by Maia Star
I giggled, laying my head against his chest. “Like what?”
“You want me to do one right now?”
I nodded. “Yes, please. Tell me what you would write for me.”
He sighed. “All right, here it goes then. I think it’s obvious what I would write about to start. The fact that you’re so beautiful, just like a princess. I would write about your ebony hair and your snowy skin, your apple eyes and your cherry cheeks, your lips that are the color of strawberries and taste like them too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It would go something like this.” He began to hum a little melody in his deep voice, then he began to sing. “I’ve got a sweet lover, she’s nothing like me. She’s got ebony hair and the cutest smile that can be. Her lips are like strawberries, and her kiss is so sweet. She’s my little love and she’ll always be.”
I sighed. “I didn’t say you had to write a song, but that was absolutely lovely. You have a gorgeous voice.”
It was true. His voice was deep and warm and filled the whole room like sticky-sweet honey. If I could have wrapped myself up in it like a blanket, I would have for sure.
“All right, your turn then.”
“My turn?” I looked up at him with a pleading gaze. “There’s absolutely no way that mine will ever be as good as yours, especially not since yours was a song too.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He gave my butt a little squeeze. “You said you would write me a poem, and so I want to hear it.”
I sighed. “Fine, fine, you win, let’s see.” I took a moment to think. What was it that I wanted to actually write poems about? It would be easy to comment on his looks, or his status, or the ways that he touched me, but I wanted something else.
“Okay, but I’m gonna do something similar to yours.”
“That’s cheating.”
“No, it’s not! Yours was just too good,”
“Okay fine, go ahead then.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. I got a lover, and he’s into antiques. He decorates his apartment, and then he pleases me. He’s got an eye for beauty, and he tells me it’s me. I’m the prettiest decoration by far.”
He laughed. “All right, that was hilarious and true. But you’re definitely not a decoration, especially not to me.” He wrapped his hands around the back of my neck and pulled me down to kiss him. “You’re too lovely to be anything but my lover.”
I couldn’t help it; I let out a little giggle. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Now, should we get dressed?”
I pretended to consider this question for a moment, then flopped on top of him. “Nope, we’re staying right here where it’s comfy.”
“I didn’t say we had to leave the couch; I just asked if you wanted to get dressed again.”
“I quite like it just how it is. This way, I can feel you against me, all of you.”
I sighed then, thinking of what it would be like to curl up next to him when we were both in our dragon forms, his scales warm against mine. It had been forever since I had shifted.
My last clan hadn’t allowed me to, so I had had to do it in secret and only at night. But to fly into the sunset with Kyle and then find a nice mossy rock to curl up on together? That sounded like an absolute dream.
“What are you thinking about?” Kyle asked, brushing a strand of hair back from my face.
I shook my head. “Oh, it’s nothing; don’t worry about it.”
“No, I want to hear what it is.”
I sighed. “It’s just, I want to shift with you. I want to fly across the sky with you by my side. It just sounds so wonderful.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve been waiting for you to ask that, princess. I want to know what you look like as a dragon. Don’t tell me now though; I want to see for myself.”
Nodding, I smiled down at him. “Okay. Let’s do that soon, then.”
“Soon, indeed.”
Chapter Sixteen
Kyle
The two of us ended up putting on a movie and then falling asleep together on the couch. It was quite lovely and comforting. Catarina just had such a warm presence.
The next morning, I extracted myself from under her and headed to the kitchen to make us breakfast, slipping on some clothes while I was at it.
As soon as the smell of toaster waffles drenched in butter and maple syrup began to fill the apartment, it didn’t take Catarina long at all to wake up. She rose, stretching her arms above her head, and looked over to smile at me.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning to you too, lovely,” I said. “If you want to get dressed, you can come over here and have some breakfast with me.”
“Why does breakfast hinge on me getting dressed?”
I shrugged. “I mean, it’s up to you. I just figured that you might want to get dressed before eating something with lots of maple syrup.”
“Are you trying to imply I’m going to spill on myself?”
“Never said such a thing.”
“No, that’s exactly what you’re insinuating.” She gave me a little playful glare, but it quickly dissolved into another smile. “Fine, I’ll get dressed, just in case. But only because it’s a little cold without you as my personal heater.”
I threw my head back in a laugh. “Is that so princess? Maybe I should come over there and give you a big bear hug right now to make up for it.”
She extended her arms and reached for me, opening and closing her firsts in a grabbing motion. “Come here, now.”
“You’re not the one who gets to order me around.”
“Well you haven’t ordered me around at all yet.”
I set down the plates I had been preparing and stalked over to her, keeping a dark look in my eyes.
“Oh yeah, and is that something you want me to do?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and placing two firm hands on her hips. “I can order you around if you want me to.”
