May 27th 2016 Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop, Storybrooke, Maine, 8:00 A.M EDT

"So, that's where we landed." I told Zee as she leaned against the counter. "A mother for a son. Seemed fair to me. Granted, I know this isn't your style of magic, but I figured with the kind you DO know and your propensity for learning, you'd be down to help out ol' Rumple over here. Plus finding his lost son, that's a worthy cause, at least I think so."

She had questions. I could see it on her face, but I shot her a look to stow them until we were out of here. I had my reasons for why I was doing this subtle instead of dragon stomping the little imp.

Her face smoothed over into a warm smile as she nodded to the shopkeeper. "I'd love to help you. I'm sure I have plenty to share and I'm fascinated by the local magical practices. I'm always on the look out for new things to learn. Hell, I spent most of my childhood cooped up in my dad's library binging spellbooks."

To my surprise, I saw a brief flash of what almost looked like fondness from the older man at that. "Well, I'm happy to have any help I can get. Would you like to get started?"

"I think it might be better for her to come back later on." I said firmly. "The people in this town don't seem like fans of yours. I'd rather hide that you're working together on this. I get the feeling it's a bad idea to get on the wrong side of the heroes here." Karmic magic was temperamental and very biased. If they mostly used that here, I imagined the world would twist itself into knots to help the 'good guys'.

He sighed but nodded. "Aye. That it is. Your caution isn't misplaced. I've waited years, a few more hours won't do me any harm."

We thanked him, and I mentally tagged a few things to buy next time I was in the shop, and then we left, heading out into the bright sunshine. "So." Zee said conversationally. "What was that about? Not that I'm against this plan, but it seems a bit touchy feely for you." Her tone wasn't judgemental, just curious.

"It is." I said as I flicked my fingers, using one of my few karmic spells to displace perception of us onto a scale statue I'd left in the room. "And I was considering just beating the information out of him, but I decided not to for a few reasons."

She nodded. "The karma thing, obviously. It seems to be on a hair trigger here. If you make yourself an obvious 'bad guy' you'll probably run into all sorts of annoying problems."

"For one." I agreed. "I could offset it, but it would get tiring and isn't worth the annoyance. For two, I realized there's a solid chance my mom WON'T teach me anything. I'm positive she can, especially given her student back there, but assuming she decides not to I don't have time to break her."

That seemed to confuse her. "Ok, but how does that tie into you having me help Creepy McEvil back there?"

"Because." I said with a grin. "If she can't maybe he will. But even if he does, he's WAY too slippery for me to let him show me any magic without worrying about him tricking me into cursing myself or something. This spell though…"

"It's to find his son!" She said as her face lit up with comprehension. "There's no way in hell he would compromise it. It'll give me a chance to study his magic in an environment where I'm sure he isn't trying to mess with me. And being an Archon, once I have a baseline, whether it's him or your mother, I'll be able to standby during the teaching to make sure they don't tell you to zig when you should zag."

Throwing my arm around her, I grinned down at my deliciously dressed magic user. "I knew I kept you around for a reason other than that fuckable face of yours."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled a bit. "So, for the rest of the day we're free. What do we…do? Because aside from letting you bareback me behind a stand of trees or going back to the diner, I don't know how much fun we can have out here."

Letting the working drop, I sighed. "I'm not really sure. It does seem…peaceful. Maybe we can ask Ruby to show us around."

"I'm sure you have plenty you want Ruby to show you." Zee said with a snicker. "But I admit she's an interesting girl. And not just because she looked at me like a forty ounce steak she wanted to gulp down. I felt something…odd from her. Something wild. I like it."

I just chuckled. "I won't spoil the surprise. If you haven't figured it out I'll leave you to puzzle at it."

She pouted fetchingly. "Mean. But fine, let's head back to the diner. We can see if she has a break coming up or time off later today."

Offering her my arm, I escorted her back the way we came, stepping into a now much emptier diner that seemed to have cleared out. Breakfast rush was pretty early here. When we entered, it took me just a second to spot the waitress we were looking for, miles of leg leading up to plump cheeks filling tight red shorts. No wonder she worked in a diner. That girl looked good enough to eat.

"Ruby." Called Zee as we stepped inside, waving at the other girl. The werewolf had noticed us already, but that wasn't a shock for a D ranker.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Ruby "Red" Lucas- D ranked werewolf. A born werewolf descended from a long line of wolves, Ruby lived with her nature suppressed for most of her life. After freeing the beast, she gained control, and sometimes battles with her primal instincts, keeping it tamped down with a heroic nature.]

The wolf girl turned slowly, shooting us both a bright smile as if she hadn't sensed us already. "Zee, Nicky, you're back. Welcome. I thought after your big breakfast you'd be full, but ig you're already hungry, I'd be happy to feed you." Her smile was bright, and despite her obvious flirtation she was confident, not nervous to be talking to us at all.

"Actually." I said with a laugh. "We're here to talk to you. This town isn't exactly huge, and there's not much to do that we can find. We thought a local guide might help keep us entertained. You working all day? Or do you want to spend some time with us."

I saw her lick her lips as her eyes traveled over us, though she tried to keep it casual. "I have some time off coming, and we're not exactly swamped. I can take off for a few hours. Any specific sights you want to see?"

I shrugged. "Maybe we can do some hiking. I'm sure there are plenty of nice views around here. And you seem like the kind of girl who has a wild side."

Her laugh before responding was low and dark and velvety. Biting her lip, she gave us both a long, slow smile and nodded. "I think I could manage to keep your interest. I do know my way around the great outdoors." Stripping off her apron, she called back to the kitchen. "Granny, I'm taking lunch. I might be gone a few hours."

She dropped the apron on the counter, then gestured for us to go ahead. "Well, lead the way. You just pick a direction and I'll find us somewhere nice and…private."

