Chapter 14

Fraser

"Are you a dinosaur?" He looked down at me and I could see his scientific mind trying to classify me by what he already understood. "Did they not go extinct like everyone thought?"

"First of all, don't ask that in the diner. It makes the old men nuts. Secondly, though, there is some discussion on what we are, so it's not a bad question." My answer was definitely confusing, so I was prepared for an odd reaction.

But Paxton just sighed and nodded. "People don't like it when you question their assumptions."

He was taking the whole thing better than I'd expected.

"Yeah, I'll explain all the biology and information that we know, but we fly and we look like dragons in a cartoon or a coloring book. So not dinosaurs in the way you mean and there is magic involved." I figured I'd just treat it as normally as possible until he freaked out or panicked, but he just poked my chest.

"How are you magic?" His frown was adorable and made me want to laugh. "I can see you're human."

"I look human now, but I can be a dragon whenever I want and I have at least one great-grandfather who was a mage because he slept with everybody . So I've got a few mage-ish characteristics too." It wasn't exactly a deep dark secret, but most people seemed to have forgotten that our ancestors used to be flexible with who they slept with.

My grandma said her parents were hos but I wasn't sure that was a good way to explain it anymore.

"That's fascinating." More pokes and frowns said he was still working on it, so I was surprised when he climbed off my lap and nodded. "Okay. I'm ready."

It took me a few seconds too long to get it. "You want to see me shift?"

"Yes." Paxton gave me a look like he thought I was stupid but it was gone in a blink. "Thank you very much for this opportunity."

I was pretty sure I was one of his bugs now…and he thought his new bug was kind of dumb.

"You're welcome." Okay, manners were still in place but did he really want to see me shift this quickly? "I have two other forms, a smaller dragon and a larger form. Which would you like to see? Oh, but for my full form, we have to go outside."

He was quiet for a few seconds before he looked down at himself. "We should probably do the inside form, please. I'm not sure your neighbors want to see me naked and I'm kind of hoping for another orgasm, so I'm not ready to put on clothes."

I had the weirdest mate ever.

I probably would've told him that but he kept chattering.

"They might not mind, though. I'm pretty sure I could claim mate nonsense and they'd have to agree to ignore it. The social rules around here are curious." Frowning again, he raised one eyebrow. "Are you shy? You haven't taken off your clothes much."

"No." I was trying not to laugh, though. "I just didn't want to make assumptions or for you to worry."

Still looking thoughtful and confused, he nodded slowly. "That makes sense. I thought that was what you were doing until the not-human thing came up and then I wasn't sure anymore."

He was adorable…and as nuts as everyone else in town.

"Think of it as a human brain with some extra instincts thrown in. The Dom parts of me don't change no matter what form I'm in, but it also means that I'm not quite human in any form." When Paxton's frown didn't shift, I kept going. "My senses are slightly better than a human's and we have hoards. But I'm not dangerous to you and I can fully process thoughts and logic."

I was a thinking dinosaur.

"So there's nothing to worry about when it comes to your other forms being dangerous." Nodding to himself, Paxton reached out and poked my chest again. "You really do feel human."

"I'm not a robot." My huff got a grin from him. "I'm a dragon."

He shrugged and did his best to look very skeptical. "Well, technically, I just have your word on that and some weird bugs to back up the magic bits. So…" Throwing up his hands, he sighed. "You're going to have to prove it to me."

Brat.

"You just want to see me naked." Giving him a wink as I climbed off the bed, I kept my eyes on his as I slowly started taking off my clothes. "If you wanted to play with your Daddy, all you had to do was ask."

Licking his lips as my chest came into view, his body shifted just enough to let me know he was getting hard again. "I…I think I'm your mate. Should you have said it that way?"

Glad we didn't have to talk around that one any longer, I flicked my nipples as I dropped my shirt to the floor. "I'm your mate and your Daddy, so I'll use different words depending on the situation."

As I went to work stripping off my pants, I was glad I'd snuck in a shower while he napped. "This one seemed like a Daddy moment."

