by Dante King
“Uh, thanks,” I said, concentrating on washing my hair. I tried to keep my eyes closed, to not let my gaze linger on the still-gorgeous middle-aged Asian woman watching me bathe.
Soojin didn’t leave. Instead, she closed the door behind her.
Well, that helps with the steam, I thought, just as I realized I was now alone in the bathroom with Soojin.
“How are you holding up?” the apothecary asked. “You’ve been through one hell of a shock, young man.”
“I know,” I said, squirting some body wash on a loofah. It felt strange to wash myself in front of Soojin, but there was something calming about it, too. “It was… fuck. It still feels like it all happened to somebody else. I killed those guys…”
“Hey now,” Soojin said with a little smirk. “I killed one of them, too. And Carli got the last one.”
“Yeah,” I agreed with a chuckle. “I guess there was plenty to go around.”
Soojin took another step into the bathroom, then laid the clothes on the edge of the sink. I thought she’d retreat after that, but instead, she stepped forward and put one of the fluffy towels over the handle of the glass shower door. It put her right next to me, and I could almost feel her eyes trying to peer through the fogged-up glass.
“If there’s anything you want to talk about,” Soojin said in a low tone, “I just want you to know that I’m here for you, Derek. It really should be Raya who walks you through the basics of being a mage—but since she’s not here, I’d gladly step into the role. Your mother and I were very, very good friends, and I know she’d be happy to know that I’m taking care of you.”
I swallowed my dirty thoughts and kept my tone neutral.
“You are taking care of me,” I said, gesturing toward the neatly folded clothes. “Thanks, Soojin.”
“You’re welcome,” the older woman purred. There was definitely something else on her mind, though—she made no motions to leave. “Would you like another drink?”
“A shower beer?” I laughed. “I dunno. That’s maybe not such a good idea…”
“It’s an extremely good idea,” Soojin countered. “You’ve just experienced your first major transformation, Derek. That’s an incredibly draining thing to go through even under controlled circumstances, and those were not controlled circumstances. Your body chemistry is likely to be a little bit out of sync for a bit as a result.”
It sounded a little far-fetched, but Soojin also sounded like she knew what she was talking about.
“And alcohol will help with that?” I asked.
“A little buzz might help you over the worst of the side-effects,” she said breezily. “It’s almost like a shifter hangover. Sometimes a little hair of the dog is exactly what you need—especially after you transform into a dog.”
I’d been touched by the Dragon, but I understood what she meant. “Sure. Thanks.”
As Soojin headed out to get me that beer, I went over my body again with the loofah. My skin burned a bit, as if I’d been out in the sun for way too long. Maybe I did have one of those hangovers Soojin talked about. In fact, a cold refreshing drink sounded pretty alright.
Shit, I told myself, squirting another handful of shampoo in my hair to make sure all the blood was out. I haven’t drunk a shower beer since freshman year of college. It’s a little trashy, but hell—after a battle like that, I could use a little relaxation—
The shower door slid open.
I hadn’t heard Soojin come back in—she’d left the door open a crack so she could slip back into the bathroom without being noticed. I’d been so caught up in my own thoughts I hadn’t realized until she opened the shower door a crack. The beer was in her hand, beads of condensation on the bottle.
“Oh fuck,” I said, startled. “Uh, thanks…”
Soojin handed it to me. If she’d just pulled back then, nothing would have happened—but of course, she’d had an ulterior motive all along. As the beer left her fingers, her gaze traveled down my soapy body.
Those eyes stopped at my cock and stayed there for several heartbeats. Soojin let out a little gasp, the corner of her mouth curling in a smirk.
Fuck. She saw my erection.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I hastened to say. “I…”
Soojin just smiled and shook her head. “You don’t need to explain anything to me,” the dark-haired beauty purred, looking at me like a cat with a whole bowl of cream. “I’ve been in plenty of shifter battles, young man. I know what happens to a man when he lets the Beast inside him out to play. So much pent-up energy…”
Without a hint of shame, Soojin reached into the shower and wrapped her fingers around my cock. I bit back a groan as she gave me a gentle stroke, still smiling like she just wanted to take care of me. I set the beer in the rack next to the shampoo and stared at her, my heart beating like a kettle drum.
