On the rooftops of the city, a portion of the air shimmers as if light was passing through warped glass, and soon formed a slender cloaked figure. The figure carefully crouched low at the edge of the rooftop to look at the streets below. At the end of the street, despite the hustle and bustle, the people moved aside like waves breaking from the bow of a ship as they let pass five large figures fully draped in white and red robes, each wearing a red and gold mask with the visage split between that of a carnivorous bird and a lion.

“The Sacred Lionhawk Order… so they have begun to move…”

The cloaked woman, Vai, stalked the group at a good distance so as not to be seen. The five moved fast with clear purpose as they occasionally stopped random people along the way to question them of their quarry. Not many would remember a stranger; especially a cloaked one, but fervent questioning and a promise of coins would often jog one’s memory. After their tireless search, they have finally narrowed it down to three possible targets, and soon it would only be a matter of time.

As Vai looked on boredly, a purple rune glowed on the back of her left hand. As she raised it to her face it soon flared and peeled itself from her hand, and floated in her palm. Crushing the rune, it soon broke into tendrils that entered under her hood and flowed into her nose and mouth. A few seconds passed until her eyes opened with an eerie purple glow.

“I see… I now have my orders… “

With these words as the glow faded, she looked towards the five men she’s been following and saw them hastily leave towards a certain direction. Like the shadows themselves, she soon melded into the darkness leaving not even a trace in the wind.

***

A little more than five minutes earlier, I was following Madame Sorena to her office. We didn’t talk much aside from her asking how I came to know Gren. I was about to finish telling her how I helped his daughter when I was suddenly hit by a wave dizziness as I entered the room. Though I say dizziness, my head feels more like it was tossed into a sort of automated cocktail shaker set to high.

“Um, Sir Camus? Are you alright?”

Madame Sorena had a look of concern while looking absolutely ravishing… … uh… did I just really think that? It seems like I must have hit my head somewhere. The whole room is spinning except for her who was looking more and more stunning while surrounded in a pink light.

*Gulp*

This is bad… for some reason my senses are going haywire and my carnal urges are going through the roof. I need something… something to keep me from crossing the line!

The first thing I thought was pulling out as much rope or chains I had in my ring and then tying myself up as much as I can. The wrapping part was easy but tying myself in was the tricky part. The last thing that came to mind was heating up some the chains to the point they get welded to each other. I proceeded to heat them with fire magic flowing through my scales and soon I can smell smoke and burnt metal. After the task was done, I lost some strength in my legs due to the tension and fell to the floor breathing heavily from the weird sensations.

“Oh dear… there’s a fragrance I normally use in the room that supposedly has an energizing and slight aphrodisiac effect that would help my customers get in the mood as we talk business, but I didn’t expect it would have such an effect on a scalekin… unless…”

While she was cutely pondering with one hand under her chin, she suddenly came towards me with a mischievous looking smile while alluringly swaying her hips.

"Now Camus, please be a dear and answer me honestly..."

She suddenly straddled me thinking it was probably safe since I tied myself up. Gack! The sensations of her legs! Not good! Not good! H-How did I get into this situation!? To be forced into this state... this is a nightmare!

"Tell me... you're a Dragon... aren't you?"

With a smug looking expression, she looked down on me while pressing her chest down on mine while she rested her chin on the palm of her hands. Gah! ...Miss Sorena... whyyy!? Don’t you get it!? You’re in massive amounts of danger!

“Ufufufu… am I really turning you on that much? A woman loves it when she knows she can turn a man crazy with just her looks, you know?”

Gaaooaah! She started rubbing herself on a really bad place! Ack… can’t… hold… on…

***

“Seeing as it’s hard for you to talk, how about we first a have little fu – !!”

Before Sorena could finish, Camus broke free from his reigns in a violent burst. With a surprise, she immediately moved with a speed and nimbleness unbefitting of a brothel mistress. Sweat lined her face as she realized that she might have taken it a little too far.

“Grrr.”

Instead of a roar, Camus snarled at her while taking long sniffs of Sorena’s scent. Soon, he eyed her like a mad beast in heat.

“Ah… ha ha… this… might be a little more than I can handle,” she said as she ‘gulped’ while looking at the growing bulge that seems to be expanding from beneath the pteruges on Camus’ waist. Despite the current situation, she can’t help but feel a little excited since this was almost what she originally wanted to happen.

To be on the safe side, Sorena silently prepared a flash spell, since she believed it likely that Camus was indeed a Dragon, which is immune to direct effects of magic. Slowly, she backed towards the wall as Camus also gradually drew closer. Soon, he was close enough that she felt his breath on her skin. She was surprised to know that his breath smelled of mint, so she was glad that he was decent enough to be so considerate. Seeing that he was examining every inch of her, she couldn’t help but blush a little, as he closed off her escape by pressing his hands against the wall on both her sides.

Seeing as Camus wasn’t being violent, Sorena closed her eyes half in excitement and half in anxiety as she prepared herself for being figuratively ‘devoured’. Just as Camus was about to ‘eat her up’ however… he suddenly shuddered and drew back.

***

‘Ca… mus...’

…ugh… Ellen?... am I… hearing her voice?

‘Camus...’

… Ha ha… it seems that… just at the point where I almost lost myself… I remembered her voice…

‘When you go...’

…Huh?

‘please... take it easy with other women...’

… Of all the damned things I could remember… it had to be that one… it’s almost like it’s telling me this was expected to happen… that I would… cheat on her… Well! I got news for you raging beast in my pants! My mind’s not so easy to fucking break!

Waking up just in time to see I was about to ravage Miss Sorena, I jerked back as I bit the hand that almost grabbed her.

Damn, that was painful.

