Matriarch of my nest and mother of my first child is a special one.”

Yev blushed a deep red, which only made me want to devour her more. The girls had figured out that being around a bunch of horny dragons was giving me a mega dose of pheromones, but I was getting a little hooked on Yev’s scent now that she was pregnant and I knew it was mine.

“The dragon king’s firstborn. It is a monumental task. We were wondering how often you’d like us to visit?” My mother-in-law continued, trying to play off the question as casual, but there was an intensity in her eyes.

I shrugged, but the way both girls looked at me made me realize this was important to them. They had some sort of answer in their heads, but I did not know what it was they wanted.

I sighed. Sometimes family was harder than politics. Doubly so when it was both. “We’ll have to settle into a routine before I can give you a hard answer on that. Our whole lives are going to flip upside down with the little dragon.”

Everybody seemed pleased with my answer. My mates relaxed next to me and their mother seemed convinced enough that she would have a role to play.

I eyed the meat again, wishing I had it on my plate so I could stuff some in my mouth and avoid more talking.

“We will be at the wedding, of course. But I still haven’t gotten an answer from Scarlett as to the order of the weddings. My dear Yev has your firstborn, so I was thinking it would perhaps make sense for her to go first.” She picked up her silverware and started cutting her salad while she waited for an answer.

A salad was placed in front of me, and I stared at it. There were only a few pieces of meat on top with a mass of leaves around it. I didn’t understand why I’d fill up on greens when there was so much delicious meat around.

Stabbing into the greens, I looked up Yev’s mother. “Scarlett is managing the wedding as my first mate.”

I gave my best polite smile as I made myself eat some of the leafy nonsense. I’d gotten really good at repeating that line when asked about the wedding.

“Really now. You are the dragon king. Shouldn’t you be managing your harem more? My daughter is carrying your first born; it’s almost like you don’t respect that.” My mother-in-law kept pushing while her husband pointedly tried to start up a conversation with Tryande, changing the subject. He was silenced pretty quickly by a look from his wife. She was not giving up her campaign.

I dabbed at my lips with a napkin to buy myself precious seconds and try to decide what to do next.

Both Yev and Tyandre had supportive hands on my lap.

“My first mate, Scarlett, will be the first to marry.” I stated it simply, trying not to offend. But the queen would not have a say in my wedding.

“But doesn’t that seem like she’s abusing her position?” She tried to argue.

I eyed her, trying to keep my temper in check. Planning a wedding was stressful enough without everybody having an opinion. “No. Because I decided that she’d marry me first. She was with me before I discovered I was a dragon, much less the king of dragons. And all of my mates are important to me. I love them equally, and they know that.”

My statement was punctuated by a massive crack as I lost control of my strength. The giant wooden table snapped in half, and everyone’s plates dipped towards the center, sloshing and shattering in a grand pile. I cringed as I watched the beautiful slabs of meat fall in among the glass.

But Tyrande’s mother’s attention was fully on me, and she looked like a teakettle about to boil over.

***

“I don’t think it was that bad.” I tried to win the sisters over with a smile. Sabrina walked quietly behind us, staring at the magical runes that Morgana had etched in the tunnel.

Tyrande’s mother had backed off on the wedding order after the mess at dinner, but she’d replaced that campaign with hysteria over the table.

“You broke a ceremonial table that was made from the bark of Sentarshaden itself.” Tyrande put two fingers to forehead with a heavy sigh. The two sisters were similar in so many ways, even though Yev was adopted from a distant relative.

They had the same enchantingly magic eyes and straight blond hair. The biggest difference was their builds. Tyrande had a thinner build than Yev.

But it made sense. Yev was a giant green dragon when she wanted to be. That strength still transferred into her other forms.

We continued to walk down the concrete passage Morgana had built. Every few feet, I could feel the pull of magic as we crossed another one of Morgana’s thresholds.

The spatial tunnel she had built between Sentarshaden and Philly was originally an idea for the Highaen sisters to be able to cross between, while the two attempted to maintain both their responsibilities as princesses and my mates.

Jadelyn had gotten involved and bought up land that Morgana required to create a relay of spatial enchantments.

As a result, we soon had a tunnel large enough for two lanes of traffic, and Jadelyn owned it entirely. She charged a steep price for even her father to use it to transport goods.

Rupert only laughed and happily paid it. Jadelyn used the money to entice me with gold. She wasn’t ready for a kid yet, but she had found out just how excited I got when she sprinkled gold coins on herself.

