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Scales and Scars 5

Korinthia raised a talon and pressed the top button on the elevator, and Marcus looked at it. Then looked away before his head snapped back to see that the top floor button was in fact lit. He looked up at her and then back to the button then back to her.

The sudden realization that she was not all that she seemed hit him, and he started to have so many questions. But he spent too long trying to find the words to ask, and soon the doors dinged open. The dragoness's wedge shaped head bumped him right out into a large open concept living room, he stumbled and came to a stop only a few feet into the expansive luxurious room. Polished stone marble floor with decorative carpets, and his shoes hushed into the thick carpet in the center as he regained his balance.

The dragoness padded out after him a soft musical feminine chuckle escaped her lips, and then she passed close by him on her way to the kitchen attached to the living room. Her tail dragged across his side as she passed by. In response he lifted his hand up to rest it on top of the tail, and he let it slide under his calloused palm.

“You know the noodle business must be a lot better than I thought, I feel like I work in the wrong industry." Marcus said as he defaulted to smartass humor, as he looked around the well furnished and decorated apartment. He found himself standing in a space that people with a few million would normally own.

“Mmmm… not noodles, that's the new job I do now because I burned out from my old job." she said and then came to stop by a poster and smiled with a saucy grin. A grin that showed off the tips of her fangs, which the poster's model shared exactly. The title of the poster was 'Buckles and Tails' The model in question had electric blue eyes, black scales, blue face and vertical stripes. The two seemed like clones and then realization smashed into Marcus like a train wreck and he started to curse in his mind.

Thoughts along the lines of 'I cried in front of a model' and 'I took a model on a date!!!'. One of the loudest thoughts that screamed in his head was the 'Fuck! I beat it to that magazine when I was in college!'

The morbid dread washed over him, and he must have turned as pale as a sheet of paper. Because Korinthia started to giggle as she watched his reaction.

“It seems like someone has 'liked' dragons for a long time before me." A teasing smile on her snout as she watched Marcus squirm, only for the smile to soften a little.

“That's good, I 'Like' humans too" Korinthia said, adding emphasis on the word 'Like' with a purr like rumble as she circled back to Marcus a large bottle of Port In one paw. As she passed the center island of the kitchen, Marcus's eyes were drawn to a sapphire colored vase. In that vase were the roses he had bought for her. Beautiful black rose buds, trimmed with a deep dark blue. Midnight Roses, that's what the florist had called them.

Marcus found his view of the roses soon blocked as Korinthia closed the distance, her snout dropped down and that beautiful blue snout of hers nosed into his chest. Then pushed him back, step by step until the back of his heels hit a large floor cushion and she flicked her snout up into his chest. The action tipped him back and he fell onto the soft massive cushion. Korinthia's blue face, a stark contrast to her black scaled body hovered over him. Her smile once again showed off the tips of her teeth, and she climbed onto the pillow with him.

Marcus swallowed as he was surrounded by her form, his mind still in the process of accepting, recognizing, and working with the fact that he was in a rich dragoness's penthouse suite. A former supermodel for a harness magazine company, and here he was having pushed all her right buttons. He adapted quickly, and as she leaned down and kissed him again. He kissed back right off the bat, he didn't hesitate to bring his hand up and run his palm along her fine, almost soft cheek scales. His tongue slid from his maw to lightly lick over her teeth, and in return her forked tongue invaded his mouth. Exploring his smaller mouth and then it teased over his tongue, before it returned to her maw. The taste of cinnamon and herbs on his tongue.

The dragoness slowly broke the kiss with a deep rumbling purr and her snout was quick to nuzzle into his neck. Marcus let out a soft gasp as she dragged her teeth over his neck and collar bone. Marcus tilted his head to the side letting out a soft gasp as the sharp teeth dragged over his neck. Though a sudden wave of subconsciousness washed over him as he realized they were right next too a large wall of floor to ceiling windows.

His cheeks flushed as Korinthia's breath washed over his neck, and cheek as she spoke softly. “They have a one way mirror finish."

Marcus felt a wave of relief and almost signed, though he did release another gasp as she nibbled at his ear lobe. He playfully pushed her snout away, and chuckled as he turned to face her. His hands gently rubbed over the top of her snout, and her electric blue eyes stared into his.

“On the first date?" he asked with a slight edge of question in his tone, which only got a snort from the dragoness. Korinthia reached a paw up and rested it on his chest, and let her talons slide free to prick at his chest through his flannel shirt. She didn't respond for a few moments and then she tilted her head, a smile tugged at the corner of her maw.

“Do you dislike this?" Marcus knew that was a dangerous question to answer, and he instead answered a question with a question of his own. The height of classiness he was sure.

“Do you really want this? With me? I'm not exactly the best choice of a partner." he said as he rubbed under her chin, which earned him a throaty purr. His fingers gently scratched at the bottom of her jawline and the female dragoness hummed in thought before she answered.

“Yes!" she chirped happily and the paw on his chest pushed him back pinning him to the bed. Any sort of resistance he had melted away as his lips were met with Korinthia's smooth scaled lips once again. He kissed back yet again, finally surrendering to the moment.

Her tongue slid into his maw and slowly wrestled with his smaller flat tongue. Her long forked tongue easily out maneuvering him. Pinning it each time, a little game she played on repeat before Marcus lightly tapped her shoulder.

Korinthia pulled back to let him breathe and Marcus gently kissed her on the nose, “I think you should let me treat you darling, I am a gentleman after all."

Marcus had made the decision to do what he wanted, damn the consequences of his actions or what other people thought.

Korinthia purred out and pulled her paw from his chest, and she tilted her head with a question in her eyes. Marcus chuckled softly and knew he would probably be about to give her an experience only a human could.

“Roll on your back Kori." He said softly and gently rubbed her cheeks, and Korinthia looked at him for a few long moments before she obeyed. She lay next to him and rolled on her back, her forepaws tucked tight to her chest. Those bright blue eyes staring into his greens, while she lay fully exposed to him. Marcus sat up on his knees next to her, and Korinthia poked her tongue out at him.

