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The Persistent Dragon, Chapter 9

The Persistent Dragon Lets It Slip

"Jake..." Penelope cooed to him.

Jacob's lavender-scaled dragon lay on her back, hind legs spread wide, looking bubbly and giddy in her afterglow. Jacob sat there, kneeling on his legs. His fingers were wet with her fluids. There was a cool touch of scales sliding across his back, and Jacob found the dragon's tail caressing his skin, sliding up and down between his shoulder blades.

"...that was a good warm up. Mm."

Her tail slid under his arm and the tip curled against his chest. Smiling, he took her tail in hand, and, after pausing in hesitation, he shrugged off the anxiety, brought the tip to his lips and gave it a kiss for her to see. Seeing the dragon let out a gasp of joy made the whole thing seem worth it. He found himself smiling for a moment, but then became unsure if it was the right thing to do to encourage the dragon in this way. The occasional mindless romp was one thing, but he couldn't help but feel that what they were doing together wasn't just about sex. Wasn't he just telling himself last night that he wanted to find Penelope another dragon to let her explore these feelings properly?

The tail tightened around his chest for a moment, grabbing his attention back to the present. "Come here," Penelope whispered.

The dragon brought her forepaws to her chest and splayed her hind legs out wide, showing off her now slightly puffed and swollen slit. Licking her lips licentiously, she snaked her forepaws down her chest and, slowly, parted and stretched her folds open with her toes, showing off the pink inside and the awaiting inner vent. Jacob's eyes darted down her body, pausing as he came to that open-legged display. In her arousal, Penelope's scaled lips had swollen slightly, taking on a slight shade of rosy pink. Her crotch was damp with the fluids of her last orgasm. In seeing all that, his mind began whispering to him, telling him how great it would feel to be inside of her again.

"Take me, Jake," the dragon cooed to him.

"Cripes..." he muttered.

He couldn't put up much of a fight, dragon or not.

Jacob gulped and crawled over her, dragging his erection over the warm cleft of scales between her legs. Penelope stared up at him, delighted to see that slack-jawed expression of arousal. It wasn't the timid and unsure look Jacob had often worn before sex, during it, or many times after, too.... But now Penelope only saw a confident man ready to mount her. The look alone sold her, and she could feel herself getting even wetter between the legs than she already was.

Taking his cock in hand, Jacob rubbed it over the cleft between her legs, getting a feel for the scaled entrance to his dragon's vent, smearing his cock head with her draconic fluids from the last climax. He pressed his hips against her slit, the flat of his cock rubbing against her labia and giving his dragon a delicious tease that was met with a lusty growl.

Penelope let out a tiny whimper as she felt the tip of his cock press against her slit. He looked down, watching his shaft spread her open. Penelope's vagina had such an alien look to Jacob: the skin all covered in yellow scales, the clitoris nestled inside the top of her slit... but as soon as he pressed forward and felt himself slip in, all of a sudden he was reminded that didn't really matter what the outside looked like at all.

"Gah..." he gasped, feeling inch after inch slide into her warm and silky depths. "So good..."

He looked up and caught a glimpse of Penelope staring at his face, looking back with an open-mouth look of adoration as he pressed in to the hilt, resting his hips against her own. The pair said nothing for a while as both adjusted to the sensation. Jacob started to move his hips ever slightly while Penelope licked her lips and watched eagerly, saying nothing.

Inside of the dragon was a comfy fit, an enticing fit: Penelope, despite her slightly larger size, was snug and soft around his cock, was more than wet enough for him to slide in effortlessly, and her muscular control...

"Hey Jake," Penelope called out to him, her tone of voice carrying a certain air of mischievousness to it.

"What?"

All of a sudden, Penelope clamped her vent around his member, squeezing him tight as she could.

"Ow!" Jacob cried. His eyes bugged out in surprise and his whole body jerked in response as his member was constricted hard enough to cause pain. He heard Penelope giggling profusely, her paws coming up to guide him down on her chest.

"Erg... You darn dragon..." Jacob shook his head. "That kinda hurt!"

The smile was wiped off Penelope's face in an instant. "Aw," she whimpered, going in for a few apologetic licks on his face. "I didn't mean to hurt you! I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, it's okay," he laughed, pushing her licks away. "Don't worry about it. No big deal."

Penelope bit her tongue and grinned. "Good. Because I wouldn't want to break my favorite part of you."

Jacob opened his mouth, but wasn't sure exactly what to say to his dragon saying such things about him. He instead shook his head and concentrated on the task at hand, sliding his member deep into the dragon's vent beneath him with a push of his hips. Penelope's eyes widened a bit, and she parted her lips to let out a soft murmur of pleasure.

"Mm, Jake..." the dragon cooed. "I love mating with you..."

The dragon waited for a moment.

"Jake?"

"Cripes, Nel," Jacob began, laughing. "Just be quiet and enjoy it."

Penelope let out a giddy little giggle and leaned forward to lick at her keeper's chest as he continued to thrust into her. Thankfully for Jacob, she couldn't tell he was avoiding answering her.

Jacob closed his eyes, focused on the warm hole around his cock. Penelope's belly scales, yellow in color, bumped up and grinded against his own soft skin. He felt himself rocking his dragon's body into the bed. His balls, now wet with her fluids, were rubbing lightly against her scales on every push. Gosh, she just felt so incredible, he thought! The warmth, the snugness... It was easy to get lost in the moment, forget that she was a dragon and not his own kind.

Penelope began to pant, getting into the mood as her keeper's shaft repeatedly penetrated her draconic depths. She brought her forepaws to Jacob's chest, enamored with being able to watch him mate her. The dragon thought he looked so enticing, seeing him with furrowed brow and slightly parted lips, eyes on her own as he rutted her steadily. Watching him like that sent the dragon's arousal blooming.

"Mrf... Jake. Penelope huffed, closing her eyes tight. "More.... harder!" she cried, her body starting to slowly squirm in place, her folded wings fluttering ever so slightly. The dragon let out another growl as she felt him comply, leaning over her body and giving the dragon a real ride, slamming into her hips and creating wet, smacking noises as his balls slapped against her scaled vent.

Jacob began to hear the dragon's quiet grunts in his ears with every push, and Jacob opened his eyes once again. Penelope would not lay still, her hips still gryrating slowly, her wings and tail swishing in the air. She was gaining already!

She groaned once, sucked in a deep breath and groaning again, hissing Jacob's name, her body tensing up. The dragon arched her back and lifted him slightly, and Jacob snuck his hands underneath the space and hugged her tight as he continued to plow into her. The move was unexpected for the dragon, and she whined his name as the filling feeling deep in her vent became too much to resist.

As her orgasm overcame Penelope, she growled and tensed up in his arms. Jacob could feel her vent squeezing and pulsing around him. There was nothing to Penelope but that rigid cock gliding into that wonderful spot between her legs, spreading her sensitive vent open, massaging her walls, and delivering blooms of pleasure on every tiny motion.

Jacob winced as he heard her claws dig into the linen sheets, producing ripping noises. The dragon underneath him began crying out in bestial, draconic yowls. Fluttering wings stretched in the air, a thick tail slapped and swished across the ground as Penelope basked in the feeling of being bred by her keeper, of feeling his body over her, moving in her.

And after her orgasm, and the dragon's wild wiggling and thrashing ended, Jacob slowed down for a bit, pulling his hands out from Penelope's back after she had laid down on them. Penelope was anything but ready to quit, as her eager grinding against his cock quickly proved.

"Mrf, Jake," Penelope huffed. "Why are you so hot?"

Jacob had no answer for that, and he let out a swear. He felt Penelope body moving beneath him as he continued to thrust, shifting her shoulders side-to-side bit as she stroked his sides with her paws.

"You getting uncomfortable on your back?" he asked, panting softly and slowing down for a bit. Jacob's cheeks were flushed with arousal. He had been close to finishing himself, but pulled out of her momentarily.