Curious about what he was thinking, I was glad when he made a soft, curious sound and nodded. "That makes sense, but…but I think I'd prefer to use mate around town, please. I don't think…I don't think I'm one of the oversharing subs or littles or whatever I am."

The fact that he wasn't sure about what to call himself while he was perfectly comfortable calling me his mate and a dragon was cute…and said I was right about him being nuts.

But I liked nuts and I loved that he was going to fit right in with everyone else.

I also loved how he was taking in every inch of me as the last of my clothes fell to the floor.

"Ready? Last chance to change your mind." Paxton took entirely too long to nod, so I decided to double-check. "Eyes up here, naughty boy. You can stare at my dick later."

That got a blush from him but he obeyed. "Yes?"

He had no idea what I'd just said.

Sighing, I raised one eyebrow. "Are you listening now?"

The way his gaze dropped again said no.

"Paxton." My stern tone had him looking up but now he seemed to be slightly fuzzy-brained. "Are you going to be good? Naughty boys who don't listen don't get to pet dragons."

"I can pet you?" Leaning forward on the bed, he crawled closer, dragging his sheet with him. "Really?"

Trying to keep a serious expression, I nodded. "But only if you're paying attention. Now, do you understand that you can still change your mind?"

"I want to see the dragon, Daddy." Something had shifted the tone of our talk and he wasn't quite as big as he had been seconds before. "I'll be a good boy."

Oh, my tone.

Okay.

Keeping that in mind, I nodded and reached out to stroke his cheek. "Yes, you're my good boy and you're going to make sure I know you're comfortable with this and won't panic."

The way he blinked a few times said that hadn't occurred to him at all. "I'm very good with fieldwork."

Yep, I was a new insect.

"Good boy." I leaned over and kissed his head. "Alright. One. Two. Three."

Poof.

He went bug-eyed as the magic swept through me and I let my smaller form take over. It got even better as I took flight and did a small circle around the room before settling on the end of the bed. I couldn't resist stretching and preening for my mate because the bond was so much stronger when the magic was out in full force.

"Oh wow." Inching closer, he swallowed and swept his gaze over me. "I'm very good with fieldwork."

That seemed to be his mantra not to panic, so I aimed flirty eyes at him and stretched out my wings again before flicking my tail in his direction. It got a giggle from him and his little side came back to the surface. "Oh, Daddy, you're so pretty."

I was but I was glad he realized it too.

Still, I wanted him comfortable with me in any form, so I lay down on the bed and stretched out, doing my best to stay perfectly still except for my tail. Humans associated wagging with safe animals, so I slowly swished it back and forth as I tried to radiate happiness.

Our bond was so faint it was almost invisible, but I pushed my emotions through it, hoping he could feel it. It might've been just wishful thinking, but he smiled wider and wiggled closer as I did my best to show him how happy I was. "You're so pretty, Daddy. I'm…I'm going to touch you if that's okay."

Nodding seemed to be the right thing to do but his eyes went wide again. "My bugs don't do that."

Laughter shook through me and puffing sounds escaped before I could stop them. It had Paxton going still again before he frowned at me. "Don't giggle. That's not polite. You're a dragon."

That did not help my ability to keep my laughter in check.

I did my best but he huffed again and sat up to fold his arms across his chest. "I don't know how I know it, but I know you're still giggling."

Ha.

Mate bond.

But I didn't have a way to point that out, so I gave him wide eyes and wagged my tail again. I knew it'd worked when he sighed and his arms relaxed. "That's cheating. You're like the cutest, most deadly-looking puppy ever."

I was a dragon, not a puppy, so I huffed and pouted.

It got a wonderful giggle from him and he reached out to pet my head before he'd even thought about it. "Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, you're not a puppy. You're a scary dragon. Look at you. You have sharp teeth and big claws. Clearly not an herbivore. Oh, and two forms. That means at some point you needed to be smaller to survive. Even magic has to have logic. I'm thinking dense forests for your original habitats?"

Once his hand had crossed the invisible barrier, his mind crossed it too, and he shifted back over to exploring his new bug. Even his chatter was similar to what he'd said to the actual insects he'd spent the morning chattering to.