From the perspective of the casual observer, she probably would have seemed absurdly forward, but really my insight into her desires made it clear why she was so interested. Ruby was a werewolf, and wolves respected strength. She couldn't SMELL what I was, because I was way too powerful to leak a scent like some amateur dumbass, but she could FEEL an apex predator.

I got her motor running something awful, even without being drop dead gorgeous, and Zee was walking sex. Not to mention we projected interest and I doubted she had much chance to get wild with many pretty girls out here in bumfuck nowhere.

Not that I was complaining. Ruby was hot as fuck, and I was going to demolish that tight little ass of hers first chance I got. The fact that she didn't want to play games just meant I had to do less work to bend her over, and I wasn't mad at that at all. Plus if I branded her I was pretty sure she'd really come in handy around here.

"You gonna hike in that?" Zee said pointing to her white tied off button up shirt and tiny red shorts. "Those heels look like they would be hell in the woods."

Of course, Zee didn't know she was a werewolf. Ruby wasn't going to slip and fall because of some stilettos, and personally I voted she keep them on. They did wonderful things to those gorgeous legs of hers.

The waitress just pouted. "I thought you liked my outfit. You certainly spent plenty of time looking. Both of you."

We'd started walking away from town in a random direction I picked, not that it was a long walk. Wasn't really that much town to walk away from. Still, we let her steal ahead so we could stare, or rather I did, and clearly she'd noticed a while ago. I shrugged. "Your ass belongs in the Met. I'm sure I'm not the first to think so."

She laughed, that same sensuous creeping sound. "No, though I think you might be the first to SAY it, at least in that particular fashion. Pretty daring though. You so sure I won't get offended?"

I didn't want to scare her off with werewolf stuff, so as we walked I thought for a bit before answering. "Nah. This isn't some skeezy hitting on you thing. You were eyeing both of us too. You think we're attractive, we aren't going to be in town long, and you need to get fucked so badly I'm surprised your spine can bend."

She barked out another laugh. This one less seductive and more joyful. "You don't mince words do you. But you're not wrong. Things here are so…complicated. Everyone knows everyone, and sex just has too much meaning. I can't get laid without everyone hearing wedding bells, and I have no interest in getting married."

"Exactly." Said Zee. "Plus I'm guessing most of them don't know you're bi? Seems like it might bother people here."

Ruby waggled her hand. "Somewhat. Some of them would be a bit scandalized. But if I wanted a relationship with another woman my friends would support me. More…carnal pursuits are something they don't really get. You were right before, I have a bit of a wild side, and that's not something they can understand."

"Trust me puppy." I said in a near growl. "You can be as wild with us as you want." Her expression stiffened for a second, clearly deciding if I knew something or if that had been a coincidence. She didn't say anything else, but I could smell the arousal on the air as she led us deeper into the woods.

Stopping on a small cliff over a gorgeous lake, she smiled, inhaling deeply as she stared out over the lake. "Now." She said slyly. "Since you're new here, I wanted to give you the best possible tour. Show you all the most amazing things Storybrooke has to offer."

She stepped out of her heels, then stripped out of her shirt and took down her shorts, under which there was nothing but pale, perfect skin. She kept her back to us, so all we saw was peachy ass and long legs, and then she looked over her shoulder at us. "You'll have to let me know if you see something you like." Then she dove off the cliff into the water.

May 27th 2016 Hollander's Woods, Storybrooke, Maine, 11:00 A.M EDT (smut warning, degradation, mild pet play)

Now, I'm a pretty collected guy. I'm not easily surprised, and when I DO get shocked, I tend to just shrug it off. But seeing that leggy werewolf strip down to her bare, candy ass and jump into the lake left me kind of polaxed.

Zee licked her lips. "Fuuuck." She groaned. "Did you see those cheeks. You could bounce a nickel off that thing."

I grinned at her. "Think she's a better ass than Barbie?" I did, but I was curious if she would admit that out loud. When she just pouted at me I winked and started stripping down. I wasn't body shy, and I was going to rail that sexy little bitch if it killed me after that little display.

My archon's violet eyes traced over me hungrily as she stripped herself too, and we piled our clothes on the cliff top before jumping in.

Ruby's tight' lean body had been gorgeous, but I had to admit that familiarity or not, seeing Zee's huge tits bounce as she leapt into the water was a fucking sight to behold. I came up quick enough after landing, looking around for Ruby but not seeing her.

A hand gripped my ankle and yanked, not enough to drag me under totally, just a quick playful dunk, and I looked down to see her a bit lower in the water.

I suspect she'd been feeling playful, but by the time I caught a look, her face was slack and her eyes were wide as she stared at my dick. Right, stuck in backwoods nowhere for like decades. I couldn't say the cock shock wasn't flattering. The pause also gave me time to look over HER body, and I couldn't tear my eyes odd for a second either.

Ruby was tall, even without the heels, and her legs were long and sinuous. Her cantaloupe sized tits were perky and high, her nipples nearly the same red as her name and a slight six pack joined toned muscular thighs in framing a well groomed patch of hair over her frankly delectable looking pussy.

We both came up after a second, and she blinked at me, pupils dilated and breathing heavy. I grinned at her smugly. "What's the matter, puppy? Bone too big for you?"

She swallowed hard, and I could almost smell her arousal THROUGH the water. I swam closer, and saw Zee come up behind her. She didn't even notice as I palmed one of her breasts, kneading it gently as my thumb played with her nipple.

Zee got close enough to be right behind her, and wrapped her arms around both of us, mashing the leggy brunette tight against our naked, soaked bodies. I saw Ruby shudder in excitement as she felt my girl's thick, curvy body plaster itself to her, and felt the same shudder personally as my own body was pulled taught against her front.

My cock was pinned between us, pressed full against her stomach like a ruler measuring out how deep into her I was about to be.

"You keep saying that…" She panted. "Puppy. And the ease you hiked these woods. Are you…like me?" I could almost taste the longing, mixed with the confusion. She wasn't being specific though, in case we were human. She wanted to leave an out.

