Riding My Dragons (The Dragons Of Tellus #1)

CHAPTER 8

Elliot

After my “victory fuck” with Jenna, the four of us sat up together on Byron’s bed.My buddies and I were as satisfied as it was possible for you to get.On Jenna’s face was the happiest, most blissed-out look that I’d ever seen on a female.And considering the number of human women that I’d sexed and how happily I’d always made them—I don’t mean to boast—that was something.

”You guys are great,” said Jenna at the end of a long sigh.

Cade, on the opposite side of her from me, ran his fingers along her thigh and said, “Thank you.We aim to please.”

”And you do,” Jenna said.

Byron, next to me, looked admiringly across my body at Jenna as Cade moved his fingers up her body to her boobs and traced circles around one nipple.“You’re keeping up with us pretty well,” he said.

“You’re all so gorgeous,” said Jenna.“It’s kind of an inspiration.”

“Teamwork,” I said.“We do great work together.”

She sighed again, chuckling while Cade kissed her shoulder and played with her nipple.“You sure do.”

And it was true.Cade, Byron, and I had been fucking human females as a “team” for the past couple of years.We were such friends and had such a mutual understanding that possessiveness and jealousy never played into it.We all admired each other’s performance as much as we admired the woman that we were doing.And we’d somehow managed to find women who were receptive to the idea of having the dicks of all three of us.The three of us all pleased them physically, for sure.But it was the combination of our personalities that really made it work.

Cade was the guy who gave off the subtly edgy “bad boy” vibe.Byron was the clean-cut gentleman while dressed, and the complete himbo when the clothes came off.I was the middle ground between them:the jock, the competitor and champion in my sports, as horny as both of them, who was the “leader” when we took a woman to bed.We fell into those roles the first time we shared a woman, and it had worked that way every time since.A woman with one of us was in for the best time she could have.But with all three of us, it was off the charts.

“You know, Jenna,” said Byron, “it’s not just the sex that’s so good.It’s you.Elliot told us there was something special about you.And he was right.Something about you is intriguing.”

Jenna looked across me at Byron and replied, “What’s ‘intriguing’ is that I could ever be like this.It never entered my mind that I could be with one guy like you, and here I am with three of you.How am I the same girl who’d never been to bed with anyone until now?Is this always who I was?”

“It must be, or we wouldn’t be together now,” said Byron.“People surprise themselves sometimes.”

She looked from Byron and me over at Cade, who had gone back to circling her nipple and looked as if he’d jump on top of her again any second, and said, “This has been the best surprise.”

”Better get used to it now,” said Cade.

“Absolutely,” I said, kissing her on the head and taking her other nipple in my fingers.“You’re going to be a very busy girl.”I kissed her on the mouth and slid my hand down between her thighs to feel her bush.She sighed into my kiss.I felt a rising warmth in her body.She felt my chest and I sensed we’d be “busy” with her again soon.

Jenna cuddled up with me, rested her head on my shoulder, and continued running her fingers through the hair of my pecs.Cade fondled her thigh and ass while kissing her shoulder.

“The intriguing thing,” Byron said, leaning forward and watching with an admiring glint in his eye as Chad and I played with her, “is how smart you are.”

She raised her head and met Byron’s appreciative gaze.Curiously, she said “ ‘Smart’?”

Byron repeated, “Yes.You’re a very smart girl, from what Elliot was telling us earlier.Applied Sciences and Engineering, that’s your major, right?Pretty impressive.”

”You think so?” Jenna replied.“Some guys don’t think that’s impressive or intriguing in a girl.They’d rather be with a girl who wasn't too much of a thinker.Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’ve had so little experience.”She glanced into my eyes and gave my chest another feel.“Until lately, that is.”Then she looked down and away.“I only ever had one boyfriend before, and…,” seeming a bit embarrassed, she paused before going on, “I backed out.”

I lifted her face to look at me again.“You backed out?”