“Good girl." he said with a teasing tone, and it earned him a good smack in the ribs by her tail and he winced a little. “Okay I deserved that."

“Now be a good boy and treat me." She said with a low growl in her throat, and Marcus felt an excited shiver roll up his spine. Which Korinthia definitely spotted because he could hear her giggle in that musical voice of hers. He smiled and moved down her body and straddled her tail base, his hands gently resting on the back of her knees.

He found himself in the different position of looking at the smooth slender face of a dragoness, instead of the face of a human girl that he always imagined he'd be with. With warmth on his cheeks he leaned down and kissed the inside of her left thigh. A soft gasp escaped her lips, a low musical sound. Another kiss lower this time, and then another even lower. He kept repeating the action going lower and he was soon kissing next to her slit. The dragoness's underside was coated in thick armored scutes. Overlapping plates of armored scales until you get to her belly and then once you reach the groin those overlapping plates turn to smooth supple fine scales.

Marcus kept his kisses moving to the right and she moaned as he passed over her slit and kissed on the other side, a soft whine of need filled the air. He looked up to see Korinthia with her jaws parted and her scaled cheeks a more flushed and darker shade of blue. He kept kissing further away from her slit, and up her inner right thigh. Before redirecting course back down her thigh in soft gentle kisses. His lips came to hover above her slit, and he flicked his emerald eyes up to see Korinthia watching him. Her head nodded slowly, and with permission given he tread down a path seldom traveled by man. He gently blew over her vaginal lips, and then felt the dragoness squirm under him. A new moan filled the air, heated and wanting more.

He gave her that more, his lips pressed to hers and he was surprised by the warmth they gave off. Korinthia's forepaws pawed at the air as he dragged his tongue from the bottom of her slit to clit. He placed a kiss on her love button, and she let out a sharp gasp as he did. Then he lightly started to trace her lower lips with the fingers of his right hand, and after a moment with much caution he slid his finger into the hot slit.

He was surprised when her insides gripped his finger tightly, much tighter than he thought a dragon of her size could. It definitely defied any of his expectations of how this could go. He didn't think that she would have been able to gain pleasure from his tool compared to a drake's. He added a second finger to her slit and pressed both to the hilt and slowly thrust them in and out of her. While Marcus worked his tongue over Korinthia's clit. A deep moan filled the air, followed by a girly cry of pleasure.

He couldn't help but smile as a paw came to rest on his head and he lowered his head down to lightly kiss on the clit and gently work his tongue over her lips as he added a third finger. She was tight, still a little bit more loose then a human girl but nothing radically different. But so much warmer it was like putting your finger into a wet moist furnace. Not enough to scold you, but enough to be very noticeable in comparison to a human woman.

Fem juices had already started to well up past his fingers, his motions smeared it across her crotch. While excess of the thick fluids ended up on his chin and lips, and it wasn't an unpleasant flavor very close to that of humans with the hint of a spiced flavor. Not unlike the cinnamon-like taste her tongue had left in his maw.

He kept up the work until he felt her paw leave his head, and he looked up to see if her face showed some form of discontent like he had done something wrong. Only to see her eyes closed and her jaws parted as she tilted her head back panting toward the ceiling.

He took a chance and curled his finger upward and gently quested as deep as he could with his fingers, and was rewarded with a loud feral roar of pleasure. Korinthia's back arched up off the pillow bed and he was surprised she had reached her first peak of the night, muscles rippled and locked around his fingers. Korinthia's insides tugged at his fingers was they wished to pull the digits deeper but his palm's size prevented it.

Marcus pulled his fingers free after a few minutes and sat up to see his body had already reacted to the experience, his jeans had a painful tent and he looked up nervously to see a panting Korinthia eyeing him up like a piece of meat.

She rolled to the side, which tossed him onto his side and Marcus tried to sit back up only to have a strong paw force him back down and Korinthia's larger frame towered over him. Her blue eyes looking down into his green eyes, a need burned in her blues. Marcus swallowed and rested his palms on top of her paw.

“Strrrrip" Korinthia growled deep in her throat rolling her Rs, and Marcus nodded his head to show he had heard her order. Her paw lifted from his chest and she sat before him ready to pounce as he pulled his flannel shirt off, and the T shirt under it.

He let out a gasp as her snout pressed in and her nose traced over his scars, and her tongue would flick out and trace them. He paused only for a moment to watch as she tenderly flicked her tongue alone a 3 inch strip of scar tissue just below the third rib on his right side. Her blue eyes shifted from his naked torso to look him in the eyes. “Pants too human, Strip means naked."

She paired her words with a gentle nip along his side which made him flinch at the feeling, and Marcus started to work on his belt and Korinthia went back to tracing everyone of the many scars on his torso. Until he felt her tongue flick over the bite mark on his shoulder, and she parted her jaws to mimic the bite. The scar's width was slightly larger than hers jaws, and Marcus froze with his pants halfway off.

He tilted his head to the side and rested his head against her cheek, and slipped his pants off naked as the day he was born. His hands moved from his pants to gently rub over her neck, and then the dragoness lifted her head.

“Did your investigation turn up anything, hmm?" Marcus asked softly with a kind smile on his lips, and she pressed her forehead against his. Her deep, happy purr seemed to vibrate the very air around them.

Korinthia smiled happily and gently held his sides with her paws, and he was put in the amusing position of being the smaller one in the relationship. But he didn't mind that, he had normally been a fan of the tall girls. He just assumed the attraction of well muscled tall women set him up for a transition to dragonesse's.

“Mmm a few things, soft skin, sexy battle scars. Plus it's just all out in the open unlike a drake's" she said and her snout pointed down toward his crotch, and Marcus rolled his eyes at the last bit.

“Nesses…" he said with a grin which earned him a light squeeze from her paws.

“Dangerous game you play, mocking me while in my paws human" Korinthia growled playfully and tapped her unsheathed claw tips against his sides lightly.

He couldn't help but shiver as she growled, it was practically in his ear. His hands playfully rubbed the top of her s out like someone would a dog. Which earned him a few playful nips, and a cute girly giggle from the dragoness.

