Chapter 12:
Fiona
Tick, tick, tick.
Thank heaven for my tiny fingers.
Tick, tick, tick.
It was the noise the lock of my cell made as I tried to wheedle my way out of captivity, yet again. I was nothing if not resilient. Except this time, I wasn’t bent on escaping. Cajoling, yes. But mostly, I really did want to see Gandadirth. See what this feeling really meant.
I reached down my bra and pulled out one of three laser collars I’d managed to swipe on my way back to the med bay.
My fingers latched around the tiny hoop and stuck it into the hole in the titanium lock. I pressed my finger against the trigger and quickly pulled my hand back. I watched as the pink laser fired out and melted the lock around it, causing it to crash to the ground with a loud clang.
I pushed my door open and undid my shirt by a button before stepping out into the hallway, bare feet on cement.
I licked my lips and crossed the long hall and out the doors into the fresh air. It felt good to be outside again, the stars illuminating our dark base, my view only disturbed by the immense walls.
Finding my way to the barracks was easy, and I knew from stories he’d told that Gandadirth had the first dorm to the left. I knew this because he said he was able to see the door to the prison from his room. I tensed my jaw and opened his door as slowly as I could, hoping this wouldn’t go south on me.
Suddenly, I had visions of myself roasted to a crisp by a startled Gandadirth.
For whatever reason, the visual made me smile, even though it was fiercely real.
I slipped into his room and watched him sleep, undisturbed. The sight was kind of adorable: his black hair a mess and his scales humming and glowing under his vulnerable sleep.
My eyes shot up then, and I realized I could very well sneak into a couple of rooms tonight. I still had those collars handy; I could go piss off some more Weredragons and call it a day.
But then, I wouldn’t get my time with this one.
I crawled into his bed and saddled up next to him, finding my way into the crook of his arm.
His eyes shot open like a puppet: a wild, controlled movement. Eyes open.
His black irises shot to me, and he looked startled and confused, but pleased. As though it were a dream.
The way he looked at me made me feel alive; I wanted to giggle. His brows drew together, and his eyes flicked back and forth from mine, examining me. Wondering if I might be real.
He reached out and ran his hand through my hair and then set his fingers against my jawline and smiled.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hello,” I smiled back.
He blinked and cupped my cheek in his hand, pulling me closer. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to be with you,” I said, pressing my body closer to him.
Then I was sure.
His heat against me definitely made me feeling something: some strange bond that I couldn’t place. Some emotions stirred up in me that I’d buried for a long time.
“How’s your soldier?” I said, syrupy, honey-sweet.
“Fine. The salve worked,” he said and paused awkwardly, still tracing his fingers up my cheek. “Thank you.”
“Wow,” I giggled. “I didn’t know you knew how to say those words.
“It comes and goes,” he snorted. “I don’t say them for just anyone, you know.”
I pressed my fingers against my lips, pushing them into my teeth absent-mindedly, and then nuzzled into him. I breathed him in and felt safe there, curled up in his strong body. We said nothing then, both taking in the moment before the inevitable questioning: how’d you get out? Why are you here? Followed by drawing me back to my cell happened.
It was all a bad idea, I knew. Coming here.
But I couldn’t help myself. He had this invisible pull that kept drawing me to him and making me forgive him or feel sorry for him.
“Look…” I breathed and then petered out.
I wasn’t sure what to say.
‘I like you?’
It seemed so childish to even think it. But I was fairly certain it was accurate.
“What?” he asked, looking at me gravely due to my silence.
“I know we’re just… passing time,” I said, now grinding against him and reaching up for a sweaty, sticky kiss. “But I’ve liked passing time.”
I felt a tingling that cascaded across my tongue as our lips moved in unison, danced together with a vibration of sweet anticipation that was just for the two of us.
He reached down and began undressing me, pulling my shirt over my small, firm breasts and kissing them as they bounded out from behind the fabric, pillowy and soft.
I reached down to feel him, hard, and we disposed of our clothes, tossing them to the ground. I lay with my back to his chest, him slipping easily inside me. I’d been wet and ready for him as soon as I hit the hallway of his corridor.
The girth of him filled me up, and I moaned against the sensation, the pulsing heat of our bodies, and the sounds they made slapping together.
His hands raced up my body and his fingers spread out over my breasts, squeezing them; kissing my neck and using my body as leverage for his thrusts.
“I’m not passing time,” he whispered; his lips dangerously close to my ear.
“Oh no?” I gave a hushed laugh.
He stared at me. “No.”
I turned my profile to him, locking eyes as much as we could. His contact was so intense that I had to turn away, my face flushing.
We didn’t stay in our position for long before he had me on all fours with my head down to the mattress. He entered me from behind, going deep and hard.