Jenna shrugged.“I thought I was ready.Then I just had this feeling that I really wasn’t.So, I stopped it.And I just stayed away from boys after that.Until…you know…you, Elliot.Then you guys.”She rested her head on my shoulder again while I stroked at the dark softness of her pubes and Cade traced the contour of her ass.“I’ve suddenly gone from nothing to everything.”

”You held out for the best,” Byron said, grinning.

”And did I ever get it,” she agreed.

Cade pecked a kiss on her shoulder and said, “And you’re gonna get a hell of a lot more.”

She gave a little laugh at that and put an arm around me.Cade was right, of course.It would be time to start things up again very soon.

And that was when we heard a trilling from over where we’d all left our clothes.Cade looked up, recognizing the sound.

”Damn,” he said.“That’s for me.”

“Do you have to get that?” I asked him.

Cade frowned and dragged himself off the bed with a bitter little grunt.Going over to where his leather jeans lay, he said, “I don’t want to.But I’d probably better.”

Jenna, Byron, and I watched Cade fish his mirror out of his leathers and take the call.We only heard his end of the conversation, in between the things whoever was calling said.“Yeah, it’s Cade.What’s going on?Right now?It can’t wait?It’s got to be now?”He looked over, pained and frustrated, at us on the bed, and I could tell his eyes were on Jenna’s tits and bush, and that he was pained at the thought that he’d soon have to be somewhere he really would rather not be tonight.

His call went on with the frustration in his voice.“Um, look, I’m kind of busy right now.Are you sure we can’t put this off ‘til the morning?”He turned his eyes back to us with a complaining look, trying to keep the frown out of his voice.I shrugged at his feeling of helplessness and sympathized with his aggravation at someone calling him now of all times.“But look, I’m with…,” he started, and whoever was on the other end cut him off.He listened to what they were saying and looked up at the ceiling as if he were calling out to the old dragon gods for help.“Yeah,” he said, controlling his reaction, “you wouldn’t say that if you knew…”The other party said something else.“Well, maybe you don’t care,” said Cade, sounding more aggravated, “but I…”He paused as the other party talked again.Cade shrugged his shoulders and looked defeated.

Jenna whispered at Byron and me, “Is it his work?It sounds like something he can’t get out of.”

“We’ll know in a minute,” I whispered back, mentally adding to myself that it didn’t sound good.

Meanwhile, Cade finished the call, sighing with resignation and a very annoyed look.“All right, all right.Yeah, I’ll be right over.”He hit the glass with his thumb, ending the call, and growled at it, “And this had better be as important as what you’re saying, after what I have to give up right now.”

“Was that for work?” Jenna asked him.

Frowning hard from the annoyance, Cade said, “Yeah, it’s a cousin of mine.He says he’s got a job for me, and it can’t wait.Damnit, the last thing I want to do is leave here, now.”He stuffed his glass back in his trousers and started to put the leather pants back on.“There ought to be a rule that nobody can call you away from doing what we’ve been doing tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jenna as Cade’s cock disappeared into his pants and he sealed them up.

He replied with an irritated little laugh, “You’re sorry.Shit.”He reached for his shirt as Jenna made a sympathetic tsk sound.

“We’ll miss you,” Jenna said.

With his shirt open, Cade scratched his head, raked his eyes over Jenna’s inviting nakedness, and half-grumbled, “Yeah, you know what I’ll miss.”

“So it’s really so important that you have to pull yourself away from this?” Byron asked.

“My cousin says it is.He says it can’t wait.Damnit,” replied Cade as he went for his boots and sat down in a chair to pull them on.“You’d think he’d understand there are some things that a guy doesn’t want to walk out on.”And he glanced over again at Jenna lying between Byron and me.

“It’s okay,” Jenna said.“You can catch up with us when you’re finished with your job, whatever it is.”

