by Gayle, Linda
“I see you’re feeling better,” he said quietly. “But you’ll have to wait. We’ve got to take you where no one will see.”
Of course. He listened while Tash helped Dylan out of the sewer. His mate’s hand on his neck comforted him. How Dylan couldn’t be repulsed by this form, he didn’t know, but he was grateful. He pushed his hooded head against Dylan’s chest and felt arms go around him. “Hey, handsome,” Dylan said, laughing when Cam butted him. “Take it easy, Big Bird, or you’ll knock me into the hole again.”
He whuffled out a happy sound, then let them spirit him back to apartment. He wasn’t sure how they navigated the streetlamps, but he recognized they weren’t going in the front door. The musty scent of a basement accompanied the creaking of Bilco doors opening. A hand on either side, they guided him down steps, then up another flight, and then he heard Jose’s alarmed shout.
“Dios mio! It is you, Quetzalcoatl!”
Dylan rapidly tried to explain, but Tash drowned him out. “He needs your help,” his mentor said in that deep, steady tone that had gotten Cam through many a crisis. “Would you be willing?”
Jose sputtered, “Of course. Of course! What can I do?”
He heard the familiar creak of Manuela’s door opening and then her gasp. Jose filled her in quickly. To his surprise, Cam felt her soft hands on his beak. He lowered his head in docile submission. “Pobre creatura,” she murmured. Poor creature.
His heart thumped in gratitude. Now he had four guardians. Surely all would be well.
They brought him into Dylan’s apartment and spread out blankets. They arranged pillows around him, then, over the course of an hour or two, they piled dirt over the blankets, which he scratched in happily once they were done. It smelled like potting soil and was soft and cushiony. Felt good under his toes. Apparently, there’d been a quick and expensive trip to the local garden center. The soil was perfect. He nestled down into it.
As he settled in his nest and purred contentedly, he felt Dylan’s arms loop around his neck. “How you doin’, Chicken Little?”
How to express his love? He nuzzled Dylan’s cheek and lifted his wings.
Dylan scratched under his beak. “You look happier. That makes me feel better. I wish I could see your eyes.”
Cam shook his head.
“So you can understand me, huh? Just can’t talk. That’s okay. We’ll have plenty of time to talk after this. I ain’t going nowhere. If you’ll let me stick around, that is.”
Cam warbled softly and rubbed his beak on Dylan’s chest. He could hardly wait to wear his guise again, to walk with Dylan, to love him. Must be all the maternal and paternal hormones flooding him. He floated on a cloud of love and rightness as he settled more deeply into the potting soil. His body cramped once; twice…
And then Dylan’s soft murmur: “Oh my God. Oh my fucking God! I think he did it.”
Cam stood and turned, carefully, and scented the freshly laid egg. “Good job, Cameron,” Tash said quietly and patted his back.
“It’s so small. I guess I expected like a basketball or something.” Dylan again. “It’s more like an ostrich egg. Only yellow. And leathery. It’s okay if I handle it, right?”
“Of course. It’s a fine size. There’ll be a healthy hatchling from that, I’ve no doubt.” A note of pride touched Tash’s voice.
Manuela and Jose exclaimed softly in Spanish and offered blessings.
Now that his job was done, Cam wanted his human guise back. He shook his head and stretched his neck, bumping against Tash.
Dylan asked, “What is it? Does he need something?”
“My guess is he’s looking for his collar.”
“Isn’t he gonna sit on the egg?”
“No. That’s what the toads are for. Cam’s done his duty.”
And he wanted to see their egg and hold Dylan again. He bumped Tash more firmly.
“I’m sorry, Cameron. There’s no brother to put your collar back on.”
He staggered out of the nest, whistling with alarm. If he could never put his collar on, that meant…he could never be with Dylan again.
He’d rather not live than suffer such a fate.
The only thing worse than watching Cam almost die was seeing him flail around in obvious despair. He warbled and screeched, nearly knocking into frail Manuela. Jose pulled her out of the way just in time. “What’s wrong with him?” the old man demanded.
“We can’t change him back,” Tash said.