I leaned down and kissed her, crushed between Zee and I, the meat in an A rank sandwich as she moaned and squirmed. All that warm, muscular flesh felt amazing in the cold water. Werewolves ran hot. I pulled back, grinning down at her, letting my eyes blood to their draconic gold.

"Not a werewolf, puppy. Not like you." I tweaked her nipple, feeling her desire, her NEED deep down to be mounted and fucked. Ruby wasn't a sub. She didn't want to be someone's toy. She wanted to be someone's BITCH. "I've never had anyone like you. Neither of us have. You gonna be a good girl and roll over for us?"

She panted, eyes out of focus as we floated like that. "I…you're not here for anything bad? You just showed up on accident?"

Her tone was almost a needy whine. She wanted to make sure we weren't a threat, but she was so fucking horny she couldn't think straight. I was pretty sure my new puppy was going into heat. I MAY have tweaked the wrong desire. Oh well.

"Of course." I cooed to her. "We don't want anything to do with anyone but you, puppy. We saw you and had to have you. Didn't we Zee?"

My archon grinned, biting the werewolf's neck. An action that tore a ragged moan from our captive. "We saw you and just had to have you." She breathed into Ruby's ear. "You're so sexy and dear gods that ASS. Do you want to belong to us puppy? You want to be our little bitch?"

Ruby was whining. Not like a girl mid fuck, like an animal desperate for a treat. I reached up to stroke her face and she lunged forward trying to get my thumb in her mouth as she ground those faint abs against my cock. I yanked my hand back with a tsk. "Not yet. You need to be a good girl and answer Zee's question. Speak."

"Yes." She growled lustily. "Yes, please, I'll be your bitch. I'll do anything. Just FUCK me. Please!"

My cock throbbed against her stomach as we started to drift for the shore. We'd need good footing for this. But before I did that. I wanted to tweak her cute little nose a bit. "What a good girl. Anything you say? But you didn't listen to me a minute ago. I said speak. What do good little bitches do when their owner says to speak?"

She averted her eyes, cheeks blazing as her desires went haywire. "Woof." She mumbled cutely.

"I'm sorry. Did you say something?" I said, my tone obtuse. "Zee did you hear something just then? Because I was waiting to hear my bitch, and I didn't get anything but a pathetic little grumble."

Ruby's face got darker. "WOOF!" She hollered. "I said woof!" Her eyes were wild and frantic with need. I fucking loved it. We reached the shore and she scrambled up on the sand, still naked on her hands and knees, ass in the air desperately as she whined out a second. "Woof!" Shaking her tight little rump at as, her pretty cunt already dripping with something other than water.

"That looks like a bitch to me." I said as I helped Zee up onto the beach. "Go sit down in front of her and spread your legs. She won't try anything until I say so."

Zee practically skipped around, sitting down and spreading her thick, luscious thighs, baring her cunt right at the still whimpering werewolf. Ruby stiffened, staring down like she was hypnotized, but she didn't move after that.

Kneeling down behind her, I ran a hand over her heated skin, along her flank, and slapped her pretty bubble ass lightly (for me) leaving a nice little hand print as I drew another shudder from her. "How demeaning." I said reproachfully. "You must be desperate. I want to see how far you'll take this. Time for every bitch's favorite pastime. Beg."

She whined, almost vibrating against my hand, and a low growl tore itself free, but her pride lost to her rising desperation. "Woof." She gritted out in a humiliated grumble. "Woof. Woof." She closed her eyes, clearly deciding to switch to human speech as she whimpered. "Mount your bitch please, master."

I laughed at that, knowing the mockery was getting her hot. "You can do better than that."

"Fuck the bitch!" She wailed, shaking her ass desperately at me. "Rut me master! Mount your puppy and give her the bone! Woof! Woof! Do it!"

Grinning in satisfaction, I pulled back, set my tip against the scorching entrance of her cunt and SHOVED in with a groan of ecstasy. Fuck that was a hot pussy. Not my hottest, but fucking sweltering in the best way. Tight and desperate too.

Ruby howled. Like an honest to gods wolf. Barking and yipping as I bottomed out. I slapped her ass gleefully. "You like that bitch? You like your bone?"

"So good master!" She squealed. "I love it. Spoil your bitch!" She devolved back into yapping and barking for me like a depraved lunatic, and I admit I fucking loved it. But as much joy as it gave me to see her playing the puppy, I had other plans for that mouth. I grabbed a fistful of wet hair and shover her face first between Zee's thighs.

She let out a squeak of surprise and then a moan of glee and Zee's eyes fluttered. "Oh FUCK!" She whined. "Shit that's good. Even Barbie isn't this enthusiastic. Fuck that tongue. Good girl, Ruby. Eat that treat while master gives you your bone. Fuck! You sweet little bitch, lick me harder. Eat it all!"

Her hand was in Ruby's hair where mine has been and she was grinding her cunt agains tthe werewolf's face in ecstasy. I left them to it. Ruby was D rank and not going to suffocate, and there was nothing she could do to Zee's pussy that would be too much for my A ranked Archon.

I picked up speed. Ruby could take my cock, maybe not at it's most brutal like Zee, but this werewolf cunt was made for rough fucking, and I was giving it the ride of its life. I could literally feel her reshaping around my dick. I knew guys said that in like porn and shit, and I'd had similar sensations, but this time I could literally FEEL it. I was pounding her cunt into a new shape.

She was screaming into Zee's pussy, ass smashing back into my hips as she nearly bent herself in two trying to enjoy the ride on both ends, and I felt my balls start to clench as I rode her harder. She came on my dick. Once. Twice. Three and then four times. I just kept hammering away.

"Here it comes bitch!" I growled. "Forget the pussy, master's got your treat right here. You want it? Want me to blow inside you?"

