by Kim Dare
The mental door that he’d opened inside himself when he was on the stage before the elders was still there. It had been trying to push itself open more and more insistently over the last weeks, as pressure built up on the other side of it and leaked out as an ache that seeped into every muscle and joint.
Even as Ori mentally glanced in its direction, the door inside him sprang open. Sensations rushed into his body, faster than he could process them. Pain and pleasure mixed together so thoroughly it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.
For one glorious moment, it felt like everything he was and everything he could be existed in the same universe. Almost too soon, he felt the side of himself that he was the most familiar with fade away. Reaching out, he tried to grasp at it with the farthest edges of his mind, but it raced away from him until it was difficult to see it over the mental horizon, hard to remember there was even anything that had gone.
Ori lifted his arms, but his shoulders didn’t move the way he expected them to. He tipped his head back, stretching out an unexpectedly long neck as he looked up toward the sky.
He took a step forward. His legs weren’t the same as he remembered. Everything was different. The world had changed.
The breeze blew against him, seeming to call to him. He stepped forward again, a little closer to the lake. Instinct took over. Arms stretched out as if they were wings, he ran forward. The edge of the water was right in front of him, then the air suddenly caught against his arms and the ground was falling away beneath his soles and he was climbing higher and higher into the atmosphere.
Even as his mind looked in wonder at the world below him, the landscape shrank a little more. The sky was wide above him, pulling him up with each movement of his arms. A flick of his fingertips was all it took to turn in large lazy circles high above the lake and the bench at the edge of it.
* * * * *
Leaning back against the rough wooden bench, Raynard craned his neck and stared up into the sky. Ori was little more than a white dot as he reached the far end of his circular path, but he never once strayed entirely out of Raynard’s sight.
Smiling up at the spectacle, even as he felt something inside himself crack and break at the sight, Raynard tracked Ori’s progress, around and around as his fledgling started to experiment with his new found freedom, dipping and swirling in the atmosphere above the park.
It was impossible to tell from the way he flew what kind of man he’d be when he came back to the ground. If there was no trace of submission in him when he landed then…
Raynard took a deep breath. If that was the case, then it wasn’t Ori who needed to change. If Ori needed him, and couldn’t have him as a master then, somehow, Raynard knew he’d have to learn how to be something other than a master to him. He’d have to find some form of submission inside himself, some way he could serve the needs of the swan.
The chances of a hawk doing that and keeping his own sanity intact were slim at best, Raynard knew that too. But, if there was no other way…
Another deep breath failed to bring Raynard any comfort as Ori continued to circle above him.
If nothing else, he’d been right to think Ori was strong. He stayed in the air a lot longer than most men could ever hope to manage on their first attempt. Over an hour had passed before he descended toward the lake.
Raynard watched, his heart racing faster and faster as he realised Ori was coming back to him, that it was now mere moments before everything would be settled once and for all.
The swan glided down toward the edge of the lake, all grace and fluid movements. Ori was barely a foot above the surface of the water when tension flooded back into his body. After that, the landing was…interesting.
A flurry of wings and webbed feet splashed and crashed into the edge of the lake. One moment there was a blur of feathers, the next, a beautiful naked man appeared in the shallow water closest to the bench.
Raynard perched on the edge of the seat, studying, watching, waiting for some sign. Shaking the water out of his hair, Ori immediately turned toward Raynard. Their eyes met. Raynard’s hand tightened around the collar, his breath caught in his throat, prayers rushed through his head, and all he could do was hope against hope.
Ori stumbled up onto his feet under Raynard’s watchful gaze—his arms and legs all going in different directions as he tried to control a body that wasn’t entirely sure what shape it was.
He splashed his way to the edge of the lake. Again and again he stumbled, but he kept pulling himself upright and pushing forward, making his way determinedly back to Raynard’s side.
The edge of the lake was muddy. By the time Ori emerged from the water’s edge, he was smeared with dirt. Earth and leaf litter clung to his coating of mud as he scrambled up the bank.
He tumbled to his knees at Raynard’s feet and reached out to him. Seemingly unable to scrape up human words, Ori whimpered his pleasure and rubbed his face against Raynard’s body in a way that seemed to promise Raynard that everything really would be fine.
Wet, muddy, and affectionate in equal measure, Ori snuggled against him.
The wildness that was so familiar to Raynard from his own returns to a human form was conspicuous in its absence. Ori was all…
Raynard closed his eyes for a moment. There was only one word that fitted and he was almost too afraid to use it.
Ori was all submission.
As Raynard encouraged him even closer, Ori’s lips moved to his fly, kissing and licking him through the fabric, desperate little noises escaping from the back of his throat as he fumbled at Raynard’s clothes and clung to whatever material he could wrap his fingers around.
Every movement cautious and measured, Raynard slipped his hands between them, nudging Ori away slightly so he could undo his fly and free his cock.
Ori didn’t appear able to comprehend what he was trying to do. He turned his attention enthusiastically toward Raynard’s hands, licking and sucking at his fingertips, slowing him down with every nuzzle and kiss.
Raynard smiled at his antics, relief racing through him, turning him as silly and lightheaded as his fledgling seemed to be. As Raynard finally managed to pull his fly down, Ori dived on him. His hands fluttered over his cock as he sucked around the tip of his shaft.
The stream of whimpers and moans turned into a flood. Raynard stared down at Ori as his cock slid deeper into his mouth. No technique, no control, Ori was running entirely on adrenaline and instinct, and he was stunning.