My breath sped up at the angle, and I let out a deep moan as I felt the burning sensations drip down from my stomach and between my legs, a fire building that was ready to explode.
He reached forward to touch me, to make sure I was glazed over with lust and pleasure, but I pushed his hands back so that he grabbed my hips, using my body as a catalyst for his own pleasure. He bucked against me wildly; his rhythm was intensifying so I knew he was about to orgasm.
Sensual breaths sped from his lips, and soon our moans and grunts were matching up, timing one another perfectly so that the noises could build my ecstasy.
He bucked and ground up against my backside, his fingers digging into my sides as he slid me on and off of him, back and forth until my body trembled with a wash of orgasm; a heat was rising to my face and forcing my eyes shut.
I felt the warmth of him spill out after, and I knew he had finished.
Afterward, I lay in his arms, soaking in his scent and my freedom before I willingly went back to my cage. He played with my hair as we both looked at one another, me halfway on his chest and the other half propped up on my elbow.
He leaned in for a kiss, an innocent one that he stole just for the gratitude of my company.
I thought about my time on Dobromia and weakened at the thought that Gandadirth was not one of the dragons who attacked my ship. This granted him some strange form of forgiveness in my mind. How kind he had been about Libby. The ease and humor with which he spoke to me. It irked me at first, but as the days went by, I found it put me more and more at ease.
He seemed to be there, my key protector throughout the days. A shoulder to quite literally cry on.
He never asked me where the girls ran to or why I was upset. He watched me like a hawk to ensure none of his warriors would touch me.
Jadirel… that was a relationship I would have to break if…
My mind went blank. If what? I wondered suddenly.
If I took Gandadirth with me? If we lived happily ever after?
The thoughts were ridiculous, and I mentally scolded myself for having them. But they wouldn’t go away.
“I think about you more than I should,” he said, and I wanted to say I did too.
“I’m a distraction,” I grinned. “I like that.”
“Not a distraction,” he said, uncharacteristically serious. “A calling.”
I giggled, and then my face went solemn. “Is that so?”
There was a silence that formed between us again, and I knew I should say something back, but I just couldn’t. I sat up on his chest, and he reached his hands up, tickling the tips of his fingers along my breast before pulling me back down to his face so that I was hunched over.
I thought he would kiss me, but instead, he whispered, “What is DET?”
I smirked. “Am I supposed to just give that information up?”
“Jadirel thinks you’re trying to kill us,” he explained gravely. “We saw this… giant… thing. This walking ship.”
I nodded but didn’t lead on. “Jadirel is an asinine, vexatious, arrogant prick.”
He grinned. “So, that’s human speak for ‘he’s wrong?’”
“Sort of,” I laughed. “It stands for Dragon Extermination Test.”
Gandadirth’s color left him then, like he might spring out of bed and fly away. He stared at me, stricken, and then I burst into deeper laughter.
“Relax,” I teased, tapping his crooked nose. “I’m kidding.”
“Hilarious. That’s so funny I almost croaked. The extermination of an entire race: now that’s comedy.”
He paused then and suddenly saw the irony. Before I had the chance to speak, he showed me both his palms and edged me back. “Alright, alright. Point taken.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s your debt to us,” I offered. “DET?”
“Sorry?”
“Dobromia Environment Technology,” I swallowed, truthful this time. “We’ve already designated land for the Weredragons. It’s north of here off the coast. We call it Feruvia. We were going to send some of you back to Earth for it. It’s basically this giant farmland. All this food, water, housing units and weapons put aside for you guys. Just…” I gave a half-hearted shrug and finished, “resources and things. Just north of here,” I made sure to repeat.
“Oh,” he said, toneless.
“So, for example, you guys obviously have a bunch of camps here now, right? You said they’ll all be here soon?”
“They are here,” he said hesitantly. “Got in today.”
“All of them?”
He nodded.
I swallowed. Then it might be too late.
Nerves swarmed a rush of sweat throughout my body, but I didn’t let on.
“Right,” I swallowed again. “So, we already have enough to feed two hundred shifters for two years. Those are full cycles. We don’t know how many are up on Dobromia, but that’s all we could do on short notice.”
“Oh,” he said again, sadder this time.
“Of course, that’s fresh food and water vats. Not to mention the land, which you would learn to cultivate. This doesn’t even count all of our processed junk, which honestly, you’re better off never learning about.”
He offered a wry, sexy smile and huskily offered, “Like pizza.”
“Something like that,” I grinned.
He had a grievous expression then, and his eyes trailed off. “I didn’t know.”
“No,” I shrugged and laid on him once more, my breasts heaving into his muscular bared chest. “We never got the chance to tell you.”