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Lena stands, brushing her teeth with a cup of water while periodically glancing at the dragon sleeping on her blankets. She remembers waking up in the middle of the night and being snuggled up next to him. She had moved away quickly but part of her had not wanted to as he felt warm and safe which she rarely feels while sleeping.

"Good morning." A quiet rumble comes from the bed.

She quickly looks away. "It's almost afternoon. We slept late. I have to get going or I'm going to be late for work. I guess I'll meet you on the square?" Lena is not used to having someone around or who she needs to make plans with.

She glances back in his direction as he stands up and stretches and she quickly looks away. "Hey, put that thing away!"

He looks down and chuckles. "Sorry, it's pretty much like that every morning." He realizes he is not embarrassed about her seeing him like that as he was last night. He turns around and tries to get it to go back into its sheath. It was not like he did it on purpose or was even aroused.

"Great!" She grumbles, "Something else I have to put up with."

"What was that I didn't hear you?"

"Oh nothing. Come on, I have to go." She runs a brush through her hair, grabs her backpack and heads for the door."

"You're not going to eat breakfast?"

"No, mother, I eat at the restaurant." Sarcasm drips from her words.

"Oh, well that's good."

Can dragons pout because it sure looks like this one is pouting. "Hey, I'm not a morning person, okay. I need a cup of coffee and then I'm more agreeable. It's nothing personal."

He does not say anything as they head out. He looks down the dreaded stairs and up at the stairs leading to the roof. "I could fly you down."

"No, people may not be able to see you but they can certainly see me and no thank you, I do not want to be on every computer and news channel as the woman that can fly. Go ahead, you can go up. I walk these stairs every single day and it's no big deal."

He grinds his teeth together. "I will go with you."

"Suit yourself." She flips her hair back and begins almost running down the stairs.

"Hey, wait up!" He cannot move as fast on the stairs, but she slows down for him.

"You are going to make me late. You should have just gone to the roof." She huffs.

"I can't protect you if I'm not with you."

She rolls her eyes. "I've been living on the street for four years, I can protect myself."

He thinks she is too small to protect herself. He has seen some of the vile things this city has done to small young women and girls and he is not going to let that happen to her. He keeps his mouth shut and follows her down as quickly as he can manage only bumping his tail twice.

At the bottom landing leading to the main room before the street, two scruffy looking men come through the doorway and leer at her, "Well lookie what we have here, Charlie, a little princess just for us."

Before the dragon can even flinch she leaps off the stairs, kicks one, flips, and kicks the other. Both are now on the ground; one holding his jaw, the other holding his stomach and both are groaning in pain. She goes outside. She pulls the wood off the door so he can fit through it. "I told you I can protect myself." She says not even out of breath.

He growls and looks back at them before exiting the building. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." He is determined to find a better place for her to sleep tonight. At least he had the whole day to figure it out. She turns to leave.

"I'll see you later."

"I don't think so. I'm walking you to the restaurant."

"This over protective routine is getting old. You saw what I did to those two guys, two! I can handle myself, been doing it for years now. Go on and get your breakfast. I know you must be hungry."

"I can wait until you are safely inside the restaurant."

He walks beside her down the sidewalk. People are starting to walk close to the curb, making a wide circle around her as it looks like she is talking to herself.

"Now look what you've done, people think I'm nuts because I'm talking to you. Maybe I am."

"You are not! Stop saying those kinds of things. I'm telling you I'm real." He takes one of his talons and slices open his forepaw pad.

"What the hell did you do that for?" She grabs his paw. It is so warm, and his digits are shaped like fingers with retractile talons. He yanks his paw from her hand and sucks the blood off of it and then spits on it. She watches as it slowly begins to heal.

"How did you do that?"

"Dragon saliva has healing properties as does our blood."

"Okay, I promise I won't doubt you being real if you promise not to pull a stunt like that again. Deal?"

"Deal."

She shakes her head as she walks down the street getting nearer to her destination.

"Promise me you will behave yourself while I'm at work as I won't be there to rescue you again."

"I already made you one promise and dragons aren't ones to make promises so lightly. Besides, I've been taking care of myself far longer than you've been alive." He says dryly.