She blushed and looked down. “Well, not right now. Now’s not the time for...”
“For what?”
She let out a little squeal. “It’s fine!”
“No, tell me, princess. You were so confident last night, and you’re just getting embarrassed now?”
“How can I not be embarrassed, or at least flustered, with what you’re suggesting?”
“Which is?”
“Oh, knock it off.” She looked up at me and scrunched up her nose. “You know exactly what it is that I am talking about.”
“But what if I don’t? Won’t you spell it out for me?”
She was so cute when she was flustered; it was one of the reasons why I loved teasing her so much. If she didn’t give me such fun reactions, then I probably wouldn’t be doing it at all.
“Okay fine. So you’re telling me you could boss me around, right? Which I assume means sexually, and that just gets me...ahhhh.”
“It gets you what?”
“It makes me flustered!”
“And why is that my dear?”
She flipped me off.
I couldn’t help it, my immediate response was to put one hand around her neck, holding her still and squeezing just enough for her to feel my fingers there but not enough to actually cut off any airflow.
“I know I’ve been letting you get away with a lot, but not anymore, princess. Especially when me doing things like this gets you deliciously wet.”
I stroked a finger along the entrance to her pussy, and when I withdrew it, it was dripping.
“Now, clean up your mess for me,” I said, shoving my fingers in her mouth. Not so surprisingly, she listened to me, licking her sweet juices off of them.
I released her then and turned around to go back to the kitchen.
“You should probably get dressed now,” I said over my shoulder. “That might have been fun, but I think we should get breakfast before we play again.”
“Okay.”
As I turned to look at her, I saw that she had collected her clothes from the floor and
was heading to her room, presumably to put them away or in the laundry and get dressed.
“Good girl,” I said. “You’ll definitely be rewarded for that later.
At breakfast, the two of us discussed what our plans were for escaping this place. We knew that we wanted to leave as soon as possible but it was wise to wait for things to die down before we made our move.
After all, the clan would be expecting her to try something in the next few days, so if we waited past that and used that time to prepare to the best of our abilities, then we would be much better off.
I discovered that Catarina had done a lot of research into places that we could go, and the two of us looked over a map to visually process where things were in relation to each other and the places we might be able to stop on the way.
It would be foolish to try to make the entire trip cross-country in just one go, so it was important that we knew some places that would be safe for both of us to stop.
Once we had finished figuring out where it was that we were going and how it was that we were going there, we set a date for a couple of weeks from then. It was an appropriate amount of time to wait, and as long as nothing weird happened in the meantime, we would be fine.
The date approached quickly. I spent the time working to build back up the trust that Catarina had once had in me. I made her nice meals, watched lots of movies with her, and listened to her after her long days. Slowly but surely, I could tell that she was starting to trust me again, to fall for me again.
It was nice to know that I was finally doing things right.
Then the day of our escape arrived.
We were supposed to leave that evening, once it had turned dark, but instead, the two of us were summoned to a party.
It happened while I was making breakfast; a text came in from James telling me that I had been doing a good job keeping Catarina in line and the two of us were to attend a party that evening.
He hadn’t summoned her since the last one, and I had a feeling that tonight he was going to check to see if she was ready in his mind to become his little toy again. It was a terrifying thought, but I had to remind myself that we were escaping. After the party, it would all be over, and we could go back to gather our things and leave.
“What is it?” Catarina asked, coming up next to me and putting her arms around my waist.
“It’s nothing,” I said, shaking her off. “We were just invited to another party this evening.”
“Can we skip it?” she asked.
“No, they’ll know for sure that something is up if we do that. We just have to go and pretend like everything is normal. If we can do that, then we should be safe to leave after it’s over.”
“Okay.” She looked down at her feet. “Okay.”
“Come here,” I said, and turned around to draw her into my arms. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“I know. I just wish that we could leave earlier.”
“Just think of it this way: this is just one more party, and then we’re gone forever. No more of them, ever. You’ll never have to see anyone from this clan ever again.”
She nodded. “Ok. I think I’ll be able to handle it if I think about it like that.”
“Good to hear.”
We spent the rest of the day finishing prep for our escape before getting ready in the evening to leave for the party. Catarina got dressed as she was expected in a tight mini skirt and a velvet tank top. She looked so sexy, and a pang of jealousy went through my chest at the thought of what the rest of the clan would think when they saw her like this. I just hoped that James wouldn’t want to be doing anything tonight with her.
We headed out to the car after I gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her she looked lovely, and then we drove to the party.
It was in relatively full swing by the time we got there, and instead of leaving her side like I normally would, I stuck close to her and guided her through, pretending like I was just keeping an eye on her.
I got something to drink from the bar and began to chat up some people from the clan who I had considered friends before.
