Half-Breeds: Krinza's Dragon (3 page)

He called her a creature. Couldn’t he have said
individual? Even just referring to her as a female would have been
better than creature. Slightly miffed, it took Krinza a moment to
steel herself and formulate a reply. This was about Bru’Nik, not
herself. “I can easily look in on you Bru’Nik. Once your education
has begun, I will see you almost every day. If you ever have a
problem, you can always knock on my door. I must add, however, that
in the next few days I will be very busy preparing for the start of
the education season. I can’t have you hanging off me like your
mother. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The small reply was directed at the
floor more than her.

“Will that be sufficient, exiler?” Krinza noticed the
smallest twitch of his head at her words. Perhaps ‘exiler’ had the
same effect on him that ‘creature’ had on her. She smiled inwardly
to herself at her jab but kept a straight face at the dragon in her
home.

“It will do. I seem to have a soft spot for the
dragon blooded that I have to send here. I wanted to be sure he had
someone who understands our instincts to help guide him into his
adulthood. His mother spoke very highly of him; claiming he had
alpha potential if only he’d been pure.”

A soft spot? Dragons didn’t have soft spots. However,
she did have to admit that it was a little touching to have an
exiler that actually cared. Most of them only dealt with the
outburst of the enraged exiles who tried to hassle the portal
guards and placement agents.

“Well then, it is settled. It was very nice to meet
you Bru’Nik. I hope to see you again soon. Terrian, thank you for
stopping by but, as I mentioned, I have much to prepare for the new
arrivals education.”

She showed them out, watching as Terrain seemed to
swagger away from her. The knot began to build low in her belly
again, but damn if he wasn’t a fine male specimen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Five

The following evening, Terrian returned to Krinza’s
cottage.

“What can I do for you, exiler?” she tried to place
enough emphasis on the word to bite, but not enough for him to
think it was an intentional jab. It was, technically, a proper
title to his position, Terrian just didn’t care for it.

“Please, call me Terrian. I’m not here specifically
on business. Well, sort of. Um, can I come in?” He was hoping she
would say yes and offer him a drink. His nerves seemed to be on
edge and he didn’t understand why. She was just another female. A
half-breed, but a female nonetheless.

Why did he seem just as enticing when he worried his
hands as he did when he was sure of himself? Krinza smirked as she
stood out of his way, waving her arm to allow him entry. He was
chewing on his lip. “Feel free to pour yourself some wine. I was
just starting my evening fire if you will give me but a moment,
I’ll be free.”

“Thank you Krinza, that is very kind.” He headed
straight for the wine, poured a glass, drank half of it, and
promptly refilled it before replacing the wine and sitting
down.

Krinza noted as his tail twined around the leg of the
chair he was using. Turning around she knelt before her fireplace,
adding logs and starting the kindling. As she settled the kettle of
water for her night’s tea, she thought about why he would possibly
be there. She came up with nothing.

By the time she had settled in the chair across from
Terrian, she took note of his returned self-assuredness. He no
longer worried his hands or twitched his tail. He was again the
strong male she had met the day before. “So what is this not really
business you’re here for?” She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow
and cross her arms as she inquired.

“Well, I am new this whole exiler thing. Considering
the look of you, I’d say you’ve been on Varga for almost ten years
now. I was hoping for your assistance.”

“Fifteen years, actually. How do you propose I help
you? You have the portal guards, placement agents, and I’m sure a
whole slew of others to help you perform your duties.”

“Oh no, not in that sense. I am perfectly capable of
rattling off some memorized speeches and ushering children through
the portal. You said you were one of the educators. I wish to learn
a bit about this moon. About the other half-breeds. About you.” His
eyes caught hers and Krinza let lose a small squeak in her throat
by accident. Why did his eyes have to be so beautiful? “I mean in
order to better help the adjustments. I’m not fond of children
crying. If I am knowledgeable enough about Varga and its
inhabitants, perhaps I can make the transition easier on them.”