She stops in front of a building that has a strong aroma of bread and garlic. "This is it. I-I'll see you later." It feels weird saying goodbye to someone that she does not work for. She has never had anyone who cared enough about her to want to be around her this much. She does not like this feeling that is growing inside of her; a combination of anxiety and need. She does not need him or anyone else. She shakes her head and walks inside.

He grins. He knows he is getting to her. Although he is not sure why he is so pleased about that, she's human, humans and dragons can't mate, not in his world and not in this one. Not that he had tried, he wasn't about to kill a human just so he could empty his sack. He finds ways to take care of it himself. He flies up and out of the city and into the woods to find him some breakfast.

*****

Lena walks out at the end of her shift and he is standing there in his glorious dark blue scales with, the only way she can describe it, a grin on his muzzle.

"I found a place." He says smugly.

"A place for what?"

"A place for us to stay for the next couple of weeks until you have enough to get your own place.”

"Where is it and how is it available? People can't see you but they can certainly see me and I don't want to go to jail for breaking and entering."

"Will you just trust me?"

"Why should I, you haven't really done anything trustworthy." She feels bad as soon as the words leave her mouth. She realizes he spent the whole night with her and did not try to harm her or touch her inappropriately.

"I'm sorry; I'm just not used to someone helping me. Come on, show me what you have."

"You're going to have to let me carry you."

"Uh uh, no way."

He stares at her.

"Seriously, no. Besides people will see, same reason I gave this morning."

Except it's dark and I am going to take you around back and fly up between the buildings and then we'll be too high for anyone to see. They will just think they see a bat or something. People see what they want to see from what I've observed over the years. You'd be amazed at what humans have refused to acknowledge when they are seeing it." She shook her head and followed him around back. She didn't like this, not one little bit. He held out his forelegs and she stepped into him, letting him hold her tight to him, and then she couldn't touch the ground as he was flying. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

"Breathe, Lena, it's okay."

She peaks and the city is far below them sparkling with hundreds, maybe thousands of lights. She is just beginning to relax a little bit when he begins descending toward the woods outside of town. There is an old abandoned house with the windows boarded up.

"No one has been out here in years. I could barely find traces of humans here. You will be perfectly safe until you can find a better place."

She had to admit it did look doable. "But what about in the morning when I have to be at work? You can't fly me over the city in broad daylight."

"I can take you to the bus which is not far down the road from here and you can ride it into work. You'll just have to get up earlier."

He had thought of everything. Begrudgingly she said, "You did good but this is only until I can get a better place."

She is sure that is a grin on his face. She pulls a flash light from her bag. "Come on, I don't want to have to clean this place out when I'm too tired later."

"Come on, let's clean up now so we don't have to worry about it later."

The front door opens right up and the first thing she notices is the floor looks clean. Then as she steps into the living room she sees that her blankets and pillows have been arranged just the way she had them back in the old building. He had also brought the few other belongings she had and set them up on the counter in the kitchen.

"You did this?" Her throat feels tight.

"Yes, I wanted it to be ready for you. I knew you'd be tired from working all day. I see how people look at the end of a day of work here." He notices something is wrong with her as he can smell it.

"Why are you upset? Did I do something wrong"

"No, you silly dragon, you did something right." She turns and gives him a hug. His paws kind of hover out in front of him and then he lightly hugs her back.

"Thank you, Dantalian, I'm just not used to this."

"That's what you keep saying, it's time you get used to this because I'm not going anywhere." And then it hits him, he won’t be going anywhere but she is human and humans do not live as long as dragons, not even close. What would he do then, after having her to talk to and share with, when she is gone what would he do? An ache starts to grow within him until he tells himself to stop thinking about it. That is not for today that is for another day.

He carries her back close to the square and she sets up her easel for the night. She starts drawing funny pictures of him but the people seem to like them as they are buying them as fast as she can draw them. She does far fewer caricatures but she makes more money. It is surprising how much people like dragon drawings. She yawns.

"Come on, you're getting tired, can we go now?"

She looks at the people still around but she has made a good chunk of change tonight. "Alright, we can leave." She does not even care that a couple of people hear her and skirt away. He notices her lack of reaction and it warms his heart.

