The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch

_A/N: Thanks to Liathwen for betaing and general encouragement. Enjoy the Khanolly one-shot, y'all!_

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The only way Molly could describe the creature that currently had her cornered was a lion-sized version of the Jabberwocky from _Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass_. She'd read the books and seen the original illustrations and this particular predator was the living embodiment of Lewis Carroll's creation if she'd ever seen it.

Of course, she'd much rather be seeing it from a distance, rather than attempting to fend it off with nothing but a large tree branch, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Nothing but hope that it either lost interest or was distracted by its usual prey – thin hopes, those – or else that Khan or one of his Augments would show up to rescue her.

Still brandishing the tree branch, Molly took a swing at the Jabberwocky-thing currently attempting to turn her into lunch, or possibly second breakfast. She backed up against the stone barrier where she'd sought refuge, hemmed in and with nowhere to go, cursing the fact that the phaser she'd been carrying had proven to be ineffective even at its maximum setting.

The Jabberwocky-thing growled, wings beating wildly and oversized head twisting on its snake-like neck as it sought to gain a height advantage over her. Luckily Molly's temporary refuge included a tangle of tree branches and intertwined bushes that were too thick to allow the creature room to maneuver in the air. Otherwise, she had no doubts whatsoever that it would have already snatched her up in its cruel-looking claws and carried her off.

What had she been thinking, flouncing off in a huff like a five-year-old denied a cookie, wandering away from the safety of the camp where four of Khan's crew had been busy analyzing the data they'd gathered? She was supposed to be an intelligent woman, and even if next to the 72 geniuses she was surrounded by every day she seemed more like a backwards child, that was no excuse for putting herself into this kind of danger. When Khan found out, he would have her head.

If, of course, the predator currently stalking her didn't beat him to it.

Another low growl sounded, this time from above. Molly looked up despairingly, terrified that the odds against her had just plummeted to zero...

...only to find Khan crouched on the rocks above her, eyes trained on the beast that was menacing her. He was unarmed, and it was his lips from which that the feral growl had escaped. Wide eyed, Molly watched as he launched himself into the air, then immediately lost track of him as the mass of greenery cut off her view. She saw the Jabberwocky-creature sniff the air, then growl and turn, launching itself into flight as if meeting a threat in the air. Which was ridiculous, of course; Khan might be an Augmented human, but he was still human at his core, and had to be on the ground. Right?

Of course, there was the troubling fact that Molly neither saw nor heard him land; the branches of the trees surrounding her hadn't shaken or snapped the way they would have if he'd landed on them, so where, exactly, was he?

The answer came seconds later, when she cautiously moved far enough away from the massive boulders to peer out into the clearing where she'd originally gone to find some additional specimens to collect. And to work off her frustration at being dismissed once again by certain members of Khan's crew…who wouldn't have dared say anything if he'd been right there at the time. There was no sign of either Khan or the creature, at least not until she heard a series of growls and what might have been the challenging call of an eagle or hawk…but wasn't.

Molly's breath caught in her throat as she took in the sight above her; the Jabberwocky-creature flailing in mid-air, hissing and clawing but never quite connecting with the magnificent being currently engaging it in battle.

It was Khan, she knew that in spite of the way the logical, sensible part of her mind kept insisting such a thing was impossible. Khan didn't have wings – magnificent, blood-red wings – growing from his shoulders. Khan didn't have fangs, his flesh wasn't dappled with gold-red scales; his feet and hands weren't clawed, his eyes weren't a molten, glowing gold, and his body, although lean and muscular, wasn't this deadly, graceful, massive form – it was hard to estimate, but Molly thought Khan in this dragonish form was at least seven feet tall – and Khan definitely didn't have a long, deadly whip of a tail emerging from beneath the ragged remains of his black uniform.

The battle was brief, intense, and dazzling to watch, with Khan (it _had_ to be Khan, the black uniform, shredded as it was in places, was unmistakable, and the hair was the same even if the face it surrounded had elongated into an elegant snout) quickly taking out the Jabberwocky-beast. Molly stepped back into the limited shelter of the trees as its body fell from the sky, not wanting to have escaped death at its claws only to find herself smashed beneath it as it tumbled to the ground. She continued to watch as Khan swooped in for a much more graceful landing and strode toward her. She watched, open-mouthed, heart racing with mingled fear and awe and a healthy dose of desire as he altered before her very eyes…but not entirely returning to his full human appearance, she noted as he came to a stop in front of her.

"Are you injured?" he demanded, his voice a throaty rasp that sent shivers of desire down her spine. His face was mostly human, although there was a metallic glimmer to his skin and the faintest hint of scales. He'd returned to his proper height, but the wings remained; his feet and hands still had claws rather than nails, but much shorter than when he'd been fighting the creature, and there were flecks of alien blood on them.

"What are you?" she managed to choke out, before he reached out and yanked her up against his hard, lean form. Apparently she wasn't the only one to be aroused, judging by the hot length jutting against her hip, and the gleam in his eyes – still that molten, fiery gold although with flecks of blue-green in them, as if his eyes normal colors had been reversed – was just as unmistakable.