Korinthia, wanting more than to play fight, ducked her head down. Her tongue dragged over his exposed erection. Marcus's back stiffened as the warm tongue dragged up his shaft. Then a hot breath washed over his crotch as she exhaled over it, treating him to his own trick. The man let out a groan and his hands went instinctively to her head and found purchase on her horns. He grasped them at the base with little thought the dragoness didn't growl or buck against him. Instead she just lowered her head down, and began to return his affections. The dragoness's forked tongue dragged up his shaft and her paws slid lower to hold his hips and thighs. Keeping him pinned in a sitting position so he couldn't escape her.

“God that's good…" Marcus couldn't help but moan out, and he could feel Korinthia wiggle her body slightly. Then he realized after a moment it was a cute little happy dance. He smiled happily as he realized she was excited to give him pleasure. The sounds he made were currently her only way to judge his pleasure as her snout was tilted down, and made it difficult for her to see his face. Not that dragons were particularly great at interpreting human facial expressions.

Normally Marcus would have forgone the blow job, they never did anything for him normally. But with the exoticness of a dragoness doing it, or just the different feel of her forked tongue. It had a strong effect on him this time, which earned Korinthia a few more moans.

Marcus didn't think it could get better until her jaws parted and his cock slipped into her jaws. The immediate heart attack inducing sight of his cock going into a tooth filled maw of a predator was replaced by a feeling that was unlike anything else. It was like being deep throated but without the hard effort on the partner's side. His cock was enveloped with a moist warmth that rivaled any human girl. His toes curled and his hands pulled her head down.

There was a soft thrum of a purr from Korinthia after her snout bumped his crotch and her tongue started to curl around his shaft. He was holding onto her horns for dear life as the mystical tongue lightly squeezed his cock. Then she started slowly bobbing her head up and down, her head shifted so she could see his face. Her azure gaze never parted from his emerald eyes as she gave him the ride of his life. He could feel peak closing as she worked and he was trying to hold it back and he groaned.

“Jesus…. Kori… y-you're gonna make me…" his voice came out tense with pleasure as he was busy trying to fight his climax that was swiftly approaching. Thanks to a certain dragoness, he lightly pulled up on her horns to signal she could stop but Korinthia just kept going. Marcus was at her mercy and he felt his back arcing, and he gave up trying to stop her.

“That's it… good girl, let me give you a treat." He tried his best at dirty talk as she bobbed her head faster. Her tongue tightened around his cock more as his shaft throbbed hard in its heated prison. Then with nothing left to give, unable to hold back the peak as his hips bucked up against Korinthia's snout. Which only earned him a pleased rumble and her paws pressed down firmly on his thighs keeping him still as he rode out his climax. While Korinthia just kept slowly bobbing her head, working her tongue along his shaft. Throb after hard throb of passion sent white streaks of human cum across the inside of her maw. He groaned as he felt her milking him dry with her exotic tongue, and the gentle suction her maw produced.

What ended up more of a surprise was right after he was done and his body relaxed under her grip. She slowly slid her maw off his shaft and she opened her jaws to show off the mess he made in her maw. it wasn't anything wild, but he could definitely see ropes of cum coating her tongue and the roof of her maw. With sensual growl she shut her maw and licked her lips and tilted her head back and swallowed while looking him in the eye. A sexy, cocky look in her eyes. like she knew that sight would drive him wild. Oh was she right Marcus's heart jumped a little, and his little knight almost came back to attention after its duel with the dragoness's tongue.

The key word is 'almost', he was still spent and needed a moment to let his body recover. Meanwhile Korinthia took it upon herself to circle around him, halfway, so she was acting like the backside of a couch. His back pressed against her shoulder while her head rested near his leg. The dragoness didn't stay that way for long before the bottle of wine and two glasses were produced from beyond the large cushion.

“A little treat before the main course?" She asked as she poured a glass for herself. Marcus didn't hesitate to nod his head, and with a smile he asked. “That wasn't the main course?"

Korinthia chuckled and possessively curled a wing around him, and she held him tight against her side. His naked body kept warm against her scales.

“Pfft silly human, that was just an appetizer" she said and licked her lips with a predatory gleam in her eyes. She handed him a glass, and Marcus was quick to hide his face behind the glass and took a hearty drink of the sweet wine. It was a wine he had always heard of in stories and historical fictions but never tried it himself until now. It wasn't unpleasant, the bottle had a yellow label that read '21 year tawny'.

He rather enjoyed it and was distracted enough by the wine not to immediately notice the dragoness leaning in. Until her lips were on his, and she was readjusting their position once more. Her maw never left his lips as she shifted around, and pinned him back down. Her growl filled his maw, the deep rumble was hungry and almost feral. Which sent excited shivers up Marcus's spine as she climbed over him, and the spiced flavor of her tongue mixed with the flavor of sweet wine was amazing.

She adjusted her stance and dropped to her foreleg's elbows, the strong limbs came to rest on either side of his head, while her chest nearly rested on his. Then her hinds lowered and the reason for the new position became readily apparent to him, as his moan filled her maw. Korinthia's slick vent, which glistened with her natural fluids rested against his tip. Marcus's hands reached up and he held her shoulders, the slender agile ness. Lowered her hips and made her human moan, and Marcus filled her maw again with the sounds of his pleasure.

Korinthia's heart fluttered as he did so, she had been worried he wouldn't get any pleasure from this coupling. As half of the human shaft slid into her, it was her turn to vibrate his molars with a deep rumbling groan of pleasure.

She held her hips up, half of his shaft buried in her. No latex separated them, just bare skin on bare skin. So marcus could feel every ripple and every clench of Korinthia's powerful egg laying muscles wanting to pull him deeper but she didn't lower down further. At Least not immediately, and Marcus panted into her maw as they both savored the feeling of the other. Then Korinthia lowered down slowly inch by inch until his shaft was tilted in her, and her hips were pressed flush with his, she broke his kiss to deliver a moan right in his ear.

