Chapter Fourteen

Elio

Fred wasn't my first kiss. He was my second. The first one sucked. It was teenage and awkward. It was before I knew what I was reminded of what I sent ahead of me when I came of age. Kissing Fred was nothing like that awkward kiss beside our lockers. Kissing him might've been the closest I've ever been to this so-called heaven he talked about. The scale over my heart scorched warmer with each flick of his tongue inside my mouth. I could've kissed the guy all day. He was tied up. So it wasn't like he was going anywhere any time soon.

Sliding my hips back toward his crotch, I rubbed my ass against him. Reveling in the warmth radiating between our bodies. While our tongues danced between our hungry mouths, I traced the star over his heart again and again, willing it to harden up into scale and come to life. I needed him to see that I was everything I claimed to be. I needed him to know I was his too. That we decided this together. No amount of rubbing was going to turn skin to scale on any time frame except nature's.

I kissed down Fred's throat and he let out a low, husky moan. He was all tied up and I could kiss and bite him wherever I wanted. I kissed and licked my way down his skin to where the star was trying to form. Okay, I was obsessed, but what was there to do about it? My dragon wanted his dragon's star scale to grow in. Once it did our lives could really start. Well, my life could start. My fingers trembled against his chest, and he asked if I was okay.

"Thinking about stuff," I said, because I didn't want to lie.

"What stuff?" he arched a brow at me.

"It's hard to explain. It's hard to think about that or anything."

"You thought about it enough to tremble," he said.

"Even if I prove everything to you, every person in your life is ---" I started, but Fred shook his head.

What? Was he going to keep me his dirty little secret? I couldn't live like that.

"If you prove to me this is for Lotus or you were sent by her, none of them get to have a Frost-damn opinion. I don't know how much you know about me, but I've never given a damn what anyone thought of me. Well, except maybe her. They can say what they want. Think what they want. If you're telling the truth, the kids will come around eventually and they're the important ones."

I nodded and kissed his chest again. I was too close to him not to drag my lips over his skin. He still tasted like the ice the ship's healer used to cool him down. My dragon purred and the mechanical vibration wiggled up my throat. A smile pulled at one side of Fred's mouth as if he was trying not to be happy that I was happy. I almost stopped dragging my tongue over his chest. Almost. Sure, to him it was a test, but there was no denying the true-mate response unfolding between us. I burnt for him.

"Why does the scale grow in if you already have claiming glands?" Fred asked.

"How are you able to string all these words together so easily while I'm licking your nipple?" I glanced up at him.

"Practice."

"And disbelief, huh? If you don't believe it's true, it doesn't affect you as much?"

He bucked his hips up under me and his hard cock brushed against my ass cheek.

"I'm affected. I just have a poker face, dude."

"Don't call me dude while I'm licking your nipple, it's weird."

"How?" he laughed, low and throaty. The sound wrapped around me and I had to fight off the urge to bite him again. This time I'd be nicer about it. Well, maybe. He was excelling at being a bigger dick than he carried around in his pants.

"Because it has nothing to do with true-mates," I shrugged and kissed lower on his body. Between kisses I spoke to him. Maybe he'd remember the quick lesson if I tied it up with the memory of me kissing my way down to his big, hard cock. "It's about the flight. The star scale is just that – it's for the flight. It means you're one of us. As soon as we responded, you became one of us. Your kids too. We don't have that whole ritual or paperwork to join us thing. Fate is enough for us. I don't know if the magic will reach your Earthside kids until we get a gateway, but the one here, it'll hit. Maybe after yours comes in. Maybe before. I'm not a biologist."

"Then why do I need it for you to show me what's up?" Fred asked, arching his back to my lips as I twirled my tongue around his navel.

"Because then we have a new way of communicating. Then we have a place to go where I can prove what I'm saying can and does happen."

"Then why do you keep rubbing the thing like it's involved in everything?"

I reached the waistband of his boxers and looked up at him. I was about to suck his cock and he wanted a crash course in culture clash? I heaved out a sigh and smoke rings drifted out of my nose. My dragon wasn't any more patient that I was, but I was taught not to talk with my mouthful. So, I needed to answer his questions, because I'd do zero talking once I filled my mouth up with him.

