Nentres

In my house down here in the South, the breakfast of champions consisted of biscuits, sausage gravy, pork chops, and eggs. Mary, our cook, had been making me this breakfast since I could read, and I missed it when I’d left the house to pursue an acting carrier in Hollywood, a little over a year before Yellowstone erupted. My parents had since moved out of this home and into a new home in Austin, Texas, where they’d lived for the duration of the Ice Age. I came and went, never really feeling at home out there.

Early last year, I’d flown over Louisiana and thought about returning. After Lance had told me my spirit would show up at my ball, it solidified my decision to move back home to New Orleans. It was good to be back. Nothing but an easy life down here, as easy as my spirit should be. Hot damn, but she was hard.

Since I hadn’t told my spirit the time Mary served breakfast—which was whenever I got up—I waited for Amy in the dining room. I twirled the fork, attempting to play with the fire in the fireplace, trying to split one flame into two or have it do something, anything. It did nothing, so I poked the wood with the fire iron. And as I poked and poked, I daydreamed about my dicks stuffing Amy’s small holes. In my daydream, Amy moaned in excitement and pleasure, so it wasn’t until after my eggs got cold and brown, after I stomped out the flames that burned the corner of my rug, about an hour into waiting, that I spotted a black pen on a piece of red paper in the middle of the table.

I leaned over the table, read the note, scrunched it up, and tossed it into the fire. It sparked just like my mood would ignite when I cracked my palm over Amy’s ass. Her note excused her from breakfast. Apparently, she’d found more important things to do with her time, like preparing for the damn ball. I should tell her to cancel the fucking thing. But then she couldn’t attend a nonexistent ball, not to mention we had agreed on a fling, a doorway to the heart via the pussy route.

A fling, by definition, lasted until it ended, and when it ended, she’d move on. I’d be damned if I’d let Amy move on. A ball and a fling would give me an opportunity to show her what she’d be missing out on if she decided to unfling me. Which she wouldn’t. Having a pair of cocks to pump into her cunt would make her beg for it five times a day every day for the duration of her stay here. Which would amount to forever.

I returned to my seat and ate my eggs, wondering what Mary had cooked for my little vegetarian. I uncovered Amy’s plate. Empty. All the food eaten. But there was another note. I read it.

Three things I like to eat for breakfast:

1. Grolaplus

2. Balarana

3. Spinner

“What the hell are those things?” I smelled the plate, wondering what Mary had served her. Fruit. An apple, I believed, and maybe some baked wheat, so I settled on some sort of oatmeal. I clicked my fork on my plate, thinking. Amy had come, eaten, written me notes with her damn pen, and left. She hadn’t even bothered to wait for me, or even, hell, called me to join her. “Cindy!” I called out and bit into my biscuit. Mmmm. Gravy and biscuit melted on my tongue. Mary could cook with the best of them. I’d practically stolen her under my mama’s nose and taken her with me. Ol’ George came along with his wife, as I knew he would. My household ran like a well-oiled cyborg.

“Cin-dy,” I hollered.

“Ain’t here,” Mary hollered back from the kitchen.

“Where’d she go?”

“Out.”

Hell. I finished my breakfast and brought the plate into the kitchen, where Mary worked on three cakes.

“Whose birthday is it?”

Mary was in her seventies, with chubby, wrinkled hands, large brown eyes, and an afro she hid under an elaborate turban while working around food. She looked pointedly at me.

“What?” Had I forgotten someone’s birthday?

Mary shook her head. “It’s for the ball. I’m testing.” She forked a piece and stretched out her hand. “Tell me if this one’s dry. Looks dry.”

I batted her hand away. “I’m full.”

She stuck it back out. “Taste the cake, boy.”

I ate the damn thing. It tasted the way Amy’s pussy would taste. Fluffy and moist. “It’s fine.”

“Sweet enough?”

“Yes. Listen, Mary, where did Cindy go?” Amy, I meant, but wherever Cindy had gone had to be where Amy went too. George had appointed Cindy as Amy’s guide around the property that held my mansion and the surrounding wolf pack homes.

“The girls went out.”

My patience cracked like the whip I would crack over Amy’s ass. “Out where?”

“Out and about.” Mary waved her hand as if to shoo me away, her thoughts on the cake’s frosting as she bent to draw little hearts on the side.

“Goddamn it. Would you listen to me?”