They get back to the house and she puts away the groceries she bought before leaving the town. It is just a few things, things that didn't need to be refrigerated, but if she is going to be so far from town she needs to have food she can eat and more water.

They both kind of stand around awkwardly, not knowing what to do. She does not feel quite ready for sleep. She pulls out the pudding that she had bought for her to eat tonight. She rarely splurges on such things but she feels like celebrating. She opens it up and the aroma wafts over to him and his nostrils flair.

"I know that scent that's chocolate."

She laughs, "How do you know about chocolate?"

"You cannot spend as much time as I've spent on the square without seeing a lot of chocolate. I finally got so curious about it I swiped a bar from a bicycle basket.” He's edging closer to her.

"And what did you think?" His long tongue comes out and licks around his muzzle. She laughs, "I take it you liked it."

"Would you mind sharing?" He sits down on the floor next to her. She sticks her spoon in, pulls it out full of pudding, and holds it out to him. His tongue whips out and wipes it clean. She giggles. She touches the spoon and it does not feel slimy. It does not feel any different than if she had taken a bite so she continues sharing with him. She takes a bite and then she gives gun another bite until the whole thing is gone. She sets the little cup down and goes to set the spoon down and his tongue digs into the cup, pulling it to his muzzle as his tongue licks it clean. When he drops the cup he has chocolate on his nose. She leans forward and wipes it off with her fingers. "You just had a bit of it on your nose." His tongue darts out and licks her fingers. She looks away from him.

"Thank you. Are you ready for sleep?" He looks at the blankets.

"Yeah, I am pretty tired." She walks over to the blankets, pulls out a large t-shirt from her backpack, and faces away from him as she takes off her shirt.

"Hey, what's that on your back?" He gets closer, forgetting she is half naked.

"What?" She holds the shirt tight against her front as she tries to look over her shoulder.

"That mark on your right shoulder." He is right behind her now and brushes his paw pad over it, tracing it with his finger like digits. "I've seen something like this before..."

She shudders as warmth fills her from his touch. "It's just a birthmark, my parents said I was born with it which I thought was pretty weird since it looks almost like a tattoo but they swear I was born with it."

"Are you sure they were your real parents because this is the Sorceress' mark. She put one that looks just like this on Drey, the Dragon King, when she marked him as hers."

"Wait, I thought Drey was with Trillia?"

"He is, but it happened when the wizard had Trillia, and Drey had to make a bargain with the Sorceress for her help to get her back. Anyway, this isn't a birthmark, the Sorceress marked you at some point when you were a baby. You can't remember anything about it?"

"No, and I think my parents would have told me if something like that happened." Lena couldn't help but wonder now. She didn't look like either of her parents, not really. She slips her shirt up over her head and pulls it down around her. She gets her backpack and pulls her birth certificate out to look at. Is it possible this is not authentic? “I think I’ll visit the hall of records tomorrow and take a look at my birth certificate they have on file.” She gets between the covers and he carefully curls up on the opposite side.

*****

Lena walks into City Hall to the records department. She requests her birth certificate with both of her parents’ names and her birth date. A few minutes later the woman behind the counter comes back.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but there isn't a birth certificate from this county with your information, is it possible you were born in a different county?"

"No, my parents said I was born at the County Hospital just down the street so no."

"You'll have to ask your parents then."

"Yeah, that'd be hard to do seeing as they are both in the cemetery."

The woman givea her a sympathetic look. "Sorry to hear that, what about an aunt or uncle, or grandparent?"

"No, there isn't anyone else. Thanks anyway." Is it possible? Could she be from that other world? And if she was, how did her parents get a hold of her?

Dantalian is waiting for her outside. "From the look on your face I'd say they didn't have it did they?"

"No..."

"So either the Sorceress came into this world and marked you for some reason, or you aren't from this world either."

"Looks like it." She couldn't help but wonder where they got this birth certificate that she has used her whole life. She will never know now. "So now what?"

"We're still in the same predicament, unless we can find a doorway back. I don't see how we can find out any info here. Do you remember anyone that your parents knew when you were little? Maybe they know something?"