Jerking her head from Zee's cunt she wailed. "I don't…wait! I'm fertile. If you cum in me I'll get pregnant!" I noticed that neither she nor her desires mentioned anything about not wanting that. Just that it would happen.

It wouldn't of course, I could control that. But she didn't know it. I could also sense that wanting kids was BIG thing for Ruby. She wanted me to knock her up. To mate her like a good bitch, and while now wasn't the time, I had no problem playing along to get that Brand.

"Then get ready bitch." I snarled. "Because I'm about to knock you up. Get pregnant, slut. Have my puppies!" Her cunt went supernova at that, clamping down so hard she might have broken a fucking diamond if she'd had one inside her, but just feeling tight and wonderful to me, enough to send me over the edge.

I tensed up as i finally came, blasting my cum all over the deepest parts of her cunt, roaring my enjoyment as rope after rope shot into her abused pussy and she threw her head back and HOWLED as she came around my dick, a massive, messy, twitching, squirting orgasm before she collapsed shuddering to the sand, whining through the massive grin on her face.

On her lower back, just above that tight, lovely ass, an orange symbol burned its way into being. A picture of a snake eating itself. I patted her ass as I flopped back on the sand with a chuckle, looking at Zee. "I like this one." I laughed. "Let's take her home." Zee didn't object at all.

May 27th 2016 Hollander's Woods, Storybrooke, Maine, 4:00 P.M EDT

Zee, Ruby, and I were all laid out on the beach after a marathon session. The beach of this little lake was surprisingly fine, not that even coarse sand would provide much discomfort to someone with skin like mine. Ruby had her back to us, her cute little ass pointed our way as she contemplated what had just happened.

"You doin' alright there puppy?" I said casually. "And by the way, I did NOT get you pregnant, sorry if that bothers you. I already have a few pregnant women, and to be honest adding more right now sounds like a handful. We can always do that later though, if you want."

She rolled over. I kind of expected some post nut clarity to have her in a rage, but she just looked thoughtful. "You did something to me."

I held up a hand, waggling it. "Not exactly. You're mine now, signed, sealed, and delivered. But it's not something I did intentionally, more just a side effect of you surrendering yourself to me completely. Theoretically I could use it to command you, but that's not my style. Orders can be fought and gotten around, and dealing with a struggling werewolf sounds obnoxious."

"So I'm just supposed to be fine with you owning me now?" She snapped heatedly. "Because you say you won't abuse it."

I winked at her. "You didn't seem to mind the idea earlier, puppy. Why so shy about it now."

Despite her 'I've seen it all' wise and self possessed attitude, my new werewolf turned beet red. "Oh God. The things I let you do to me. The things I SAID. I'm not… I don't want to act like that all the time. I'm not like that."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "Oh don't do that. Don't walk back your kinks after you cum because you feel dirty. You had fun, you got a little fuck drunk and out of hand, but you loved every second. We're not going to judge, and I'm not going to treat you like an animal outside the bedroom."

"So…" She looked at me hopefully. "You'll just let me go? I'm not your slave or your captive?"

Considering where we were, that seemed like a very bad decision. The laws of reality here were weirdly karmically inclined. Capturing and enslaving a heroic werewolf would be stupid. Luckily, I could see the warp and weft of karma, and I knew just how to nudge it.

"Of course you can go." I said with a shrug. "But really, do you want to?" She opened her mouth and I held up a hand. "Ruby. Sweetheart. No lies between us. Think back to your time here with us, spent between Zee and I, feeling us against you, enjoying you. Do you really want to give that up and never feel it again?"

Her desires had been pretty pent up, but for Ruby, this hadn't just been a phenomenal fuck. Ruby was a werewolf. The sense of belonging, of ownership. It felt RIGHT to her. I'd gotten that much from Eros and Psyche. She wasn't just fucked silly, she was CONTENT, and that was a tough thing to give up.

She swallowed hard, looking between us, eyes lingering on Zee's still naked body. "I…What do you want here? Why did you come? I don't believe you're just tourists, so don't give me that line of bull. You really aren't here to hurt my friends?" I could hear the hope in her tone. Ruby liked us, and she wanted to trust us.

"Not a bit." I said truthfully. "I'm here to find someone. My mother. She got caught up in some trap ages ago and stuck here. She's…fairly unpleasant, from what I've been told, but I need her help with something. I'm stronger than she is though. I'll make sure she doesn't do any damage here before or after I break her out of her prison."

That fairy bitch owed me some SERIOUS karmic debt. I could have her down on her knees barking like Ruby mid fuck if I felt like it. Zee was also incorporating the old man's knowledge on karmic magic into her own when she worked with him later, so I could use that. And there was always option B, kill mommy and let Rumple teach me, as a fallback.

Ruby worried at her lip. "That's… it sounds dangerous. But I felt how strong you are. How powerful." Her breath quickened, eyes dilating before she shook her head to clear it. "Nope! Not the time. You left me in heat, but a few hours of THAT should be enough to sate me." She winced a bit. "You went harder than expected. I think I have bruises in the shape of your tailbones on my butt."

I grinned at her. "I'm sorry, but am I talking to the same needy puppy who was literally howling for it an hour ago? You're right though, we have things to do, and we can't spend the whole visit fucking you, even if you make it damn tempting."

Leaning forward, I did what she REALLY desired at that moment, kissing her soundly as I pulled her against me. Her body was aching for more sex, but I could tell kissing her would sate her soul, and that was much more important at the moment. We needed a local guide, and what better guide than a pretty puppy?

She sighed against my mouth as she pulled back, a blissful smile on her face. "You're…wow. Both of you are just amazing." She started as something clicked. "You mentioned having multiple pregnant women earlier? What was that about."

I shrugged. "Just what I said. I'm a dragon, we collect. Some collect gold and jewels, I mostly collect beautiful women and powerful magical artifacts. You can think of my girls as your new pack, if it helps. I'd be happy to introduce you when we get back, if you decide to come with us."