He actually seemed serious. Krinza was skeptical and
seemed to be thinking that were he anyone else, she'd immediately
say no and usher them out the door. Before she finished the
thought, however, she heard herself saying yes. What was wrong with
her? At a loss for anything else to say at that moment, she focused
for a moment on the arousal that was growing in her as she took in
the line of his chest, the scent of his masculinity.

As soon as Terrian started to say something else, he
swore he caught the scent of her arousal stirring. He hadn’t
expected an exiled half-breed to do anything but loathe purebloods.
This had all been a gamble, but perhaps it may just pay off.
Noticing her lack of anything to say, he figured he needed to start
somewhere before she started to smell his own interest in her.
“Since I first arrived here, I’ve come across a lot of unfamiliar
scents. Could you help me identify them?” Shit. Now she’ll know he
was scenting her. “I think it’s the local flora and fauna. I’ve
managed to learn a bit of the local trees by myself so far.” It
wasn’t much of a save, but it would have to do.

She barely caught his words. Caught up in his scent,
she heard him mention smells and breathed in deep. He had a
delicious smell to him. Damn her human half for restricting her
sense of smell. If she were pureblooded, she could have practically
smelled what he was thinking. She suddenly realized that he was
looking to her for a response when she had barely heard his
question. Damn his intoxicating scent!

“This moon does have some rather enticing scents.”
She wasn’t lying; she was inexplicitly drawn to see if he tasted as
wonderfully as he smelled. Damn it. She was an adult. She shook her
head in an attempt to clear it and focus on the conversation at
hand. She mentioned some of the more fragrant plants, started
explaining their scents. After a few minutes of his nodding, she
began to explain that he might smell things differently than what
her stifled dragon nose did.

“From your descriptions, I would say that you scent
things just fine. I would hazard to guess that you were given much
by way of your dragon blood. By the look of your beautiful eyes,
I’d say you can probably see better than I can.”

“I did get a lot of the better dragon genes. But then
again, I might be biased.”

“Better genes? There aren’t any bad dragon genes that
I’m aware of.” He actually seemed a bit shocked at her
statement.

“Well, again, I may be a bit biased, but I’m rather
fond of the sensations my human skin feels. I can feel just fine
through my scales, but the flesh is so… fragile. It’s more
sensitive.” She softly raked her claws up her arm, leaving light
red marks to emphasize her point.

“Hmmm. That seems like it would be more of a weakness
than an improvement over our scales. Though I will give you one
thing; I’ve never seen a dragon with such beautiful hair.”

“Only because no dragon pureblood has any hair.”

“Well, they should. It’s very fetching. May I feel
it?”

“What?

“I’ve never felt hair before. Scales, feathers, fur;
but never hair.”

“Um, sure. I guess it couldn’t hurt.” The last part
was mostly to reassure herself. She stood to get closer to him, all
the while hoping she didn’t lose control of her hands. But oh, she
wanted to touch every inch of him.

Once she got beside him, she noted that he had
remained sitting. Bending over was a little awkward, so she found
herself kneeling next to him. She steadied herself with a hand on
his thigh and even with the robe separating them she could feel the
heat that came off him. As he gently ran his hands through her
hair, careful not to catch his claws on her, she closed her eyes to
enjoy the sensation. What would it feel like to have his hands on
her delicate skin? Caressing her tail or massaging her breasts? No
sooner had the thought passed through her mind and she felt his
scaled hand on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open and her breath
caught in her throat for a second; he was caressing her skin with
those powerful, warm, and dangerous fingers.

When Terrian ran his fingers the length of her hair,
he ended up with his eyes on her delicate flesh, just inches away
from his hand. He’d felt flesh before, but hers looked so soft, so
supple. He gently placed the backside of his fingers to her
shoulder and stroked the olive flesh he found there. If only he
could touch every inch of her.

“Now you’re going to tell me you’ve never felt human
flesh before either, I take it?” her words were a little breathy,
but he pulled his hand away despite the growing scent of her
arousal filling his nose. Did she know that she had tilted her hips
towards him? It didn’t matter. He shouldn’t be touching her without
asking. He knew dragon body language, but half-breeds? He couldn’t
know if she was really willing unless she said so or initiated. Not
to mention that the idea of any kind of coupling may be out of the
question. Some half-breeds lacked the proper equipment. Some who
had the equipment couldn’t reproduce; others could only reproduce
with other similar half-breeds. He pulled his hand away slowly, not
wanting to show that he hadn’t actually intended it.