Penelope nodded. "I didn't want to say anything, but-"

"Here, I got an idea..." he smiled, and took one of Penelope's hind legs in hand and turned it, encouraging her to roll to her side. With a look of glee, the dragon complied, fussing a bit as she found a comfortable position with the wings on her back first, and rolled to her left. With the dragon lying on her side, Jacob lifted her right leg up and held it against his chest.

"Mmm! That's nice!" she crooned, squirming a bit to settle in bed as Jacob slipped inside of her once more to resume the wonderful, rhythmic penetration deep in her vent. With this on-your-side position, feeling Jacob enter her at an odd angle felt just different enough to seem exciting and new. She curled her thick tail back as far as it could go, drew her forepaws up tight against her chest, and gleefully let Jacob have his way.

Jacob pulled the dragon's leg close and moved his hands up to her hind paw. He held it between his hands and rubbed her calloused pads a bit, massaging firmly across her smooth sole, tracing a finger in between the lines. Jacob gently caressed each clawed, scaly toe. He took his fingers and rubbed against the arch of her paw, causing the dragon to flex her claws and giggle.

Penelope watched him with glee, finding the attention given to her hindpaw to be playfully delightful. The moment strongly reminded her of the pair's first time, when the dragon tried to fake a sore paw needing massage in order to get Jacob's hands exploring her body. Her plan eventually worked, but not quite in the way she had hoped. The whole thing seemed so long ago, now....

"So how's that injured foot of yours been?" He asked teasingly, confirming that he had been inspired by the same memory.

Penelope giggled. "Jake, I'm so sorry I lied abou-"

"Shh. Not now, you silly dragon," he admonished, and Penelope was all smiles.

He ran his hand across her hindpaw once more, taking the thick heel and then planting a playful kiss for her to see. Penelope gasped effusively, her tail swishing across the bed in joy. She cooed his name quietly, to which Jacob smiled sheepishly in return. Every once in a while, she would squeeze him with her vent's internal muscles, always giggling or churring pleasantly as she did so. Looking on at the dragon below him, he was still in disbelief that such a creature was joined to him at the hips. He wondered if he ever would get used to the sight.

Jacob quietly kept a tight grip on the large hind leg against his chest with one arm, his other held on to her scaled belly as he thrust. Penelope's hind leg swayed with a limp movement as he took the dragon. As he continued to thrust into her, Jake found himself caressing her hips, belly, and legs, his mind not quite able to get over the unusual sensation of scales against his naked body.

His free hand trailed lower, and he rested his fingers over the top of her slit. The dragon's clitoris was erect and exposed, and after some steady swipes of his thumb, it didn't take much before Penelope began to whine and groan in pleasure. After a few more minutes, a long, low growl suggested another incoming orgasm. Jacob leaned forward into her hind leg and increased his pace, determined to finish along with her. He began to slam into her vent, his shaft pulsing with energy. Enraptured by the sudden pressure deep in her vent, Penelope arched her spine back and began to claw at the bed once more, tightly holding on to edge of it with clenched paws. Her moans became louder, more bestial as her insides tingled with ecstasy and her climax overtook her.

Jacob pulled back, and began to ram her, going deep and rocking the dragon's hips into the ground. He felt her body sway with his push, felt her resistance as she nudged back into him. His balls pressed up firmly against her vent, wetting themselves with the excess fluids from the dragon's last climax. He clutched her hind leg tightly to his chest as he felt his own climax building.

"Gah!" Jacob grunted, feeling an intense pressure well up deep in his hips, growing ever stronger. "Holy crap."

All of a sudden he lost control and rammed Penelope hard, shaking her whole body as he doubled over and began to release his fluids. Jacob felt the firm tug of his dragon's vent around him, milking him for his seed as Penelope let out an incomprehensible mumble that turned into a long groan. Jacob felt the dragon shudder as he pumped a few more spurts deep in her depths, feeling the throbbing, the gush of her keeper's fluids and loving it all. And as the last few throbs of his cock died down, Jacob slowly felt the tension and euphoria in his body release, leaving him still holding his dragon's hind leg to his chest, speechless.

After a moment, as Penelope felt those blooms of pleasure subside, she relaxed her body and began to pant again. The dragon's thick tongue lazily fell out of the side of her mouth, tasting the dry mattress. She was feeling too good to care about it.

Jacob let go of the dragon's leg with a sigh of satisfaction. He looked at Penelope, who seemed to be just in bliss at the moment, wearing the widest of open grins. She looked his way and her eyes immediately narrowed. With a grunt, she rolled back onto her back, and taking Jacob by surprise, flexed her tail up to meet his back, encouraging him to lie down on her with a firm push.

"Hey..." Jacob grunted. He lifted his hips, but the tail held him down, keeping his softening cock inside of her still.

"Don't pull out yet," she whispered.

"I... why?"

"Jake..." she cooed, beckoning him with a claw. "Just... Come here. Kiss me."

Jacob was sure she didn't mean the innocent kisses on her forehead he used to give when he was little.... He laughed out of anxiety, not sure what other reaction to give.

The current situation felt wrong to Jacob, somehow, but the look of his dragon, one of sweet innocence and longing, coaxed him onward. Jacob got down on all fours, placing his hands on the ground just next to where she rested her wings, and Penelope leaned forward, arching her neck upwards. The dragon's lip came close to his own, but Jacob paused, his voice wavering.

"Nel, I-"

"Shush."

Penelope closed her eyes and quickly leaned in. When the dragon found his lips with her own, she inhaled sharply, feeling a sudden rush of feelings that caused her body to squirm and her vent to tighten around his cock. She nibbled and nipped at his warm lips, finding them delightful to play with, and delightfully extended her tongue as she opened her mouth and pressed in hard, gyrating her hips against his and causing both human and dragon fluids to mix further in her vent.

Jacob gasped as the dragon wormed her tongue between his lips, past his teeth, and began to lap inside his mouth. Her thick saliva was hot and ashy, and her large tongue more than a mouthful! He touched tongues with her, and found his own exploring as well, feeling the smooth texture of her taste buds, the contours of her carnivorous teeth, all while continuing to thrust into her gently.

And somewhere along the line, his eyes slowly closed once more, and he found himself starting to let go. He felt a fire in his belly growing, and Jacob found himself kissing back, pressing into her lips, sucking in a sudden breath. Jacob leaned in, pressing her head against the mattress and moaning softly out of the corner of his mouth as he kissed her powerfully. And as he did so, Jacob felt the dragon melt in his hands, squealing in surprise at first, then letting out murmurs of pleasure as she returned the kiss.

He had lost track of how long he had been kissing her. But when he pulled back, Jacob almost felt himself wanting for more, missing the feeling of her lips against his. He opened his eyes, and then got a mild surprise:

He found Penelope's wings were now tightly wrapped around his back, holding him close. Her forepaws, firmly planted on his chest to steady herself, were stroking his skin, and her hind legs were wrapped tightly around his waist. One of his hands were inexplicably on the dragon's cheek, carressing her scales. They were tightly embracing.

In an instant Jacob came back down off his high. "I..." he trailed off, unsure of what had come over him. "Uh oh...."

Penelope panted hard, with her eyes wide in shock as she pulled away from the kiss.

"Jake! I've wanted that... for a long time," the dragon spat out the words between breaths.

"I, uh... What do you mean? You had me kiss you before..." Jacob trailed off, find it hard to not averting his gaze.

"But not like that! Oh, Jake..." Gleefully, the dragon wrapped her head around the human's shoulders in a pleasured churr, embracing him with her neck and every limb she had. She rolled with him to their sides, and Jacob found himself grunting as he was squeezed from nearly every conceivable angle. He felt the dragon's tongue licking effusively along his shoulders and neck.

"Penelope!" he gasped.

"Mm, don't ruin it!" Penelope squeaked, and Jacob, after muttering another "Cripes", he relaxed and hugged back, finding her infectious enthusiasm hard to resist.

He stayed with her for a moment, deep in thought as he stayed in the wings of his dragon, feeling her scale-covered body against his own. What had he just done with her? That kiss...

It was only after he felt the wings release their tight embrace that he finally pulled out of her and got up on all fours.

