Chapter 6

6

Danon

A kai watched me from the far end of the kitchen as I opened the large pizza box and placed hot slices on two plates.

"You can have as much as you want," I said.

He didn't move.

"Do you like pizza? I forgot to ask," I said.

He looked different in his new clothes. More like a real person.

"You didn't tell me about Sage," he said quietly.

"He had the last couple Mondays off. I completely forgot he was coming today." I picked up the plates and headed for the living room. "Grab your drink."

Akai tracked me with his gaze. "Does everyone in the town—in the flight—know?"

"Know what?"

"About me. That I'm a slave."

"People gossip. But no. Not everyone." I kept walking. "But we are a mated couple now. People will figure that out."

I went toward the couch and set the plates on the coffee table. Akai entered moments later with our two drinks.

I sat on the couch. He took his plate and sat in the chair the furthest away from me.

I turned on the TV to any sports game I could find.

Akai took a bite of his pizza. I didn't stare, but I saw his reaction. His eyes widened. His lips smacked.

"It's the best pizza in town," I explained. "I indulge at least once a week."

He gulped, immediately taking another bite.

"Do all the clothes fit?" I asked. I didn't really want to talk, but I couldn't help myself around Akai. Now that he looked different, the robe gone, I was surprisingly drawn to him.

"Yes. Sage helped."

"Sage is a good guy. He won't be a bother to you."

"He's not. I like him." Akai had inhaled his slice.

"You can have more." I gestured to his plate.

He got up and went to the kitchen, returning this time with two slices. As he sat, he said, "Sage told me he's claimed by three alphas at the same time. Is that what it's like here?"

It was good he wanted to talk. I brushed a napkin across my whiskers. "For some. Because there are so few omegas born to us, dragon flights support multiple claimings."

"Do you?"

Ah, now I understood. He was afraid. Or curious. "Yes."

He plucked a pepperoni off one slice and started to shred it. "Does that mean others will come to claim me?"

"Just because I support it doesn't mean I indulge."

He stared at his plate. "That's not really an answer."

"Did you ask Sage?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

Akai picked up another pepperoni and began to maul it. "That you weren't like other alphas. You stay to yourself."

"What else?"

Akai shrugged. "We'd moved on to other subjects."

I couldn't tell if Sage had blabbed about my dragon being small. "I see."

"Were you ever attracted to him? Would you have claimed him?"

The personal question didn't put me off. But it did surprise me. Akai had been so silent, uninterested in everything. I was glad Sage had returned to help Akai see that maybe not everyone was "a mean old dragon."

"No. But even if I had been, the type of claiming his alphas did to him changed his scent to appeal only to them. He is not available in that way to others. It's a four-way agreement all locked up and tidy."

"What do you mean by claiming? In my pack, it could mean marriage, or it could mean a bite."

"Dragons bond by shifting together, flying together." I realized as I spoke that Akai would never shift. I added, "And other things."

He glanced up. "Like?"

I tried not to squirm. "You know. The ruts and such."

"Sex bonding." He picked up his slice and took a bite. With his mouth full, he said, "We learned about it in slave class."

"You took a slave class?"

"It was mandatory. I hated it." He tore off another big bite with his teeth, stuffing his mouth.

I didn't blame him. I was sure a mandatory class on becoming a slave for a foreign species bordered on abuse, let alone selling one of your pack members. I didn't know much about wolves, but dragons weren't much better if they bought the omegas the packs sold.

Where did that leave me as the mate to one?

"I don't agree with all dragon customs."

Akai focused on his food as if he hadn't heard me.

I continued. "That's why I've made a decision."

He looked up. "A decision?"

"Sir Gaston forced us to marry. But he can't force our actions within the marriage. When I go into rut, I'll leave the house for the duration. You won't be subjected to it against your will."

"But when I don't produce an egg, he'll know."

"He won't know anything.

Silence followed as the baseball game flickered on the TV on mute. I finished my slice and went back for more. When I returned to the living room, Akai's plate was clean. He leaned back in the chair looking content, eyes closed.

I turned the sound to the TV back on. Akai's voice broke through.

"Can I get a cell phone?"

The paperwork that came with Akai's bio online had strict rules. I'd read them five times. Cell phones for slaves weren't allowed. As well, a slave was never allowed to contact the pack he came from.

"Who would you call?"

"Sage. Maybe."

"I'm sorry. I can't do that for you right now."

"Why not?"

"It's against the rules."

"What rules?"