"An experiment that turned out far more successful than the geneticists who altered my original form could have possibly anticipated," he replied, his fangs shrinking back almost to normal right before Molly's fascinated eyes. There was a faint hiss to his aspirants, and she realized it was because his tongue had a definite fork to it…and appeared longer than normal. "Now answer my question, Molly Hooper." His eyes bored into hers. "Are. You. Injured."

She shook her head mutely; apparently satisfied she was telling the truth, Khan wasted no further time on questions, crushing his mouth against hers in a savage, demanding kiss.

It wasn't the first kiss they'd shared; ever since he'd kidnapped her from Starfleet Medical (after inexplicably _waking himself from cryosleep_) and forced her to help revive his crew on the Oberth-class science vessel he'd commandeered, he'd shown an excessive amount of interest in her as a woman rather than as a hostage or even a medical professional. She'd been drawn to him from the moment she'd first laid eyes on him, but had fought that attraction as hard as she could. It was a losing battle, had been from the start – and now, it appeared, Khan was finally done waiting for her to give into the inevitable.

This kiss was different in so many ways, and not entirely because of the altered configuration of his tongue; deeper, almost burning in its intensity. She deliriously wondered if Khan was able to actually breathe fire in his altered form, before the ability to think clearly was temporarily swept away.

He pulled away as she gasped for breath, then smiled at her, that slow, seductive smile she'd come to both crave and dread, as his claws finally retreated back into nails. The wings and scales and glittering golden eyes, however, remained, as did the faintest hint of fangs on his canines…and the elongated, bifurcated tongue. The scientist part of her wanted to ask a million questions, beg him to allow her to study him in the science lab…but the woman was too enthralled by the expression of pure desire on his face to do more than stare, mouth parted, while her heart pounded in her chest.

She sucked in her breath; a small sound, but one that instantly charged the air between them as it captured Khan's attention. Never removing his gaze from hers, he stepped closer, so their bodies were once again touching, then leaned down and grasped her head in both his large, powerful hands, cradling it gently but firmly as he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers again. She felt he unmistakable sensation of his tongue sliding across her lips, and in that moment, she was lost. Her mouth opened beneath his, her hands raised themselves to rest on his chest, and suddenly his arms were around her, their bodies pressed fully together as he kissed the breath – and very likely the sanity – out of her.

Molly retained the presence of mind to issue a breathy protest – something along the lines of "what if there are more of those things" – to which Khan gave a dismissive growl, and then the ability to speak seemed to be entirely lost to both of them. Molly's uniform came off relatively intact, although she would never be able to wear her undergarments again. Khan seemed entirely uncaring of the state of his own shredded black clothing; he simply tore the remains from his body as she knelt in front of him, staring avidly at his muscular form as it was revealed to her eager eyes.

The scales, she noticed, went all the way down to his narrow waist before fading away to the pale flesh she was used to seeing, then resumed about half-way down his muscular thighs. His pubic hair was a light, gingery color that made a startling contrast to the sleek darkness of the hair on his head, but she was focused entirely on the sight of his massive erection, proudly jutting from the midst of that gingery hair. Without thinking she reached out and stroked it as Khan gave a startled intake of breath.

Seconds later she was on her back, his body covering hers as his lips and teeth – and those vestigial fangs – attacked her throat. She moaned and gave a small yelp as he pierced her flesh; she'd never liked the rough stuff before, but this was exhilarating; the adrenaline from the attack and then witnessing the aerial battle was still coursing through her veins, and all she wanted to do was press his mouth closer to her throat. He gave a chuckle as he pulled back; she was almost disappointed that there was no blood staining his mouth, but those thoughts vanished in a haze of pleasure as he turned his attention to her breasts, suckling each nipple in turn until they stood out from her body, wet and pink and hard, then trailed his mouth down her body until his head landed between her legs.

The jolt she felt as his altered tongue stroked her clit was powerful enough to shake her entire body; her heels dug into the ground, her arms flew up over her head and she cried out his name in a near-scream at the indescribable sensation that rocked her from head to toe. She continued to writhe and moan, feeling his hand pressing on her abdomen in order to keep her anchored firmly in place. When he moved his mouth downward just the slightest bit and began tongue-fucking her, she understood why; her body didn't just twitch this time, but bucked hard enough to propel herself off the ground if he hadn't been holding her in place.

It was an incredible sensation, feeling his tongue penetrating her so deeply, while he used his right thumb to rub her swollen clit until it seemed the sensitive bundle of nerves would explode from the gentle pressure. Her orgasm built so swiftly she was taken unawares; this time she did scream, a wordless keening as she came completely undone.

While she was still floating in a blissful haze she felt khan covering her body with his, his mouth once again latching onto her throat, sucking eagerly at the tender flesh covering her speeding pulse. Her hands moved automatically to clutch his shoulders, accidentally grazing the bony protrusion of his wing; he drew an inward breath and Molly's gaze flew up to meet his. The tawny gold of his eyes had nearly vanished as his pupils expanded with desire, as her own eyes had undoubtedly darkened. But when she tentatively brushed her fingers against his wings – not cold or leathery, but warm and almost suede-like over the supporting bones – he sucked in another breath and crashed his mouth against hers with a sudden increase in urgency.