With his boots on, Cade stood back up and fastened the seals on his shirt.“After the money I made tonight thanks to Elliot, I should have just told my cousin, ‘No, find somebody else for this one.’But he insisted.Like I’m the only one in the family who can do this.I’m telling you, this had better be damn good.”

“Well, take care of it, whatever it is, and then call us,” I said.“You can pick up where you left off when we’re done.”

Smirking, Cade said, “Yeah, save my place.”He came back over and climbed back on the bed and leaned his face into the cleft between Jenna’s boobs.“Or my places.”Jenna laughed as he kissed her there in her bosom, then put a peck on her lips.“The things a guy gives up…”

“It’s okay,” said Jenna.“Hurry back.”

Cade hauled himself off the bed again and left the bedroom and the penthouse.We watched him go and were sorry for what he’d have to be missing, at least for the time being.

“To be just pulled away by his family,” said Jenna thoughtfully.“Byron, what did you guys say was his family’s business again?”

A silence fell over Byron and me.What were we supposed to tell her?Truth to tell, we didn’t entirely know what the Taisce family did, only that some of it was shady and sketchy.What were we supposed to tell Jenna and how worried would she be?

“He said they were service providers for businesses,” Jenna recalled, “and they helped businesses close deals with each other.So, what clients would need them now and why would they call Cade away at this hour?What do the Taisce’s actually do, anyway?

Byron and I traded an awkward, clumsy sort of look, and I offered, “Well, there are some things they do that aren’t exactly…”

“...not exactly in what you’d call an official capacity,” Byron picked up, using some of his diplomatic skills.”

“What does that mean?” Jenna asked.“What’s ‘unofficial’ about it?”Suddenly her eyes widened for a second and she looked back and forth between us, realizing something.“By ‘unofficial,’ you mean…illegal?”She clutched at those beautiful breasts a bit and pulled up and tightened her legs.“Oh no!They’re not crooks, are they?”She lowered her voice anxiously.“They’re not gangsters!Please tell me I haven’t been in bed with…”

I touched her on her knee, trying to calm her.“No, no, no, nothing like that.There’s nothing like that to worry about.Cade is our friend.We know him and he’s not a crook.You’re not getting laid by a gangster.”

The worry was still in her eyes.“You’re really sure?”

“We’d know if he was a gangster,” I said.“He’s not.He just does errands for his family, that’s all.Right, Byron?”

“Right,” my other friend agreed.“Listen, Jenna.There are some businesses that have one part that’s out in the open, above board.And then there’s another part of their business that’s…let’s say, not on the record.Or not on the main records, more like something off the books.”

“Or in a different book,” I said.

“Things that aren’t public,” Byron said.“Not necessarily illegal, mind you, but only for certain customers.Certain patrons.”

Jenna, like a scientist, was skeptical.She may have been a virgin just a short time ago, but she wasn’t naive.“But not against the law?Really?”

I looked helplessly at Byron.There was only so much we could tell her because there were limits to what we knew.We were aware that some members of Cade’s family had been in trouble with the law, but Cade himself had not–at least not so far.

“Okay, here it is,” said Byron.“Some of Cade’s family’s clients and business contacts like to do a bit of gambling.So the Taisce’s, you see, one little side business they have is that they’re bookies.They take bets on every kind of sporting event…”

With a realization, Jenna whipped her head around from him to me.A little sheepishly, I made a crooked grin, nodded, held up one hand, and waggled my fingers at her, silently saying, Yes, including my wrestling matches and races.Jenna made a sickly sort of face that made me feel bad along with her.We promised her we were nice guys, and we were, but still, illicit gambling was obviously not her kind of world.

Byron continued, “The income that they get from the bookie operation, and setting up and running games for certain clients where they keep all the proceeds off the books–that’s something that the Taisce’s don’t like people to know about.”

“Not to mention what they must do to collect from losing bettors,” Jenna guessed, looking even sicker.“They send guys around to get money out of people, don’t they?What do they do when a loser can’t pay up?”She closed her eyes, then hid them in one hand.“Does Cade do that?Do they send him around to shake down losing bettors?Please tell me he doesn’t do that.”