“Mfff…. My human…" she growled out and Marcus blushed as she had a possessive needy growl in her throat. Then she pulled up slowly, the internal muscles of her slit wanted him deeper and tugged in rippling contractions against the motion. Which had Marcus moaning hotly and holding onto the dragoness for dear life. Then she pressed back down, steadily riding him in the Dragoness version of cowgirl. This time she hilted him and rolled her hips which had Marcus moaning like he had never known the touch of a woman.

Wet slaps would soon fill the room, and the scents of sex began to mix in the air only driving to make the moment more exciting for the pair. Korinthia had started to ride him insteady ups and downs, and added in a roll of the hip every so often to get a loud moan from her human mate. With panting breaths washing over his neck, Korinthia started to nibble down his neck with teasing needy nips that he was sure a drake would return. Though he wasn't able to he simply pressed his face to her throat and reached his hands up to hold her neck. The dragoness lowered one foreleg flat to let more of her weight rest on him, and brought the two body's closer. Marcus let out a grunt and rolled his hips up to meet hers as they dropped back down with more force.

Skin and scales pressed flush, and human sweat slickened her front chest scoots as she rode him chest to chest with him. Her tail shifted around to curl possessively around his right leg, squeezing the limb tight. Marcus rubbed his hands up and down her neck and kissed the underside of her throat while Korinthia moaned her pleasure to the world. She was staring out the window looking at the nighttime lights of the city, and she could see her partial reflection in the heavily tinted window. her Jaws parted in heated pants, while two strong human hands rubbed up and down her neck. Her groans and moans mixed with Marcus's as got closer to his peak along with her.

It was with one final drop of her hips into his hips with a wet slap, and she roared out her bliss, and her talons clawed at the bedding either side of him. To add to the moment her insides clenched tighter than ever around his cock, the muscles rippled and gripped at his cock trying to milk it and draw him deeper. Marcus cried out as his own shaft throbbed hard in the furnace of a vaginal slit and he shot another heavy load of human cum into Korinthia that was greedily accepted by the dragoness's needy insides. Wanting what it thought would bring a clutch and the next generation, but instead was just pleasure and passion.

In the moment he did something rather odd, On impulse he parted his jaws and bit the front of her throat. Something he almost instantly regretted as the firm scales there felt like they might chip a tooth. Though the reaction it got from Korinthia made it worthwhile. Her tail locked around his leg while the rest of her body went limp on him. She sagged down partially on top of him with a more submissive moan. Marcus was surprised by the reaction and he hooked his arms around her, and gently shifted her head so his face was resting just behind her jaw as they both huffed with heated breaths. The two moaned softly as they rode out their peaks together, in eachothers arms… And wings.

“That…. Was… amazing…" he gasped out between gasps of air and Korinthia nodded her head and shifted so she could nuzzle his face. She took full advantage of him being pinned under her bulk now and started to groom his hair and lick his face and neck. A deep steady purr filled the air and she rumbled out happily.

“Rrrrr… My human knight was trying to put an egg in me, it seemed." she teased at him and Marcus breathlessly nodded his head with an amused smile as she called him her knight.

“Mmm… when I joined the Corps, one of the old ads at the time was a knight slaying the dragon. When he won, the armor he wore turned into the Marine Corps dress uniform with him holding a dress sword." He mused, his breath finally coming back and Korinthia eyed him with a sly grin

“You seem to have confused the slay with lay my little human" Korinthia said and Marcus couldn't help but laugh at her little joke, and he blushed at the way she called him 'her human'.

“Well I guess I am all hers now, and every Dragon with a nose knows it now." he thought with a goofy smile on his face as he stroked her snout with a hand and the dragoness in question rested her head down next to his. The pair enjoyed each other's company, and it wasn't long until he closed his eyes to just rest them.

“Just gonna… rest my eyes for a moment and then kiss my dragoness" was his final thought before sleep overtook him.

—

Marcus awoke in the morning to the feeling of something warm and wet, as it dragged over his cheek and face. He grumbled and rolled onto his side to try to avoid it, and sleep in more so he tugged up the membrane like a blanket he was snuggled under to cover his head. A deep slow rumble began to build, and build. Until it slowly vibrated his body, and his eyes cracked open.

“Why is my apartment shaking… what could they possibly be working on during the weekend…" Was his first thought as his eyes blinked to focus on the light that seeped through the blanket over his head.

Then the hot breath that washed over his cheek as a feminine voice chuckled in his ear had him wide awake. He first found himself looking at the soft glow of the sun, through the wing membrane of a dragoness's wing. The blood vessels in the wing were easily visible through the thin membrane back lit by the morning sun.

Then he tilted his head to see Korinthia's feline, electric blue eyes staring at him. Flickers of playful amusement and another harder emotion to place in those azure eyes. His hand didn't hesitate to come up and gently rub along her smooth scaled snout. The memories of the night before, and what the two had done rushed back into his mind.

His cheeks instantly reddened and the dragoness wasted no time in getting a good morning kiss. Then with an amused rumble she broke the kiss after a minute and flicked her fork tongue over his nose.

“You need a shower, you reek of dragoness" she said as she leaned in and nibbled at the front of his neck, The feeling of sharp teeth over his skin made him shiver.

“Hah! And you smell like, human male" he teased back and the dragoness nodded her head with a happy chuckle, as she stood up. The mess from last night still clung to both their crotches and stained the better part of the mattress like cushion they had slept on.

“Then a shower date it is" she said playfully, and he smiled and got up and went to reach for his shirt but it was playfully swatted away.

“Do you see me wearing any clothes hmm?" Korinthia purred and started to shove him toward her bathroom with short shoves of her snout. Marcus held his hands up in surrender and just let himself be lead along.

“Fine fine, no clothes for the knight." He said with a grin as he walked into the bathroom. Playful nips from a morning dragoness on his rump earning Korinthia yelp from the human.

“Good Boy." she rumbled in a sultry voice that made his blood go somewhere other than his cheeks. The dragoness was quick to notice this with a grin, and she lowered her head to look at his slight erection.

