My fingers dug into her ass cheeks at the insane tightness of the fit.
We kissed the entire time we rocked and grinded. Still had our lips locked when her climax hit and triggered my own.
Our next bout of lovemaking was the tender version that happened in my bed. I explored and kissed every inch of her—and she returned the favor. When the tremors of orgasm subsided, she spooned into me and I held her all night long. Too exhausted, or maybe just too happy, for the nightmares to come.
We woke to a dragon staring and growling, “Zaza and I are hungry.”
So was I.
We fell into a domestic routine. Nicky didn’t return to work, the trauma of what happened to Zaza in the daycare leading her to panic. I quickly reassured her she could stay at the chalet with the baby while I finished my book.
It was the best time, for me, at least. I’ll admit, I half expected Nicky would grow bored of me and leave before the ending of my novel, but she didn’t. If anything, we only grew closer. I bounced ideas off her. She made me sample adaptations on recipes that she then turned around and sold to a local bakery.
We spent time with the delightful Zaza, whose wonder at discovery revived my own. We marveled over Percy’s mastery of flight and ice breathing. We made love—a lot. We slept together every night, feeling safe knowing a dragon watched over us and the baby. When one of us had a nightmare, the other held tight until it passed. By the time I handed in my book to my editor, those night terrors came only rarely.
When we eventually had to pack up and say goodbye to the chalet, we didn’t relocate to the house that held shitty memories for me, or the one Nicky inherited when Joseph died.
We bought a home with room enough for Zaza and a growing dragon. Together we learned what real love was all about and I didn’t need to write myself a happily ever.
I lived it.
Epilogue
Despite Bruce’s roots in America, we ended up staying in Italy, which suited me fine, after all I’d been hatched here, making this country mine. The decision came about partially because Nicky inherited the Palumbo estate. Despite the fact she’d left her husband, Joseph died before he could change his will, so she got everything, making my servant a very wealthy Italian lady who could cut past red tape to keep Bruce in the country.
She inherited enough funds she could afford to move us to a lovely villa in the mountains with acres and acres of land. So much privacy. Excellent hunting. A home worthy of a dragon.
During this period of transition, I molted again, almost doubling in size thanks to Nicky’s excellent feeding. My wings strengthened with exercise and I could now fly far and wide, coasting upon the air streams, casting my shadow on the land below, seeding wonder in those who spotted me. If only that same wonder existed in my male servant. He had no respect. None at all and actually chastised me.
“How many times do I have to tell you? No flying during the day!” Bruce bellowed with hands on his hips.
“It’s harder to surveil the terrain in the dark,” I argued right back.
“At night people can’t see the giant fucking dragon in the sky. Look at this!” He held out his phone. “You were caught on video.”
“Barely. You can’t even tell the beautiful color of my scales, it’s so grainy,” I complained.
“It’s like you want to be captured.”
“Bah. Look at the comments. People are calling it fake,” I pointed out, having read a few of the posted replies.
“Some folks are, but what about those who think it might be real? What if they show up here and start poking around?”
“Fine.” I huffed heavily. “No more flying when there’s clear skies.”
“Never during daytime.”
“There’s no harm with me using the clouds as camouflage,” I argued.
“That’s assuming you’ll stay within them, which we both know you won’t.”
“I’m giving you a compromise.”
And in the end, he had no choice but to accept. Turned out he had a point, because within a week of my presence being recorded, the villa received visitors: a woman of uncommon beauty with silvery hair named Philippa and a burly fellow called Maddox. From the upstairs landing, out of sight, I listened as the pair of strangers explained they’d flown to Italy from Canada because of the video.
“Not sure why you’d come all that way over a hoax or why you’d even think we were involved,” Bruce stated, blocking the doorway.
“We’re here because of Abaddon,” the woman stated.