_Ah, a sensitive spot._ Molly's fingers moved with purpose now, gliding sensuously as far as she could reach on his wings, back and forth, until Khan groaned and began grinding his body forcefully against hers. She opened her legs to allow him better access, a few moans of her own escaping her lips in between feverish kisses as she felt his lightly-scaled chest scrape across her sensitive nipples. His prick was sliding against her slit at a pace that was rapidly bringing her to a second orgasm when he abruptly pulled away. She made a mewling noise of protest, well beyond the ability to produce coherent speech, then gasped and cried out as he reached down, positioned himself, and thrust deep within her.

As with her first orgasm, this one caught her entirely by surprise. Molly screamed and wrapped her legs around Khan's waist as pleasure pulsed through her body, frantic to draw out the moment for as long as she possibly could. If she'd thought his tongue had hit her in all the right spots, his dick was doing a fantastic job of proving how wrong she'd been. Feeling him over her, the length of his body against hers as he thrust inside her, was the headiest aphrodisiac she'd ever been exposed to. The scent of sex and sweat, the delirium of being with someone so powerful, with such an unbelievable secret (he was a dragon, a fucking _dragon_, how the _hell_ had that happened?), all of it combined to give Molly the sensation that she was floating on the nadir of her second orgasm for hours.

Just as she started to float back to earth, however, Khan slid his thumb down and pressed it firmly against her clit while at the same time biting down on her throat just above her pulse point.

Molly came completely unglued, although her raw throat could only release a series of moans and whimpers as she immediately crested into a third orgasm. She'd never had sex that came close to being this good, and if pressed would have been unable to conjure up either the names or the faces of any of her previous lovers, even the one she'd almost married just after finishing medical school. Tim? Don? Something like that. Unimportant, a part of her past.

Khan came with a roar, his wings thrashing madly as he strained against her petite form, emptying himself into her and then collapsing on top of her. Sweat glistened on his body, and Molly could only marvel at how slick her own body was, at the dampness beading on her forehead and dripping down her face. Khan lifted himself slightly once the last of the shudders had passed through his body, then proceeded to kiss her while wrapping her possessively in his arms and rolling on his side, mindful of his wings. "I can only maintain this transitional form for a few hours at a time," he said as she snuggled against him. He brushed his lips against her damp forehead and whispered, "Which should be plenty of time for the two of us to continue to become…better acquainted."

Molly felt a twinge of unease as sanity began to creep back into her mind. She tried not to stiffen in his embrace, but knew he felt it anyway when he peered down at her. "You're having second thoughts, why are you having second thoughts? Do you think this is merely sex? Surely you must have realized I wanted you as my mate after I stole you. Not just my mate," he corrected himself impatiently, tossing his head to clear his sweat-dampened hair from his eyes. "My consort, my empress."

"Not all of your people would accept me as anything more than your mistress," Molly reminded him, memories of the disdain with which certain members of Khan's crew had treated her after they'd been revived flashing through her mind. A disdain they carefully kept hidden from their leader, but Molly was confident he knew all about it.

A confidence that was proven correct by his next words. "That was before we coupled," he said dismissively. "Now that my scent covers you, now that my seed is within you, as they see our child growing inside your body…"

Molly scrambled out of his arms, although he kept a firm grasp on her wrist, not allowing her to go further than a few feet as she stared wildly at him. "Wait, what? Child? No, Khan, I've got a birth control implant, and I'm not ready…"

He reached out with his free hand and tenderly stroked her cheek, his calm, cool eyes slowly morphing back to their usual blue-green while Molly watched. All the signs of the dragon slowly faded away, his wings folding down against his back and somehow just vanishing as if absorbed back into his body. Once again the scientist inside her had a million questions; once again, the woman – a slightly panicky woman at this moment – was too busy trying not to freak out to maintain anything resembling calm detachment. "Molly, that implant is entirely hormonal." He grazed his fingers along the slight protrusion in her upper arm where the implant was seated. "I can assure you, it's been fully negated by now. No, I'm quite confident that you now carry my child." He leaned down and pressed reverent kiss on her midsection, and Molly shivered beneath his touch.

This was madness; utter, complete madness. She'd well and truly fallen down the rabbit-hole, but even as she felt panic and confusion welling, she could also feel a sort of radiant happiness struggling to make itself known.

Khan didn't merely want to conquer her or own her, he had actually implied – no, he'd outright stated – that he wanted her as his mate. His wife.

His empress.

"I mean it, all of it," Khan murmured to her, cupping her face in his hands and pressing a soft kiss on her lips. A kiss she returned without hesitation, in spite of her inner quailing at the thought of being so intimately involved with this man for the rest of her life. "I will love and protect you until the end of your days; our children will be magnificent and even the doubters amongst my crew will learn to see what I see in you. Do not fear the future, Molly; embrace it, as I have embraced my love for you."

Then he kissed her again and all doubts were swept away. She tugged him close, pressing her body against his with only one thought in mind: a fierce, possessive "MINE" that she knew he felt for her as well.


End file.