“Gonna clean more than my tail I see" she rumbled with a toothy grin and flicked her tongue out at him.

Marcus playfully pushed her head away, “We are trying to get clean darling not make it more messy"

Korinthia smiled “I can multitask"

“Hehe later you needy Ness." Marcus said and the dragoness huffed cutely at him before she turned to start the shower. A rather large ceiling mounted rain shower head and a sliding glass door made up her shower. She could have easily fit two of herself in it, so with just her and Marcus in the shower. It was still roomy enough for him to wash off and not be constantly bumping into her.

The shower was uneventful, some playful flirting and few lewd remarks as he helped wash down his new girlfriend. The drying part he assumed would have been more complex but built in blow dryers in the walls solved that, though they were a little much for a naked human so Marcus hid on the opposite side of Korinthia. Opting for the traditional towel dry, and hooked the towel around his waist only for that to be stolen too.

The man chuckled, and Korinthia held the towel up like a prize. Then pranced around with a happy giggle, only slightly muffled by the towel in her maw.

“I've created a monster." Marcus said with a chuckle and the dragoness shrugged with a smile that said there would be more to come. But the rumble of a certain dragonness's stomach halted the two, Marcus started to chuckle and then his own followed suit. Soon both of them were laughing, and Marcus started back over to the cushion they had shared the night on. He picked up his white T shirt and slipped it on over his head. Then his underwear, and he picked up his pants and caught his small Sig 365X before it hit the ground. The pistol had been on his belt for the whole night discarded in the corner near the makeshift bed. He clicked the micro holster back into the front of his pants. Korinthia had a surprised look on her face, she must have never realized he had a sidearm with him through the whole date night.

“It wasn't because I was afraid of you, more of a human factor thing." He said sheepishly and she looked him up and down. The normally shy and reserved man rubbed the back of his neck. “I have to be able to protect not just myself but you now."

That reasoning got a snort from Korinthia and she booped his nose with a wing claw. “It's my job to protect you"

Marcus smiled and crossed his arms as he looked up at her. “I am the knight after all".

The two left side by side for the elevator and Marcus' blue and black plaid shirt lay rumpled on the floor next to the large floor cushion.

It was Korinthia's turn to choose the restaurant, and she lead them through the dragon majority district. Toward where it began to become ambiguous and mixed, where there was almost an equal number of the two. The dragoness turned into an alley to make what Marcus assumed was a short cut. He pulled out his phone to pull up Google maps and see where they were just out of curiosity. Only to run smack into Korinthia's shapely hips, though with her harness on the leather straps broke up the natural lines of her beautiful form.

“Didn't you hear me bitch! Hand over the tablet!" Marcus heard the unmistakable masculine voice of a human male, and his first thought was. “Fuuuuck… I hate back alleys…"

Marcus leaned around Korinthia's frame to see a skinny man, arm outstretched toward Korinthia with a crappy ghetto blaster of a glock. Slide all fucked up and scuffed from all the hands its passed through. The man chewed on his lip, and twitched with neurotic movements. While the man's free hand scratched at scabs on his neck.

Marcus stepped out from behind Korinthia, and started to talk. He wanted the gun off her, he'd rather have it pointed right at him. He could work with that.

The druggy saw him and with wide eyed surprise the street urchin stumbled and fumbled words in a stuttering string. “F-f…h-h… put your Hands up!"

Marcus complied and held his hands up as he walked up beside his dragoness, now turned lovers. “Shitty Second date, I should have led the way…"

Marcus saw the barrel swing shakily over to cover him, and Marcus looked over to his side with a slight tilt of his head. Korinthia was two shades paler than she normally was. Her fore and hindlegs shook, with fear, her eyes wide while her body froze in place with pure fear.

“The tablet!!" The man half growled and whined almost, he ground his teeth side to side and shook more.

“Alright just nice and slow, no sudden move" he repeated in his head as he started to kneel down and reached for the tablet on Korinthia's right foreleg, he unclipped the vambrace like wristband that held it on.

“Give it the fuck here! Toss it over" the man hissed out through grinding, decayed teeth.

“Well… I'll give you something." Marcus said in his own head as he tossed the tablet over to the druggy who held out a hand to catch it. While the tablet flew the man's eyes left Marcus and went to the tablet in the peak of its thrown arc.

“Fuck you asshole" was the last thought that went through Marcus's mind as his body went into a well trained auto pilot. One hand pulled his shirt up, while his other hand reached for the side arm. His stance lowered and he shifted to a standing isosceles his whole body pointed right at the man front on. Feet shoulder with apart, and his hands punched out his Sig held tight. But the druggy was the first to shoot, gun already out, and only a small adjustment of aim would have been needed. The first round that popped free from the man's gun punched into Marcus's leg.

The former marine merely winced and fired three rounds in short succession, all three hit a tight grouping center mass. But the druggy just stumbled and fired three more rounds two hit Marcus dead on in the left side. The third hit the ground and ricocheted off the grimmy back ally concrete floor. Then hit Marcus in the lower chest.

Dropping to one knee Marcus planted himself and tried to bring up his pistol when a loud roar of pure rage filled the air. With a stroke of luck the back alley Toll Man dropped his glock, and a blur of black and blue was on the man. Marcus looked down at his leg to see he was already kneeling in a puddle of his own blood.

He started to reach in his pants pocket and get the tourniquet he kept on him, he was pulling it up his leg as the dying screams of a man who picked the wrong fight with his girlfriend began to fade. The world spun and Marcus's face smacked into the concrete as he lost consciousness and the last thing he could remember was Korinthia calling out to him. He could barely hear her; it was like he was under water, and he tried to call out her name.

“Marcus! Marcus! Oh skies above Marcus no!" Was all he heard before everything went black and cold.

It felt like there was a few minutes and tje darkness started to resolve into unfocused colors. Then the world snapped into resolution after a moment of grainy fuzziness. He was standing in the middle of a desert city, and looked around. The town was empty and it was like everything was caught in a still image. Like he was inside a picture of an Afghan village with no people in it.

