by Jan Dockter
Astrid didn’t flinch. Instead, infuriatingly, she cocked an eyebrow at him.
“I take it you object to the menu, too.”
Confident. Self-assured. A man could like that. But right now, the dragon in him was annoyed.
“What would you know, newbie?”
She didn’t take the bait.
“Is there something else you’d prefer?”
“Oh, are we a five-star hotel now?”
She looked at the words above her head and smiled. It was a pretty smile and that thought disturbed him. Humans were the enemy. At least, one of his enemies.
“Obviously not,” she said. “I’m just asking in case I can work things out for you.”
“How noble. A considerate human. Well, a live goat would be nice. I’m so tired of the rats that haunt this place.”
Incredibly, she chuckled.
“I admit. Rats are not the finest cuisine.”
Good Lord. She was trying to joke with him. Tem was intrigued and appalled at the same time. It sparked the anger that roiled in his gut each of his waking moments.
“Do you think to mock me?” he roared. He flung his arms up in parody of the wings that should be unfolding there. Tem shook his arms in frustration at the vicious iron that melded his body to this three-dimensional world. How he wanted to pull his dragon body from the other dimension that held its great bulk and form, to break free of this hell, and fly far away from the prejudices of short-sighted and fearful humans. How he wanted to go home.
After he killed the man that put him here.
But what the woman did next shocked him.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed. Astrid did this with her back to her companions, and didn’t speak the words aloud so they could hear them. But the movements of her mouth were unmistakable.
Tem was so shocked he was struck speechless.
Astrid opened the slot and slid forward the meal. Her scent clung to the metal dishware, and Tem involuntarily breathed deeply, taking in the sweet fragrance. His intimate parts stirred with memories of what it felt to hold a woman.
Tem, old man, he told himself. You’ve spent too much time in captivity. The first girl that smiles at you and you’re gone. He wasn’t a young dragon and thought himself beyond the lusts of youth.
“I’ll work on that goat for you,” she said sweetly. “Until then you’ll just have to content yourself with the steak tartar. Next time, I’ll make sure there is a raw egg on it.”
She smiled at him, again a gesture that her companions could not see, and her grin filled Tem with questions. Had someone managed to sneak in a confederate past the sympathizer tests? Had some of his old cadre regrouped and sought a way to release him?
But then again, she could be just some silly little girl with romantic notions about dragons. Hell, it was true that human females were attracted to dragon pheromones, which is where those nasty stories about dragons taking virgins came from. No. Dragons didn’t need to kidnap virgins or any woman. They came to them. Which was why human men hated dragons so much. Tem chuckled. All a dragon had to do was be within whiffing distance of a susceptible female and those women forgot about their human men for good.
Tem backed away to his bunk and sat down, staring thoughtfully at the retreating figure of the young guard called Astrid. She followed her companions so he got a clear view of her rear end. It was nicely shaped and swayed as she walked. Reflexively he licked his lips.
He had an idea, one that would annoy Matron Parks and maybe titillate the guard called Astrid, if they showed her the security tapes. He pushed down his prison issued sweats and gripped his thick shaft in his hands. He hadn’t done this in a while, mainly because the male guards were unimpressed with his antics. But now with the sweet face of Astrid in his mind and his hands on his member, it grew swiftly in his hands. Remembering the round globes of Astrid’s ass, precum leaked on his hands. Dragons tended to have more of that than human males, so his pole was good and lubricated as his hands stroked it. He imagined spreading Astrid’s legs and staring at the pink petals of her most intimate flesh and imagined the joys he would find inside. His next thought was breaching her soft entrance and filling her with his great dragon cock. Tem rode the tidal wave of sensation of the velvet silk of her inner walls. In his mind she was moaning, whipping her head side to side in rising pleasure.
“Come for me, Astrid,” he said, and his phantom lover screamed his name as her core convulsed around him. His hands were a poor substitute for that sensation, but he was fully into the fantasy now and he exploded in forceful streaks of pearly white cum on his chest
He lay back on his cot, thoroughly spent. Tem hadn’t allowed himself that release for many years, not since they put in the security cameras. But right now, he could imagine the look of horror on Mrs. Park’s face. And perhaps young Astrid would have a smile on her face as she watched his pleasure.
It was a protest of his incarceration. He may be jailed, restrained, shackled, but he was not a prisoner. His actions were a deliberate mind fuck, but resistance was not futile. On the other hand, he was sure Astrid’s face would haunt his dreams this night.
Ah, Astrid, he thought. What are you doing to me?
CHAPTER THREE
Astrid
Mrs. Parks pursed her lips in disapproval.
“Disgusting,” she said as the three of them watched the security tapes of their interaction with the dragons.
They stood in the security office, which was ringed with monitor screens showing different locations throughout the facility. Mrs. Parks had the technician who watched the screen step out for a break as the three of them surveyed the action. It was a tiny room that must have been a storage room at one time. But there was simply not enough room for four people.
