THRAX Read online

  “Are you sure that’s all it is?” Agena asked.

  His demeanor softened just a bit, which she found encouraging. She wanted his attitude soft as much as she wanted other things about him hard. “Agena,” he said, “we have just been…presented to each other, very publicly, for the most private and personal of reasons. We have everything to learn about each other yet, and what we have to do is one of the most important things that anyone will ever do in life.

  This is no small thing, and yet we’re essentially strangers. And this comes at one of the most important times in the life of a Lacertan. We both have a great deal on our minds now, don’t we?”

  She nodded; he had an excellent point, after all. “You’re right. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of…what we’re here for.”

  “And first, there is the necessary medical procedure, for which the Spires has already made my appointment. I’m due there now.”

  “Then you should be getting to that, of course. If you want, I’ll go on back to the Chateau and wait for you there.”

  “You could. Or…you could come with me to the polyclinic and wait. It won’t take long, and we would have that much more time in each other’s company, to start getting accustomed to each other.”

  Again, Thrax’s manner seemed to grow softer, which Agena found encouraging. And she liked the idea of going with him to his appointment. It felt as though she were being a supportive mate, even considering the way they were brought together. “I’d like to go with you,” she said.

  Once more, Thrax offered her his hand. “Then let’s be away.”

  Thrax shifted his body back to dragon form and offered her his hand once more. Agena once again let him pick her up and lift the two of them into the air. In moments, they were soaring over the towers of Silverwing. Agena, held tightly in his strong arms, feeling the texture of his scaly skin and the caress of the winds over the city, felt safe in the dragon man’s embrace and confident about what they would soon begin to share together.

  Or…mostly confident. She had noted the softening of his manner, the relaxing of his formality in dealing with her, and was sure it was genuine. And yet, in some instinctive way, she could not help but think there was something more going on with him, something else that the dragon man was not expressing.

  She reasoned that she would have plenty of time in the days ahead to find out what it was. And perhaps it would even bring them closer in mutual understanding, which would only help them both when they went to bed together.

  _______________

  And so, Agena found herself in the waiting area of one of the Silverwing polyclinics. The medical facility did everything to make this a comfortable place for the friends and loved ones of patients. The furniture seemed as comfortable as that in the suite that waited for her and Thrax at the Chateau, and there were plenty of media tables where people displayed a variety of arts, entertainment, and information to pass the time.

  And the area had broad, tall windows all around to admit the sunlight and promote a warm atmosphere. It was a good place to think. And as Agena, with a glass of water in one hand, took a seat at one of the windows, that was exactly what she did.

  In an outpatient procedure room right now, Thrax was probably lying comfortably on a table while a physician monitored the progress of medical nanosurgeons who busied themselves in his vas deferens, dissolving the artificial blocks that were placed there years ago to sterilize him. As a Knight, Thrax had sworn an oath that he would not marry and would not have children; for the ties of marriage and children would divide his responsibilities, and the Knighthood was considered a calling that demanded complete and undivided devotion and precluded a mate and a family.

  And yet, like human civilization in this day and age, Lacertan society, including the Knighthood, considered celibacy unnatural and unhealthy. The Knights were permitted sex partners and lovers, so long as their duty took priority over the relationship. Anyone who involved himself or herself romantically with a Knight was given to expect this in no uncertain terms.

  It was why Knights were not considered the ideal spouses, regardless of their oath. One could sleep with a Knight. One could love a Knight. But one could not wed a Knight—except under circumstances such as Agena and Thrax now faced. When a Knight was selected for Courtship, everything changed.

  She had taken the glass of water with a complimentary dose of inhibitor that the polyclinic offered to all visitors. People visiting Lacerta or expatriates from other planets routinely used mutagen inhibitors, either in liquid form or through transdermal patches. In this manner, they could drink or bathe in the water and not be at risk of taking on weredragon traits. The largest concentrations of Draconite were in lakes like Shimmershine, and swimming in such a body of water would practically ensure a full mutation, which was why those waters were restricted to Lacertans only.

  But all Lacertan water contained trace amounts of Draconite, and any pure human who drank or bathed in them could acquire some degree of dragon-shifting characteristics. This made the inhibitors a necessity. In Agena's mating with Thrax, assuming it was successful, the weredragon traits would pass from the father, making the baby a Lacertan.

  Sometimes, people who visited or relocated to Lacerta deliberately chose to become dragon shifters, but that was a long process involving applications and careful physical and psychological screening, which, if successful, was then followed by a period of training and acclimation.

  Lacerta did not permit just anyone visiting or moving to their planet to change species and become one of them. They were very vigilant about making sure that applicants understood what it meant to have two bodies, one reptilian, and were prepared to spend the rest of their lives that way in both physical and mental health.