Her face went red again, but I didn't sense her desires changing much. Based on the way karma worked here, I got the feeling whirlwind romance was kind of the norm around these parts. People just showing up and proclaiming themselves your soulmate was weird back home, but between appraisal and karmic links I could see that wasn't the case here.

But it was ultimately her call. Ruby was a fantastic fuck, and had serious flavor in the bedroom, but I wasn't so hard up for sex I needed her. If she came with us I'd be happy to have her, and if not I had other girls to fuck.

"So what do you want from me?" She asked carefully. "I can only assume you're telling me this for a reason. Or is it just a disclaimer because of my new booty ink?" She raised said rump off the sand, looking over her shoulder so she could study the Brand.

I chuckled and helped her up, gesturing for Zee to help me out. She snapped and our bodies were clean, then covered in clothes that had been washed and pressed. Her magic was much more versatile than mine, especially with her natural familiarity. She'd been casting her whole life and little stuff like that was easier for her.

Ruby, to my surprise, seemed undaunted by the sorcery. Apparently she was used to magic. "What I want." I said casually as I draped an arm over her shoulder. "Is a tour. We're new in town, and who better to give us the down low on everything than our new puppy?"

Her blush was frankly adorable, no matter how many times I saw it, and those legs were killing me in those shorts and heels. "I can do that. As long as you're not planning to do anything… bad. I'd like to tell my friends about you though. You said you're a dragon? As long as you don't do anything villainous I'm sure they'd welcome you."

I knew I wasn't going to get her to keep quiet without compelling it, and I knew she'd fight any compulsion and it would be a whole big thing. So I just shrugged. "Yeah, sure. You can introduce us."

She seemed not just mollified, but genuinely happy about that as she grabbed our hands and started dragging us back to town. I smirked at Zee, who smiled back. Ruby wasn't just telling them about a threat. She wanted to brag about her new honey bunnies. It was kind of adorable. I certainly didn't mind.

"So, Zee has some business tonight, I thought maybe you and I could get dinner at Granny's." I said with a smile. "Get to know each other a bit without being bare ass naked. Not that I don't love your bare ass, but I'm sure as a werewolf you have some good stories."

Ruby blushed again. "I guess we could do that." She was so flustered by the idea she didn't even question what Zee's 'business' might be. Which had kind of been the point. Given the warning from Henry, I doubted Ruby's buddies would like us working with Rumple, best to keep that need to know.

Plus I actually was curious. Ruby seemed to have been around a while, and had spent a decent chunk of that time in a fantasy world where storybooks happened. I bet she had some kickass stories to tell.

We made pretty decent time back to Granny's, and when we arrived, I was surprised to see Henry there with his mom, another dark haired women my appraisal told me was the evil queen, and his grandparents. When Snow White saw us, she rushed over, throwing her arms around Ruby.

"Ruby! You're ok. We were so worried." Her face was a mask of concern, basically ignoring us as she checked her friend for damage. "Granny said you asked for a break for a few hours, but no one has heard from you since about ten this morning."

My puppy winced. "Ah… that. I sort of lost track of time. I was… hiking, with Nicky and Zee. You know how I am with the woods. Always happy to spend time in nature."

Snow White nodded with a relieved smile. "Of course. I'm just glad you're alright." She turned to us. "Sorry to just come at you like that. I appreciate you looking out for her. She can take care of herself of course, but she's my best friend, I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her."

It was kind of weird to see people being so emotionally honest and up front. Everyone here was weirdly blatant about all the desires I was picking up from them. It was so wholesome it was creepy. I'd gotten lucky finding Ruby. Still I didn't hate the protectiveness, so I just smiled and nodded. "Of course." I squeezed the hand she'd been dragging me by. "We're already pretty fond of her."

Ruby blushed and Snow looked down, clearing her throat as she looked away. Dear gods, who gets flustered by handholding? Ruby chuckled. "Anyway, I actually wanted to find you all. Zee and Nicky are… like us. Not from around here. I wanted to do proper introductions so everyone knew that they weren't a threat."

I resisted the urge to clarify that I was a HUGE threat, but only if they annoyed me. That didn't seem productive so I just let her incredibly misleading statement hang as it was.

The evil queen, who was apparently ALSO Henry's mom (I'd love to be a fly on the wall when those two had their alone time) smirked triumphantly. "I told you something was wrong with them. No one looks that good without being something supernatural. They look like movie stars."

I blinked at that. She… wasn't wrong. Maybe we should get glamours. Ruby just ignored her, apparently not a fan, and dragged us into the diner, where Snow flipped the sign so we would have privacy. "Ok, so for some real introductions. Everyone, this is Nicholas Lord, he happens to be a dragon." And so began our (edited) retelling of how we got here.

May 27th 2016 Granny's Diner, Storybrooke, Maine, 6:00 P.M EDT

"So…" Henry said with interest. "You're a dragon?" He didn't seem to be geeking out about it (this kid had obviously seen some shit) but he found it noteworthy. "So why aren't you…" He waved vaguely.

I grinned. "Ten thousand feet tall and made of nearly indestructible scales? Because I don't want to be right now." We were all sitting inside, Ruby having gotten us food. Zee had slipped out, heading for Rumple's place while the rest of them were distracted. Which was fine, I knew how to hold a room.

"Ten thousand feet?" Squeaked Henry in shock. Apparently dragons here weren't quite as large. Or maybe they were just babies.

I just shrugged. "At the high end. My size is variable. As for whether you can consider me a dragon like the ones you may have met…I'm comparable to most dragons in the same way a velociraptor is comparable to a chicken. There's some commonalities, but a dramatic difference in scale. Pun intended."

"I have to say." Said Henry's grandfather. Who was apparently one of the Prince Charmings. "You don't exactly scream terrifying death beast."