"It picks up on our emotions. It picks up if we're affected by magic. It starts to overheat when we meet our true-mates. It's linked to us. Almost like a heart chakra on the outside."

He glanced down at his chest. The outline had strengthened, but it was still skin. I had the tiny urge to go check and see if Teddy's had come in yet or if he was just as hardheaded as his sire.

"Sometimes the old timers call it our fate star," I grinned at him. "It comes from the Other World. See, we're not just dragons or maybe we're just dragons, but we're sort of witches because we're dragons. Well, Earthside called us that anyway. I think our flight just never forgot we were dragons."

"I don't think dragons can forget they're dragons," Fred laughed, his cynicism gone for the moment.

"I meant my flight didn't forget just how much magic we have."

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself. He hadn't fallen silent on my account since we met. Maybe he was warming up to me after all.

"How'd it come about over there?" he asked.

"Do you want a blow job or a history lesson?"

"Why can't I have both? Why is it one or the other?"

"You're really hard," I said, glancing at his crotch.

"Yeah. It's a dick. That's what it does. It knows how to wait. That's part of the fun. It's okay to let the tension build."

"I guess so," I said not wanting to give away that I'd done all the waiting in the universe.

Sex wasn't taboo for us Starscales. As long as everyone was old enough to drink the old whiskey (twenty) and willing, sex was whatever those involved wanted it to be or not to be. It was definitely a not to be for me. Not for the lack of suitors, but because I was waiting. I was scheming and planning. I was busy changing history if things worked out my way. No, I wasn't changing it. I was shaping it. And maybe not history.

"It'll be history one day," my dragon chimed into my thoughts. "Everything that comes to pass is history one day."

"Before our flight left the Other World," I started speaking before he asked anymore questions about my personal life before he arrived, "the leaders wanted a way for us to all know each other. We were a big flight, and we always have lots of eggs. They wanted us to know each other ten or a hundred generations out. So they crafted the original scales for everyone to wear. Then through some form of generational magic, sometimes called saga magic here, they made it so it was a gene that would pass down over and over. They break sometimes. Sometimes they fall off or whatever and a soul will get separated from our group for a while, but they usually always find their way back to us."

I nuzzled just above the waistband after I finished speaking. How much would the claiming vows fill him in on? Would it be enough for us to live our lives here together? Shit! Would he want to stay here? My plan only went as far as getting him here. I didn't have a way to make him want to stay, if I wasn't enough.

"You smell sad," Fred said, rubbing his toe against my calf.

"Thinking about the future," I sighed.

"Future rumination can kill you, dude. I'd know."

"If I prove who I am will you stop calling me that?" I rose up on my knees between his legs.

"Does it bother you that much?" He arched a brow and his expression turned serious.

"Coming from you, it does."

"What? Do you expect me to call you my little flower now?" he laughed.

"No," I shook my head. "I don't need a pet name. I just need some verbal confirmation that I'm something to you. That I'm not the only one who feels all this."

"You're something," he nodded. "A mystery. A paradox. A possible threat."

"On second thought, maybe I won't suck your dick."

"Okay," he shrugged.

"And you'd be okay with stopping just like that?" I furrowed my brow, a little wounded on my ego.

"If you don't consent, shit doesn't happen," he shrugged.

"How are you an asshole and insufferably honorable?"

"I'm not. Yeah, I'm an asshole, but if that's your bar for insufferably honorable maybe we should've tried roasting some of the alphas here instead of you."

I bit the inside of my cheek, so I didn't grin. I didn't need him to protect me. Starscale 1 was a safe world, and I survived his enraged attack no worse for wear, but something deep inside me loved the idea of him wanting to burn down empires for me.

"All the empires," my dragon echoed into my thoughts.

"You like the idea of that," he smirked. "What asshole shall I start with?"

"What about the one who tried to burn me to a crisp today?" I asked, running my palms over his soft, hairy thighs.

"Self-immolation. That's why you brought me here, huh? What? Do I lead an army against your flight in the future and you've traveled back in time to stop me?" he teased.

"I wish. If you ignore the whole time travel thing it would be simpler than what's going on."

"What is going on, Elio?" he asked.

"I'd live my whole life and probably never meet you if I didn't get you here this way. You and Lotus might never find each other again and---" I let out a long sigh. "This will be easier to understand after. The other thing is easier to understand."