Stunned and not sure what to think of their moment of intimacy, Jacob sat at the edge of her boxless mattress. He looked down at his own body, not sure what to make of what had just happened. He sat there for a moment in silence.

Penelope took the moment to lick her vent clean, always enjoying this part: the taste of Jacob's fluids inside of her excited the dragon. But after she had finished and saw her keeper still facing away from her motionless, Penelope detected something wasn't quite right.

"Jake?" she asked.

Jacob stared at the door. "I... I should go," he mumbled.

A paw appeared on his lap before he could move to get up.

"No, stay..."

He turned to face the dragon, looking into her now sad eyes, her expression imploring him.

"Penelope, I..."

Penelope pawed at and gripped his lap. "Look, um... I'll give you another blowie. Okay?"

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you kidding? There's no way I can finish a third time!"

Penelope stared back at him with anxious eyes. "I... I'll do it anyway. Just..." Letting the sentence trail off, she bent her head down to lap at his now flaccid cock.

"Nel!" Jacob shouted, exasperated. He watched as his dragon immediately take his flaccid shaft between her lips and began to suckle.

"Penelope! You crazy dragon!"

Gently but firmly, he tried to pull her away. She resisted at first but Jacob finally managed to lift her head up, and his cock fell from her jaws. He tried to put on a grin for her. "Listen... I'll stay, okay?"

Jacob saw her expression immediately brighten. "Okay!"

Penelope pulled him in with both wings and pressed her head tight against his chest. But as she hugged him tight, her smile slowly faded as she pondered his reaction.

Jacob laid an arm over her shoulder, his body feeling stiff and uncomfortable. Why was it that even a simple thing like his dragon snuggling up to him felt so awkward now? Penelope had always liked to snuggle and be pet, even as a young whelp....

His mind wandered back to the kiss. That kiss....

He shook his head, feeling unsure of what he was getting in to. No one should be kissing a dragon like that, he thought. No one.

A week ago he had told Penelope he was going to try to be more okay with sex. But that kiss wasn't sex. It was... something else.

"Jake."

Hearing his name pulled Jacob out of his thoughts. "Yeah, Nel?"

Penelope slowly withdrew herself from the hug. It was clear the dragon was a tad upset; she refused to look him in the eye.

"Jake... I feel like something's wrong."

Jacob swallowed hard and said nothing. Penelope let out a huff and folded her paws under her chest, his silence doing everything but reassuring the dragon.

"I thought you said you'd be more okay with mating..." She turned to look at him, her eyes honest and sad. "But you have that look again.... That look you get when you start thinking about mating. I hate that look."

Jacob grimaced and turned away from her. "Nel..." He shook his head.

The dragon shut her eyes again and bent her head down. She said nothing for a long time.

Jacob's insides wrenched tight. Familiar conflicted thoughts and emotions filled his mind. He looked at Penelope, seeing her in a different light now with his arousal abated by sex. With no lust to cloud his mind, there was no tempting seductress anymore, no thrilling and enticing lover next to him; now he only saw Penelope.... a dragon. Her lavender scale-covered skin, dark grey horns, and her tapered snout suddenly stood out as strange and alien in his eyes.

But in looking up into her sad expression, one thing did bother him. Throughout Jacob's life, he had spent many a day with his dragon: when he was young he had played with Penelope, wrestled with her, built forts with her and played pretend. And later in life, he read books to her, ran with her, rode trails with her, and sometimes spent nights just talking with her....

On every one of those days, Penelope had been happy. She had been happy and smiling and laughing and innocent and... and the Penelope he was used to was nothing like the Penelope he saw right now. Jacob's eyes followed the contours of her forlorn frown, of her sweeping fins now drooping listlessly. His stomach twisted itself into a knot. He hated the thought of encouraging her, but seeing her like that...

"Gah, Penelope... I'm sorry." Jake mustered. He flopped down on the mattress with a sigh. "Come here."

Reaching up, he wrapped his hands around the dragon's neck and pulled. She resisted his touch at first, but reluctantly chose to lie next to him. However, when she did, Jacob wrapped Penelope in a big, strong hug that surprised the lavender dragon.

"Jake?"

"Shush." He chided her, and squeezed tightly, slipping a hand to her scaled snout and giving her an affectionate rub. "I'm sorry, Penelope," he began, holding her tight. "I know I said I'd try to be less reluctant. And I was trying to get okay with that, ya know? But I'm starting to get the feeling that the more we do it, the more we..." He paused to search for the correct words. "I feel like this whole thing is getting a bit too serious."

Jacob let out a sigh of exasperation and stared at the rafters. He had no idea what a dragon's idea of a relationship was, if they only took one mate, if they mated for life, if they even understood romance the same way humans did.... Maybe he didn't want to know.

Dragons and relationships... what a ridiculous thing for him to be concerned with, Jacob thought.

Penelope tried to evaluate his words. "What do you mean?" she eventually asked, rolling to her stomach and putting a paw on his chest.

"I mean..." Jacob grimaced, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Well.... I don't even know what's going on between us, to be honest. It's all just.... That kiss, and, and... you wanting me to stay, and the... Arg!"

Jacob abruptly sat up, brought his knees to his chest, and tried to collect his thoughts. "I just feel like what we're getting into is becoming awfully..." he paused, feeling reluctant to say the word out loud. "...intimate."

Penelope's eyes lit up. "Oh, oh! I know what you mean now! Romance!"

Jacob felt his spine go rigid. "Um... what?"

"Like those books Lucy has!" Penelope nodded effusively. "Oh yes, I know all about those."

Jacob felt his face go ashen. No. Not those romance novels his mother is always reading. Those ridiculous, overwrought, tasteless little tales of secret love and passionate desire that Jacob had always thought no one in their right mind should ever want to read. Always with titles like "Forbidden Desires", or "Midnight Temptations", or "Passion at Sundown", and always about some idealized masculine character that sweeps the female protagonist off her feet....

"Wait.... you mean, Mother been reading to you?" Jacob gawked.

"Yes!" Penelope gushed. "When you're at class and Dessie is gone for the day we sometimes have girl time together where we spend time in the garden and she reads out loud. And oooh, we're on this one where the girl moves to a small town and meets this dark, handsome outlaw with a secret, and gosh, he's just so dark and mysterious and then he saves her life but then he finds he can't bear to leave her but then he has to protect her from his dangerous past and then... then...." The dragon let out a dreamy sigh as she stared off into the distance. "We haven't gotten to the ending yet."

The only one Jacob knew of off-hand was the one with that creepy sparkly guy. "How... how long has this been going on?"

"Since the spring. We've read almost three books together! And I learn soooo much! In fact..." Giggling softly, the dragon leaned in for a lick on Jacob's neck. "That's where I've been getting a lot of ideas for when me and you spend time together, Jake..." Penelope whispered into his ear. "Ideas like this:"

The dragon took Jacob's earlobe between her teeth and began to nibble and suck at it, churring into his ear. And all the while Jacob sat there with eyes the size of dinner plates, unable to move a muscle.

Penelope pulled back slowly, letting his earlobe pop out of her mouth. She then gave him a nudge on the cheek with her snout. "Whenever the guy does that in the books, the girl always gasps in pleasure." The dragon looked rather proud of herself, nodding knowingly.

Jacob gulped and stared off into the distance. "Yeah, it does feel really good..." He was still in shock trying to process what he had just learned: Everything his dragon knew about sex and relationships came from low-brow, cheesy romance novels!

"That's where I learned this spot, too..." Penelope leaned in to nibble and bite at Jacob's clavicle, causing him to stifle a pleasured murmur. She began to move down his chest, but gently, he pushed his dragon's face away before she could get much farther.

"Penelope..." he looked her in the eye. "I... those books are fantasy, you know? Real relationships, heck, real romance never works like they do in those stories."

The dragon cocked her head in confusion. "But... we do stuff like in those books. We even do a lot more than that! All the fun, naughty parts..." Penelope crooned playfully.

"Oh, gosh..." Jacob held his head in his hands. He felt reluctant to just come out and ask her, but perhaps there was no easier way....