That got a snicker from me. "Any terrifying death beast that does is trying too hard. But I think you guys should introduce yourself. Red already introduced herself, but she didn't want to give away secrets that weren't hers." Which was total bullshit, but Ruby thought they'd like me better if I seemed like I needed an intro, and I was curious how they would do it.

"Oh, right." He said with a chuckle. "My mistake. I'm David Nolan, but back home I'm Prince Charming. This is my wife Snow, our daughter Emma, and you've already met my grandson, Henry. That's his mother, Regina." He grimaced at that last part, slightly, so I didn't ask for elaboration. Sore subject, I supposed. Maybe he was pissed his daughter was into girls.

I nodded genially. "Howdy folks." I said with a good ol' boy grin. "Like Ruby said, I'm Nick Lord, or just Nicky if you're feeling friendly, and I'm just your average run of the mill dragon god. I hear you guys aren't exactly from around here, so I'm sure you'll get what I mean when I say Zee and I were are travelers passing through."

Snow frowned. "I meant to ask about that. Ruby seems…enamored of you. Which is nice!" She said quickly as her friend turned to glare at her. "She deserves someone special. But are you with…Zatanna, I think her name was?"

"Yup, and so was Ruby." I said cheerfully. "Do you guys not have throuples in this universe?" That seemed much safer a claim than telling them I fucked my new puppy into a drooling harem girl. They seemed…traditional. I was betting that bringing that up was going to mortify her into dropping it.

I was surprised to see that it didn't. "I can't say I've heard the term." She said thoughtfully. "But it seems self explanatory. If everyone involved is aware and happy with the arrangement, I certainly won't begrudge Ruby her happy ending. Just take care of my friend. Our family has a long history of dragon slaying."

Despite the threat, I found myself grinning at the feisty short haired woman. I believed her too. Not about the implication that she could murder me, but that she would try. "I take care of what's mine." I said, feeling charitable enough about her to give her an answer that was even mostly true. "It's a dragon thing." She smiled, giving me a tight nod of respect.

"So." Said the evil queen, butting into the moment. "This is all very sweet, but can we talk about how I don't believe a self proclaimed 'dragon god' just showed up here from another world by accident. You must be here for a reason."

I nodded. "Yup." She made a triumphant sound and tried to stare me down. "Sorry was there a question in there?"

"Tell us why you're here!" She snapped, coming to her feet, her hands sparking up a pair of bowling ball sized fireballs as she glared imperiously across the room at me. The others had taken up defensive positions, clearly unhappy with the provocation. "You claim to be travellers passing through, but admit you're here for a reason! Tell us your goals."

I hummed thoughtfully. "Ummm…uh-uh." She blinked at me, clearly confused. "You should put those fireballs out." I said kindly. "You're going to set off the sprinklers in here and ruin the food. Also, I'm a DRAGON, so I'm a little confused what you think they'll accomplish."

The blonde put her hand on Regina's shoulder soothingly. "Regina. It's ok. We can't force him to share his goals with us." Her voice turned sharp. "Though I'll second my mom's threat if he thinks he can hurt anyone in town."

"See." I told the brunette. "Your girlfriend is way more reasonable. Or is it wife? I know you guys are both Henry's moms but nobody told me the particulars."

My appraisals didn't give me random nonsense info like relationship status or parentage unless it was immediately relevant to some part of their magical state. Like Emma's had her parentage because she got some karmic love bullshit from her folks, but Regina's current power was more tied with her apprenticeship to Rumple so hers didn't come up.

Their faces became masks of mortified embarrassment. "No!" Emma said quickly. "It's not…we're not like that. I gave Henry up at birth and Regina adopted him. I'm not…we're…not."

I shrugged. "Shame. You two seem like you'd be sweet together. Lots of chemistry. Anyway, no worries about me Sheriff. I'm not here to hurt anyone or even to see anyone you would know. I told you when I got here. I'm looking for an antique."

"So, a magical item." Said Snow firmly. "Is it dangerous? Some sort of weapon?"

Shaking my head, I just chuckled. "Snow. I don't need a weapon. I have plenty, and can make plenty more. It's…a container. It holds something I need. Something that I'm strongly tied to. I think it's here, but I haven't seen it. So I'll be poking around your lovely town for a while until I track it down."

Regina looked deeply unhappy, but I didn't actually give a shit so I ignored her, turning to Ruby. "Now, I believe you and I have a special evening planned. Would you like to eat here? Or we could go on a picnic or something."

"What?" Emma said, confused by the sudden change of topic. She looked from me to Ruby, whose cheeks were lighting up like her namesake stone. Pound the girl into a squealing barking mess and she gets snuggly, but bring up a first date and she's a stammering schoolgirl. Cute.

"A date." I said again. "It's a romantic outing where two people spend time together in a formal setting to learn more about one another."

Leroy, or Grumpy I supposed, nodded. "He's right. Even I knew that."

She groaned in frustration. "I KNOW what a date is." At everyone's disbelieving looks she let out an outraged scoff. "I DO. I'm just at a point in my life where I don't have time for a relationship. None of you get to judge me. What I meant was don't we have more to talk about?"

I put up a hand, counting my fingers. "I'm a dragon, not telling you what I'm here for, won't hurt Ruby, mocked your lovelife. Nope, I think that's all the things. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go change. Though I'd love an answer on the date location thing, I need to know how I'm supposed to dress. If it's formal I'm going to be black tie'ing it, because my suit options are tuxedo and birthday."

All three of the women in the room stared at me, eyes glazing over a bit, and I saw Charming scowl as he snapped his finger in front of his wife's face. She snapped out of what I can only assume was a mental image of that last comment, and then cleared her throat, looking away.

"Right. Sorry." She said with a blush. "We'll leave you two to your date. But don't think we're just letting this go. We're keeping an eye on you two while you're in town. Ruby counts as a minder, I guess, but we're not letting you leave our presence until we figure out what you're upto."

"Ah." I said sagely. "And you don't see any…problems with that?" It was hard not to laugh as her jaw dropped and she looked around.