"Other thing?" He asked, his scent turning back to its old cynicism.

"We need help, Fred. We need help to figure out how to get the elves to give us gateways to the Other World. We've been trapped outside of it since we built these planets. I mean, our dead go there. The doors of life and death come and go as and where they please. That means we can only meet our mates if they're born on one of our three worlds. The leaders have given up on it. Lotus said you were stubborn and had connections. She thought you could help us."

He flashed me a sad smile. I said too much.

"Hey, even if I have to kill you because you're a liar, I'll figure out a way to get your flight hooked up to the network of Other World gateways."

"That's morbidly sweet," I said, sliding my hand over his hard cock through his underwear.

Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't want to touch the dick of someone who kept threatening to kill me. His threats were empty air. I was exactly who I said I was. I was his true-mate. Maybe not his only true-mate, but quantity didn't change the facts.

"Now be a good dragon and suck my dick," he grinned.

"Good dragon?" I laughed. "It's better than dude, I guess."

"Okay, be my good dragon and suck my dick?" He tried again.

"Better," I said stretching back out on my belly. I did my best not to freeze as I licked his shaft through the soft material of his underwear. I hadn't done this before either. Kissing sorta preceded dick sucking in my mind. I hoped it did in everyone's but who was I to tell someone where to kiss their mate first? Not my place to yuck their yums.

I kissed up and down his dick. Fred rolled his hips under me, brushing against my mouth. I almost asked if I could finish undressing him, but that went without saying. If we wanted his dick sucked, it'd have to come out of hiding. The ropes around his ankles kept me from getting them all the way off, but I got them down far enough so that they were out of my way. He was big and thick. I licked my lips letting my dragon's instincts take over. I might not remember every moment of my past lives, but sometimes I thought he did. Maybe he just remembered all the smutty romance books we read over the years.

"You good?" Fred asked, smelling my hesitance.

"Yeah," I nodded, settling myself back between his legs again.

Holding him at the base, I licked up his smooth shaft. His flesh was vaguely salty but tasted more like the ice used to cool him down earlier. He moaned and rolled his hips again. I put a hand on one of them to hold him in place. I wasn't about to chase it through the air to suck him off. That was more work than the situation called for.

"You'll want him to do that move later," my dragon chuckled.

That might be so, but I held him down with one hand on his hip and the other wrapped around the base of his cock. Then I licked him again. He pushed against me, and I had to add some weight to keep him sort of in place. He was strong. Maybe stronger than me. He was definitely older than me and an alpha. So he had those things on his side. I liked to think I had more moxie, but moxie only got a guy so far. I slid my hand up his cock and he let out a long breath. Our gazes locked as I placed a promising kiss against the head of his dick. A drop of pre-cum clung to my lip and I licked it up as I pulled away. I was slick already. My omegahole was in overdrive because of meeting him. Already my slick arousal dribbled down onto my thighs. Fuck! I wanted him.

I licked down his shaft again, taking my time and reveling in how warm he was against the flat plain of my tongue. I lost myself to the way he pressed up against my hand. He was the one who needed to be good and stay still long enough for me to make him cum. I licked back up his shaft and then took the head of him into my mouth. He was wide and girthy but fit inside my mouth nicely. That was one perk of having a big draconic mouth. My dragon chuckled inside his inner sanctum. The sound came out low and morphed into a purr before vibrated up my throat.

"Fuck, yeah," Fred murmured as my purring vibrated over his throbbing cock.

If my mouth hadn't been full of him, I would've told him to stay still and be ‘good' and there was more of that to come. Only my mouth was full and I sorta liked how he pressed against me. He made me work to pleasure him, to keep him inside my mouth where I wanted him. I slid down his shaft and he bucked his hips giving me more of him. I blinked fast for a second before I remembered to breathe through my nose. Then I lost myself to him. I held him down to keep his bucking to a minimum. Soon, he trembled against my tongue. My dragon purred again. I pulled back just enough so that I could twirl my tongue over the hard head of his dick. When the first drop fell, I thought it was more pre-cum, but then Fred's pleasure flooded into my mouth. I drank it down, reveling in the fact that I made him feel that good. That I brought him over the edge and made him lose control.