"Look, sex is one thing, but..." he looked at her. "What the heck are we, anyway, Nel? In a relationship? Friends with benefits? Are you..." he scrunched up his brow and forced the words out. "...are you in love with me? Or is this more casual? Or what?"

Penelope stared at him, cocking her head to the side. "I... I don't understand. What's the difference?"

Jacob blinked, completely unprepared for that answer. The dragon's words had some sort of effect on him that he couldn't really describe. And after a while of trying to gauge what to say, an epiphany came to him that sent a chill down his spine. She didn't know. Oh, but of course she wouldn't know! Penelope had been around humans for nearly her entire life and had only her instincts and bad romance novels to go on.

"Oh, cripes..." he muttered. Jacob wasn't sure where to begin. "I... uh..." he stuttered. "Well, the thing with relationships is..." At a loss for words, he failed to finish the sentence, and Penelope looked at him, perplexed.

"Okay..." he began with a start, holding his hands in front of him. "Let's work this this out. You're my dragon, I'm your keeper, and we've been close since we were little. We're friends, right?"

"Yup, of course!" The dragon nodded profusely.

Jacob shook his head in return. "Yea, so... you like being around me, and we're friends, but now you want to mate with me. So now we're..." He furrowed his brow. "Friends with benefits?"

Penelope cocked her head, beginning to look a tad worried over his strange behavior. "Jake... I don't understand."

"Work with me, Nel, okay?" his mind began to race. "So, friends with benefits... I can work with that, maybe... unless..." Jacob suddenly shut his mouth and stared off at the far wall of her stable. Friends with benefits was one thing, but it was another thing to be romantically attracted to another. And one major difference between the two was....

He suddenly turned to his dragon and looked her in the eye with a wild stare. "Penelope! You, uh... if I found a human girl and we got in a relationship, would you be jealous?"

Penelope reared her head back, surprised at the sudden outburst of his question. "I... um... Why?"

"Just imagine it, Nel!" he pleaded. "If you saw me with a human girl, and we were holding hands, kissing a lot, and if we slept together... would you be jealous?"

The dragon looked completely perplexed. "Well... um...." She thought hard for a moment. "Well, maybe? No, um.... I think so. Wait, yes," she finally exclaimed. "Yes I would."

Silence.

"Jake, why is this so important?"

Silence.

"Why, Jake?"

"Cripes...." Jacob slumped against the wall of the stable, his expression full of shock.

Slowly, he shook his head, trying to come to grip with the revelation. Looking back on things, Jacob mentally kicked himself for not realizing it earlier. Perhaps he had just been ignoring the signs... perhaps he did see them and had tried to forget them.

"You..." Jacob's hands dropped to his sides. "You're in love with me."

Penelope giggled. "I've always loved you, Jake... When we were little I-"

Jacob shook his head. "This is a different type of love...."

Penelope's smile shortened a bit and the dragon cocked her head. "I... what do you mean?"

Jacob closed his eyes. He said nothing for a while. He didn't even know where to begin. He just sat on the bed with legs to his chest and stared at the wall.

"Jake?"

"I..."

"Well... if you won't answer, then what about you?" Penelope asked in curiosity.

The question snapped him out of his thoughts. Jacob flinched. "Huh?"

"What about if I met another dragon and you watched us? You wouldn't be jealous?" she asked.

Jacob pondered for a moment. "No."

Penelope thought for a moment. "Not even if we mated?"

"I..." Jacob furrowed his brow as he considered the question. The image of Penelope and some other dragon popped into his imagination, the two going at it wildly, Penelope's eyes glazed over in esctasy as she was taken. He then moved on, imagining her nuzzling him afterwards, whispering that she never wanted to stop, that she would be his...

Jacob burst out into sudden, awkward laughter. "Oh no...." he mumbled, completely surprised at himself, and tried to shake his head free of the imagery. The jealousy... it was tiny, but it was definitely there. But that couldn't be right, could it? Why would he have any reason to get jealous? Maybe the jealousy didn't mean anything. There was no way, he thought, no way....

That kiss re-entered his mind, filling Jacob with dread.

"This can't be happening." he muttered.

Maybe it was just one kiss, he thought. Maybe it didn't mean anything. Perhaps it was just a one-time incident. He liked the sound of that. It was comforting.

"I don't get what's so important about this, Jake... What's wrong?" Penelope asked.

Jacob ran his fingers through his hair, finding it hard to look his dragon in the eye. "Nel, I just can't go around having a relationship with you! I mean... heck, sex is bad enough! But to think if I let things actually get romantic, there's just no way... no way I could see things working out! I mean, yeah, well... we're having sex, and we... you are getting feelings for me...." Jacob paused a moment to take the weight of his own words in.

"So yeah, you're feeling a lot of emotions, I guess. But cripes, Nel, this stuff is complicated in real life, ya know? I mean, you're a dragon, for pete's sake! This isn't like those books, it's..." Jacob found his words faltering as Penelope began shaking her head no.

"Jake," Penelope began, drawing close. "You're doing it again. I think you are always thinking too much. You think too much and get yourself worked up over everything. And I think if you just stopped that you'd feel much better."

Jacob pursed his lips tight. "Penelope..."

"I don't think it's complicated at all. All I know is that I like what we do and I like doing it with you..." She leaned in and gave him a nudge on the cheek. "I just... I like it, and I don't want to stop. That's all."

Jacob stared at her, lips slightly parted. Her logic was so foreign to him that he didn't even know how to respond to it.

"But... but," he stuttered.

A thousand thoughts raced through Jacob's mind, a thousand objections to her logic, a thousand things to worry about: the kissing, the sex, the affection, the feelings, all wrapped around a dragon and not a girl; his father, his mother, what they would think, what his friends would think, what the rest of the world would think; whether it was right, whether it was wrong; how to keep everything secret, how long they could keep doing this, how long this whole fling between them could possibly last; how he could never take her out on a date, or to a restaurant for dinner, or take home to his parents; how it seemed like it was impossible that what was going on could even be considered a relationship, but still, there was the sex, and the feelings, and....

And in weighing all that in his mind, it almost infuriated Jacob that she did not concern herself with any of those things, that her decision amounted to something so simple as "I like it so I don't want to stop." How could she possibly take that stance? That was so childish of her, he thought. So narrow-minded, so ignorant, so...

So oddly carefree and untroubled. So liberating. Exhilarating. It was envious, in a way. Jacob let out a slow exhale and laid a hand on his dragon's back.

"Nel, I know you don't want to stop. And I... well, I suppose I don't want to either. And mindless sex is easy to cut off, I suppose, but if we're-you're getting deeper than just sex... Well, I just don't think that can work out."

"What do you mean? Why?" Penelope asked, her eyes wide with concern.

"Nel..." Jacob winced. "We've been over this. You're a dragon. I'm not. And it's just not..." he searched for the right word. "Practical. It's just because I'm not a dragon like you, and I'm just worried that this... this stuff going on between us won't be possible forever. You remember all the stuff I told you earlier, right? Why this is hard on me and why we have to keep it a secret? Do you understand?"

"I.... I guess." Penelope muttered. The dragon wore a dour frown and cast her eyes on the bed.

All of a sudden a thought occurred to him: his epiphany last night before he went to bed.

"Oh gosh..." he shut his eyes tight and pinched his brow. "That's right! What about another dragon, Nel? Wouldn't you want to find a guy dragon... a drake, and be with him and stuff?" Jake knew the dragon still had stirrings for her own kind, and he assumed, for a family someday, if her wistful fantasies about having eggs were any indication. He was hoping that at least, she wasn't infatuated with him to the point that she wouldn't want to explore other options.

Jacob stared at her, looking desperate for an answer as Penelope thought hard. "I... well, yes..." she admitted, before ducking her head down a bit in uncertainty. "But I don't know..."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know about other dragons... Actually, I want you to be my drake, Jake." She giggled.

Stifling his uncomfortable feelings, Jacob shook his head. "Well, I can't be a dragon... so..." he shrugged. "What do you choose?"

Penelope paused and thought for a moment, before finally speaking up again. "I want both."

A smile spread across Jacob's face, and despite the weightiness of the conversation, he allowed himself to chuckle. "You'd want me AND your stud drake?"