Dodging the deadly barb in Cam’s whipping tail, Dylan yelled, “Cam, cut it out! You gotta stop. You’re gonna hurt somebody.” The cockatrice did, finally, whimpering and clacking his beak. No matter how strange the creature before him, he had to remember it was Cam in there, somewhere. The light above his head swirled with his agitation. Dylan grabbed the hood still covering his eyes and pulled Cam’s head into his chest. “It doesn’t matter, you hear me? I’m not leaving you.”
Roughly, Cam pushed him away. The message was clear: he didn’t want Dylan stuck with him.
“Fuck that. I told you, man. I love you. I’m not giving up on you. Even if it takes a long time, we’re gonna find a way to put that collar back on.”
With a moan of despair, Cam folded his legs and thumped down on Dylan’s floor. Dylan threw a desperate glance at Tash, whose eyes were unreadable behind his glasses. After a moment, Tash reached into his jacket pocket and handed Dylan the gold collar.
“Here. Keep this with you. He’s yours now. And you’re his. Strange as it is, I can’t deny it.”
The cold metal warmed in Dylan’s hand. “What’ll we do? Where can we go?”
“I’m not sure. He will be hunted. He violated the most sacrosanct rules of our order, and other trices will be sent to kill him and either destroy the egg or bring it back to the basilica. If the hatchling imprints on the brothers there, it’ll all be out of your hands. I’m sorry, Dylan, but it’s the truth.”
So this was it? The end of the road, after all they’d been through? A stone sat on Dylan’s chest as he looked from the collar to his trice and back to Tash.
“What if we left the country?” he asked.
Tash shook his head. “There are orders all over the world. You’d only be safe if you had human guardians around you to keep watch, at least until the egg is hatched. Once your offspring has imprinted and fledged, then…you’ll have a better chance. He would be less likely to serve others.”
“How long until he hatches?”
“Twenty-one days. And then he won’t be ready for collaring for four months after.”
“So he’s not gonna be a baby, then?”
“A baby trice.” Tash smiled gently.
Dylan swallowed and closed his hand in Cam’s feathers. He remembered what Arum had said. Dragon. Not trice. But he’d also said he wasn’t completely sure.
“Dylan,” Jose said, and Dylan startled. It was the first time the old man had called him by his name. But Jose had been kind and helpful through all this. Who knew who your friends really were until you had a crisis, right? He turned to him. “Manuela and me, we are from an old, old part of Mexico, in the Yucatan. We both have family from the same village. There, they still worship the old gods, including Quetzalcoatl. They live high in the mountains, in the jungle. We are Mayan,” he said with pride.
Tash stepped closer. “He’s not Quetzalcoatl, though. You understand that?”
“Si, yes, but… Manuela and me been talking, and we think he would be safe with our people. We know our families would welcome him. Protect him.”
Tash looked at Dylan. “It is a possibility.”
“We’d have to get him over the border.”
Manuela nodded sagely and said something in Spanish. He looked to Jose for translation, but it was Tash who said, “Her family can get him out. They have trucks and routes. It could be done.”
“It would be easier if he, you know…didn’t look like this.” Dylan petted Cam’s neck. “Maybe I can do it. Put the collar on.”<
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“There’s a charm, words to be said.”
“Did Alistair have the words?” He shook his head. “He only had his faith. His love. Him and his creature, in the cave. He did it. So can I.” Maybe. Yeah. He put his hand on Cam’s beak, wishing he could look into his eyes and feel that bond they had. It might make things easier. “I won’t ever leave you, Cam. I promise I’ll stay with you forever, no matter what. That okay with you?”
Cam reared up and wrapped his wings around him, real wings this time, not just shadows. The golden glow from above his head shone down around them, isolating them in their own world of warmth and light. The collar in Dylan’s hand glowed too.
A shiver moved through him. This was some fucking deep commitment he was making. It wasn’t like regular wedding vows that could be undone with the stroke of a lawyer’s pen. This was before God and all his angels.
His hand shook. What if he wasn’t worthy? What if he fucked up again, let Cam down? He sure as shit had a lousy track record.
