The Dragon’s E-Mail Order Menage

Hudson plopped down on the ground beside Maggie who was stretched out on a sleeping bag and looking up at the sky. In the light from the nearby fire (the one that Levi was obsessively tending to while letting out a string of expletives that would make most people blush) her eyes flashed an unearthly green and Hudson felt his heat begin to thud in his chest. He could see her bre*sts rising and falling with each intake of air and it was all he could do not to reach out one rough hand and caress them, to feel their weight pushing against his wanting fingers.

When he sat beside her she shifted her eyes from the sky to him and they were full of what looked like (and dear god, did he hope he was right about this) the same longing he was feeling and when she spoke next her words were benign enough but her voice was thick and husky.

“I know I keep saying it, but it’s just so amazing. If there was one thing I could change it would be the clouds. It would be so cool to be able to see the stars.”

“It would indeed!” Levi called out, leaving his fire duty and ambling towards them, “And trust me, those stars will be out and shining just for you a little later on tonight. This cloud coverage was no accident, my dear. It was entirely intentional.”

“Oh really?” Maggie said with a smirk as she propped herself up on one elbow to look at him. “And why is that?”

“When is the last time you let yourself go completely, Maggie? Can you remember?”

“I don’t know,” she replied softly, an uncertain look on her face. “I’m not really sure what you mean by that.”

“I’m talking about shifting. When was the last time you shifted and flew through the air without having to worry at all? Sh*t, when was the last time you flew with other dragons? And dragons your own age, no less?”

Maggie sat up, her legs crossed underneath her, and stared at Levi as if he had spontaneously started speaking a different language, a language that only he could understand. She watched his face closely, like she was trying to figure out if he was serious or only pulling her leg or if he was for real. Once she looked for long enough and realized that he meant the question, her brow furrowed, like she was thinking about something she found to be at least partially unpleasant.

“I don’t know. If I’m being honest, I guess the answer would have to be never.”

“Never? But I thought you had a sister that was around your age.”

“I do, but we never flew together. My parents were really strict about that kind of thing. They didn’t really want us shifting at all, and they definitely didn’t want us flying around. They said it wasn’t safe. They said it was foolish to believe that there was any place where we were really safe and that flying around for the whole world to see in an age where everyone and their mother has a camera built right into their phone is like trying to commit suicide. So yeah, I never really got to do it.”

“Well then, tonight is going to be an adventure. The cloud coverage is to make sure we stay safe. We’re already out in the middle of nowhere, and with the heavy clouds, nobody will be able to see us. The only ones who will be able to see us are the shifters who stay on this land and believe me, they aren’t telling anyone. I’m not even sure most of them remember how to. It’s safe. As safe as it’ll ever be anyway, and isn’t that enough? Do you really want to live your life only doing the things that you know are one hundred percent not going to do you any harm? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“Come on,” Hudson interjected, watching Maggie’s face closely for fear that Levi might be making her feel pressured. “Don’t push her, okay? She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

“No,” she said quietly, so quietly her voice almost just disappeared on the whipping wind. “I want to. I guess I’ve always wanted to, I just never thought about it as a real option.”

“Well start thinking about it, because that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Maggie’s face lit up then, in the widest, most beautiful grin he had ever seen. She jumped up off of the sleeping bag and dusted herself off, looking from Hudson to Levi and then back to Hudson again with wild eyes and a body that was practically vibrating with energy.

“Well then come on! What are we waiting for? This is exactly the kind of thing I dreamed about having when I went looking for you guys in the first place.”

Levi laughed and Hudson stood, amazed to find that he was feeling shy. He had shifted in front of Levi a thousand times so it had nothing to do with him. But Maggie. What would she think of him? Would he seem like nothing compared to Levi? He knew he was being ridiculous but it was how he felt all the same, and he wondered if even Levi was feeling a little bit unsure of himself as well because, despite all of his bravado, he was still just standing there in his human form, just like Hudson was. Finally Maggie rolled her eyes, sighed her exasperated sigh, and started to peel off her shirt.

“Okay, fine. You big babies. I’ll go first. Although I think you two are taking this ladies first thing just a little too far.”

As he watched, Maggie stripped off all of her clothes and, although he knew that it would be the gentlemanly thing to do, he could not look away. He was entirely entranced by her naked body and felt his entire body burn with his desire to touch her. But even as he watched her perfect form was beginning to change. Not into a form any less perfect, far from it, but different.

He watched as her body expanded outwards and her previously perfectly smooth and milky skin took on a rougher texture, grew into scales of the deepest red hue. Her head ducked down and her awesome red hair morphed into a ridge of scales along a neck that was rapidly lengthening.