After drawing blood, it seems that I’ve finally come to my senses while panting heavily. Miss Sorena had a pained look on her face, so it seems like I almost did something terrible. I’m really glad I snapped out of it in time.

“… you didn’t have to hurt yourself over what happened.”

I was surprised that she wasn’t frozen from shock. If I recall, women who were almost raped would tend to be more frantic or emotionally unstable, so I’m quite stunned at her response.

She even casually walked to her desk to grab something and easily walked over to me to hand it over, “Here… it’s a sharp smelling balm. It should help numb the effects of the room’s fragrance. It also has a bit of a paralytic effect, so you might feel a little numb, but it should also help with the wound on your hand.”

She even smiled at me warmly as she handed me the ointment. The women of Orgo may be physically tough, but mentally or emotionally the women of this brothel have got them beat. And there was also that skilled grappling girl, so they might even be better in that department as well.

“Hmph… to think that you would go so far as to harm yourself to keep yourself from having me.”

“… um… what?”, I stupidly blurted out as my head was taking more time to process what she said.

“I was fully prepared, you know? Being made love to by one of the Dragons is a great honor and one of the highest blessings. To think that you’d find me to be so unworthy that you’d draw blood upon yourself simply to keep yourself from making love to me…”

Miss Sorena was even tearing up as she said this. Wait… what? It’s that bad!? Hold on, this is all wrong! I gotta fix this fast!

“Wait! Miss Sorena, among the women I’ve seen, you truly belong among the top, however… I cannot bring myself to sleep with you since I already have a woman!”

There! That should fix the misunderstanding!

“… you’re a Dragon, right?”

Hm? She’s still asking that? And what’s with that confused looking expression? I’m not sure what it has to do with anything so I told her, “Indeed.”

“… I see… did the woman you made love to know you were a Dragon?”

I’m really not liking where this is going but I affirmed her once again.

“… if that’s the case, she should have known that you wouldn’t simply be able to live on one woman alone. Knowing this, she couldn’t possibly ask you not to find other women. This is strange… if you didn’t know this, are you really a Dragon? It’s almost as if you don’t even understand your own biology.”

… HUH!? … Whu… What in the serious fuck!?

“Oi, what the hell’re you on about?”, I said as my mentality started breaking apart and took a dive.

“Huh? Isn’t what I said already sensible? If you’re indeed a Dragon, it should already be in your nature and you should already know about their history. When the Dragon Gods created them, they made them so that they can mate with all creatures that could birth so that they could spread life on the planet. That is why all Dragons possess the skill, Shapeshifter.”

While looking at me as if I was the one who has a screw loose, she started coming closer while giving me a suspicious look as if I was lying about what I really am.

“Because of the nature that was gifted upon them… Dragons cannot have Dragon children with those not of their own kind, but possess a near insatiable lust and desire for mating. That burning lust… if not satiated, can harm a Dragon’s mental state and can deteriorate their minds into that of mindless beasts, hence they keep large harems regardless of their gender. So once again, are you truly a Dragon?”

… DAAAAAAD! WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ANY OF THIS!? … Breath in… Breath out… Breath in… Breath out… phew… right, now that I think about it, dad did raise me like a human since he didn’t know how Dragons raised their young. In any case, what the hell is with this racial trait? I was excited at first at the prospects of having many women, but I was already satisfied with Ellen so I didn’t care anymore. Something really doesn’t add up.

“… Miss Sorena… I’m indeed a Dragon, but if what you’re telling me is true, then why haven’t I succumbed to my Dragon nature until now? Before I met Ellen, I had no powerful urges prior. There was desire, but no fixation.”

“… Hmm… now that I think about it… tell me, was this Ellen, your first woman?”

… it can’t be!?

“I take your silence and expression as a ‘yes’. If so, then that answers your question. Still, how old are you to not have had a woman until recently? And as a Dragon, why don’t you know about your own kind?”

… The hell… so me sleeping with Ellen was the trigger for my abnormal reaction to women and bouts of irritation recently? I mean, sure, as a guy if he’s surrounded by beautiful girls while away from his main woman, most couldn’t help but look at other girls, so I thought it was fine as long as I didn’t cross the line and cheat on her. Is this… what Ellen was talking about? Before I left? Is she truly okay with this?...

“Sir Camus?”

I raised my hand to keep Sorena from coming closer. I really need some time to get my emotions straight. But it wouldn’t do to just keep quiet, so I at least told her my reasons.

“… I’m a Dragon… but was raised by a man… I only knew I was a Dragon… but I didn’t truly understand what that meant. In any case… please give me some room to think… there’s a lot I need to consider about all this.”

Miss Sorena looked at me with what seems to be real concern on her eyes, but soon she smiled warmly and said, “Alright, Sir Camus. And I’m truly sorry if what I did upset you earlier. Please be at home and stay in any one of the vacant rooms. You don’t have to worry about payment, as I’d like to make it up to you. We can also talk about your business another time.”

I’m not sure why, but Miss Sorena is truly kind to me… just like Ellen… what did I…? Ah, never mind… I’m still confused. As soon as I got up to leave the room, the sounds of urgent steps reached my ears from beyond the door.

A halfling woman hurriedly appeared from the door and called out, “Madame Sorena! This is bad! The Lionhawk Order is at our doorstep and they claim that we’re harboring a criminal so they intend to arrest all of us unless we hand over the criminal!”

Criminal? These girls don’t seem the type to harboring anyone ill natured, criminal or no. I looked towards Miss Sorena, and she bowed towards me in understanding. It hasn’t been long, but it looks like I finally get to have some good old-fashioned violence to focus all my emotional turmoil right now, so I do hope this so-called Lionhawk Order is as arrogant and pompous as they appear to be in my head. That way, I’ll have a good reason to ‘gently persuade’ them out the door.