“I swear,” Byron said, raising a hand, “they’ve only had Cade help them set up and run some things off the books.He’s never told us anything about being sent out to…,” he chose his next word carefully, “persuade people to pay up.And I can’t believe he did something like that.Cade isn’t some brute.He just works in the family business, that’s all.Even if they did send him out to collect, I can’t see Cade using physical intimidation on anyone, especially if they’re human.Our friend is a decent guy, Jenna.He is.”

Touching her reassuringly on one arm, I agreed.“He is.”

Jenna kept that one hand over her eyes.She crossed her arms over her bosom and kept her legs together, which was not really the way we preferred to see her, but we could tell she was really uncomfortable with all this.If we didn’t do something about this now, the whole rest of the night could just fly away from us.

“Secret gambling where they take money and don’t report it for taxes,” she said, taking it all in.“Betting and bookies.That’s what Cade’s family does.And he works for them.”

I could tell the evening really was getting away from us, and we had to do something to salvage it.“That’s really all it is,” I said, rubbing her shoulder, trying to be reassuring.“Cade isn’t a thug or anything like that.He doesn’t hurt people; I know he doesn’t.He just helps out his family with a side to their business that they keep hushed up.Jenna, we wouldn’t be friends with a thug or a lowlife.It’s just that Cade sometimes has to do something that’s a little bit over the line.You’ve been with Cade tonight.He’s a good guy, right?Does he seem like a crook or a thug?”

She rolled her eyes up a bit, considering the question.“He’s nice, like you guys are nice.I know I can trust you two, but…”

“And you can trust him too,” Byron insisted.“Really.”

Settling back on the pillow a bit, but still with her arms folded and her legs clenched, Jenna said, “I’ve gone into this whole thing so fast because of the way you guys are.I couldn’t resist you.But I see now, there are so many things that we don’t know about each other; things maybe I should have tried to find out first.”

“Well, I’d say we’ve been getting really well acquainted,” said Byron, checking me for confirmation of the fact, and I nodded positively at him.“But you’re right, you didn’t come into this knowing everything about us–not that there’s anything to worry about from us–and we don’t know everything about you, either.”

“Like things about your own family,” I reminded her, “that you didn’t seem to want to go into.”

She took that hand from her eyes and twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.“Oh,” she said, her voice lowered.“My family.”

“Like your interest in science,” Byron said.“How did you come by that?Is that from them?”

Looking right ahead and not at either one of us, Jenna said, “From my father and my Uncle Neal.They’re both physicists and engineers.”

“Right.And you grew up in Wyvern Village,” I recalled.“And your uncle travels, so you don’t see him a lot.And your dad…you never said where he was.”

Jenna kept an arm around her bosom, but relaxed her legs a little, keeping them closed.She kept twirling her hair with her finger.She was definitely troubled, and I was afraid we’d come into another bad subject to talk about.

“What’s wrong?Is there something about your father?” I asked.“Is your dad gone, is that it?Did he die?”

She shook her head and shrugged and seemed a little haunted.She answered, “I don’t actually know.Daddy’s gone, yes, but I don’t know if he died or not.It’s been almost a year since my grandmother, and I last heard from him.She’s still taking care of the house.But I came here hoping I could somehow find him.”

”Because he was last seen at the University?”

”He and Uncle Neal were here before Daddy disappeared,” she said.“He didn’t leave any word about where he was going, or why.So, Uncle Neal and I have been trying to find him.”

Byron and I traded a grave look, hearing this.One thing was sure, we were definitely finding out a lot about each other, and what we now heard from Jenna was just as worrisome as what Jenna learned from us.

”So, he didn’t even contact your grandmother back in Wyvern Village?” Byron asked.“He didn’t even get any word to her?”