When he went flaccid, I rested my head on his belly. He panted for air as he gathered his wits. For once, he smelled as out of it as I felt since meeting him. I nuzzled against his belly marking him as my mate and he didn't remind me, he didn't believe the truth for a damn second.

While Fred finished gathering up what was left of his wits I stood and stripped off my sweatpants and socks. I was as slick as I thought I was. My thighs glistened with arousal and need. Fred's nostrils flared as my unhindered scent filled the room. A sarcastic part of me wanted to ask if he believed me now, but I didn't. He jerked his head, motioning for me to rejoin him on the bed. I couldn't resist the invitation. I laid on top of him. He was taller and broader than me and despite all the naps everyone claimed he had, he was still well-muscled. His lips parted for a kiss, and I gave it to him. The taste of his pleasure still lingered on my tongue. If Fred minded, he didn't say anything about it. He kissed me hard, his tongue sweeping around my mouth. My hard dick pressed against his belly. It was hard not to wiggle against him. I was hard and slick and more than a little ready for him.

"Have you done this before, Elio?" he asked when the kiss broke.

"No," I admitted because it didn't seem like a thing mates should lie about. "Not with a real dick anyway."

"With an imaginary one?" Fred chuckled.

"Well, sorta of. I mean, it was solid. If I ordered an Asteroid Stud 4.2 and they sent me an imaginary toy, I'd be pissed."

"Asteroid Stud, huh?" he laughed.

"It comes with a suction attachment and everything," I rambled on, blushing harder than I ever had before in my life.

"I think I might like to see that."

"Then you'll have to admit we're true-mates."

"I'm getting there. I just need the proof."

"Did she have to prove it?"

"I hadn't found my true-mate before her. The response was all I needed," Fred said.

"You're going to feel like the biggest and scaliest ass in all of the known worlds when you accept that I'm not lying," I smirked.

"Maybe, but it wouldn't be the first time," he shrugged. "Do you need me to untie you and take care of things?"

"What things?" I smirked.

"You," he said. "If it's your first time, I don't want you not to enjoy yourself."

"I am enjoying myself. Have you not glanced down at my thighs, ‘dude'?" I laughed.

"Let's try it then," he said as if it were a dare.

"Try what?" I asked.

"You riding my dick," he said, bucking his hips up.

It was trapped between our bodies and had grown hard from all my wiggling around while we kissed. I swallowed hard. For a second I wondered if it was possible to mess romping up but pushed the thought out of my head.

"You okay?" Fred asked as I pushed myself upright.

"Yeah," I nodded. "A bit nervous."

"If you get tired let me know and I'll break these ropes. If you need more foreplay than sucking my dick, I'll break them," he shrugged.

"I'm so slick that it almost hurts," I whispered, remembering we weren't alone on the Medwin 2.

"That's not good. We better take care of that."

Pushing aside my doubts for my dragon to deal with later, I rose up on my knees and inched backwards until his long, thick cock brushed against my ass cheeks.

"Will they be mad?" I whispered.

"Who? Them? Out there? If they're listening at the door, they deserve to hear what they hear. It's technically Castor's room too, but you told him about our situation, right?" Fred asked.

"I did and the doctor. I bet they told everyone. What is the etiquette for mating on a spacecraft?" I asked, laughter tracing my words. It seemed like a ridiculous thing for me to worry about now. After everything I went through to get Fred Moonscale onto Starscale 1, a little thing like the crew of the spacecraft wasn't about to stand in my way.

"You're stalling, huh?" Fred asked. "We can wait. I'm curious, but I'm not DTR if you're not."

"DTR?" I blinked.

"Down to romp," he laughed. "That one may have gone out of the common vocabulary while I was out cold or maybe it was never in the vocabulary here."

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "It's not like I'm running around romping everywhere. I want you. I want you," I grabbed his dick by reaching behind my back, "inside me."

"Then put me there. I'm a bit tied up at the moment," he smirked, toying with me.

I gave him a few promising strokes. If his hands weren't literally tied up, I'd want them all over me. Still, having him tied up felt like an advantage. I wasn't sure there was a score to romping, but I liked the idea of being the one to decide how this all went down.

"We've already gone down," my dragon chuckled. "Time to ride."