Lena looks off into space. "We lived in the same house I was born in until my father died. We could check there to see if any of the neighbors are the same. I don't know that I'd remember them but I can see if anyone on the block remembers my parents."

"It's the only thing we have to go on so I say we do it. It isn't too late, I could fly you there or..." She frowns at him. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You'll take the bus and I'll meet you there, unless of course it's within walking distance?"

"No it isn't, I'll take the bus. You can follow the bus and watch for when I get off."

"Or I could just sit on top." He chuckles. "Or maybe I can sit next to you as you say I'm not that big."

She raises her eyebrows at him. "I guess, if you really want to you can take the bus with me. You probably won't like it though." She does not elaborate.

*****

Sitting on the bus, Dantalian grumbles and she is trying not to laugh as she does not want to draw attention to herself. "I told you, you wouldn't like it." She says under her breath. A couple of people near her still look at her like she is crazy. If she had a cell phone nobody would give her a second look. Maybe she should get one just so she does not have to deal with the odd stares when she is talking to Dantalian.

"You didn't tell me that people would smell so offensively in such a tight space." He continue to growl and grumble all the way to their stop.

He follows her to her street and notices her body tighten up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I didn't think it would bother me but I guess it does."

"What bothers you?"

"Remembering how good it was for a little while." An ache spreads through her.

She walks up to the first house next to her old house. An older woman answers the door. "Hi, my name is Lena Whitmore, I used to live in the house next door," She points to the house on the left. "And I was wondering if you lived here back then, about nineteen years ago?"

"No, I'm sorry honey, I didn't move here until about ten years ago, but my husband lived here then."

Lena brightens, "Is he home?"

"No, I'm sorry dear, but he died last year, heart attack. I told him he needed to cut down on salt and fat but he didn't listen to me. And I told him to go to the doctor when he started having pains in his chest every now and then but did he listen, no he didn't. Now he's gone, God rest his soul, and I'm left all alone."

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry." Lena let out a long breath.

"You could go across the street. Mable has lived here a good thirty years and she might remember your family."

Lena smiles, "Oh thank you, thank you so much." Lena did something she never does and hugs the woman.

"Oh..." the woman giggles. "That's... you're welcome dear."

They walk across the street and Lena feels her stomach flop and her footsteps slow.

"You alright, Lena?" He notices she is getting a little twitchy. "It will be alright, whatever the woman has to say. I'm here for you."

"Thanks, Dantalian. I just, I just don't know what to think."

She walks up to the door and knocks. In the far off distance they hear, "Just a minute..."

The door finally opens. "Hello?" An older woman with white hair flowing to her shoulders, wearing t-shirt and jeans, and with a wide smile on her face stands in front of them.

"Hi, my name is Lena Whitmore and I used to..."

"Oh my goodness, you're the Whitmore girl! You were just the cutest little girl I ever did see!" The woman leans in and hugs Lena. "Won't you come in for tea? I'd love to hear how you and your mom are doing, I was so sorry to hear about your dad, he was a good man."

"Thank you, yes that would be nice." Lena follows her in and Dantalian carefully moves past her, quickly pulling his tail out of the way before she closes the door.

The living room is tidy with nic-nacs, colorful pillows, a blue couch and matching chair and ottoman. They follow her into her dining room. "Have a seat, I have water on for tea already, would you like herbal or black tea?"

"Black tea is fine."

She comes back in a few minutes later with two cups of tea.

"So tell me, dear, how is your mom?"

"She was in a car accident when I was sixteen and didn't make it." Lena says in a monotone.

"Oh honey I am so sorry, you have had some bad luck in your young life."

"I wanted to ask you if you knew, did you see, I mean..."

The woman chuckles, "It's alright dear, you can ask me anything."

"Did you see my mother pregnant?"

"Oh... they never told you I take it."

"Told me what?"

"I guess it's alright now since they are both gone, you were adopted. She couldn't have children and wanted a child so desperately. One day she came over and introduced you to me, you were about six months or so I think. Cute as a button you were and one of the best babies ever, you almost never cried."

Lena felt Dantalian's paw on her back, knew he was trying to comfort her but she wasn't sure how she felt. Part of her is almost relieved the woman she had called mother and didn't protect her from that asshole pedophile, wasn't really her mother. But another part of her was a little terrified where she actually came from.