“Come here, young man,” Soojin teased, dropping to her knees next to the shower. “Let me thank you for saving my life.”
I hesitated—then arched my hips forward, my cock sticking out from the shower stall. Soojin grinned and wrapped her fingers around my balls, giving them a gentle squeeze.
“You have no idea of the effect you have on us women,” the apothecary whispered, like she was confessing a naughty secret. “When I saw you transform and rip the throat out of the man who tried to kill me…” she shuddered with lust. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been so turned on, Derek.”
Holy shit. Holy shit Soojin was kneeling in front of me. Fuck, were we really going to do this?
My eyes traveled to the now-closed bathroom door.
“Carli…” I whispered, gesturing with my chin.
“Is busy,” Soojin finished, arching an eyebrow. “She’s currently doing her best to find out where your mother is, and there’s nothing we can do to help her right now. I won’t tell her a thing if you don’t, young man. But that’s for you to decide—because right now, I don’t think I can stop myself…”
I watched as Soojin formed an ‘O’ with her soft, pouty lips. She wrapped those lips around the crown of my cock, sucking gently as she guided the head into her warm, wet mouth. Her tongue lapped at the sensitive spot on the underside, and I nearly came apart right then and there.
Any thoughts that this might have been wrong fled my head. I put my wet hand on the back of Soojin’s head, guiding my cock deeper down her throat. Part of me wanted to rip her robes off, toss her into the shower with me, and fuck her for hours—but something inside me knew Soojin wasn’t ready to do that, not just yet.
Right now, she wanted to thank me. With her sweet, perfect mouth.
I rocked my head back into the spray as Soojin deepthroated me, sucking me off with a pace that was both rapid and attentive. It was clear that she wanted to make me come fast, so I didn’t bother holding back.
Honestly, after the battle, I wouldn’t have been able to if I’d wanted. I was a boiling cauldron of need, and Soojin understood that in the way only a woman of her maturity and stature could.
Her tongue swirled around my cock as she bobbed up and down on it like a cork, taking me all the way to the base. My balls tightened up against my sack as I thrust forward, little gasps spilling from my lips as I thrust deeper and deeper into Soojin’s throat. She took me without a hint of protest, keeping eye contact the entire time.
Finally, I hit the peak.
The pleasure became unbearable, and I let out a muffled cry into the side of my arm as I erupted in Soojin’s mouth. She kept right on sucking, drinking down my seed as thick ropes of it hit the back of her throat. My balls pulsed with the rapid pace of my heartbeat as every drop drained inside of her.
When my orgasm was finally finished, Soojin sucked me clean then planted a little kiss on the head of my cock.
“There, that’s better,” she purred, rising to her feet. “Enjoy your beer, Derek.”
With a wink, she was gone.
I stood there for several moments, the hot shower spray cascading
down my back.
Fuck, that had felt awesome.
Part of me wanted to feel guilty for what we’d just done, because I clearly already had a connection to Carli—but I just couldn’t muster any regret. Soojin definitely didn’t seem like a ‘strings attached’ kinda girl—she was more like a hot cougar who wanted to give me some head because me saving her life turned on her. I liked that.
As I finished up my washing, I grabbed the still-cold beer and downed half of it in one gulp.
Soojin was right.
It was fucking delicious.
Chapter 10
The bodies were gone when I came back out into the living room.
I tossed the empty beer bottle into the trash and surveyed Carli’s handiwork. Just like with the sewer troll, the corpses of the wolf shifters had vanished into thin air shortly after their deaths.
Carli did an admirable job cleaning the blood off Mom’s living room floor. Nothing could be done about the broken furniture, unfortunately, but together she and Soojin had broken it down and tossed it in the condo complex’s dumpster.