And I wasn’t complaining. Jadelyn was a natural beauty. Add some gold to that, and it really did drive me crazy.

“Either way. What is done is done.” Yev held my arm. “But it might help if you tried to appease our mother more.”

I groaned. “Can you give her the same advice? She’s always so pushy. I’m fairly certain the main thing she likes about me is my status.”

“Welcome to elf politics. At least she’s supportive of our union. That will go a long way. And you’ve already helped my sister provide another heir.” Tyrnade added, reaching over to rub her sister’s belly.

“She’s not as bad as demon parents.” Sabrina added distractedly.

I latched onto the change of topic eagerly. “You’ve never mentioned your parents.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Demons are terrible parents. Half the time, they leave their children to fend for themselves almost as soon as they can walk. To call those who birthed me parents is a stretch.”

“You have to have someone that you’d like to bring to the wedding.” Tyrande urged.

“Sir Benifolt is coming. I don’t really want Hell to know that I’m marrying the dragon king. That’ll only make me get involved in demon politics.” Sabrina stopped, staring at one of Morgana’s enchantments and caught up.

“Hate to tell you this, but Hell probably already knows.” Yev gave the succubus a crooked smile.

“Until Hell comes knocking, I’m pretending they don’t exist. Besides, we are off to the Faerie realm tomorrow. Let’s focus on that.” Sabrina’s eyes glowed briefly with her excitement. Her demon power strained the enchantment on her glasses, a little of her succubus nature the glasses kept contained peaking through.

She’d been growing stronger at a remarkable rate since becoming my mate.

I chuckled a little, feeling proud at just how potent I was.

“What’s so funny, Mr. Tablebreaker?” Yev asked.

“Nothing.” I smirked. “Just wondering if the fae magic is what has Sabrina so excited, or is it something else?”

“Perv.” Tyrande playfully slapped me and blushed.

Yev focused instead on her sister. “Oh, like you are one to talk. Don’t think I didn’t hear you talking with mother about some stringy gold jewelry.”

“Hey. You know exactly how gold makes him feel. You can’t blame me.” Tyrande jabbed back.

Yev preened. “I do. That’s why I mixed all of my gold into his hoard. Made his gold smell like me forever.”

“It smells like you because you’ve been nesting in my hoard.” I shot back.

Yev shrugged shamelessly. “I’m nurturing my egg for another month, then I’ll lay it in your hoard and have your first little whelp.” She came up behind me, her breath tickling the hairs on the back of my neck and making me more than a little excited.

“Careful, we shouldn’t linger in these halls. And you certainly shouldn’t entice the dragon that accidentally smashed a table while we are in this contained space. He very easily could end up cracking one of these walls and breaking the enchantment.” Sabrina grabbed Yev and pulled her off me, shooing the green dragon down the hall. “I don’t want to get trapped underground just because you two can’t keep it in your pants.”

“Hey! Aren’t you a succubus? You should love this.” Yev squealed as she was hustled down the passage by Sabrina.

I laughed, trailing behind with Tyrande.

She looked at me, raising a brow. “You cannot do me that hard.” She glanced at the wall as if to see how soft it looked.

“No. I’m gentle with my favorite elf.” I scooped her up like she weighed nothing and carried her like my princess.

She hung in my arms comfortably, her long hair brushing my legs. “I’ll talk to my mother when she shows up for the wedding. With the whole family there, she’ll be forced to not cause a scene. But that’s weeks away, which means we have some time to just enjoy Summer’s château before the wedding.”

“You mean weeks of preparations?” I hazarded.

“If you think we aren’t all going to be taking you behind the curtains every chance we get for these four weeks, then we need to get you checked to see if you’ve gone crazy.” Tyrande laughed. “All of us are packing dozens of sets of lingerie. I heard Jadelyn even bought a slinky dress made entirely of fine gold strands.”

“Really?” I perked up.

“Yes. Even the dragonettes are packing that kind of clothing.” She gave me a stern look. “Don’t leave them hanging too long.”

“Dragon’s honor.” I held up a hand as if taking an oath.

“That’s not a thing, goof. You can’t just pretend to make up dragon things. I grew up with one.” Tyrande rolled her eyes.

“What fun is it being the dragon king if I don’t get to just decide what is draconic and what isn’t?” I bent down and silenced any further protest from her with a kiss that lasted a long time as we walked down the passage towards the Atrium and my apartment.