Dragon Dance Cycle 3: Gift Wrapped Dragon by Michael Barnette
This story is another part of the Dragon Dance world-setting that includes Plague Dance, Apocalypse Dance, Merry Christmas Mr. Dragon, Games Dragons Play and other upcoming titles.

Previously published, this edition of Gift Wrapped Dragon has been lightly expanded and compltely re-edited.

Heat Rating: Shadowfire

Content Warnings: BDSM, D/s, Violence

Nikki gets a birthday surprise.

Lengths of bright red rope, two neat satiny coils of the stuff lay on the floor around the slender blond man. Shadows danced across the walls from the bank of candles burning on the dresser. He studied the ropes, trying to decide exactly how he could accomplish his goal alone.

The red made a strong contrast to the golden color of his skin and the pale cornsilk of his hair. Hair put up in a tangle of braids that fell to his waist. Braids studded with cobalt glass beads, fluffy grey and rust feathers and an assortment of silver bells that rang sweetly as he moved.

He picked up the first coil and ran the length of the rope through his hands enjoying the cool silken feel of the rope. He brought it to his face, felt how smooth it was and smiled. The texture was ideal for what he had planned. It had taken him a lot of searching to find the proper rope for tonight.

Months of searching, asking questions of people he knew, talking to traders, bargaining to get just the right type of rope.

And now he had it, just in time too.

This had to be perfect.

No mistakes.

He'd only get one chance to surprise her, and she wouldn't tolerate him screwing up.

Not this time.

He slipped the blood-colored rope around his shoulders, the feel exciting him, but not nearly as much as the knowledge of why he was doing this. And for whom.

Bringing both ends around in front of him he carefully knotted it across his chest before bringing it down to his waist along the center of his body. He wrapped it around himself and tied it there, repeating the process at hip height to complete the basic harness. He then looped it down between his thighs, shuddering at the sexual tension the act was creating within him. He trembled at the dim memories of a time long ago, in a reality long lost to him, a woman whose laughter had once been like rain to his parched soul.

So long ago.

But he had someone new, someone who was life, love and joy to him in this place.

Uniting the two halves of the rope together along the crack of his ass he twisted his body, fumbling with the ends, trying to get the knots right as he tied them at the base of his spine, joining them to the harness at his hips and waist. He struggled to get the knots tight, to get them tied properly. He paused, trying to imagine them in his mind and make his hands tie them, mirror imaging the knots and struggling to make them work. The action was far more difficult than he realized it would be when he'd decided to turn himself into a special gift for the woman he loved.

Pure awkward annoyance is what it is, but he was determined to give her something special, something he'd never given her before.

Him. Tied up and waiting.

Helpless.