Now Jenna hid her face in her hand again, and her voice cracked as if she’d start to cry.Please don’t let her cry, I thought.If there’s anything I can’t bear, it’s a crying woman.

That was when she blurted out, “Oh, my grandmother isn’t in Wyvern Village!I just made that up!”

This was totally confusing.Byron and I were speechless, watching Jenna suddenly launch herself up and out of bed and go for her clothes, which she’d put on a loveseat.

“Jenna, wait!” I called, as she grabbed her top and quickly put it back on.She was holding back tears, which was just like claws raking my heart and, I knew, Byron’s as well.We both got up out of bed, not bothering to put anything on, and I went to her and took her gently by her arms.“Jenna, what do you mean?Why would you make up a story about your grandmother being in Wyvern Village?What’s really going on?”

Bare-legged and shaking, Jenna sank onto the loveseat and wouldn’t look at us.In a hushed tone, she replied, “Because you wouldn’t believe me if I told you where she really is.And where I’m really from.”

”Where?” Byron asked, echoing my own next natural question.

Now she did look up at us, with moist eyes.Haltingly, Jenna asked, “Have you ever heard of the idea that there’s more than one world?”

Byron and I traded another look.I blinked at him, completely puzzled.But there was something more knowing in my friend’s expression.He said, “You mean like parallel worlds?Is that what you’re talking about?”

She didn’t answer yes.She only nodded.

Rubbing his chin, Byron said, “So you’re telling us that you’re actually from a parallel world.”

”I said you wouldn’t believe me,” she half-whispered.

”Not necessarily,” said Byron.

Jerking my head back slightly in surprise, I said to Byron, “What do you mean, ‘not necessarily’?”

Byron slapped me on one arm.“Come on, Elliot, you’ve heard about things like this.There’s this group of people; you’ve heard of them.They believe there’s another world alongside our own, separated from this world by some sort of different quantum frequency or something.Jenna probably understands it better than we do.These people claim you can go back and forth between that world and this one under the right conditions.Some of them say they’ve actually done it.”He faced Jenna.“And you’re telling us you’ve done this.You’re from the other world.”

Rubbing my neck, I said, “Okay, I’m going to have to hear this from the beginning because I’m not following it at all.”

Byron and I both pulled up chairs.Looking down at her hands in her lap, Jenna said, “Where I come from is a planet just like this one, except it’s called Earth.Daddy and Uncle Neal were researching new sources of clean energy, and somehow, they found a hole or an opening between universes.They discovered the Ambience.And trying to find a way to use it, they found Tellus.”She finally looked back at us.“And they found a way to come from Earth to here.They were like kids on Christmas morning.”

I wrinkled my brow, not understanding.“Christmas?”

”Oh, right, you don’t have that here,” said Jenna.“It’s a holiday full of presents that people on Earth love.Anyway, they were so excited, they thought the best way to learn about the Ambience was to explore where it came from.So, they invented a way to travel across the quantum domains, and they came here.”

”Yes, that’s sounding familiar,” said Byron.“I’ve met people who talk about this stuff, about the other world on the other side of the, what did you call it, ‘quantum domain’.”Byron was as fascinated as I was bewildered by the whole thing.“So how did they do it?How did they get here from Earth?And how did you do it?”

Now talking more easily, Jenna said, “I got into their notes and recordings, and I found out about…the ring.”

”The ring?” Byron and I asked, almost in unison.

”Yes.In their workshop, they left this ring, and a recording of how to use it.The ring…you set it on the floor, and you spin it.And the spinning somehow triggers the devices inside it, and they generate an energy that opens a gap, or a portal, I guess, in the quantum domain, that a person can go through.That’s how they traveled across.And one day, when I was depressed and upset at my father for leaving me, I took the ring and used it.And that was how I first came here.”

Scratching my head, I said, “That’s amazing.”