"Yes, species evolve in logical ways except when mages get enthusiastic. I've been thinking about that and I'm guessing someone got overly excited like they do in the diner." Shaking his head, he sighed as he shifted to study my wings. "Questions I need to look into. The environment they first evolved in. Is it magic or some kind of outside energy that's being adapted for use? Did mages and dragons come from the same place?"

He seemed to have forgotten he was naked and didn't have his camera on, so I was helpful and licked his chest.

Paxton went still before looking down at himself. "Shoot."

Well, at least I hadn't scared him.

"We'll need to do this later once I have a notebook at the very least." Still frowning, he looked up at me before his smile came back. "You're a dragon, Daddy."

With no panic in sight, I inched closer and pushed my way onto his lap. He immediately wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head like I was a large and slightly dangerous house cat. "Yes, you need cuddles. Human or dragon, you said you're the same, so you need cuddles and attention."

Ignoring that he thought I was an attention-whore, I snuggled closer and tucked my head under his arm. That got me another giggle and he wrapped us both up in his sheet. "There we go."

Petting my head, he let out a deep breath and I could hear his heart finally start going back to its regular steady rhythm. "I bet you look beautiful in your big form too, but just imagining that is giving me more questions. How does the physics of flight work? How have you not ended up on the news? What other colors do dragons come in?"

Paxton didn't seem to need my input to keep going, but I was enjoying his touch and his voice, so I was perfectly content. "Are mages so frustrating because they're jealous they're not pretty too? Is that why they seem to have a compulsion to fuck with nature? Oops. To mess with nature. Language."

I kept my laughter to myself that time but he huffed. "I heard that. Or I did something. You have to stop giggling at me in this form because that's cheating. Or rude. Or something."

I was not going to promise that, so I just shifted around and licked his nipple.

Oops.

He flopped back on the bed in shock, his eyes going wide again. "Daddy. That's. You're not. You're not human now. You can't do that."

I was pretty sure we'd found a new yellow at the very least, so I nodded and pushed an apology through the bond. Paxton was still dumbfounded and not thinking about anything else, but he shook his head. "No. It's fine. Wait. Why do I know you apologized?"

And his brain was off again.

Suddenly, my poor attempt at teasing had been pushed to the back of his mind and figuring out how he knew what he knew was primary. "You apologized and I knew what you were feeling. How?"

Was that a question I was supposed to answer or was he talking to himself?

Pushing a picture of my human self through the bond, I waited and was amazed when he shook his head as he sat back up. "No. Telling me in words would be cheating. You have to stay like this until I figure it out."

Having a scientist for a mate was going to be more interesting than I'd thought.

But I was a good Daddy and a good mate and just let him give me my pets and snuggles while he worked.

Paxton seemed to understand how difficult my restraint was and kissed my head. "You're so patient. Thank you, Daddy."

Yep, snuggles were hard work and it was nice to be appreciated.

"Okay, what do I know?" He scoffed to himself. "I know I'm keeping a notebook on my side of the bed going forward, that's what I know."

He had a side of the bed?

Hmm.

I guessed he really did grasp that I was going to keep him.

"Something made you happy." He made his frustrated thinking sounds as his brain turned that round and round. "Alright. You don't seem to vocalize as a human in this form, which makes sense because of the different body structure."

Yep.

He hummed and sighed as his hand kept stroking over my head. "You would need additional forms of communication because it's necessary for survival. Options would be a secondary language constructed of sounds you can vocalize in this body. Maybe pheromones but I don't think that's reasonable. I don't think your body has the right structure to make something like sign language be a natural evolutionary step."

He was working through wonderful options and hearing his thought process was fabulous. I wanted to shift back and tell him how proud of him I was but that wasn't what he wanted. So I was patient physically and just pushed pride thought the bond.

"Now you're proud of me." Frowning, he cocked his head. "I'm feeling what you are and not seeing it visually. You didn't move because I asked you to stay in this form, so you were doing your best to stay still for me."

His brows pulled together as his fingers came up and caressed lightly over my head. "It's some kind of telepathic connection."

Was that a question or just him talking to his bug again?

At some point he was going to realize that I needed more to go on…right?