“No. I have felt flesh before. Yours just looked
softer, so I figured I would check and see just how fragile you
are.” Tapping a claw to a patch of scaled on her arm, he added,
“compared to your other coverings, I can understand why you think
they’d be more sensitive.” Terrian decided to fish a little and
asked, “With your dragon instincts, I would think coupling would
become dangerous for you. Our instincts push us to be rather…
rough. Do you have difficulty? Satisfying both halves, I mean.”

Returning to her own chair, Krinza crossed her arms
and poked her chin out, “I can’t see how that is any of your
business!”

“You’re right. It isn’t any of my business. I was
just curious and hoped that you’d help me to understand you better.
I know decidedly little about the individuals I work with every
day.”

She wondered if he had used ‘individuals’ in lieu of
‘creatures’ on purpose, or if it were merely a happy accident.
Either way, Krinza was inwardly appreciative. Why did she even
care? Most of the purebloods called her and her kind much worse
than creatures. Considering how many different types of races
graced Onara and Varga, creatures should have been a perfectly
acceptable word to use. Minotaurs, centaurs, unicorns, pegasus,
mer-people, dwarves, dragons, humans, phoenix, griffons, and many
more lived on the two moons. Every now and again, you even came
across pixies, fairies, sprites, sylphs, and gnomes. The only odd
creature out, so to speak, were the humans. The different mystical
creatures could not interbreed, except with humans. Being the only
animal that seemed unable to wield magic naturally, it somehow
contorted their being. Mixed breeds seemed to be the magic’s way of
trying to fix the human’s broken link. Half-bloods could wield
magic, but pure blood humans couldn’t. Like half-bloods, they were
considered second class citizens on Onara. Unlike half-bloods, they
were not exiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Six

Terrian had excused himself, apologizing for
overstepping his bounds. As he left, she had said that he was
always welcome. That had caught him a little off guard. Even though
he could smell her interest in him, he was sure he pushed too hard
in his questions and had lost his chance. When he left, he had
brushed against her, unintentionally, yet her arousal flared and he
heard as she breathed in his scent deeply. He had smirked a little
at that. He headed out for a long walk instead of heading home.
Every instinct in his body screamed at him to dominate the female;
to bite, scratch, pin her down and make her submit. His brain
however, begged him to go slow, she was different; he would need to
go slow and be gentle. She may have dragon blood, but she was not a
dragon.

And so several weeks passed where he would visit her
every other day while on Varga, his thoughts consumed by her when
he was on Onara. The 21 hour days on Varga versus the 24 hour days
on Onara, gave him eight days with her instead of seven. Even if
the hours aligned, the night and day rotations gave him the
impression of extra time with her. Every visit they would talk on
many things. Half breeds, Varga, her teaching, his work as the
exiler. She’d suggest ways to make the transition easier, and he’d
complain about the pointlessness of it all. The first time he had
mentioned that he didn’t believe in the purist mindset, she laughed
until she cried. She couldn’t believe he was serious. Eventually,
he had convinced her that it was the way he felt. She had simply
admitted to her dislike of all purebloods until she met him.

Terrian was just leaving Krinza’s cottage on his
latest visit. It was his first day back on Varga and he had missed
her company. It had been several months and his need for her had
grown with every encounter. Unless his nose was failing him, she
had become progressively more aroused by his presence as well.
Their time together had become much more intimate over the months
since they met. They would preen each other’s wings; she would
massage his muscles or care for his claws. He was not nearly as
skilled as she was, but he attempted to care for her claws as well.
He was getting better under her instruction. He would massage her
feet and calves, but fearful of her fragile human flesh, he would
only caress her skin. When she’d want a massage in return for those
she’d given him, he’d explain his reticence, what if he hurt her?
Splitting her flesh and spilling her blood accidentally terrified
him. Then a thought came to him, but what about intentionally?