"Did she happen to mention how she adopted me, where I came from, who my birth parents might be?"

"No, dear, I'm afraid not. She just said they were lucky enough to be able to adopt you and they were just as proud as can be, but then your daddy had to go overseas when you were about four years old and, well you know, he never came back."

Lena didn't want to be rude, especially since the woman had given her at least part of the answer she needed to know, so she stayed and chatted with her for awhile. She even pulled out her sketch pad and did a caricature for her that the woman was tickled to receive.

"Thank you so much, I will frame this and put it up on my wall! You are so talented my dear. Please let me know if there is ever anything else I can do for you."

"You've helped me enough already, I went for my birth certificate and there wasn't one and since they were both gone, I didn't know if I'd ever have an answer."

"What do you mean there wasn't a birth certificate, there should have been one made up when they adopted you."

"No, I don't think it was a legal adoption because there isn't a birth certificate for my parents ever having a child."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I never knew. I just took her at her word. What are you going to do?"

"I could look through the papers from back then, see if anyone was missing a child, but I have a feeling, I probably came from somewhere else."

"You're mom didn't go anywhere during that time. She did work downtown though, near the town square, I think she worked at a dentist's office answering phones, if my memory serves. She quit working to take care of you after you came along. I'm so sorry, Lena, I wish I could help you more."

Lena reached out and lightly squeezed the woman's hand. "No, you have helped me a lot. At least now I know the truth that she wasn't my real mother. You don't know how much that helps, really." She hugs her and makes her way outside. “Oh, do you know if the dentist’s office is still open downtown? Maybe they can give me more information.”

“Sorry, that dentist retired and he closed the office down years ago. Wait a minute…” She goes back inside and comes back out with a photo in her hand. “I remembered there was a block party and you’re mom’s best friend was visiting. Here, this is the woman. Her name was Suzie, Sarah, Sandy, I don’t know, I can’t remember.” She was pointing to a woman standing next to Lena’s mother. Lena’s chest tightens at seeing the woman that raised her. There is something familiar about the woman next to her. Lena closes her eyes trying to remember.

“Sarah, her name was Sarah. I don’t remember her hanging around after we moved from here, do you remember anything else about her?”

“No, I’m sorry I don’t. Is there a number I can call if I remember anything else later?”

“I’ll have to call you as I don’t have a phone at the moment. I’ll call you next week and check back with you.”

They hug one more time. "You take care, dear, and let me know if there is anything else I can do."

"Thank you, I will. Do you mind if I keep this photo?"

“Sure, you keep it.”

They walk back to the bus stop and Lena swipes at her face wishing she could go hide in a hole somewhere and process everything.

"I'm here if you want to talk about it."

"No, I don't want to talk about the fact that my real mother dumped me somewhere, probably in the town square, and the woman I thought was my mother found me and took me home like she had a right to do it." She let out a long breath. They get to the bus stop as the bus is pulling to a stop. They do not talk all the way back to the town square. She decides she might as well set up her easel and see what she can make for the day.

He watches her as she draws caricature after caricature. She smiles at the people that sit for her but he can see it does not reach her eyes. She finally packs up when the crowd thins out and the sun had long since set.

He follows her to a sandwich shop that is about to close and she goes in and buys a sandwich. She comes out and he follows her back to the alley where she silently leaned into him so he can carry her back to the house in the woods.

He lands in front of the house. He is worried about her but does not know what to do for her. He doesn't have any experience in this sort of thing. Okay so most dragons, or people, wouldn't have experience in this sort of thing.

She unwraps her sandwich while standing at the counter. "What do you think it means that I have the Sorceress' mark?"

"The only time I've seen it is when she had marked someone as hers. She has a lot of daughters and I've never seen a mark on them so I can't begin to guess why you would have a mark and they wouldn't if you are her daughter. And by the way, if you are her daughter, that would make you a shifter maiden just like Trillia."

"But we wouldn't know that for sure unless we mate?"

"Honestly I don't think you are because people can see you here. If you were a shifter maiden, I don't think people could see you just like they can't see me."