She put her hand on her hip. “We don’t use the Lord’s name in vain around here.”

“I ain’t twelve anymore, Mary. Tell me where they went.”

“Out the gates and out there somewhere with them invitations. That girl’s a worker. Got up with the rooster and spent all morning wrapping invitations with ribbons before you even opened your eyes.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You would if you stayed with her in your room. Mm-hm.”

Oh hell. “I’d have stayed with her in my room if she let me. She threw me out.”

“How can she throw you out?”

“She opened the door and asked me to leave.”

“Did you tell her she was staying in your bedroom?”

“No.”

“Maybe you ought to tell her.”

“I will.”

“She thinks you an outlaw.”

“I know.”

“What’s gonna happen when she figures out you’re a Creature of Earth?”

“By then, I’ll have her dancing around me like a little flame.”

Mary tsked. “Lyin’ ain’t a good way to start a marriage. You’ll remember me.”

I needed a pep talk like I needed a nail in the head. One of the reasons I’d left my parents’ house in Austin, Texas, was so that I could court my spirit without my mother’s interference. She was sweet and all, but Lord Almighty, she butted her nose into everything. I hadn’t expected Mary to meddle in my business, but I guessed she couldn’t help herself.

I couldn’t control fire if I didn’t impress my spirit, and the Ice Age would end only when all four dragons gained control of their elements. Mary knew the stakes if Amy refused. Which, of course, she wouldn’t.

I walked across the courtyard and outside the gates, where I stripped and took to the sky.

We lived in the part of New Orleans called Audubon. Before the Ice Age, people had called it one of the nicest areas of New Orleans. Though my family was old money, I’d spent my youth scouting the French Quarter for tourists who’d tucked their wallets in the back pocket of their jeans. Besides pickpocketing, a bunch of us underage boys would get together and con tourists into getting us booze so we could party like rock stars.

I loved this city. I wished I could return it to the old New Orleans. I missed the music, the diversity, and especially the smell of jambalaya, po’boy, and Mary’s own shrimp gumbo she hadn’t made in over a decade. But mainly, I missed the vibrant life.

Now the city was all but rubble, the busiest place my mansion and everything else all but appearing deserted. People still lived in the city, hiding inside the ransacked homes, sleeping in the abandoned restaurants and shops, but rarely, they came out on the streets. So where the hell could Cindy and Amy have gone?

I flapped my wings and sniffed the air as I flew. The smoke from one garbage can drew me, and I struggled to ignore the call of fire and focused my attention on a pair of slender humans strolling down the middle of Bourbon Street.

I landed silently on the roof of one of those corporate hotels that used to steal business from the locals. I didn’t miss the corporations that tried to make bank on the city’s life, and if—when—we restored Earth to her natural state, I would not allow a single corporation into this city.

I stretched my long neck past the roof’s edge to be sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Sure enough, Amy pushed a wheelbarrow cement trolley, Cindy happily walking with her and chatting, pointing at the buildings as if strolling through a pre–Ice Age New Orleans with her newly found BFF.

My talons dug into the roof’s edge, and a crack sounded. If I wasn’t careful, I’d collapse the fucking building.

A red seven-hundred-count cotton sheet Amy must’ve taken from my bed covered the unknown contents inside the wheelbarrow. The women rounded the corner and walked into an alley. I lost the visual, so I changed my stakeout place and landed on top of one of the local residences that used to sell fake voodoo dolls, praying it didn’t crumble under my weight.

This outing must’ve been Amy’s idea. Cindy knew this area hadn’t been a safe place for unarmed women (or men, for that matter) before the Ice Age. Now? It was no place for anyone. When we’d made our move back into the mansion, even I, with a pack of wolves at my back, avoided the city. Cindy knew better. Jason would deal with his wolf, and I had just the thing for my little disobedient spirit.

Amy stopped and dug into her pocket. She retrieved a pouch that looked suspiciously like the one her stepmother had given me. Hot damn, I got robbed last night. After our lovely bath, Amy had gotten out first, and I clearly remember her picking up my sweatpants from the floor and folding them. The pouch must’ve slipped out, or she deliberately went after it.

But the jewels didn’t matter right now. A man walked out from one of the homes. He wore a long black coat and a beanie. I narrowed my vision on his face and the scar on his left cheek. My wolves patrolled our neighborhood, so I knew some outlaws by description if not by name. This one was Eddy, the gang leader. How in the Lord’s name had Amy connected with him, or had she gone out here in an attempt to attract attention?