“They disappear to keep normies from seeing them,” Carli explained when I asked her what had happened to the wolf shifters. “It would be pretty hard to hide the existence of people who transform into animals from the media if reporters kept finding dead trolls and werewolves on the streets, you know?”
I knew. “That doesn’t mean… Mom wouldn’t disappear, right?” I asked.
“Of course not,” Soojin assured me. “She’s not a shifter. She’s a mage. And mages aren’t technically magical creatures, so they don’t disappear when they die. Besides, your Mom isn’t dead, Derek. Raya’s a resourceful woman. We’ll find her. I promise.”
Soojin had spent the remainder of my shower brewing a pot of coffee—all of us were drinking some before we headed back to the hideout. She looked so fresh it was hard to remember that a few minutes ago she’d been on her knees, sucking me dry.
Carli didn’t notice the tension I felt toward Soojin. She looked cleaned up as well—I wondered if it was magic or something else that let them launder their clothes after a battle.
“You feel better after your shower?” the Raiju shifter asked me.
The question took me aback. She didn’t know, did she?
“I’m fine,” I said, a little more forcefully than I’d intended. “I’m just upset. Those assholes have my Mom, and God only knows what they’re doing with her. The woman is sick, for fuck’s sake! She needs medicine!”
Soojin put an arm around my shoulders.
“I have her medicine,” the apothecary assured me. “As soon as we find her, we’ll give it to her, okay?”
That made me feel a bit better. But we still had to find her first.
“You really think we’ll be able to locate her from your hideout?” I asked Carli.
The shifter wasn’t paying enough attention to Soojin and me. As Soojin sat next to me on the couch, she surreptitiously slipped my arm around her waist, inviting me to grab a hold of her hip and use it like a handle. It was just a little physical contact—but between that and the little wink Soojin gave me as I grabbed hold, it was also her letting me know she was here for me whenever I needed her.
In whatever capacity that meant.
“Won’t know until we try,” Carli told me, still oblivious to the way I was holding her friend. “It’s the best lead we’ve got, though. Besides, once those wolves realize their whole squad got wiped out, they’re going to realize some more powerful players have moved into the game. It would probably be better for you to lay low in my hideout until things quiet down—or until you learn to control your powers.”
“He controlled them perfectly well from where I saw,” Soojin purred, crossing one leg over the other. Her words in the shower came back to me, reminding me that the sight of my Dragon form ripping out shifter throats had left the apothecary insatiably horny. “You should be more worried for whoever comes avenging those shifters, instead of Derek. He can handle himself.”
“You did save our bacon,” Carli conceded. “But there’s a lot about being a shifter you still don’t understand.”
Her gaze traveled to Soojin, and the apothecary slipped my hand behind her so smoothly it looked like a magic trick. Now I was holding onto a handful of her firm ass, so stealthily that Carli didn’t see a thing.
I was glad she didn’t. I knew the Raiju shifter had a thing for me, too, and I didn’t want to spoil it.
In short order, we packed up and left the apartment. It felt strange to abandon the condo, even knowing my mother wasn’t there. Even though we’d cleaned up as best as we could, the living room and kitchen bore the scars of the battle. It wouldn’t look like a safe, comfortable nest for a long time, and not without some remodeling.
I tried not to feel guilty—but I’d caused a great deal of that damage. I couldn’t help it.
Our steps felt loose and light as we cut through the parking lot, heading back toward Soojin’s gray sedan. The feeling in the air was of a hard-fought battle won, with the danger finally past. Carli’s gun stayed snugly in its holster, and Soojin carried nothing in her hands except her keys as she headed toward the driver’s side door.
The first figure that stepped out from behind the car caught us completely by surprise.
“Woah!” On instinct, I shoved both Carli and Soojin behind me. Even so, I didn’t feel the same sense of threat I’d experienced when we burst into mom’s condo to find wolf shifters tearing it apart.