I turned up the TV.

Akai leaned forward. "Let me see those rules. Maybe I have no rights, but as your husband, I should know the rules, too."

I got up and retrieved my tablet.

Akai took the device and began to read. Whether he was appalled or worse, I couldn't tell. The descriptions in some of them were detailed and personal, including rules that I could treat him as chattel even though we were legal mates. I could loan or rent him out. I could legally force matings as long as they were for the purposes of creating offspring. And whether I kept him short term or long term, I could sell him and get a mate bond annulment. Sir Gaston had made me sign extra paperwork to ensure a mating produced at least one offspring before the annulment rule would apply to me.

Akai put the tablet down. "Why do you think so few dragon omegas are born?"

"No one knows for sure. Scientists have been studying it for generations, but people have theories."

"What theories?"

"Well, there are the conspiracy theorists who think it's the natural end of the world. Extremist religious men believe it's spiritual punishment but can't agree on why. Maybe the Earth is simply tired of us."

"When did it start?"

"Several hundred years ago the change became noticeable, but the population had slowly been dwindling before that."

"That's a long time. I guess claiming omegas from other species is working because it seems like there are still a lot of dragons."

My eyebrows rose. For a moment, it almost sounded as if he approved of slavery.

"But," he continued, "there are better ways than buying slaves. Like intermingling of cultures."

"The borders are too strict. But you're right. That's a possibility for the future."

He nodded.

This was the most we'd talked. Maybe wearing real clothes had helped him feel better. As for myself, I was drawn to him in those tight jeans and soft shirt, and I wasn't sure I liked it. Keeping control was important to me. But my gaze roved, and my body reacted separately from the permissions of my mind.

That night I dreamt of Akai in fleeting erotic dreams. I threw off my covers. I tossed and turned. My beard itched. The world of my mind was chaotic. Unquiet.

At work the next day, focus was difficult. I came home early.

Akai sat outside on the patio, reading one of my construction books from my office shelves. It was about bridges, one of my areas of expertise. He looked up as I opened the sliding glass door.

He didn't say hello or seem surprised I was early. He simply pointed at the book and said, "You build this stuff?"

I nodded. "My company does."

"You're smart. This is barely comprehensible."

Today he wore a pullover white sweater and black pants with drawstrings at the ankles. His feet were bare. And perfect. The arches made a graceful S. His toes had shiny nails reflecting the pale amber autumn light.

My body tingled, causing my balls to tighten.

When had I ever been affected by feet? Answer: never.

Until now.

In my moment of dysphoria, Akai lifted his chin and sniffed the air. "Something smells good."

I inhaled. Yes, something did. Honey, maple and cinnamon. Akai. It filled me up with hunger for much more than food.

"I don't smell anything," I lied.

Akai took a deeper sniff. "Like faraway chimney smoke. Like someone's toasting marshmallows."

"Could be. I have neighbors. Some have kids."

"Mmm, nice." He closed the book and sat up. "I hope you don't mind I finished the leftover pizza for lunch."

"I don't mind."

"When can I see you shift?"

"What?" The way he jumped from subject to subject left me dizzy.

"Your dragon. I've never seen one before. I can't help but be curious."

Maybe Sage had said something to him. But as I watched Akai, I read his body language. There was no deceit.

My face heated. I never shifted in front of others. I didn't ever want to see the looks on their faces like I'd endured in my teens when it was obvious my dragon wasn't growing as I grew older. Akai wouldn't know the difference, but he still probably expected a large beast. And older, like me—though I still wanted to argue that forty-two wasn't that old. It was more that Akai was too young.

"I'm not in the mood to shift."

His face darkened. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's personal for me. I don't shift in front of others."

"You don't fly with other dragons?"

"Never."

"In my pack, people shift in groups, run in packs. But dragons sound like they are very different." Akai spoke quickly, as if trying to defend why he'd even asked.

"Not really. We have flights. There are flight gatherings. I avoid them."

"Because I'm a set-omega, I never got invited to the gatherings, either."

We had that in common. Being different. It didn't change anything. I was attracted to him, perhaps, but I still intended to leave the moment the rut was upon me. It was coming. The hot flashes I'd been having preceded my ruts. But I'd never mistake its arrival. My cock would harden and stay that way off and on all day. My balls would ache for release without a single erotic thought or a touch.

When that happened, I'd be out the door headed to a hotel for a few days, locking myself in my room until the rut dissipated.

I was sure my decision would make Akai happy.