Page 28 of Riding My Dragons

Cursing in my head, I stopped and saw the two University guards with guns raised, coming towards me.Idiot! I realized.The open skylight was the tell.I’m caught!

One of the humans was closer to me than the other, but both had their guns on me.We were all in the pool of light from the open hatch up above us.The closer one said, “Keep your hands where I can see them.What are you doing in here?”

”Me?” I said, trying to sound innocent, holding my claws out at my sides and not looking as if I’d make any sudden moves.“Just visiting.”

”Yeah?” the guard said.“You’re gonna have to convince the Constables about that.”

A sinking feeling went from my dragon neck to the pit of my stomach.The Constables…!If they really got the law on me, it would be as good as having my wings cut off.

“Look,” I said, trying to take a laughing tone, “this was just a little prank.Somebody dared me to come in here, just to see if I’d do it.”

The guard said, “And whoever put you up to this little prank, they just happened to know some way to cut the Ambience long enough for you to get in here, is that it?”

”Oh, the Ambience,” I said, as innocently as I could, while the other guard took another careful step forward and to one side of his friend.“Listen, it’s a little gimmick they wanted to test out, that’s all.I can show you if you want.”I lifted up the wrist with the Ambience jammer on it.

The second I moved, both guards twitched their weapons threateningly at me.“Careful!” the nearer one warned.

”It’s okay, really,” I said.“This on my wrist isn’t dangerous.I can’t hurt anybody with it.I just want to let you see.”And I slowly held out my wrist for him to have a closer look at the gadget.

Warily, the guard darted his eyes between the wristband and my dragon face.“Who gave you this?” he asked.

”Somebody who’s gonna want it back,” I answered.Before he could say another word, I moved—or my tail did, slashing out from behind me and catching him across the face.

The guard shouted in shocking pain and crashed down to the floor, his gun spinning out of his hand and away from him.Everything next happened all at once.I leapt up with all my strength, wings pounding the air and tail slashing hard, and became a blur moving up to the source of the pool of light.I heard the sizzle of an energy bullet slicing through the space where I’d been.With just a few wingbeats, I’d be at the skylight.Flying fast straight up, I heard the voice of the other guard shouting, “Stop!STOP!”

In another second I felt something hot and cruel against the small of my back, between my wings and where my tail came out of my rear trousers slit.There was another across the spines of my neck—and a third one punctured my left wing!I closed the rest of the distance to the open skylight with a screech of pain like I’d never felt in my life!I was shot!Because of the way I was moving, the bullets had just grazed me, but still—the pain!I’d actually been shot!

It hurt so badly that when I came up through the skylight, I spilled dizzily up onto the roof and lay there, my wings thrashing and tail twitching with spasms of pain that I knew I had to fight, because the guards would have reinforcements on the way in seconds.If I morphed back to human now, or passed out from my injuries, I was done for.Puffing hard, taking big gulps of air, I wobbled my way back to my feet and launchedmyself from the warehouse roof, hoping I didn’t get too woozy in mid-flight and crash onto the University grounds.If I did and couldn’t get back up, I could be surrounded; and I wouldn’t get off the ground again.

Flying like a giant moth, dipping dangerously close to the ground before forcing myself up, almost swerving into treetops and crashing into light posts, I somehow got myself to the University’s outdoor statue gallery, where there were big, massive statues of great dragons of sea and air through history—and lots of shadows to hide in.I staggered to the biggest of the statues, a figure of a mighty sea serpent where I’d stashed my clothes in the carved waves at its base.I relaxed my body back to human, and the morphing process immediately cut the pain in half and made the burns on my body disappear.Back in human flesh, I fought the dizziness and slipped back into my clothes.I crumpled there at the base of the statue while the wail of sirens welled up in the direction of where I’d been.All I could think was, the rooftop camera must have come back on.What if it caught the direction that I flew off in?That would tell them where to look first.I’ve got to get up, get moving out of here.

Somehow, I made my body do what my brain said it had to do.My next thought, on my feet again but still shaky, was, what if those guards got a scan of my scale patterns?I was moving fast, but what if they got just one good, clear scan?I couldn’t morph again; if what I was afraid of was true, they’d be looking for a dragon guy with scale color shapes matching mine.I had to get off campus and I had to be human while doing it.Next, I’d need to get this damn thing in my pocket back to Ross.And then…my thoughts turned to Byron.

If I did get caught, I had to hope Byron could help, with his family’s resources and contacts.My family might deny knowing anything about what I’d done for them just to keep investigating eyes off them.They’d probably get me one of the advocates thatthey kept on retainer for things like this, but they’d stop short of doing anything that would incriminate the family elders.Byron might be my only hope.

Keeping to the shadows as best I could, I made my way back out into the night.

CHAPTER 13

Elliot

The three of us woke up in my bed, Jenna lying between Byron and me in tangled sheets, and picked up where we left off a few very busy hours ago.Byron started us off, which worked out well, because while Jenna and I enjoyed ourselves there was a musical sound in the room that was not from her moaning under me and me grunting atop her.

Byron broke from admiring my enthusiastic work and Jenna’s enthusiastic response and looked up.“That sounds like my mirror.Excuse me,” he said, always the gentleman except when he was doing what I happened to be doing at the moment.And he got up from the bouncing mattress and went to find his trousers.

Jenna and I were too wrapped up in this morning fuck to hear clearly any of what Byron was saying across the bedroom.As I humped and kissed her and she pawed at my back, I was dimly aware of Byron saying, “Hey, where are you?Why aren’t you over here at Elliot’s?You should come over and get some…You’re where?What are you doing there?You did?And then you…What?So, you’ve been…?All night?And it’s all over the…Wait a minute; I’m going into another room…”

He obviously stepped away to be able to concentrate better on whoever had called him without the distraction of the sounds coming from the bed.I faintly heard his footfalls padding on the floor; then everything got lost in the feeling of what I was doing to Jenna and how she loved it.After we came and I pulled out and rolled off, we cuddled and kissed together, and slowly remembered that there had been someone with us.

”Where did Byron go?” Jenna asked in our post-coital buzz as she ran a fingertip along my spent cock, and I slowly circled her nipple with my own finger.

”Must have taken his call in the living room or something,” I said, kissing the tip of her nose.“Sounds like it was Cade.Byron’ll be back.Maybe we can both get you in the shower.There’s enough room.Then when Cade gets here, he can get some of what he’s been missing.”

”That sounds wonderful,” she said, and we folded up into another deep kiss, my hand now roaming down her back.

The next thing we heard was the urgent sound of Byron’s voice.“Elliot!Turn on the monitor, quick!There’s something on the media we need to see!”

His tone and his request were both startling.Jenna and I broke from what we were doing and sat up on the bed to find him looking very worried, even a little scared.

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