Then he felt Cam nuzzling him, tightening his wings around him, and he figured…what the hell. Stranger things had happened. Well, no, they really hadn’t. But still, what the hell. He reached and put the chain around Cam’s neck, beneath the feathers, and matched the ends together.
And in one beat of his heart, he held his beautiful, naked lover in his arms once more.
Epilogue
Arms stretched out to the sides, Cam took aim at the pool of perfect blue water below him and dived in. He pushed off from the bottom, and when he surfaced, Dylan waited for him, dog-paddling over. “Truly, you must learn to swim properly, Dylan,” he scolded gently, tossing his wet hair out of his eyes.
Dylan got close enough to grab him by the back of his neck and pull him in for a wet kiss. “Fuck that. Too much effort.”
He slid under the water, his hands tickling down Cam’s kicking legs, then took off under the surface like a fish. Cam didn’t hesitate to swim behind, then follow him up unto the shore. They’d brought rough woven blankets to lay over the ground, and collapsed onto them. The sun shone through the thick green rainforest canopy to spangle over their wet bodies. The trill of bird songs filled the humid air. It felt like Eden, Cam thought. Like the place before man and animal parted ways.
Dylan rolled over toward Cam and propped his head on one hand. In the months they’d been here, Dylan grown tan and strong and more handsome than ever. He drifted his fingers over Cam’s chest. “I think I’m finally beginning to believe we’re really here. Safe. Together.”
“It was a long, strange trip. Those terrible days, crossing the border, running through the deserts… I wasn’t sure if we’d make it.”
“We did, though. We beat ’em all.”
“I wouldn’t have endured without you,” he said, grasping Dylan’s hand and holding it to his heart.
“Yes, you would have. You had our egg to think about. You would have found a way to survive.”
Cam smiled, remembering the hatching and Dylan’s awe as the wee creature poked its head from the shell. “Did you ever think you could love anything as much as our son?”
“Baby, I never even thought I’d ever even see anything like our son. But yeah.” He grinned back, his eyes lighting. “He’s a cute little shit.”
Cam threaded his fingers through Dylan’s wet hair. “Are you happy here?”
“So happy I’m not sure I believe it. Or deserve it.”
“You do. Besides, you’re stuck with me. That’s penance, right?”
“I could say the same.”
Cam laughed softly. “You’re a blessing to me, and I love you.”
Dylan arched a brow, cocky and sweet all at the same time. “Love you too, Big Bird.”
“Don’t call me that, please.”
“Why? What’s the matter, chicken pot pie?”
“Ugh! No respect.”
“None at all.” He leaned in and caught Cam’s lips, then gripped Cam’s hip and pulled them closer together. Since they were naked, it was easy to tell where Dylan’s mind was wandering. Same place as Cam’s.
He reached down to stroke Dylan’s stiffening cock and gazed into the blue eyes that held his world. “Do we have time?”
“Hell yeah. Maybe not much, but we’ll make sure it’s enough.” Dylan pushed his hips forward so his dick slid through the ring of Cam’s fingers, and he sucked in a deep breath. “Lucky for you, I figured you’d be in the mood.” He rolled away to grab the daypack he’d brought with them, sitting on top of their piled clothes. He returned with a condom and lube. “I never leave home without ’em.”
“I’m glad one of us is thinking.”
“So you don’t have to. You just gotta lie there and look beautiful. Now kiss me.” He moved to stretch out half on top of Cam, where he could reach Cam’s mouth and slide his fist up and down Cam’s rapidly hardening dick. The pleasure that surged through him never ceased to amaze.
Arching his back, Cam sucked in sultry, fragrant air heavy with the scent of blossoms. He knotted his fingers into Dylan’s hair as Dylan swept his tongue around a nipple, then moved to lay kisses up his neck and finally got back to his mouth. Their tongues slid over each other. Ravenous instantly, Cam drew up his legs.
“Get on with it. Get in me. We might only have a few more minutes.” They’d talked one of the village grandmas into watching Izel for an hour, but their break was soon ending.
“Bossy much?” Dylan pulled back to stare into his face. His pupils dilated, and his lids slid down halfway, and Cam knew he felt that same sweep of heat and magic he did when their gazes met in that forbidden glance. No matter how often it happened, Cam never took for granted the miracle that allowed his lover to look into his eyes.