"Yes!" she giggled again. "Why not? Oh, it would be fun... I get double the love, double the attention... and, ooh!" Her eyes lit up. "Both of you bringing me food at once!" The dragon crooned in excitement at the thought of not one, but two food bowls every morning and night. Such luxury... such full bellies!

Jacob exhaled through his teeth, finding it hard to not smile. "Actually... You know what? I'd be really happy for you if you found another dragon to be with. You've never really spent a lot of time around your own kind before, and yesterday I was thinking that maybe it would do you some good."

"Oh, I don't know..." Penelope looked away.

"Why not?" he asked. "Heck, don't you see other dragons in the city sometimes?"

"Sometimes, yes..." Penelope frowned. "But I'm too afraid to talk to them. They're just big and scary and scaly and-"

"Penelope, so are you!" Jacob gawked.

"B-but that's different!" the dragon protested.

"I..." Jacob shut his mouth. No use in trying to argue. "You wouldn't even want to try?" he asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

The dragon laid a paw on his thigh. "Because I like you, Jake... and I don't want to change anything."

Jacob sighed. He could tell from the look on her face that she was being completely honest.

"Well, I never said you had to change." He shrugged, hoping that being non-committal about it would get her to open up about the idea. "I just figured you might like to spend some time with your own kind. Nothing more than that. So, how about this... what if you and me take a trip into the city together, tomorrow after my classes?"

The dragon was silent. She refused to look his way.

"I was thinking we could just walk and spend some time together, go down the shop stalls, browse a bit, just hang out for a while, maybe get something to eat..."

Penelope turned away from him, folding her fins flat against her head.

"Not even food?" Jacob prodded. "Look, this doesn't mean we have to change a thing."

Penelope looked his way. "So we'll still mate? And you'll still be not reluctant?"

"Yes!" The word was out of his mouth before he even knew the implications.

She pressed in close to him as she rested her head against his chest once more. "Just... tell me you won't stop, and I'll do it."

"I..." He let out a sigh.

"I just want to hear it." She nudged his chin.

Jacob forced out a weak smile. "Alright. I won't stop."

"Okay..." the dragon paused, then looked straight at him, cocking her head. "You promise?"

Jacob's insides tightened themselves into a great knot. But as he looked into his dragon's eyes, he found some part of him nudging to say yes.

"I..."

"Jake..." Penelope whined. She curled her ears back.

Hearing his name spoken like that snapped his resistance like a twig. "Oh, cripes... sure." He rubbed her underneath the chin. "Just for now... I promise."

"Okay. Good," she whispered, bearing a big grin.

He held her for a few minutes, and the pair said nothing during that time. Slowly, he felt the dragon relax in his arms, and after a moment, he heard a tiny churr out of her.

"Now just stay with me for a little. Pretty please?"

He reached a hand up and touched her cheek. "Yeah."

Penelope's face seemed to brighten with joy at the word. "Good," she whispered.

Jacob let himself relax as he lowered himself back onto the bed. He felt the dragon let out a satisfied murmur as she snuggled up against him, and Jacob, despite everything that he felt was going on between him and his dragon, found himself smiling.

--=-=--

Jacob didn't know when he had fallen asleep, or for how long, but a faint sound of his name brought him out of a light nap.

He opened his eyes and blinked, feeling groggy. He found Penelope at his side, resting her head against his own and breathing into his shoulder. And her forepaw... A wing had covered to extend over some of his body, but underneath, her paw was securely wrapped around his flaccid cock.

He found himself grinning sheepishly at that.

This wasn't the first time he and his dragon had fallen asleep together, nor even the tenth time... It had happened on many a lazy afternoon in the past, especially when they were younger. It was innocent, then... just a kid and his dragon, nothing more. Jacob had been homeschooled for much of his life: His parents hired a private tutor that was very expensive. Without the chance to meet a lot of other children, Penelope had been Jacob's closest friend for the days of his youth, and it wasn't uncommon for him and the dragon to go off on childhood adventures, get tired, and wake up in the fields somewhere, all dirty and grass-stained from playing...

However, this time felt very different.... Jacob felt oddly comfortable in her embrace, but as memories of the kiss and talk afterward flooded his mind, he began to find himself feeling like he didn't belong. Slowly, he snaked his hand under the dragon's wing, and lightly touched the paw that was between his legs. He traced along the scales on her toes, the darker purple plates that protected her digits, and let out a big exhale through tightly-pursed lips.

Yes, this time felt different, he thought. After all, this time he was nude, and there was-

"Jacob? Are you out here?"

The sound was faint, but the voice was unmistakable. His father.

Jacob felt the blood drain from his face. In a flash, he threw the wing and paw off of him and jolted out of bed, startling the lavender dragon that had been sleeping peacefully beside him. She blinked twice and shook her head as her eyes focused on her keeper frantically throwing on his clothes.

"Mm, Jake?" Penelope sleepily asked, rolling to her belly. "What's wrong?"

"For goodness sake, Nel!" he yelled. "I fell asleep. With you! Naked! In your bed! Oh cripes, oh cripes..." Jacob hopped up and down on one foot as he tried to get his other foot through his pants leg. "You were asleep too? For how long? Nobody came in, right? Oh gosh, what time is it... where's my socks?"

"Jake, I don't understand..." Her eyes followed her keeper as he rushed around, picking up clothes.

Jacob whirled around to face his dragon, looking crazed. "You don't understand!?" he yelped. "Someone... anyone could have walked in on us while we were asleep and seen me naked in bed with you!"

Penelope cocked her head. "Oh..." She didn't quite understand what was so alarming about that, but she put on a worried look for the sake of things.

His fingers flew like lighting as he rebuttoned his shirt and messily stuffed the bottom of it down his pants. "Wait, where's my belt?" He turned around in a circle, before finding it had been hastily discarded next to his dragon's wooden chest. He threaded it through the belt loops in a hurry.

"Ah... there!" He smoothed his shirt out. Good enough, he thought.

Penelope let out a lazy yawn and rolled to her side, stretching out on the mattress. "Jake, you're so skittish," She remarked off-handedly. "You're like a scared little bunny in an open field."

He turned to her, putting his hands on his hips. "I am not!"

Penelope giggled. "Yes you are! Now come back to bed, silly." She patted the mattress with a forepaw.

"Jacob? It's almost suppertime!"

The voice was much louder now, and much closer.

The sound of door latch being thrown froze Jacob in place. Quickly, he whirled around just as Desmond entered the room.

"Father!"

Desmond stood in the doorway to Penelope's stable with one outstretched one arm holding the door open, bearing a puzzled look on his face. Jacob's father was a tall, solidly built man that seemed to naturally wear the proud, stern expression of a hawk. The wrinkled, soft lines of middle age and thinning hair mottled his naturally intimidating presence, but only just so. Desmond bore all the ideal traits of a businessman: he was shrewd, cold, calculating, and a tad ruthless, and those traits made for a strict, if still caring, parent. While Jacob looked up to and respected his father, the two did not have the closest of relationships.

Desmond wore an unusual expression as he looked at his son, who appeared oddly disheveled with messy hair, unkempt clothes, and inexplicably bare feet.

"Jacob? What are you doing out here? Why didn't you answer me?"

"I... I'm... just talking with Penelope!" he yelped.

Desmond stood there, frowning, and Jacob tried to gauge his body language. He felt his heart thumping in his chest. His forehead was tingly with fresh beads of panicked sweat. Desmond noticed it all.

There was a short pause. Jacob could almost see the gears turning in his father's mind. Penelope looked back between the two in mild confusion.

"Hm..." Desmond began, letting a bit of a wry smile show. "Talking about what me and your dragon talked about last night?"

Jacob flinched. That wasn't why he was so upset to see him at all, but Jacob inwardly thanked the stars for having his father assume that was so, and not because he had almost been caught in bed with his dragon!

"Um, no.... Actually, I had forgotten about that," he replied.