Mrs. Parks had thought it would be instructive to watch the tapes and she was free with her comments to both of the young women throughout. But when they reached the end of the video where Rawlins jerked himself off, Mrs. Parks became pensive.
She muttered a few words under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, “indecent, abominable, horrid.” Her fists were bunched at her hips but she did nothing to turn off Rawlin’s raw sex show.
“Can they really have no privacy?” asked Astrid. Mrs. Parks shot her a look that could peel paint off the walls.
“Of course not,” the matron replied. “They are dangerous creatures. You saw how they acted. Especially that Templeton Rawlins.”
Astrid wondered what Rawlins had done to the matron, other than his masturbation session, to make her remarks even more acidic than usual. But she turned her head away from Mrs. Parks sharp and critical gaze. They were sentient creatures, damn it, and deserved some dignity. No wonder the inmates were in full revolt. She would be too if she were treated like an animal.
“But you, Ms. Hellstrom,” said Mrs. Parks, “You showed fear in front of the prisoners and that will not do. Not at all.”
Mrs. Parks wielded her sharp tone with the precision of a surgical instrument. Jane paled, not just at the words, but the nasty tone of Mrs. Parks voice.
“I’ll do better, ma’am,” she said timidly.
“You should take from Davis, Hellstrom. She keeps a level head with them.”
“That’s the schooling, ma’am,” said Astrid coldly. “Knowledge overrides fear.”
“Yes, I suppose it does.”
The ring of a cell phone filled the small room and Mrs. Parks pulled the device from her pocket. “Excuse me, ladies. It is the commandant.” She spoke the words as if they were of major import and Astrid supposed for a small and mean administrator like Parks, such a call was.
Mrs. Parks stepped out of the room and shut the door.
“She’s an absolute horror,” hissed Jane.
“You noticed that.”
Jane shivered. “I don’t know how I can keep working here.”
“Why did you apply in the first place?”
“It was my father’s idea. He has connections in t
he government and thought it would be good for me to get into government service. You know, steady employment, benefits.”
“Good choice,” said Astrid. She struggled to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
But to her horror, Jane broke out in a rush of tears. The girl turned shaking toward Astrid and though she thought the girl foolish and unnecessarily dramatic, Astrid wrapped a comforting arm around her.
“I can’t bear it, I just can’t,” Jane wept. “They are awful creatures. And what they did to that guard…”
Jane burst into another gush of tears and Astrid patted her back.
“There, there,” she said. “There is no proof they did anything to the guard. He was probably sick and didn’t take care of himself properly.”
Jane snuffled. “You think so?”
“It is the most logical explanation. Look at them, Jane.” Astrid flicked a hand to the monitors. “They are chained and housed behind heavy glass walls. They can’t do anything except scare you to death, which they seem to do very well.”
Jane pulled away and gave her an angry look.
“So you are judging me too,” she shot.
“No.”
“Look at you, all cool and collected with your University education. You look down on simple girls like me. Well, Papa didn’t have money to send me to University, so you can keep your snooty ideas to yourself.”
Astrid crossed her arms and stared at the monitors. It did no good arguing with someone like Jane, who really did have few prospects if she didn’t go to college. Even secretary jobs were had to come by because computers did so many things now; only the very rich would spend money on someone to look pretty at a desk. And Jane, she thought uncharitably, just wasn’t that pretty.
It was a cross thought brought on by a difficult first night. It was disheartening to see these dragons battered by captivity and the hostile attitude of staff. Whatever crimes they were accused or convicted off, they deserved their dignity, at the very least. Astrid, having studied all these cases thoroughly, was not convinced they were the criminals they were painted as by the state. But she dare not say any of that, not here, and certainly not now.
“You can think that, if you want, Jane. I’m just here for the work. And I was assigned this duty. It wasn’t as if it was a choice.” Never mind that Astrid prayed for the chance to work in one of these facilities, just so she could get close to dragons.
“Right. Having to work off your student debt obligation.”
Jane’s tone suggested that Astrid was awarded a high honor, regardless. This told Astrid that Jane’s university problems weren’t just a matter of finance. She couldn’t qualify academically. Astrid tried to work up sympathy for the girl, but Jane’s scornful attitude made that difficult.
Astrid turned her attention back to Templeton Rawlins, who now lay on his cot with his eyes closed. He hadn’t made a move to clean himself and he lay there as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
Then he turned his head toward the camera and stared directly into it. For the briefest second, Astrid could have sworn she saw the reptilian eyes of a dragon staring at her. The irises were a magnificent gold with a darker ring of bronze at the edges, though the pupil was a dark slit through the center. He seemed to be staring directly at her.
She sucked in a breath, transfixed by the rare sight. Dragons weren’t known to partially shift, even when not bound by iron. Maybe it was just her imagination.
“Do you see that?” Astrid asked her companion.
“What?” said a disinterested Jane. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jane inspecting her nails. Astrid shook her head.
“Nothing,” said Astrid and glanced back at the screen. But Rawlins had turned his head away as if he knew that Astrid’s glance had turned from him. And when she caught his eye again, they were the warm caramel brown she had first gazed into.