She looked almost panicked. "Wait, where is Zatanna? She's gone? You were distracting us!"

I shot her a devilish grin. "Oh you were definitely distracted. Especially at the end there. But it wasn't anything I did. I've got a big personality. People just naturally pay attention to me. It's hardly my fault you all got so hyperfocused you missed her leaving. I'll be here with Ruby after I change, but you guys should definitely go look for her. Who knows what she's upto."

The fairy tail princess scowled, before turning and stomping out of the diner, followed by her daughter, husband, grandson, and I guessed nemesis. Ruby turned to give me a flat look. "Was that necessary?"

Shaking my head, I clicked my tongue in distaste. "People come and go so quickly here." She tried to suppress her giggle, but didn't manage it.

"Well, since they're gone and I'm apparently babysitting you, I suppose here is as good a place as any for our date." She said with a laugh. "I'll close up and get changed into something nice, and then we can sit down and eat."

Good food, sexy women, sounded like a nice night, so I slipped out the front and over to Granny's B and B with her, splitting up so we could both change. She'd suggested the tuxedo, since I wore my birthday suit on our last date. I didn't mind, so I threw it on and headed back to the diner to wait.

When she arrived, I couldn't help but let out a whistle. Ruby had gone all out. Wine red minidress, dark red heels, red lipstick that matched the streaks in her hair and some eyeshadow turned her from a solid nine to a definite fifteen out of ten. Remembering those legs wrapped around me had me itching to bend her over the table.

She walked slowly across the room, showing off her legs and ass, which she knew were my two favorite parts of her body, as she sauntered into the kitchen, coming back out with food without taking my order.

Setting the plates down, she took her seat across from me after making a second trip to get a pair of nice crystal candle holders. The place had cleared out while we were changing, probably because she'd flipped the sign to closed, and she'd turned off most of the lights, so the candles gave is a certain ambiance to enjoy.

"So." She said huskily. "Why do you not strike me as a 'date' kind of guy? Was this all to distract me from Zee vanishing?" She pouted. "Because I can't see you doing all this for a girl when it doesn't end in sex."

I reached across the table, taking her hand in what a normal person would probably call a comforting gesture. "Ruby. Sweetheart. Two things. First, if I wanted to distract you, I have other methods. I wanted to get to know you, to learn more about all the fascinating things you've done."

She blushed again, looking away, a gesture that took on a whole new meaning for alpha wolf girls like her. "I'm…glad. I didn't like the thought that you didn't want to be here. I'd be happy to tell you about my life. As long as you don't think it's too boring. But you said two things. What was the second?"

My face split into a wolfish grin as my eyes raked over her body. "Date or not, you can bet your sweet little ass tonight is definitely going to end in sex." The grin she gave me in response was so hungry I didn't even need Eros and Psyche to confirm what she wanted. This girl was a lot of fun.

May 27th 2016 Mr. Gold's shop, Storybrooke, Maine, 10:00 A.M EDT

Zee came home exhausted after her night helping Rumple. Not too late, because together they managed to crack his problem, but long enough to have learned quite a few bits of magical lore for the local style. She was so exhausted she didn't even want to tag in for a turn on Ruby's peachy ass, though our puppy made sure to go down on her as she told me about her work.

Since Ruby stayed with us, we slept in the next day, and when we finally finished waking up and had breakfast we headed over to speak to Rumple about the job.

"Ah." He said as we entered. "Mr. Lord. A pleasure to see you again. I must thank you for sending your lovely companion to my aid. She's got a natural gift for magic like none I've ever come across. We completed my little project after only a few hours of testing." He gestured proudly to a really ugly old scarf sitting beside him.

I grinned. "Yes, we're very proud of our little prodigy. So, tell me about this spell, how it works and what you need from me? I have ways of tracking things through connections, so if we're just talking a direction, I can do that. Though it might take a while without some kind of heading."

"Of course." He said, bowing his head. "I've got something that will give us a place to start. As Zatanna may have told you, this particular bit of magic will keep me functional and allow me to keep my memories when we leave. She says you won't need such measures? I must admit, when she informed me that your magic will work without any tether I was impressed."

Chuckling, I walked over to lean against the counter. "Yeah, we're good to go. What's this object you have that will help us home in on your kid?"

"Hold on a moment, please." He said, raising a finger. Walking over to the door, he flipped the sign to closed and bolted it. "Zatanna, my dear." He said quietly. "If you might help me retrieve that wooden box over on the shelf by that door." He pointed toward one of the many shelves of knick knacks. "The one by the bottom with the handle. Careful with it, if you please."

Zee shrugged, strolling over to bend down and slide the case out. Carrying it gingerly to the counter, she opened the lid, revealing what looked like a milky colored globe that someone forgot to print countries on. I appraised it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Magic Globe- D rank mystical item. A tracking device that allows the user to locate members of their bloodline, acting as a focus for magical tracking of many disciplines.]

"Handy." I said with a grin. "Where did you get it? I didn't see that box in here last time we visited."

His eyes narrowed. "An old friend brought it in. As a peace offering. She's got business in town and wanted me to stay out of it. She remains unaware of your presence, as it didn't seem to be my place to share. She came by shortly before you did. Is that going to be a problem?"

I shrugged. "Depends what she does here. Ruby is mine, and if she asks me for help I'll help, otherwise it's not my business unless she makes it my business. If she puts a hand on my puppy I'm going to deep fry the bitch, so maybe pass that on if you're concerned about her wellbeing."

He grinned, exposing a single gold tooth. "A man after my own heart. Take care of your own and leave others to their affairs. No delusions of heroism?"

"A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane." I quoted. "Empty, but for the force of his gale. I have limits, of course, but for the most part I keep to my own problems. I have enough without starting more. Some of my girls are more…idealistic, which is mostly why I didn't bring them."