“You know I thought I taught you better, like how to use a TQ properly." a feminine voice spoke from behind him and he turned only to come nose to snout with the most unlikely person.

Helena grinned that trademark smile of hers and adjusted her Corpman rig, worn just like the day she… died. One of her paws held up a tourniquet and she tisked at him in a low loving tone. “You save the girl, but die from blood loss? All because you're too slow with a TQ, old friend?"

She mused the question to him and she unclasped the velcro with a tearing sound, and put the tourniquet around the leg that was bleeding. She pulled it tight and resecured the velcro. Her paw grabbed the metallic rod on the CAT-D and cranked it down until Marcus felt a stabbing pain, and she whispered softly. “Until you feel like it's gonna break it." the exact words she had told them when teaching them refresher courses.

Helena's breath washed against the side of his neck and her voice whispered in his ear. “Go on my knight… Your princess needs you…"

Marcus shivered like a cold chill ran up his spine, while Helena pulled her head back from his ear. Her eyes looked in his, the same blue as Korinthia's. Just no blue face to frame them, but similar blue tiger-like stripes running vertically up and down their sides. Her eyes seemed to glow brighter, and she leaned in her lips inches from his.

“W-why… How…" Marcus asked, tears trailed down his cheeks. He could smell her breath on the air. She was so close to him, and he wanted to reach up and pet her snout. He cried openly, and without remorse while his body refused to move. “Helena…"

“I'm so glad you are healing, my little marine." she whispered in a sweet loving tone that he had only heard once. Marcus felt her lips press against his and his heart fluttered. But unlike the warmth from Korinthia it was like Helena was pouring electricity into his heart. his body seized up, every muscle cried out in agony. Then she pulled back, her eyes glowing a bright sapphire, and she whispered again. “She needs you."

Then she kissed him once more and his body exploded with electric pain, once again every muscle screamed and begged for release. His voice became one cry as he held onto her horns, the dragoness held the kiss. Then finally

unconsciousness flooded over him, the street faded to black. but this time the darkness wasn't cold, it was warm.

“Be the Man I always knew you could be…" came the soft final whisper of Helena's voice.

—Delaware—

Elizabeth or Liz as most of her friends called her stepped off the plane at the small regional airport. Elizabeth smoothed out the rumbled front of her uniform, the army's newest camo. The OCP pattern, she wore the winter version despite just having returned from the sandbox on her final tour. 3 months more than what her contract had been signed for. No extra pay, and only one person died in her arms this time.

So, silver linings? Maybe? Who could tell, life as an Army 68W, a Combat Medic. Especially one who had the privilege to wear the scroll is a wild ride. You won't, not see some shit. You won't, not see combat.

Life in the military is like that, you join for some reason, no matter how goofy or serious it sounded. Then you hold onto it through basic training. After that stay in the devil's anus. you get to AIT school, and you're just learning your job being rolled out of the basic training mindset.

12 years, 12 years whas how many years she stayed after that schooling. Things were wild but a person only has so much in them to continue the fight. Her Sergeant Major had sat her down during the last week of deployment and had a talk with her about what happened. It was…. It was bad…

It's not the first person who died in her arms, but it hurts worse when that person has served with you for years. The mission had been to rescue some Air Force TAC-P left on a ridge by Navy SEALs after they took a casualty. It was a bad LZ and a shit mission, a lot of things went south.

She was broken from her memories by the sight of her two duffle bags being placed on the ground near the tail of the small plane. She walked over and picked the bags up, mumbling one last thanks to the crew and walked off toward the terminal to get a cab.

It was about an hour wait but she didn't mind, she didn't have to be in uniform anymore. Though today she had chosen to wear her uniform, she wanted to surprise her parents. She hadn't told them she was coming home, or that she hadn't re-enlisted. She planned on taking a break from adulting for a few months and then she'd go back to school for her Masters.

After an hour the cab pulled up, and she gave the man the address to her parents house and settled in for the long car ride. It was a pleasant drive, and the driver kept to himself. Out the window she could see the expansive forests as they passed by, and the road seemed to wind forever through the pines. Until finally exiting the forests and pulling into the small town she had grown up in.

A town so small it had one flashing light, and the cab took a right at it and continued on through town. There was an amusing dayshavoo about the whole experience. It had been because nothing seemed to change in this small town that she had left for college. Then it was because of money and training that she joined the military. Now, it was that predictable, always the same everyday small town vibe that brought her comfort and made her want to come home.

'Oh how the world changes' she couldn't help but muse in her head, and the cab took another turn. The car had turned into a small neighborhood of the more historical type. As they drove through she could match each mailbox to a name, and then that name to a face. Some people she saw looked older then she remembered. But she chalked it up to being gone 12 years.

Then she saw her childhood home, though something hit her as strange immediately on spotting the house. Her parents were in the middle of a discussion as movers carried furniture and other items out to a box truck.

Elizabeth already had her hand on the door handle as the driver came to a stop, with barely held restraint she gave him her card and waited for her payment to be processed. The second she had her card back, her and both her duffel bags were out of the car and moving toward the front of the house.

She carried both bags up toward the front of the house, careful not to get in the way of the movers. It was when she was halfway to the front steps that she could hear her parents talking. The conversation wasn't a happy one, it was one of those bad ones. Just short of yelling but with plenty of accusatory tones.

“It's just like how we planned it, the kids are out now. They've been gone for a few years now. It's time to go our separate ways." Elizabeth could be heard saying, and Elizabeth started to slow her walk hoping to hear more of the conversation before she was noticed.

“Jessica, I'm not staying here for the house, I'm going back home. I'll buy you out of the house since half of my retirement isn't enough for you." came the sound of her father's voice, the older man's tone dripped with sarcasm and snark toward the women he had supposedly married out of love.

Elizabeth was about to turn around and leave when a mover called out to her with a happy voice. “Thank you for your service."

Elizabeth cringed as she saw both her parents turn toward the sound of the voice. Their eyes fell on her, and the look of surprise passed across both their faces.