Dylan drew away long enough to wet his finger with lube and get Cam ready. The teasing stroke of his fingers in his hole only whetted Cam’s appetite. By the time Dylan pushed his legs up and moved between them, he was already close to coming.
“You’re mine now,” Dylan murmured.
“Yes, yours. Now hurry.” As Dylan pushed inside him, giving him that glorious burn and then exquisite pleasure, Cam writhed. Nothing compared to this. All around them, the jungle thrummed with life, with wild creatures such as he, and he felt his heart beating in time to the earth’s rhythm, to Dylan’s rhythm as he thrust in and out.
At last, his trice and human sides found harmony, here in his lover’s arms. Without touching his own dick, just watching the pleasure play across Dylan’s face, Cam quickly reached his peak, shooting onto his belly and chest with a coarse shout. Dylan growled and pushed hard seconds later, emptying himself into the condom with a shudder that Cam felt against his thighs.
After a moment, when he leaned down to kiss the contented smile on Cam’s lips, Dylan gave an amused huff and carefully withdrew, then got rid of the condom. “That was quick. Guess we were both ready, huh?”
Cam rolled his eyes. “It’s gotten so hard to grab a few minutes with Izel always about.”
“He’s driving the old grandmas crazy, always getting into the laundry.”
“And the pantries.”
“They love him, though.” Dylan’s eyes warmed. “Jesus, we got so lucky with this place.”
Cam touched his fingers to Dylan’s lips. “Was it luck? I wonder. Sometimes I think we truly have angels watching over us.”
He kissed the fingertips. “I’m sure we’re givin’ ‘em gray hairs if that’s the case.”
They splashed back in to clean up before they grabbed their clothes. Dylan handed Cam his shorts and pulled on his own along with a tank top. Watching Dylan’s muscles ripple as he dressed, Cam knew that this blessing, of them being safe and together with their hatchling, among people who didn’t judge but protected them, was no accident. It was fate. Though what destiny awaited their son, he could only guess.
He was just pulling on his sandals when they heard a rustling in the undergrowth, and a bright blue body shot past them, little wings flapping as Izel
chased a butterfly. Joy swelled Cam’s chest. Dylan laughed and called to their hatchling. “Get over here, you.”
The baby dragon leaped over to perch in his father’s arms, clacking his beak and chattering a mile a minute, telling quite the story.
“You do realize when he learns to talk, we’ll never shut him up,” Cam said, reaching out to scratch his youngling’s head. Having hatched nearly four months earlier, Izel was no longer just the handful of fluffy feathers with big, round eyes he’d been in those early days. Now he surpassed twenty pounds and lived in perpetual motion. “He’s almost ready for the collar.”
They’d make one using some of the gold from Cam’s own chain, and the rest from the Spanish gold of the area. Touching his collar, Cam reflected that it was no longer a burden to him, a symbol of shame. Now it represented the bond of love he and Dylan shared, one that now included Izel. None outside their small circle knew that Izel was a dragon, a throwback to the cockatrice’s ancient lineage. Arum’s manipulation of bloodlines, and perhaps some divine intervention, had produced a miracle.
His lover cuddled the little creature close to his chest, brushing his cheek against his son’s downy feathers. “Can’t wait to see what he’ll look like when he’s human. Or appears human, anyway.” He shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll just be glad when he calms down.”
“I only wish Tash could be here when we perform the ceremony,” Cam said. “At least I’ve been able to keep in touch now and then. I wonder what will happen to him now the brotherhood is putting down the reformatore rebellion.”
Tash had told them the schism in the church had widened, with some wanting to disband the brotherhood and eliminate the cockatrices altogether, while others defended them as God’s gift and part of church history. Outside their sheltered oasis in the Yucatan rainforest, the world was changing.
“I’m grateful he got word to Dr. Martin that I’m okay. I know she’d worry if she never saw me again. Bet she’d shit if she knew what I was holding right now.” He peppered kisses over Izel’s upraised beak and tickled him under one leathery wing.