A true submissive. It didn’t matter what it said on his fledgling’s wrist. No avian could hide who he really was when his species was so close to the front of his mind. Swan or not, Ori was all submission.
Ori dipped his head again, begging Raynard with his lips and tongue to come in his mouth. Holding back, Raynard instinctively made him work for that pleasure. Ori’s eyes were closed. He seemed content to stay there all evening. He knew Raynard so well, and his conscious memories seemed to be coming back to him. He knew what would please his master, what would push him to the edge, and he didn’t hesitate to display that knowledge.
Not even a hawk could hold back forever. Ori moaned his pleasure as Raynard relented and gave him what he wanted. He spilled into Ori’s mouth, tangling his hand in Ori’s hair as he held him close to receive everything he could give him.
Ori bucked as he tasted his master, and Raynard had no doubt that his fledgling had found his own pleasure in servicing him. Even when they both fell still, Ori didn’t pull away. He stayed exactly where he was, suckling gently around Raynard’s shaft.
The collar was still in Raynard’s hand. He fixed it carefully around Ori’s neck. Ori murmured his pleasure as he finally let Raynard’s softening cock slip from between his lips.
Reaching into his bag, Raynard pulled out a huge towel and wrapped it around Ori’s damp body. Sleepy and sated from his climax, Ori snuggled against Raynard as Raynard rubbed the towel against his skin.
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A few minutes passed before Ori blinked open his eyes. He frowned at Raynard’s clothes. “You’re all muddy, sir…”
“Hush,” Raynard chided, encouraging Ori to snuggle against him however much he wanted regardless of all the wet and dirt he’d brought with him.
Ori didn’t need much convincing. He had complete trust in his master right then. Raynard smiled down at him as a full breath finally made it into his lungs. All submission, all what Raynard had thought he was from the very first moment Ori came into his service.
Very slowly, the guilt from everything he’d thought he’d inflicted on a man not suited to submission began to fade. There was no cruelty in teaching a submissive about submission.
“Good boy.”
Ori blinked up at him, a tiny touch of confusion making it back into his eyes.
“You have no idea how glorious you looked up there, do you?”
Ori smiled at him, even more beautiful there than he had been up in the sky.
Raynard pushed his fingers through Ori’s damp white hair, studying him intently. “You have no idea how much I love you, either, do you?”
“Even though I’m a swan, sir?” Ori whispered, fear creeping back into his eyes.
“You’re you, and you’re mine. Nothing else matters.” For the first time, there was no doubt in Raynard’s mind as he said it. “When you’re with me you’re not a swan, or a duck. You’re my fledgling.”
Ori seemed to sense Raynard’s complete certainty about every word. All his fears appeared to fade away as easily as Raynard stroked his hair. “Yes, sir.”
Raynard smiled down at him once more. “Ready to go home, fledgling?”
Ori nodded and smiled up at his master in return. Swan or not, he was obviously as content in his submission as any ugly little duckling could ever be.
Also in the Avian Shifter Series
Celebrate
It’s not easy learning how to be a swan, but Ori Jones has worked hard to embrace a role that still doesn’t come entirely naturally to him. Now, almost a year after his first full shift, he finally feels as if he is making a difference at the Anderson nest.
Ori’s happier than he’d ever been, until a few words from his master, Raynard, suddenly bring all of Ori’s old fears rushing back to the surface.
The nest’s elders want to have a party for Ori’s birthday, but Ori can’t see any reason to celebrate in it being a year since he reached his avian maturity. After all, what’s the use in learning to be a good swan when Raynard never wanted a swan in the first place?
Magpie—2nd Edition
Everet has found his perfect place in the nest. As a raven, he’s ideally suited to his new role in the nest’s security flock. Some of the jobs it entails have been far more enjoyable than others, but when he’s called to retrieve a magpie, who’s got himself into trouble in a local human club, it becomes a truly life changing experience.
Magpie shifters have always been looked down on by other avians. Just as attracted to shiny things in their human bodies as they are in their avian forms, everyone knows they’ll do anything for money—and they’re not above stealing what they can’t get by more honest means.
Kane knows what being a magpie means, and he’s got the bruises to show for it. When Everet rescues him from his latest scrape, Kane knows better than to believe the raven will actually take an interest in him and his welfare, but it’s just possible that Everet is different to any other man Kane has ever met.
Other books by Kim Dare
Series
Werewolves & Dragons
The Avian Shifters
Kinky Cupid
FIT Guys
How I Met My Master…
Hearts and Handcuffs
Thrown to the Lions
Rawlings Men
Sex Sells
Sun, Sea and Submission
The Whole A-Z
Pack Discipline
G-A-Y Lust Bites
Perfect Timing
Collared
Stand Alone Novels
Pushing the Envelope
With a Kiss
Kim Dare has also written a number of free short stories.
You can find these on her website.
About the Author
Kim is a bisexual submissive from Wales (UK). First published in 2008, she has since released over 100 BDSM erotic romance titles ranging from short stories to full length novels. Having worked with a host of fantastic e-publishers, she moved into self publishing in 2013.
While she occasionally enjoys writing other pairings, most of Kim's stories focus on Male/Male relationships. But, no matter what the pairing, from paranormal to contemporary, and from the sweet to the intense, everything she writes will always feature three things - Kink, Love and a Happy Ending.
You can find out more about Kim's books on her website, follow her on twitter, catch up with her blog, and email her directly using the links below.
Website: www.kimdare.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/KimDareAuthor
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/kimdareauthor
Blog: www.kimdare.wordpress.com
E-mail: [email protected]