But now that he was reminded of that talk, Jacob was filled with another form of dread altogether. Of course! Jacob had completely forgotten to talk to Penelope about that earlier in the day. She and Desmond had had a little talk of sorts, and all Jacob knew was that they had talked about him. He had spent much of the day worrying about it.

Jacob cast his eyes along the ground, causing Desmond to snort. "Well, good," he said. "I wanted to talk to you first before you went off conspiring with your dragon."

Jacob swallowed thickly. Those words seemed awfully accusatory, and how they were spoken filled Jacob with suspicion. "Why? Father... What did she tell you?" He was almost afraid to ask.

Desmond's smirk immediately disappeared. "We'll talk about it later tonight. There's supper to tend to. Get your shoes and come on." He motioned for his son to follow.

Jacob went rigid as a board. "What did she tell you?" he carefully repeated. Jacob wasn't sure if he could stand waiting around with a dark cloud over his head for the next few hours.

Desmond frowned. "Jacob..."

"I just... I wanna know."

Desmond shifted uncomfortably on both feet, folded his arms, and cleared his throat. "Penelope told me a lot of things. And based off of what I heard, I don't think you should be spending so much time around your dragon anymore."

The words-and how they were phrased- didn't sit right with Jacob.

"Tomorrow," he continued. "I am going to look into a handler that can take her in for a while. You'll be well-off to not have her as a distraction from your studies, and I'm sure it will do the dragon some good too."

Penelope let out an abrupt cry of protest and jumped up. "Dessie, no!"

"Father!" Jacob stepped forward in protest. "Take her in?! This is nonsense! You can't just send her off like that!"

"Yes I can. You would do well keep in mind she's just a dragon... a pet."

The words stung Penelope's ears. "I'm... I'm not a pet." She grumbled, lowering her head a bit and frowning.

Desmond calmly licked his lips before speaking up once more. "Jacob, I don't like the way she's been talking about you. She's probably just been spending too much time with you and getting fixated... I'm just going to have her spend some time away from you. It is not a big deal. Hopefully, it will let her mind clear up a bit."

"Y-you just can't do that!" Jacob stammered, taking a step forward. "She's my dragon!"

"Hmph." Desmond snorted and idly inspected his well-groomed fingernails. "You didn't pay for her. Me and your mother did." he replied, gruffly.

"But-"

Desmond locked eyes with his son. "Jacob, Penelope's not a whelp anymore. She's getting to the age where she's looking for a partner. But I'm afraid that she's becoming completely smitten with you, and I'm going to rectify that problem."

"Dessie, no!" Penelope shouted. "Please..."

"Father..." Jacob whined. "You don't have to do this."

"It's already done. Don't argue."

Jacob pursed his lips tight.

Desmond scoffed. "Quit acting like a young boy, Jacob... You shouldn't get upset over this. Your pet needs some time away from you. That's all. I'm doing this for your own good, and her own good as well."

Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but found himself far too flustered to say anything beyond a stutter.

"I'm not a pet!" Penelope repeated once more. The dragon let out an upset huff. "And I don't want to leave!"

Annoyed, Desmond turned to Penelope and pointed an angry finger. "Yes you are. I own you, dragon, and you are bound to do what you're told. Do you understand me?"

The words hurt Penelope's pride deeply. As per their nature, no dragon liked to be in a position of servitude or ownership. Upset, she snorted and turned away.

"No! That's not true! I don't have to! Pets don't have a choice, but I could just fly away if I wanted to."

"Penelope, please don't..." Jacob winced. He knew she was only going to exacerbate the situation. This wasn't the first time the dragon had threatened to fly away to Desmond, and while Jacob knew she never fully meant it, the words always came with a price.

"You could what?" Desmond yelled, almost in a taunting tone of voice. He stomped towards the dragon and grabbed her by the horn roughly. Penelope squealed in discomfort as her head was pulled to his face.

"Hey! Don't yank her horns like that!" Jacob yelled, and tried to step in, but he was gruffly held at bay by his father with his other hand. The strength of his push surprised Jacob..

"Would you like to say that again, dragon?" Desmond hissed into Penelope's ear.

"Father, stop!"

"Stay out of this, Jacob," he warned, briefly looking back and stopping Jacob in his tracks. "Penelope... what did you say?" He asked, leaning closer to the dragon's face.

Penelope winced in his grasp. He pulled her head up, bending her neck at an odd, uncomfortable angle. "Dessie... I'm sorry... I didn't mean it."

Desmond sneered. "Do I have to chain you to a rock for the rest of your life?"

"I... no!" she squeaked. "I don't want to fly away. I won't...."

It was all Jacob could do to just stand there and prevent himself from interfering. The last time she threatened to fly away Desmond locked her in her pen for a while. It had been a rough few days for both her and Jacob. His fists clenched into tight balls, anger boiled up inside his heart, and the only thing keeping him from saying a word was knowing that it would only make the situation worse.

Desmond relaxed his grip a little, but still kept a firm hold on the dragon's horn. "Good. You're not dumb enough to fly away from the food and the nice place to sleep I so graciously provide for you... right?"

"Y... yes!"

"Okay, then. So if you want to stay here in the long term, then you're going to be good and put up with being sent away for a while."

"No, Please!" Penelope peeped. The dragon whimpered and tried to pull away, but Desmond twisted her head back, causing her to cry out.

Jacob seethed with anger. "Father, just let her go!" he fumed. "You don't need to handle her so rough!"

Penelope shut her eyes tight and let the words fall from her mouth. "Please, Dessie! I want to stay! Please just... don't send me away! I... I love Jacob. He's my mate, and I don't want to leave him, okay? Please don't..."

The words spilled out, reverberated off the walls of the stable, and were met with pure silence.

Desmond immediately released her horn and took a step back. Jacob stood there, mouth agape. Free from Desmond's grasp, Penelope immediately retreated to the corner of her pen in fear. She shook her head and ruffled her wings, letting out an upset huff before finally looking back up.

"Jacob?" Desmond asked, looking at his son. The word came out as a hollow whisper of disbelief.

"Cripes..."

Penelope looked at the pair, seeing Desmond standing still, staring at Jacob with a burning gaze. Jacob wore an incomprehensible expression of fear and shame, his eyes locked on the floor and unable to meet anyone's face.

"I..." Penelope leaned back, lifting a forepaw in the air in uncertainty, feeling oddly guilty. "Did... did I say something wrong?"

If Desmond was disgusted, surprised, or shocked, the emotion had shown on his face for only a shadow of a second. He took a deep, deep lung-full of air and exhaled loudly. As he took in his next breath, his face became locked into what seemed to be a tight-lipped frown.

"This is true?" Desmond asked, his voice quivering. "You've actually had sex with this... this beast?" he motioned to her.

Jacob shut his eyes tight, feeling his shoulders... his entire body went limp with defeat. There was no part of him that could bear to answer.

The silence just as convicting as any confession to Desmond. He brought a hand to his head and massaged his temples, sighing through his nose. Penelope felt like something had gone horribly wrong. She let out a tiny whimper, unsure of how to fix the situation but desperately wishing she could nonetheless.

"Dessie..." she whined, pleading to him with her tone of voice.

Silently, Desmond walked back to the door to Penelope's stable, refusing to look at his son as he passed by. He threw the door open more violently than he wanted to and reached out to steady it after it slammed noisily against the wall.

"I want you in my study in five minutes." He angrily muttered, staring out to the backyard. He let the door shut on its own as he left.

Silence.

Jacob stood there in the center of the stable. He looked at the ground with mouth agape and said nothing. A thousand horrible and upset thoughts raced through his mind, all without a single one hanging around long enough to focus on. Penelope looked for a reaction from him, equal parts confused and worried.

"Jake?" She spoke, meekly. "What... what's happening? Am I going to be taken away? Please don't say it..." She approached Jacob and nuzzled his chest for reassurance, but he ignored her touch.

"Jake?"

"Penelope..." Jacob sighed and dropped his head, finally letting himself move for the first time. "I'm sorry... I don't know."

At that moment, Penelope was sure she had never felt so horrible in her life.