I tapped my talon on the building.

Eddy chatted with the women.

Five minutes passed, and Amy’s laughter pierced the silence.

Though Eddy and I went way back, I smiled at the prospect of consuming my competition.

Eddy lifted the blanket and revealed a bunch of papers, then covered the invitations back up and accepted my pouch of jewels. He opened it, nodded, and took over the wheelbarrow. Amy and Cindy high-fived each other and spun around, presumably intent on making their way back home.

Men came out of the homes. They moved slowly, with predatory grace learned from a decade on the streets. When you go into an alley flashing jewelry or money, you better be armed and know how to handle yourself in a fight. I bet this was Amy’s first trip to the streets. No way she knew shit about the street life.

The men closed off the alley’s only exit, and the women stopped dead in their tracks. Cindy backed away, probably gearing up to shift into her wolf, an instinctive response, while Amy stood there, appearing surprised. Since I’d been stalking them, this was the first time Amy had taken in her surroundings, and still she didn’t see me, a monster on the building a block away. Though I tried to blend in and assume a low profile, if she’d only paid attention, she would have seen me. I was a two-ton dragon, not a fucking hummingbird.

Cindy glanced up, just then noticing me, and I shook my head vigorously, trying to tell her not to show the outlaws her wolf. I’d take care of this. The outlaws would rob them at best, rape and kill them at worse.

They rushed the girls. I flew and hovered above the alley but couldn’t flap my wings inside it without damaging them on the buildings. This meant I couldn’t land inside the alley and pick up the girls. Amy screamed, “Creature! Creature!”

Really? I was her biggest problem?

At the sight of me, most of the outlaws scattered, but two stupid ones snatched Amy’s hand and dragged her with them. Something burned inside my chest and climbed up my throat. I coughed. A ball of fire flew out of my mouth at the same time that the men pushed Amy in the path of the fireball and ran for cover. I couldn’t stop the fire. I roared as flames engulfed her, spreading down the alley and climbing the walls of the end building. I tried to descend and scraped my wing. I screeched until the fire trickled down to nothing as if it had never been.

It left a naked and stunned Amy standing on the street.

If I’d had any doubts that Amy was my spirit, I didn’t have them anymore. She was fireproof. Cindy placed a hand over her heart and walked back to Amy. My eyes locked with Amy’s as I descended, then finally parked on the roof of a small house with my tail resting on the building behind it, my wings cramped between two concrete walls.

I wagged the tip of my tail over the top of the building, thinking of all the ways I would punish my spirit for putting her life in danger.

Amy came to her senses. Her eyes widened, and she screamed, then took Cindy’s hand and pulled. “Run!”

Of course, Cindy stayed, the strength of her wolf keeping her in place against Amy’s pulling. But Amy tugged and yanked until Cindy shrugged, and they cut the corner right in front of me. As if I couldn’t just lower my head and eat them!

I let them run down the empty Bourbon Street, then chased after them, my weight making the ground under my feet shake. I tried to lift off but didn’t have enough space for my wings, so I continued running. I hadn’t ever tried jogging in my beast form. The chase made me smile. The prospect of punishing Amy made me screech at the girls.

Amy ran faster. Even Cindy was having a hell of a time keeping up with her. I wondered how long my spirit could keep up this pace, seeing as our home was over two hours away on foot. Another thing I’d speak to her about. But now, I simply needed to disappear from their sight so Amy would think she’d escaped the big bad dragon.

I took a right and gunned it for the clearing once called Duncan Plaza, spread my wings, then took flight, making sure I flew high over the girls for the duration of the journey. When they reached the wolf pack patrol border, about a mile from my gate, and when I saw Jason standing there with his hands on his hips, I spun around and went back so I could find Eddy, take back my jewels, and burn the invitations.

No Eddy.

No invitations.

But I made it home just in time. I dressed quickly and sat at the table as if I’d been there all along. Amy burst into the room. “Oh my God. Oh my God. I need a chair. A chair!”

I kicked a chair away from the table, and she sat down, then stared at the wall, her breaths coming out in pants. Someone—probably George—gave her my coat. It engulfed her, making her appear…small and cute.

“What happened?” I asked.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“Yesterday, my stepsister made a big deal when she saw a chicken.”