This went on for around an hour and a half as we hopped our way from crowd to crowd. James was still keeping his distance, and there wasn’t much incident, but I could tell that something was weighing on Catarina’s mind. She kept shifting from foot to foot and glancing around furtively.
Finally, I decided to do something about it, fearing that her nervousness was going to blow our cover.
As we walked away from yet another group of shifters, I pulled her to the side and into a room, shutting the door behind us.
“Catarina, what’s going on? You’re acting all weird.”
“I know. I know. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“What is it?” I asked, concerned. Was she going to go back on things now? Was there some secret she had been keeping from me that I needed to know? What was it?
“I, you see, there’s a reason I haven’t gotten pregnant yet,” she said, looking down at her feet.
My heart dropped inside of my chest. “Oh.” I had wondered why, but I figured the timing just hadn’t been right yet. But this? This was something else.
“I’m uh...not fertile anymore. After a miscarriage while I was in my last clan, the doctors told me that I wouldn’t be able to have children anymore. It’s a secret I’ve been keeping, and I’m sorry about it.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” I said, trying to think through my words carefully. Because yes, I felt betrayed that she hadn’t told me anything yet. It felt awful to feel like she hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me before now, but I understood why.
I had already broken her trust once. And as an Omega, her job within a clan was to bear children. There was no telling what would happen if the clan found out that she was unable to.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We can work with that.”
“You mean, you’re not mad?” She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
“Maybe a little upset that you didn’t tell me sooner, and maybe a little sad that we won’t be able to have biological children, but I couldn’t be mad at you for that. Being infertile just isn’t something that you can control.”
It would have been such a touching moment, still was a touching moment, but right then, we heard a loud and audible gasp at the door.
We both turned to each other in fear. Someone had heard about her infertility. And we both knew that the consequences for that were not going to be pretty.
Chapter Seventeen
Catarina
As soon as Kyle and I heard the gasp, we turned to each other, recognition in our eyes. We knew that we had to act fast because everything was at stake.
Kyle lunged for the door first, and I followed after him. He wrenched it open and flung himself down the hallway in pursuit of whoever had overheard.
I ran after him, but by the time the two of us caught up to the eavesdropper, it was too late. The three of us were in the living room, and the eavesdropper was looking at everyone with wide eyes.
He pointed an accusing finger at me, and said in a very loud voice, “She’s infertile! The two of them have been conspiring to keep it a secret!”
There was a large collective gasp, and then people began to whisper to each other. More people took up the call, spreading the information to everyone who was at the party that I was, in fact, infertile.
It was my worst nightmare come true. I held my breath and looked around in fear. Surely someone would try to do something. They were going to dispose of me, I knew it.
Kyle was standing next to me, looking just as shocked and unsure of himself.
Then James came through the crowd. He had a disgusted expression on his face as he came to stand a few feet away from us.
“Is this true?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, Alpha, it’s not what you think—”
But the eavesdropper interrupted me. “I know what I heard, Alpha James. The
Omega is infertile, and Beta Kyle was planning to keep it a secret. They cannot go unpunished.”
James smirked. “Is that so? Well, I’ll certainly make sure to punish them good for it then. Stand back, everyone.”
The crowd took several steps back as James shifted into a dragon.
Because he was the Alpha, his form was large. Thankfully, the ceilings in the penthouse were high and the room was incredibly spacious, but it obviously still hadn’t been designed for him to shift in. He had to crane his long neck and tuck his magnificent wings to the side of his body.
His form was a deep black, like the deepest and darkest of pits, with slight accents of burgundy every so often peeking out from beneath scales. His eyes swallowed me whole as he stared at me, and I knew that the two of us were doomed.
“Catarina, it’s going to be okay,” Kyle said. “Just step back.”
“Are you kidding me? No, I’m fighting too,” I said. The two of us began to shift as the crowd moved away from us.
In terms of size of dragon forms, Alphas were the biggest, then came Betas, then the rest of the clan, and Omegas were the smallest. So while Kyle was almost as big as James, I was tiny in comparison. I could extend my neck without hitting the ceiling, and if there wasn’t anyone around me, I would probably be able to extend my wings too.
Kyle’s form was absolutely glorious. He was a copper color, just like his hair. He gleamed in the sunlight like a million shiny pennies, and his eyes glistened red with death.
Meanwhile, I was a pale cream, with a shimmering sort of effect to my scales like a pearl. If I had been bigger, I might have been considered a beauty of a dragon, but because I was an Omega and therefore small, no one cared much what my scales looked like.
It was going to be a difficult fight, and I doubted that we would be able to make it out if anyone else joined in. But we had to try. If we didn’t, I was going to die. I would never be able to live out my dream of being completely free.