"It just sort of slipped out... I didn't mean to!" she babbled. "But I didn't say what we did together like you asked, I only said that we're mates! That...that's not a big deal, right? Right?" The dragon pleaded for an answer with her eyes, hoping for an answer to contradict the one she already knew deep down inside.

Jacob shook his head. "That's just as bad, Penelope..." he muttered, turning for the door.

"Jake, wait." Penelope begged. He looked back, seeing the dragon's face wore a miserable look. "Please don't..."

He could not bear to keep eye contact for long. "I gotta go talk to my father, Nel." His body felt numb. He grasped for the door latch weakly and pulled.

"I'm so sorry. Really, Jake, I am..." she muttered, wrapping a wing around his shoulder.

"I know," he whispered, casting off the leathery limb with a shrug.

The door closed behind him with a creak, and Jacob left, leaving the dragon all alone. She stared at the closed door and whimpered, feeling too upset to move.

--=-=--

Jacob found the door to his father's study open. He slipped inside quietly, unable to stare at anything but the floor.

"Close the door."

The words sounded flat and hollow in Jacob's ears. Nodding, he shut the door quietly and took a seat in the chair opposite of the desk. Only then he looked up and met his father's gaze out of the corner of his eye.

Desmond was seated at his desk, with hands folded over one another. The look on his face was impossible to mistake for anything but displeasure. He was a man that rarely showed emotion, which was something Jacob was accustomed to... but this was not one of those times. Jacob's father stared with a piercing gaze, his furrowed brow and tight-lipped frown harsh to look at. Jacob immediately averted his eyes.

Desmond cleared his throat. "I can't say I'm completely surprised," he began. "I had my suspicions, but I was hoping to give my own son the benefit of the doubt."

Jacob sunk deep into the chair and said nothing.

"Your mother will be disappointed in you when I tell her the news. Very disappointed. And I don't even need to tell you how bad this could be for the company if this became public..."

Nothing still. Desmond paused, waiting for a reaction. When he got none, he cleared his throat and sat up.

"Penelope is going to spend some time away from-"

"Please don't..." Jacob interrupted.

Desmond pursed his lips tight.

"She..." Jacob sighed, his eyes still locked on his own feet. "She's been awfully persistent and incorrigible, trying to come on to me, trick me, seduce me, even... She's been like this for weeks... months, even! But it's not her fault, okay? She's young had hasn't been around another one of her kind since she first started going into heat, and... heck," Jacob gave a wry smirk. "I was even thinking last night that maybe she just needs to meet another dragon, you know? "

Desmond snorted. "All the more reason to send her away."

"But..." Momentarily, Jacob's eyes flashed upward. "No... That's not the answer. Don't punish her for something she can't control."

Desmond glared at his son, saying nothing. Jacob gulped.

"Look... p-punish me, instead." Jacob winced at his own words. "I'm the one who let her start exploring things, and... I should have stood my ground and been adamant in telling her she shouldn't be showing that kind of behavior..."

Desmond closed his eyes and sighed. "I see..."

"What?" Jacob asked.

After giving himself a moment to think, Desmond abruptly turned to his left, reached for a bottle of bourbon on the shelf, poured himself an ounce. He paused for a second, then changed his mind and decided to pour himself a little more instead. He then set the bottle down and took a slow sip.

Jacob stiffened in his chair. He couldn't tell what it was about his last answer that his father didn't like.

Quietly, Desmond sat the glass of bourbon down, took a breath, then looked right into Jacob's eyes. " So you're upset to the point where you would rather be punished than be separated from her for a while... Do you know what that tells me, Jacob?"

"No..." Jacob whispered. He was deathly afraid to find out.

Desmond averted his gaze, and peered out the window. "Naive young boys running around with a load of hormones and curiosity is one thing, but it's another to go and develop an attraction for something you shouldn't..."

Jacob's cheeks flushed red. "What? I... I swear I'm not in love with her or anything.... She's just... I...." Unable to find the proper words, he trailed off and pursed his lips together in exasperation.

"You're getting old enough to know the difference between the two, Jacob." Desmond glared at him over the rim of his glasses. "And I hope... this isn't what it appears to be."

Jacob bit his lip. His father's tone of voice sounded more like a threat than anything. "Well, I... I'm telling you... she's... she's so persistent that it's awfully hard to resist..."

Right after the word came out he knew that was the wrong response. Anything other than "It's not" was a wrong response. Jacob squirmed uncomfortably in place, feeling like a he was trapped in a cage. He wanted to correct himself, and just say something like "I couldn't care less about her"... but the words wouldn't come out.

...and if they did come out, they would have been a lie.

"Cripes...." he muttered to himself.

"So that's it..." Desmond nodded slowly as he took in his son's body language. His face softened into a dour frown, and for the first time, Jacob found his father to be the one that couldn't make eye contact.

"I never thought I'd ever have to have this conversation with my own son," he muttered. "Over five hundred girls in the university you attend, and you chose your damn dragon..."

"Father!" Jacob objected, feeling a bit angry. "I love Penelope, but I'm not in love with her! It's not like that!"

"Well it better not be!" Desmond pounded his fist on the table. "Because if you just want sex that badly, I'd be more than willing to just give you some money and send you off to the nearest brothel! But if you're actually developing an affinity for the creature... hell." Desmond took a bitter swig of his bourbon and didn't bother finishing the sentence.

Jacob slumped in his chair and stared at his feet. "Father... I'm sorry."

Desmond said nothing for a while.

"How often have you had this... incident with her?" he muttered, setting his glass down carefully so he could bring his hand up to massage his throbbing temple.

Jacob blinked, trying to recall their first time. It was many weeks ago, and he and Penelope had laid together multiple times since then....

"We... she... it was only a couple days ago," he lied. "It only happened once, and I've felt horrible since then."

Desmond stared at his son for a while, his gaze causing Jacob to squirm.

"Okay, twice," he winced.

After mulling over Jacob's words and how they were spoken, Desmond lowered his eyes to the glass and took another sip. Jacob relaxed a bit, but he still wasn't sure if his father believed him.

"This sort of thing happens every once in a while... you hear about it sometimes, in the newspaper or through gossip. But never would I have expected it to spring up in my own family, my own son..." Desmond shook his head and took another sip of bourbon.

"Alright, then," Desmond muttered. "Fortunately, Penelope will grow out of it eventually. She's a dragon... all she needs is to meet another one of her kind, and she'll realize where her place is."

Jacob's mind poured over those words. He had just come to the same conclusion not even a few days ago, but he didn't like how his father worded them.

"As for you..." Desmond paused. "I don't think I even need to tell you that you are to never, ever lay with her again."

The cold words stabbed him in the stomach, creating a horrible chill. "I understand." Jacob muttered.

"Good."

There was a pause, a moment of silence. Jacob looked at his father from the corner of his eyes. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"I was hoping to get her to stay around long enough until you finished your studies and moved out of the estate, but now..." Desmond looked at his glass and shook his head slowly. "I don't know if that's going to be the case anymore."

"Stay around?" Jacob gawked. "What do you mean?"

Desmond wrinkled his nose at the question. "She's a dragon, Jacob, and she's living in a human world. And I think you know more than anyone that she's at the age where she's becoming interested in finding a mate." He narrowed his eyes, causing Jacob to squirm.

"She wants to be with her own kind," Desmond continued. "Whether she realizes it yet or not. And when she does, she's going to realize her place isn't here."

The words were foreign to Jacob's ears. She had threatened to before, yes... but the very notion that Penelope would ever fly away for real sounded utterly ridiculous.

"There's no way... I can't even imagine her wanting to just pack up and leave! Penelope-"

"Penelope what, Jacob?" Desmond snapped. "Penelope loves you too much? She's not smart enough to even know what she wants." He waved the notion away with a hand.

"Father!" Jacob objected. "Stop talking of her as some dumb animal! Why do you always-"

"Because she is, Jacob." Desmond barked, rearing his head back to take the last sip of burbon. He slammed the empty glass down on the desk. "Stop looking at her as some funny-shaped girl and remember she's a feral, bestial, inhuman creature. She can't think or rationalize like you do. Sure, she's smitten with you, Jake, but she doesn't know any better. Hell, she probably just thinks of you as another dragon, for all you know."