“Surprise… I'm home…" Elizabeth said sheepishly with as happy a smile as she could fake. Both her parents looked at each other angrily, and then the yelling started.

To put it mildly, her and her siblings after the first one were the only reason her parents stayed together. Now, with the youngest off at college, and supposedly crushing it. They decided enough with the pretend happy couple.

Her dad was leaving to go back to his family, and mom had decided to get her payment for the relationship. Elizabeth on the other hand had walked right in the middle of the whole divvy up the family fortune and make for the hills. Then send the kids a letter and block all their numbers. They were adults now and could look after themselves.

“You really should have called ahead dear." Came the irritated and annoyed voice of her mother. Who actually had the gull to glare at her, like she was the bad guy here. Last Elizabeth had checked she wasn't divorcing her husband and running off with the money. Well she didn't have a husband, but still it wasn't her fault their family was falling apart at the seams.

“Now Jessica, she's an Army woman, and doesn't always have the time to call." Her father said as he tried to calm her mother down, but the last bit seemed to have an edge in it. Like a barb about how she didn't call enough because overseas In the sandbox she can just call any time… Sure…

'Yea I love being in the middle of hell, hold on I'll call mid firefight. Just tell the Taliban to take a lunch break' She bit her tongue and kept the thoughts internal. She really didn't want to start a fight.

“Carl! Let me talk to her…" Her mother snapped at Elizabeth's father and walked down off the porch, the older woman took her daughters arm and led her away. Duffle bags left in the well manicured yard, the fruit's of her father's labors. Once they were out of earshot Eliabeth's mother sucked in a breath and let out a sigh.

“Look, me and your dad, we aren't gonna work out. We…. we Haven't worked out for the past ten years but we haven't wanted to stress your brother's out. The statistics show it would have impacted you three very negatively. But now you three are grown and out of the house you don't need parental guidance anymore." Her mother explained, like ruining a relationship, and a family was some clinical matter. Purely a statistical and mathematical problem that could be solved with cold simple planning.

“You three will be fine, it'll pass and your father and I will be separating as we agreed. It's what's best." She said finally, and the whole time Elizabeth was hoping her horror, or disgust didn't show on her face.

“Sooo… we shouldn't have any need of guidance as we start our lives? Since Kyle is like 19 in college." Elizabeth asked, talking slowly as she processed all the wild insanity that her parents were on.

“Pffft…." The older woman snorted and waved a hand, with just the early grays starting to show in the roots of blonde hair. One could try to pass it off as a midlife crisis, but then with her explaining this as some plan agreed upon back when Elizabeth had just left for college and her brothers were in middle school and elementary school.

“He's a bright boy, He'll be fine."

“Yea, because he has an older sister to call, because his parents have finished their marriage transaction. Because apparently the wedding vows are different then what I remembered them being. Through sickness and health, Richer or poorer got turned to until the kids are over 18 then fuck this relationship." Elizabeth growled out, her sarcasm dripped from her words. Then with an eye roll she stormed off and got her bags.

“Maybe if you weren't playing army you would have noticed someone else beside yourself!" Her mother called out in the most annoying happy mocking voice. As Elizabeith walked past her toward the road. “Go back to your camo Family!" her mother called out, arms crossed and her hip kicked out in the yee old ancient preppy girl pose.

'Notice someone other than myself!?!' Elizabeth practically screamed in her mind, halting her walk down the old cracked asphalt of the old neighborhood street. The urge to yell back at her mother, but she instead adjusted her Patrol Cap. Making it level to the 'marching surface'. Then to make it appear as if the words didn't bother her she pulled her duffle up and slipped it on her chest and the other on her back like a backpacks. Which served to hide her face from view as she walked away. There was no use in making a spectacle in a small town neighborhood, god knows enough people would already hear about it.

As she walked away from her child hood home she did violate one uniform code, she fished her Samsung SIII from her pocket and pulled up Uber. While she was in middle of requesting a ride, the App asked what her destination would be. She looked back at the old house she had always known as home then back to the phone. Tears hot on her face as she poked at her phone, and closed the app after three failed swipes. Tears on the screen confused the touch features, until she wiped it off on her uniform.

With frustration she tried again to tap at the screen, and missed an app only to click on contacts. She looked at the contacts and her eyes fell on the first section. Names starting with As, and the name three down from the top. Aaron, a fellow medical school student, just not one that had money issues. She remembered the red headed boy from college, the joker of the friend group. Always goofy and childish, but also a good person, one that would go to hell and back for those he called friends. But were you still friends after 12 years of no contact?

'Fuck it, no way to know till you ask.' She thought as she tapped the name, then called the cell number saved on her contacts. As the phone rang she wondered if he had changed his number, new phones, did he keep his old contacts. On the fifth ring she was about to hit the red end call button then she heard the call connect. A breathless voice came over the phone.

“Doctor Blithe, Wing's Hospital speaking" The panting masculine voice spoke, and then silence filled the call. With a start Elizabeth realized it was her turn to speak.

“Aaron, it's me… sorry! It's Elizabeth, from med school." She rambled for a second as she got her bearings, surprised that the guy had become a doctor and had achieved his dream.

“Elizabeth… I don… OH shit! I haven't heard from you for like 12 years! How are you doing? Have you been well? Last I heard you were in the Army, how's that going?" The man gushed over the phone, sounding genuinely happy to hear from her. Which made a small smile tug at the corner of her lips as she wiped the last of the tears from her cheek.

“Just finished my last contract, twelve years of a wild ride… but that's a long story… I…" she trailed off, she felt guilty like she was already taking advantage of a friend. She cleared her throat and then heard a pause.

“Hey, you okay? You sound tense." Aaron's voice was filled with concern, and she stopped walking, having reached the entrance to the neighborhood, the other houses and the curve of the road blocked her view when she looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see her parents house she used to call home.

“Yea… but I need a favor."