The door to the security room opened and Mrs. Parks huffed in.
“You’re still here?” she said, as if she expected them to be elsewhere. “Well, we’ll go over your other duties now. Come along.” She tsked at the sight of Rawlins on his bunk with his chest covered in his spunk.
“Well, that’s one of those nasty creatures we won’t have to deal with soon. The commandant gave me the word. Rawlins’ execution order just came through.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Tem
“What happened to the other girl?” asked Tem. “The one with you yesterday?” Tem stared at Astrid who wore the ridiculous glasses that were supposed to keep them safe against dragon “enchantments.” They were silly and ineffective, but it was wisest that the dragons did not reveal this. One never knew when the slightest chance at escape could present itself, or what thinnest edge of an advantage would help that goal.
Are you beating time with my girl? thrummed Evan. He had taken a shine to the pert redhead, and even allowed her to enter his cage to clean the stinking mess of the previous dinner from the glass of his cage. This involved retracting the chains into their sheaths in the walls and standing flush against the stone, not exactly the most comfortable of situations. That Evan allowed it revealed his soft spot for their newest guard.
Your girl? replied Tem.
“She left me a chocolate bar under my plate. She was quite cute about it.”
Tem reflected that Astrid might be the most effective weapon yet sent in against the dragons. Her apparent kindness was a balm against the cruelties of their existence and could cause them to lose their desire for resistance. This created a resolve to steel himself against her charms. It was a resolve that quickly dissolved when she turned her adorable smile on him.
“She called in sick,” said Astrid.
“And where is the redoubtable Mrs. Parks?”
“She had a last-minute meeting with the commandant. But redoubtable?” She arched her eyebrow.
“It’s a word,” said Tem.
“But is it the correct word? Recalcitrant is more like it.”
“As in ‘hard to deal with’?”
“I’m glad you know your five syllable words.”
“Sweetheart, I invented five syllable words.”
Astrid smirked. “Really?”
“Someone had to educate the savages.”
“You talk a good game, Mr. Rawlings. But you aren’t that old.”
“Call me Tem. All my friends and some of my good enemies do. And how do you know my age?”
“Tem, eh? What am I? Friend or enemy?”
“Don’t know. Can you tell me?”
“I’m your keeper, Mr. Rawlins. I certainly can’t be your friend.”
“Unfortunate.”
“For you, perhaps.”
He grinned. “I understand, sweetheart. You have to toe the party line.”
“Do I?” she replied provocatively.
There was a tension in her shoulders that was a sign of something, but what, Tem could not tell. But she kept the silly grin on her face, which again told him she was hiding behind it. But why?
“I think you should get a shower,” she said.
“Why?” said Tem.
She glanced at his chest, which he still had not bothered to wash from last night.
“You know why.”
“We aren’t allowed showers.” He shook his wrist, rattling the chains on his arms. “The shackles could rust.”
“Then maybe you need a good sponge bath.”
“Why? Are you offering?”
She cocked her head, but then down toward the plate she put in the exchange slot.
“Well, you know how that works. I’d have to retract the shackles and put you against the wall. Are you up for that?”
“Hmm, bondage and a sponge bath. I don’t know how I can resist.”
“Hey,” thrummed Evan in protest.
“Quiet, boy,” he replied. “I’m working here.”
“Oh, okay,” came Evan’s dispirited reply. Damn. Tem couldn’t help but feel for the boy, trapped in here just for his ancestors,
and not any real wrongdoing of his own. But Tem was a mission: Operation Freedom. He smiled at the pretty attendant. She gave him one back.
“So, you are into bondage?” she said sweetly.
“Apparently.”
She snorted and Tem thought it was charming.
“I have a real thing for discipline,” said Tem with a smirk.
“Oh, a real 50 Shades man, eh?”
“50 Shades?”
“You don’t know what that is?”
“Yes, I do, we’re allowed a movie from time to time. I thought Christian was rather tame. Nothing much interesting there.”
“It was supposed to be a love story.”
Tem snorted. “Sure. With blindfolds and whips. That spells true love.”
“I see you are a skeptic.”
“And I see you’re an incurable romantic.” He slid forward, coming to the half foot he was allowed toward the glass. “Careful, darling. Remember humans are crunchy and tasty with ketchup.”
Hey, interjected Evan with a thrum. You know nothing of ketchup. Here you people call it ‘sauce.’
Quiet. Busy.
“You don’t scare me, Mr. Rawlins,” said Astrid. Her words brought him sharply back to her countenance, staring at him through the glass. She was totally unaware of the rumbling communication between him and Evan.
“Don’t I?”
“No. Eat your dinner and I’ll see about that sponge bath.”
“Don’t go to any trouble. I happen to know that my social calendar is shockingly thin of late. A missed clean-up or two won’t offend anyone but me.”
A pained look came across her face and he wondered if she wanted a chance to get up close and personal. She nodded her head again toward his plate, this time more pointedly.
“At least eat. You never know what you’ll need your strength for.”