"Your girls?" He said in amusement. "I'd assumed the lovely Zatanna and Ruby were your only paramours."

I shrugged. "Dragons are greedy. I take care of my treasure and they take care of me. Sometimes that means protecting them from things they don't need to know, like crazy plans to break my sociopathic mom out of magic fairy jail."

"An instinct I understand well." He said ruefully. "My own love is…she's been through quite a bit." His tone grew cold. "The mayor has much to answer for. But at her request I've decided to focus my energy on more…productive ends. Ends like finding my son. Do you think the globe might be of help to you?"

I studied it carefully. Though I couldn't see any spellwork or runes or anything, I COULD see the karmic strands and their weave. Magic showed itself in karma, especially here, and it gave me some idea how the thing worked, though not enough of one to be much use. I'd have to learn more about karmic magic to puzzle out a device this complicated.

There were a few patterns I recognized, knotted among the massive confluence of spellwork. While most magic could be seen in the threads, spells of a less karmic nature seemed…faded. Different. This was obviously the same kind of magic I used, and I could see some familiar examples of things like my thamaturgical spells in the weave, like the ones I used on my scales.

"I can use this." I said firmly. Even without recognizing everything about how it worked I knew as a focus for my magic it would be extremely useful.

Nodding, he took a deep breath, then held out his hand and speared his thumb on the point at the top. The blood welled up, but was sucked into the brass needle at the apex of the frame of the globe. The blood was injected into the white globe in a weird inky puff of crimson, and then the vapor began to whirl. It stuck to the sides, little bits at a time, and eventually I could see a map of the continents, then those shifted, becoming North America, then shifted again to become a state, and then again a city. Knowing it was my time to shine, I placed a hand on the globe and opened my karmic eye.

An explosion of strands burst forth, but I focused. Red. The thread I wanted was deep blood red. I grinned to myself as I found it…and then found it again. Then a third time. I only one of the threads led into the globe toward the city (which was New York, from what I could tell) the other two led off in other directions.

One of them led out of the shop, aimed somewhere nearby somehow, but the other one was aimed somewhere much closer to him. It was aimed at me.

I blinked, memorizing the spot in New York before pulling back my hand and glaring at Rumple. "You know." I said flatly. "I don't usually care too much about being lied to. Your secrets your business, but I have to say that lying to me about something like this in these circumstances was just stupid."

His face paled. "I don't know what you mean." He said evasively. "I've been completely up front with you, Mr. Lord."

"Pro tip." I said with a glare. "Don't ask relatives to do blood tracking spells if you don't want them to know they're relatives. Did you really think I wasn't going to notice? Because it was obvious from the second I started looking."

Jaw tightening, he looked away. "I was hoping that the tracking device would focus your gaze on the target. I'm afraid my grasp on your abilities is less secure than I'd like. I wouldn't have been able to tell, so I assumed you wouldn't either." His shoulders slumped. "I suppose you're not going to help me now?"

"Don't be an asshole." I said shortly. "We had a deal, of course I'll still help, but I'm going to need to know a bit more about our relation and how and why you kept it a secret. We have the same mother right? It's the only connection I can think of."

Mom had been a busy bee. Not only had the fragment of herself she'd split off managed to get a body and get knocked up by dad, clearly she'd gotten some piece of herself free over here too.

He sighed. "Aye. Tsaritsa is my mother. None of my power comes from her. She did train me, but the fae portion of me was severed from my soul by dint of a very powerful artifact. My adopted mother did it when I was a babe. Even that small fragment corrupted Fiona. Twisted her. She became something monstrous. I didn't find out about my true parentage until much later."

"You were lucky." My voice was cold and hard. "Trust me. Nobody cut the fragment of her in me out. I had it for years. It shaped me in ways I'm still figuring out, and it almost tricked me into releasing her."

His eyebrow rose incredulously. "Are you not here to release her? It seems to me like you seek to make the very mistake she tried to fool you into making."

My eyes narrowed and I drew deep from my power, letting the fullness of my strength roll through me as I released it. The weight of my spirit, of the true draconic divinity inside me, smashed down on the shop. It wasn't physical, it didn't have to be, the sheer spiritual power shook the glass and wood on the shelves and forced Rumple to his knees.

"Let's get something straight." I hissed. "Brother or not, I'm not YOU. If I say I can handle mom, I can handle her. You've done nothing to earn the right to question me. I'm not against helping a sibling, but don't presume to know what I am capable of."

A hand landed on my shoulder. "Um…hon'." Came Zee's tentative voice. "I think you're killing him."

I blinked, and the pressure was gone, my half brother gasping on the floor. I winced, holding out a hand. "Ouch. Sorry about that. Lost the happy, but the happy's back." Pulling him up, I dusted him off. "That was…weird. I usually don't get that angry. Might be a dragon thing? I got stronger recently and there might be side effects."

Thinking back, I'd gotten similarly enraged by Black Beetle fucking with Barbie. This hadn't been a possession thing though. More…pack. A lesser member of my bloodline trying to assert dominance. That was a bit distressing, and something I'd need to get a handle on.

Rumple's eyes gleamed with suppressed rage, and I sighed. "Look. I didn't mean to do that. I got a lead on your kid, let's say we go pick him up and you and I call this little misunderstanding the cost of doing business. I sincerely apologize, and no offense was meant."

The flames of anger banked, and he let out a long, tired sigh. "That's…better than I'd get from our mother. Aye, I can agree to move past this." Neither of us pointed out that he probably would have been less willing to call it bygones if he was stronger than me. It didn't seem polite.

"Well, fair enough then." I said cheerfully. "Now, we have a lead on Baelfire, which is great, but I was a bit curious about one other thing." He cocked his head at me in confusion. "Do you have any idea who the OTHER blood relative we have might be? Because they seem to be really close by." Judging from his poleaxed expression, he didn't. Oh well, I'd just have to track them down and ask before we left. I'd never been a fan of mysteries.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone enjoys