“I kept going back and forth between worlds for a while, going through the material that Daddy and Uncle Neal left,” she went on.“That’s how I pieced together that they came to Pendrake Tech and started studying the Ambience here.And they met this group of people, the Intercross, who were interested in traveling across the domains.And how they learned about how some Scalers don’t like the idea of a place like Earth.”

The name of that group, “The Intercross,” almost made me laugh, and I had to cover my mouth to hide it.I didn’t want to seem as if I were making light of this thing, but it sounded too much like “The Intercourse,” which was what brought us and Jenna together in the first place.

“Why don’t they like the idea of Earth?” I asked, to get more serious about it.

”It’s a political thing,” Byron explained.“You know how some people, like some of your relatives, think of Scalers as the natural rulers of the world?Think how threatened they’d feel if people believed in the existence of a world just like ours, except where there aren’t any dragons at all, Scalers or otherwise?”I thought of things I’d told Jenna about my own family.Byron addressed Jenna.“That’s right, isn’t it?On Earth, no such people as the Scalers evolved with humans, did they?”

Jenna shrugged.“No.On Earth, humans are the highest form of life, and they rule the whole world.Or they fight over who should run the world and how they should run it.It’s not that different from here in that way—just no dragons.Really big lizards, but no dragons.”

”Damn,” I said, curling my lips.“No matter what world it is, people really are alike everywhere.”

“So, this domain ring,” Byron continued, intrigued.“I assume you still have it.”

”Yes,” said Jenna.“Only Uncle Neal and a few people that he trusts know that I have it.They’ve been looking for my father ever since…,” her voice caught a little, “he disappeared.”

“So, he really just ‘disappeared’?” I said.“Without a trace, without leaving a word?”

Her eyes getting wet again, Jenna answered, “Nothing.And Uncle Neal and his friends have been searching for him. And I decided to come here to try to find out whatever I can on my own.Uncle Neal helped me establish an identity on this world and get into Pendrake Tech, which gives me kind of a home base.I’ve been learning about Tellus the way they did, and looking for clues about where Daddy might be.So far, I’ve come up empty handed.So has Uncle Neal, who travels around and keeps in touch.”She hung her head again.“I shouldn’t be messing around the way I’ve been.I’ve just run into such a dead end, with all questions and no answers.”She looked back at me.“And then there was you and your friends, and you’ve been…kind of a distraction.”

I reached out to her and touched her softly on one arm.“I know you must feel kind of irresponsible, being with us.I get that.But you’ve been mostly on your own in a strange world where you haven’t been for very long, and you must have had to get to know so many different things from what you’re used to, back on Earth.And you’ve probably not had that many people to share things with, have you?”

She nodded no at me.

”Okay,” I said, squeezing her arm a little bit.“Now you’ve got someone.You’ve got me.And Byron.”

”And Cade,” said Byron.

”Right, and Cade,” I said.“And listen, you trusted me enough to let me be your first time.And you trusted Byron and Cade because they’re my friends and you trust me.Jenna, we’d never give you up, and we’d never let anything happen to you.”

”Never,” Byron agreed.

”You’re not alone in this,” I promised her.“You’ve still got your Uncle Neal keeping in touch with you, right?And he’s got his friends in the Intercross.And now you’ve got us.”I flashed a little smile at her.“And now we’ve got you.”

“And since you’ve got us,” Byron said thoughtfully, “and you’re not likely to find out anything more about your father tonight, maybe we can do something to help you take your mind off things—temporarily.”

”I think you’ve been doing plenty of that already,” she said, her mood seeming at least a little bit lighter.

Byron chuckled slightly and rubbed at his chin with his thumb.“Yes,” he said, “we have, haven’t we?But maybe there’s even something a little bit more.”

Jenna looked curiously from Byron to me and back again.

”What are you thinking about?” I asked him.

“Something I think we’ll all like,” Byron said, smiling and nodding.“Besides that.Yes, perhaps that’s just the thing.”

Jenna and I listened closely to Byron’s new idea.