"At least that's what you think, what if it is only in dragon form that people here can't see you? What if I'm a shifter maiden and only in my dragon form will I be invisible to others?"

"I don't know. There is so much I don't know. It isn't like we are taught about other realms when we are hatchlings."

"Hatchlings?"

"We are born from an egg, hence, hatchling."

"Oh, well, that's different."

"Hey, I'm a dragon remember?"

She chuckles, "Kind of hard to forget." She takes the last bite of her sandwich and cleans up.

At least he made her laugh, that's a start.

He finds himself wanting to comfort her and every once in a while he strokes her back. Whether or not it is helping her is another matter altogether.

"Well," She says suddenly, "at this point I don't think it much matters. I mean, we can't know for sure about anything so it doesn't change anything. I am whoever I am." She turns away from him, pulls her shirt off and puts her oversized t-shirt on, slips off her pants and climbing into the blankets. He lies down next to her and cuddled up to her. She does not pull away.

*****

It’s Sunday morning and for the first time Lena is not feeling motivated to go to the Farmer’s Market. Maybe he is right and she needs a day off. She rolls over instead of getting up and goes back to sleep.

She wakes up a couple of hours later feeling more tired than she had the first time she woke up. She dragged herself out of bed anyway. She notices Dantalian is not on the blankets nor in the room. “Dantalian?” Her voice echoes through the house. Maybe he went out to hunt for his breakfast. She gets a glass of water, pulls out a piece of beef jerky, and sits at the kitchen island. She plays over everything they learned the day before from her old neighbor, about her tattoo, and starts to put a plan together in her mind.

He lumbers into the room about an hour later. “Good morning, Dantalian.”

She sounds chipper and he looks at her suspiciously. “Why are you in such a good mood? I noticed you didn’t get up to go to the square this morning. Are you finally taking a day off?”

“Yes, I think you are right, I deserve a day off. So tell me some more about these shifter maidens.”

“Why?” He does not like the way she is looking at him. He catches her glancing at his sheath and he feels exposed even though he knows the tip is not showing.

She looks away and drinks more of her water. “Just curious. I know you said I’m probably not one of them but I can’t help but wonder, you know?” She feels heat spreading through her.

His nostrils flare scenting her arousal, but he keeps it to himself.

"So, why did it kill the, maidens, when the dragons mated with them?"

"We don't know exactly except that our seed is toxic to them."

"Did anyone not die?" He didn't like where her thoughts were going. He would not risk her life.

"We can't risk it, Lena, I won't risk it."

"Did I say anything about risking anything? No I didn't, thank you very much. I was just curious, that's all."

"Oh, pardon me." He knows she is more than curious, he can smell it.

"Trillia discovered that a drop of it wouldn't kill but it made them very, very sick."

"But it didn't kill them?"

"No, but they were so sick, they were in bed for about a week."

That wouldn't be ideal but... "What if I'm different or what if humans in this world aren't the same as humans in your world?" She moves closer to him and he steps backwards.

"No, no, no. I won't risk you, I can't risk you."

"I told you I am just curious."

"Sure you are and dragons live in your world among humans."

"Well it seems they do now."

He hisses at her. She laughs as she has never heard that sound come out of him before. She goes over to the blankets and pulls off her night shirt and stands with only her panties and bra on.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm hot; I'm just getting more comfortable.

"Put it back on. Put your clothes back on, now!"

"No, you are not my parent, I'm hot and this is how I want to relax."

He groans. His speared tip is already starting to make its way up and out of his sheath. "Damn it please put some clothes on."

"No." She reaches behind her and takes her bra off. For being such a tiny thing she has an ample bosom. He swallows hard and looks away. He just wouldn't look at her. He could do that. And then he hears her slide the cloth down her legs and knows she is standing there without anything on. He cannot help it, he isn't made of stone. He slowly turns and she is standing their staring at him.

"Lena, sweetie, we can't do this. You are quite beautiful though." He pulls his eyes away from her. “Would you please consider putting on some clothes even if it is something with less fabric so you can be cooler? He hears her and then feels her approach him. He turns around to face completely in the opposite direction from her.

"Just a drop you say?"

"No, Lena, it will make you very sick, you wouldn't be able to work and your own home would be pushed out further."