Jacob's eyes opened wide and he sucked in a quiet breath in embarrassment. That last part happened to be completely true: Penelope had told him multiple times that she fantasized about him being a dragon during sex. In fact, she even seemed to be get turned on by the very idea...

The shadow of recognition that flickered across Jacob's face was not lost on Desmond. He took it all in, gauging his son's reactions and mannerisms with a discerning eye.

"Just because she can speak your tongue doesn't make her any less of a beast. For Pete's sake, she's too dumb to figure out how to open her own stable from the inside! How does that make her any different from my horse?" Desmond waved him off with a dismissive hand.

Jacob fell silent. But inside, many, many words were simmering.

"You can never tame a dragon, Jacob..." He grumbled. "They're too stubborn, too arrogant, and too damn proud for their own good. The best you can do is try to keep them servile, assert your dominance over them, make them believe they don't have a choice, but they figure it out sooner or later." Desmond paused. "Why do you think a lot of owners have their dragon's wing webbing slashed when they're young? It's so they can't fly away..."

"Penelope..." Jacob mumbled in shock. So that was why Desmond had gotten so angry at her when she had threatened to fly away. Slowly, he began to shake his head. "I... I can't believe she'd actually leave."

Desmond lifted his head to stare out the window. "They say that if you own a dragon, you should always put it to work. Having Penelope fly around the city on errands, having to constantly take orders from people... it keeps her conditioned in a servile mindset, reminds her that she's got an owner."

Jacob set his teeth. His fists clenched into tight balls. "How... how could you-"

Desmond held up a hand. "It's for her own good, Jacob. Trust me."

"Trust you?" Jacob yelled, thowing his arms out. "You hate Penelope! You treat her like dirt sometimes! I'm not going to trust what you say about her, you-"

"You watch your tone, young man!" Desmond pointed a threatening finger in Jacob's direction.

Jacob snapped his mouth shut, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry..." he whispered, through tightly clenched teeth.

Desmond closed his eyes for a moment and sucked in a slow breath. He exhaled sharply and pursed his lips.

"Jacob... I know more about dragons than you think..."

Quietly, Desmond reached under his desk and opened a drawer. He fished around for a while, making noisy clunking sounds of glass and metal, and finally pulled out a small, brass picture frame. Saying nothing, he set the heavy frame face down and slid it across the desk to his son.

Jacob picked up the picture and turned it over, opening his eyes wide. It was a faded, blurry, black-and-white photograph of a stoic young man wearing a school uniform and a leather helmet. He stood next to a fearsome looking dragon almost twice the size of Penelope. The dragon was wearing a saddle and wore a fancy-looking stitched vest, along with headgear that padded and covered his four horns. The pair were posed regally, staring off into the distance. Below, on the white card border, neatly stamped letters read "VARSITY POLO TEAM CAPTAIN DESMOND BROYAL, CLASS OF 1848."

It was a while before Desmond spoke up.

"My father had bought me a dragon as a boy much like I did for you. We were close once. When the warning signs started to show, I didn't want to believe it at first."

Jacob looked up from the photograph, surprised to see his father hunched over and staring into his empty glass, running a finger around the rim. His usually stern face had softened, revealing a glimpse of bitter melancholy underneath that Jacob had rarely seen in the man.

"When I felt that he was getting out of my control, I resorted to keeping him chained up to prevent him from leaving. He hated me. And I him. He stopped being a pet and became a prisoner. That went on for a month before I found him missing one day. It was only after a few weeks that my mother told me that she had been the one to set him free. It took me forever and a day before I admitted to myself that she had done the right thing."

Jacob sat there, shocked. His father had never spoken about any of this before.

"And he left because...."

"Because he realized he was a dragon living in a human's world. He went off to find a female and live his own life." Desmond huffed. Standing up, he reached back to grab the bottle of bourbon again and poured himself a little more. He took a drink. And in that instant, as he set his glass down, the softened expression he had worn was gone, and it was replaced once more by a cold, stern scowl.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and all Jacob could do was stare into the eyes of the young boy in the photograph that looked so proud and content next to his dragon.

"I..."

Abruptly, Jacob put the photograph down on the desk and shoved it away from him. "Not every dragon flies away...."

"True. But Penelope has already shown the warning signs. She uses it as a threat, has started to resist authority, and..." Desmond narrowed his eyes to a glare. "She shows a big interest in finding a mate, as you might know."

Jacob shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Desmond tilted his head. His eyes danced to the right to check the clock on the wall.

"You're late for dinner, so let's get a few things straight. You are not going to lie with your dragon again. I don't care what she says to you, what she offers you, or what she tries to trick you into doing. Never again." Desmond leaned out of his chair, lifted a finger, and brought it to Jacob's face. "Are we clear on that?"

The cold words stabbed him in the stomach. "Crystal," Jacob muttered, staring at the floor.

"And if I so much as catch a whiff of you accepting her advances once more..."

"You'll what?" Jacob asked, his voice hollow and bitter. "Sell her?"

"I would if I didn't need her so badly right now..." Desmond muttered.

Jacob blinked.

"At any rate," Desmond remarked. "You're free to go. We'll talk more later."

Jacob blinked. "You're not coming?"

Desmond put on a bitter scowl. "No. I need time to figure out what to do about you and your dragon."

An uncomfortable shiver went down Jacob's spine. Part of him didn't want to know what those words entailed.

"Go." Desmond waved him off and turned around in his chair. Nodding tersely, Jacob excused himself without another word, closing the door behind him.

Jacob didn't make it three steps before his emotions bubbled to the surface. He closed his eyes, slumped against the wall of the hallway and let out a defeated sigh. Thoughts of Penelope being sent away, sold, or even abandoned and run off the property filled his mind. What manner of punishment he himself would receive was not even a thought in his head.

"Penelope..." he whispered to himself. "I'm so sorry."

So that was it. No more sex. No more awkward romance. Heck, probably no more hanging out and just being a normal pair of friends... Jacob half-expected to see a padlock on Penelope's stable door come sunrise tomorrow. It wouldn't be the first time...

There was no way he could ever imagine trying to break the news to her. He imagined her reaction, her fins curled flat against her head, the little quiver her lips do when she's upset, her eyes balled up with tears.... Heck, she might even-

"Wait a second..."

Jacob felt a tingling in his scalp and arms. His hair stood on end as an idea came to mind. A great idea. A compelling idea. A horribly, terribly audacious idea. Something he could use. Something his father would absolutely hate him for....

Perhaps... there was still a card to play.

TO BE CONTINUED

POST-STORY NOTES:

~Woo, plot! Finally! Finally got to this point that I've been putting off for like the last 5 chapters because I didn't want to write it! There was actually a LOT of plot-related shenanigans that I only hinted at or alluded to, like stuff concerning Desmond and Penelope's relationship with eachother, or what the future has in store for Jacob.

~Oh gosh... so much plot, so much stuff going on. What am I getting myself into? SO MUCH PLOT! This is getting complicated enough to be a book. I can't see myself conceivably ending this story any time soon, and that legitimately frightens me. Even worse, I can't really see a lot of places to add more porn after what happened this chapter. >_> I dread the possibility of a clean chapter or two. There's no way I could find a commissioner for that! I don't know what to do yet...

~If it's not entirely obvious by now, dragons aren't treated very well in this story's world. Desmond represents the rest of the world's views on dragon treatment. He calls them beasts, pets... and he doesn't respect their intelligence. That is the norm for society to some degree (though Desmond is rather extreme), and I believe it is a pretty realistic take as well. I mean, for fucks sake, we can't even treat our own species right based off gender or race or beliefs. Imagine what kind of prejudice an entirely different species would receive!

~I'd like to mention that Jacob's situation would be probably a lot more common than say, the real life alternative with horse or something. But still I have no doubt that if dragons were real and they could talk, that it would still be considered wrong to screw them by a lot of people.

~I'm very glad I finally got to introduce Desmond's character properly. He's no longer just a background character, but will factor in the story's plot from now on.

~An entirely new story is probably coming next. I think.