“Shoot, anything for a friend"

—-

Xun knocked on the open office door of his friend and colleague, the eastern dragon was on the smaller size. He walked in as the man seemed to be in a deep conversation with an old friend. The four foot tall and seven and half foot long dragon hopped up in a human chair across the desk from the red headed man. The dragon curled up on himself to fit in the human chair. his small dexterous paws rested on the desk with soft tapping clicks of claws on wood.

Xun caught a glance from Aaron and he knew it would be a few minutes until the conversation ended, and Xun busied himself being a nosey friend. It was a bad habit, but dragon's tend to have less regard for personal space than humans. The chinese dragon reached a talon out and picked up a Newton's Cradle that was always on Aaron's desk. He held the contraption in his paws and started the balls clicking, his golden eyes flicked up to see Aaron glaring at him and rolling his eyes. Xun grinned and set the clicking physics toy back on the desk, and when Aaron tried to reach out to stop it. Xun would smack his hand and the human narrowed his eyes and tried a second time only to get his hand slapped again. While Xun grinned playfully and poked his forked tongue out.

“Yes, I can promise they will take you, they haven't had a Paramedic with your experience in a while. Duel Dragon and Human medical/EMT knowledge still isn't common in colleges today. The military is ahead of us in that regard." Aaron said and Xun stopped his teasing now more curious about the conversation. His furred ears perked up and his Golden eyes focused on the human man.

“Haha don't worry I know the EMT director personally, he's a good guy I'll forward your resume while you get down here. Just get an apartment nearby and I'll see when you get in town Elizabeth." Aaron smiled as he spoke and Xun could hear a feminine voice on the phone, and the dragon was practically leaning in nosely to listen. The sound of a feminine name made him think the five year single, and mateless human had finally scored some form of a relationship. Only for Aaron's left hand to reach out and push Xun's head back across the desk. The eastern dragon's long body had already stretched halfway across the desk.

“Yeap fly safe, Liz" Aaron said, and Xun smiled slyly at the man, and held his grin as Aaron finished his call. The grin earned Xun and light bap on the snout.

“Not what you are thinking, she's an old friend from college" Aaron said, and Xun smiled wider showing off his sharp teeth.

“Ohhh how love transcends time and distance." Xun purred out like some Shakespearean poet, and Aaron groaned and got up to make his way to the Vending machine that was just around the corner from his office.

“Not! That type of old friend you perverted furred noodle." The human said as he passed the curled up eastern dragon.

“You know some of us eastern dragons find the term noodle offensive!" Xun called out playfully as he hopped from his chair. The other doctor was already out the door, headed for the predictable snack machine. Xun poked his head around the corner, and snickered at Aaron, who was busy with the terribly complex decision tree of snack selection.

“Yea, go to HR, then you can be free of my terrible speciest insults." Aaron said as he selected his choice on a screen, and the machine hummed as it retrieved his choice.

“Whatever you say, shiny monkey." Xun said with a grin, and was about to add another comment whe the wrist mounted pager on his foreleg chirped. Aaron's pager did the same and he looked down at the pager and cursed in mandarin.

“ta ma de!" Xun growled out as he started to bound toward the ER, while Aaron followed. The sound of a plastic wrapper being torn open. and he knew Aaron was stuffing his face with a Red bean bun.

Xun rounded corners at speed, his claws slid on the polished tiles as he was at a dead sprint, his claws made high pitched scratching sounds when he slid. While Aaron's shoes squealed as they almost lost traction. Aaron's office was around the corner from the Surgical wing of the ER, and as they sprinted toward a T intersection. A gurney was being wheeled from left to right toward the operating rooms.

One of the Nurses started to rattle off the state of the injured man, and the type of injuries made. as Xun skidded to a halt put his fore legs on the gurney. thin scratch marks on the waxed tiles in his wake from.when he stopped. Something the Governing Board would bitch about, but they would get over it.

“Human male, 27 years old, three gunshot wounds in the thoracic region. One lung collapsed, and a fourth gunshot wound to the thigh. Nicked his femoral artery, he's pretty rough but you should see the other guy. The attacker got savaged by a dragoness on top of gunshot wounds." The nurse spoke fast, and Xun could see the bare torso smeared with blood. Old scars covered the chest and an old set of dogtags were resting in the blood smears on the man's chest.

Xun reached a paw out and used a digit to wipe blood from the thin plate of metal so he could read the name, and the tag read “Jocek, Marcus, Marines, Baptist".

The man's hand reached up and grabbed his foreleg's wrist, and the man coughed out one word

“Korinthia…" The hand relaxed in unison with the cardiac monitor going into the rapid beeps of a heart going into overdrive.

“No no Marcus, hold on Marine!" Xun shouted and looked back to see Aaron, running up, the human doctor had already grabbed the crash cart that was stored along the path to the operating room.

“Get him inside, we got this Xun" Araon, was already warming up the defibrillator as they breached the double doors and got the man in the operating room. Forgoing hand cleaning and sanitation in favor of the preservation of life. Xun pulled the large epinephrine syringe from the crah cart. While Aaron spread electrode gel over the defib pads. With a hum the machine came to life and started to charge, Aaron placed the pads on the patient's scared chest.

“Clear!" The warning call was given and Marcus's body seized as two thousand volts surged through his body, and the heart monitor went flat. one long 'Beeeeeep!'. Xun cursed and jammed the syringe home in the man's chest near the heart and depressed the plunger with his free paw. Then pulled the syringe free, and Aaron charged the machine again.

“Clear!" Another loud zap and Marcus's body arced again and seized as every muscle constricted. Then dropped back to the gurney and the heart monitor beeped steady, weak but steady. Aaron smiled wide, “Go wash, we don't wanna kill him with infection after saving his life"

Xun looked down at the man's face and whispered “Korinthia…" repeating the man's words before he had went into cardiac arrest.

“What was that?" Aaron asked, and Xun was broken from his thoughts.

“Nothing… it's just something he said before he tried to go to the other side." Xun said as he pushed off from the side of the gurney and bound over to the wash station and got his forepaws washed. A nurse slid gloves on his paws, and a mask over his snout.

'Korinthia…' The name distracted his conscious mind as he ran on autopilot, until he was back over the human and went to work saving another life.