What in the world?

“I saw a dragon,” she continued. “A real live dragon.”

“You don’t say.”

“It spit fire out of its mouth.” She opened her mouth and pointed. Her hands shook, and I felt a little bad.

But not that bad. “Downright scary, isn’t it?”

Amy stared at the wall. “Oh my God.”

“And where were you when you saw this dragon?”

She kept staring at the wall. Okay, so I would give her a minute to collect herself. I clasped my hands together, propped my chin on them, and waited. A few minutes later, Amy still stared at the wall, but when I cleared my throat, she gave me her attention.

“Would you like some water?” Or a spanking?

“No, I’m fine now.”

“Where were you when you saw the dragon?” When I saw her shocked reaction to the sight of my beast, the intention of telling her I turned into a fire-spitting monster fled. I would tell her after I had her under me and screaming my name.

“I went to distribute the invitations.”

“Where?”

“In the town.”

“The town’s in ruins. Has been that way for a decade. Outlaws rule there, and I’d have thought you knew that.”

She shook her head. “I’m from New Jersey.”

For some reason, the Cy aliens kept away from the northern parts of North America. Cyborg habitats were everywhere, but the Cy ships lingered on our side of the US. I speculated they didn’t like the weather in the upper half of our country. New Jersey was Knight’s territory and Knight, with a wolf pack twenty times the size of my pack, viciously patrolled his domain, something all of us dragons tried to do. The problem with New Orleans? I’d spent the Ice Age in Texas, allowing outlaws to run amok. Now that I’d returned, I’d need to meet with Eddy and set up boundaries. “Have you never seen a Creature of Earth in New Jersey?”

“No. Never. I thought it was more of a myth than reality. My cousins never saw a dragon before, and they’re out there on the street.”

“Do you know anything about dragons?”

She shook her head.

Many humans still believed us a myth. Ten years ago, if someone had told me dragons and werewolves existed, I’d have asked my dad to check them into his clinic. “Regardless. You must’ve heard that places outside of habitats aren’t safe.”

“I thought that if the people lived here in such a…nice way, there must be other neighborhoods like this one. The ones where you play poker, for example, because you have to play it somewhere, and it’s not in the habitat. I figured if you can go other places, I should be able to go too.”

“I gamble with outlaws who steal and maim people for goods. One such man is Eddy, who lost pounds and pounds of Confederate gold coins one night. I tracked the coins and found out that the owner of said coins died suddenly, leaving nothing to his grandkids. Each Confederate coin is now estimated to be worth about five thousand roges. Did you happen to meet Eddy in the town?”

Amy sounded naive, a girl raised in comfort and completely oblivious to danger.

She blushed, probably understanding my point with Eddy. I pressed on because her safety meant everything to me, my brothers, and the entire planet. “Only yesterday, I explained the boundaries of my property, didn’t I?” I wanted to carry her into my bedroom and lock her in there.

“Yes, but how can I get people to the ball if I don’t invite them?”

Good point. I brushed it off. “You shouldn’t have gone out there.”

She bit her lip and looked away. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. Sure enough, her eyes brightened, and she smiled. “I have an idea.”

“I’m frightened already.”

She chuckled and looked around, then got up and retrieved her pen and a stack of papers. Amy scribbled. I found left-handedness fascinating, so I watched her write in her neat handwriting.

“Amy, how many invitations did you write yesterday?”

“A little over two hundred.”

“Did you sleep last night?”

“Mm-hm.”

“How long?”

“Got about two hours.”

“Amy, look up.”

Nothing.

“Amy,” I said a little more firmly.

She looked up. “Hm?”

“I want you to stop whatever you’re doing and go to bed.”

“You said Eddy can’t be trusted, so I’ve lost my invitations. I have to make them up.”

“Make them up tomorrow.”

“I can’t. I’ll think about the unfinished work, and I won’t be able to sleep.”

I sighed. “I’m not asking you to go to bed. I’m telling you to go to bed.”

She thought that over. “I don’t want to.”

“But you will.”

She pulled back her shoulders. Here we go. “Will not.”

“Is that so?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. “It is so.”

“Mary!” I shouted.

“Yes!” came from the kitchen.

“Bring me a wooden spoon.” I smiled at Amy.

“What do you need a spoon for?”

“I don’t need it,” I said. “You do.”

“No. I need an extra pen.”