This figure looked distinctly non-threatening—barely as tall as Carli, they dressed like a goth teenager who’d recently maxed out their parent’s credit card on a shopping spree at Hot Topic. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark fishnets clinging to their exposed arms and legs. The rest of their clothing was uniform black, too dark to see in the moonlight.
The newcomer raised their hands. Only now did I notice someone had scribbled a wide circle around our vehicle in what looked like gray chalk. As the newcomer spoke a word, that circle ignited into a chest-high wall of flame, cutting us off from any escape route.
“Mages,” Carli snarled, pulling her pistol out of her shoulder holster. “For fuck’s sake, we have to deal with both on the same night?”
The figure standing by the car looked surprised. They cocked their head to the side, tracing an intricate pattern in the air with their fishnetted fingers. “You’ve fought shifters tonight?”
From the voice, this was a woman. The height made a little bit more sense in that case.
“Don’t act like you don’t know, pal,” Carli growled, pointing her pistol at the mage. “Normally, I’d assume you’re working with those wolves, but you mages are the only people who hate those assholes more than we do right now.”
The mage leaned over and spit on the ground. “I care nothing for the movement of beasts,” she said with a shrug. “We are here for the woman. Move aside.”
““You just cut off our ability to leave! How the fuck are we supposed to move aside?” I asked, glancing backward toward the wall of flame.
A knowing smile spread across the mage’s face. “You’re not.”
Silhouettes moved beyond the wall of flame. More mages, wearing jet-black outfits and way too much makeup. None of them looked particularly threatening physically, but they’d probably eaten a whole bowl of scrolls like the one Soojin gave me on the way over here.
“This is a mistake,” Soojin said, holding up her hands in a placating manner. I watched the smile she’d practiced behind the counter spread across her face, masking the turmoil behind it. “Raya’s never done anything to sanction mage hunters being brought against her…”
“She’s not here, anyway,” Carli added, giving the mage an annoyed look. “The shifters tore up her condo and left with her. So skedaddle!”
The mage gave our trio an implacable look. “Of course she is. Her energy signal is all over the apartment.”
What?
“You got wrong information from som
ewhere,” I told the mage. “We’ve been in Mom’s condo for the last hour and a half. She’s not there—the shifters kidnapped her.”
“Just let us go already,” Carli growled, something like real animus in her face. If I hadn’t already known that shifters and mages were natural enemies, the looks Carli and the mage gave each other would’ve sealed the deal for me. “We’re not the droids you’re looking for.”
“Nerd references,” the mage whispered, her eyes narrowing as she turned and spit onto the pavement a second time. “Very cute—”
She glanced up, her eyes widening with shock. A gun floated in the open air a few feet away, held level with the mage’s eyes. As if the Invisible Man were drawing down on our would-be attackers.
It cracked louder than a thunderbolt as it fired. A smoking hole opened up in the mage’s forehead as she crumbled to the pavement. In the same moment, the wall of flame surrounding us sputtered and went out, dying along with the mage.
A half-dozen figures rushed in, each dressed in those black uniforms. The death of their friend hadn’t slowed them down a bit—either that, or they hadn’t had time to realize she was dead.
Soojin and Carli formed a knot around me, back to back to back as the figures surrounded us. Flames coursed through the fingers of one as they spoke a spell, and ice covered the palms of another. A third had lightning coursing up and down their body, casting an eerie blue illumination over the otherwise quiet, subdued parking lot.
They weren’t going down without a fight.
Soojin reached for her twisted bone spear, while Carli had her pistol half out of the holster. I reached for the power inside of me, trying my best to summon the Dragon, but the rage I’d felt when I saw that shifter wrap its paw around Soojin’s neck didn’t come.
Either I still had a lot to learn, or I’d tapped myself out for the moment slaughtering the men who’d broken into Mom’s condo.
They outnumbered us two to one.
But within the span of a heartbeat, it no longer mattered.
Three spots near the balcony of Mom’s condo shimmered like a portal ripping open in a fantasy movie. More pistols appeared, floating in mid-air. Moonlight shined off their metallic forms, large as Desert Eagles.