  Agena had never met anyone who had voluntarily become a weredragon. She was curious about such people, as she was perfectly happy being only a human. Perhaps in her time on Lacerta, she would have the chance to meet someone who had "gone native" and find out about them. For now, her principal concern was her relationship with Thrax.

  At the sound of her voice being called -- “Agena?” --she blinked and spun her seat around, and there he was, tall and dark and exuding pure sex. She almost could not stand up at the sight of him, though she hoped something of his would soon be standing up for her.

  In that same courtly manner, Thrax helped her from her seat. “How did it go?” she asked.

  “As perfectly as expected,” replied Thrax. “I’m now ready.” He paused for a second to let both meanings of that statement sink in. “Shall we go?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ll just dispose of this,” she held up the mostly finished glass of water, “and we’ll go.”

  Together, they made for the recycling port of the waiting area, and from there, back to the Chateau—and their purpose.

  _______________

  Agena sat at the table on her side of their suite and let him pour them a couple of glasses of Proxima champagne from the vintners of the very first colony that Earth had settled outside of the home Solar System. She took one and he the other, and they toasted the beginning of…what? Their adventure? Her future or his? Privately, Agena and Thrax each admitted that they were not exactly sure. They clinked their glasses in silence.

  After the first taste of the wine, they began.

  “Tell me, then,” he said, sitting across the table from her, “what is it that brings you here to Lacerta to find a mate to father your children? And what made you want to be the mother of children of our kind?”

  The smile that possessed Agena’s face was a polite but somewhat flustered one. She felt as if she were being questioned by the media after losing a game, or worse, interviewed for a job. “Well,” she answered, “my child will be a part of me as well as the father. That is, it will belong to both of us, won’t it?”

  “True, it will,” said Thrax. “But you are a woman of quality, achievement, and beauty, aren’t you? With all of the exc
ellent, eligible human men in so many planets, why a Lacertan male?”

  “If you don’t mind me pointing it out, you’re not just any Lacertan male, Thrax.”

  “But the question remains. You have so many choices available to you…”

  She cut him off as politely as she could. “But I know what I want.”

  “And you see the things that you want in me?”

  With another sip of wine to dull, at least slightly, the anxiousness she was now feeling, Agena said, “Frankly, yes. Yes, I do.”

  “And what things are those?”

  Now, Agena felt as if there were an electric current of tension running back and forth across the table. She had no intention of being anything less than honest, but she would have to make it a very careful and measured honesty. “Thrax,” she said, “I think men like you are…well, to be honest, the best the galaxy has to offer. I don’t say that just to flatter you or fawn over you; that’s not my style. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. I think men like you are…special. Exceptional. Excellent.”

  He leaned forward a bit now, taking a swallow of his own wine and fixing her with a charged look. “I see,” Thrax said. “And what is it about us that makes us so exceptional, so excellent?”

  “You know that yourself,” Agena said. “You’re trained to be the best you can be, in mind and body. And you’re chosen to serve because you’re considered to be the best in character. Nothing average, nothing mediocre. You Knights are special men and women.”

  Thrax nodded, weighing her words, the way she said them, and the way she carried herself. He sensed no deception or insincerity about her. She actually meant what she was saying. “Special,” he said. “My position and my rank make me special to you.”

  “Is that so strange?” Agena asked. “To a lot of people, my being a Sphereball champion makes me special.”

  “So you consider us both champions, in a way.”

  “I guess you could put it that way.”

  “I see. So, for you, this would be a mating of the best with the best.”

  “I don’t mean to sound arrogant,” said Agena. “It’s just that I’ve always looked for the best in myself, or maybe I’ve always reached for the best in myself. And when it came time to look for someone to have a child with, I did what I’ve always done and looked for the best.”

  Thrax frowned slightly, not a frown of anger or offense as much as a frown of consideration. There was a truth about her words, not so much a truth of facts as a truth of person. “I’m honored you think so. I only hope you find I’m everything you expect me to be.”

  “I already know you’re a strong, brave man. I already know you care for your world and you care for others and want to help them. You must have risked your life for other people and you’d do it again. I can’t think of a better man to want to have a child with.”

  “I’m honored again,” said Thrax. “Tell me…in your travels from planet to planet in your sport, of course you’ve had lovers. Have you ever known a man like me in bed before?”

  Agena straightened up in her chair and blinked a bit, as if the alcohol had gone to her head and she were trying to keep her wits about her while starting to feel a buzz.

  “I’m sorry if the question is abrupt or forward,” Thrax said. “But you’ll agree, our whole situation is rather abrupt. I didn’t know how else to ask.”