I showed her my teeth. “As you go around the mansion, and as you spend more time around my people and me, you’ll learn that the safety of my people is my number one priority. Everything else, including the stupid ball, is secondary.

“Stupid ball?”

“Stupid ball.”

Amy’s cheeks grew rosy, and not from embarrassment. She fumed but gritted her teeth. She’d spent hours on those invitations and was losing sleep over meeting the ball deadline on Saturday, and I just told her the ball meant nothing to me. I would appreciate her work another time, just as I appreciated that she didn’t mouth off at me right now.

Mary brought the spoon and put it on the table.

“Lock the doors in the dining room, please,” I told her.

Mary disappeared back into the kitchen, and I heard the lock of the two doors leading into the dining room click.

Amy looked around, clearly uncomfortable.

“Take your pen,” I said and pushed the spoon across the table. “And sign here.” I pointed at the handle.

At first, she gave me a side-glance, but signed the spoon anyway. “Excellent,” I said. “Now, stand up, please.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

She stood next to her chair.

I tapped the seat. “Put your hands here.”

She did.

There were many things I liked about Amy, but I loved how she went with things to see where they’d lead. Sometimes an adventurous mind was dangerous, but other times, it was just what I needed. A skittish girl wouldn't have gone out there with only Cindy as her backup.

Cindy had surprised me. I’d have to talk to Jason when he finished with her. I was pretty sure I’d find another spoon in the kitchen with Cindy’s name on it. It was a tradition around here.

Amy’s eyes glistened with wonder, and she was just too cute in my long coat. I bent and kissed her cheek, lingering to inhale her scent before whispering into her ear, “I’m going to punish you with the spoon.”

I leaned back to watch her reaction.

Amy’s eyes widened. “Noooo.”

“Yes. For several reasons, and I’ll tell you the top two. One, you should not have left the property. I laid out the borders of the property yesterday. Didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“Thank you. Two, I ordered you to go to bed and you refused, citing ridiculous reasons for staying awake when you are clearly tired.”

“They’re not ridiculous. You hired me to do a job, and I’m doing it.”

“Your job is to obey me.”

“That wasn’t part of the agreement,” she said.

“It was, and you know it. You are at my mercy, and I am to keep you safe if I am to hold the stupid ball. You are my event planner, and I can not have you going out there on your own, risking your life for the sake of paper distribution.” I stood behind her and rested my palm over the small of her back and trailed it forward where I caught the coat’s collar and pulled. Amy must’ve known I wanted her to shrug off the coat, but she didn’t move. I decided not to press her. Instead, I simply moved the bottom half of the coat and exposed her bare ass. Dear Lord, pass me a quarter so I can bounce it off those firm ass cheeks.

Amy stared at the wall, so I gripped her jaw and turned her head so she’d look at me. I expected tears, but none came. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“It’s gonna hurt.”

“Yes.”

“Does it get you off?” she asked.

“Pardon?”

“Do you get off on…spanking?”

I raised both eyebrows. “I do.”

“Can you just spank me instead, then?”

Well, I’d be damned. Didn’t see that coming. It was supposed to be her punishment, and she was trying to get me to change my mind. I liked how she went about it. She asked if it got me off, so I asked the same, “Does spanking get you off?” I immediately regretted asking it. It would mean Amy had been with someone who’d spanked her before me, which bothered the hell out of me. Irrational, but couldn’t be helped, and I vowed to erase anyone else from her mind for the duration of our time.

“I read about it once.”

Alleluia. “And how did it make you feel?”

“Hot.”

I pecked her on the mouth, then backed off and found her body had leaned toward mine. Amy, catching herself wanting my attention, blushed. Well, this was turning out better than I’d expected. I sat down. “Come here.”

Amy came to stand between my legs. I parted my coat to reveal her body. I leaned back so I could appreciate her long legs and curved waistline. The skin on her hip was soft. I brushed my jaw against it, knowing it both tickled and scraped her as I hadn’t shaved this morning. I kissed the red spot where I’d rubbed my jaw and watched goose bumps rise over her skin. “Are you cold?”

“No,” she whispered.

I pressed my palm on her belly where I’d put babies as soon as possible, all the while kissing her mound. The thought of Amy’s swollen belly got me so hard, I bit her hip and growled. How was I gonna spank her and not impale her on my dicks after, hm?

I inhaled, and then I smelled it. Her arousal.