The Dragon’s E-Mail Order Menage

Maggie grinned at them and then turned to continue on, moving ahead of them at a shocking speed. At the same time her eyes were as big as saucers, looking at everything all at the same time. And there was a lot to look at. This place looked like the one place on the planet where the otherworldly had collided with earth and now it just sat there, morphing over the centuries as it withstood the elements and the organisms that paced its surface.

It had always looked to Hudson the way he imagined the surface of Mars must have looked at one time, not that he had told anyone that, either. Levi was the only person he had been here with and he was pretty sure that was the kind of comment that would have earned a merciless ribbing. But he still thought it, nothing had changed about that, and he breathed in what he was sure was the purest air around and thought about how lucky he was to be here.

He was moving slowly now, much more slowly than either Levi or Maggie was, but that was okay. He had plenty of time to take in the world around him. They could stay here for as long as they wanted to. Nobody would bother them. Up here, up where it felt like they were on the very tip top of the world, nothing could touch them or move them unless they chose to be moved.

Up here they were as close to invincible as beings walking around on the earth’s surface could feel. He wondered how many people got to experience that in their life? He couldn’t ever know the answer to that, but he was beyond grateful to get to have it for himself.

“Oh my god, guys! This is insane!”

“I know, right?”

“No, seriously. It’s like, totally insane! I had no idea this was even out here!”

“I don’t think a lot of people do. It’s funny, because it’s in all of the guide books, one of the day trips they say you should take. It just seems like not as many people come here. I like it that way. I like the fact that this place feels untouched, like time just marches on without being hindered by the outside world. I don’t know. I know that sounds like a load of crap.”

“No,” she responded quickly, obviously wanting Hudson to feel comfortable saying whatever it was that he felt in his heart. “It doesn’t sound like crap at all. It makes complete sense to me. That was one of the things I always loved about the farm. I had this special tree, this huge tree I loved to sit under and just watch the world move by. It’s amazing how slowly that happens! The world does what it will do and it doesn’t care at all what we do with ourselves. That always seemed oddly comforting to me. The fact that the world will keep on moving without mourning at all once I’m dead and gone. I know thinking about that kind of thing bothers a lot of people, but not me. It makes me feel at peace.”

Hudson looked at Maggie in awe. Standing up here, up where they seemed to be more of the air than of the land, she looked like a goddess to him. She looked unbreakable, unbendingly kind and terrifyingly fierce all at the same time. The things she said, now that she was truly speaking her mind some and not just feeling him and Levi out to see if they liked her or were merely tolerating her, were exactly the kind of thing he lay awake at night thinking about.

He was in awe of her all right, and he knew that it must show all over her face. From behind her, he could see Levi rolling his eyes and making mock kissing motions in the air, so clearly he could tell how impressed Hudson was. How aware of it was Maggie herself? Did it even matter anymore? By coming here there had been a shift in the way the three of them related to each other, or at least the way he and Maggie related to each other.

It wasn’t something that other people would be able to see but he felt like she had seen inside of him and like, in return, he had caught a glimpse of how truly magnificent she was. And he knew that Levi had already seen that. He must have. He was the alpha, biologically designed to identify the best mate available to him, and that had to be Maggie. It wasn’t only because there was a shortage of dragon shifters, either. There was something special about her.

She had spoken of having feelings about things, something that was becoming more uncommon but was still not at all unheard of in dragon shifters, and this was a feeling he had about her. She was more than just another dragon shifter. That was probably why she got the feelings she did. There was something special about her, something running through her veins that made her impossible not to want. Royalty maybe? He had heard that the blood of royalty smelled sweeter, that it was irresistible to the dragons around the carrier. If that was true for him, it must have been even more so for Levi. Him being the alpha, he would be drawn to her power and nobility.

“Hey guys, what do you say? You want to head back down towards the car, or do you feel like a little extra adventure?”

“Um, that depends,” Maggie answered Levi with a skeptical look on her face, “what kind of extra adventure are we talking about?”

“I was thinking we could just make camp up here. It’s the best view in the place, right? Seems like a pretty awesome thing to wake up to. What do you say?”

“I don’t know, if it’s allowed I don’t see why not.”

“Well none of this is technically allowed, but yes, we can camp here. Unless you’re afraid of heights, that is.”

“Please,” she scoffed, her face such a perfect mask of indignation that Hudson couldn’t but laugh, “I’m a dragon shifter, same as you. Do you honestly think I’m afraid of heights?”

“All right, all right, just checking. Then here it is. Let’s go ahead and set up. It’s gonna get dark soon.”

***

“What do you think? Big enough for you?”

“Mm, maybe. I haven’t quite decided yet.”

“Oh yeah?”