  “I understand,” she replied. “But it’s a natural question.”

  “So…have you had relations with a male of my type before now?”

  “Honestly,” said Agena, “yes, I have. More than one. A few.”

  Thrax nodded. “Then you know already, at least generally, what you can expect of me.”

  She rolled her eyes to one side, remembering once again the Knights of her past and the way they had made her feel. Then she returned her eyes to Thrax, bringing those memories along and fixing them on him as she had at the platform. She had every belief that when he topped her in bed, the sex would be like a meteor hitting a planet. “I know,” she said.

  “You know the way we are in bed,” Thrax said. “You know that in bed, we are very powerful, very prolific, and very demanding. In sex, even more so than with a human, we are consumed, and we put everything that we feel into the act. The act is prolonged and never just once. We go many times, and always with the same passion. It’s no boast when I say that human females in bed with Lacertan males, especially the Knights and the Corps, have been known to faint. That’s how intense we are.”

  Softly but firmly, without intimidation, Agena said, “I never fainted.”

  “No,” said Thrax. “I’m sure you didn’t.”

  They were silent then, sitting face to face with only the table between them, pondering the honesty and frankness of their words—and beginning to imagine how it would be when there was no table or anything else between them. Not even his armor, not even her body suit. It felt warmer in the suite, and definitely not just from the champagne.

  The silence passed. Thrax rose from the table and stood there, looking over and down at her. Agena watched him, wondering what he would do next. She could practically hear the heart pumping in her chest, feel the blood shooting hotly in her veins. What would he say now? What would he do? Would he again extend his hand to her, to lead her away from the table? Where would he lead her? What would come next? She studied his face, awaiting his words.

  “I believe,” said Thrax, “it’s time for my swim.”

  Agena exhaled, letting the anticipation flow out of her. She had forgotten about that, but of course, he had not. Whatever was to come of the conversation they had just had would have to wait a while. For the moment, Thrax had other needs that she could not fill.

  “Right,” she said. “Your swim. You need to go to the lake.”

  With a hint of a smile, he said, “You are, of course, welcome to join me. You will not be allowed to enter the lake, but if you’d like to accompany me…”

  “Yes,” said Agena. “I would.”

  Thrax stepped around the table and offered her his hand once again. It seemed to be becoming a running theme in their relationship.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Things were starting to look promising now. After their talk, Thrax excused himself and adjourned to his side of the suite, while Agena stayed on hers and changed from her body suit to a strapless one-piece swimsuit. When Thrax returned, he was clad in next to nothing, only a thin strap and a loincloth, to which he attached his badge. In spite of her prior experience with dragon Knights, Agena was quietly awestruck at the sight of him.

  The chest and abs once covered by the top of his armor were almost like plates carved from the hull of a starship. His pecs were splashed with hair that begged to have fingers rustling through it. And his legs… If Agena’s legs were those of an Amazon, Thrax’s legs were like those of nothing less than a Titan. Every muscle in them seemed hewn from the same mighty stuff as his chest and stomach. She could well imagine the power that would surge through those thighs and calves when he climbed onto her and began to hump. He was like a god of dragons.

  At a sound of whirring from outside, Agena looked out the glass partition to the balcony and found a hovercraft suspending itself in the air just off the railing. Thrax nodded and gestured toward the balcony, silently saying, After you. Truth be told, Agena did not want to step out first. She wanted to go out behind him and get a look at his bottom, which she guessed must be as magnificent as the rest of him.

  But in deference to his manners, she stepped out before him. It was when he climbed first over the rail and into the hovercraft that she caught her first glimpse of what she wanted to see…and more. As he lifted himself into the craft, she saw the hard-packed mass of the cheeks of his buttocks and felt a rush of pure delight from wanting to reach out and touch them—as well as what swung between his thighs.

  A pouch of flesh like the fruit of some divine tree sat round and inviting there, and along with that, what was surely the limb of that same
tree, thick and blunt with a foreskin coming to a delicious pucker at the tip. Agena could only imagine how it would grow and swell when he brought it into play. She had never heard of a Lacertan male being less than generously hung, and to[p- be sure, every dragon with whom she’d lain with had a dragon in his crotch.

  She couldn’t wait to let Thrax’s dragon into her cave. For now, she would have to settle for his hand in hers once again, gallantly helping her up and into the hovercraft. She took her place in the passenger’s seat, he set himself down at the controls, and they were away.

  When the towers and arches of Silverwing fell away behind them, they went skimming over fields, hills, valleys, and streams. Agena admired the way the Lacertans had struck a balance between urbanization and nature over the years.