He was laughing, but his own need echoed mine. He was hard and slick and ready to meet Fred's dragon. He couldn't cross over a link that wasn't there yet. It wouldn't be there until after we exchanged the claiming vows. He purred again as I slid back, hovering over Fred's dick again. I closed my eyes and let out a long, slow breath to relax my body. Then I led him home. His dick was girthy and it took a little bit of rubbing him against my slippery omegahole to fit the head inside me. I bit my lip, reveling in the fullness that wrung out my brain, dropping all the thoughts and worries that weren't right in front of me. It was just me and Fred. I'd waited for this moment for a long time. Somehow with a little help, I actually got him here without an Other World gateway. Now was the time to celebrate.

His gaze locked to mine as I sank down on him, taking him in inch by inch, taking my time and enjoying every new sensation. Finally, aided by how slick I was before we started, I slid all the way down him. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes as my brain and body caught up to being so fucking full. It was glorious and overwhelming but there wasn't anywhere else I wanted to be. I rode him slowly, wiggling and rocking, more than actually riding him at first. I rocked, rubbing his throbbing cock all over my passage where it felt the best. If Fred minded how I warmed up, he didn't complain.

Once my body relaxed around him, he bucked up his hips, moving with me. I could've lost myself to this man. I could've let every thought fly right out through the cracks around the bedroom door, but my dragon was still there. He was there and urging me onward toward the claiming vows. Our forever lay on the other side of them.

Yanking hard, Fred managed to snap the rope around his right wrist without destroying the headboard. I wasn't sure whether to give credit to his self-control or the construction of the furniture. His hand found my hip and a chill shimmied up my spine. He growled as his dick buried itself even deeper inside me.

"Fred," his name came out a purring moan over my lips.

I could've said his name all day and all night. From fire to fucking in a matter of hours. I almost laughed, but he bucked up hard and the sound caught in my throat. His hand caressed from my hip over to my ass cheek. With big, strong fingers he kneaded my flesh. I rocked faster, letting the heat inside me climb higher. I glanced down at his chest. The star scale wasn't scale yet, but I rested my hand over it anyway praying that my touch and our coming together brought him fully onto the flight link quicker.

Fred slid his hand up to the small of my back and used the leeway to press my torso down against his. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask who'd bite first, but he swept my hair out of his way with his free hand and pressed his warm mouth against my shoulder. I swallowed hard and he pulled away. I almost apologized for being so blasted nervous, but he spoke before I could.

"If what you told me is true," he started.

"It is," I interrupted squeezing him tightly inside me, until his eyelids fluttered.

"Well, if it is," he said and this time I let him continue speaking, "I will do everything within my power to keep you safe and happy."

"Will you believe me after this?" I asked, desperate for the liminality of our situation to end. Fight or fuck? I had enough fighting to last me a lifetime and I hadn't even thrown a single blow.

"If it shows me what you say it will," he nodded.

"It will."

"Maybe," Fred said.

"Even with your dick buried inside me, you still don't believe me," I shook my head.

"Seeing is believing and believe me the magic that drives the claiming vows doesn't always show what you think it will or what you want it to."

I kissed him hard because I didn't want to feel my heart trying to break. He didn't have any real reason to believe me besides the tidbits I knew about him and Lotus, but why couldn't he trust what he felt?

He yanked his other arm free, only leaving his ankles bound to the footpost now. He pulled me close, with both hands now and his mouth refound my claiming gland. His words about if I was telling the truth echoed through my head and I silently promised myself I'd do my best not to be the guy who said ‘told you so' five hundred times after he was vindicated.

I gasped as the sting of his lips pressing against my swollen claiming gland spread down my spine. It was there and gone, leaving me confused for a split second. Fred kissed it again as if apologizing for the bite he was about to tear into it. Only the bite didn't come like I expected. There was no quick snap of his jaw coming down on my shoulder. His lips parted gently, and his tongue played over the taut skin. One of his hands drifted back down to my hips, guiding me to move in time with him. I let out a sigh, releasing the tension that clung to my muscles since the Medwin 2 showed up on Marsian's radar.

Then came the bite. He bit hard with the points of his dragon's teeth. A moan vibrated out of my throat, followed by the purring of my inner beast. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed it showed him everything he needed to see.