"I can live with that."

He groans. He feels himself rising further and getting harder.

"Please, oh please I beg of you, could you please put something on."

"Mmmmm, I never thought I'd like to hear someone beg, but there is something about it when you do it."

Before he realizes what she is doing she swipes her finger across his tip getting just a hint of moisture. She sucks it off of her finger. She is surprised at the earthy taste; not like a man at all.

"Lena, no!" He yells but it is too late.

"How long before I'm supposed to get sick because I feel fine."

They both wait a moment, but nothing happens. "See, I told you, this world is different. Either that or I am." She moves in and presses her body up against his rough scales. It is a strange sensation. She brings the bottom half of her body closer and presses it against his red flesh sticking out of his sheath.

She cannot believe she is doing this but she is determined to find out if she is a shifter maiden or not. She has not let any boy or man get anywhere near her. Not since her step-father. She pushes that to the side.

Her hands move between them to explore. It feels so different, so hot, and the texture is not the same either, but she cannot begin to describe it. Her hands move over the tip and she lightly pinches it. He sucks in his breath. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"N-no, Lena, it feels good." He lets her continue to explore. He forces himself to keep still. He has a feeling he needs to let her take charge, at least this time. He cannot believe he is already thinking of a next time.

She flicks her tongue across the tip and he groans. Taking care of it himself is far different from this. She reaches down and cups his sack in her hand and it barely fits. She gently roles the orbs within the sack between her fingers. "Lena..."

Something awakens within her, a feeling of power, and it courses through her veins. She takes him into her mouth. It is a tight fit but she relaxes her mouth as much as possible sucking as her tongue swirls over him, and she takes him further into her mouth. She puts the pictures she doesn't want to see in a little box in her mind where they can't hurt her. She takes him deeper.

"Ooooh... Lena..."

Every time he says her name the power in her veins grows. She takes him deeper and lightly squeezes the sack in her hand, and then she does something even more daring. Her other hand slides back and her fingers massage his dark opening.

He makes a growling purring sound from deep within him. "Lena... I... can't hold it back much longer."

She sucks harder, pressing her tongue against him and slowly moving her mouth back and forth over him. He jerks, she feels his sack become unbelievably tight and warm liquid hits the back of her throat. She swallows as fast as she can but some leaks out of the corners of her mouth. She still continues to swallow. She strokes him, sucks and milks him until every last drop is out of him. She pushes him back and climbs up onto him. His tongue flicks out and licks the corners of her mouth. "Thank you, Lena." He whispers. "That was... so good."

She grins, "I'm glad you liked it."

"Like doesn't even begin to describe it."

"Good, because I plan on doing it again."

He chuckles, "I think it might take me a while before you can do that again."

She pushes at him. "Not now... later. Shouldn’t I be changing by now?” Disappointment courses through her.

“You must not be a shifter maiden because you would have shifted by now. I’m sorry Lena.” He could feel her disappointment.

She gets up and takes his paw. "Come lie down with me.” She climbs between the covers and he curls in beside her, wrapping his tail around her. Her mind is swirling with everything; who she is, who she is not, her mother who is not her mother and this wonderful dragon wrapped around her. She closes her eyes trying to make sense of it and drifts off to sleep.

*****

She floats in her dream, symbols she’s never seen before are all around her including the one that is on her back. She remembers having her mother take a photo of it when she was younger because she wanted to see what it looked like after another child had mentioned it at a pool party when she was four. She sees her mother in the distance and tries to get closer to ask her questions but she is always just out of reach. She sees the woman from the photo and tries to ask her a question and the woman acts like she cannot see or hear her. She sees another woman in the opposite direction who has long dark hair and there is something familiar about her.

“Who are you? Are you my mother?”

The woman puts her finger to her lips and then beckons Lena to follow her. As Lena follows her she sees a street sign, Oak Street. She continues following her down Oak Street until she stops in front of a house that looks familiar and then she sees the woman that was her mother’s friend through the window.

“Does my mom’s friend live in this house?”

The woman smiles and fades away.

Lena suddenly sits up and realizes she had been dreaming. “Wake up, Dantalian, we have somewhere we have to go.”