Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

Closed into the small cabin of his ship, as they had been, Iyanna hadn’t been able to help noticing his scent. It was warm—almost hot—like a bonfire at night, she thought. But there was another note in it too—a masculine spice that was incredibly attractive.

Somebody ought to bottle that and sell it, she’d been thinking…and that was when she’d noticed that the swelling and pleasure/pain was beginning again between her legs. It had gotten a little better when they had parked his ship and left to go into the spac port, but now it was getting worse again.

I’m probably just imagining it, Iyanna told herself. I’ll just ignore it and it will go away again.

She hoped, anyway.

The second thing that poked a tiny hole in her joy occurred when she took a good look at the premium seat that had been reserved for them. Though it was big and plush and looked more like a huge, overstuffed armchair than an airplane seat, it was very clearly not wide enough for Dra’vik and herself to sit side by side.

“If you could please take your seats and fasten your caution belt, we can get the flight underway,” the flight attendant said pleasantly, gesturing with all three of her bright yellow hands.

“Er…” Iyanna looked at it uncertainly as the flight attendant stood by, beaming at them. “I’m not sure how exactly—”

“Hey, hurry up, will you? You’re going to make the flight late and my cherished wife and I need to get home to our brood!”

The deep voice came from the seat across the aisle from them. Looking over her shoulder, Iyanna saw that it was occupied by a man almost as big as Dra’vik and a woman who looked to be considerably taller than herself. The man had pale blue skin and the woman was pale pink—both of them had grass green hair.

The pastel couple were nestled together with the wife sitting between her husband’s legs, leaning back against his chest. Together they reminded Iyanna of an Easter basket.

“Um, sorry,” she said. “We’re just getting seated now.”

“It’s just that we’re so anxious to see our brood again,” the wife said, smiling apologetically and revealing pale purple teeth. She was dressed in an outfit like Iyanna’s own, except it was dark purple and the modesty patches were made of silver embroidery instead of gold. “We’ve been away on holiday and the little darlings always miss us so much when we’re gone. I got presents for all of them on Torga Six!”

“Hush, Yanni—they don’t want to know all about your shopping spree,” the husband said, but he smiled indulgently as he spoke and he stroked his wife’s cheek lovingly.

“They don’t mind, Yorg,” the woman protested. She smiled at Iyanna. “You’re a lovely couple—if a bit mismatched. Do the two of you have children yet?”

“Nope—no kids for us!” Iyanna said quickly with a nervous smile.

“Well, no matter—you have plenty of time to start a brood of your own,” the woman said consolingly. “Why, you might be pregnant right now and not even know it yet!”

“If my cherished wife was pregnant with my child, she would know it,” Dra’vik said shortly, inserting himself unexpectedly into the conversation. “Iyanna, come, we have to get seated and belted in,” he added sternly.

Turning, Iyanna saw that he had already seated himself in the big leather chair with his long legs spread wide, to give her a place to sit.

Her stomach suddenly filled with butterflies. Was she really going to spend the next three hours sitting between the big Drake’s legs, pressed against his huge, muscular body? The thought made the throbbing sensitivity between her own legs get suddenly worse and she squeezed her thighs together, trying to still the uncomfortable sensation.

But there was no choice. Both Dra’vik and the flight attendant were staring at her expectantly and the couple across the aisle were waiting impatiently for her to get seated.

“Um, I’ll talk to you later,” she murmured to Yanni, the pale pink wife, and tried to smile as she turned to climb into the seat between Dra’vik’s legs.

She tried to settle on the edge of the seat—not easy since her tiptoes were barely touching the floor—but then she heard him say,

“I don’t think so, little girl.”

Leaning forward, the big Drake put an arm around her waist. Sweeping her backwards, he settled her firmly between his thighs with her shoulders against his broad chest.

“Hey!” Iyanna squirmed against him. She felt completely surrounded by his big body and it wasn’t an entirely comfortable sensation. For one thing, his spicy bonfire scent seemed to make the swelling and throbbing between her legs instantly worse and for another, the golden buttons on his vest were digging into her back.

“What’s wrong with you? Hold still!” Dra’vik demanded sternly. “I need to be able to fasten the damn belt!”